Bitcoin Faces Stiff Resistance as It Targets Crucial Support at $22K – August 18, 2022
Bitcoin (BTC) has slumped below the 21-day line SMA as it targets crucial support at $22K. The cryptocurrency is likely to decline and be compelled to a range-bound move between the moving average lines. For the past 48 hours, BTC/USD is hovering above the $23,170 support but the bears are having the upper hand.
Bitcoin has resumed a downtrend as it broke below the 21-day line SMA. The crypto has continued the selling pressure as it approaches the 50-day line SMA. The current decline will be between the moving average lines. However, if the bears break below the 50-day line SMA, Bitcoin will decline and revisit the previous low at $20,724. However, if the 50-day line SMA support holds, Bitcoin will be in a range-bound move between the 21-day line SMA and the 50-day line SMA for a few more days. Then the crypto will trend when the moving average lines are breached. Meanwhile, the BTC price is at level 46 of the Relative Strength Index for Period 14. It indicates that the crypto is in the downtrend zone and may further decline.
Canaan, A Chinese Mining Giant Doubles Profits Despite The Blanket Crypto Ban
Canaan, a Chinese crypto miner maker has accumulated a total of 346.84 BTC by the end of June. Canaan appears to have no issues with the local ban on crypto, as the company’s overall performance has continued to grow in 2022. The company’s CEO, Nangeng Zhang, said Canaan has found the second quarter challenging as Bitcoin plunged below $20,000 in June.
He said: “The COVID-19 containment lockdown in key cities in China also brought severe disruptions to our daily operations and demand for our AI chips.” The CEO said, adding: “We are fully aware of the downward pressure from the Bitcoin price since the last fourth quarter and expect it to bring prolonged headwinds to our performance in the coming quarters. Nevertheless, we believe in the unique value of Bitcoin and its long-term prospects.”
BTC/USD – 4 Hour Chart
Meanwhile, Bitcoin trades between the moving average lines as it targets crucial support at $22K. Meanwhile, on August 17 downtrend; a retraced candle body tested the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level. The retracement suggests that the BTC price will fall to level 1.272 Fibonacci retracement level or $22,891.83. From the price action, the market has declined to the low of $22,720 at the time of writing.
Related: • How to buy Tamagoge • Visit Tamadoge Website
As a once third biggest cryptocurrency, it’s no news that XRP has been one of the most trusted cryptocurrencies in the market. More so, because it was launched as a Bitcoin Competitor, and has stuck to that name pretty well.
The improved transaction speed and reduced transaction fees offered by XRP too have played an important part in the coin getting where it is today.
On the investment front as well, over the years, XRP didn’t fail to make investors happy.
It all changed when a lawsuit filed by the SEC raised concerns about the company, bringing it to where it stands today, with the XRP token trading at $0.37, a 9-fold decrease from its ATH.
But the tables may be on the verge of turning, as the lawsuit is expected to end soon, and optimistically land in Ripple’s favor, vindicating the company of its blame.
And although this might be a positive indication for many, there’s still no surety of this happening, as it could very well happen that Ripple could lose the case. If that happens, it would be tough for the XRP token, which is expected to reach $1 in a matter of months, to maintain its current price.
While the news has provided traders with some optimism, many of them are looking for better investment opportunities. One, that would benefit them the most.
Tamadoge is a name that’s present across most considerations. With the promise to become the next big meme coin, investors are particularly keen on expecting the highest profit on their investment with Tamadoge.
But before we take a look at Talmadge reaching $1, let’s first check out the XRP story.
What’s Up With XRP?
XRP was designed to facilitate transactions on an open and trustless infrastructure that are normally done through central databases of financial institutions. Incentivising users by providing faster transactions and charging very little when compared to the traditional methods.
The primary focus of the network is to facilitate international transactions to banks in a low-cost manner, serving as a better alternative to the system they use currently.
While XRP is often interchanged with Ripple on the internet, it’s important to distinguish those two. XRP is a cryptocurrency, and Ripple is a for-profit company helping develop and promote XRP. along with many other crypto projects.
In 2017, XRP rose to become the third biggest cryptocurrency, behind only Bitcoin and Ethereum, reaching an all-time high market cap of $130 Billion.
This is quite the number as the current market cap of the coin is at over $18 Billion, a significant contrast to what was previously.
As of today, the currency is trading at $0.37.
Involvement of the SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Ripple for selling unregistered securities toward the end of 2020, holding the co-founder and CEO of the company accountable for making unethical profits. These individuals were suggested to have made $600 million in profits, through a $1.3B round raised with unregistered securities.
This case has been working through the courts for close to two years, but now, there are chances of it possibly coming to an end.
XRP has been making a lot of wins in court, including the one where Judge Netburn approved the motion to authenticate video recordings, involving SEC officials making public remarks about the company. But the SEC isn’t ready to budge from its remark of considering XRP a securities token.
While investors await for the lawsuit to soon find a conclusion, there’s another news surfacing the market that has led to some optimism among investors. Ripple, the company behind XRP, has been recognised to be one of the fastest growing firms in the US, growing by 236% in a year.
