Bitcoin Cash (BCH) experienced a notable fluctuation in its value surrounding its most recent block reward halving, initially dropping to 5 just before the halving but later recovering to around 6, marking an 11% increase for the day and nearly 20% for the week. The halving event, which reduced the reward for Bitcoin Cash miners […]
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STX20 Protocol Demonstrates Potential for Scaling Bitcoin Ordinals on an L2 Network
According to developers behind the project, the debut of the STX20 protocol on Stacks’ Bitcoin layer two (L2) has marked a pivotal moment for Ordinals-style assets. Amid growing demand for innovative use cases in the Bitcoin ecosystem, the Stacks team believes the STX20 test has shown significant potential for scaling and efficiency.
Stacks Seeks to Transform Bitcoin Ecosystem With STX20 L2 Solutions
On Dec. 17, the STX20 protocol was launched on Stacks’ Bitcoin layer two, aiming to test the practicality and impact of Ordinals-style assets on layer two platforms. The surge in popularity of Ordinals and BRC20 tokens has catalyzed a burst of creativity and user engagement within the Bitcoin ecosystem, albeit at the cost of increased network fees and congestion.
Just as Ethereum’s economic activity has gravitated toward layer twos for better efficiency and lower fees, Bitcoin’s Ordinals and multi-token assets can also leverage layer two solutions. Stacks developers believe the STX20 protocol represents a significant step in this direction, with a stress test conducted to evaluate its performance under the intense activity of mass minting and trading STX20 assets.
According to the team, the STX20 debut recorded several benchmarks, including a ninefold increase in normal transaction count on Stacks and the ability to process high volumes efficiently. Notably, Stacks processed transactions 30 times faster while handling 40 times the block size and provided much cheaper transaction costs compared to Bitcoin’s layer one.
One of the standout statistics from the STX20 test was the significantly lower cost of transactions on an L2 compared to Bitcoin’s main chain. The Stacks team emphasized the potential for layer two solutions like STX20 to make participating in Bitcoin’s various activities more accessible and affordable for a broader user base.
Stacks developers think that STX20 test demonstrated that Bitcoin’s L1 activity could transition to an L2 without sacrificing community engagement or compromising on the core value of security. This transition, the team highlighted, is supported by Stacks’ Nakamoto upgrade, which is set to further enhance the speed and security of its chain.
In addition to the Nakamoto upgrade, the Stacks team details that there are other developments bolstering Bitcoin’s layer two ecosystem. The bitcoin decentralized finance (defi) protocol ALEX has announced off-chain support for STX20 trading. The devs also noted that the Fastmint technology promises faster and more responsive minting of NFTs on the Stacks layer, further supporting the STX20 framework.
While Ethereum has seen a great influx of layer twos working alongside the network, Bitcoin L2s like the Lightning Network and Liquid have seen lackluster adoption. Layer twos on Bitcoin have not materialized to anything of substance at least to date, but the network has been clearly grappling with onchain fees rising and a growing backlog of unconfirmed transactions. Stacks proponents hope to turn this trend around and re-invigorate the Bitcoin L2 ecosystem.
What do you think about the Stacks’ STX20 protocol? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Mastercard Demonstrates New Solution for CBDC Tokenization
Mastercard says its new solution that enables central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to be tokenized or wrapped onto different blockchains provides consumers with “a new option to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains with increased security and ease.” A Mastercard executive described: “As the digital economy continues to mature, Mastercard has seen demand from consumers to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains, including public blockchains.”
Mastercard’s New CBDC Tokenization Solution
Payments giant Mastercard announced Thursday that it has “successfully demonstrated capabilities of a new solution that enables CBDCs to be tokenized (or ‘wrapped’) onto different blockchains.” The company stated that this solution will provide consumers with “a new option to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains with increased security and ease.”
Richard Wormald, Mastercard Australasia’s division president, commented: “As the digital economy continues to mature, Mastercard has seen demand from consumers to participate in commerce across multiple blockchains, including public blockchains.” The executive emphasized:
This technology not only has the potential to drive more consumer choice, but it also unlocks new opportunities for collaboration between the public and private networks to drive genuine impact in the digital currency space.
