bitcoin: February 2021

Sunday, February 28, 2021

Here’s how the Purpose Bitcoin ETF differs from Grayscale’s GBTC Trust

The newly launched Purpose Bitcoin ETF surpassed even the most bullish expectations but how does it differ from Grayscale’s GBTC Trust?

Since 2017, investors have been anxiously awaiting a Bitcoin ETF approval as the existence of such a fund was an important symbol of mass adoption and acceptance from the realm of traditional finance.

On Feb. 18, the Toronto Stock Exchange hosted the official launch of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF and the fund quickly absorbed more than $333 million in market capitalization in just two days.

Now that the long-awaited Bitcoin ETF is here, investors are curious about how it will compete with Grayscale Investments GBTC fund. On Feb. 17, Ark Investment Management founder and CEO Cathie Wood said the likelihood that U.S. regulators will approve a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund has gone up.

Although exchange-traded funds (ETF) and exchange-traded notes (ETN) sound quite similar, there are fundamental differences in trading, risks, and taxation.

What is an exchange-traded fund?

An ETF is a security type that holds underlying investments such as commodities, stocks, or bonds. It often resembles a mutual fund, as it is pooled and managed by its issuer.

ETFs have become a $7.7 trillion industry, growing by 65% in the last two years alone.

The most recognizable example is the SPY, a fund that tracks the S&P 500 index, currently managed by State Street. Invesco's QQQ is another EFT that tracks U.S.-based large-capitalization technology companies.

More exotic structures are available, such as the ProShares UltraShort Bloomberg Crude Oil ($SCO). Using derivatives products, this fund aims to offer two times the daily short leverage on oil prices.

What is an exchange-traded note?

Exchange-traded notes (ETN) are similar to an ETF in that trading occurs using traditional brokers. Still, the difference is an ETN is a debt instrument issued by a financial institution. Even if the fund has a redemption program, the credit risk relies entirely on its issuer.

For example, after Lehman Brothers imploded in 2008, it took ETN investors more than a decade to recoup the investment.

On the other hand, buying an ETF gives one direct ownership of its contents, creating different taxation events when holding futures contracts and leveraging positions. Meanwhile, ETNs are taxed exclusively upon sale.

GBTC does not offer conversion or redemption

Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust Fund (GBTC) is the absolute leader in the cryptocurrency market, with $35 billion in assets under management.

Investment trusts are structured as companies — at least in regulatory form — and are 'closed-end funds.' Thus, the number of shares available is limited and the supply and demand for them largely determines their price.

Investment trust funds are regulated by the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), therefore outside the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) authority.

GBTC shares cannot easily be created, neither is there an active redemption program in place. This tends to generate significant price discrepancies from its Net Asset Value, which is the underlying BTC fraction represented.

An ETF, on the other hand, allows the market maker to create and redeem shares at will. Therefore, a premium or discount is usually unlikely if enough liquidity is in place.

An ETF instrument is far more acceptable to mutual fund managers and pension funds as it carries much less risk than a closed-ended trust like GBTC. Retail investors may not have been aware of the possibility that GBTC trades below net assets value. Thus the recent event might further pressure investors to move their position to the Canadian ETF.

To sum up, an ETF product carries a significantly less risk due to greater transparency and the possibility to redeem shares in the case of shares trading at a discount.

Nevertheless, the impressive GBTC market capitalization clearly states that institutional investors are already on board.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Top 5 cryptocurrencies to watch this week: BTC, BNB, DOT, XEM, MIOTA

Bitcoin’s correction is accelerating, but a bounce off the 50-day moving average could give altcoins reason to rebound off lower support levels then move higher.

Bitcoin (BTC) price has been correcting in the past few days and traders are curious to know whether this is a minor pullback or the start of a deeper decline. The problem is that no one has a crystal ball and analysts can only point to critical support levels that may hold based on historical data and evidence.

However, in a bear phase, the price tends to slip below key support levels as traders panic and sell out of fear, similar to how the price exceeds the upside targets during a bull run as traders buy due to FOMO.

March has historically been a weak month for Bitcoin, which suggests seasonal traders may prefer to wait and watch rather than jump to buy on dips. This lack of demand may be one of the reasons for the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust premium dipping into the negative over the past week.

*Crypto market data daily view. Source:* *Coin360*

However, not all the data is bearish. On Feb. 26, Moskovski Capital CEO Lex Moskovski pointed out that Bitcoin miners positions turned positive on Feb. 26 for the first time since Dec. 27. Adding to this, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said the large Coinbase outflows in the past few days suggest that institutions are still accumulating at lower levels.

This data seems to be inconclusive and does not provide an immediate picture of whether the advantage is with the bulls or the bears. Let’s study the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that may outperform in the next few days.

BTC/USD

Bitcoin has broken below the 20-day exponential moving average ($47,441), which is the first indication of the start of a deeper correction. The next critical support is the 50-day simple moving average at $41,066. The price has not closed below this support since Oct. 9, hence the level assumes significance.

The bulls are likely to defend the 50-day SMA aggressively. If the price rebounds off this support and rises above the 20-day EMA, it will suggest the sentiment remains bullish and traders are buying on dips.

However, the flat moving averages and the relative strength index (RSI) just below the midpoint suggest the bulls are losing their grip.

If the bears sink the price below the 50-day SMA, it will indicate that supply exceeds demand and traders are booking profits in a hurry. Such a move could pull the price down to the Feb. 8 intraday low of $38,000.

A break below this support will be a huge negative as the next support is at $32,000 and then $28,850.

*BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

The downsloping 20-EMA and the RSI in the negative zone suggest that bears are in control. The price is now approaching the critical support at $41,959.63.

If the price rebounds off this support, the bulls will try to push the price above the 20-EMA. If they succeed, it will suggest that bulls are accumulating the dips aggressively. The BTC/USD pair may then rise to the 50-SMA and then $52,000.

Conversely, if the $41,959.63 support breaks and the bears flip it to resistance, then a deeper correction is likely.

BNB/USD

Binance Coin (BNB) has been in a corrective phase since Feb. 20, which shows that traders are booking profits after the sharp up-move on Feb. 19. However, the pace of the fall has been gradual since Feb. 25, indicating that traders are not panicking.

The price has currently dropped to the 20-day EMA ($194) where the buyers may step in. If the price rebounds off this support and breaks above the downtrend line, the BNB/USD pair may again attract buying from short-term traders. That could push the price to $280 and then to $300.

