Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

'Best bear market ever' — 5 things to watch in Bitcoin this week

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week with a decidedly bearish move — but one which fails to shake investor confidence in the bull run.　　A mixed weekend saw BTC/USD close above $47,000, only to lose all of its previous gains to challenge $45,000 support hours later.　　Its a delicate situation — not just Bitcoin, but stocks and sentiment are taking a beating as the Evergrande implosion in China unravels. What could affect the cryptocurrency market？　　As analysts expect a “choppy” week for BTC price action, Cointelegraph takes a look at five factors worth considering when charting where Bitcoin might be headed in the short term.El Salvador “buys the dip”　　Bitcoin spot price action is hardly inspiring for traders as the week begins.　　A reversal of previous strength on Sunday was compounded overnight, and BTC/USD lost the $46,000 mark.　　Amid turmoil in traditional markets, headed by the Evergrande saga in China, this week may well not end up offering profitable trades. For popular trader Pentoshi, now is the time to take stock and wait for the situation to resolve itself.　　As Cointelegraph reported, $44,000 represents a support wall which Bitcoin now looks set to retest. A deeper dive could yet yield $41,000 or even $38,000, the latter

2021-09-20Deep Dive

Bitcoin Can Become The Global Reserve Currency, Says SkyBridge’s Anthony Scaramucci

The American financier Anthony Scaramucci believes that bitcoin is a monetary standard that could one day become a global reserve currency. He explained the volatile nature of the digital asset with the fact that it is still in its early adoption days.　　BTC Is Effective as a Monetary Network　　During an interview with Natalie Brunell, the Founder and Managing Partner of SkyBridge Capital – Anthony Scaramucci – shared his stance on bitcoins merits and its future development.　　The top executive scratched the topic of BTC‘s volatility, saying that this is something normal for a relatively new asset class and compared it to Amazon. SkyBridge Capital’s CEO reminded that the e-commerce giant is now one of the leading companies, hinting that the primary cryptocurrency is also heading towards that direction:　　“Bitcoin is volatile because it is in its early adoption stage. Amazon had the same volatile curve 24 years ago. But if you have put $10,000 on Amazon at its IPO, you would have $21 million today.”　　Interestingly, this is not the first time when Scaramucci has made such a comparison. In March, he compared the asset‘s performance to Amazon’s stock and doubled down on his belief that bitcoin is better than gold.　　Scaramucci further added that

2021-09-18Deep Dive

Bitcoin Continues to Chop Around $48K as Ether’s Exchange Outflows Spike

Bitcoin lacks clear direction bias while centralized exchanges see record ether outflow.　　Bitcoin is in stasis as lingering macroeconomic risks keep gains in check. Ether, the native token of Ethereums blockchain, is seeing little action in the wake of supposedly bullish record daily outflows from exchanges.　　Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, is trading around $48,000 for a second day. The upside momentum ran out of steam after the United States posted unexpectedly strong August retail sales numbers on Thursday, reviving concerns of an early scaling back of Federal Reserve stimulus. Speculation about a so-called taper had subsided earlier this week following a weaker-than-estimated U.S. core inflation number.　　Analysts at Standard Chartered expect the Fed to announce the taper next week after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets. “The 22 September FOMC will likely signal a tapering decision at the next meeting, providing few details. The [interest rate] dots will likely signal one 2022 hike, and two added hikes in both 2023 and 2024. The risk skew is for more rather than less hikes; the added hawkish lean in not fully priced, in our view,” the banks analysts noted, according to efxnews.com.　　Meanwhile, some observers are worried that Chinese property giant Evergrandes