Mastercard detailed that the solution was developed in partnership with Cuscal, a leading payment and data services provider in Australia, and NFTs-as-a-service provider Mintable. It is part of a research project by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), the country’s central bank, and Digital Finance CRC (DFCRC) to explore potential CBDC use cases in Australia.
The payments giant explained:
Mastercard demonstrated in a live environment how the solution could enable the holder of a pilot CBDC to purchase a NFT listed on the Ethereum public blockchain.
“The process ‘locked’ the required amount of a pilot CBDC on the RBA’s pilot CBDC platform and minted an equivalent amount of wrapped pilot CBDC tokens on Ethereum,” Mastercard added.
What do you think about this Mastercard solution? Let us know in the comments section below.
Crypto Carnage Causes Flight To Bitcoin Safe Haven, Dominance Demonstrates
The crypto bloodbath continues to rage on, as bitcoin drops 13%, although to a lesser degree than what was experienced last week. Due to this, there have been several migration patterns recorded in crypto investors as they look for the best safe haven. The first had been the flight to stablecoins for cover from the unending losses. However, the tide has changed on this once again as investors look to now be flocking back to bitcoin, causing dominance to rise.
Bitcoin Re-Establishes Dominance
The decline has affected all cryptocurrencies in the market but data shows that some more than others have had a worse time of it. Altcoins, especially the small cap altcoins, have recorded the highest losses as expected. Bitcoin is not spared from this though.
Related Reading | Ethereum Hashrate Breaks All-Time High, Will Price Follow?
The largest cryptocurrency by market cap is now down 13% price-wise but this has not stopped it from re-establishing its dominance over the market, touching a new six-month high. It is now at a 44.4% dominance and it hasn’t been this high since October of 2021.
BTC dominance returns | Source: Arcane Research
Mostly, the decline of investor sentiment into the negative has been one of the major factors in driving investors towards bitcoin. Since altcoins are getting hammered in the market, investors are looking to BTC, which they believe to be a safer bet compared to the lesser cap coins.
The result of this has been money from altcoins being moved into bitcoin, leaving altcoins behind this. As such, bitcoin has only recorded a 23% decline since the month of May began, the lowest decline of all the indexes.
Others have recorded higher declines. The Large Cap Index came in with a 28% loss in the last two weeks, the Mid Cap Index with 31% in the same time period, while the Small Cap Index has been hit the worse with a 37% decline.
Stablecoins Take A Hit
The whole UST debacle has begun to settle but the effects of the third-largest stablecoin crashing continue to affect its counterpart. After the UST de-pegging, some of that low sentiment had flowed into the largest stablecoin, USDT, which had lost 10% of its market cap.
BTC dominance reaches six-month high | Source: Market Cap BTC Dominance on TradingView.com
One of the reasons for this though had also been the peg of the stablecoin being challenged as bitcoin’s price declined. It is also speculated that some of the funds leaving USDT had flowed into another stablecoin, USDC, which happens to be the second-largest stablecoin.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Marks Seven Consecutive Red Candles, Paints Gruesome Picture For Market
Both these stablecoins have continued to maintain their dollar peg though. This leaves UST as the only stablecoin that lost its peg.
Featured image from Yahoo Finance, charts from Arcane Research and TradingView.com
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Chart Comparison Demonstrates Effectiveness Of Bitcoin Digital Gold Narrative
2020 was the year of the digital gold narrative amid a pandemic and unprecedented money printing. In 2021, only Bitcoin matters and comparing it to gold at this point is selling the coin short.
Now is the age of cryptocurrency, and no comparison shows that better than the two charts you are about to see side-by-side.
The Bitcoin Standard Emerges As Gold Melts Down
Bitcoin was designed by Satoshi Nakamoto as the first form of peer-to-peer digital “cash,” but also sought to give the cryptocurrency several traits of of a commodity such as rarity. This was achieved through the asset’s 21 million BTC hard cap.
The cryptocurrency creator’s early comments showed a distinct fascination with gold, and appears to have been attempting to create a digital representation of the hard money standard.