The 20-day EMA has flattened out and the RSI is just above the midpoint, indicating a balance between supply and demand. However, if the bears sink and sustain the price below the 20-day EMA, it will suggest that supply exceeds demand, The pair could then correct to $167.3691 and then $118.

*BNB/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

The 4-hour chart shows the formation of a descending triangle pattern that will complete on a breakdown and close below $189. If that happens, it will suggest that the top is in place and the pair could then drop to $118.

Conversely, if the bulls defend the support at $189, it will suggest that the sentiment remains positive as the bulls are buying on dips to strong support levels. A breakout and close above the downtrend line will invalidate the bearish setup and that may result in a rally to $280.

DOT/USD

Polkadot (DOT) is correcting in an uptrend. The long tail on the Feb. 23 and Feb. 26 candlestick suggests that the bulls are attempting to defend the 20-day EMA ($30.49). However, the long wick on the rebound on Feb. 27 shows that demand dries up at higher levels.

The 20-day EMA is flattening out and the RSI is dropping towards the center, which suggests the bullish momentum is weakening. However, during the recent bull run, the DOT/USD pair has repeatedly taken support at the 20-day EMA.

If the price again rebounds off the 20-day EMA and the bulls push the price above $35.6618, the pair may retest the all-time high at $42.2848. A break above this resistance could result in a rally to $50.

This bullish view will invalidate if the bears sink the price below the 20-day EMA and the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at $25.7817. If that happens, the pair may drop to the 50-day SMA ($22.33).

*DOT/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

The 4-hour chart shows the price is currently trading inside a symmetrical triangle. If the bears can sink the price below the support line of the triangle, the pair could drop to $25.7817 and then to the pattern target at $18.70.

The downsloping 20-EMA and the RSI in the negative territory suggest a minor advantage to the bears in the short term. But if the price rebounds off the current level, the bulls will try to push the price above the triangle. If they succeed, the pair may rise to $42.2848.

XEM/USD

The bulls defended the 20-day EMA ($0.475) on Feb. 26, which shows that the sentiment remains positive and traders are buying on dips. The bulls are currently attempting to resume the uptrend in NEM (XEM).

The upsloping moving averages and the RSI above 63 suggest the path of least resistance is to the upside. If the bulls can drive the price above $0.5051, the XEM/USD pair could rally to $0.7637. A breakout of this resistance could open the doors for an up-move to $0.9607.

Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns down from $0.5051, the pair may consolidate for a few days before starting the next trending move. A break and close below the 20-day EMA will suggest the start of a deeper correction.

*XEM/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

The 4-hour chart shows the price is stuck between $0.439 and $0.63 for the past few days. Both moving averages are sloping up marginally and the RSI is just above the midpoint, which suggests a minor advantage to the bulls.

If the bulls can propel the price above $0.63, the pair may rally to $0.763 and then to $0.821. On the contrary, if the price breaks below the moving averages, the pair may drop to the $0.439 support. If this support also cracks, the correction may extend to $0.346 and then to $0.277.

MIOTA/USD

MIOTA has been in a corrective phase since topping out at $1.554775 on Feb. 19. While the pullback has been sharp, the positive sign is that the bulls have been successfully defending the 20-day EMA ($1.09) for the past few days.

The 20-day EMA has flattened out and the RSI is also trading just above the midpoint, indicating a balance between supply and demand. Attempts by the bulls and the bears to assert their supremacy have failed in the past few days.

This equilibrium may tilt in favor of the bulls if they can push and sustain the price above the overhead resistance at $1.30. In such a case, the MIOTA/USD pair may rally to $1.554775.

On the other hand, if the bears sink the price below $0.90, a fall to the 50-day SMA ($0.74) is possible.

*MIOTA/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

The 4-hour chart shows the formation of a symmetrical triangle, which generally acts as a continuation pattern. Both moving averages are gradually turning down and the RSI is in the negative territory, indicating advantage to the bears.

The pair has broken below the support line of the triangle but the bulls are attempting to arrest the decline and push the price back into the triangle. If they succeed, it will suggest buying at lower levels. The bulls will gain the upper hand after the pair sustains above the triangle.

However, if the price turns down from the current levels, it may signal the start of a deeper correction.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Google Finance adds dedicated ‘crypto’ tab featuring Bitcoin, Ether, Litecoin

Crypto continues to enter mainstream usage. Google Finance users can now get a quick rundown of the top cryptocurrency prices with just one click.

Google Finance has added crypto prices to the finance.google.com domain. The section, titled “Crypto,” now appears in the “Compare Markets” category alongside conventional stock and currency markets. The section provides key pricing information for various cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

*Google Finance users can now track the performance of various cryptocurrencies in just one click.*

Google's parent, Alphabet, also owns video platform YouTube — which has consistently irked crypto users by banning educational and news content, often seemingly at random. Cointelegraph and CoinDesk, the two largest publications in the crypto news space, have both been subject to suspensions that have subsequently been overturned after the video streaming platform confirmed they were not in violation of YouTube's terms of service.

The cryptocurrency market has attracted mainstream attention over the past year, as institutional investors and corporations have started to invest in the asset class. Their involvement helped launch the cryptocurrency market cap past $1 trillion in January. The crypto market cap would eventually peak north of $1.7 trillion in February before experiencing a pullback. At current values, the digital asset class is worth over $1.4 trillion.

Both retail adoption and institutional interest has been growing rapidly over the last three months. And with major firms like Tesla and Mastercard actively embracing cryptocurrencies, the need for clearer regulation is growing, according to United States Securities and Exchange Commissioner Hester Peirce.

Calls for clearer guidelines on digital assets will likely grow louder as the bull market heats up. In the meantime, Peirce says, the new Biden administration can provide a fresh look at the regulatory aspect.

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NBA Top Shot leads NFT explosion with $230M in sales

The NFT craze has reached the NBA, with digital collectibles grossing $230 million in sales, according to Dapper Labs.

Dapper Labs, the creator of the CryptoKitties game, is helping the National Basketball Association, or NBA, become a magnet for digital collectibles.

NBA Top Shot, a marketplace for non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, has generated over $230 million in sales, according to Dapper Labs. NBA Top Shot is built on Dapper’s Flow blockchain, allowing users to purchase “packs” that feature in-game moments. With packs almost always sold out, a secondary marketplace is the only way for users to access specific moments.

Recently, a LeBron James highlight sold for $200,000. A Zion Williamson spotlight sold for around the same amount.

