Category Archives: Bitcoin
Heres Why Bitcoin (BTC) Is Rocketing Toward $100K, According to Crypto Analyst Nicholas Merten – The Daily Hodl
Crypto analyst Nicholas Merten says he believes Bitcoin is firmly on a long-term trajectory that will bring the leading cryptocurrency to $100,000.
In a new episode of DataDash, Merten takes a birds-eye look at Bitcoins boom and bust cycles over the years. By looking at the long-term logarithmic chart of the BraveNewCoin Liquid Index (BLX), which provides a reliable USD price of Bitcoin based on real-time trading data, Merten seesa likely timeline for the next bull run.
If we take a look at the previous three clear cycles that we had here in cryptocurrency markets, we can generally take into note that weve seen an expansion of about a year added to each and every cycle The first cycle was around 11 to 12 months, in this case, for Bitcoin.
Afterwards, from the bottom to the high, just like we did with the previous cycle, 24 months With the third cycle, we have a 35-month period from bottom to top, roughly give or take almost three years
Theres no guarantee that history is going to repeat itself exactly. There might be some big discrepancies this time around with the macro environment. The halving might play out differently. But if we take a look here of the logarithmic growth curves and take into mind the significant lows and the significant resistance, we actually are going to line up quite nicely here to a top of $100,000, give or take it might not be exactly even sometime in 2022.
The DataDash founder offers two key fundamental catalysts that can drive Bitcoins rise to $100,000.
We havent even seen the economic ramifications of the halving event and the continued macro environment going into a higher state of fear. These are the things that can drive Bitcoin to that valuation
I believe pretty consciously in this case that $100,000 is quite reasonable. Bitcoin at over $1 trillion market cap is going to be relatively reasonable in an environment where theres money fleeing from global bonds, from global currencies, from equities or property markets as we enter into a longer drawn out bear market through a potential depression.
Thats a very, very conservative ask, in my opinion, for a new emerging digital gold for Millennials and Gen Z. A key point here is to focus on these longer-term time frames. To be patient. This is going to be a long journey, but its going to be a fun one.
Although the future of the global economy is far from certain, Merten says he believes that in the long run, Bitcoin will benefit from the increasing intervention in the economy from the US Federal Reserve as investors look outside of equities for assets with a fixed monetary supply.
Unlike the Fed which says, We are going to do x and [then] they do y, Bitcoin has been chugging along. If you need to process a transaction, you can do it. If you want to know that your money is going to be fixed in a system or your purchasing power is fixed into a system that isnt going to change the rules every five minutes, Bitcoin does that Bitcoin is the clear winner here.
Featured Image: Shutterstock/Chat Karen Studio
Trillions in Coronavirus Stimulus Brings Out the Bitcoin Bulls – CoinDesk
"It's exactly why bitcoin (BTC) was created," Michael Novogratz, CEO of the cryptocurrency-focused investment firm Galaxy Digital, told CNBC last week.
It's a common refrain heard these days from bitcoin bulls:The U.S. dollar and other currencies will eventually be debased by the injections of trillions of dollars of coronavirus-related aid and monetary stimulus bygovernments and central banks. That should, theoretically,strengthenthe case for bitcoin, the oldest and largest cryptocurrency, as a hedge against inflation.
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Such predictions might eventually come true, but for now bitcoin investors are stuck in a holding pattern: The cryptocurrency pushed above $7,000 on Monday, but for the past couple weeks it has struggled to hold that level, whichit hasn'treliably traded above since early March.
"Anice recovery from the lows leaves investors hopeful," cryptocurrency analysis firmArcane Research wrote Friday in a report. "However, this is not yet reflected in the market sentiment."
Any inflationstemming fromfiscal and monetary stimulus could take a while to appear partly because of higher unemployment and a drop-off in economic demandcould relieve upward pressure on consumer prices in the near term. In the U.S. alone, roughly 10 million new unemployment claims were filed during the last two full weeks of March, and JPMorgan economists predictthat a report this week will reveal another seven million claims were filed last week. Bank of America says the lack of an effective policy response to control the spread of the virus will push 2020 global growth to a contraction of 2.7 percent, instead of an expansion of 0.3 percent.
Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures and co-founder of the blockchain analytics startup CoinMetrics, wrote last week for CoinDesk that the devaluation of money "does not happen immediately, but over time."
The 2008 financial crisis prompted the Federal Reserve to doubletotal assetsin a matter of weeks, and then doubled the size of the balance sheet again to more than $4 trillion over the next few years. But it took the money supply, as measured by M2, more than 12 years to double, at least partly because of low demand for loans in the years after the crisis.
The bitcoin market's tepid reaction thus far to the Federal Reserve's announcement of essentiallyunbounded quantitative easingmight disappoint some bitcoiners who are looking for a faster pump.
Sylvain Saurel, author of the blogIn Bitcoin We Trust, wrote last week that a separate move by U.S. regulators to reduce bankreserve requirements could lead to new money creation "ad infinitum."
"This unprecedented currency devaluation in such a short period of time has been decided by the Federal Reserve in a totally arbitrary manner," Saurel wrote. His conclusion,essentially, was that people should buy bitcoin.
Jay Hao, CEO of the Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx, wrote last weekin a blog postthat "more proactive measures" would be needed beyond "QE infinity." Those could include anew "super-sovereign currency" to address trade and economic imbalances created by the U.S. dollar's dominant role in global finance.
"At present, bitcoinpossesses the characteristics of a super-sovereign currency," Hao wrote.
The investment narrative that bitcoin is a "harder" currency than U.S. dollars and is getting additional traction from next month's "halving" on the bitcoin blockchain the once-every-four-years occurrence by which the pace ofissuance of new units of the cryptocurrency gets cut in half.
Traders are expected to get a chance this week to observe how prices oftwo bitcoin-offshootcryptocurrencies, Bitcoin SV (BSV) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH),perform as they go through their own quadrennial halvings.
Someanalysts said last month that bitcoin was trading in syncwith U.S. stocks. That was seen as a sign thatsome investors were selling the cryptocurrency as part of anindiscriminate flight to safety into dollars.
Olga Feldmeier, CEO of the digital-asset exchange Smart Valor and a self-described "outright bitcoin maximalist," says bitcoin's price plunge earlier this year undercuts hopes that the cryptocurrency would serve as a safe-haven assetin times of market turmoil. She instead recommended "tokenized gold" digital tokens like the Pax Gold (PAXG) that offer a crypto-friendly way of investing in the yellow metal, long seen as a reliable inflation hedge.
Kraken, a San Francisco-based cryptocurrency exchange, noted in an April 4blog postthat the volume of PAXG trading on its platform surged to $13 million in March, a six-fold increase from February levels.
"Kraken clients appear to see PAXG as a safe haven of late since it is backed by gold, which typically acts as a safe haven amidst economic uncertainty," according to the post.
But there are some indications that bitcoin might be trading more like gold in recent weeks. VanEck, a money-management firm that offers a bitcoin trust to qualified institutional buyers, saysbitcoin's price correlation with gold jumped to 0.47during the last couple weeks of March, from an average 0.03 over the past eight years. (A correlation of 1 implies perfect synchronicity.)
The next couple months could prove pivotalfor bitcoin as the U.S. suffers theworst stretch of thepandemic's health crisisand moves into the economic-recovery phase. Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, told CNBC last week the recently passed $2 trillion aid packagewould not be enough. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he wouldask Congress for more moneyif a $350 billion pool for small businesses runs out.
"More bazookas needed," executives for the Wall Street dealer Jefferies wrote Friday in an open letter to clients and colleagues.
Is bitcoin the real digital gold? With more financial "bazookas" getting hoisted into position, cryptocurrency markets will serve as theproving ground.
"Many Bitcoin advocates think it will prove to be a better long-term store of value than gold," according to the Kraken blog post. "Only time will tell."
