Sunday 31 January 2021

How much is too much? Crypto art market brings together deep pockets and big artists

How much is too much? Crypto art market brings together deep pockets and big artists

How much is too much? Crypto art market brings together deep pockets and big artists

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With the nonfungible token market approaching the frothing point, perhaps it’s time to sit back and ask: “What’s happening here?” The $750,000 in proceeds from the recent sale of a single “alien” CypherPunk NFT, after all, could have paid for a reasonably sized house.

The crypto world at large is only 12 years old, entering adolescence, but crypto art — art on a blockchain — and nonfungible tokens are just out of their terrible twos. The launch of an epoch-defining CryptoKitties goes back to 2017 and 2018, and Ethereum’s nonfungible token, ERC-721 — which is used by many digital galleries and also non-art NFTs — wasn’t developed and rolled out until early 2018. What is being discussed here is still very new.

Moreover, Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s first blockchain project, was initially just a more efficient way to transfer money, though it soon became more — a kind of social movement. In a similar vein, crypto art might evolve to be more than just another collectible. The technology behind it could make every person on the planet — not just the top 1% — owners of unique art pieces, proponents say. Or, as the winner of a crypto art auction said in December: “It’s my biggest wish for crypto to become understood as a liberating technology.”

There’s no question, though, that art — physical or digital — is also about money. The “liberating” art owner cited above has also bid $777,777 for a crypto work by artist Beeple (aka Mike Winkelmann), and it seems fair to ask in light of similar events whether the digital art market is overheating.

n emerging culture?

“It’s a bubble in the sense that capital is rapidly flying into the NFT market and much of that capital is coming from individuals who would otherwise be using that capital to invest and/or trade-in cryptocurrency,” Vladislav Ginzburg, CEO of digital art and collectible market Blockparty, told Cointelegraph. But something else is going on too, he added: “There is a real culture of collectorship emerging around NFT-backed digital art and cultural assets.”

Giovanni Colavizza, assistant professor of digital humanities at the University of Amsterdam, told Cointelegraph: “I believe we are in full price discovery mixed with rapid growth of the NFT collectibles space.” Furthermore, he added that as more wealthy individuals come into the market, the more the “creatives realize how this space can allow them to monetize their work.”

The crypto art world as presently constituted is two-fold, said Ginzburg, embracing artists who have been creating digital art from the beginning but had trouble monetizing and distributing their works — and for whom tokenization is a boon — as well as traditional, physical artists, many with significant followings but who are seeking a still larger global audience.

Justin Roiland, who just sold a crypto art piece for $150,000 at a silent auction on a Gemini-owned art platform, for example, belongs to the first group. “He is an animator — a form of digital art — who has been able to monetize his characters and animations via commercial means on a popular television show,” explained Ginzburg, adding:

“Getting into the NFT space has enabled him to stay natively digital but sell truly unique and ownable works of art without having to learn a new medium, such as printmaking.”

For traditional artists keen on adopting NFTs, “the path is less clear,” added Ginzburg, whose firm is exploring with such artists how NFTs “can support their physical works, as either an ‘add-on’ or possibly a digital extension.”

niche within a niche market

The traditional art world, where total annual transactions exceed $60 billion, dwarfs digital art, but it still remains a niche market “full of information asymmetries and all kinds of arbitrary obstacles to entry which keep it artificially small,” noted Colavizza. The NFT space, by comparison, is fully transparent and open to anyone, so it isn’t surprising that some established artists would want to test the waters, and that may have something to do with recent NFT activity.

“Several recent big drops have been due to established creatives with a follower base moving to NFT and bringing it with them,” said Colavizza, citing Beeple, who auctioned off his entire NFT collection for $3.2 million, including the single work cited above that went for $777,777, smashing Trevor Jones’ previous crypto art record by 14 times.

Another reason for recent activity, surely, “is the new surge in crypto,” said Colavizza. Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) reached historic highs in the past month. “Several deep pockets are being or have been made. The high liquidity means many are looking for ways to invest, and NFT collectibles are a rapidly growing space to do so.” The downside to this is higher market volatility, he added.

There might be a DeFi aspect to the NFT run as well. “Some collectors have clear plans for their collections — e.g., using it as backing for other DeFi assets or for developing estate/projects in virtual worlds,” added Colavizza. Indeed, FlamingoDAO, the crypto art collective that purchased the “alien” CryptoPunk for $750,000, announced its intent to acquire NFTs and convert them “into fractionalized works so that they can be plugged into emerging DeFi platforms, with rights to these works held and managed by a growing number of people in the Ethereum ecosystem.”

haven for speculators?

Many, of course, view this all as so much rationalizing of what is just market speculation. Misha Libman, co-founder at art marketplace Snark.art, told Cointelegraph: “There are clearly a lot more speculative purchases in the crypto space with some buyers interested in flipping the NFT tokens for profit,” surely more so than in the traditional art world. Moreover, “we are seeing a lot of emerging artists, and it is difficult to gauge where the prices reflect the quality of the artworks or where they are more driven by speculation.”

Ginzburg agreed that there was a lot of speculative money coming into the NFT market, which could leave just as quickly, but this happens in the traditional art world, too. Still, the foundation of the traditional art market is collectorship. He added:

“Pure speculators tend to be identified, isolated, and shown out pretty quickly. Collectorship keeps prices stable and the market reliably growing. This culture of collectorship is emerging in NFTs, and it’ll be exciting to see.”

Asked how crypto art prices are determined, Ginzburg answered that the basic rules resemble those in traditional art: Who are the artists? What are their backgrounds and achievements? Does their work have quality? Which collectors are interested in them or already own their work? Which galleries/platforms are showcasing their art?

“If there is one primary difference I see, it’s the new creative freedoms that digital art affords the creator,” said Ginzburg. “I would judge NFTs additionally on how many new elements they can bring together: audio, movement, physical accompaniment, etc.”

Priyanka Desai, a community representative at FlamingoDAO, told Cointelegraph that a big difference from pricing traditional art is that there “is no auction house taking a cut, it’s peer to peer,” and it’s also up to the content creators to decide when an offer will be accepted. Traditional art auction houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s can charge commissions of 25% or higher. Open Sea, an NFT sales platform, by comparison, takes only 2.5% for sales on its platform.

Most NFT transactions are in Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin. What would happen to crypto art activity if the price of ETH and/or BTC collapsed, as happened in March 2020? “It can happen in any market, and it happens in traditional art,” said Desai. In any event, the NFT market began rising well before the latest cryptocurrency run-up.

Who are the collectors?

Speculators aside, does the profile of the typical crypto art collector differ much from traditional art collectors? The crypto art buyer “tends to be young and tech-savvy. They’re already familiar with crypto, even if they don’t own any,” said Ginzburg. The market is global, but most participants are American or European, though he conceded that “this is changing very rapidly. They may or may not be art collectors, but they are definitely interested in culture as it relates to music and fashion.”

Libman told Cointelegraph: “The collectors we are seeing in this space are usually not from the traditional art world. They are generally young, educated, technology-friendly, and just like other collector markets, profess specific tastes and strategies.” As the crypto art world becomes more saturated with NFTs, they are becoming more selective, added Libman.

Related: Tokenized art: NFTs paint bright future for artists, blockchain tech

FlamingoDAO, the crypto art collective launched in October, has 55 members — all accredited investors — including “deep crypto, deep NFT people,” said Desai, but also collectors from the traditional art world who want to move into crypto art. They are a mix of ages — “even a few people over 50.”

COVID-induced fad?

Will demand for tokenized art plunge if and when the coronavirus pandemic ends and people again visit museums and art galleries? “There is no question that the pandemic has given a huge boost to the digital art market,” said Libman, but museums were expanding their digital art collections art before COVID-19, and he expects that process to continue.

