The House Committee on Rules has decided to review the Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century (FIT21) Act, paving the way for a floor vote later this month. The legislation sets a path for enhanced regulatory clarity in the U.S. crypto ecosystem, balancing robust consumer protections with the needs of a burgeoning digital […]
Bitcoin News
Paypal and First Digital Stablecoins Dominate in December as Binance USD Heads Toward Extinction
The leading stablecoins, in terms of market capitalization, concluded 2023 with a combined value of around 1.69 billion, yet only two of the top ten experienced increases in 30-day supply. Data reveals that tether, the leading U.S. dollar-pegged crypto asset, observed a 2.5% uptick in its supply, while the newcomer, first digital usd, enjoyed a substantial 85.7% rise.
Stablecoin Market Sees Varied Performances Last Month
Although the stablecoin market significantly declined since 2022, it ascended once more towards the close of 2023, reaching heights unseen since last May. Yet, among the top ten stablecoins by market capitalization, only two witnessed an uptick in supply over the last 30 days. From Dec. 1, 2023, to Jan. 1, 2024, tether (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market valuation, experienced a 2.5% boost in supply. Presently, USDT holds a market capitalization of .86 billion.
USDC experienced a slight 0.2% dip, while DAI encountered a 1.7% decline. The greenback-pegged trueusd (TUSD) underwent a 22% contraction in its supply during December. In contrast, the fifth-ranked stablecoin, first digital usd (FDUSD), surged by 85.7%, currently boasting a market valuation of .8 billion. BUSD noted a supply reduction of approximately 39% last month, with its market cap now hovering at just over billion. Additionally, Tron’s USDD also saw a downtick, with 1.3% of its total supply diminishing in the past 30 days.
FRAX and USDP experienced respective declines ranging from 3.2% to 16.7%. Meanwhile, Paypal’s new stablecoin PYUSD notched a significant 68.8% increase, surpassing liquity usd (LUSD) this month. As of Jan. 1, PYUSD’s total supply exceeded 264 million units. In the last 24 hours, the global trade volume has hovered around billion, with stablecoins making up over billion of that activity. This implies that for every ten trades, stablecoins are used in more than six.
In the past month, numerous stablecoin supplies have seen a contraction, yet others have marked considerable growth, forging new paths in the crypto economy. PYUSD, introduced by a behemoth in the payments sector Paypal, stands in contrast to the emerging yet rapidly growing FDUSD, which has swelled impressively in size throughout the end of 2023. Additionally, even after shedding a notable portion of its supply over the preceding year, BUSD continues to maintain strong daily trading volumes.
What do you think about the stablecoin market action in December? Share your thoughts and opinions about this subject in the comments section below.
Over 40 Heads of State Will Attend BRICS Summit, South Africa Confirms
South Africa, the host of the BRICS summit this year, has confirmed that more than 40 heads of state will participate in the summit that will take place on Aug. 22-24. South Africa has also claimed that 23 countries have formally applied for BRICS membership.
40+ Heads of State to Participate in BRICS Summit
Nelson Kgwete, the South African foreign ministry’s media liaison officer, told Russian news outlet Tass that more than 40 heads of state have confirmed that they will participate in the BRICS summit that will take place on Aug. 22-24 in Johannesburg. South Africa is the host of the BRICS summit this year. He was quoted as saying:
Yes, confirmed, the summit will be attended by over 40 heads of state.
All leaders of the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) are expected to attend the summit. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend in person.
South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor recently stated that 23 countries have formally applied to join the BRICS economic bloc. They are Algeria, Argentina, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Belarus, Bolivia, Venezuela, Vietnam, Cuba, Honduras, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Morocco, Nigeria, State of Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia. However, at least one of the 23 countries, Morocco, has denied applying for BRICS membership.
Pandor further revealed that South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has invited 67 leaders of countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean to the summit. Moreover, 20 representatives of major international organizations have been invited, including the secretary-general of the United Nations, the chairperson of the African Union Commission, and the president of the New Development Bank, also known as the BRICS Bank.