Tweet of the day
Editor's caveat: No idea if this $20 "Bitcoin Logo V2 Neck Gaiter Face Mask" is real. If so the free publicity heredoes NOT representan endorsement. It seems like a high price for a mostly polyester bandana. But itcertainly isa sign of the times.
BITCOIN WATCH
Bitcoin is again looking to establish a strong foothold above $7,000, having tested dip demand with a pullback to $6,600 over the weekend. The cryptocurrency printed a high above $7,100 early Monday and is currently changing hands around $7,090.
The bulls have repeatedly failed to keep gains above the $7,000 mark over the last three weeks, forcing investors to question the sustainability of recovery rally from the March 19 low of $3,867.
Even so, the bias remains bullish, as a pennant breakout confirmed April 2 is still intact. As a result, the cryptocurrency remains on the hunt for a test of the descending 50-day average, currently at $7,522.
If the upside break of $7,000 resistance again proves to be short-lived, the immediate bullish outlook would be neutralized. The bias would turn bearish if prices fall below support at the weekend low of $6,610.
That would open the doors to the higher low of $5,856 created March 30.
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.
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Trillions in Coronavirus Stimulus Brings Out the Bitcoin Bulls - CoinDesk
Bitcoin, Stock Markets Rally on Signs of Hope in Pandemic – CoinDesk
The new and now often-cited connection between bitcoin (BTC) and global equities doesnt just mean they fall together.
Sometimes, it means they rally on potentially good news. And that seems to be the case on Monday, as positive data on the war on the coronavirus offer hope to the markets that better days may come soon.
The price of bitcoin is at $7,145 as of 13:45 UTC (8:45 a.m. Eastern time), a 5 percent gain from the previous 24 hours. The move began during Asian equity market trading hours as Japans Nikkei index moved up 4.2 percent. Futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average also had some sunshine around then, indicating a more than 700-point gain when New York traders heard their opening bell.
Part of that optimism in stock markets and in cryptocurrencies stems from a few glimmers of hope on the coronavirus front.
Looks like we're piggybacking on equities with some data possibly indicating virus peaking coming out of a few of the European countries, said Dave Vizsolyi, head of trading at Chicago-based proprietary crypto trading firm DV Chain.
To be sure, cryptocurrency markets often gyrate with little rhyme or reason, and an original selling point of bitcoin was as a non-correlated asset, indifferent to movements in traditional markets. However, during the recent crisis, the bellwether digital asset has tended to track the incumbents.
Daily new cases are slowing in places like Italy, where they have stayed in the 4,000 range since March 30; at its peak on March 21, over 6,500 new cases were reported. New York, the hardest-hit state in the U.S., saw a slight drop in coronavirus-related deaths; 4,159 lives were lost in the Empire State so far, but Sunday saw the first daily drop in fatalities since the crisis began.
Thats not to say the week promises to be easy on the UnitedStates, where there are more than 300,000 cases, a quarter of the worlds total.
This is going to be the hardest and saddest week of mostAmericans lives, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams saidon Fox News over the weekend. This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment,our 9/11 moment, only its not going to be localized. Its going to behappening all over the country.
However, his commander-in-chief, President Donald Trump, took a more glass-half-full approach, proclaiming in all-caps LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL on his preferred method of communication, Twitter.
Nonetheless, some in the crypto markets arent sold on the idea that the worst is behind us.
Paxos exchange CEO Chad Cascarilla warned of a grim picture on Patrick OShaughnessys podcast, Invest Like the Best, if fiscal and monetary stimulus prove too little, too late.
Cascarilla sees about a 25 percent chance the U.S. would need a bank holiday similar to what happened in the Great Depression and even some nationalization in its financial sector.
It looks likely that were in a depression for at least aquarter or two, Cascarilla said. If youre in that for more than two quarters,I think you need to have bank failures. The market would have a really hardtime digesting that. If we need to fill a $6 trillion hole, Im not sure we cando that in time before the feedback loops kick in. And then you can end up witha bank holiday and nationalization.
