The House Financial Services Committee of the U.S. Congress has advanced a resolution that seeks to disavow SEC SAB 121, a bulletin that leaves banks and financial institutions out of the cryptocurrency custody provider market. However, the resolution, advanced with bipartisan support, is unlikely to be passed at a vote on the House floor, according […]
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Preventing an Energy Crisis Through Blockchain
Nothing has shaped modern human life on this planet more than electricity. It powers our homes, our appliances, our heating and cooling systems, our electronics, our computers, our phones and the internet. It powers industry, science, research, hospitals, agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and public transportation. Electricity is so essential that we only realize how dependent we are on it when it is no longer available.
As recent historic events have shown, including fires, floods, hurricanes and other severe weather events, our power grids are vulnerable to failure. They are built on aging and inadequate infrastructure. Whether these systems rely on the legacy electrical power generating systems or they are increasingly dependent on solar and wind, there are issues that we need to face in order to meet higher and higher demand.
Global Power Outages
In recent years, significant power outages caused by various events have affected countries all over the world. Natural disasters have shut down power grids and cut millions of people off for hours, days and sometimes even weeks. It is projected that violent weather and natural disasters will increase in frequency and severity due to climate change. Power outages caused by these events are inevitable. Just look at the recent past.
Hurricane Ida tore a path of destruction through Lousiana in 2021, leaving over a million Americans in darkness for several days. A severe winter storm caused an outage in Texas, precipitating a major breakdown of the grid that cut power to over four million households, the largest and longest such outage recorded in U.S history. In Australia, the mega fire of the 2020 wildfire season created significant power outages, affecting millions.
Many other nations have faced outages caused by unnatural factors, including regional unrest, terrorist activities and technical issues. Usually, power supply to a region requires complex mapping and transfers over transmission lines to regional substations. If one or more parts of this complex structure break down, an outage potent enough to shut down the entire grid may arise.
Solutions through Blockchain Technology
In recent years, many tech startups have tried to apply blockchain technology to the power sector in various ways. For some companies, the plan is to develop projects that enhance existing markets for electricity trading. For others, creating a blockchain-powered system that bypasses a central utility provider and enables peer-to-peer transactions is paramount. In addition, other startups track the production and distribution of clean energy using blockchain technology.
Avatu is a new kind of company, one that seeks to revolutionize power distribution through blockchain technology and address issues around the reliability and dependability of energy distribution. As increased demand for electricity continues to spike and the current grid is unable to handle the pressure, Avatu has a solution that will democratize the distribution of energy and create an entirely new market within the electrical distribution ecosystem.
The company has a solution that will allow users to transmit stored power on demand, managing the entire storage and transmission process through a decentralized blockchain system for reliability and transparency. Avatu will use a Proof of Power (PoP) consensus algorithm to ensure that readings are reliable and ready for deployment.
Decarbonization Through Decentralization
Avatu is a tech startup that focuses on delivering energy-related solutions and services. The company will address the issues of fragile and unreliable power utility grids, the rigidity of renewable power, and high costs of power consumption through a democratized power system run by its native token economy.
The Avatu ecosystem accommodates ever-growing global energy demand by providing services anywhere there is power generation and consumption. Avatu facilitates seamless and instantaneous demand-based power generation and supply while rewarding users through its AVATU token.
The main component of the Avatu system is The Magic Box which is designed for individual, residential use. It is a lithium-ion-based 1kWh battery that connects to the internet with a battery that discharges 250Wh for four hours.
The Magic Box only requires a standard power outlet and a connection to an available wireless network. The link connects the Magic Box to the AVATUChain and allows users to track it on a mobile app or desktop dashboard, enabling real-time power generation and supply monitoring. The Magic Box also allows its users to perform energy mining to earn its native token.
Solving Real-World Problems
As the global population increases, demand for power will continue to surge. Avatu is seeking to prevent shortages and/or complete outages via the blockchain and change the face of power storage and distribution as we know it. Regions susceptible to power outages can rely on The Magic Box for a decentralized, user-powered network to access needed energy bringing more utility to crypto while solving problems that individuals might not otherwise be able to participate in.
On-Chain Analysis Suggests There Are Few Bitcoin Sellers Preventing a Rally
Bitcoin has seemingly entered no man’s land, with the price ping-ponging between ,000 and ,000. A top analyst has corroborated this sentiment, recently noting that neither his bull nor bear case has been confirmed.
Chances are that this consolidation will resolve upward, though, according to a new analysis. This analysis suggests that there is little on-chain resistance stopping BTC from rallying to new local highs and beyond.