Two key topics are expected to be discussed at the BRICS summit: the expansion of the economic bloc and the push to increase settlements using national currencies. In addition, some expect the topic of a common BRICS currency to be addressed at the summit. However, the top South African diplomat in charge of BRICS relations has said that the topic of a shared currency for the BRICS nations is not on the agenda to be discussed at the summit.
What do you think about 40+ heads of state participating in the BRICS summit? Let us know in the comments section below.
Ethereum Loses $1,500 Grip As ETH Heads Down To Correction Phase
Ethereum may have finally exhausted its energy after going full throttle over the last few days that enabled it to briefly hit ,675.
As the altcoin alpha has finally entered the expected correction phase, analysts shared their thoughts, saying the crypto, at all cost, must hold its ,500 support zone if it hopes to initiate another bullish rally anytime soon.
Let’s take a quick glance at how Ether has performed so far this month:
- Ethereum failed to hold the crucial ,500 support marker
- ETH has declined by 6.3% over the last seven days
- Three million addresses holding 9 million ETH could suffer huge losses if ETH continues to decline
But data from Coingecko says ETH failed to do that as after going down by 7% during the last 24 hours. At press time, it is trading at ,480 and it is now 0 shy of the crucial support range it should maintain to fuel another rally.
The problem doesn’t end there for the second largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization as more losses could be underway for Bitcoin’s top rival.
Ethereum Fails To Test ,700 Territory
As the digital currency was on a tear during the last couple of days, some investors and even experts believed it was on its way to finally hitting the ,700 marker which became elusive for the asset for quite some time now.
But shortly after peaking at ,670, Ethereum price entered a downside correction, falling to ,620 and then losing some more of its value to trade at ,600.
Source: TradingView
The decline did not stop there or slow down at all as investors painstakingly witnessed the crypto initiate another pride dump as it fell to ,501.
As ETH now enters a consolidation phase below the ,500 marker, its resistance level was set at ,605. Across its chart, a bearish line emerged, indicating that Ethereum will find it challenging to recover immediately following this price correction.
Bears, by the looks of it, are already in control once again, making the cryptocurrency lose all gains it had after rallying side by side with Bitcoin towards the end last month and the first few days of November.
Trouble For 3 Million Addresses
The failure of the altcoin to hold on to its crucial support zone of ,550 can be attributed to the lack of buying pressure that has sent prices tumbling down.
But more than just experiencing a massive decline, more trouble will come for ETH and its holders if bulls can’t regain their advantage anytime soon.
According to recent transaction data, there are 3 million addresses holding 9 million Ethereum tokens that will be effectively be put under the “Out of the Money Territory” if the asset fails to bounce back any time soon.
If the cryptocurrency decides to take another trip down the memory lane and revisit its recent performances, a lot of investors will definitely register tremendous losses.
ETH total market cap at 2.5 billion on the daily chart | Featured image from Investing.com, Chart: TradingView.com
NewsBTC
Ethereum Leads Crypto Rebound, ETH Price Heads For $1,500
The crypto market is finally showing relief after days in consolidation mode; Ethereum is leading the market with significant profit on lower timeframes. The second crypto by market capitalization is reclaiming its position as a market leader. The last time ETH’s price displayed this price action was in September before “The Merge.”
At the time of writing, Ethereum trades at ,460 with a 10% profit in the last 24 hours and seven days, respectively. In the crypto top 10 by market cap, other cryptocurrencies are following ETH and trading in the green for the first time in weeks.
What Is Driving Ethereum Higher?
The crypto market rebound is driven by a decline in the U.S. Dollar, as measured by the DXY Index. The currency was at a two-decade high due to current macroeconomic conditions, but at 114, it was finally rejected.
