The Ghanaian central bank recently collaborated with the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to demonstrate the use of digital credentials in international trade. The second phase of Project DESFT culminated in the execution of cross-border trade between the West African nation and Singapore in April 2024. Ghana’s CBDC to Streamline Cross-Border Trade The Bank of […]
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Ethereum Lagging Behind Bitcoin Could Demonstrate Altcoin Weakness
Ethereum spent the summer months easily dominating Bitcoin on the back of the DeFi bandwagon. Only recently when Bitcoin broke back above ,000 with a more than ,000 intraday candle to ,000, has the trend changed.
Crypto traders waiting for Ethereum to catch up like the last time around, could be left with heavy bags, according to one crypto trader who says that the altcoin is simply exhibiting “weakness” relative to BTC.
DeFi Summer Of Love Ends In Bad Breakup With Crypto Dominance
2020 has been primarily about Ethereum and the decentralized finance movement, and all associated crypto tokens. These coins, built on the back of Ethereum as ERC20 tokens, exploded in price the more total value locked in DeFi applications grew.
Ethereum became the top performing asset had a stimulus check been invested into crypto back in April, resulting in more than two times the return as Bitcoin.
Related Reading | Asset Manager Who Predicted Ethereum Outperforming Bitcoin: The Trend Is “Done”
The trend recently reversed, however, when the domino effect of business buying Bitcoin was capped off by payments giant PayPal announcing support for cryptocurrenices.
And although Ethereum was part of the list of just four crypto assets to make it onto PayPal, Bitcoin and Litecoin left ETH behind.
Ethereum Isn’t Lagging, It Is Weak Compared To Bitcoin: Trend Trader
Ethereum beat Bitcoin to setting a new 2020 high, and has set a higher high over its 2019 peak. Bitcoin, however, has yet to breach above last year’s peak, but it did manage to finally set another 2020 high.
Since Bitcoin set a higher high, Ethereum has lagged behind, failing to follow to another new 2020 peak.
The altcoin might not simply be lagging, however, and may just be exhibiting “weakness” according to crypto trader Cold Blooded Shiller.
ETH versus BTC side-by-side comparison chart exhibiting "weakness" | Source: ETHUSD Versus BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Ethereum’s weakness relative to Bitcoin is demonstrated in a side-by-side comparison shared by the trader, who compares traders waiting for ETH to catch up to BTC, to those who got burned waiting for Tezos to follow Chainlink to a new all-time high.
Related Reading | Eerie Bitcoin Fractal Suggests Ethereum’s Price Is About To Explode Higher
The new high never arrived for XTZ, meanwhile, Chainlink took off to the moon. Now it’s Bitcoin’s turn, and after such a strong summer for Ethereum, and the air coming out of the DeFi bubble, the weakness relative to BTC is likely to conintnue.
Featured image from Deposit Photos, Chart from TradingView.com
Monthly Bitcoin Lows Demonstrate How Strong The Next Bull Market Will Be
From the moment 2019 began, Bitcoin has been on a steady rise upward. And while it began as a slow trickle, the crypto asset soon after starting moving like a rocket.
Eventually, that rocket ship took a pit stop to refuel and has been consolidating in a tight trading range. However, Bitcoin price has failed to set any new lows. It’s those lows that help demonstrate just how powerful the current bull run is, and how it will easily eclipse what was seen in 2017 at the height of the crypto hype bubble.
Bitcoin’s Next Bull Run Will Make 2017 Mania Look Weak By Comparison
Last week, Bitcoin price closed out the week well below ,000, yet the current price of the crypto asset is now well above it at roughly ,600. Bears were unable yet again to push Bitcoin price to new monthly lows.
Related Reading | Crypto Analyst: Bitcoin Price Drop Below ,000 Was a Bull Trap
The lack of Bitcoin price setting new monthly lows and each monthly low only increasing month over month, according to one prominent crypto analyst, shows the world just how powerful the next bull run will be, and how the 2017 widely-publicized meteoric rise will pale in comparison.
Bitcoin 2019 *monthly lows* show how strong this bull will be
Jan- ,401
Feb- ,399
Mar- ,734
Apr- ,097
May- ,348
Jun- ,583
Jul- ,163
Aug- ,321This isn’t a few months of 2017 gamble mania anymore
This is a store of value in the making
This is just the beginning
— Misir Mahmudov (@misir_mahmudov) September 3, 2019
The comments were shared by economist Misir Mahmudov, who also added that the 2019 bullish rally thus far is “just the beginning” of a “store of value in the making.”
Being a store of value is just one of the many narratives around Bitcoin and what it will ultimately become. The store of value narrative came to light during the early stages of the 2016-2017 bull run as more and more crypto investors turned to holding the asset for the long term, versus using it as the transactional currency it was originally intended to be.
