Neither the author, Tim Fries, nor this website, The Tokenist, provide financial advice. Please consult ourwebsite policyprior to making financial decisions.

OKX and Unisat, the open-source Chrome wallet extension for Bitcoin Ordinals, announced on Friday they entered into a partnership to establish a BRC-20 token standard. BRC-20 and Ordinals have been a popular subject in recent weeks and the reason behind the division in the Bitcoin community.

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX joined forces with UniSat Wallet to create a cross-verification process for BRC-20 transaction indexing on the Bitcoin blockchain. As part of the partnership, UniSat is set to become OKXs BRC-20 market data supplier.

We are delighted to announce that @OKX and @unisat_wallet are collaborating to develop a cross-verification process for BRC-20 transaction indexing on the #Bitcoin blockchain. This marks the initial stride towards decentralized indexing, enhancing the overall robustness and reliability of BRC-20.

BRC-20 refers to an experimental token standard introduced in March 2023 by an anonymous crypto developer known as Domo. Like ERC-20 standards on Ethereum, BRC-20 allows users to issue fungible tokens using Bitcoins Ordinals protocol.

Since the standard was rolled out, the demand for Bitcoin Ordinals reached sky-high levels, causing congestion on the worlds biggest blockchain and propelling its network fees to a 2-year high earlier this month. In addition, Binance said on May 9 it would add support for Bitcoin Ordinal inscriptions on its non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace in late May.

A big part of the Bitcoin community welcomed the introduction of the BRC-20 standard, as many wanted to join Ethereum proponents in issuing NFTs on their favorite blockchain. On the other hand, some have loudly criticized this idea.

These include the so-called Bitcoin purists, who believe Ordinal inscriptions enabled by the BRC-20 standard represent a departure from the original intent of Bitcoin, which was primarily meant to be used as a medium of exchange and a decentralized store of value. Moreover, purists also think that Ordinals have added elements of centralization and jeopardized the idea of Bitcoin being a decentralized, value-neutral currency.

As a result of their discontent, some Bitcoin developers have proposed to cancel Ordinals and BRC-20 tokens, which have been primarily responsible for the recent network bottleneck and mounting fees. Earlier this week, around 400,000 unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions in the mempool were waiting to be added to a block.

Finance is changing.

Learn how, with Five Minute Finance.

A weekly newsletter that covers the big trends in FinTech and Decentralized Finance.

Awesome

Youve subscribed.

Youre well on your way to being in the know.

Do you think the BRC-20 standard was needed for Bitcoin? Let us know in the comments below.

About the author

Tim Fries is the cofounder of The Tokenist. He has a B. Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Tim served as a Senior Associate on the investment team at RW Baird's US Private Equity division, and is also the co-founder of Protective Technologies Capital, an investment firm specializing in sensing, protection and control solutions.

See the rest here:
OKX to Establish Bitcoin BRC-20 Industry Standard with Unisat - The Tokenist

The buzz around the Bitcoin 4-year cycle has grown louder in recent years, becoming a widely-discussed topic among crypto enthusiasts and market analysts. The cycle, marked by significant events and trends in the crypto market, has aroused curiosity and intrigue in both seasoned participants and newcomers.

However, the causes and implications of the Bitcoin 4-year cycle are often misunderstood or oversimplified. Examining the factors that shape it, including the halving, macroeconomic influences, and human behavior, may benefit investors.

One of the most intriguing aspects of Bitcoins behavior is the halving. This is a predetermined event in which the number of new BTC generated and distributed by the network is cut in half.

Currently, about 900 Bitcoins are produced daily. In the forthcoming halving, scheduled for late Q1 or early Q2 of next year, this figure will decrease to 450. The previous halvings in 2012, 2016, and 2020 have marked significant turning points in Bitcoin.

The halving impacts Bitcoins price due to a simple supply-demand principle.

When the halving occurs, even if Bitcoin demand remains steady, the reduction in supply can create an imbalance, pushing prices upwards. This price momentum can trigger a multi-year bull market in Bitcoin.

As the cycle progresses, the initial impulse from the halving diminishes, yet the momentum continues, carrying the market forward.

As the bull market matures, liquidity spreads from Bitcoin to other cryptos, such as Ethereum, and eventually to riskier, long-tail assets.

This dispersion continues until the inflow of new funds into the crypto market cannot sustain the increasing number of assets driven by correlation with the major cryptocurrencies and the new projects being created.

When this unsustainable point is reached, the market collapses, reversing the dispersion of liquidity. Funds flow from long-tail assets back into Bitcoin and Ethereum, providing a reset point for the liquidity cycle.