Related Reading: Crypto Tidbits: MicroStrategy’s 0m Bitcoin Purchase, ETH DeFi Boom, BitMEX KYC
Bitcoin Could Be Buoyed as Few Sellers Remain
According to recent data from WhaleMap shared by a crypto trader, there is little on-chain resistance stopping a Bitcoin rally from current levels. Referencing the chart below, the trader wrote:
“To add to this…: This chart shows where bitcoins where accumulated at. What do you see? There are very few bag holders left. Meaning, there is little sell pressure left. The only real sell pressure now is people taking profits.”
Chart of BTC's price action over the past three years with a on-chain upsent BTC analysis shared by crypto trader ByzantineGeneral and from WhaleMap.io
Mike McGlone, senior analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, has also commented on how Bitcoin’s supply-and-demand dynamics suggest prices are tilted to appreciate in the longer run.
The commodity analyst and cryptocurrency bull said the following on August 19th:
Bloomberg Intelligence Commodity Primer – Something unexpected needs to happen for #Bitcoin’s price to stop doing what it’s been doing for most of the past decade: appreciating. Demand and adoption metrics remain favorable vs. the #crypto asset’s unique attribute of fixed supply.
Bloomberg Intelligence Commodity Primer – Something unexpected needs to happen for #Bitcoin's price to stop doing what it's been doing for most of the past decade: appreciating. Demand and adoption metrics remain favorable vs. the #crypto asset's unique attribute of fixed supply. pic.twitter.com/E0wxubOlHF
— Mike McGlone (@mikemcglone11) August 19, 2020
Related Reading: These 3 Trends Suggest Bitcoin Is Poised to Bounce After ,000 Drop
Fundamental Trends Suggest Bulls Are in Control
Certain fundamental trends also suggesting that Bitcoin bulls are in control.
Fidelity Investments this week filed paperwork with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a Bitcoin-focused fund.
Dubbed the “Wise Origin Bitcoin Index Fund I, LP,” the fund will soon be offered to accredited investors, analysts say. Bloomberg sources have said that fund will only hold Bitcoin, and will act as a way for accredited investors to gain exposure to the flagship digital asset:
“The passively-managed, Bitcoin-only fund will be made available to qualified purchasers through family offices, registered investment advisers and other institutions, according to a person familiar with the matter. Fidelity Digital Assets will custody the fund, the person said. The minimum investment is 0,000.”
Adding to this, Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell announced this week that the central bank may let inflation drift above the 2% target. Analysts say that this comment boosts the intrinsic value of scarce assets like BTC and gold.
Featured Image from Shutterstock Price tags: xbtusd, btcusd, btcusdt Charts from TradingView.com On-Chain Analysis Suggests There Are Few Bitcoin Sellers Preventing a Rally
There’s Over $10M Preventing Bitcoin From Breaking Past $9,500
Bitcoin has made an attempt at recovering the losses it incurred late last week. On Sunday, the cryptocurrency rallied as high as ,200 as buyers stepped in and shorts were squeezed.
Yet order book data indicates that BTC may have a tough time rallying any further.
Related Reading: A Hacker Just Drained 0k in Ethereum & Altcoins From a DeFi App
Over Million Worth of Asks at ,500 on Binance Alone
According to a crypto trader, traders on Binance have made a stand at ,500-9,550. According to order book data from the exchange’s Bitcoin/U.S. equivalent market, there is over 1,300 BTC worth of orders at that level.
That’s to say, there is million worth of sell orders at that region waiting to slow any rally. That is one of the biggest Bitcoin walls Binance traders have collectively formed in a few days, according to the charts.
BTC chart over the past few days with order book dominance indicator from trader "Coiner-Yadox" (@yodaskk on Twitter)
Buyers on the Downside
Large sellers may be putting asks at the topside of Bitcoin’s price, but there are buyers to the downside.
As reported by NewsBTC previously, a trader observed that a “Bitfinex” whale has begun to stack long orders between ,600-8,900.
This is pertinent as Bitfinex’s order book has been one of the most accurate directional indicators for BTC over the past few months. The book registered a series of strong buy orders in the ,000s when Bitcoin traded there in April, then called the ,400 top at the start of June.
BTC price chart with order book dominance bands indicator shared by day trader "Jonny Moe" (@Jonnymoetrades on Twitter)
In a similar vein of news, Grayscale Investments has continued to add Bitcoin to its trust.
Technology analyst Kevin Rooke has made the observation over recent weeks that the company is adding more BTC its trust than BTC mined.