Though the cards, for now, appear to be in XRPs favor, that’s no evidence to make any conclusions. As if XRP loses the case, it would severely affect the currency itself, while considerably hitting the state of other cryptocurrencies in the market. And if the SEC wins the case, there’s expected to be some panic among investors, resulting in the downfall of the XRP token quite rapidly.
These speculations clubbed with the already volatile crypto market, give an impression that it’s an either Yes or No situation for XRP. While the currency has gained some upward traction in recent months, for it to cross $1, it has to cross a lot of resistance levels including $0.5, $0.6 and $0.75.
So far the currency is maintaining its current optimal levels but isn’t showing too much of a promise of crossing $1. For investors willing to make better profits, there are better options available. Welcome, Tamadoge.
Tamadoge Shows Promise While XRP Raises Skepticism
Memecoins are very well known to chase heights among cryptocurrencies, but when it comes to the utility they bring to the table, they prefer not to be too visible.
This pattern is fairly observable in the two most popular meme coins, Doge and Shiba Inu. Both of which were once among the top 5 cryptocurrencies by market cap but aren’t as strong when it comes to displaying anything more than a price increase.
Tamadoge addresses most of the shortcomings of these popular meme coins, by being more than just a meme token.
Tamadoge provides users with a P2E gaming experience, with TAMA serving as the in-game currency as well as the native token, expected to soon become the #1 meme coin.
Visit Tamadoge
Along with its card game, where users can breed and battle their NFTs, Tamadoge also has a bunch of other games providing users with an incentive to earn through multiple mediums. While improving the engagement on the platform.
The presale of the token is live and has garnered serious attention and investments so far, as investors seem more optimistic about the success of this game coin, expected to overtake XRP when it comes to price.
So far, they’ve raised over $5 million with only 77 million TAMA remaining. The sale comes with a discounted price and will be live until 2nd September. Investors willing to invest can do so with Ether, USDT or any other fiat currency.
With the amount of promise and optimism around Tamadoge, it appears to be a better bet against XRP and may reach $1 first. It’s only a matter of time before we get to see the #1 meme coin of all time.
In the context of a particular ecosystem, a crypto token having a certain utility is known as a utility token. Access tokens are digital objects that grant users privileges within a certain network.
A utility token may only be used inside its own network. For instance, users of the Brave browser or other apps that have integrated BAT wallets (like as Twitter) can only tip content producers with the Basic Attention Token (BAT).
Aside from market speculation, BAT has no other use. It is true of any token with practical use. It is not possible to mine utility tokens like it is with other cryptocurrencies.
They are often pre-mined, meaning that the whole supply is generated at once and then doled out in a predetermined fashion by the project’s developers.
Truth be told, you can’t put your money into a crypto asset and expect it to skyrocket. Timing and some fundamentals are of paramount importance before investing in utility tokens.
Below, we discuss the 8 best utility tokens you need to invest in 2022 before it blows up exponentially.
Battle Infinity
Users may choose to examine the digital assets that give several use cases to the platform in order to locate top cryptocurrencies to buy in.
To conclude, in 2022, the greatest utility token to invest in is Battle Infinity crypto. First of all, Battle Infinity is a Metaverse-inspired Play-to-Earn (P2E) game platform that operates independently of any central authority.
By leveraging blockchain technology, Battle Infinity has made the Battle Arena available to its users and creators. The Battle Arena is a Metaverse environment where users may engage in a variety of Web 3.0 activities for the chance to win crypto prizes.
IBAT, the network’s utility token, is the driving force behind the whole Battle Infinity ecosystem. Using the Binance Smart Chain (BSC), IBAT implements the BEP-20 protocol.
Battle Infinity has six different pay-to-play games, and they all employ IBAT tokens for in-game currency, utility, and player activity tracking. Users can join the IBAT Premier League, a decentralized NFT-based sports fantasy league, utilizing IBAT NFT passes.
It is only possible to participate in games by staking IBAT tokens, which actually increases the platform’s liquidity. Staked IBAT funds are placed into a global liquidity pool that may be utilized for token swapping, reward distribution, and general network upkeep.
Additionally, on Battle Infinity, you may open a bank account at the decentralized exchange known as IBAT Market. Users may store their ETH, BNB, etc. on an exchange and trade them for IBAT tokens to use the P2E functions.
As more people join the Battle Infinity network, more opportunities arise for the IBAT token to be used by more developers and players.
Battle Infinity’s road map outlines key growth potential, such as the establishment of a decentralized exchange (DEX), the introduction of the mainnet, and the use of celebrities to promote the coin.
As the IBAT presale has concluded, the next major potential is the listing of PancakeSwap on the DEX. Telegram users may join the Battle Infinity group to discuss these and other topics.
Buy Battle Infinity
Lucky Block
When it comes to utility tokens, Lucky Block is at the top of the heap. LBLOCK’s token holders may benefit from the platform’s regular payouts and the greatest crypto giveaways, in addition to the platform’s significant investment potential enabled by its blockchain-based business model.