“When we look across the adoption of digital format across other industries, from publishing to film and music, we believe that the expansion of the digital art market is unavoidable,” he said, adding:

“Whether the person is experiencing it on a wall or through their smartphone only changes the format. Digital allows artists to reach much wider audiences without the complications of crossing physical borders, applying for visas, and concerning themselves with various logistics.”

Will everyone own digital art?

Overall, said Libman: “The NFT art space is an emerging market, and over time, it will mature and probably resemble its traditional counterpart.” Colavizza added: “I am bullish while also conscious that volatility is high and so there will be bumps along the way.”

According to Ginzburg: “The outlook here is extremely positive, as we’re going to see some of the truly great digital artists — who have been confined to monetizing their work via commercial means — start seriously focusing on their personal artwork as a revenue generator via NFTs.”

In the future, owning unique art won’t be restricted to elites who patronize Christie’s and Sotheby’s, Desai told Cointeleraph. “Everyone will have digital art on their walls. Owning digital art will be a part of your digital (online) existence,” part of your identity, like sharing your likes in music or films over social media.

Title: How much is too much? Crypto art market brings together deep pockets and big artists
Sourced From: cointelegraph.com/news/how-much-is-too-much-crypto-art-market-brings-together-deep-pockets-and-big-artists
Published Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2021 12:47:00 +0000

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How much is too much? Crypto art market brings together deep pockets and big artists


How much is too much? Crypto art market brings together deep pockets and big artists was originally published here https://newsarrivals.wordpress.com/2021/01/31/how-much-is-too-much-crypto-art-market-brings-together-deep-pockets-and-big-artists/

Blockchain is not a panacea, but where needed, it’s the savior

Blockchain is not a panacea, but where needed, it’s the savior

Blockchain is not a panacea, but where needed, it’s the savior

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Blockchain technologies and their associated market gained tremendous momentum this past year. The colossal developments and the aggressive funding of ideas across this nascent industry have sparked some serious debate as to the veritable value of blockchain. Before implementing blockchain technology, managers, builders and developers need to ask themselves one question: “why blockchain?”

What necessitates a decentralized system?

In order to understand how best to use blockchain technology, we must first define the trust assumptions in the system under consideration. Often, blockchain use cases overlook this question of a third party without ever considering whether that use case could be better met with a distributed or centralized alternative.

Criteria for a decentralized system:

A uniformly accepted single source of truth.The system must receive inputs from two or more parties.The parties must not trust each other and their interactions must, therefore, be authenticated via a third party.

Next, we must determine whether a centralized or distributed third party could serve in the place of a blockchain. Centralized third parties do more than simply manage transactions for their clients. They provide usability services and manage disputes. They update the protocols and ensure that they stay efficient and usable. Distributed intermediaries have all of the above advantages yet they are also more efficient. A hierarchical structure keeps the central overseer from becoming overwhelmed.

Thus, by choosing either a distributed or centralized third party, one can avoid the host of token distribution and governance questions that plague modern-day blockchains. One can avoid the scalability challenges and regulatory obstacles and make use of a reliable and productive third party.

That’s not to say decentralized third parties are irrelevant. In some situations, it’s simply impossible to trust a centralized third party. This is key to understanding blockchain’s benefit. If we can establish a framework for understanding when (and why) centralized or distributed third parties should be avoided, then we can accurately predict when and why blockchain should be embraced. Additionally, we can avoid creating decentralized networks that naturally migrate toward centralization given that they may have been better served by distributed third parties in the first place.

Three criteria for why a centralized third party cannot be trusted

The first criteria. A single source of truth is required. The third party cannot be trusted to impartially mediate between clients or parties due to a conflict of interest.

At times, third parties are incapable of remaining impartial. The intentions of such a third party may not even be malicious; it is just that in the case of a conflict, their interests will be served first. We’ve seen this with Facebook and other tech giants time and time again.

With the right incentives, decentralized governance can change stakeholder interactions from a zero-sum short-term game of tit-for-tat to a more collaborative and circumspect long-term game, with rewards to those who act in the best interests of the broader stakeholder set, rather than just any one preferred individual or group.

The second criteria. There is a monopoly that prevents competition from protecting users’ best interests. Interactions across a network necessitate refinement and abstraction.

Provided that competition exists, self-serving or irresponsible behavior by a third party is strongly disincentivized by market forces. However, if there is no alternative because one entity holds a monopoly over the sector or because there exists a resource constraint, then the power of competition collapses and the third party has essentially no constraints on their behavior. Apple’s control of the App Store is a strong argument for why the perceived good intentions of centralized gatekeepers can act contrary to the best interests of the ecosystem they claim to support.

The third criteria. Antifragility is a must. The stakes are too high and the consequences of malicious behavior by a third party would be catastrophic.

Even if the effects of competition are able to penalize malicious behavior, the cost of a single fault cannot be too high. Competition is a reactionary force that only takes effect after a mistake has been made. If the mistake cannot, under any circumstances, be allowed to happen, then preemptive measures must be implemented.

We see this reality reflected in regulation. Governments are more content to let free markets manage the plumbing industry than they are the nuclear energy industry. Shotty plumbing work only results in a few angry customers, while a single nuclear meltdown is disastrous.

As the world and every aspect of our lives move online, there is a growing understanding that over-optimization can lead to fragility and that we need to build more robust infrastructure for essential digital services that ideally can become antifragile. Blockchains have the potential to form the backbone of antifragile systems, which not only survive in adversarial environments but get stronger from every challenge, block by block.

The above criteria help us identify promising blockchain use cases.

Which blockchain use cases are ready?

Banks, markets and other elements of the financial industry generally require third-party management to protect against counterparty risk. This situation demands an impartial third party capable of managing and assessing financial risk. Decentralization serves to mitigate this counterparty risk by serving as a third party, aligning incentives between market makers and users, distributing risk across the platform, and greatly reducing the chance of system default. The extraordinary growth across DeFi ecosystems is a powerful example of blockchain’s disruptive properties and the successful implementation of decentralization across highly valuable systems.

Some use cases propose promising opportunities for decentralization but require an ensemble of technologies to actually benefit a particular value chain. Supply chains are a strong example of a mega-industry ripe for disruption by blockchain-powered solutions and products. They are highly collaborative environments with a low tolerance for error. Especially with regards to high-risk goods such as pharmaceuticals or even fresh meat, proper transport and supply-chain tracking are crucial. The same goes for high-value supply chains like diamonds and art, where the validity of the inputs makes a colossal difference for the different parties across the value chain.

In building solutions for these value chains, blockchain can’t possibly be the end-all. It must be a part of a broader, holistic solution that expands the reach and actual value of the supply chain itself. Blockchain won’t immediately decentralize the private entities that form supply chains, but it can be monumentally impactful by providing a fully immutable, semi-centralized environment for these various entities to interact more efficiently and freely.

Blockchain and you

Understanding which properties of blockchain bring the most value to an entrant or incumbent’s value proposition and business model will be the first step to drive disruptive innovation through blockchain and other transformative technologies.

Quantifying the costs of trust and understanding how the properties of blockchains can enable (or improve) your business is the first step in actually utilizing these technologies for veritable impact — and industry-wide disruption.

Title: Blockchain is not a panacea, but where needed, it’s the savior
Sourced From: cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-is-not-a-panacea-but-where-needed-it-s-the-savior
Published Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2021 09:37:00 +0000

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Is the weakness of Bitcoin after the ‘Elon Musk pump’ hinting at a bull trap?

Is the weakness of Bitcoin after the ‘Elon Musk pump’ hinting at a bull trap?