This liquidity flow pattern is not unique to the crypto market but is characteristic of traditional financial markets.

Beyond halving and liquidity cycles, another vital factor shaping Bitcoins market behavior is the psychological dynamics of market participants. To understand this better, one must delve into Bitcoins on-chain data.

Bitcoins price and the profitability of active network participants significantly influence the market dynamics. Indeed, market participants who have accrued substantial unrealized profits are more likely to sell during market downturns, fearing the loss of these gains.

Moreover, individuals who enter the market after a significant price rise are typically less experienced or less convinced about the assets long-term value. These factors result in a more volatile holder base than the stable base seen during bear market lows.

When discussing profitability, one often refers to a series of metrics categorized under cost basis. These include realized price, a proxy for the networks aggregated cost basis, and the short and long-term holder realized price.

These metrics help understand the state of the market whether it is in unrealized losses or gains.

The change between the market price and the aggregated cost basis can be measured using the Market-Value-to-Realized-Value (MVRV) ratio.

High readings of MVRV, indicating large amounts of unrealized profits, have historically marked the peak of Bitcoin 4-year cycles.

Historically, Bitcoin miners have significantly impacted the market, acting as pro-cyclical forces.

Miners accumulate Bitcoin when it is profitable during bull markets and are forced to sell during bear markets.

However, the term capitalization metric shows that their influence on the market has decreased.

Historically, Bitcoin has maintained some isolation from global macroeconomic factors. However, it becomes more susceptible to these influences as it integrates more with the traditional financial system and garners more adoption by institutional investors.

For instance, fluctuations in the US dollars strength, changes in monetary policy, and geopolitical tensions can now directly impact Bitcoins market behavior.

People often consider Bitcoin, much like gold, as a safe haven asset during economic crises or financial market instability.

Thus, during periods of heightened risk or uncertainty in the global economy, one might see a surge in demand for Bitcoin, which can push its price upward.

The role of regulatory factors in shaping Bitcoins market behavior is considerable and can often be unpredictable. While some countries have embraced Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, others have imposed stringent regulations or outright bans.

Positive regulatory news can drive Bitcoins price upwards, while negative news can trigger steep declines.

For instance, when countries like Japan and South Korea recognized Bitcoin as a legal payment method, its price had a significant positive impact.

Conversely, when China announced a crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading, it led to a sharp market downturn.

A complex interplay of factors shapes Bitcoins market behavior. These include its inbuilt halving mechanism, liquidity cycles, the psychology and behavior of market participants, the influence of miners, global macroeconomic factors, and regulatory developments.

Understanding these factors can give investors and market participants valuable insights into Bitcoins potential price movements.

Despite this, one should not consider these factors as definitive predictors due to the crypto markets highly volatile and unpredictable nature. Instead, one should use them as tools to assess probabilities and manage risk.

As Bitcoin continues to evolve and mature, the factors influencing its market behavior may also change. Therefore, staying updated with the latest developments in Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market is crucial.

Following the Trust Project guidelines, this feature article presents opinions and perspectives from industry experts or individuals. BeInCrypto is dedicated to transparent reporting, but the views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of BeInCrypto or its staff. Readers should verify information independently and consult with a professional before making decisions based on this content.

Read the rest here:
The Untold Secret of Bitcoin 4-Year Cycle: Fortune-Making Patterns - BeInCrypto

Will Clemente III has 680,200 followers on Twitter thanks to his viral crypto analysis content. He co-founded blockchain research firm Reflexivity Research with Anthony Pomp Pompliano while still a teenager.

Will Clemente III is still only 21 years old, but his keen insights into the industry mean hes followed by some of the biggest names in crypto and 680,200 others.

But whats the III thing all about?

Yes, I am a third, he laughs about his family name.

He explains that he dropped out of school in August 2021 while in sophomore year to work in crypto.

Clementes decision has paid off, as the 21-year-old now boasts influential industry figures like MicroStrategy co-founder Michael Saylor, Messari CEO Ryan Selkis and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal among his large follower count.

A bit like a teenage pop sensation being discovered by Simon Cowell, Clemente was originally discovered by Anthony Pomp Pompliano, the venture capitalist and podcaster who proposed they start a blockchain research firm together, before Clemente was even legally allowed to take a sip of beer.

Pomp said, Why dont we start a research firm? so we launched Reflexivity Research in September 2021, Clemente explains.

Clemente explains that, as he gained an obsession with crypto, he lost a girlfriend but not before she bought Bitcoin herself, in the hope Clemente would pretty much shut up about it. It didnt work.