Related Reading | Stablescoins Act As “Rocket Fuel,” Propels Bitcoin To Another ATH
The term gold standard is used to describe a time when all fiat currencies were pegged to the shiny precious metal, and it was a time that was much more prosperous and wealth gaps weren’t nearly as wide.
The evolution of the dollar and all fiat money into what it is today, did away with the gold standard decades ago. As a result, the price per ounce of gold skyrocketed form around to ,000 this past year.
At the gold bull market peak, however, a passing of the torch took place. The moment gold topped in August, coincides with the moment hedge funds and public companies began buying BTC.
Gold's value has been diminishing while Bitcoin's rises. Coincidence? | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
From that moment forward, Bitcoin has been in its most powerful uptrend yet and spiked from ,000 to ,000 with not even a trillion in capital to show for it. Gold outflows began to rise the same time Bitcoin trading volume and futures open interest started to climb to previous highs.
If the trillion the gold market cap commands makes its way into Bitcoin, the price per coin could reach more than 0,000 a piece.
Related Reading | Altcoins Bleed After Tesla Bitcoin Buy, BTC Dominance Hints At Deception
The chart above shows exactly when the deviation took place, and gold’s downtrend began. Prior to that, both assets initially performed well as a safe haven post-pandemic, however, the digital currency has completely taken over since.
The digital gold narrative has been effective, and now Bitcoin is ready to set it sights on replacing the dying dollar instead.
Bitcoin was once following a gold fractal closely for years, which has thus far benefited the young cryptocurrency well. But now that the torch has been passed, will Bitcoin soon be the asset to catch up to?
Featured image from Deposit Photos, Charts from TradingView.com
Mastering Elliott Wave Author Claims Demonstrates Case For $150 Bitcoin
Bitcoin could be in for a “massive” and “devastating” correction ahead, according to the author of Mastering Elliott Wave Theory. The long-time market analyst and expert on the subject sees potentially a couple more months to years of rally in crypto, followed by a “potentially massive change in conditions for Bitcoin.”
As wild as it sounds, he even calls for the leading cryptocurrency by market cap to drop to as low as 0 after the current corrective wave is finished. Here’s what the author and analyst expects if the scenario comes true.
Elliott Wave Theory Warns Of Coming Disaster In The Leading Cryptocurrency
Analysts utilize several techniques and practices to attempt to predict future price movements. Some utilize moving averages, others measure trend strength. Various unorthodox methods also exist, such as Gann theory that looks at time and price, or Elliott Wave Theory that examines the impact of impulsive human emotion and its influence over markets.
According to the theory, assets move in impulse waves or corrective waves. Impulses move upward or downward, and are followed by smaller corrective waves until the full impulse move is completed.
Related Reading | Current Bitcoin Price Action Closely Follows Textbook Distribution Pattern
The author of the book “Mastering Elliott Wave Theory” Glenn Neely recently joined a pseudonymous crypto trader for an online video demo of Elliott Wave Theory in action.
Using the BTCUSD yearly line chart only, the analyst and author provides a live-action analysis using advanced technical analysis theories.
“There’s almost no doubt that we’re dealing with corrective action,” Neely claims, adding “the question is, what kind of correction is it.”
Whatever the correction is, Neely says, it is going to be “massive.” The author’s targets may potentially be too deep for anyone to take them seriously. Even Neely calls the claims “unbelievable.” But how deep do things get for the crypto market?
Paint Technical Analysis By Author Glenn Neely | Source: Twitter
Final Year of Bitcoin Rally Could Result In Change Of Conditions, Drop To 0 BTC
“We might be in the final year or two of rally for Bitcoin.”
Bitcoin is on its G-wave according to the expert, who says crypto investors should “worry” about when the wave finishes. Why? Neely warns of a “massive, massive decline.” It’s also in an ABC correction with the C-target deeper than the December 2018 low.
Related Reading | VIX Raising “Red Flag” On Stocks, Could Be Bearish For Bitcoin
But just how low could the leading cryptocurrency by market cap go? According to the so-called Elliott Wave “master’ the correction would go “at least to here,” referencing the mouse pointer on the screen. The pointer lines up with roughly 0, as pictured above.