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.
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Bitcoin, Stock Markets Rally on Signs of Hope in Pandemic - CoinDesk
Former Hedge Fund Billionaire Picks Bitcoin Over Gold, Treasuries And The Dollar – Forbes
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors are feeling bullish after a rocky start to the year.
The bitcoin price, trading more-or-less flat for 2020 so far, had rocketed in the first few months of the new decade but its rally was halted in its tracks by the coronavirus crisis.
Now, as bitcoin bulls eye the upcoming bitcoin halvingamong other major developments on the horizonformer hedge fund billionaire-turned crypto investor, Michael Novogratz, has bet that bitcoin will outperform almost every other market over the next few months.
Michael Novogratz, a Wall Street veteran, has become one of bitcoin and cryptocurrency's richest ... [+] people in recent years, making a name for himself as an outspoken bitcoin bull.
"Ill make a bet for dinner anywhere in New York City that bitcoin outperforms both [gold and treasuries] over the next three months," Novogratz said via Twitter, replying to a report that all major currencies are outperforming bitcoin since the stock market peak, with gold and treasury bonds doing even better.
Tech investor and founder of bitcoin and cryptocurrency news and analysis website The Block, Mike Dudas, responded he is on the same side of that bet as Novogratz "with more of [his] net worth than would make any sane person comfortable."
"Give it a few months ... And I like gold," Novogratz added.
Bitcoin has so far failed to act as a so-called safe-haven asset during the coronavirus crisis despite hopes it had begun to do so over the last year.
Traders and investors usually turn to "safe" assets such as gold and the Japanese yen during times of perceived risk.
Last month, Novogratz warned confidence in bitcoin and crypto "evaporated" due to the coronavirus crash, potentially leaving bitcoin and crypto vulnerable.
Earlier this year, Novogratz said he expected the bitcoin price to soar by almost 50-fold over the next ten years, meaning he thought one bitcoin will be worth a staggering $400,000 by 2030and giving bitcoin a market capitalization of around $8 trillion.
Meanwhile, many bitcoin and cryptocurrency supporters have voiced concerns thatthe massive stimulus and quantitative easing unleashed by the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve will weaken the dollar and the U.S. economy.
Extraordinary measures have been put in place by countries around the world to prop up markets and try to spur economic activity as they scramble to contain the coronavirus COVID-19.
The bitcoin price has treaded water for 2020 so far despite swinging wildly along with traditional ... [+] markets due to the coronavirus crisis.
In the aftermath of the coronavirus-induced market crash, some of the biggest bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges around the world have reported an uptick in both new users and trading volume.
Some have suggested surging bitcoin demand could result in a bull run to rival bitcoin's epic 2017 rallythat saw the bitcoin price climb from under $1,000 to around $20,000 in less than 12 months.
Ahead of the world going into shutdown to try to contain the coronavirus, bitcoin investors were upbeat at the beginning of the year,a survey of high-level bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchange users showed last month,with most expecting the bitcoin price to soar to over $20,000 per bitcoin in 2020.
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Former Hedge Fund Billionaire Picks Bitcoin Over Gold, Treasuries And The Dollar - Forbes
Max Keiser with Lina Seiche on Bitcoin (BTC) Halving and Cryptos Black Thursday: A Few Bought the – U.Today
Vladislav Sopov
In a new episode of the Keiser Report, Max Keiser interviewed BTSEs Marketing Director, discussing technology and the economics of the crypto king.
MaxKeiser of Russia Today (RT) sat down with Lina Seiche, Marketing Director at BTSE, and discussed the price ofBitcoin (BTC) and developmental progress.
Speaking about the upcoming halving event, Ms. Seiche expressed mixed feelings. In terms of a short-time price movement, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) could go either way.
Lina Seiche called the upcoming halving event special as compared to its two predecessors, thus making itharder to predict. She also highlighted that data from the2012 and 2016 halvings shouldnt be over-estimated,but that the long-term influence of halving on the price of Bitcoin (BTC) will be significant.