Each LBLOCK utility token issued on the Binance Smart Chain represents a regular opportunity to win a reward through the Lucky Block platform. Moreover, LBLOCK owners get a dividend from the proceeds of each lottery.
It’s safe to say that LBLOCK’s pre-sale was a smashing success, as 11,200 BNB (Binance Coin) were collected. There are already more than 50,000 token holders, and LBLOCK has a market worth of approximately $90 million.
PancakeSwap, a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange, is currently offering early access to LBLOCK. In the near future, the LBLOCK complete software will be available on both Google Play and the Apple App Store, and the cryptocurrency will soon be available on the most popular exchanges.
Buy Lucky block
Tamadoge
In the cryptocurrency game of the same name, players may earn Tamadoge utility tokens by completing in-game tasks. Players of Tamadoge may create their own one-of-a-kind NFT pet and raise it from infancy until adulthood. Players’ decisions along the way will shape the character’s pet.
As soon as the pet reaches adulthood, gamers can pit it against the pets of other players. TAMA currency is awarded to victorious players and may be used to purchase in-game items such as NFT pets, as well as to mint new ones.
TAMA coin stands out among utility coins since its purchase and sale are not subject to taxation. Instead, users spend TAMA in-game, which is how the Tamadoge initiative gets money. There is no minimum purchase requirement or other barrier to entry when trading modest amounts of TAMA.
Deflationary effects are another hallmark of TAMA. There is an initial supply cap of 2 billion tokens, and 5% of all in-game purchases are destroyed through a “burning” process. As a result, the amount of TAMA available diminishes with time, and at a faster rate the more widespread use of the Tamadoge game develops. If true, that’s good news for the first investors.
Those interested can purchase TAMA in advance via the Tamadoge website. The development team has stated their intention to list TAMA on major centralized exchanges before the end of the year.
Visit Tamadoge
Axie Infinity
The Axie Infinity blockchain game has its own native cryptocurrency, AXS. The focus of this play-to-earn (P2E) game is on the creation, care, and development of digital monsters.
These NFT avatars compete for prizes in exchange for AXS. Players may spend AXS to buy items to help their monsters or sell them for real money on cryptocurrency exchanges.
Late in March 2022, the Ronin Network blockchain that powers the Axie Infinity Game was hacked, resulting in the theft of $622 million worth of Ethereum and USD Coin, causing the Axie token price to plummet.
Due to this, AXS lost all of the value growth it had seen during the first three weeks of March, totaling 35%. The drop in confidence in AXS has already been included into the stock price.
If you’ve been thinking about buying AXS, maybe now is the moment because of the ridiculously low price. Don’t discount Axie Infinity’s staying power as a fad.
Over a hundred thousand Axie gamers are now online, vying for AXS. In 2021, when NFT monsters were at the height of their popularity, Axie’s collection was the most valuable in the world.
Buy AXS
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ApeCoin
ApeCoin has excellent investment potential among the next generation of NFT utility tokens. The APE token is used as the system’s medium of exchange within the innovative Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT ecosystem.
When someone has APE, they have a say in how the APE NFT system is managed. However, the vast majority of APE investors do so because of the financial potential of the stock.
Bored Ape’s 9,999 NFTs have dominated the market, with a trading volume of about $19 million in the past week. NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) are digital assets that may be sold for profit. An average Bored Ape NFT will set you back by approximately $394,000.
Successful token economics might be very advantageous for ApeCoin. The total number of APE tokens in circulation is just 1 billion. When the Bored Ape NFT utility coin launched in March 2022, each owner was rewarded with little more than 10,000 APE.
Buy ApeCoin
Your capital is at risk
Decentraland
The Decentraland Metaverse operates on the MANA utility coin. With a market valuation of almost $4 billion, this cryptocurrency ranks as the 33rd largest in the world.
The Metaverse in which Decentraland exists was one of the earliest of its kind. It’s a virtual 3D setting where people may purchase property, build virtual stores and attractions, and earn money.
The MANA utility token may be used to purchase anything in the Decentraland marketplace, from avatars to tag names. Importantly, LAND tokens are required for land purchases on Decentraland, and MANA must be burned in order to get LAND.
The Decentraland DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) uses MANA as its governance token so that owners may have a say in what kinds of content are allowed in the Metaverse and how auctions are conducted.
That’s why MANA is such a boon to the Decentraland community. It is anticipated that the price of MANA will increase in the future as it is a vital established Metaverse.
Buy MANA
Your capital is at risk
Enjin
The utility token of the Enjin ecosystem is called Enjin Coin. Developers may utilize ENJ to create in-game NFTs for usage in any of Enjin’s Metaverse’s, making it one of the most popular NFT utility tokens. More than a billion NFT assets have been minted using ENJ.
There can never be an oversupply of ENJ since there will only ever be one billion tokens issued. There are now 167,254 cryptocurrency wallets that hold ENJ, with the largest ‘HODLing’ amounting to $187m.