Over the past weeks, the DXY was trending higher, pushing other assets into support, including macro assets considered safe havens, such as gold. In particular, the currencies of U.S. allies, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, suffered during this dollar rally.
The United States was facing pressure from its allies to alleviate the stress on their economies. Three weeks ago, the United Nations (UN) called on the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) to shift its monetary policy and halt interest rate hikes.
Since then, some Fed representatives hinted at a potentially less aggressive monetary policy, which might have triggered weakness in the DXY Index. The chart above shows that the currency broke its bullish trendline and might be gearing up to re-test support around 109.
This decline might allow Ethereum to extend its bullish momentum and reclaim the area north of ,500. Data from research firm Santiment, the bullish momentum spilled to other asset classes. Via Twitter, the firm wrote:
Ethereum has surged to ,415 on a breakout Tuesday for #crypto. The Dollar value has dropped fairly notably today, and its growth coming to an end (or at least a pause) would be a key component to the next breakout of cryptocurrency market caps.
Flippening In The Making
The upside move is turning market sentiment more optimistic. Some experts expect the bullish momentum to extend, with Bitcoin and Ethereum facing significant resistance levels at ,500 and ,500, respectively.
Economist Michaël van de Poppe made a bullish prediction for Ethereum. The experts advise traders not to chase the current move at lower timeframes.
If bulls have conviction, the price action is poised to re-test previous levels before reclaiming lost territory north of ,500. Late longs might suffer in this process.
For the long haul, van de Poppe predicted:
Ethereum cracked a ton of levels with this massive move. Great flip of ,320 inducing continuation towards ,500. Ethereum will flip Bitcoin this cycle, but now it’s not the time to chase. Looking for some healthy corrections to play the next move to ,600.
Cosmos Struggles With $17 As Price Heads Into Distribution Phase
- ATOM struggles to break as the price gets rejected.
- The price of ATOM enters the distribution phase on a daily timeframe.
- ATOM’s price needs to hold the key support at to maintain a bullish structure.
- Hidden bearish divergence resurfaces in the 4H timeframe.
Cosmos (ATOM) has been the major player of the current relief bounce, with price rallying from a region of to , with many paying so much attention to its ecosystem as this could prove to be a major player also in the bull run. The price of Cosmos (ATOM) showed so much strength, holding pretty well against tether (USDT) as the market continued to decline in price.
Cosmos (ATOM) Price Analysis On The Weekly Chart
Despite a decline in its price from to , over 70% decline from its all-time high, the price of ATOM showed great strength as price bounced from its weekly low of , rallying to a high of before facing a rejection to break above that region to higher heights.
The price of ATOM on the weekly chart looks strong despite seeing more sell orders lately as the price continues to hold. For ATOM to resume, its bullish sentiment price needs to rally and break above , as this has proven to be a resistance to ATOM prices.
ATOM’s price is trading at .3 below its resistance; the price of ATOM needs to hold above to avoid the price from going lower due to the sell-off. If the price of ATOM holds this region, there could be more belief of a rally to its resistance at and possibly breaking and holding above this region.
A break below would mean retesting lower demand zones and reluctance for bulls to step into buy orders as there would be more agitation for lower prices.
For ATOM’s price to restore its bullish move price need to break and hold above the resistance preventing the price of ATOM from trending higher. If the price of ATOM keeps rejecting the trendline resistance, we could see the price going lower as there are more sell orders than buy orders.
Weekly resistance for the price of ATOM – .
Weekly support for the price of ATOM – .
Price Analysis Of ATOM On The Four-Hourly (4H) Chart
Four-Hourly ATOM Price Chart | Source: ATOMUSDT On Tradingview.com
The 4H timeframe for ATOM prices continues to weaken as prices break to the downside, as there seems to be a hidden bearish divergence suggesting the price of ATOM could retest the support area at .
On the 4H timeframe, the price of ATOM is currently trading at .5 below the 50 Exponential Moving Average (EMA), acting as resistance for ATOM price. The price of .2 corresponds to the resistance at 50 EMA for the price of ATOM. The price of ATOM needs to hold the support area at , which corresponds to the 200 EMA.