She also outlined the unique features of Bitcoin (BTC), a disinflationary asset in a world of hyperinflated unlimited fiat that becomes scarcer as central banks print more money.
Ms. Seiche also touched the painful events of March 12, otherwise known as Black Thursday in Crypto, particularlythe behavior patterns of traders. According to her, people immediately stopped high-risk trading, started to escape futures trading, and moved the assets to stablecoins. She reassured all of the bulls that missprofit:
A few people did buy the dip
However, the interest has returned rapidly as the price of Bitcoin (BTC) started to recover and BTSE witnessed massive buys.
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Max Keiser with Lina Seiche on Bitcoin (BTC) Halving and Cryptos Black Thursday: A Few Bought the - U.Today
If Bitcoin Works in Zimbabwe, It Works Everywhere – CoinDesk
On this episode we join Anita Posch as she discusses bitcoin's (BTC) potential and realities with a self-described "digipreneur" and teacher in Harare, Zimbabwe.
Listen/subscribe to the CoinDesk Podcast feed for unique perspectives and fresh daily insight withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublica,IHeartRadioorRSS.
With the use of bitcoin outlawed and the state of human rights and free speech rather poor in Zimbabwe, Anita agreed not to mention her guest's name. In this episode they discuss:
Selected excerpts from this week's episode:
"If I have a bitcoin, I can send money to my relatives, who are in Malawi or in Namibia or in Ghana. Currently I can't with our own currency. I can't send money out freely and quickly. But if we can sit down as a community and say, 'Okay, we need to buy a new borehole and we can do that just by using our phone,' that's an amazing thing. You know, if we look at it from a place of development, if you look at it from a place of helping the community and taking care of each other, if it allows us to take care of each other without having to create so many barriers and so much red tape to get stuff done with money, I feel like when you change that narrative, you speak to something very deep within an African." -Teacher and Digipreneur, Zimbabwe
"Cryptocurrency feels almost like luxury. It's sad because I don't think that's what it's supposed to be, but it was also bearing in mind cryptocurrency was designed in a functioning environment. It was designed by people who maybe haven't spent 12 hours in a fuel queue?" -Teacher and Digipreneur, Zimbabwe
"We need to start having more conversations about the future with the people who are actually affected by the future. Hold workshops under a tree in Binga and have someone who is there who can translate into the local language and have a conversation." -Teacher and Digipreneur, Zimbabwe
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This podcast special and my trip to Africa would not have been possible without my sponsors and supporters. I want to thank my sponsors first: Thank you:LocalBitcoins.coma person-to-person bitcoin trading site, Peter McCormack and thewhatbitcoindidpodcast,Coinfinityand theCard Wallet,SHIFT Cryptosecurity, manufacturer of the hardware walletBitBox02and many thanks to several unknown private donors, who sent me Satoshis over the Lightning Network.
This special is edited by CoinDesks Podcasts EditorAdam B. Levineand published first on theCoinDesk Podcast Network. Thank you very much for supporting the Bitcoin in Africa series with your work.
Thanks also goes out tostakwork.com. Stakwork is a great project that brings bitcoin into the world through earning. One can do microjobs on Stakwork, earning Satoshis and cash them out without even having an understanding about the lightning network or bitcoin. I think we need more projects like that to spread the usage of bitcoin around the world.
Thank you also toGoTenna, for donating several GoTenna devices to set up a mesh network in Zimbabwe and toTeam Satoshi, the decentralized sports team for supporting my work. This special is also brought to you by theLet's Talk Bitcoin Network.
Edited by CoinDesks Podcasts Editor: Adam B. Levine
Idea, content and production: Anita Posch Music: "Start with yes" by Delicate beats
Listen/subscribe to the CoinDesk Podcast feed for unique perspectives and fresh daily insight withApple Podcasts,Spotify,Pocketcasts,Google Podcasts,Castbox,Stitcher,RadioPublica,IHeartRadioorRSS.