Is the weakness of Bitcoin after the ‘Elon Musk pump’ hinting at a bull trap?

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The price of Bitcoin (BTC) is showing overall weakness as it struggles to establish $34,000 as a support level. Overall, BTC appears to be stagnating without signs of a short-term relief rally, leading traders to be cautious.

One concerning trend is that the volume of Bitcoin has been stagnating along with its price, apart from the “Elon pump” on Jan. 29. This trend indicates that there is an overall drop in buyer demand since the $42,000 top despite BTC hovering in the low $30,000 region.

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BTC/USDT 4-hour price chart (Binance). Source: TradingView.com

Bitcoin gets choppy after revisiting $38,000

On Jan. 29, the price of Bitcoin rose to as high as $38,461 on Binance after Tesla CEO and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, ostensibly showed support for Bitcoin.

However, before this rally, on-chain analysts were already warning that the momentum of Bitcoin was slowing.

Ki Young Ju, the CEO of CryptoQuant, for example, pinpointed the high selling pressure from Bitcoin miners as a sign of a short-term bearish scenario.

Although the price of Bitcoin briefly surged 14%, it snapped back down to sub-$34,000 within 24 hours. Hence, weakening on-chain indicators were likely a warning that BTC would retrace most of its “Elon pump” gains. 

Ki wrote before the rally:

“Exchange Whale Ratio hit the eight-month high, meaning $BTC might have a large red candle if the price drops. It’s supposed to be below 85% if this bull-run is legit. Otherwise, it’s likely to be a bull trap.”

Whales likely sold as the price of Bitcoin abruptly surged to the $38,000 resistance level, causing a sharp correction.

With shaky on-chain indicators and some selling pressure coming from miners, traders are also showing caution about longing BTC/USD in the near term. 

A pseudonymous trader known as “Salsa Tekila” said that he is not using leverage until Bitcoin breaks out or drops back to $30,000. He said:

“We’re at that point where $BTC is far enough from the 30k for me not to be comfortable longing with any form of leverage but at the same time I wouldn’t short. Therefore being spot long until a big down / legacy open / probably Monday morning is best. NO LEVERAGE”

Meanwhile, another popular pseudonymous trader known as “Byzantine General” argues that the rally is broken. Hence, even if Bitcoin is bullish in the macro picture, more downside is possible until it sees a convincing breakout on lower time frames. He noted:

“The bull run is still on IMO, but the rally is broken. If we re-claim the yearly TWAP we can continue ze pump, but until then it looks kinda meh.”
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Bitcoin price chart with TWAP level. Source: TradingView.com, Byzantine General

What to watch out for

Traders and technical analysts are closely observing Bitcoin’s reaction to the $34,500 to $35,000 range.

If Bitcoin breaks out of it with strength, momentum, and high volume, then the probability of a short-term trend reversal rises.

However, if Bitcoin struggles to retest the $34,500 resistance level and continues to stagnate in the $33,000 region, the risk of a further breakdown to the $33,000 support remains.

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Crypto Fear and Green Index (78 or “extreme greed”). Source: Digital Assets Data 

Additional signs that BTC price could see another pullback include the Crypto Fear and Greed index remaining at “extreme greed” levels and Google searches for “Bitcoin” dropping by 50% since multi-year highs seen earlier this month. 

Title: Is the weakness of Bitcoin after the ‘Elon Musk pump’ hinting at a bull trap?
Sourced From: cointelegraph.com/news/is-the-weakness-of-bitcoin-after-the-elon-musk-pump-hinting-at-a-bull-trap
Published Date: Sun, 31 Jan 2021 11:00:00 +0000

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Is the weakness of Bitcoin after the ‘Elon Musk pump’ hinting at a bull trap?


Is the weakness of Bitcoin after the ‘Elon Musk pump’ hinting at a bull trap? was originally published here https://newsarrivals.wordpress.com/2021/01/31/is-the-weakness-of-bitcoin-after-the-elon-musk-pump-hinting-at-a-bull-trap/

Saturday 30 January 2021

Regulatory sandbox and DeFi boom: How Spain pushed crypto adoption despite the pandemic

Regulatory sandbox and DeFi boom: How Spain pushed crypto adoption despite the pandemic

Regulatory sandbox and DeFi boom: How Spain pushed crypto adoption despite the pandemic

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The year 2020 will go down in history for how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the Spanish economy. Beyond that, however, there have been important events from a governmental and regulatory point of view, as well as those related to private companies and the adoption of cryptocurrencies. 

Cointelegraph en Español is presenting you a summary of the events that marked last year as well as highlights from various representatives of the local crypto ecosystem and opinions on what the industry can expect in 2021.

January

Eurocoinpay asks the Spanish Minister of Economic Affairs to regulate cryptocurrency.

February

In an interview on Feb. 14, the general secretary of AEChain states that the financial sector is where blockchain is being developed the most in Spain.The FinTech & InsurTech Spanish Association presents a WealthTech white paper.The Council of Ministers approves a draft law called The Digital Transformation of the Financial Sector, which includes the creation of a sandbox.

March

DASI, Crypto Plaza and Quum launch a guide of crypto companies in Spain.In an interview on March 16, Bitcobie’s CEO states that the adoption of Bitcoin in Spain is lower than in Latin America.Bitnovo affirms on March 20 that cryptocurrencies have recovered more than the traditional markets have amid the coronavirus crisis.

pril

According to Crypto Digital Group’s CEO, the economic situation was already serious, and COVID-19 is exacerbating it.Spanish company Bitnovo says it sees an ideal moment to buy Bitcoin.COVID-19 and empty stadiums: Alternatives with blockchain technology and tokens to compensate losses are proposed.

May

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, Spaniards are relying more and more on cryptocurrencies.The Bitcoin halving occurs on May 12.Former chief operating officer of Bitnovo is appointed as director of Binance in Spain.Bitcobie holds a virtual party on May 26 to celebrate its second anniversary.

June

Bitpanda launches its platform in Spain.A new version of the Crypto Business Guide to Spain 2020 is presented.A draft project establishes that cryptocurrency providers must comply with Anti-Money Laundering regulation.It is reported that a Bitcoin trademark and logo are registered at the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office.

July

Following the Wirecard bankruptcy case, pressure mounts for the approval of a fintech sandbox in Spain.Spain becomes the country with the sixth-most Bitcoin ATMs in the world.On Friday, July 31, the 2gether platform suffers a hack that affects crypto investment accounts.

ugust

A decentralized financial market for olive oil futures and options is born in Spain.

September

Crypto.com launches the Spanish version of its APP and exchange.Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands call for strict rules on cryptocurrencies from the European Commission.The Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation Commission of the Spanish Congress unanimously approves the bill for The Digital Transformation of the Financial System.On Sept. 23, a real estate debt tokenization operation is carried out.

October

On Oct. 5, the “Coinmotion Observatory of Cryptoactives” is launched.Some Bitcoin is sent to the deputies of the Spanish Congress as an educational initiative.The Spanish Council of Ministers approves the “Draft Law on Measures to Prevent and Combat Tax Fraud.”In an Oct. 24 interview, 2gether CEO Ramón Ferraz states that the platform has reinforced security.

November

On Nov.4, the Spanish Senate approves The Digital Transformation of the Financial Sector law.The law for The Digital Transformation of the Financial Sector is published in the official state gazette, Boletín Oficial del Estado: The regulation enters into force in Spain on Nov. 15.A new report from Crypto Company Guide in Spain sheds light on the increasing number of companies: About 120 crypto companies are already registered and operating in Spain, employing more than 1,100 people.