NFTs, which exist entirely on the blockchain, are revolutionizing the traditional model of trading cards. In the case of NFTs, the value of a particular moment is governed by the same laws of supply and demand, though ownership is entirely digital. The blockchain also eliminates the risk of damage, theft and fraud.

Dapper Labs has emerged as one of the leaders in the NFT market. Its Flow blockchain is still in beta, though the company has issued updates hinting at a full mainnet launch sometime in the foreseeable future.

The NFT market quadrupled in size last year, as art and sports memorabilia on the blockchain captured mainstream attention. NBA Top Shot is one of the biggest markets, with tens of thousands of dollars in sales reported just in the last hour, according to Crypto Slam data.

Beyond sports, NFTs are beginning to permeate the creative arts. As Cointelegraph recently reported, a company by the name of Async Art is leading the programmable art movement after securing over $2 million in seed investments. The Silicon Valley NFT platform generated over $1 million in sales during its first year of operations.

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OLB Group enables crypto payments for thousands of US merchants

Small businesses can now accept cryptocurrency payments using OLB’s point-of-sale technology.

OLB Group (OLB), a New York-based e-commerce merchant service provider, is making it easier for businesses to accept cryptocurrency payments.

OLB’s more than 8,500 merchants are now able to accept Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), USDC and DAI at the point-of-sale through the company’s OmniSoft business management platform. Customers wishing to pay with cryptocurrency in-store or through their mobile phones can simply elect to do so with their cryptocurrency wallets. All payments are processed through SecurePay, a payment gateway that authenticates the transaction, converts the cryptocurrency to U.S. dollars and approves the final sale.

The decision to integrate cryptocurrency payments was partly driven by the growth of contactless and online orders during the Covid-19 pandemic. With the OmniSoft platform already providing merchants with several options to facilitate payments, cryptocurrencies were the next logical step.

Ronny Yakov, OLB Group’s CEO, says the payment gateway and point-of-sale architecture are “familiar territory for merchants,” which makes integrating cryptocurrencies through such channels easy.

On the topic of cryptocurrency payments – a promising but underutilized use case for the industry – Yakov believes we are still in the very early stages of adoption.

“It’s very early in crypto-as-a-payment adoption, but we see increasing interest from merchants exploring this payment option as a means to meet their customers however and wherever they prefer,” Yakov tells Cointelegraph.

He also believes certain industries are more likely to adopt crypto payments before others:

“We anticipate that adoption will happen more quickly in higher-ticket transactions such as jewelry, B2B billing and real estate because the transaction fees for cryptocurrency processing are lower – often half of typical credit card fees.”

Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have struggled to become a viable medium of exchange, inviting criticism about their utility. Charlie Munger, the billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway vice chairman, recently criticizedBitcoin for being “too volatile to serve well as a medium of exchange.”

With development work on scaling and sidechains still in progress, it remains to be seen whether cryptoassets will ever function efficiently as payment systems. In the meantime, assets like Bitcoin and Ethereum are valued for their store-of-value and development capabilities, respectively.

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Transparent stablecoins? Conclusion of Tether vs. NYAG raises new questions

Though the Tether settlement may help bring in more transparency, experts believe that state-centric bans may not be the way out.

A long-standing legal drama finally found resolution on Feb. 23, with the New York Attorney General’s office announcing that it had come to a settlement with cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex after a 22-month inquiry into whether the company had been trying to cover up its losses — touted to be worth $850 million — by misrepresenting the degree to which its Tether (USDT) reserves were backed by fiat collateral.

According to the terms of the announced settlement, which now marks an end to the inquiry that was initiated by the NYAG back in Q1 2019, Bitfinex and Tether will pay the government body a fixed sum of $18.5 million but will not be required to admit to any wrongdoing. That being said, the settlement clearly states that henceforth, Bitfinex and Tether can no longer service customers in the state of New York.

Furthermore, over the course of the next 24 months, Bitfinex and Tether will be required to provide the NYAG with quarterly reports of their current reserve status and duly account for any transactions taking place between the two companies. Not only that, but the firms will also be required to provide public reports for the specific composition of their cash and non-cash reserves.

On the subject, NY Attorney General Letitia James said that both Bitfinex and Tether had covered up their losses and deceived their customers by overstating their reserves. When asked about this most recent development, Stuart Hoegner, general counsel at Tether, replied to Cointelegraph with a non-committal answer, stating:

“We are pleased to have reached a settlement of legal proceedings with the New York Attorney General’s Office and to have put this matter behind us. We look forward to continuing to lead our industry and serve our customers.”

Does a New York exclusive ban even make sense?

To gain a better legal perspective of the situation, Cointelegraph spoke with Josh Lawler, partner at Zuber Lawler — a law firm with expertise in crypto and blockchain technology. In his view, the lawsuit, and particularly the nature of the settlement in which Tether and Bitfinex agreed to cease actions, underscore the confusion inherent in the regulation of digital assets in the United States.

Additionally, the agreement by Bitfinex and Tether to prohibit the use of its products and services by New York persons and entities seems on paper to be nearly impossible to accomplish, with Lawler opining:

“Are they saying that no one with a New York nexus can own or trade Tether? Tether is traded on virtually every cryptocurrency exchange in existence. Even if Tether could restrict the use of Tether tokens by New Yorkers, is that really a good idea? Do we now have a world in which every state can pick off particular distributed ledger projects from functioning within their jurisdiction?”

Lastly, even though the deal between Bitfinex/Tether and the NYAG has come in the form of a settlement — i.e., it is not subject to an appeal or federal scrutiny under the commerce clause — state-centric bans may further add to the existing regulatory uncertainty.

Added transparency is always a good thing

With regulators now asking Tether and Bitfinex to be more forthcoming about their monetary dealings and issuing an arguably small fine on them, it seems as though an increasing number of firms dealing with USDT will now have to pull up their socks and get their account books in order. Joel Edgerton, chief operating officer for cryptocurrency exchange bitFlyer USA, told Cointelegraph:

“The key point in this settlement is not the elimination of the lawsuit, but the increased commitment to transparency. The risk from USDT still exists, but increased transparency should cement its lead in transaction volumes.”

In a somewhat similar vein, Tim Byun, global government relations officer at OK Group — the parent company behind cryptocurrency exchange OKCoin — believes that the settlement can be looked at as a win-win scenario not only for NY OAG and Tether/Bitfinex but also for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole, alluding to the fact that that the 17-page settlement revealed no mention of Bitcoin (BTC) being manipulated via the use of USDT.