Like any other utility token, investing in ENJ is possible even if you have no plans to use the token inside the ENJ ecosystem. Invest in the growing NFT market with ENJ.
At the end of 2020, NFT sales were at $10 million; by the end of 2021, they had reached $25 billion, an increase of 2,500%. The leading broker eToro reports that ENJ has 333,000 followers.
Buy ENJ
Your capital is at risk
Binance Coin
Binance Coin holders are eligible for discounts on crypto staking and a 25% trading discount on Binance’s cryptocurrency exchange.
Binance, which has 80 million members, is competitive with leading broker eToro when it comes to finding the most undervalued coin.
Having some BNB on hand facilitates transactions on the market. However, many investors only purchase BNB for the sake of speculation. Actually, there are more than a million Binance Coin investors on eToro.
The Binance Smart Chain (BSC) serves as the foundation for BNB Coin. The gas costs here are far lower than on Ethereum’s blockchain, which is frequently overloaded.
Lucky Block is one of several new utility coins that has chosen to debut on BSC. BNB is predicted to reach higher heights in the future as a robust utility coin.
Buy BNB
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How to buy Tamadoge
How to Buy Battle Infinity?
Battle Infinity – New Metaverse Game
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Presale Sold Out Early – Upcoming PancakeSwap Listing
The Play-to-Earn (P2E) Metaverse meme coin, Tamadoge, has already raised $4.75 million in the most recent round of its presale and is currently beginning the fourth tranche of its sale.
During the beta sale phase, a total of two hundred million tokens were purchased, resulting in revenue of two million dollars; the price of one TAMA token was 0.01 USDT— the Tether stablecoin, is equivalent to 1 USD. The initial $1 million was completely purchased within the first 12 days of the beta sale.
The price of one USDT was equivalent to 66.67 TAMA during the third stage of the presale. Despite this, after the milestone aim of $4.75 million was reached, the price increased once more to 57.14 TAMA for every USDT. The following benchmark has been established at $6.5 million.
The presale will make a total of one billion TAMA tokens accessible to buyers, which represents about half of the total supply.
The TAMA Presale Final Price Will Be 3x Beta Sale Price
Following this, the pre-sale will continue with a series of token sale tranches, each consisting of 100 million, and the price of each token will increase by 0.0025 USDT as the sale progresses.
The price of one TAMA token at the end of the presale will be 0.03 USDT, which is three times more than the price of one TAMA token during the beta sale, which was 0.01 USDT.
Tamadoge has amassed a member base of 25,000 for its Telegram group and has already racked up 45,000 followers on Twitter. The excitement that has been developing has caused these numbers.
Brand-New and Extremely Attractive Incentives for Tamadoge
The Tamadoge team has recently announced the introduction of a new giveaway airdrop referral program that will give away a total of one hundred thousand dollars. This announcement is guaranteed to pique the interest of prospective investors.
Once the hard cap has been reached, the winner will be required to have the equivalent of at least $100 worth of Tamadoge in their possession on the day of the draw in order to be eligible to collect the prize of the equivalent of $100,000 worth of Tamadoge.
There are nine different methods to enter, some of which are straightforward and require little more than following Tamadoge on their various social media accounts. On the giveaway page, you’ll find all of the relevant information.
Memecoins to Make a Powerful Comeback
As Tamadoge approaches the fourth round of its presale, Shiba Inu has had a tremendous bounce on the charts recently, at one point pumping over 30% over the span of 24 hours. This comes as Tamadoge prepares to release their new game.
During the most recent bull market, SHIB was one of the assets that performed the best, and as a result, many retail investors were able to amass substantial fortunes from very modest investments that eventually skyrocketed in value.
When compared to Dogecoin, the SHIB project provides more usefulness, which is one of the reasons why the SHIB community has been able to expand at such a phenomenal rate.
Tamadoge is another meme currency that has usefulness, which might be a reason in its early appeal among investors who want to get in early before the price explodes.
Because Tamadoge is a deflationary cryptocurrency, its economy is price-supportive from the very beginning, which helps maintain the value of the currency.
The gameplay of Tamadoge revolves around players competing against one another to go up the leaderboard by amassing a certain number of points known as “Dogepoints.” The ‘Dogepool’ is a monthly prize pool, and the users who have the most Dogepoints at the end of each month are the ones who are eligible to collect their share of the wins from that pool.
The Elon Musk and Tamadoge Angle
There are persistent rumors circulating that Elon Musk himself may be participating in the presale, and these rumors refuse to go down.
In addition, rumors that have not been confirmed continue to circulate, hinting that Tamadoge may have some seasoned backers on board who have previously been successful with other meme currencies.
Regardless of whether or not the aforementioned assertions are accurate, the Metaverse narrative that underpins the value differential of Tamadoge’s ecosystem (also known as the Tamaverse) is most likely what is assisting the meme coin in gaining momentum with cryptocurrency investors.
The road map includes augmented reality and virtual reality milestones. The project aims to connect with Metaverse partners early in the upcoming year and to have the 3D rig-up of the Tamadoge dogs available for the Metaverse later in 2023.