December

Guide to decentralized finance is launched in SpainHotel chains in Spain are able to receive payments with cryptocurrencies thanks to an alliance between a booking portal and a crypto firm

Government and regulations

On Nov. 4, after much insistence from the Spanish fintech sector, the senate’s Committee on Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation definitively approved a law for The Digital Transformation of the Financial Sector which included the creation of a sandbox.

The Spanish Association of Fintech and Insurtech highlighted the importance of the sandbox: “Its immediate implementation will allow the generation of new initiatives in the Fintech ecosystem, facilitate access to financing, promote greater competition and reduce entry barriers.”

Ismael Santiago, professor at the University of Seville and CEO of OlivaChain I+D+I believes that these regulatory developments will favor “the creation of new value-added jobs, technological development and economic competitiveness.”

“Since its appearance in the crypto scene of our country, the doors of many international companies have been opened to the potential of the crypto world; being a very important step, in order to allow a greater arrival of crypto actives to the general public. There is still a long way to go, but of course, with the foundations established in 2020 with all these milestones, it is tremendously promising for the sector,” commented Álvaro Alcañiz, chief marketing officer and co-founder of Onyze, which offers custody and infrastructure services for digital assets.

Raúl López, country manager of Spain at Coinmotion argued:

“If this sandbox is carried out, it could make Spain a reference point in Europe, which could attract high investment in the sector, which would be a great stimulus for the crypto ecosystem and would also help to retain and attract national and international talent.”

However, as Spain is part of the European Union, it is also important to bear in mind that a proposal for regulation from the European Commission, related to crypto markets, has been made public. This is how the acronym MiCA came to be known, which refers to markets in crypto assets. Another important document is the Fifth EU Anti-Money Laundering Directive.

Crypto adoption and a hack

The adoption of cryptocurrencies in Spain has continued to grow in 2020. Besides, as far as Bitcoin ATMs are concerned, Spain ranks in the top 10 countries with the most units in the world, with a total of 119 at the time of writing.

Raúl López, country manager of Spain at Coinmotion, also offered his perspective: “The year 2020 will undoubtedly be remembered mainly for the appearance of COVID-19, which affected all sectors and industries worldwide. The stock markets collapsed, and market mechanisms did not work properly because even the traditional gold value refuge suffered a sharp fall. It is possible that investors were looking for liquidity, and the collapse in traditional markets may have forced crypto investors to liquidate high-risk investments to compensate for losses elsewhere or just to have liquidity in euros.”

He gave an example of his company to illustrate the increase in the total volume of operations: in February it increased by +53%, in March, the same trend was maintained, with an increase of +27% with respect to the previous month, where 65% came from purchase operations. “And in the following months, for example, in April, the volume reached in March was almost multiplied by four. And the same happened in May with respect to the volume achieved in April,” he remarked.

Another story that impacted the Spanish crypto world this year was the attack on the 2gether platform at the end of July. On Aug. 31, Cointelegraph en Español reported that the hack had resulted in the theft of a significant amount of Bitcoin and Ether (ETH). It should be noted that, after the attack, the company took a number of measures to overcome this situation and to compensate the users who were affected. In an interview, Ramón Ferraz, CEO of 2gether, explained in further detail.

Increase of crypto culture

Jorge Soriano, co-founder of a crypto platform Criptan, preferred not to highlight any Spanish development in particular, and considered that it does not have to happen either because “the crypto world is designed to be something global,” continuing:

“Its objective is precisely that in this ecosystem there are no borders or barriers throughout the world. What we can observe in Spain is that the consequences of what happened on a global level have been experienced. And in this sense, we have seen that in 2020, adoption has grown a lot. The number of users, purchases and sales has been increasing at a very high rate.”

He also said that a certain crypto culture has been increasing: “We are checking how users have more and more exposure to cryptomarkets. From our experience in Criptan, we have observed that users, instead of trading, buy crypto to sell and take out in euros. What they want is to be with part of their capital in Bitcoin.”

Álex Fernández, CEO of BitBase, highlighted the significant concern raised by many people who want to be informed and understand all the disruptive changes that are coming in relation to Bitcoin and blockchain. “We have established a closer relationship with the people, and many of them come to our points of sale to be advised on the matter. They inform us that the economic uncertainty we are going through has generated a lot of distrust with the politicians who lead and manage our country, as well as with the financial institutions, which have largely caused the economic situation we are currently experiencing, and which is unsustainable,” he said.

“They see in Bitcoin and blockchain an alternative when they know it gives them security and confidence.”

According to Ramón Ferraz, the rise of the BTC “shows the reality of a new currency based on the new decentralized economy, a refuge of value that is increasingly attractive to society.”

In a Sept. 21 interview to Cointelegraph en Español, Mariana Gospodinova, general manager of Crypto.com’s European division, stated that in Spain, the interest in cryptocurrencies has grown significantly.

Pandemic changes the narrative

Javier Pastor Moreno, sales director at Bit2Me, crypto services provider, put the focus on the pandemic, saying it “has changed everything.” He went on to say:

“The need to have a more modern, open and free monetary system, while sheltering from the massive fiat money printing by central banks, has caused the adoption to accelerate and put Bitcoin and crypto on the map. We are in the early stages of a process that will probably last a few years, but undoubtedly, the catalyst by luck or misfortune has been this crisis.”

Antonio Sánchez, CEO of Inforbyt and Cardano’s ambassador to Spain, commented: “We have seen a considerable increase in people asking the big question of: ‘What is Bitcoin, and what is it for?’ We are living in a historic moment: We are going through a global pandemic in which banks and big companies are reeling as Bitcoin goes up without a break.”

“The crypto market has been growing considerably in recent days, and adoption is taking place much more, perhaps out of fear of what might happen to fiat money, or perhaps out of boredom of seeing all the banks start charging even for holding large sums of money.”

DeFi boom

The DeFi phenomenon was also present in Spain. Various activities were carried out, such as talks and virtual events, as well as some hackathons. The movement of decentralized finance, as it did on a global level, also aroused interest in the Iberian territory.

Juan Pablo Mejía, trainer and content disseminatoralso known as “John in Crypto,” shared:

“Besides the big rise in the price of Bitcoin, I think the explosion of DeFi protocols has been the most important thing in the crypto ecosystem in 2020.”

Along the same lines, Guillermo Abellán Berenguer, co-founder of DeFi Lab shared his point of view, saying: “It has become very clear that smart finance contracts allow interaction with services and products that, until now, needed a trusted intermediary. Currently, borrowing, lending, managing an investment fund or providing liquidity in decentralized exchanges, among many others, is possible without trusted intermediaries.” In an interview to Cointelegaph en Español, DeFi Lab explained how it is working on boosting decentralized finance in the Spanish-speaking world.

It was Josh Goodbody, director of growth institutional business for Latin America and Europe at Binance who managed to concisely summarize the past year:

“2020 has been the perfect storm for cryptocurrencies, where everything apparently started happening at the same time.” Title: Regulatory sandbox and DeFi boom: How Spain pushed crypto adoption despite the pandemic
Sourced From: cointelegraph.com/news/regulatory-sandbox-and-defi-boom-how-spain-pushed-crypto-adoption-despite-the-pandemic
Published Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2021 12:31:53 +0000

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Sovryn Raises $2.5M In Token Pre-Sale

Sovryn Raises $2.5M In Token Pre-Sale

Sovryn Raises $2.5M In Token Pre-Sale

49 3

Sovryn, a Bitcoin-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, announced that they have officially raised $2.5 million in their token pre-sale. The pre-sale was reserved for its community, wherein they got first dibs on the SOV token.

Sovryn will launch the tokens next month. A month back in December, Sovryn had raised $2.1M from venture firms like Collider Ventures and Monday Capital.