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If Bitcoin Works in Zimbabwe, It Works Everywhere - CoinDesk
Wrapped Bitcoin Aims to Kick-Start DeFi on Tezos Blockchain – CoinDesk
Tokenized bitcoin (BTC) is coming to the Tezos blockchain.
Announced Wednesday, the Bitcoin Association Switzerland, Tezos Foundation and multiple partners will issue the first tokenized version of bitcoin on the Tezos blockchain, tzBTC. The asset will also be the first vehicle for Tezos-based decentralized finance (DeFi), according to a press release from the association.
Each tzBTC represents one bitcoin on the Bitcoin blockchain and is minted under the new FA1.2 Tezos token standard.
The tzBTC brings the brand and liquidity of Bitcoin to the Tezos blockchain and gains the potential for rich functionality made possible by Tezos smart contracts, Bitcoin Association Switzerland President Lucas Betschart said in a statement.
Another wrapped bitcoin project was announced for Ethereum last week, tBTC. Building a bridge that allows Bitcoin to interact with DeFi makes a lot of sense, investor Fred Ehrsam said of that project. Adding a bridge for Tezos to the most liquid cryptocurrency follows a similar logic.
Roman Schnider, CFO and head of operations at the Tezos Foundation, said the addition of bitcoin is just the tip of the spear as the community builds out DeFi products on Tezos.
This is kind of the first [wrapped] product that we see and there's not much you can trade against at the moment, but there is a roadmap, Schnider said in a phone interview.
Next up, Schnider said, are atomic swaps for building out DeFi exchanges and perhaps a wrapped ether (ETH) token.
tzBTC wont be alone on Tezos, however. The token could soon be joined by Tezos-based DeFi protocol StakerDAO, which is planning to launch this quarter, according to its website. StakerDAO automates capital allocation for staking on various protocols to earn yield for investors.
tzBTC will be overseen by numerous organizations, according to the tokens website. Bitcoin Association Switzerland will regulate keyholders who mint and burn tzBTC. Keyholders include Swiss crypto firms Inacta, Lexr, Swiss Crypto Tokens and Taurus.
Betschart told CoinDesk the idea first originated with Swiss Crypto Tokens, but the non-profit took up the project which retains a bitcoin-first bent.
Our interest is to push the adoption of bitcoin. So we're already involved with some other things to make bitcoin even more usable, Betschart said.
The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.
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Wrapped Bitcoin Aims to Kick-Start DeFi on Tezos Blockchain - CoinDesk
Bitcoin Flips Bullish But Heres Why BTC Price May Still Hit $3.9K – Cointelegraph
Bitcoin (BTC) price has gained more than 10% in the last week, giving bulls some hope that the road ahead is a bright one for the leading digital asset.
However, despite an effort to blast through the critical resistance level of $7,200 as mentioned in last weeks analysis, there was a huge rejection bringing home the reality that perhaps it may be a little too soon to be expecting a miraculous bounce back to the $8,000+ levels.
Daily crypto market performance. Source: Coin360.com
BTC USD daily chart. Source: TradingView
I think its safe to assume that Bitcoin has settled back into the descending channel that formed in the second half of 2019. As Bitcoin has now not only bounced off support on the daily, leaving nothing but a wick, but it has now done exactly the same with the resistance.
To me, this validates the channel even more so than before, as the price is currently following a path marked I marked out in yellow, on a video I published to YouTube on March 31. This was one of three scenarios I was waiting on, and the one I felt that was most likely.
As such, since Bitcoin cannot seem to break out above $7,200, it seems probable that bears might be about to regain control ahead of the much-anticipated halving event, and this puts $5,500 as the critical price to hold before cheap corn is back on the menu.
However, many key indicators are contradicting this sentiment.
BTC USD weekly MACD chart Source: TradingView
During sideways market periods, it is easy to get chopped up and spat out when working off lower time frames, and often a glance at a higher time frame can help validate your bias. However, one such indicator that isnt good for bears right now is the weekly moving average divergence convergence (MACD) indicator, as this is now mooing to the herd.