After learning that Bitcoin is probably the thing you want to own most, I became obsessed, and my girlfriend said you need to find a group of people to ramble on [about it], as she was getting sick of it.

Early on, Clemente recognized the importance of grabbing the attention of prominent figures in the crypto industry to get his content out to a wider audience.

I wrote a report on Bitcoins role in the financial system, published it, and tagged all the crypto influencers I knew. Preston Pysh found it, retweeted it, and shouted me out. I owe him credit to go from 300 followers to 3,000 followers, Clemente says.

After Pysh retweeted Clementes report, Pomp stumbled upon it and invited Clemente to be a guest on his podcast The Pomp Podcast which boosted his follower count to 5,000.

From there, it gave me the confidence to go from 5,000 to 10,000, and it just took off after that, he says. I owe Preston and Pomp big time.

Clemente appears unfazed by the enormous size of his audience online.

600,000 its just numbers on the screen, he declares.

That said, hes even getting recognized on the street these days.

When you see people recognize you, that is weird. Four people recognized me, while I was on a walk. Thats when it hit me this is actually real.

Clemente tweets almost every day, sharing a combination of crypto-related news and insights and retweeting trusted content from others.

My Twitter is a combination of Bitcoin and crypto data points, cool data points, different data sources, other research, whether its coming from me or others Im endorsing.

Clemente doesnt consider it beneath him to take the free quizzes on crypto exchanges to earn altcoins for himself, either.

Mild beef: Bitcoin maxis

Clemente is a polite young man who actively avoids conflicts.

Despite emphasizing his respect for the perspective of Bitcoin maximalists, he has faced criticism from the community after shifting from talking solely about Bitcoin on Twitter.

I came in as a hardcore Bitcoin maximalist, then I shifted from Bitcoin as the only thing to look at, which is when I started copping it from the Bitcoin maxi community, Clemente states.

But he was prepared for the backlash and decided it was worth it in the long run.

I thought Ill probably take the shit for a month or two, and then itll slowly fizzle out, he says.

Clemente says he treats his Twitter feed like a crucial data source and carefully chooses who he follows.

I follow a little bit of everything, I view my Twitter account as a Bloomberg terminal, he says.

I also follow meme accounts for fun I guess amongst the serious stuff, he says.

Hes a fan of accounts that share on-chain analysis insights, including Dylan LeClair and the lead on-chain analyst for Glassnode, Checkmate.

Clemente isnt one to get easy likes with big price predictions but anticipates that the price of Bitcoin could reach six figures sometime between the fourth quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025.

According to him, the market has bottomed on a multi-year view.

Clemente also believes that the majority of those who are buying Bitcoin at lower prices are in it for the long haul.

People buying down there arent looking to sell at a double, they are looking to hold at a multi-year, he says.

Were going to see major price appreciation over the next two years, he says.

Clemente says its important to consider that countries will begin to take steps towards moving off of dollar system reliance.

If thats true, in my view, it gives a high probability that they may take at least a small position or conduct a small portion of trade in Bitcoin, given its the purest decentralized bearer asset on Earth, Clemente says.

Most market participants base their expectations of Bitcoin adoption on the future outlook of the global macroeconomic landscape, but I think people underestimate the geopolitical significance of Bitcoin.

Subscribe

The most engaging reads in blockchain. Delivered once a week.

Ciaran Lyons is an Australian crypto journalist. He's also a standup comedian and has been a radio and TV presenter on Triple J, SBS and The Project.

Read more here:
William Clemente III tips Bitcoin will hit six figures toward end of ... - Cointelegraph

Good morning. Heres whats happening:

Prices: Bitcoin continued its two-day swoon, dropping below $28K at one point. The head of research at Canadian crypto asset manager 3iQ linked its decline to U.S. regulatory woes and also noted that "market liquidity remains heavily tilted to Asia."

Insights: With MICA and a separate crypto-related rule, European legislators have built a promising, regulatory foundation for digital assets. U.S. efforts remain disjointed and counterproductive, CoinDesk columnist Daniel Kuhn writes in The Node.

Bitcoin Decline Due to U.S. Regulatory Woes

U.S. crypto regulatory woes have been weighing heavily on bitcoin.

So wrote Mark Connors, the head of research at Canadian crypto asset manager 3iQ, in a series of texts discussing BTC's stumble from what seemed safe heights above $30,000.