TAMA LBank’s listing on the exchange, following the presale, has already been verified.
A future listing on the LBank exchange in Hong Kong has already been confirmed, and other CEX listings are now being set up to take place in the near future.
Connecting one’s cryptocurrency wallet to the website https://bitesly.io/box 5a66b923931a8851e48a252348c79bc5 is all that is required for those who are interested in participating in the presale.
The global crypto market cap is $ with a 24-hour volume of $. The price of Bitcoin is $22,815.73 and BTC market dominance is %. The price of Ethereum is $1,813.24 and ETH market dominance is %. The best performing cryptoasset sector is Deflationary, which gained 22%.
Crypto technology firm Ripple and Latin American Bank Travelex inked a new partnership on August 18 to spread instant cross-border crypto payments in Brazil using Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution.
Ripple’s ODL allows for instant cross-border transfers for a meager settlement cost. The ODL also doesn’t require pre-funded capital in the destination market. The deal made Travelex the first Latin American bank to utilize Ripple’s ODL solution.
Ripple’s CEO, Brad Garlinghouse, said that the company’s goal was to deliver real value and offer utility from day one. He said:
“Brazil is a key market for Ripple given its importance as an anchor to business in Latin America, its openness to crypto and country-wide initiatives that promote fintech innovation. […] we are excited to collaborate with an innovative partner like Travelex Bank to help move money more efficiently for the benefit of its customers across Brazil.”
Travelex Bank is the first foreign exchange bank in the region and operates entirely digitally. The bank said it has been looking for ways to enhance the customer experience for its users, who mostly have limited funds to spare for settlement costs. By utilizing Ripple’s ODL, Travelex will be able to offer instant international transfers 24/7, for very cheap.
The function will support payments between Brazil and Mexico at launch and will gradually expand to cover more regions in the future.
Payments in Cryptosphere
Crypto payments have been a hot topic for crypto companies and the community since the beginning of 2022.
In April 2022, a study reflected on the community’s adoption of payments and revealed that 40% of young adults (18 to 35-year-olds) want to use crypto as a payment method.
Responding to the demand, prominent crypto companies have been making partnerships and taking steps toward offering crypto payments to their customers.
Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta revealed its investments in crypto payments in May when it filed a trademark application for the name “MetaPay.” In June, Binance and Triple-A announced their partnership to co-create a global crypto payment gateway.
Giants from the traditional finance sphere also took a step towards enabling crypto payments. Paypal launched a beta version of its crypto payment solution in June; Mastercard partnered with a Brazilian e-commerce platform to allow crypto payments on the merchant’s front end; Stripe re-added a Bitcoin payment option to its services; Banking Circle launched a new feature to enable USDC payments.
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The central bank of the Philippines, the primary regulator of the country’s crypto sector, has warned investors about engaging with unregistered and foreign crypto service providers. They “may present additional challenges on enforcing legal recourse and consumer protection and redress mechanisms for local customers, among others,” the regulator said.
The Philippine Central Bank’s Crypto Warnings
The central bank of the Philippines, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), issued a public warning Tuesday regarding unregistered and foreign crypto service providers. In the Philippines, the central bank is the primary regulator of the crypto sector.
The announcement states:
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (Bangko Sentral) strongly urges the public not to deal with virtual asset service providers (VASPs) that are either unregistered or domiciled abroad.
The central bank’s website shows that 19 VASPs have been registered as of June.
Besides the risk from price volatility associated with virtual assets (VAs), the central bank explained that VASPs that are based abroad “may present additional challenges on enforcing legal recourse and consumer protection and redress mechanisms for local customers, among others.”
The Bangko Sentral emphasized:
VA dealings are generally considered as high-risk activities which may result in huge financial losses due to price swings.
Furthermore, the central bank warned that the government does not guarantee protection against financial losses stemming from crypto price fluctuations. “The public should exercise caution, conduct their own due diligence, and always be mindful of the risks prior to engaging with VA-related activities,” the regulator emphasized.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has urged the public to immediately report unlawful activities facilitated through cryptocurrencies and/or crypto service providers to the central bank.
Last week, the central bank announced that it will stop accepting new VASP license applications for three years, starting Sept. 1. The regulator explained that it “aims to strike a balance between promoting innovation in the financial sector and ensuring that associated risks remain within manageable levels.”
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What do you think about the Philippine central bank’s warnings? Let us know in the comments section below.
Kevin Helms
A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
The European Central Bank (ECB) is working to harmonize the regulatory framework governing crypto activities and services in the EU. The regulator noted that several regulatory initiatives at the European and international levels are being finalized.
ECB’s Regulatory Plan for Crypto Assets
The European Central Bank (ECB) outlined its plan to harmonize the regulatory framework governing crypto activities and services in the EU Wednesday. The regulator explained that banks are increasingly considering whether to offer crypto products and services, and it is the ECB’s role to “ensure they do so safely and soundly.”