As can be seen from the chart, the MACD is already starting to pinch towards the signal line. Since we have had a relatively bullish week, we should see this move in even more so when the weekly candle closes, bringing us closer to a bullish cross, which typically results in a sustained uptrend, which almost always lasts over a month if not several.
However, right now, there are bigger things happening in the world that may invalidate this as a possibility, and my concern is that we will begin to see a significant reduction in retail buying power due to the rise in unemployment resulting from the coronavirus lockdowns.
While the worldwide quarantine is in the early stages with many believing it will only last a couple of weeks you only need to look at China to see that this will last a lot longer, so who exactly would be buying?
The answer may lie in the Relative Strength Index, which could be enticing smart money into crypto.
BTC USD weekly RSI chart Source: TradingView
The last time Bitcoin approached oversold territory on the weekly, it experienced a 300% price increase within six months as can be seen on the Relative Strength Index (RSI) indicator. This is based on the Dec. 10, 2018,pivot from 29.07 on the RSI scale.
However, Bitcoin had already experienced a bounce on the RSI on March 9, 2020, when it was 33.37 on the RSI scale, and even with the colossal dump on March 12, the RSI is still trending upwards. This brings to light two pertinent questions:
But perhaps another clue as to what can be expected from Bitcoin over the coming weeks can be found in the mining difficulty charts?
BTC mining difficulty. Source: BTC.com
The Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped by a monstrous -15.95% the biggest since 2011 on March 26, an adjustment that helped ease miners concerns surrounding profitability. This time last week, it looked as if the mining difficulty would drop by a further -14%.
However, as the week has progressed the adjustment estimate has dropped to just -2.2% and with three days left to go, this could end up closing as a positive adjustment.
You only have to look at the impact the positive adjustments had on the price of Bitcoin this year to see what this could be yet another bullish indicator.
All the indicators are bullish, so why does it feel bearish? Right now we are at the top of a valid channel, as such a breakout could well be imminent. For this to happen Bitcoin would need to flip $7K resistance into support and from here $8,200 looks like the next level of resistance we would encounter.
The price of Bitcoin has already doubled since its recent bottom, as such a pullback to $5,500 over the next week would be completely reasonable to expect.
If this level fails to hold, then it opens up $3,900 as a possibility. If bulls dont step in then, Id be very surprised.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of @officiallykeith and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.
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Bitcoin Flips Bullish But Heres Why BTC Price May Still Hit $3.9K - Cointelegraph
Tim Draper: Pandemic Could Be The Tipping Point For Bitcoin – Cointelegraph
The global spread of the coronavirus played a major role in the dramatic 2020 stock market crash. The bailout bill for saving the worlds economy is $7 trillion and rising fast. Bitcoin bull Tim Draper believes this confluence of factors may be the tipping point that allows innovations such as Bitcoin and smart contracts to flourish.
In an interview on April 6, the global venture capital investor said he was skeptical about the governments infinite money printing bailout plan and said it would take years before that money permeates the global economy.
They are gonna be printing all this money to try to get the economy back after they've basically tanked it, he said. They are going to flood it with a bunch of money, and that money is going to be worth less, and less, and less.
Draper believes people will start turning to Bitcoin as it has a fixed supply, in stark contrast to fiat which is being printed in the billions by central banks:
This is going to be a really interesting time where people say well, why dont I just use Bitcoin? I know there are only 21 million of them and we dont have to worry about whether a government is diluting their currency by printing tons of it, we can instead just use a currency we all agree on and its all a part of the economy and its already frictionless and open and transparent and global.
Although there is debate about whether coronavirus may end the trend towards globalization over the past 25 years, Draper believes digital financial innovations like Bitcoin, smart contracts and artificial intelligence will force governments to compete among themselves at the virtual level to bring better services at lower cost to attract talents.
This in return will empower people with more choices to move freely and live in a loving and nicer new global world. He added that:
It doesnt matter whether you are from the U.S, China or Russia or India or Europe or whatever, we are an open world and then the geographic borders are going to mean less and less.