"The Kabuki theatre that unfolded in Washington this week suggests Asia and other jurisdictions will continue to gain market share from the U.S., Connors wrote to CoinDesk, adding: "Coinbases decision to get licensed in Bermuda to launch an exchange as early as next week shows that U.S. digital asset companies are now voting with their feet. So this week we had both price and regulatory volatility, with only one clear loser, the U.S. economy."

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at about $28,100, down about 2.7% over the past 24 hours. But earlier on Thursday, bitcoin fell briefly to $27,991 on Coinbase, its lowest level since April 9. The decline continued a two-day slump that started early Wednesday amid a hot U.K. inflation report and massive sell-off on Binance. BTC is down about 10% from last week's high near $31,000 with investors more fretful than upbeat about crypto assets' path forward.

Connors noted that "market liquidity remains heavily tilted to Asia, so he was "not surprised to see bitcoin's downswing start as markets in that part of the world closed. "Remember, last May and June dislocations occurred in a similar window," he wrote.

Ether was recently changing hands at about $1,936, off a few fractions of a point and well off its recent, Shanghai upgrade highs above $2,100. Other major cryptos were largely in the red, mostly darker shades. XRP, the token of the XRP open source public blockchain XRP Ledger, and ARB, the native crypto of the Arbitrum layer 2 blockchain, were both down more than 3.5%. The CoinDesk Market Index, a measure of crypto markets overall performance, was recently down 1.3%.

Equity markets fell, albeit not severely, with the tech-focused Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500, which has a strong technology component, off 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively. Gold hovered comfortably over $2,000, suggesting that investor appetites for assets that hold their value in good times and bad remained strong.

Despite encouraging first quarter earnings from a number of major banks, investors remain warily watchful, given the decline of a number of important economic indicators that may foreshadow recession. Recent jobs data has indicated a fall-off in the torrid employment market, and on Thursday, the National Association of Realtors monthly report showed home prices registering their biggest decline since 2012 and mortgage rates rising.

Meanwhile, Connors wrote that "more volatility" was likely in store, "but not the YTD upside volatility we have seen so far in 2023."

"We may be entering a period of consolidation as U.S. regulation dims hopes and prompts regulatory reboots by many players. Both are counteracting the long running and structural tailwinds for BTC" that the company highlighted in its 2023 Outlook.

Why the EU Has MiCA and the U.S. Has Securities Law Confusion

The European Parliament went ahead and did it: Today, after years of deliberations and at least twoofficial delays, the landmark Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework was voted in. European Union legislators also passed a separate crypto-related rule known as the Transfer of Funds regulation that imposes stronger surveillance and identification requirements for crypto operators, CoinDesksJack Schickler reported.

The rules were described as a"world firstby the European Commission's Mairead McGuinness, and also an end of the Wild West era for crypto assets," according to Green Party lawmaker Ernest Urtasun. The laws, which will be enforced at the state-level, still need to be officially approved by the supra-governmental body called the EU Council, are just about cleared to take effect next year. (The Councils approval is more of a formality at this point, considering it already approved the text of the law last year.)

This article is excerpted from The Node, CoinDesk's daily roundup of the most pivotal stories in blockchain and crypto news. You can subscribe to get the fullnewsletter here.

For many, MiCA represents a crucial step forward for the crypto industry. Its the first major attempt to provide a comprehensive set of rules for crypto companies so they know in advance what they can and cannot do and where their responsibilities lie if they want to operate in the 27-nation strong trading bloc. The European Unionhopes it sets the global standard(and, in some sense, is worried about MiCAs effectiveness in the EU if similar rules are not adopted everywhere).

CoinDeskhas written a number of overviewsof the legal framework. But. in short, MiCA requires crypto firms like wallet providers and exchanges to be licensed by the EU, and comply with money laundering and terrorism finance safeguards if they want to serve EU-based customers. Some have balked at the reporting standards, which will undoubtedly weaken privacy for crypto users in the name of customer safety and national security.

Read the full story here:

Lawmakers in the European Union on Thursday voted 517-38 in favor of a new crypto licensing regime, MiCA, with 18 abstentions, making it the first major jurisdiction in the world to introduce a comprehensive crypto law. Bitstamp Chief Operating Officer John Ehlers joined the conversation. This came as bitcoin (BTC) fell for a second straight day, touching a 10-day low. Options Insights founder Imran Lakha shared his crypto markets analysis. And, Lukso co-founder Marjorie Hernandez discussed why the layer 1 blockchain for creative types is opening a smart contract that lets original validators participate in running the blockchain.

Go here to see the original:
First Mover Asia: Bitcoin Struggles as U.S. Regulators Fumble: Analyst - CoinDesk