And while the store of value narrative can very much coexist with many of the other narratives, such as the crypto-asset becoming the global currency for the internet, the main narrative that has been driving much of the bullish momentum thus far has been the Bitcoin as a safe-haven narrative.
Bitcoin’s built-in scarcity always made it a deflationary asset designed as a hedge against traditional finance and the banks and governments that are bringing the world to the brink of a major recession. But with a recession almost all but a guarantee, Bitcoin has begun to show its true colors, and has been rising alongside other safe-haven assets like gold.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Price Following 2016 Bull Market Reaccumulation Pattern
The two assets have been tightly correlated, rising and falling together throughout 2019. Crypto pundits like Peter Schiff continue to criticize the emerging financial asset for its use as a safe-haven asset next to gold, and says that while gold is starting the next major bull run, Bitcoin’s current rally is nothing more than a sucker’s rally.
However, given Mahmudov’s bullish statements on Bitcoin, Schiff is likely to be proven wrong over the course of the next year as Bitcoin’s bull run takes shape.
The post Monthly Bitcoin Lows Demonstrate How Strong The Next Bull Market Will Be appeared first on NewsBTC.
Crypto Industry Leaders Demonstrate Commitment to Lawful Digital Currency Use to Europol
Representatives from some of the largest businesses in the crypto asset industry have attended a conference held by European law enforcement organization Europol this week. Wallet providers, exchange operators, and payment processors all attended the event to demonstrate their commitment to regulatory compliance.
Also revealed at the conference was a video game style training unit. The idea behind this new tool of law enforcement is to give officers hands-on training tracking crypto assets as part of an investigation.
Europol Clearly Sees Promise in Bitcoin Tech, But Still Needs to Police Crypto Space
According to a press release issued by Europol earlier today, its sixth annual cryptocurrency conference has been held at the law enforcement agency’s headquarters between June 12 and 14. The release details how various industry leaders demonstrated their efforts to ensure that their products and services were compliant with existing financial regulations.
Representatives from some of the largest names in crypto were reportedly in attendance. Those listed by Europol include Binance, BitPay, Bitfinex, LocalBitcoins, OKCoin, Shapeshift, Tether, Xapo, and many more.
Interestingly, Europol themselves were keen to demonstrate some of the perks of blockchain technology by issuing digital certificates to each of the attendees. These were then uploaded to the Bitcoin blockchain with the effect of “practically demonstrating the benefits of the tamper-proof, decentralized ledger technology.” It is the second year in a row that the law enforcement agency has done as such.
A New Tool for Officials to Get Up to Speed With Digital Currency
Also revealed at the conference was a new video-game style training unit. It has been developed by CENTRIC (Centre of Excellence in Terrorism, Resilience, Intelligence, and Organised Crime Research with the aim of helping to train officers tracing stolen crypto funds, ransomware, drug trafficking, or those associated with some other form of crime.
![](https://www.newsbtc.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/shutterstock_1144500824.jpg)
With most crypto assets being based on public ledgers, there have been a number of arrests already thanks to law enforcement scrutinizing blockchains.
The game is scheduled for release in October at the seventh Europol-Interpol Cybercrime Conference and those behind its creation hope that it will give officers first-hand experience tracing crypto transactions. Previous efforts at tracing digital currency transactions made by law enforcement and blockchain forensics specialists, such as Chainalysis, have already resulted in the conviction of many criminals around the world. Evidently, Europol is banking on increased education of its officers leading to even greater numbers of arrests going forward.
Little is know of the precise details of the game for now. The press release detailing the Europol conference does, however, state that it will be the first example of a law enforcement training tool that uses a video-game style format to educate officials on how best to police the emerging digital asset economy.
Related Reading: Europol Taps Exchanges to Crack Down on Crypto Crimes
Featured Images from Shutterstock.
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Jimmy Song: Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Demonstrate Real Value of Developers
Jimmy Song, a prominent Bitcoin developer and the principal architect behind Paxos, has recently stated that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin demonstrate the real value of developers and developer activity. Earlier this year, Ivey Business School professor JP Vergne revealed in a study that the best indicator and predictor of the exchange rate of cryptocurrencies is the … Continue reading Jimmy Song: Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Demonstrate Real Value of Developers
The post Jimmy Song: Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Demonstrate Real Value of Developers appeared first on NEWSBTC.
Jimmy Song: Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Demonstrate Real Value of Developers
Jimmy Song, a prominent Bitcoin developer and the principal architect behind Paxos, has recently stated that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin demonstrate the real value of developers and developer activity. Earlier this year, Ivey Business School professor JP Vergne revealed in a study that the best indicator and predictor of the exchange rate of cryptocurrencies is the … Continue reading Jimmy Song: Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Demonstrate Real Value of Developers
The post Jimmy Song: Cryptocurrencies Like Bitcoin Demonstrate Real Value of Developers appeared first on NEWSBTC.