In a modest yet positive development, U.S. spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw a net inflow of .5 million, even as the ETF ARKB experienced a substantial outflow of .5 million. Despite ARKB’s significant outflow surpassing that of GBTC, Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust also faced a reduction, with approximately .9 million being pulled from its funds. […]
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Former NFL Star Russell Okung’s Crypto Adoption Comments Ignite Bitcoin vs. Stablecoins Debate
Comments on Lightning Network adoption, made by Russell Okung, a former NFL star who is among the first to receive part of his salary in crypto, sparked a discussion that highlighted the opposing opinions of the crypto community about the usage of bitcoin and stablecoins in emerging markets. Russell Okung Ignites Discussion on Bitcoin vs. […]
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US Senator Elizabeth Warren Comments Digital Assets Are Used to Evade Economic Sanctions
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the illegal use of cryptocurrency assets by bad actors. Commenting on a report issued by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Warren declared that “rogue nations are using crypto to dodge sanctions and undermine our national security,” calling to establish increased money laundering rules on these assets.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren: ‘Rogue Nations Are Using Crypto to Dodge Sanctions’
Elizabeth Warren, a U.S. senator, has commented on the role digital assets fulfill for bad actors, which use them to sidestep sanctions established by the U.S. government. In a post on X, Warren criticized the use of these tools for these purposes, calling for establishing controls that would contribute to diminishing this use.
Commenting on a U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) that examines the use of digital assets to evade sanctions, Warren stated:
A new U.S. GAO report confirms that rogue nations are using crypto to dodge sanctions and undermine our national security.
The report, issued in December, found that “digital assets like bitcoin and other virtual currencies pose risks to implementing and enforcing U.S. sanctions” but that the agency could mitigate some of these risks, given that “many digital assets are recorded on a public ledger, which may enable U.S. agencies and analytics firms to trace transactions and potentially identify illicit actors.”
Warren got hit by a community note on X, clarifying that the U.S. Treasury’s National Money Laundering Risk Assessment report confirmed that fiat was the preferred currency for financial crimes. Nonetheless, Warren called for “crypto to follow the same anti-money laundering rules as everyone else,” promoting her own Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, which would apply Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) rules to several elements of the crypto tech stack.
Warren also got criticized by several actors in the cryptocurrency industry. Coinbase CLO Paul Grewal blasted the referred report, stressing that it was made with “zero comparative analysis” just to “harangue an industry that spends millions and millions to follow the law.”
What do you think about Sen. Warren’s statements? Tell us in the comments section below.
Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC Back Above $28,000 Following Comments from Joe Rogan, Sam Altman
Bitcoin traded above ,000 to start the weekend, after Joe Rogan commented that it had a chance of becoming a “universal viable currency.” Additionally, traders also reacted to yesterday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls, which rose by 336,000 in September, more than the 170,000 many had expected. Ethereum was marginally higher on Saturday.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) continued to trade around the ,000 level on Saturday, as traders responded to podcast phenom Joe Rogan, discussing the cryptocurrency.
Speaking to founder of Openai Sam Altman, Rogan said, “That’s the one that has the most likely possibility of becoming a universal viable currency.”
BTC/USD peaked at ,252.54 following the comments, following a low at ,215.55 during Friday’s session.
Looking at the chart, the move came after the relative strength index (RSI) broke out of its own price ceiling at 61.00.
Currently, price strength is now tracking at a reading of 62.25, with the next visible ceiling at the 65.00 mark.
Should the index reach this point, there is a strong possibility that bitcoin will be trading above ,500.
Ethereum
Despite not being lauded by Rogan, ethereum (ETH) also made marginal gains to start the weekend.
Following a low of ,613.38 on Friday, ETH/USD moved to an intraday high of ,659.61 as the session progressed.
As of writing, gains have somewhat faded, with the world’s second largest cryptocurrency now trading at ,641.61.
The 14-day RSI on ethereum is now hovering near a resistance of 50.00, however unlike BTC, it has not yet been able to break out of this zone.
In the event this takes place in the coming hours, ethereum bulls will likely make another run for the ,700 level.