Long-term Development Preferred Over Short-term Gains

The capital raised is earmarked for further developing the Sovryn protocol, the overall security, and a buy bounty program. Sovryn co-founder Edan Yago said that the community governance would decide how to utilize the funds. The participants also have the right to cancel pre-reservation, but they have refused to do so. Plus, the funds raised will be locked up for 10 months, adding further credence to their long-term development commitment.

What Is Sovryn?

Sovryn is a Bitcoin-based, DeFi protocol that runs on Rootstock (RSK) – a merge-mined sidechain with Bitcoin. It offers a variety of services like swaps, lending, leveraged trading, and market-making. Sovryn’s transaction fees are around 30 to 100 times cheaper than your average Ethereum-based DeFi protocols. Despite being Bitcoin-based, Sovryn also supports Ethereum tokens.

Is Bitcoin-Based DeFi Any Good?

While DeFi apps are often associated with Ethereum, protocols like Rootstock allow developers to create DeFi applications on the Bitcoin blockchain as well. This is pretty interesting since it’s an ideal win-win situation. Being the oldest and the most secure blockchain in the world, Bitcoin offers a robust and stable platform for DeFi developers to do their thing. Plus, since DeFi is the hottest thing in the market right now, DeFi apps could bring in a lot of utility and a fresh user-base to the Bitcoin blockchain.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Title: Sovryn Raises $2.5M In Token Pre-Sale
Sourced From: cryptodaily.co.uk/2021/01/sovryn-pre-sale
Published Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2021 08:43:35 +0000

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Robinhood allows limited buying of restricted stocks following class action lawsuit

Robinhood allows limited buying of restricted stocks following class action lawsuit

Robinhood allows limited buying of restricted stocks following class action lawsuit

9 1

Robinhood, the stocks and cryptocurrencies trading app, will allow limited trading of previously restricted stocks this morning. The action follows the filing of a class action lawsuit against the company.

How it began

As reported by CNBC and a thread on Twitter, the furore blew up on Wednesday as traders from the Reddit forum r/WallStreetBets began to buy securities such as AMC and GameStop, which were heavily shorted up until then. 

Some traders had realised that Wall Street funds were shorting the likes of GameStop and that this company was actually in a good position financially. The shorters were betting that eventually the company would go bankrupt and that they wouldn’t have to cover their positions and that they could just pocket their gains.

Word got out, and what started as a trickle of buying eventually turned into a flood, and the price of GameStop (GME) started to rocket. The shorters were forced to cover their positions by buying more shares which caused even bigger buying pressure, causing GME shares to rocket to $482 from a price of around $12 in December.

The reaction of Robinhood

Early on Thursday Robinhood blocked GME and certain other stocks from being traded. It still allowed these stocks to be sold, but restricted investors from buying more.

Robinhood had said that it had taken the move in order to comply with broker dealer capital requirements, as promulgated by the SEC. However, given the anger that ensued from its users, Robinhood then made an about-turn and announced that buying of the restricted stocks would once again be allowed – but in a ‘limited’ fashion.

The company also said:

“To be clear, this was a risk-management decision, and was not made on the direction of the market makers we route to. We’re beginning to open up trading for some of these securities in a responsible manner.”

Lawsuit

Those speaking out against Robinhood stated that the actions of the company had been against individual users while at the same time it had allowed hedge funds to carry on freely trading the otherwise restricted stocks. 

The lawsuit claims:

“Robinhood’s actions were done purposefully and knowingly to manipulate the market for the benefit of people and financial institutions who were not Robinhood’s customers,”

The lawsuit also alleged that Robinhood’s actions had rigged the market against its own customers and had deprived them of being able to buy stocks low and sell them high.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Title: Robinhood allows limited buying of restricted stocks following class action lawsuit
Sourced From: cryptodaily.co.uk/2021/01/Robinhood-allows-limited-buying-of-restricted-stocks
Published Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2021 08:43:33 +0000

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Friday 29 January 2021

Crypto Market Cap Tops $1T as Bitcoin Price Touched $38K Following Elon Musk’s Engagement

Crypto Market Cap Tops $1T as Bitcoin Price Touched $38K Following Elon Musk’s Engagement

Crypto Market Cap Tops $1T as Bitcoin Price Touched $38K Following Elon Musk’s Engagement

The cryptocurrency market capitalization has exploded above $1 trillion as Bitcoin surged to $38,000 following a recent pro-BTC action taken by Tesla’s Elon Musk.

The alternative coins joined the ride as well, including Ethereum touching $1,400 and XRP surging above $0.28.

Bitcoin Touches $38K Following Musk’s Engagement

CryptoPotato reported earlier that the primary cryptocurrency was struggling with maintaining its price above $32,000. While the bears were looming in, a compelling development took place that changed the asset’s price movements rather vigorously.

The CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, Elon Musk, updated his Twitter bio profile and put only one word in it – Bitcoin. Whether that was the sole reason or not, it’s still unclear, but the cryptocurrency reacted with a massive price surge.

19 3

BTC went from about $32,000 to a high of $38,250 (on Bitstamp) in a matter of minutes. This became the asset’s highest price tag in ten days.

Following this impressive 20% surge, bitcoin has lost some steam and currently trades at $36,500.

Additionally, BTC managed to increase some of its recently lost dominance to nearly 65%. Just a few days ago, the metric had fallen below 63%.

BTCUSD. Source: TradingView
BTCUSD. Source: TradingView

Market Cap Reclaims $1T In Response

Most alternative coins seemed relatively stagnant on a 24-hour scale before the aforementioned price development. However, they followed their leader as well with impressive gains.

ETH had issues with maintaining above $1,300, but it skyrocketed to $1,400 in minutes as well. Nevertheless, ETH has calmed slightly and currently stands at $1,370.

Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Cardano, and Litecoin added another 10% of value. As a result, XRP conquered $0.28, BCH is above $420, ADA stands at $0.36, and LTC touched $140.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: Quantify Crypto
Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: Quantify Crypto

Although Dogecoin has lost some of its gains from earlier, DOGE is still 240% up on a 24-hour scale. Voyager Token (74%), Siacoin (56%), SwissBorg (55%), Fantom (51%), Quant (50%), and Verge (45%) are just some of the double-digit gainers.

It’s worth noting that these volatile movements have led to nearly $700 billion in liquidations in the past four hours alone, according to info from Bybt.

Ultimately, the cumulative market capitalization of all cryptocurrency assets exploded to $1.05 trillion. This is an increase of nearly $200 billion since yesterday’s low.

Crypto Market Cap. Source: CoinMarketCap
Crypto Market Cap. Source: CoinMarketCapTitle: Crypto Market Cap Tops $1T as Bitcoin Price Touched $38K Following Elon Musk’s Engagement
Sourced From: cryptopotato.com/crypto-market-cap-tops-1t-as-bitcoin-price-touched-38k-following-elon-musks-engagement/
Published Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2021 08:43:19 +0000

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CoinMarketCap Adds Wall Street Bets (WSB) Informational Ticker

CoinMarketCap Adds Wall Street Bets (WSB) Informational Ticker

CoinMarketCap Adds Wall Street Bets (WSB) Informational Ticker

To say that the last few days have been exciting would be a massive understatement in regard to the global financial markets.

A group of retail investors, united behind the same cause of rebelling against “smart money” on Wall Street, brought out plenty of things that are wrong with the status quo. Wall Street Bets, as their subreddit was originally called, has also caught the attention of the cryptocurrency community, with the leading monitoring resource, CoinMarketCap, dedicating an informational ticker.

Wall Street Bets: What Happened?

A little less than a week ago, someone took it to Reddit to reveal that some Wall Street hedge funds were overly exposed to their short positions on GameStop stocks.