The ECB described that it works closely with national regulators “to ensure a consistent approach and high standards across countries,” elaborating:
There is currently no harmonized regulatory framework governing crypto-asset activities and services in the EU.
“This will change with the finalization of several regulatory initiatives at [the] European and international level,” the ECB detailed, mentioning the markets in crypto-assets (MiCA) proposal to regulate the crypto sector in the EU. Internationally, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision plans to issue its rules on the prudential treatment of crypto exposures for banks.
The ECB pointed out that the regulatory frameworks for crypto “diverge quite extensively” between EU countries. For example, certain crypto activities are subject to a banking license requirement in Germany. Several banks have requested authorization to conduct crypto activities in the European country, the ECB said, adding:
It is in this context that the ECB is taking steps to harmonize the assessment of licensing requests.
The ECB also emphasized that it is working on assessing the risks posed by crypto assets, stating:
Crypto assets put the spotlight on certain types of risk, starting with operational and cyber risks, and the ECB is also working to assess these.
In addition, “internal governance arrangements and processes need to take account of the crypto-asset AML/CFT [anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism] risk profile of the institution,” the European regulator stressed.
ECB President Christine Lagarde said in June that “crypto assets and decentralized finance (defi) have the potential to pose real risks to financial stability.” She added: “This would be particularly the case if the rapid growth of crypto-asset markets and services continue … and the interconnectedness with both the traditional financial sector and the broader economy is intensified.”
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What do you think about the ECB working to create a harmonized regulatory framework for crypto assets? Let us know in the comments section below.
Kevin Helms
A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons
Three days before Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS), the world’s largest derivatives marketplace in terms of volume, CME Group, announced plans to list ethereum options. While CME’s ether options product prepares for regulatory review, the company detailed that the options contract will be measured at 50 ether per contract, using the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate.
CME Group Reveals Ethereum Options Launch
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange otherwise known as CME Group revealed the company’s intentions to list ethereum options contracts three days before The Merge on September 12, 2022. CME detailed that the new ether options join the firm’s bitcoin (BTC) options and micro-sized bitcoin and ether options contracts.
“These new contracts deliver one ether futures, sized at 50 ether per contract, and based on the CME CF Ether-Dollar Reference Rate, which serves as a once-a-day reference rate of the U.S. dollar price of ether,” the derivatives marketplace said on Thursday. CME’s global head of equity and FX products, Tim McCourt, noted on Thursday that the new ether options contracts add to the company’s existing lineup of crypto derivatives products.
“The launch of these new options contracts builds on the significant growth and deep liquidity we have seen in our existing Ether futures, which have traded more than 1.8 million contracts to date,” McCourt said in a statement. The CME executive added:
As we approach the highly anticipated Ethereum Merge next month, we continue to see market participants turn to CME Group to manage ether price risk. Our new ether options will offer a wide array of clients greater flexibility and added precision to manage their ether exposure ahead of market-moving events.
Current ethereum (ETH) options statistics from The Block’s Crypto Data on August 18, 2022.
CME Group will join a number of exchanges that already offer ethereum options contracts including Deribit, Okex, Bit.com, and Huobi. In July there was $11.38 billion in ether options volume with Deribit commanding $10.86 billion out of all four exchanges that list ETH options. The market share of ether options open interest is also dominated by Deribit, in comparison to open interest figures associated with Huobi, Okex, and Bit.com.
In terms of bitcoin options, Deribit also outshines CME as CME Group is the second largest in terms of bitcoin options open interest with $441 million recorded on August 17. In the same fashion, CME is the third largest in terms of bitcoin options volume while Deribit takes the lead. Okex manages to capture a touch more volume as far as bitcoin options are concerned.
With the new CME ether options, TP ICAP Digital Assets and Akuna Capital are supporting CME’s ether options roll out. TP ICAP Digital Assets is excited to support CME Group in the rollout of its full-sized Ether options contract,” TP ICAP’s head of brokering Sam Newman remarked during the announcement. “This larger-sized Ether option, in tandem with the already popular Micro Ether option, has been eagerly awaited by TP ICAP’s customers.”
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Akuna Capital, Bit.com, CME, CME Ether Options, CME Group, deribit, Deribit Bitcoin Options, ETH, Ethereum, Ethereum Merge, ethereum options, Ethereum Options contracts, Huobi, micro ether options, Okex, Open Interest, PoS, PoW, The Merge, Tim McCourt, TP ICAP Digital Assets, volume
What do you think about CME Group offering ethereum options on September 12, 2022? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.
Jamie Redman
Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,700 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.
Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, The Block Crypto Data
Ksenia Malik, the wife of Tornado Cash creator Alexey Pertsev Wife has lashed out at Dutch authorities for treating her husband like a “dangerous criminal” following his arrest last week.
The Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) arrested Pertsev on Aug. 12 over an alleged use of the Ethereum-based privacy tool to launder money and conceal criminal financial flows.
Speaking to Cointelegraph, Malik confirmed that Pertsev remains in the hands of Dutch authorities and has not had the chance to contact him since he was put behind bars.