2021-09-18Deep Dive

Christie’s to Sell Some of the Earliest NFTs – And Only for ETH

Christies is listing a set of 31 Curio Cards and several other prominent non-fungible token (NFT) projects in a live auction on Oct. 1, furthering its foray into digital art sales.　　The 254-year-old auction house made history in March when it auctioned a Beeple NFT for $69 million. Christies Asia branch is now taking bids for several rare CryptoPunks and Bored Ape NFTs as recent buyer appetite for NFTs approaches manic levels.　　Launched in May 2017, Curio Cards is commonly viewed as the first digital art collectible on the Ethereum blockchain, predating both CryptoPunks and CryptoKitties. The set depicts images ranging from mundane objects (#1 Apples) to reimagined corporate logos (#15 DigitalCash) to intricate black-and-white geometric drawings (#26 Education).　　“A true full set of Curio Cards is one of the few holy grails as far as art projects on Ethereum go,” said Noah Davis, head of digital art at Christie‘s. “It’s the first of its kind, predating Punks, even.”　　The set of 31 numbered cards – including the misprinted #17b – is estimated to fetch between 250 and 350 ETH, or between $870,000 and $1.3 million based on current prices of ether.　　The rarest of the batch is card #26, according to the Curio Cards

2021-09-18Deep Dive

From Russia With Love: The Election and Blockchain Edition

Russia will be holding a major election of its State Duma — the lower house of that countrys legislative body, known as the Federal Assembly — on Friday, September 17 through Sunday, September 19th. The reason the voting will occur over a three-day span is to accommodate social distancing and limit crowd size as a result of the ongoing pandemic. The Russian Central Election Commission made that decision last July because the stakes of this upcoming election are so high.　　As context, all 450 seats of the State Duma are up for grabs, with only 226 seats needed to have a majority. Currently, the United Russia (UR) party — which is the political party of Russian President Vladimer Putin — is in control of the State Duma with 336 seats or more than 70% of that house. However, security consultancy GardaWorld states in its most recent Russian Report that the two main political campaigns are drawing closer together at the polls.　　Current polling data shows the UR has 34% of those surveyed, while the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF) has 30%. The report explains another layer of complexity in the Russian election system, where half of the seats in the

2021-09-18Deep Dive

Why These XRP Holders Are Suing Apple for “Fraud and Negligence”

XRP holders went on the offense, proving once more the level of organization displayed by this community. According to a Class Action Complaint filed on September 16th, 2021, several XRP investors accused tech giant Apple of allowing bad actors to steal their assets and information.　　The action was filed by Hadona Diep, a cyber security IT professional, on behalf of other XRP holders in a similar situation in a federal court in the state of Maryland. The plaintiff seek compensation for damages stipulated under federal and state U.S. laws, per the document shared by Court House News.　　The XRP holders claimed that Apple allegedly breached the law by “authorizing a malicious application” to be available for download in the “App Store”. In addition, the plaintiffs alleged that the company was aware of the criminal activity enable by the app and still maintain it without notifying users that their financial information “had been compromised”.　　The app in question was called “Toast Plus” apparently used by bad actors as part of a phishing scam. The apps name and logo were created to imitate that of the popular Toast Wallet, confused users, and steal their funds.　　The XRP holders are using the companys description of the App

2021-09-18Deep Dive

ECB Chief Lagarde Calls Crypto "Suspicious and Speculative" Assets, Not Currencies

During her recent appearance on “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations,” the governor of the European Central Bank, Christine Lagarde, stated that “cryptos are not currencies. Full stop.”　　Lagarde believes that stablecoins can have more trust since they are pegged to fiat and are promoted by tech companies. However, she favors Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) best of all, planning to launch one in the European Union.　　ECB chief slams crypto, says stablecoins are a different animal　　Answering the hosts question about her attitude toward cryptos, Christine Lagarde claimed that cryptos are not currencies but are, rather, highly speculative, occasionally suspicious and high-energy-consuming assets, hinting at Bitcoin, which uses the proof-of-work (PoW) mining algorithm.　　She also pointed out that stablecoins, which are being promoted by large tech companies and are related to the businesses conducted by them, are proliferating now and have to be regulated. However, earlier this month, Lagarde also stated that stablecoins are assets and not currencies.　　Lagarde believes in the future of CBDCs　　According to the ECB chief, Central Banks these days are prompted by their customers to create money that would fit the current century. These are CBDCs: Central Bank Digital Currencies.　　Lagarde stated that the ECB is working hard to put CBDCs