GameStop is a company, the shares of which have been declining substantially ever since the COVID19 pandemic hit, leading to the restrictions on many physical locations that some countries keep up to date. Naturally, as it happened to many other industries, its business suffered, and its stock took a nosedive.

To no one’s surprise, this was picked up by Wall Street hedge funds, who started shorting the stock to the extent that they left themselves overly exposed to their positions. But why would they worry? The fundamentals behind the trade were clearly in place as GameStop didn’t really see any tangible perspective of recovering – on the opposite.

But there was one thing that hedge funds couldn’t have seen – something so far outside of fundamental or technical analysis that even the best algorithms couldn’t pick up – the power of retail investors clinging toward a single mission – to liquidate the ‘big boys.’

Word started catching fire as a certain subreddit called Wall Street Bets quickly gained millions of users, all united behind the same idea – skyrocket GameStop’s (GME) stock price to the thermosphere.

And skyrocket, they did. The price surged by over 600% in a matter of days as hedge funds saw themselves covering billions in losses. GME became a meme stock representing the innate desire of retail investors to crush Wall Street at least once.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

5 3

Genie is Out of the Bottle

Hedge funds got the cash – a lot of it. It’s highly unlikely that the GME fiasco caused irreparable damage to any of them, and it’s highly likely that most banked massive profits.

How all of this happened is what’s worth thinking about. To prevent people from piling on GME stocks, major trading platforms such as Ameritrade, Robinhood, and even NASDAQ, halted trading. These are just a few – the list is not exclusive.

This raised concerns – why are these companies preventing people from buying more of the stock? The most obvious answer is, of course, to prevent large hedge funds, the so-called smart money, from getting wrecked any further. But where does this leave the little guy?

We don’t really see trading halts when retail investors have their positions liquidated. There are no emergency breakers when the John Does of the financial market watch their portfolios thin out.

It became clear that Wall Street plays by different rules. As a matter of fact, it became clear that Wall Street is not even playing the same game. And this caught the attention of the masses – have fun putting that genie back in the bottle.

CoinMarketCap Adds Informational WSB Ticker

Amid all this, the leading cryptocurrency market monitoring resource – CoinMarketCap – has added an informational ticker of Wall Street Bets (WSB) at the forefront of their list. Users can find everything they need of the GameStop short squeeze and the aftermath there.

It’s perhaps here where we should add that while all of this was happening on Wall Street, the cryptocurrency market was shook too. The self-proclaimed ‘Chairman’ of Wall Street Bets took it to Twitter to ask if Dogecoin (DOGE) has ever traded at $1. That’s all it took.

In less than 24 hours, the most popular meme coin and arguably Elon Musk’s favorite cryptocurrency gained almost 1100%. It surpassed long-term projects with tons of fundamentals behind them and left them in the dust, peaking at number 7 on CoinMarketCap’s top 10 list.

We reached to CMC about their most recent addition – the WSB ticker. Commenting on the matter was Aaron Khoo, Head of Listings.

“At the heart of this phenomenon lies the innate human desire to troll. Jackson Palmer, Dogecoin’s creater “never imagined that the tongue-in-cheek cryptocurrency [he] had just brought into the world would still be around in the year 2018, let alone hit a $2 billion market cap [in 2018].”

Touching on their decision to add the WSB ticker in particular, he said:

“Much like the GME’s Gamma squeeze, Dogecoin’s ascent epitomizes a psychological desire to take the mickey out of the man— a loose agglomeration of individuals ultimately wanted to make a statement that the ostensibly credentialed Wall Street hedge funds were in no better position to arrogate upon themselves the right to make pronouncements on what an asset’s fair valuation ought to be. 

Since this resonates with the raison d’etre of crypto, it is only fitting that we should get in on the action, even if it is just a token contribution..”

It’s interesting to see how things go forward. Will the public step back? Were these the three days of a miracle that will fade out in a couple of months? Or will it spearhead something much more lasting?

If one thing is clear, though, it’s that all of this has highlighted the merits behind decentralization to an extent that we hadn’t seen before.

Title: CoinMarketCap Adds Wall Street Bets (WSB) Informational Ticker
Sourced From: cryptopotato.com/coinmarketcap-adds-wall-street-bets-wsb-informational-ticker/
Published Date: Fri, 29 Jan 2021 08:43:16 +0000

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Why a trader says a Bitcoin bottom is close, based on a key technical structure

Why a trader says a Bitcoin bottom is close, based on a key technical structure

Why a trader says a Bitcoin bottom is close, based on a key technical structure

Scott Melker, a cryptocurrency trader and the author of The Wolf Den Newsletter, believes a short-term Bitcoin bottom is close.

Melker often uses the relative strength index (RSI) indicator on the 4-hour and 6-hour candle chart time frames to identify potential trend reversals.

The RSI is an indicator that is used to evaluate whether an asset is overbought or oversold. If the RSI is over 75, the asset is overbought, and if it is under 30, it is oversold.

Bitcoin not oversold, but the bottom is likely soon

Technically, Melker explained that Bitcoin is not yet oversold, at least on the 6-hour time frame.

But, a bullish divergence with the RSI has been confirmed, Melker said. The 12-hour candle chart would also soon confirm the same structure, which would be positive for BTC in the near term. He wrote:

“6 hour bull div with RSI confirmed. 12 hour likely to confirm in 40 minutes. We had iffy divs on lower time frames yesterday building to these. Neither reached oversold. Can still drop and make larger div, but bottom ‘should’ be in or close. Should.”

18 1
6-hour price chart of Bitcoin. Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

There are also fundamental reasons why a short-term Bitcoin relief rally could occur.

First, yesterday, on January 27, the premium of Bitcoin on Coinbase rose significantly, reaching $200 at one point.

Although the price of Bitcoin naturally trades slightly higher on Coinbase than usual, this indicates that high-net-worth investors were aggressively accumulating the dip.

This trend explains the swift trend reversal Bitcoin saw under $30,000, recovering to around $31,000 within several hours.

Whales are likely trying to defend the $30,000 support area from being broken, as breaking below $30,000 would result in a more complex correction.

What happens next?

A pseudonymous trader known as “Salsa Tekila” said the current price action reminds him of September 2020.

At the time, Bitcoin seemed to be breaking down, but a bullish engulfing daily candle caused a trend reversal, leading the BTC rally. He said:

“The $BTC price action observed yesterday reminds me of September 24, 2020. I was massively short that day, betting on a break-down. The sell-side got BTFO impulsively after dip buyers show up. Someone big had bought. I see similarities with the 30k vicinity. Could be wrong.”

In the foreseeable future, Bitcoin overtaking the $33,000 level is critical for a short-term resumption of the rally. Until BTC solidifies $33,000 as a support level once again, the trend remains neutral to bearish.

But one positive trend is that stablecoin deposits to exchanges are rising once again. This shows that sidelined capital is moving back into the Bitcoin market, which could result in a short-term catalyst for BTC.

The price of Bitcoin already rose from around $30,500 to over $31,500 as stablecoin deposits rose.

The post Why a trader says a Bitcoin bottom is close, based on a key technical structure appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Title: Why a trader says a Bitcoin bottom is close, based on a key technical structure
Sourced From: cryptoslate.com/why-a-trader-says-a-bitcoin-bottom-is-close-based-on-a-key-technical-structure/
Published Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2021 13:36:40 +0000

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Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH Reclaims $1300, Facing Huge Resistance

Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH Reclaims $1300, Facing Huge Resistance

Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH Reclaims $1300, Facing Huge Resistance

ETH/USD – Ethereum Bounces From .236 Fib Support

Key Support Levels: $1300, $1200, $1080.
Key Resistance Levels: $1392, $1425, $1475.

Ethereum had set a new ATH price at $1473 on Monday. It could not close a daily candle above the $1392 resistance and ended up rolling over the past few days.