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Do you expect bullish momentum to increase this weekend? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Comments On Pantera Capital’s Predictions For The Crypto Market In 2022
One of Pantera Capital’s investors, Paul Veradittakit, was brave enough to make predictions for this year in the tumultuous world of crypto. Even though we applaud the courage, we’re going to poke holes in them. Because this is the Internet and that’s what we do here. To be clear, the author went through 2021 biggest trends and extrapolated them into the future. Which is a safe enough technique.
Related Reading | Sports NFT Marketplace Lympo Suffers An .7 Million Hack
Considering Pantera defines itself as the “first U.S. institutional asset manager focused exclusively on blockchain,” you know Veradittakit didn’t even mention Bitcoin. The following is a purely crypto affair. It’s also worth noticing that the biggest criticism that Web3 gets is that it’s funded by venture capital and they’re the ones who will ultimately benefit from it. And, well, that’s just what Pantera is and does.
In any case, let’s explore Veradittakit’s ideas and predictions.
Pantera On L2s and Rollups
Surprisingly, the article starts by throwing Ethereum under the bus. According to Veradittakit, all the action will be on L2s. Those grew tremendously in 2021, and the Pantera investor considers them essential to Ethereum’s scalability.
“As mainstream adoption of crypto continues to grow, Ethereum’s network congestion will only become worse, exacerbating its problems with latency and fees. Rollups are critical to sustaining the growth of Ethereum by ensuring that compute infrastructure is highly scalable, allowing users to interact with dApps with similar or even better expectations around usability as with traditional web apps.”
Reading between the lines, this prediction also says that Ethereum is not going to release any of its network upgrades this year. Which sounds about right.
Pantera On Non-Ethereum/Bitcoin Chains
This prediction refers to the battle of the L1s, or the supposed Ethereum killers. The Pantera investor is obviously partial to one in particular:
“Recent activity in the Solana community, including the launches of massive funds for decentralized social media and gaming, suggests that the ecosystem will continue to grow immensely in the coming year.”
First of all, you can’t have “decentralized social media and gaming” in a centralized platform like Solana. Second, Veradittakit forgets to mention Solana’s constant technical problems and outages. Make of that what you will.
Another tendency the author mentions are bridges, “which enable interoperability between vastly different networks,” which he considers will “accelerate the growth of non-Ethereum ecosystems.” Or, to put it more bluntly:
“Overall, these advancements in cross-chain infrastructure will accelerate the speed at which alternative layer one chains gain traction, fostering the development of a truly robust, diverse multi-chain crypto ecosystem.”
What the Pantera investor really means is that all other L1s will keep leaching on Ethereum. Which sounds about right.
SOL price chart on FTX | Source: SOL/USD on TradingView.com
Veradittakit On Composability and Web3
This theme ties with the previous one. But the Pantera investor gets into a very interesting topic:
“Decentralized identity projects, which allow users to maintain full, more precise control over personal data and reputation, enabling use cases around un-collateralized loans, know your customer (KYC) rules, and more. In 2022, we’ll see more projects expand the scope of on-chain ownership, allowing users to have full, functional control over their identity and holdings in the digital world.”
One thing’s for sure, the world needs “a single login across all services”. No one can handle the number of passwords we’re supposed to remember. This is a real problem. In the article, however, the author focuses on Ethereum-based solutions. We would like to mention that there’s an alternative that uses the Lightning Network. And, you know, that runs over a network that’s actually decentralized.
Pantera On Expansion of NFTs
This is his least controversial take. Veradittakit thinks “NFTs will continue to grow immensely in popularity through the coming year”. He elaborates:
“NFT projects in 2022 will show substantially more diversity in use cases and will reconfigure how we interact with and think about ownership of digital media more broadly.”
However, paraphrasing Vitalik, NFTs have to live through a bear market before they can be considered a success. Is there going to be a bear market in 2022? Probably not. So, Pantera’s prediction stands.
Veradittakit On Decentralized Autonomous Organizations
This prediction is also fairly uncontroversial:
“Given their heightened prominence, I expect to see DAOs become a mainstream vehicle for online organizing and collective action, helping individuals across the globe get actionably involved with causes they care about.”