Lastly, Sam Bankman-Fried, chief executive officer for cryptocurrency exchange FTX, also believes that the settlement, by and large, has been a good development for the industry, especially from a transparency perspective, adding:

“Like many settlements, this one had a messy outcome, but the high-level takeaway here is that they found no evidence to support the heaviest accusations against Tether — no evidence of market manipulation or unbounded unbacked printing.”

Will scrutiny of stablecoins increase?

Even though stablecoins have been under the regulatory scanner for some time now — since they claimed to be pegged to various fiat assets in a 1-1 ratio — it stands to reason that added pressure from government agencies may be present when it comes to the transparency side of things from here on out.

Another line of thinking may be that governments all over the world will now look to curtail the use of stablecoins, such as USDT, especially as a number of central banks are coming around to the idea of creating their very own fiat-backed digital currencies. As a result, governments may want to push their citizens to use their centralized offerings instead of stablecoins.

On the subject, Byun noted: “Stablecoin is just one type of cryptocurrency or ‘convertible virtual currency,’ and therefore, stablecoins and the stablecoin market will continue to attract scrutiny and mandated examinations from regulators.” That said, Byun believes that whether it’s Bitcoin, Ether (ETH) or Tether, crypto investors generally understand that investing in crypto remains a high-risk activity and that they “must practice caveat emptor” at all times.

Does Tether impact institutional adoption?

Another pertinent question worth exploring is whether or not the settlement may have an adverse impact on the institutional investment currently coming into this space. In Lawler’s opinion, the decision is not going to slow down adoption even in the slightest. “Institutions are not principally focused on Tether. There are other stable coins, and Bitfinex is all but irrelevant to them,” he added.

Similarly, it could even happen that the ongoing reporting requirements set by the NYAG for Bitfinex and Tether may end up bolstering institutional confidence in Tether — a sentiment that some of Tether’s most vocal and consistent critics also seem to agree with.

That being said, a lot of speculation around Tether’s fiat reserves continues to linger on; for example, Tether Ltd.’s finances are handled by Bahamas-based Deltec bank. In this regard, one anonymous report claimed that “from January 2020 to September 2020, the amount of all foreign currencies held by all domestic banks in the Bahamas increased by only $600 million,” up to $5.3 billion. Meanwhile, the total volume of issued USDT soared by a whopping $5.4 billion, up to around $10 billion.

As Tether states on its website USDT is covered by fiat and other assets, so such investigations cannot be conclusive. However, what both NYAG and the anonymous authors of the report agree upon is that Tether needs to be more forthcoming about its financial status. With that in mind, Tether’s commitment toward transparency and revealing its reserves to a regulator seems like a step in the right direction.

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Dogecoin hasn't always been a 'fun meme coin'

Did you know that Dogecoin used to sponsor a NASCAR driver? Learn some unbelievable stories behind Elon Musk's "favorite" cryptocurrency.

Dogecoin (DOGE) might look like a fun meme coin, particularly as its price has absolutely skyrocketed in 2021.

But behind the innocent Shiba Inu dog cartoon are some horrific stories. Those buying the cryptocurrency due to shilling and jokes from Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, most likely have no idea of DOGE's early days.

*DOGE/USD 1-day candle chart (HitBTC). Source: Tradingview*

The early days

Introduced by software engineers Billy Markus and Jackson Palmer in December 2013, Dogecoin's protocol followed Luckycoin and Litecoin (LTC) proof-of-work algorithm using Scrypt technology.

It all started back on Christmas day, 2013, when Dogewallet announced that its webpage had been compromised, causing users to send funds to the hacker's address. The $12,000 worth of users' coins lost was fully reimbursed by Dogecoin Foundation Board Member Ben Doernberg, which included community-funded donations.

How many times have you heard about altcoins or startups focusing on social network micropayments using cryptocurrency? Inspired by the Bitcointip project, which had been going on for over a year, the Dogetipbot service was launched, enabling automatic DOGE tipping on Reddit, Twitch and Twitter.

Unfortunately, Dogetipbot's creator cashed out the entire stash in 2015, which later led to the service's bankruptcy in May 2017.

*The spectacular rise and fall of Dogecoin’s early days. Source: CoinMarketCap*

Much sponsorships, such exit scams

Adding to Dogecoin's unorthodox origins, there's the "Wolong" tale, an active pseudonym on IRC and Reddit trading groups back then. By taking advantage of the Jamaican's bobsled team sponsorship announcement, this trader supposedly coordinated whales to pump DOGE by 600% in Jan. 2014.

A well-documented piece attributed to this person circulates on the web, describing every move behind those coordinated pump efforts. More interestingly, the mentioned public and private discussion groups are eerily similar to the recent r/SatoshiBets actions behind the more recent 2021's Dogecoin 980% pump.

*DOGE/USD price July 2014- April 2015 (HitBTC). Source: Tradingview*

Lastly, in October 2014, the Moolah altcoin exchange announced it was shutting down and filing for bankruptcy protection, marking another strong price correction as seen in the chart above.

Among the investors who were victimized are Dan Wasyluk and his colleagues, losing a total of 750 BTC. Back then, not so many exchanges listed DOGE. Thus, Moolah did provide some vital infrastructure to the online community at the time.

To sum up, Moolah's founder "Alex Green," managed the campaign for a NASCAR driver sponsorship, in addition to financing numerous Dogecoin meetups and Twitter promotions.

*Yes, it really happened, a Dogecoin-sponsored racing car. Source:* *Reddit*

Eventually, people found out that "Alex Green" was an alias used by Ryan Kennedy, who was sentenced to 11 years jail time for multiple crimes, including rape.

Despite its early dark days that were filled with pump and dump exit scams, however, Dogecoin appears to have found its niche in the cryptocurrency space and with a strong online community. Its Reddit subforum, for instance, has over one million subscribers today.

Therefore, Dogecoin's volatile beginnings will likely be forgotten. Nevertheless, DOGE certainly has a long history of people using it to pump and dump their bags way before Elon Musk likely even knew about his favorite meme-inspired cryptocurrency.

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Bitcoin sell-off over? Strong 'buy the dip' signal flashes for the first time in 5 months

Bitcoin is retesting a key support level at $44K-$45K for the third time in the past week.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped to the key $44,000-$45,000 support level on Feb. 28 for the third time in the past week.

*BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: Tradingview*

The BTC/USD pair briefly dipped below $44,000 on Bitstamp before paring some of the losses, bouncing back above $45,000 at the time of writing.