“He’s kept in prison as if he were a dangerous criminal,” Malik said, as she expressed her concern that Pertsev was arrested without warning over what she sees as a harmless activity:
“It is very unexpected for me that a person can be arrested for writing open source code.”
Malik said that she can “only guess how he is doing and how difficult it is for him right now,” as the Dutch authorities have completely barred her [or anyone] from any contact with him, not even “one short call.”
Despite Malik feeling helpless in this regard, she isn’t without support. Decentralized finance (DeFi) aggregator 1inch has organized a rally in Amsterdam Aug. 20, to show support for Pertsev and to stand for developers’ rights to create open-source software.
1inch has been particularly vocal about the matter, having said that the arrest of Pertsev threatens to “create a dangerous precedent,” as it could “kill the entire open-source software segment” if developers are held responsible for any software they create that is misused by others.
1/ Is it really a crime to be an open-source #blockchain developer nowadays ⁉️
Stand up for the right to build open-source software!
Help Alex Pertsev get out of jail!
Sign the petition: https://t.co/r5sdHaYKCN#FreeAlex #OpenSourceNotACrime #DeFi
Why is it important⤵️ pic.twitter.com/CqqD4Ds8AQ
— 1inch Network (@1inch) August 18, 2022
In light of 1inch’s efforts and the broader crypto community, Malik said that she’s “very grateful to everyone who helps and supports my husband,” as it proves that “people really care.”
Malik also hopes that the rally not only draws attention to Pertsev’s injustice but also positively influences public opinion on the nature of open-source code:
“We want to achieve publicity so that as many people as possible know about the arrest and the reasons for its wrongness. This is a serious issue, as every open source developer and many other people can be affected by this accusation.”
However, Pertsev’s arrest isn’t entirely disapproved of. Venture capitalist Kevin O’Leary stated in a recent interview that crypto privacy tools like Tornado Cash are a part of a “crypto cowboy” culture that “mess with the primal forces of regulation”. While going on to describe Pertsev’s arrest as a necessary one.
“If we have to sacrifice him, that’s okay, because we want to have some stability in that institutional capital,” he said.
Related:Tornado Cash sanctions will undermine the US and strengthen crypto
Prior to the arrest, the U.S.Office of Foreign Asset Control barred U.S. residents from interacting with Tornado Cash on Aug. 8 amid increasing concerns that it was being used to launder money. The U.S. Treasury believes Tornado Cash has facilitated more than $7 billion worth of money laundering activity since Pertsev created Tornado Cash in 2019.
Tl;dr Coinbase has seen a concerning increase in fraudulent cryptocurrency investment platforms that are sourcing victims through connections on dating apps and social media. We are encouraging our users to be vigilant against this type of social engineering scam.
The Coinbase Security team has previously submitted the domains in this blog, in addition to several other related domains, to Google Safe Browsing for alerting users when browsing to these sites.
By Coinbase Global Investigations, Trust & Safety, and Threat Intelligence Teams
Coinbase works closely with law enforcement partners across the globe to protect our customers from an array of targeted cyber attacks. Recently, a noteworthy increase in scams purporting to be foreign exchanges or crypto trading platforms that are spread by scammers who use dating apps to lure victims. While investment scams and romance scams are not unique to the cryptocurrency ecosystem, the irreversible nature of cryptocurrency transactions can make these scams devastating. This scheme is particularly effective because it relies on a scammer building trust with their victim sometimes over a long time period of weeks or months.
The scam typically follows this chain of events:
Victims are contacted through social media, are matched with the scammer on a dating app, or are contacted on instant messaging applications.
The scammer encourages the victim to migrate their conversation to an encrypted messaging service, such as WhatsApp or WeChat, sometimes communicating for weeks or months before mentioning an investment opportunity.
The scammer typically claims they have received great financial returns from a cryptocurrency trading or mining platform and convince their victim to co-invest with them or teach them how to trade successfully.
Victims are directed to visit a fraudulent website that often looks like a legitimate trading platform and coached to deposit funds into an account that is controlled by the scammer.
Some victims even receive a small amount of funds that are claimed to be “returns” on their investment to entice them to invest even larger sums.
When the victim tries to withdraw funds from the site, they are then told they owe a tax payment or service fee before their funds will be released in an effort to further extort them for money.
How we have been working to protect our users:
Teams across Coinbase identify and add addresses associated with scams to our products’ blocklists to protect our customers.
Security teams frequently conduct scans to identify clusterings of existing scam sites and collaborate with law enforcement to enforce takedowns. These teams have increased monitoring to identify new sites that have the potential to be similarly abused.
While it is impossible to predict all addresses associated with scams, we conduct blockchain analysis on known scam addresses to map out related wallets and we communicate with other exchanges to inform them when they may be receiving these scammed funds.
We routinely collaborate with law enforcement to share intel on emerging scams and support their investigations.
The following steps can be taken to protect yourself:
Be skeptical of investment opportunities from people you meet through online forums or dating apps, even if you have been communicating for a while. If they claim to have an exclusive or urgent opportunity, this is a big red flag.