For those skeptical, even Neely says, this is “unbelievable,” and would be “just devastating for Bitcoin.”
Still, he says there will be an “exciting advance” in the “short term” which could be a “significant move up” to roughly ,000. However, this isn’t positive for Bitcoin. He says that the price action according to Elliott Wave Theory suggests that there’s a “potentially massive change in conditions for Bitcoin.”
BTCUSD Elliott Wave Theory ABC Correction Example | Source: TradingView
This would include a drop “way below ,400,” reiterating and emphasizing the “way below.”
As for what might deal Bitcoin such a devastating blow? Neely posits that it could be the emergence of a new Federal Reserve cryptocurrency for the world. The Trump administration suddenly banning crypto in the United States could also be the catalyst for such a change.
With a pivotal election right around the corner, and the dollar strengthening, the days ahead for Bitcoin are especially important.
Can we really believe such a call? There’s no denying the author’s credentials, however, there could be some red flags. For one, it is shocking to see a world-renowned technical analyst using Chrome Paint to perform their analysis.
Another sign includes some negative reviews of his book Mastering Elliott Wave Theory. Amazon reviewers claim the book is “not for the trader who is looking for a practical workable solution” and that “the author wants to boast about his knowledge on elliot wave theory and more so wants to reinvent the concept.”
Neely did create what he calls NeoWave, an advanced take on Elliott Wave Theory that utilizes more than just “intuition.” The bold stunt could simply be a way to promote his analysis, or, he could be giving the crypto market the most valuable warning ever.
The only good news Neely says is that Bitcoin is going to make a highly profitable short soon enough.
ZenGo Demonstrates Proof-Of-Concept of a Keyless Wallet for Facebooks Libra
n ZenGo publishes its open source project, which purports to provide proof-of-concept that its keyless wallet product can support Facebooks Libran
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Inverse Chart Demonstrates Bitcoin Price Following Bear Bottom To Bull Market Fractal
The leading cryptocurrency by market cap has only been around for just over a decade. Due to this, there isn’t much history in Bitcoin price charts to attempt to discover historical repeating patterns that can be used to help determine future movements.
The best example of a previous bear into bull market cycle playing out, can be found in the charts of the 2014-2015 bear market bottom, where the price of Bitcoin bounced hard into a new bull market after the final capitulation candle occurred. According to an inverse Bitcoin price chart, the current bear market bottom transforming into a bull market pattern is closely following a fractal from the 2014-2015 bear market, and it could help crypto analysts predict the upcoming price action as bullish momentum picks up steam.
Last Bear Cycle Fractal Shows Bitcoin Price Has More Runway Ahead
When there’s an air of bias across the market, either due to extreme FUD or FOMO, many crypto analysts and traders will flip a price chart upside down, in order to remove any preconceived bias from their analysis. These inverse price charts can often lead to the discover of new patterns.
In a pair of inverse Bitcoin price charts shared by crypto analyst FilbFilb, the two images compare the last bear market bottoming into a bull market transition cycle, and how it stacks up against what’s currently happening across the crypto market. The two charts are eerily similar, and show a parabolic rise coming out of a bottoming structure.
While i know i have said that there could be a $btc bull trap then lower to k, i need to share this.
If you think that we will do the latter part of the chart dont gamble entirely on k coming along and gifting you the accumulation.. Think longer term and dont be greedy. pic.twitter.com/D2CHRMjIoU
— fil₿fil₿ (@filbfilb) May 17, 2019
At the height of the parabolic rise is a long wick, showing that the price reversed and fell sharply from the local high, much like what happened overnight last night, as Bitcoin fell from near ,000 to ,600 in the matter of a few minutes.
After that, the price of the first-ever crypto asset took a pause for consolidation, then went back on a parabolic tear, causing Bitcoin price to grow more than 1,000% from the cryptocurrency’s bottom over the next nine months.
Should a similar spike occur, and the price per BTC grow 1,000% from the Bitcoin price bottom of the recent bear trend, it would take the asset 50% above its previous all-time high of ,000 and set a new record for the cryptocurrency at above ,000.