And the Pantera investor follows it up with this one:
“As DAO operations grow in complexity, I expect to see even more projects building out DAO tooling and infrastructure in 2022.”
More DAOs and tools to manage them? That sounds about right.
Related Reading | Solana: A Quick Review And Look Ahead
Pantera On DeFi Security
This prediction starts with chilling stats:
“More than 0 million were stolen through DeFi exploits in 2021 (a staggering eightfold increase from million in 2020), and an additional 4 million in funds were stolen and then later returned by white hat hackers, like those behind the 0 million PolyNetwork exploit.”
Considering 2021 was the year of DeFi, this should come as no surprise. Criminals follow success and attention. In any case, look at those numbers and extrapolate them to what they would be if DeFi achieves mainstream status.
“In 2022, I expect to see security become a tremendous focus for DeFi projects, and anticipate several more projects launch around better smart contract auditing, precise runtime monitoring, and consumer protections.”
The question here is, is that enough? Or are smart contracts a security risk by definition? Will anyone be able to build an unhackable DeFi protocol? Who will win this race?
Featured Image by JohannaIris in Pixabay | Charts by TradingView
NewsBTC
Time To Pay Attention: Famed Bollinger Band Creator Comments On Bitcoin
With Bitcoin trading sideways for so long and volatility dropping to such uncharacteristic lows, crypto analysts are watching the Bollinger Bands closely.
Even the tools creator has since spoken out about the current price action in BTCUSD. In the past, when he speaks, a major move often follows. Is it once again time to pay attention to Bitcoin?
Bitcoin Holds Nine Consecutive Days Above Middle-BB, Bollinger Bands Continue To Contract
The first-ever cryptocurrency has spent the last over 75 days consolidating below its most important resistance level ever.
Bitcoin and other crypto-assets are historically known for their wild and explosive volatility. But that’s not at all been the case for several weeks now, leading to boredom in the crypto market.
It’s caused traders to get shaken out or move to the sidelines, or as we’ve seen, move onto altcoins. Altcoins everywhere have been surging, with a few setting new all-time high price records.
But because things have become so stagnant in Bitcoin, is has prompted crypto analysts to dig into a technical analysis tool called Bollinger Bands.
Related Reading | Bollinger Band Contraction Could Send Bitcoin Flying 50% Or More
The tool consists of a moving average and two standard deviations, acting as the upper and lower “bands.” As much as 90% of price action takes place within the bands. Reversals also take place when price reaches the top or bottom, giving them a band-like effect.
The bands widen and contract depending on volatility. And because the notoriously volatile asset is so lacking in volatility lately, analysts are comparing instances where the bands have tightened this much to make sense out of what to expect next.
Data shows that the bands have contracted to historic lows – lows that often trigger an explosive move. After yesterday’s powerful rebound from low 00s, it has even caused the creator of the Bollinger Bands to speak up about Bitcoin.
Starting to get constructive on $BTCUSD again.
— John Bollinger (@bbands) July 14, 2020
BTCUSD Price Action Gets Constructive, According to John Bollinger
According to John Bollinger, the creator of the technical analysis indicator Bollinger Bands, it is “starting to get constructive,” in BTCUSD once again.
The tool creator’s comments came after yesterday’s strong bounce at the middle line on the Bollinger Bands on BTCUSD daily price charts.
The leading cryptocurrency by market cap has now held nine consecutive daily candle closes above the middle-line. The current price action is in the process of testing it for the tenth time in a row on the daily.
Bitcoin BTCUSD Bollinger Bands Daily | Source: TradingView
Bollinger’s comments are likely in reference to this fact. An asset’s price falling through the middle line of the Bollinger Bands can act as a signal to sell or short.
Above the middle line, the opposite is true. The middle line supporting price for nine daily candles either suggests that its time for Bitcoin to test the upper band, or it could be the last stand before a major drop.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Closing Above This Level Triggers The Most Profitable Buy Signal Ever
Other times Bollinger has appeared, telling the public “it’s time to pay attention,” usually an explosive move follows. And while that’s not what his comment was this time around, due to how tight the Bollinger Bands are and with so many tests of the middle line, it certainly is time to pay attention to BTCUSD.