It continued to drop until support was found yesterday at $1200 (.236 Fib), which allowed the coin to rebound. It pushed higher today and is now testing resistance at $1350 (1.272 Fib Extension).

27 1
ETH/USD Daily Chart. Source: TradingView.

ETH-USD Short Term Price Prediction

Looking ahead, the first level of strong resistance lies at $1392 (1.618 Fib Extension & 2021 High-day Closing price). This is followed by $1425 (previous ATH0, $1472 (new ATH), and $1500.

Beyond $1500, resistance is found at $1530 (1.414 Fib Extension – blue), $1582 (1.618 Fib Extension – orange), and $1645 (1.618 Fib Extension – blue).

On the other side, the first level of support lies at $1300. This is followed by $1200 (.236 Fib), the lower boundary of the price channel ($1150), $1080 (.382 Fib), and $1000.

The daily RSI recently rebounded from the midline, indicating the bulls are still in charge of the momentum, which is increasing.

ETH/BTC – Bulls Bounce From 2020 Highs

Key Support Levels: 0.0416 BTC, 0.0405 BTC, 0.0396 BTC.
Key Resistance Levels: 0.0428 BTC, 0.0435 BTC, 0.045 BTC.

Against Bitcoin, Ethereum has been trapped within a steep ascending price channel since the start of January 2021. The coin hit the 2021 high at 0.045 BTC on Monday and started to head lower from there.

It found support at 0.0405 BTC over the past few days and recently bounced from the lower boundary of the price channel today to hit the current 0.0421 BTC level.

ethbtc-jan28
ETH/BTC Daily Chart. Source: TradingView.

ETH-BTC Short Term Price Prediction

Looking ahead, the first level of resistance lies at 0.0428 BTC (1.272 Fib Extension). This is followed by 0.0435 BTC (1.414 Fib Exnteison) and 0.045 BTC (1.618 Fib Extension). Added resistance is found at 0.046 BTC and 0.0483 BTC.

On the other side, the first level of support lies at 0.0416 BTC (2019 High). This is followed by the rising price channel, 0.0405 BTC (2020 High), and 0.0396 BTC (Feb 2019 High). Added support lies at 0.039 BTC (.382 Fib) and 0.0376 BTC.

The RSI is slowly fading from overbought conditions, indicating the previous bullish momentum is fading slightly. However, the bulls are still in charge, and this should help keep it above the price channel.

Title: Ethereum Price Analysis: ETH Reclaims $1300, Facing Huge Resistance
Sourced From: cryptopotato.com/ethereum-price-analysis-eth-reclaims-1300-facing-huge-resistance/
Published Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2021 13:25:03 +0000

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Bitcoin Investors Could Lose Everything, Warns BIS General Manager

Bitcoin Investors Could Lose Everything, Warns BIS General Manager

Bitcoin Investors Could Lose Everything, Warns BIS General Manager

Bitcoin is destined to fail due to its inherently risky nature that exposes investors to threats, said the General Manager of the Bank for International Settlements, Agustin Carstens. The executive, who has portrayed adverse feelings against the primary crypto for years, suggested that only central banks should issue digital currencies.

BIS GM Criticize BTC’s Risky And Volatile Nature

Bitcoin’s parabolic increase that took the asset from about $10,000 in early October 2020 to an all-time high of $42,000 in January 2021 and the subsequent sharp retracement towards $30,000 caught the attention of representatives of the traditional financial space.

While some praised the cryptocurrency for its gains, others warned of reaching a potentially bubbly territory and envisioned further corrections. Somewhat expectedly, the head of BIS entered the second camp. During a recent speech for the Hoover Institution, the long-term BTC critique took another stab at the first-ever cryptocurrency and its volatility.

Furthermore, the GM of the Basel, Switzerland-based institution, warned investors that they should be wary of potentially losing everything if they bet on the BTC horse.

“Investors must be cognizant that Bitcoin may well break down altogether.”

Previously, Carstens had questioned BTC’s efficiency and legality. He also advised the younger generations, which tend to be affectionate to bitcoin, to “stop trying to create money,” and, as most doubters, said that the cryptocurrency is a Ponzi scheme.

37 1
Agustin Carstens. Source: WSJ

Digital Currencies Are Central Banks’ Responsibility

Carstens used to be against all types of digital money, but he showed the first signs of a changed mind in 2019 when he said that virtual currencies could succeed and have value in certain conditions.

Being the head of the so-called bank for central banks, Carstens believes that precisely such organizations have to be responsible for developing, releasing, regulating, and managing digital currencies. He doubled-down on this narrative during the recent speech as well.

“Sound money is central to our market economy, and it is central banks that are uniquely placed to provide this. If digital currencies are needed, central banks should be the ones to issue them.”

He also admitted that BIS had established a designated team to research and trial digital currencies. The organization urged central banks to enhance their CBDC developments in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the potential risks associated with paper money and physical transactions.

Title: Bitcoin Investors Could Lose Everything, Warns BIS General Manager
Sourced From: cryptopotato.com/bitcoin-investors-could-lose-everything-warns-bis-general-manager/
Published Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2021 13:25:00 +0000

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Thursday 28 January 2021

DeFi liquidity pools, explained

DeFi liquidity pools, explained

DeFi liquidity pools, explained


Title: DeFi liquidity pools, explained
Sourced From: cointelegraph.com/explained/defi-liquidity-pools-explained
Published Date: Thu, 28 Jan 2021 14:20:00 +0000

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Mercuryo expands its fiat-to-crypto gateway to the US with Zero Hash

Mercuryo expands its fiat-to-crypto gateway to the US with Zero Hash

Mercuryo expands its fiat-to-crypto gateway to the US with Zero Hash

Mercuryo, a European-based cryptocurrency payments provider, today announced a new partnership with Zero Hash, a U.S. digital asset settlement service, in order to provide access to its crypto-asset payment services for businesses and individuals in the United States.

Since its launch, Mercuryo has been serving over 600,000 users and 180 crypto projects and prominent enterprises, becoming a leading digital asset payment gateway provider in Europe.

Mercuryo features two flagship solutions: a digital asset wallet and a widget service. While the wallet provides access to seamless crypto-to-fiat and fiat-to-crypto transactions, businesses can integrate the widget directly into their apps or websites. With just a few clicks customers can purchase digital assets in their local currencies via Visa and Mastercard cards. The widget also supports Apple Pay and Google Pay services, so clients can buy crypto this way too.

“We are excited about entering the US market. We are observing an interest from this region – 41% of payments on our platform are made in US dollars. Our vision is to build a financial infrastructure that provides customers worldwide with easy and fast access to cryptocurrencies.”
Petr Kozyakov, Mercuryo’s CBDO and co-founder.

Mercuryo’s partner firm is a registered Money Service Business under the oversight of FinCEN and a licensed Money Transmitter in over 40 US states, allowing the company to offer regulated payments solutions for all its customers across the country.

“We are pleased that Mercuryo is leveraging the Zero Hash compliance and technology infrastructure to service US customers. We empower innovators such as Mercuryo who are building Finance 2.0 by providing a turnkey and totally customizable solution for transactions in a regulated ecosystem.”
Edward Woodford, Zero Hash’s CEO

To kickstart the expansion, Mercuryo closed a €2.5m seed funding led by the international venture capital fund Target Global.

The company’s ecosystem has achieved significant growth last year. Its turnover went up 50 times, reaching $75.5M in Q4 2020. The number of employees has also doubled.