Fractals are patterns that repeat on the charts of a financial instrument, like Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. These fractals are usually a result of how humans emotions repeatedly play out, or are due to trading bots and their algorithms executing repeating trading strategies that are effective.
Related Reading | Why The Next Bitcoin Bull Run Could Eclipse The Last Crypto Bubble
Whatever the reason behind the fractal, if it plays out, Bitcoin will reach a new all-time high this year, and help take the crypto market to new, unimaginable heights.
Featured image from Shutterstock
The post Inverse Chart Demonstrates Bitcoin Price Following Bear Bottom To Bull Market Fractal appeared first on NewsBTC.
Research Team Demonstrates Hard Wallets Vulnerabilities, Trezor Promises Firmware Update
n During a conference, a research group explained in depth how they were able to extract the private keys from the Trezor Onen
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Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Technical Analysis: November 2018 Upgrade Demonstrates Bitcoin Cash’s “Decentralization and Freedom”
There is utility in Bitcoin Cash and their ambitions of becoming Bitcoin’s replacement is real. In fact going by the number of developments and adoption especially in SE Asia, Bitcoin Cash deserves recognition. Yes, it’s a BTC fork but at its core it advocates the ideals of the original core network despite BitPico’s claims.
From the News
Talk is cheap, action speaks louder than words. We have heard these words over and over again but do they reflect the actions of BitPico and Bitcoin Cash? Well, we know Bitcoin Cash has supporters and critics in equal measure.
"Bitcoin Cash" is centralized sock puppetry. https://t.co/OJJo5vwEfn
— Nick Szabo
(@NickSzabo4) December 21, 2017
Some think they are nothing more than a “centralized sock puppetry” as Nick Szabo publically said while others think Bitcoin Cash is a coin from heaven. Both may or may not be right but BCH is really is a utility coin. Thanks to their structure, network improvement is easy. Fact is there is yet another upgrade set for November 2018 barely two months after hard forking and increasing their block size to 32 MB.
Talking of BitPico, they claim they have solid findings after unleashing “5,000 attack nodes” to show that Bitcoin Cash is indeed centralized. They have reason to believe that close to 98 percent of Bitcoin Cash servers are “sitting in the same server rack” and asking Bitcoin Cash officials to explain this. Unfortunately, this is not the first time that these centralization allegations have surfaced.
54% of reachable Bitcoin ABC (bcash) nodes are running on Hangzhou Alibaba virtual servers in China. Compare that to 2% of reachable Bitcoin nodes running on Hangzhou Alibaba servers. pic.twitter.com/hXuYuXkYrp
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) December 20, 2017
A while back, members of the community noted that close to 50 percent of Bitcoin Cash nodes ran from Alibaba’s servers. Then again, Micro-soft went ahead throwing jabs at any attempts of increasing block sizes saying those were “degraded decentralization” limiting the network’s ability to scale and hampering through put on a world scale.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Technical Analysis
Weekly Chart
Bitcoin Cash is syncing with bears just like the rest of the markets. It’s down nine percent in a week over week basis as sellers continue to ramp up their positions with targets at 0. 0, as we said before is a key support line and an anchor point for our analysis since it marks 2018 lows.
In case there is a revival then we need to see injection of buy pressure at around this support line like it was in early April 2018 when buyers rejected lower lows and edged higher. If not and the depreciation continues, then it’s likely that sellers might test 0 or Oct 2017 lows, our next support line.
Daily Chart
While we realize that sellers are in charge, let’s also recognize the risk reward ratio is a little bit tight now. As before, our main support line at 0 is but 0 away.
It won’t make sense to risk 0—since supports would be above July 2 highs- to gain 0 or less in the next few days in our sell trade. So, the best approach here is to wait for a reaction at 0. If sellers slice through that level then we shall trade a break out as mentioned before with targets at 0.
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are those of the author and aren’t investment advice. Trading of any form involves risk and so do your due diligence before making a trading decision.
The post Bitcoin Cash (BCH) Technical Analysis: November 2018 Upgrade Demonstrates Bitcoin Cash’s “Decentralization and Freedom” appeared first on NewsBTC.