Four-hourly resistance for the ATOM price – .2.
Four-hourly support for the ATOM price – .
Featured Image From zipmex, Charts From Tradingview
NewsBTC
VeChain Heads For Consensus Update, Can VET Price Lessen Bearish Pressure?
VeChain follows the general sentiment in the market and has experienced some relief across low timeframes. The crypto market trended below the critical support zone during the weekend but saw it bounce during today’s trading session.
Related Reading | Over 0 Million In Liquidations As Bitcoin Recovers Above ,000
Buyers have been able to push back bears in the short term but could still face further losses. At the time of writing, VET’s price trades at .02 with a 2% profit in the last 24 hours and an 11% loss in the last 7 days.
VET’s price trends to the downside on the 4-hour chart. Source: VETUSDT Tradingview
Despite the downside price action for larger cryptocurrencies, VeChain has managed to preserve its value over the past week. This cryptocurrency is on track to deploy a major update to its network which could be providing additional support.
The VeChain Foundation announced that the upgrade, dubbed Proof-of-Authority (PoA) 2.0, was successfully deployed on a testnet. The Foundation claims this milestone marks important progress towards a mainnet launch.
The update is set to remove the tradeoffs from the Nakamoto Consensus and Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus. The Foundation claims that this upgrade could use a new wave of “mass adoption” as the blockchain VeChainThor will provide its users with data finality and more scalability.
Designed to provide companies with a secure blockchain, use-case adaptive, and support corporate use cases. The VeChain community approved this consensus back in 2021, and once it’s deployed, will make this network one of the only blockchains running on a hybrid consensus.
The Foundation claims that PoA 2.0 will introduce a “finality gadget”, an add-on mechanism that will validate blocks twice. First with the Nakamoto consensus and then with the “finality gadget” to make transactions “impossible to revert”.
VeChain Foundation’s Chief Scientist Peter Zhou said the following on this update and its bullish case for the blockchain VeChainThor:
It’s a huge milestone for PoA2. With the finality gadget, VeChainThor blockchain is going to provide the state-of-the-art security while maintaining its high standard of performance.
VeChain Sitting On The Danger Zone
As VET’s price traded downside, analyst Justin Bennett claimed a revisit of the levels at .01 seemed “likely”. Bennett has been bearish on the crypto market and expects the total crypto market to continue its decline.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Long-Term Holder Loss-Taking Now Highest Since 2019
This could spell more pain for VET’s price, at least in the short term, but provide long-term holders with a buying opportunity as the network prepares to implement PoA 2.0. Bennett said:
This bounce looks weak so far. Most likely another bull trap before the next round of selling. I still think we see $TOTAL reach the 0-0B area before a relief rally. That’s 17-25% below current levels.
I've removed these bids as we'll likely see $VET visit 0.016 at a minimum. https://t.co/URERjQf0rS
— Justin Bennett (@JustinBennettFX) June 18, 2022
Terra Users Heads Up, Why NEAR May Launch Native Stablecoin With A 20% APR
Crypto Insiders founder Zoran Kole revealed the possible launch of a Near Protocol native stablecoin. Via a substack post, Kole claimed the digital asset will be announce on April 20 as an algorithmic stablecoin called USN.
Related Reading | TA: Terra (LUNA) Surges, Is It Eyeing A Correction Now?
The digital asset will be deployed in cooperation with “other well capitalized stablecoins”, according to the post. At the time of writing, there seems to be no official announcement other than this post and speculation from the crypto community.
Therefore, users might want to take this potential launch with a grain of salt. In addition to the USN allege launch, the stablecoin could possibly offer a 20% Annual Percentage Rate (APR) on a product similar to the Terra ecosystem’s Anchor Protocol.