'Full rest' for SOPR, funding rates

Some analysts have pointed out an uptick in miners' selling as the reason behind the latest drop in price.

It's a whale war, and you know who got the real power.

US Institutional Investors
- Coinbase Outflow = STRONG BUY
- Coinbase Premium = BUY

BTC Whales
- BTC Reserve = BUY
- Stablecoin Inflow TXs = BUY

Miners
- Miner Outflows = SELL
- Miner to Exchange Flows = SELL pic.twitter.com/fhVBp8qocm
— Ki Young Ju 주기영 (@ki_young_ju) February 28, 2021

Fortunately, the third retest of this key support level may have a silver lining for the bulls. Data analytics resource Glassnode noted that the daily Bitcoin Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR) has seen a "full reset."

The SOPR essentially shows whether spent outputs are in profit or loss at the time of transaction. This key metric turned negative for the first time since September 2020. In other words, investors are now moving BTC at a slight loss on average, suggesting that profit-taking has abated, according to Glassnode.

"In total, we saw an on-chain net realized loss of $243 million yesterday," the analysts added.

"That is the lowest daily value since April 2020."

*Bitcoin funding rates. Source: Bybt.com*

Meanwhile, popular trader Philip Swift, the co-founder of trading suite Decentrader and creator of the Golden Ratio multiplier method, also pointed out the SOPR crash.

He considers this a potentially bullish turnaround for BTC price in combination with last week's reset of derivatives funding rates because such events have previously coincided with the start of new uptrends.

"The SOPR has now reset (green on the chart) meaning that wallets selling are now selling at a loss," he explained, adding:

"This is a strong 'buy the dip' signal in a bull market. This alongside derivative fundings having reset is bullish."

*BTC price vs. SOPR. Source: DecenTrader/Twitter @PositiveCrypto*

The last time the SOPR flipped green was five months ago when Bitcoin was trading around $10,000. At the time, this was a key hurdle for BTC to trigger a new bull market. Since then, the price has surged more than five folds to new all-time highs of around $58,000.

Nevertheless, many traders remain cautious as the market enters the month of March, which has historically been bearish for cryptocurrencies, and all markets in general.

"I think March may be slow with a lack of confidence in traditional markets but overall I am bullish Bitcoin and expect significantly higher over the next three months," said Swift in private comments.

$44K-$45K remains the key level to watch

In the meantime, Bitcoin traders are keeping a close eye on the $44,000-$45,000 level. Trader Willy Woo, for instance, says the $45K level is very strong support and expects any dips below this level to be bought up aggressively should they occur.

UTXO Realized Price Distribution. This is the on-chain, more precise version of volume profile. The peaks represent the price where most coins changed hands.

$45k upwards is very strong support.

Any dip (if you're are lucky) into $39k is a no-brainer BTFD.

Data: @glassnode pic.twitter.com/Z4xbEr0jTv
— Willy Woo (@woonomic) February 27, 2021

Furthermore, researchers at on-chain analytics firm Santiment believe that the entire cryptocurrency market now depends on Bitcoin holding above this key level.

"It's been a red weekend thus far, with most eyes on Bitcoin as it has rallied back vs. the climb altcoins were making," they said, adding:

Keep an eye on the $44k support level for BTC as an indication to monitor for all of crypto. As well as BTC's on-chain activity.

from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/2NFA67M

Professional traders need a global crypto sea, not hundreds of lakes

The cryptocurrency trading market is in its early stages, with regulations playing a key role in market fragmentation.

Coinbase’s IPO announcement has been hailed as “a milestone for the crypto industry” by Fortune Magazine. Similar to the Netscape IPO announcement that signaled the legitimacy of the internet, Coinbase’s impending public offering signals to the public at large that cryptocurrency trading is legitimate, legal and secure in the eyes of the Securities and Exchange Commission. And now, investors have an opportunity to own stock on the largest crypto trading platform in the United States.

As a result, many see an investment in Coinbase as an investment in the future of crypto trading. It is the highest volume U.S. crypto exchange, with three times the volume of its next closest U.S. competitor. The largest of anything in the U.S. must be the world leader. Except, it’s not. And conventional wisdom and current market realities are very far apart.

In order to understand the nuances of the crypto trading platform market, one must understand some important facts.

These are important implications that shape current market maturity and the problems institutional crypto traders face today. There is no single exchange that enables traders to access global trading markets, cross-border price discovery, global best prices, global liquidity or decentralized trading markets.

The crypto trading market is still highly fragmented with no dominant player

Together, the top five crypto exchanges represent only 41% of the total global trading volume. Coinbase, the largest exchange in the U.S., generates only 2.1% of global volume. The number one ranked exchange in the U.S. ranks only 19th globally. In the global market, there is no dominant player as we’d expect to see in a more mature market.

According to the data above, the New York Stock Exchange’s share of global equity trading is more than 12 times higher than Coinbase’s, and the top two U.S. equity exchanges account for over 50% of global daily trading volume, while the top two U.S. crypto exchanges represent only 3% of the global trading volume.

Compared to traditional stocks, the crypto market is also highly fragmented. The top two stock exchanges represent 51% of daily trading volume, while the top three crypto exchanges represent only 27% of daily trading volume.

No unified global trading market exists

The crypto trading market is still in its infancy. Based on my conversations with institutional traders and independent professional traders, I’ve learned that institutions are still clamoring for institutional-grade capabilities that are not yet available on a single platform, such as:

Global price discovery — e.g., prices from global markets normalized for local currency.
Global Best Bid and Offer — global order book, normalized for foreign exchange and fees in local currency.
Global liquidity access — access to global liquidity, not just that of one exchange.

Each exchange is its own trading “lake” with no “canal” connecting them. In the U.S., a trader can only trade with 2.1% of global users, with an order book that is completely separate and distinct from other U.S. trading markets — e.g., Coinbase and Kraken.

Global trading volume, liquidity and price discovery are available only to those who are able to manage multiple accounts across multiple exchanges in multiple countries and continents. It’s a tall order that ties up both legal and technical resources.

Clearly, traders would benefit from a single, global order book normalized in a single currency to discover the best global prices along with the liquidity required to execute large block trades. The industry sorely needs crypto’s equivalent of traditional securities’ National Best Bid and Offer.

Centralized exchanges are only part of the trading picture

Binance and Coinbase are centralized exchanges that match buyers’ orders with sellers’ orders, executing trades and settling accounts. Customers’ crypto assets are held in custody by an exchange, and users only trade with other users on the same exchange. Even in aggregate, centralized exchanges don’t capture the entirety of digital asset trading volume.