There is some that debate the validity of this figure. Yet most agree that this fact alone suggests a growing institutional bid supporting the crypto market.
Bitcoin Bears Likely to Win
It might be bears that win this tug-of-war, though.
On-chain analyst Cole Garner said the following on June 24th about the details of Bitfinex’s order book data:
“More importantly, Bitfinex orderbook delta has been skewed massively to the sell side for almost six weeks.The birds-eye-view of BFX’s orderbook has been an accurate leading indicator of #Bitcoin’s next move nearly every swing for the past nine months.”
The “skewed” order book delta adds to a confluence of other bearish fundamentals he identified. These include an influx of withdrawals from miner wallets to exchanges, institutions building a net short position via the CME, and correlation with the S&P 500.
Featured Image from Shutterstock Price tags: xbtusd, btcusd, btcusdt There's Over M Preventing Bitcoin From Breaking Past ,500
There’s a $10+ Million Sell Wall At $9,400 Preventing a Bitcoin Rally
For the umpteenth day in a row, Bitcoin has stalled in the low-,000s. Bulls and bears have found themselves at an impasse, with neither side forming a trend as there is also indecision in the equity market.
Bears may soon take the high ground as a trader has noted that Bitcoin is approaching a multi-million-dollar sell wall poised to slow and maybe even stop any rally.
Related Reading: Ethereum Could Soon “Rally Hard” as DeFi Hits Escape Velocity: Fund Manager
There’s a Big Bitcoin Sell Wall Preventing A Rally
According to a trader, Bitcoin may have trouble breaking past ,400 due to the existence of a large sell wall on Binance.
A sell wall is a block of sell orders that suggests there is a large amount of demand to dump an asset at a specified price/range.
The sell wall in question is made up of 1,300 BTC and is situated at ,450 per the analyst. That’s nearly million preventing a Bitcoin rally past ,450 should the wall persist.
Bitcoin sell wall chart shared by trader/analyst Coiner-Yadox (@Yodassk on Twitter).
There is a silver lining to the analyst’s chart: there purportedly is a refilling price wall at ,200 on Coinbase that could suggest that the Binance seller is surpressing prices to fill their Coinbase base. That’s according to the trader that shared the chart above anyway.
There Are Still Buyers
The reason why Bitcoin hasn’t seen a strong rejection in the ,400 range to fall under the ,000 support is due to the presence of buyers, which are still bidding the cryptocurrency despite the fears of a retracement.
Altana Digital Currency Fund’s Alistair Milne noted that along with 61% of Bitcoin being “HODLed,” there is currently more buy support than sell-side orders on Bitfinex. His data indicates that within ~0 of the current Bitcoin price, there is twice more orders looking to buy BTC than sell it.
The existence of buy support is further corroborated by Grayscale Investments’ Bitcoin Trust, which trades on public OTC markets under the ticker of GBTC.
Grayscale documents filed to the SEC indicate that the trust has added more than 60,000 coins to their holdings in the past 12 weeks.
Related, data from CryptoQuant has shown that Bitcoin miners are extremely hesitant to sell their holdings, with the site’s miner positioning index reaching lows not seen since December 2019. The index bottoms and reaches low values when miners expect Bitcoin to rebound, then increases as miners sell their coins for cash near the peaks of trends.
Whether enough this bid will be enough to support Bitcoin above ,000 in the long run remains to be seen.
Related Reading: Crypto Tidbits: Bitcoin Holds k, Ethereum DeFi Gains Traction, Trump Talked BTC in 2018
Featured Image from Shutterstock Price tags: xbtusd, btcusd, btcusdt Charts from TradingView.com There's a + Million Sell Wall At ,400 Preventing a Bitcoin Rally
There’s a Colossal $40M Sell Wall Preventing Bitcoin From Crossing $10,000
The price action over the past few days has undoubtedly been positive for Bitcoin. After bottoming at ,180 on the day of the block reward halving, the cryptocurrency has shot higher, approaching ,900 just hours ago.
With the price now consolidating around ,800, analysts are hopeful that BTC will break past ,000. Yet market data indicates that there’s a building sell wall at the key psychological and technical level that may halt any rally.
Bitcoin Sell Wall Worth Dozens of Millions Could Halt Rally
According to order book data of Bitfinex’s BTC/USD market shared by a popular crypto trader, there’s a massive block of orders looking to sell Bitcoin around ,000 that may be hard to break past.
Bitfinex’s order book suggests that from ,900 to ,600, there is ~4,200 Bitcoin worth of sell orders, most of which are clustered around ,000-10,200. That means on one exchange alone, there is over million worth of sell-side pressure if the cryptocurrency attempts to rally past ,000.