This product enables users to stake their stablecoins, in the form of Terra’s native UST, and leverage a 19% APR. If the launch is executed, Near could gain an edge against Anchor and similar products on the decentralized finance (DeFi) and centralized finance (DeFi) sector.
Kole wrote the following on the implications of a native stablecoin on Near, as he argued in favor of a bullish thesis for this protocol:
They will offer an extremely attractive ~20% APR, which will ignite DeFi capital rotation into the Near ecosystem, siphoning the total value locked from other alternative layer-one protocols.
Data from DeFi Llama records a billion in total value locked (TVL) for Terra. In contrast, Near records 0 million in total value locked (TVL).
In terms of market cap, the contrast is similar as Terra stands at billion and Near at billion. Kole argues that the launch of an algorithmic stablecoin will contribute to Near increasing its market cap and surpass Terra.
Near To Destroy The Competition
Th USN revelation was part of a bigger study on the Near Protocol and its potential to take market share over its competitor in the long-term. Therein, Kole compared this protocol with a live version of the upcoming Ethereum 2.0.
Kole believes Near is superior to ETH 2.0 and other layer-1 blockchains in terms of scalability, and incentives that could boost its adoption.
Data shared by Kole from Electric Capital indicates that Near is one of the most active network in terms of development. As seen below, this network’s monthly active developers far surpass those on Cardano, Binance Smart Chain, Tezos, Avalanche, Terra, Algorand, Fantom, and Internet Computer.
Source: Zoran Kole
Kole believes this trend will continue as the network has the advantages of ETH 2.0 and its own Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) network. This will support the network’s growth in terms of activity and usage. Kole concluded:
This will lead to a comparison of Near to Terra ($LUNA) as the narrative for attractive stablecoin yields proliferates. Terra currently has a market capitalization of approximately billion while Near sits at billion. The catalysts above will strengthen Near’s fundamentals in both the short and long term and likely cause its market capitalization to appreciate by 100% at minimum over the next few months.
Related Reading | Terra (LUNA) Surpasses Ethereum Becoming Second Most Staked Asset
At the time of writing, NEAR trades at with a 1% profit on the 4-hour chart.
NEAR trends to the upside on the daily chart. Source: NEARUSDT Tradingview
Bitcoin Heads For Short Squeeze? Why ETH Could Outperform In This Scenario
Bitcoin has been trending to the downside in the past weeks as investors grew more nervous about the macro-economic outlook. As of press time, BTC trades at ,072 with a 2% profit in the past day.
Related Reading | Kraken CEO Says Bitcoin Below k Is A Buying Opportunity
BTC trends to the downside in the 4-hour chart. Source: BTCUSD Tradingview
Following the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) where the U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell talked about digital assets and potential changes to the institution’s monetary policies, Bitcoin remains range-bound.
Many traders expected this meeting to trigger a “buy the rumor, sell the news” event, but the no-event thesis, as evidenced by the post-meeting price action seems to have hit right on target. As NewsBTC reported, after the crash that took BTC’s price to the low ,000, the market is likely to move sideways.
In the short term, ,000 and ,000 seem like two critical support levels as over million in bid orders sit around those levels, according to data from Material Indicators. Conversely, there aren’t a lot of ask orders in upper levels until ,000.
This could suggest a BTC’s price short squeeze could be in the cards as 2021 comes to an end, a historically bullish period for the benchmark cryptocurrency. In that sense, investment firm QCP Capital commented the following:
Our view into this upcoming FOMC and beyond is that the market is less prepared for a dovish-leaning Fed and would be possibly caught by surprise on a sharp move higher in price. We think that a short squeeze into the year-end or early January is very possible.
In case of a short squeeze, QCP Capital believes either Bitcoin finally manages to break above ,000 into its final bull-run before a bear market, or it fails and returns to levels close to its yearly open near ,000.