Industry Reacts to Mark Cuban’s ‘No Chance’ for Bitcoin Comments
American businessman and investor Mark Cuban believes that Bitcoin has “no chance” of becoming a reliable currency. Amongst other criticisms, the billionaire believes the digital asset is too difficult to use for the average person.
Naturally, Bitcoin’s staunchest proponents disagree. Some have said that Cuban sounds like a critic of the early internet. Others have offered to educate him on the subject.
Mark Cuban Ruffles Bitcoin Industry’s Feathers Again
Billionaire investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban revealed that he thinks there is no possible scenario that Bitcoin becomes a reliable currency. In a interview, published today in Forbes, Cuban said:
“Not because it can’t work technically, although there are challenges, it could, but rather because it’s too difficult to use, too easy to hack, way too easy to lose, too hard to understand, too hard to assess a value.”
Despite Cuban’s apparent scepticism, the billionaire is no stranger to Bitcoin. The NBA team he owns is one of the few to actually accept the cryptocurrency in some capacity. He’s also been involved in a token launch and invested in blockchain funds.
His latest comments on Bitcoin have caused a stir amongst those involved in the industry. Lots of Twitter responses to the original article accuse Cuban of talking down the asset to create better buying opportunities.
There have also been offers to debate with Cuban about the subject. New York-based Attorney Manny Alicandro (@Manny_Alicandro) joked that he would handicap himself to make the discussion fair. Meanwhile, podcaster and Morgan Creek Digital co-founder Anthony Pompliano offered to fly out to Dallas to talk to Cuban on the former’s “Off The Chain” show.
.@mcuban let’s debate this. I promise to keep one hand tied behind my back…
Mark Cuban Says ‘No Chance’ For Bitcoin To Become A Reliable Currency https://t.co/U9hsTGWCwl
— Manny Alicandro (@Manny_Alicandro) December 10, 2019
Hey @mcuban I read your recent comments on Bitcoin and think you may be missing some key information.
I’ll fly to Dallas and we can record a podcast episode to discuss why Bitcoin is likely to be the next global reserve currency.
You in??https://t.co/1dSZQNn8Pd
— Pomp
(@APompliano) December 10, 2019
Others still called Mark Cuban out for seeming to miss similarities between Bitcoin and the internet. Rhythm (@Rhythmtrader) highlighted the irony of Cuban forgetting that the internet started out facing similar criticisms. The Twitter analysis account posted a clip of US TV presenters having a now hilarious conversion about the world wide web. After revealing that they couldn’t start to get their heads around even the “@” symbol, one says:
“What is internet anyway?… What do you write to it, like mail?”
The presenters struggled to understand anything about the innovation or its implications. The conversation sounds ridiculous now, given how deeply intertwined the internet is with our society today. However, many of the points that people criticised the internet for in its early days – difficulty to understand and use, easy to get scammed – are the very ones Cuban uses to say why Bitcoin won’t succeed as a world payments network.
Mark Cuban on Bitcoin:
"it's too difficult to use, too easy to hack, way too easy to lose, too hard to understand, too hard to assess a value"
Surprising from someone that made a lot of their money from the rise of the internet, facing ironicly similar comments: pic.twitter.com/oDzQBfLSLn
— Rhythm (@Rhythmtrader) December 10, 2019
Related Reading: Industry Execs Have Been Calling For 0k Bitcoin, But What’s it Actually Based Off Of?
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The post Industry Reacts to Mark Cuban’s ‘No Chance’ for Bitcoin Comments appeared first on NewsBTC.
Key Comments From Libra Hearing at US House of Representatives
n Legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives heard testimony on Facebooks Libra cryptocurrency project. Here are some key comments from lawmakers and David Marcusn
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Crypto Firm Severs McAfee Ties Apparently Regarding “Whale F**king” Comments
John McAfee will apparently no longer be working with crypto project SkyCoin in an advisory capacity. Although McAfee has not publicly stated the reasoning behind the dismissal, the lead developer of the SkyCoin project and a blog associated with the SkyCoin community allege that the the termination was brought about by the software developer’s recent comments regarding so-called animal abuse in New Zealand.