This is because decentralized exchanges are on the rise, enabling peer-to-peer trades (or swaps), in which assets are exchanged directly between traders, typically without Know Your Customer. At one point during 2020, Uniswap’s trading volume exceeded that of Coinbase’s. It’s possible that DEXs will gain an even footing with CEXs, so one cannot gain a full picture of the crypto trading market without taking DEXs into account.

The CEXs that figure out how to incorporate DEX price discovery and liquidity into their trading will have an important advantage.

Decentralized exchanges are growing but lack infrastructure to scale

Decentralized exchanges generate approximately 15% of the total crypto trading volume (based on CoinMarketCap data on Feb. 16, 2021). DEX trading has been growing fast, with Uniswap’s trading volume surpassing Coinbase’s in 2020 — a feat achieved with only 20 employees. Today, Venus is trending alongside Binance, which leads the market in 24-hour trading volume at the time of writing.

Professional traders may value DEXs for the security of wallet-to-wallet, or peer-to-peer, trades. However, there are two issues. First, without counterparty KYC, institutional traders cannot trade on DEXs. Second, the public chain technology supporting DEXs is slower and more expensive than exchange trading.

Institutional investors will need DEXs that are faster, with lower fees and robust KYC procedures. A DEX must be built on a faster, less expensive blockchain in order to attract institutional traders.

There are no true centralized exchanges — only brokers

Confusing matters even more, today’s crypto exchanges are more like regional brokers than true, global exchanges. For example, compare and contrast trading Apple (AAPL) on E-Trade versus trading Bitcoin (BTC) on Coinbase.

A professional trader in the U.S. seeking to trade BTC accesses only a small portion of the global market via Coinbase. Price discovery and liquidity are only by Coinbase’s BTC/USD order book. Over 97% of the world’s world’s supply, demand, price discovery and liquidity are only accessible via hundreds of other exchanges.

To sum up, selling Apple on E-Trade compared to selling Bitcoin on Coinbase:

E-Trade places orders on Nasdaq, which captures nearly 100% of AAPL spot trades.
Coinbase places orders on its own order book, which captures 2.1% of all global trades.

There is no truly global crypto trading market but rather hundreds of smaller, local markets. Imagine AAPL selling on 300+ different exchanges, each with its own buyers and sellers. This is the current state of the global crypto market.

The problems with this are twofold. First, trading on a CEX strips away many of the benefits of decentralized assets. Second, crypto trading is segregated into hundreds of discrete trading “lakes” — each with its own local fiat/crypto supply and demand.

Decentralization ensures no single entity can fully control a cryptocurrency. Users cede significant control when depositing in centralized exchanges that manage token listing privileges, custodianship, order matching and execution, and brokerage services.

This centralized power presents security and compliance hazards, which has led to market criticisms. In fact, Asia–Pacific traders have launched several coin withdrawal campaigns to show their resistance to CEX trading. The younger generation is averse to centralized power and daring to challenge it, as evidenced by the recent retail shorting war in the United States.

Centralized exchanges are also limited in their access to the global market and are severely limited. Why? Exchanges, such as Coinbase and Gemini, accept users from limited regions (the U.S. only) with limited fiat currency trading pairs (the United States dollar only) unlike E-Trade, which opens the doors for its traders to a multitude of exchanges, equities, exchange-traded funds and more. In contrast, CEXs close the doors to all others, severely limiting price discovery and liquidity, which leads to higher spreads, lower fill rates, higher slippage and, generally, inefficient markets. The concept of Best Bid and Offer does not yet exist in the crypto world, as the BBO on Coinbase is not the same as Gemini’s, Binance’s or Huobi’s.

Professional traders are underserved

From the perspective of professional traders, the market maturity and global trading capabilities required are not yet available. Cryptocurrency trading market segmentation is in its infancy, and the needs of professional traders are far from being met because: (1) they cannot efficiently access a global market; (2) they cannot access the best prices in a global market, and they cannot access institutional-grade liquidity.

Furthermore, DEX trading is not yet viable for institutional traders due to the lack of KYC during onboarding. Yet, the average Uniswap trader is far more active. Uniswap users are completely on-chain, open and transparent, and its 300,000 users trade more than Coinbase’s, which claims to have 35 million users. Therefore, an entire market of whales is trading outside of centralized exchanges, completely overturning the market misperception that Uniswap and DEX users are mainly retail investors.

No trading market exists that provides true global coverage, and retail and institutional traders cannot access a truly global market. And no trading market exists that provides institutional-grade DEX trading.

Asset digitization will drive growth

Industry consensus is that the continued digitization of assets is inevitable. Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) are blockchain-native tokens that constitute the main trading volume of the current cryptocurrency trading market. Yet the cryptocurrency market cap is less than half of Apple’s.

The stock market is almost negligible compared to the untapped digitized asset market. While the opportunity is large, it is also too early to predict the outcome.

Many exchanges expose traders to compliance risks

Some of the world’s leading exchanges allow trading in a large number of controversial tokens. Many exchanges’ Anti-Money Laundering regulations are not robust enough. Despite claiming to have licenses in some countries, it is hard to imagine the legitimate compliance of offering derivatives trading to users all over the world by using an exchange license in a single country. These compliance risks pose a serious challenge to the stability of the position of some exchanges, and not long ago, the market landscape for derivatives changed rapidly after BitMEX was indicted, resulting in a loss of users and a decline in trading volume.

Innovation in institutional-grade exchange technologies is not yet widely available. Volume rankings tell today’s story. Tomorrow’s story will be told by the trading markets that provide a true, global Best Bid and Offer price discovery, institutional access to DEX pricing and liquidity, and the ability to execute global trading strategies on a single platform.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

Haohan Xu is CEO of Apifiny, a global liquidity and financial value transfer network. Prior to Apifiny, Haohan was an active investor in equities markets and a trader in digital asset markets. Haohan holds a Bachelor of Science in operations research with a minor in computer science from Columbia University.

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Saturday, February 27, 2021

Inverse Finance seizes tokens, ships code: Launches stablecoin lending protocol

One of DeFi's strangest experiments continues to push the envelope in both governance and architecture.

Shortly after culling its community of inactive members, one of decentralized finance’s (DeFi) strangest experiments is launching a new stablecoin lending product.