Why Ethereum Could Take The Spotlight If Bitcoin Goes Higher
In this scenario, Bitcoin Dominance could take a dive as altcoins and particularly Ethereum seem likely to outperform the first crypto by market cap, according to QCP Capital. The firm has identified a bullish diverge in ETH’s price 4-hour chart for the Relative Index Strength, and MACD indicators, as seen below.
Source: QCP Capital via Twitter
2022 could be a landmark year for Ethereum as the project gets ready to migrate into a Proof-of-Stake consensus blockchain. The Merge, the event that will combine Eth 1.0 and Eth 2.0, is one of the first priorities for core developers and could mark the dawn of a new era for the network that has attracted a lot of attention from institutions this year alone.
Related Reading | TA: Bitcoin Spikes Higher, Why Bulls Could Aim Larger Increase To K
Bitcoin Thanksgiving Gift, Why BTC Heads For Fresh Rally
Bitcoin has been trading on the green side this Thanksgiving morning with a 4.1% profit in the 24-hour chart. Approaching a critical resistance level, BTC’s price stands at ,042 and could see more appreciation in the short if it manages to flip ,000 to support.
BTC trends to the upside in the 4-hour chart. Source: BTCUSD Tradingview
Bitcoin has been rangebound for the past week with low volatility for the most part as the price was rejected close to ,000 on Monday. According to QCP Capital, an institutional investor is most likely responsible for the price action and suppression of any serious momentum on BTC’s price rally attempts.
Related Reading | TA: Bitcoin Breaking This Confluence Resistance Could Spark Recovery
This institutional investor has been increasing selling pressure when Bitcoin attempts to reclaim previous highs, the firm noted. QCP Capital suspects this player or players could be pushing BTC’s price down to place bearish put options on Bitcoin and Ethereum.
In that sense, the general sentiment in the market has taken a dive as NewsBTC reported. Most operators have gone into fear mode but could enter extreme fear if the selling pressure causes Bitcoin to break further down. QCP Capital added:
We are betting that the market will consolidate instead of breaking lower. So we are taking the opportunity to short vols in BTC and ETH as well as take profit on our downside risk reversal position and flip to a topside skew.
As of press time, Bitcoin’s current rally into ,000 seems fairly strong with support in the ,000 to ,500 area. According to the In/Out of the Money Around Price metric, over 3 million addresses bought 2 million BTC on these levels.
#Bitcoin on stable support! @intotheblock's IOMAP shows that more than 3.41M addresses acquired nearly 2M $BTC between ,000 and ,500.
Such a massive demand barrier is more significant than the few supply walls ahead, so #BTC downside potential appears to be capped. pic.twitter.com/uwQOpprsAA
— Ali Martinez (@ali_charts) November 25, 2021
A Great Capitulation Before A New Bitcoin Rally?
Jarvis Labs’ analyst Ben Lilly recently tried to answer the question that seems to be in every trader and investors’ mouth: has the Bitcoin bull-run ended? As seen below, BTC’s price bullish momentum is valid as long as it stays above ,000.
Source: Jarvis Labs via Ben Lilly
In support of the bullish thesis, Jarvis Labs records heavy institutional demand for Bitcoin. Historically when BTC sees these levels of an accumulation from large investors, future price action experiences a strong push to the upside.
Source: Jarvis Labs via Ben Lilly
Conversely, when BTC sees low demand from whales, it suggests a cycle has been reached. Ben Lilly added on the whale accumulation pattern for the past week:
(…) whales are starting to step in. And this change will likely be reflected on the 30-day chart in a couple weeks.
However, Jarvis Labs has been warning about the behavior in the Bitcoin derivatives sector during November. Funding rates across this sector have stayed highly positive and although they have decreased with the recent trend to the downside, they still suggest the market is overheated.
Related Reading | TA: Bitcoin Continues To Struggle, Why BTC Could Dive Below K
Therefore, another retest of the lows and a full market reset seems to still be in the cards. This could be the final sacrifice for Bitcoin to reach a new all-time high in 2021.