2021-09-18Deep Dive

El Salvador’s credit rating could take a hit amid Bitcoin adoption, warns S&P Global

S&P Global believes El Salvadors recognition of Bitcoin as legal tender has brought “immediate negative implications” for its credit rating.　　Credit rating agency Standard and Poor (S&P) Global believes the country of El Salvador has severely harmed its credit rating after enacting its Bitcoin Law recognizing Bitcoin (BTC) as legal tender nationwide on Sept. 7.　　According to a report from Reuters Thursday, El Salvador‘s Bitcoin embrace exposes its economy to significant financial risks and could pose challenges for the country’s lending industry.　　The credit agency also believes the move could also dampen El Salvadors chances of securing a $1-billion loan agreement it is seeking from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).　　“The risks associated with the adoption of bitcoin as legal tender in El Salvador seem to outweigh its potential benefits,” S&P said, emphasizing the “immediate negative implications” of the Bitcoin Law for the countrys credit rating.　　International credit rating agencies offer a grim outlook for El Salvadors ranking amid the lead-up to the BTC adoption.　　Prior to Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele announcing his intention for the country to recognize BTC as legal tender in June of this year, Fitch had stamped El Salvador with a B- in April 2020 — assessing the country as high risk

2021-09-18Deep Dive

NFT marketplace OpenSea launches mobile app for iOS and Android

The NFT marketplace OpenSea launched a mobile app for iOS and Android users on Thursday, according to a post on the OpenSea official YouTube channel.　　The mobile app allows users to connect their OpenSea profile and discover new works, save works to favorites and filter NFT searches based on criteria such as category, name, collection and creator. Users can also view the stats of NFT collections and get links to exclusive releases.　　OpenSea has not announced the new app on their more popular Twitter or other channels, and it is not clear whether the app is being soft-launched. OpenSea did not respond to a request for comment by press time.　　OpenSea‘s release of a mobile app comes a day after the marketplace’s head of product Nate Chastain was asked to resign after allegations emerged that hed traded on the site using insider knowledge.　　Last month, OpenSea became the first one to surpass $1 billion in monthly trading volume in August and currently constitutes the vast majority of Septembers NFT trading volume, according to The Blocks Data Dashboard.　　For more blockchain news, please download WikiBit- the Global Blockchain Regulatory Inquiry APP.

2021-09-18Deep Dive

TIME100: Why Ethereum’s Vitalik Buterin Deserves The Spot

The annual ultra-prestigious Time 100 Most Influential List is out featuring everyone from Apple‘s Tim Cook to Tesla’s Elon Musk and the World Trade Organizations first female boss Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala. The cryptocurrency industry had just one slot and 27-year-old billionaire and Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin clinched the spot.　　Nominated by Reddit‘s co-founder, Alexis Ohanian, Vitalik made his debut on the influential list under the innovators’ category for his magnificent strides in the world of blockchain through the creation of Ethereum. Ohanian, who has been an ardent follower of Buterin from the infant stages of his career, was quick to add:　　“No other person could have possibly come up with all of the uses of Ethereum, but it did take one person‘s idea to get it started. From there a new world has opened up, and given rise to new ways of leveraging blockchain technology — some of which I’ve invested in.” Ohanian said in response to the global strides of Ethereum. “Whether it is start ups like Sorare reinventing fantasy sports or Rainbow users showing off their NFT collections, none of this would‘ve existed without Vitalik’s creation.”　　Why Buterin？ Well, here are the top reasons we think.　　A builder of builders　　In one of Ohanian‘s

2021-09-18Deep Dive

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