On Wednesday Inverse Finance revealed the Anchor Protocol, a money market built around DOLA, a protocol-native synthetic stablecoin. Based on “a modified fork of Compound,” in a blog post Inverse Finance founder Nour Haridy compares Anchor to Synthetix, which issues credit in the form of synthetic assets back by overleveraged collateral, and Compound, which issues credit in the form of crypto asset loans also backed by overleveraged collateral.

Ultimately, Haridy sees these models as providing the same utility.

“Lending and synthetic protocols both offer the same service: credit. Anchor brings the gap between them by combining them into a unified borrowing protocol.”

Anchor aims to accomplish this with a unique architecture that always treats the DOLA token as “$1 collateral that can be used to borrow other assets regardless of DOLA’s market conditions or peg.” Users deposit collateral, mint DOLA, and then can use DOLA to take out loans in other crypto assets or simply earn yield on DOLA.

Introducing Anchor & DOLA: Capital efficient lending, borrowing and synthetic assets (and much more)

EXPERIMENTAL
UNAUDITED

Brought to you by Inverse DAOhttps://t.co/pOOkp8ECsR

Summary thread below ⬇️
— Inverse.Finance (@InverseFinance) February 25, 2021

“For over-collateralized borrowers and leveraged traders, we offer them a one stop shop where they can share their collaterals across their synthetic and token borrowing positions, allowing higher capital efficiency and higher leverage,” says Haridy.

Haridy envisions Anchor will use DOLA for protocol-to-protocol lending similar to Cream’s Iron Bank, for undercollateralized lending (long a prize in DeFi), and for the protocol to “lend itself” credit to pursue yield farming opportunities.

No dead weight

Perhaps more interesting than Inverse’s development at the protocol layer are the moves they made earlier in the week at the governance layer.

In what may be a DeFi governance first, On Saturday Feb. 20, Inverse community members put forth two governance proposals to seize INV — Inverse’s currently non-transferrable governance token — from inactive community members. On Thursday Feb. 25, the proposals passed, and not everyone was happy with the result.

@InverseFinance pic.twitter.com/5eJ6NKGvoC
— Knockerton (@knockerton) February 24, 2021

Haridy says that the timing was intentional — right as Anchor, a protocol that might generate revenue for the DAO, prepares to launch, the community sheds freeloaders.

“We needed to weed out our dead weight to reclaim some tokens for re-distribution to new active members soon. We also created an INV grants committee with the power to reward contributors and add new members to the DAO. Additionally, when free riders are removed, active members become more incentivized to contribute because they get a larger piece of the pie.”

While the unprecedented move may seem harsh, it’s also simply applying to governance the kind of aggressive style that put Inverse Finance on the map in the first place. By forcing token holders to participate under the threat of seized tokens, it’s helped with the development of Anchor as well.

“This is a collaborative effort among many DAO members starting from ideation to development to internal reviews and testing,” says Haridy.

The next step for Inverse will be getting Anchor off the ground, and preparing for a world in which INV becomes tradable. Haridy says there’s a growing consensus in the community for tradability. This would mean that the DAO would give up the power to seize tokens, which could alter Inverse’s community landscape.

Haridy, however, seems unfazed by the looming shifts, already preparing the next innovation.

“This will significantly change the existing incentives and may reduce participation. Fortunately, there’s some work on a new alternative governance model that’s been happening internally to address this problem.”

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3 reasons why Reef Finance, Bridge Mutual and Morpheus Network are rallying

Strong fundamentals and new partnerships back the strong rallies in Morpheus Network, Bridge Mutual and Reef Finance.

As new institutional and retail investors enter the cryptocurrency space on a daily basis, large-cap top performers like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) attract the lion's share of investor's attention as they are the well-known 'secure' blockchain projects.

Once these new investors get a taste of the mainstay cryptocurrencies and how to navigate the volatile markets, their attention soon turns to smaller cap coins as they search for the up-and-coming projects that could be the next big thing.

Currently, CoinMarketCap shows that there are 8,475 tokens and more are added daily. This makes it difficult to keep up with the latest developments and find solid projects with real-world potential.

With that in mind, here are some interesting projects that have been gaining strength over the past few weeks.

MRPH/USDT

Morpheus Network (MRPH) is a blockchain platform focused on logistics and supply chain optimization through the use of its SaaS middleware platform which is integrated with emerging technologies.

Supply chain managers are able to use the platform to create a digital representation of their network as information collected is transformed into actionable data, with all steps in the supply chain being notarized on the Morpheus blockchain.

MRPH was trading at a price of $0.412 on Jan.15 before an influx of trading activity lifted the token more than 920% to a high of $4.44 on Feb.8.

*MRPH/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

The rapid rise in price was due in part to the fresh attention the project received from several well-known YouTube influencers and recent verifiable MRPH partnerships, such as China’s Qingdao Maple Leaf International Trading Co. and the possibility of a partnership with Coca-Cola in Latin America.

Speculations aside, the Morpheus platform currently has more than 100 integrations with industry-leading service providers including DHL, FedEx, SWIFT, Oracle, and Salesforce. With significant real-world partnerships and the attention of cryptocurrency influencers, MRPH has strong fundamentals and is likely to gain more attention from investors.

BMI/USDT

Bridge Mutual (BMI) is a more recent arrival to the decentralized insurance space but it has quickly garnered the attention of investors.

The insurance platform offers coverage for stablecoins, centralized exchanges and smart contracts. It also allows users to provide insurance coverage, determine insurance payouts, and recie compensated for taking part in the ecosystem.

BMI’s initial decentralized exchange offering (IDO) was conducted on Jan. 30 with a token price of $0.125 and it was first listed on Uniswap for $1.03. Since listing, BMI has rallied by 540% to a high of $5.46 on Feb. 3. Currently, BMI trades at $3.24 following the downturn in the market that began on Feb. 21.

*BMI/USD 1-hour chart. Source:* *CoinGecko*

Decentralized insurance has thus far been dominated by Nexus Mutual (NXM), but BMI’s arrival offers a fresh challenger to a field with growing demand due to the risky nature of investing in DeFi platforms.

REEF/USDT

Reef (REEF) is a Polkadot-based DeFi platform that aims to offer cross-chain trading powered by a yield engine and smart liquidity aggregator that enables automation of the exchange process.

One issue Reef developers hope to provide a solution for is high gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain that are currently making DeFi unusable for many community participants. The team also hopes to help connect liquidity pools from separate networks, avoiding the need for multiple accounts which can be difficult to keep track of.