CryptoNinjas.net » Mercuryo expands its fiat-to-crypto gateway to the US with Zero Hash

Title: Mercuryo expands its fiat-to-crypto gateway to the US with Zero Hash
Sourced From: http://www.cryptoninjas.net/2021/01/26/mercuryo-expands-its-fiat-to-crypto-gateway-to-the-us-with-zerohash/
Published Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2021 10:44:01 +0000

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Mercuryo expands its fiat-to-crypto gateway to the US with Zero Hash


Mercuryo expands its fiat-to-crypto gateway to the US with Zero Hash was originally published here https://newsarrivals.wordpress.com/2021/01/28/mercuryo-expands-its-fiat-to-crypto-gateway-to-the-us-with-zero-hash/

Crypto derivatives exchange Bit.com integrates with Copper ClearLoop for off-exchange settlement

Crypto derivatives exchange Bit.com integrates with Copper ClearLoop for off-exchange settlement

Crypto derivatives exchange Bit.com integrates with Copper ClearLoop for off-exchange settlement

Bit.com, a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange launched by Matrixport, today announced the completion of its integration with Copper ClearLoop, a platform provided by London-based digital asset custodian Copper.co, which facilitates instant, off-exchange cryptocurrency settlements.

This integration will allow institutional clients to keep their assets secure under Copper’s segregated custodian account, while trading on Bit.com and settling trades in their ClearLoop account. This solution could be extremely helpful for institutional traders because it ensures accessibility, convenience and bypasses security concerns typically linked to trading on cryptocurrency exchanges – including exchanges being hacked, or assets being frozen.

To date, institutional users trading crypto assets have had to move their assets from their secure cold wallets into the exchange’s hot wallets, a process that can often take between ten minutes to one hour. These delays are exacerbated when considering withdrawals and post-trade. ClearLoop eliminates this by enabling off-exchange settlement which takes less than one second.

“We are delighted to welcome Bit.com to the growing ClearLoop network and offer our institutional-grade security to its traders. We look forward to working with its talented team to ensure traders’ assets are secure and, by extension, help Bit.com to grow their customer base. By eliminating historic security risks and providing the peace of mind institutions demand when allocating assets to crypto, we are paving the way to making digital assets mainstream.”
– Dmitry Tokarev, Founder and CEO of Copper

ClearLoop ensures that both the client and the exchange have enough assets allocated to cover any position submitted by a trader before it is opened. Copper then settles trades instantly between parties after the trade has taken place. It also enables traders to have full control over their response to market motion and price action.

“Integrating with Copper ClearLoop is a natural step for Bit.com. Copper’s innovative solution solves pain points for institutional users when it comes to counterparty risk and deposit/withdrawal waiting time. We believe the trading volume on Bit.com will benefit from this added method of access via Copper ClearLoop and an expanded institutional clientele as a result.”
– Cynthia Wu, Head of Business Development and Sales, Bit.com

CryptoNinjas.net » Crypto derivatives exchange Bit.com integrates with Copper ClearLoop for off-exchange settlement

Title: Crypto derivatives exchange Bit.com integrates with Copper ClearLoop for off-exchange settlement
Sourced From: http://www.cryptoninjas.net/2021/01/26/crypto-derivatives-exchange-bit-com-integrates-with-copper-clearloop-for-off-exchange-settlement/
Published Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2021 10:43:58 +0000

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Crypto derivatives exchange Bit.com integrates with Copper ClearLoop for off-exchange settlement


Crypto derivatives exchange Bit.com integrates with Copper ClearLoop for off-exchange settlement was originally published here https://newsarrivals.wordpress.com/2021/01/28/crypto-derivatives-exchange-bit-com-integrates-with-copper-clearloop-for-off-exchange-settlement/

The fourth industrial revolution and crypto

The fourth industrial revolution and crypto

The fourth industrial revolution and crypto

Cryptocurrency will be a major piece of technology in the so-called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, also called ‘The Great Reset.’ The World Economic Forum (WEF) foresees it benefiting supply chains. But, we’ve also seen early implications for the Internet of Things and Smart Cities. During the first Industrial Revolution in the 1750s, people went from manufacturing inside their homes to factories on a mass scale. Now we enter the Fourth Industrial Revolution on the backs of many technologies beyond blockchain, such as AI, machine learning, autonomous vehicles, drones, and more. 

We see the ongoing pandemic has accelerated the adoption of nascent technologies as we move, in a manner where the government doesn’t necessarily have all the power, towards a cashless, streamlined, and transparent financial system.  

We’re seeing such a financial system developing in countries across the world with blockchain projects such as Electroneum, Stellar lumens, and Ripple. These companies are trying to solve a lot of issues out there for the unbanked. They are the seed of blooming micro-economies throughout the world. Give it ten years or so, and they could transform the poor economies. 

The pros entail, for instance, that it is much easier to pay for everything from a cab to an ice cream.  Generally speaking, artists and farmers could benefit during this time. There will be more emphasis on local economies. People will spend more time with their families, instead of going to work every single day. Things will be automated, saving people time. We can spend more of our lives or more of our time pursuing passions that we want to do like learning a guitar or learning to paint and things like that, rather than working in a job that you don’t particularly want to work.

Among the cons, of course, is everything that you spend will be tracked. People’s opinions towards privacy are ever-changing with scandals such as Cambridge Analytica. There will be some pushback there. But, we believe the pros outweigh the cons. 

Privacy is a double-edged sword. You’ve got on one hand where privacy may be jeopardized by everything being tracked. On the other hand, it might be a good thing when everything is tracked. Crime and fraud can be stopped. There is still a scenario where privacy coins become outright banned to prevent crime. But, there’s got to be a way in which everyone wins here. Perhaps, that entails sacrificing some privacy, in order to gain more convenience.

Either way, the past has shown that people like to trade privacy for utility. We’ve seen that over the past 10 years. The fact that we put information out there on the internet to be able to gain access to certain services says it all. We’re happy to have things like Alexa in our households these days. When we sign up to Facebook, or any social media, we use our email address, sometimes with a phone number on there as well. 

To a certain extent, most people are happy to give up most of their personal information, in order to gain access to services. Privacy is something we need more of in the world. Cryptocurrency is a great way to do it. Perhaps we need more of that than tracking. 

The more the world globalizes, with countries signing trade deals and the European Union becoming ever greater in terms, the more we give up our privacy. Simultaneously, the more people have the appetite for more nationalistic ideas, like we’ve seen with Brexit and likely Poland and Hungary, as well. On top of that, people are becoming more concerned about their privacy.

Obviously, some people that desire less government control are going to be skeptical. And that’s why they may opt for privacy coins. Other people will probably like the fact that things are more tracked. Sure, there will be some tradeoffs. But, if the positives outweigh the negatives, then people will be open to this new world.Throughout our lives, certainly in the next 50 years or so, there’ll be existential questions that we’ll have to ponder. 

When we started in cryptocurrency, back in 2017, we were very much into the idea of it from an investment standpoint–and making money of course. Through the last couple of years, especially now in light of this pandemic, we have seen the greater implications and realized crypto isn’t just there for people to make money. There’s more to it in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. 

If you introduced the idea of cryptocurrencies twenty years ago, it would have been met with a lot more skepticism than in 2008. That is even truer now. We’re seeing how now people are more open to the idea. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has tilled the soil, and a future replete with cryptocurrency now sprouts before our very eyes.

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Title: The fourth industrial revolution and crypto
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Published Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2021 10:43:48 +0000

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The fourth industrial revolution and crypto


The fourth industrial revolution and crypto was originally published here https://newsarrivals.wordpress.com/2021/01/28/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-and-crypto/

Smart Retirement Planning: 403b to Gold IRA Rollover Explained

Should You Consider a Gold IRA?: Rollover Your 403b Retirement Plan https://twitter.com/CryptoCrispsBee/status/1642969498150895617 Rolling ...