According to the SkyCoin dev and the blog post, McAfee has been let go over a series of comments he made about having sexual intercourse with, of all things, a humpback whale. McAfee stated last December that he was denied the opportunity to take part in a whale copulating ceremony and thus sought one out to perform the deed by himself.
SkyCoin Casts McAfee Back to the Ocean
Yesterday, crypto uber-bull and software developer John McAfee took to Twitter to reveal that he would no longer be providing advisory services to the decentralised web project SkyCoin. The software developer and controversial cryptocurrency figure did not give exact reasoning for his sudden departure, instead stating that those who wanted more information could contact him via Twitter direct message:
I am no longer working with or promoting Skycoin. DM me if you want to know the reasons.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) March 20, 2019
Many were on hand in the comments to remind McAfee of the SkyCoin tattoo he had previously had done. To one such respondent, McAfee alluded to some potential foul play behind closed doors at SkyCoin:
“I’ll keep it [the tattoo] as a reminder that no matter how old I get, I still get scammed by unscrupulous people with pie in the sky plans. They almost drove me to violence.”
McAfee’s announcement yesterday was suitably vague with many, presumably mostly SkyCoin bag holders, questioning the sudden departure from the decentralised web project. Fortunately, representatives from SkyCoin have helped to fill in some of the gaps within the story.
The first resource detailing the reasoning for McAfee’s supposed termination as adviser comes from the SkyCoin community (known as the Sky Fleet) blog. The post details that McAfee had to be removed from his position as SkyCoin adviser following comments he made via Twitter in December 2018.
In the post, the author, Lawrence Qholloi, states that the lead developer of the SkyCoin project goes by the name “Synth”. Synth, presumably along with other SkyCoin developers, supports the version of events detailed in the blog:
We had to sever our relationship with McAfee after his irresponsible tweets about whaling fucking.
— Synth (@NotSkycoinCEO) March 21, 2019
In the comments section of the Tweet, Synth supported this initial statement and that of the Sky Fleet blog post:
“Our corporate partners do not want SkyCoin associated with animal abuse.”
“His [McAfee’s] drug fueled [sic] demanding demeanour [is] not meant for business”.
Tried ro join a secret Maori Whale Fucking club but the discrimination against elderly, bearded, Tagalog speaking white men, which runs rampant in New Zealand, caused them to mistake me for a well known tech personality, and i was soundly thrashed. Tried on my own and failed.
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 31, 2018
There was considerable backlash from many following this comment. Given the wording of the Tweet, it does seem like McAfee made his whale comments in jest. However, based on how eccentric McAfee can be, the truth is anyone’s guess. The software developer did go on to offer the following as a rebuttal to those who had called him out for making comments referencing cruelty to animals:
Enough of the "Whale Fucking is non-consensual" bullshit. A Humpback Whale weighs 70,000 pounds, is fifty feet long, can dive more than a quarter mile and can crush ships with a single swipe of its tail. If a human manages to fuck one, you damn well better believe it's consensual
— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 31, 2018
From McAfee’s vague statement on the matter, we may infer that he left because he was led to believe the team was more competent than they in fact were. Meanwhile, from SkyCoin team, it seems that the case is more about distancing themselves from a potentially divisive character in the crypto community. The real truth behind the dismissal is anyone’s guess.
However, one Twitter user did offer a third interpretation of events, which referenced some of the “paid shilling” McAfee has done for various crypto projects in recent years:
Is it because everything you promote turns to shit?
—
Shillex
(@shill_ex) March 20, 2019
Related Reading: Bitcoin Price (BTC) Undervalued By Nearly K According to Infamous Dickline
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The post Crypto Firm Severs McAfee Ties Apparently Regarding “Whale F**king” Comments appeared first on NewsBTC.
Most Respondents File Negative Comments for SEC’s Review of VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETF
n Multiple respondents have filed comments with the U.S. SEC on the latest proposed rule change for the VanEck/SolidX Bitcoin ETFn
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