*REEF/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:* *TradingView*

Work on the project began in the second half of 2020 with the completion of its IDO on Sep.30. Following its listing on Binance and Uniswap in late December of 2020, REEF price bottomed out at $0.0067 on Jan.13 and has since increased more than 750% to a high of $0.054 on Feb.11.

DeFi remains one of the hottest growth areas in the cryptocurrency sector and Reef is well-positioned to capitalize on its continued growth. As the Polkadot ecosystem grows its user base and provides solutions that provide relief from high Ethereum transaction costs, cross-chain functionality projects like Reef stand ready to benefit as decentralized finance goes mainstream.

from Cointelegraph.com News https://ift.tt/3syaYOP

Bitcoin plunges, Ethereum suffers, Musk loses billions: Hodler’s Digest, Feb. 21–27

Coming every Saturday, Hodlers Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

Winners and Losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at $46,609.99, Ether at $1,470.17 and XRP at $0.43. The total market cap is at $1,429,222,267,885.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Fantom, Pundi X and Cardano. The top three altcoin losers of the week are Dodo, Horizen and Venus.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraphs market analysis.

Most Memorable Quotations

As gas price stays too high, we see a lot of projects, tokens and users coming to BSC, and this is the right moment for 1inch to expand to other blockchains.

Sergey Kunz, 1inch co-founder

Since our founding in 2012, Coinbase has held bitcoin and other crypto assets on our balance sheet and we plan to maintain an investment in crypto assets as we believe strongly in the long-term potential of the cryptoeconomy.

Coinbase

Incredible scale for a technology that critics claimed couldnt scale.

Ryan Watkins, Messari researcher

Its very rare to see pre-GPU era bitcoins move, it only happened dozens of times in the past few years. And no, its probably not Satoshi.

Antoine Le Calvez

The company now holds over 90,000 bitcoins, reaffirming our belief that bitcoin, as the worlds most widely-adopted cryptocurrency, can serve as a dependable store of value.

Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy CEO

[Im] very positive on Bitcoin, very happy to see a healthy correction here.

Cathie Wood, Ark Investment Management founder

We are now sitting on 2.35x the previous cycle ATH OF 20k. WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED.

Bitcoin Archive

Square believes that cryptocurrency is an instrument of economic empowerment, providing a way for individuals to participate in a global monetary system and secure their own financial future.

Square

I think you can expect that well have a billion people storing their value in essence, a savings account on a mobile device within five years, and theyre going to want to use something like Bitcoin.

Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy CEO

Weve experienced 2018 & 2019. This is nothing.

Michal van de Poppe, Cointelegraph Markets analyst

I do think people get drawn into these manias who may not have as much money to spare. So, Im not bullish on Bitcoin, and my general thought would be: If you have less money than Elon, you should probably watch out.

Bill Gates, Microsoft founder

But were now to the point where ETH 1.0 oh, we need ETH 2.0 so soon, come on, Vitalik, get it going, man ETH 1.0, most regular users are priced out of using the majority of applications on Ethereum.

Lark Davis, crypto influencer

I lost most of my life savings and havent received a response from a human. Id think they would refund or they would lose all their customers. Im sick to my stomach but will join the lawsuit with plenty of proof(screenshots) if not refunded.

u/dtk6802, Reddit user

In our view, many institutional investors are entering with a buy-and-hold mentality given their understanding of Bitcoin as digital gold.

Martin Gaspar, CrossTower research analyst

I think Tesla is going to double down on its Bitcoin investment.

Dan Ives, Wedbush analyst

Prediction of the Week

1 billion people will store life savings on their phone in Bitcoin by 2026 MicroStrategy CEO

We love an outlandish prediction here at Hodlers Digest and Michael Saylor certainly delivered the goods this week.

The MicroStrategy CEO declared that Bitcoin will be the savings method of choice for a staggering 1 billion people in just five years time. Thats despite the fact that just 21 million BTC exist and his company already owns 90,000 of it.

Saylors comments came after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen launched her latest attack on Bitcoin, describing it as inefficient.

In a confident interview with CNBC, he declared that Bitcoin is the dominant digital monetary network, adding: I think you can expect that well have a billion people storing their value in essence, a savings account on a mobile device within five years, and theyre going to want to use something like Bitcoin.

FUD of the Week

Bill Gates warns Bitcoin buyers: If you have less money than Elon Musk, watch out

Microsoft founder Bill Gates had a big warning for Bitcoin buyers this week.

Speaking to Bloomberg, he warned: Elon has tons of money, and hes very sophisticated so, you know, I dont worry that his Bitcoin would randomly go up or down.

Gates said it would be a mistake for the average investor to blindly follow the mania of optimism surrounding Musks market moves, telling those who arent billionaires to watch out.

Criticizing Bitcoins energy consumption, he added: I do think people get drawn into these manias who may not have as much money to spare. So, Im not bullish on Bitcoin, and my general thought would be: If you have less money than Elon, you should probably watch out.

This isnt to say that Gates thinks digital currencies are a bad thing. He just believes that they should be transparent, reversible and (essentially) centralized.

Whale who sold Bitcoin before 2020 crash cashed out $156 million before this weeks 20% dip

As youd expect, a post-mortem is now fully underway after this weeks carnage in the crypto markets.

Curiously, data from Santiment suggests that the initial crash may have been linked to a huge transaction that took place after Sundays all-time high of $58,300. The transfer of 2,700 BTC worth $156 million at the time was the second-biggest transaction of 2021.

Its possible that this whale cashing out contributed to unbearable selling pressure in the market, which snowballed into the largest one-hour candle in Bitcoins history. If enough alarm bells werent ringing, this self-same wallet also dumped 2,000 BTC just before last Marchs infamous flash crash.

Crypto influencer warns Ethereum fees will drive users away

A prominent crypto influencer has warned that Ethereums competitors will continue to siphon away users should Eth2 fail to launch soon amid ever-increasing gas fees.

Lark Davis said Ethereums skyrocketing fees has meant that only rich investors can afford to use the network, prompting smaller users to switch to competitors like Binance Smart Chain.

Describing the current gas fee prices as totally loco, Davis urged Ethereum developers to expedite the launch of Eth2 in response to the skyrocketing to prevent a further exodus of users to cheaper alternatives.He added: Were now to the point where ETH 1.0 oh, we need ETH 2.0 so soon, come on, Vitalik, get it going, man ETH 1.0, most regular users are priced out of using the majority of applications on Ethereum. [] A transaction on Uniswap costs $50 on average these days, and that is just crazy.