Order book (BTC/USD) screenshot from Majin (@Majinsayan on Twitter), a crypto trading.
Similarly, another trader noted two days ago that according to market data, there is 2,461 BTC worth of sell orders at ,000 on Binance and 500 BTC worth of sell orders at ,000 on Bitstamp.
It is unclear if the aforementioned sell walls on these other exchanges exist, but it is clear deep pockets are hesitant to let Bitcoin pass ,000.
Dangerous Precedent
Over million in sell orders may not seem like a lot in a market where dozens of billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency changes hands each day. But the last time Bitcoin saw a sell wall similar to the current one, it crashed.
As reported by NewsBTC previously, on May 9th the cryptocurrency encountered a massive million sell wall from the price of ,010 until ,230.
Chart from Nik Yaremchuk, a former analyst at crypto fund Adaptive Capital. It indicates there’s massive selling pressure building above the Bitcoin price.
In the two days after this sell wall was encountered, the cryptocurrency plunged ,000, crushed as bulls failed to surmount that key level.
Bitcoin Will Eventually Break Past It
Despite these fears of a sell wall halting a Bitcoin rally, analysts remain optimistic, citing the technical outlook.
One prominent trade, for instance, recently shared the chart below. It indicates that despite the correction over the past few days, Bitcoin remains above a key resistance: the downtrend that was formed after BTC topped at ,000 in 2019. This is a positive time, he suggested when he wrote:
“Zooming out on the three-day chart we can clearly see the downtrend from the 14k high is already broken and we are simply consolidating and retesting here.”
Price chart from @SmartContracter on Twitter, a prominent cryptocurrency trader. The chart depicts Bitcoin breaking past the downtrend that has been in place since the bull market top at ,000 in 2019.
Featured Image from Lucas Law on Unsplash
NewsBTC
Trader Says Preventing XRP Investments in 2019 is His Proudest Achievement
It’s been a frustrating year for cryptocurrency as a whole, more so for the alts. But none of the high caps have underwhelmed as much as XRP. In line with this, following further drops this week, the case for XRP, as an investment, is looking weak.
2019 Has Been Disappointing For XRP Holders
Even the biggest Ripple advocates would concede that 2019 has been something of a disappointment for XRP. After the start of November, the third-largest cryptocurrency by market cap has been in freefall, losing 38% since then.
At the time of writing, XRP is trading below key resistance of .20, wavering at around .1961. Indeed, ever since November’s drop, XRP has traded mostly below the 20-day EMA.
This contrasts with BTC and ETH, which have both experienced a narrowing of range these past few weeks.
And looking at the bigger picture shows no signs of reprieve. At the start of the year, XRP was priced at .3632, before a spike in May took it to .4799. And then a further surge in July touched just shy of .51 at .5081.
However, following July’s YTD high, things have been in a downward trend. And while the hype surrounding the annual Swell conference did halt the decline, it wasn’t enough to sustain an uptrend.
Currently, YTD performance equates to a 32% loss. Making it the worst-performing cryptocurrency out of the top ten, and by some margin as well.
Analyst Assessment
With that in mind, it’s unsurprising that many analysts have come out to slate XRP. Trader, Jacob Canfield tweeted how proud he was to warn friends and family against investing in XRP throughout this year and last.
I cannot tell you how many friends and family members I saved from buying $XRP in 2018 and 2019.
It has to be in the hundreds.
My answer of when to buy has always been *maybe* $.10 to $.15, but even then I would be cautious.
This has to be my proudest achievement of 2019. pic.twitter.com/RJM2osAyJb
— Jacob Canfield (@JacobCanfield) December 17, 2019
While Canfield does see the merit in what Ripple is trying to achieve, he maintains that he always saw a significant decline in the cards for the divisive token.
And back in April, just after a significant price spike and FOMO was taking hold, when questioned on when to buy, he said that the .19 – .21 range is an appropriate level.
“Originally, I gave $.19 – $.21 back in April when price was hovering around $.40. I then revised it after I saw the parabolic downtrend to $.10 to $.15.”
However, following the dismal performance of late, and a belief that more price drops are incoming, he has adjusted his buy range to the .10 to .15 mark.
This is a view shared by the analyst, Suchtaste, who has charted a year-end price of .1549, with further drops to around .14 by the end of January 2020.
But unlike Canfield, Suchtaste, using a 261-day pattern chart, gives hope for XRP holders by saying the end of January 2020 will see a trend reversal, with a price prediction of .30 by the start of March.