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Tim Draper: Pandemic Could Be The Tipping Point For Bitcoin - Cointelegraph
As Consumers Turn to Bitcoin, Will Merchants Follow? – Crypto Briefing
Due to the latest market volatility in crypto markets, many Bitcoin exchanges and fiat on-ramps have experienced high volumes.
Critically, new users have made up the bulk of this volume. But beyond speculating on top coins, what else will these budding enthusiasts be able to do with their digital assets?
Various crypto wallets, exchanges, and fiat on-ramps have all reported tremendous volumes over the past few weeks. For those unaware, the price of Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency, dropped from$7,900 to $3,800 in just a few hours on Mar. 12.
In the wake of the crash, Coinbase, a top American crypto platform for new users, broke various traffic and volume records as users either fled positions or bought the dip. Over the 48 hours during the crash and bottom, the firm reported$2 billion in transactions.
Other top exchanges like OKEx and Binance also recorded substantial volumes.
After exchanges, fiat-to-crypto services likeMoonPayenjoyed an uptick in volume. Ivan Soto-Wright, MoonPays founder and CEO, told Crypto Briefing that:
Total retail volumes across MoonPay and our network of partner exchanges, wallets, and decentralized applications are up over 80% month-to-month as of the end of March.
The white-label solution allows anyone within the crypto ecosystem to equip a fiat on-ramp. Notable partners includeKyberSwap,ZenGo,Edge,CoinPaprika, and many others. As part of the latest rise in activity, MoonPay is also adding new members to its team.
On Apr. 9, the team announced the inclusion of Nils Puhlman, the former chief trust and security officer of cloud services platform,Twilio. Puhlman will serve as a security advisor for MoonPay to help boost the teams security measures as they grow.
The team has turned its attention to security since MoonPays involvement inIOTAs latest Trinity Walletbreach.
High volumes on Coinbase and MoonPay indicate that the crypto community offers much in the way of turning boring fiat into shiny internet money.
On making it easy to onboard new users, Soto-Wright said:
MoonPay is targeted at first-time users of crypto of all ages and geographies. Our mission is to make cryptocurrencies accessible to a wider audience, and that starts with simplifying the user journey.
But after onboarding this demographic, getting new users to spend their Bitcoin at various merchants is proving much more difficult.
With only a few exceptions, merchant adoption has shown far less promise than user adoption.
The exception to this, of course, has been unique Bitcoin rewards services likeFoldandLolli. Users shopping at top retailers like Lowes and Starbucks can pay in fiat and earn cashback in BTC when using either platform.
And while the list of merchants who accept crypto grows, sleek point-of-sale infrastructure lags.Breez, a Lightning Network-enabled wallet provider, is trying to change that.
The team behind Breezreleased the first mobile, non-custodial, Lightning-only Point-of-Sale on Mar. 27. In making Lightning payments easy for merchants, all of the new users who have recently joined crypto will hopefully have new merchants to facilitate spending.
In a post announcing the development, the teamwrote:
The rise of Lightning will be a combination of citizen-consumers losing patience with fiat, and coffee shops, Ubers, gas/charging stations, and even major online retailers standing ready with an alternative. By giving merchants what they need, were giving users what they want.
But beyond tackling the technical challenges of implementing Lightning at scale, companies like Breez will also be battling Bitcoins most unpopular narrative.
Despite Satoshi Nakamotos claims to create a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, many entering the industry viewBitcoinas a purely speculative instrument. Marcus Swanepoel, the CEO of another crypto on-ramp calledLuno,told CNBC that the majority of users on his platform are speculators. He said:
I would put roughly 90% into the category of investments [and] speculationand another 10% would be for transactions.
If users dont view Bitcoin as a means of payment, its no wonder that there are fewer companies building crypto merchant services than those building on-ramps.
But for an industry thats barely a decade old, that might be good enough for now.
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As Consumers Turn to Bitcoin, Will Merchants Follow? - Crypto Briefing