“Overlooking the entire chart data we have on XRP, we can see that the largest impulsive price movements are found every 261 days on average, indicating that end of January/Start of February may show another large impulse to the upside.”
The post Trader Says Preventing XRP Investments in 2019 is His Proudest Achievement appeared first on NewsBTC.
EOS is poised for Bull Run But What’s Preventing a Breakout: Factors & Trends
- EOS is slightly recovering as bulls seem to be back in the game
- The short-term correction is keeping EOS on suspense for a major bullish move
Over the past few days, EOS has seen relatively strong growth of about 23% after establishing a mid-year low at around .4 on September 25.
Recently, the price of EOS stalled around .5, currently the monthly high. The cryptocurrency has increased by 2.37%, now trading at the .47 price level. The 7th largest cryptocurrency in the global market is likely to recover above key resistance levels if the market corrects gains.
EOS Price Prediction
Looking into the daily chart, EOS has been shaping inside a descending channel since July but the price has recently been up for a while now. Meanwhile, the last six weeks of trading have positioned the asset on an uptrend, which makes the price to test the channel’s resistance at .5 earlier this month.
At the time of writing, the EOS/USD pair has gained support at .4, followed by .2. If the token corrects below this mentioned support, the next low may be located at .5. A further drive may cause the market to plunge at the channel’s lower boundary.
However, the cryptocurrency is currently demonstrating bearish movement on the hourly chart. If the price can stay well above , the EOS market is expected to bounce back to .65. A price surge could move the token out of the channel boundary to and .6 resistance levels. All in all, the bulls seem to be stepping back into the market.
EOS is ready for a positive breakout on the daily chart but it appears that the recent price drop is keeping the bulls waiting. If the asset can surpass the .365 price levels, the price could demonstrate an extended rally before the end of the year. Inversely, a rejection may lead the market to serious price reductions.
Technical Indicator Reading
Hourly MACD – The hourly MACD for EOS is currently positive but may still turn down at the zero levels before swinging higher.
Hourly RSI – The RSI for EOS is a bit weak to the 50 levels, although rebound is likely on the yellow diagonal support.
Key resistance levels: .65, , .6
Key support levels: .2, .9, .5
Featured image from Unsplash
The post EOS is poised for Bull Run But What’s Preventing a Breakout: Factors & Trends appeared first on NewsBTC.
President Trump Issues Executive Order Preventing Any U.S. Involvement With Venezuela’s Petro
In the latest move by the U.S. government to restrict the Maduro regime’s access to capital, President Donald Trump has issued an executive order banning any transactions within the U.S. involving “any digital currency, digital coin, or digital token, that was issued by, for, or on behalf of the Government of Venezuela on or after January 9, 2018.” This ban is most likely aimed at the Petro.
The order applies to U.S. citizens as well as any person within the United States. According to Russ Dallen, managing director at Caracas Capital, “it’s a pretty big blow” for the country.
Venezuela launched the oil-backed Petro cryptocurrency in February in attempts to help pull the country out of a continuing economic crisis where inflation is estimated to spiral to 13,000% later this year. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said each Petro token would be backed by one barrel of the state’s oil. Maduro also said roughly 100 million petro tokens would be issued — estimated to be worth around billion.
U.S Moves
Last August, the Trump administration barred the trading of new debt issued by Venezuela’s government and its state-owned oil company in U.S. markets amid deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the nation. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said at a news conference following the announcement that the order was, as expected, meant to restrict the Venezuelan government’s access to capital.
President Trump has also said he would not rule out a “military option” in Venezuela as the Maduro regime consolidates power:
“We have many options for Venezuela, including a possible military option, if necessary,” Trump told reporters, also last August.
Fast forward to today, the U.S. government has been weighing sanctions on Venezuela’s all-important oil sector before the nation’s presidential election on May 20th. Further sanctions could be a potentially crippling blow to the Maduro government, which depends almost exclusively on oil sales to sustain what’s left of the country’s economy.
The Organization of American States & the Summit of the Americas
According to Mike Pence’s office, the Vice President will further pressure Maduro’s government in a speech Wednesday to a session of the Organization of American States:
“The Vice President will call on all members to increase pressure on the Maduro regime to restore the country’s democracy and address the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Venezuela,” Pence’s spokeswoman, Alyssa Farah, said today in a statement.
President Trump himself plans to attend the Summit of the Americas in Lima next month, where his administration is likely to highlight its efforts to isolate the Venezuelan government.
The post President Trump Issues Executive Order Preventing Any U.S. Involvement With Venezuela’s Petro appeared first on NewsBTC.