Don’t disclose your current financial status to people you’ve met online and don’t post any of your financial information on social media.
Independently research any trading platform you are considering sending money to, including using consumer protection websites.
Report any scams including the URL and the receiving cryptocurrency address to security@coinbase.com.
If you become aware of a scam, please report it to the FBI’s Internet Crimes Complaint Center.
Report any scam websites to Google Safebrowsing .
Investment scam landing pages often look like the following examples:
Crypto market sentiment had been turning more positive in the month of August, and this had seen the digital assets in the space return double-digit growth in the first week of the month. However, the market has been unable to hold its bullish trend properly, and cryptocurrencies are beginning to shed the gains that they had put on in the first week. While the assets remain largely at positive levels, the gains for last week are noticeably less than the previous week.
Weekly Gains Drop Across The Board
The weekly gains across the crypto market have been down for the last week. The Small Cap Index still remains the apparent winner through the week, as is expected during such recoveries. But it was in no way close to the gains that were recorded for the prior week.
Small Cap altcoins came out on top with 8% gains for last week. This put it 2% ahead of the Mid and Large Cap Index and 5% better than Bitcoin’s performance. However, it should be taken into account that small cap altcoins possess more volatility compared to the other indexes. Hence the large swings in gains and losses.
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The Large Cap Index made a surprising move last week by rivaling the returns of the Mid Cap Index. Usually, in cases like these, the Mid Cap tends to outperform alongside the Small Cap, but last week saw it return 6% gains, the same as the Large Cap Index.
Bitcoin was the worst performer of the bunch once more. It saw only 3% gains, maintaining a noticeable distance from the rest of the indexes.
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Bitcoin Sees Crypto Market Dominance Decline
Bitcoin has been seeing its crypto market dominance decline over the last two years. With the entrance of popular cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, the leading asset has had to give up more market share to make room for others. But even with so much market share already taken from the pioneer cryptocurrency, altcoins continue to dig their heels in.
Last week, bitcoin recorded another decline in its market dominance. The 0.42% taken over by altcoins has now dragged bitcoin’s dominance down to the 40% territory. Meanwhile, Ethereum is seeing a growing market share. The altcoin added 0.89% last week, bringing its market dominance above 20% to 20.74% at the time of this writing.
Stablecoins are also losing market share as investors begin to take more risks. USDT, USDC, and BUSD all saw declines of 0.03%, 0.17%, and 0.03% respectively. Surprisingly, Dogecoin added 0.15% to its market dominance, while Solana saw a 0.01% addition.
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The decline has seen more than $50 billion wiped off the crypto market cap, bringing it to $1.10 trillion at the time of writing.
Featured image from Analytics Insight, chart from TradingView.com
FollowBest Owie on Twitterfor market insights, updates, and the occasional funny tweet…
The crypto market has been losing momentum as the price of Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB) start trading in the red. The largest cryptocurrencies by market cap might experience further losses as macro-economic factors keep exercising a negative influence on risk-on assets.
At the time of writing, the crypto total market cap stands at $1.09 trillion after experiencing rejection at the $1.2 trillion mark. This has led to minor losses for Bitcoin (2.2%), and Binance Coin (7%), only Ethereum has been able to preserve some of its last week’s gains.
BTC’s price moving sideways on the 4-hour chart. Source: BTCUSDT Tradingview
Analyst Justin Bennett believes the crypto market has been negatively impacted by the uptrend in U.S. dollars. The currency saw a major push to the upside at the start of 2022 on its monthly chart and seems to be attempting to reclaim 2022 levels on higher timeframes.
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This could translate into more losses for risk-on assets, such as equities and cryptocurrencies; more economic uncertainty as inflation trends higher in decades; less liquidity across global financial markets. Bennett said the following while sharing the chart below:
Expect #stocks and crypto to struggle while the US dollar is doing this. The $DXY just took out 107 on its way to 107.40. I still think we see 112-113. Be careful out there (…). The trend is your friend…unless it’s the $DXY. 112-113 first, but most likely 120 in the next few months. USD up means risk assets down.
DXY Index (U.S. Dollar) breaking above important resistance on the monthly chart. Source: Justin Bennett
The largest crypto by market cap, Bitcoin, saw a yearly low at around $17,600. As NewsBTC reported, Fidelity’s Director of Macro Jurrien Timmer believes this level is on par with the cryptocurrency’s previous bottoms and expects that price point to operate as critical support.
Will Macro Economic Factors Break A Critical Support For Crypto
Using BTC’s Supply and Demand models, Timmer compared $17,600 with $3,100 and $200, two major support zones for Bitcoin even in persistent downside trends. The expert said the following on BTC’s capacity to see more appreciation in the long term, bullish momentum that will surely push the entire crypto market upwards:
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Bitcoin’s price-to-network ratio (my proxy for a valuation multiple) is back to 2014 levels. Meanwhile, its network continues to grow, roughly in line with a power regression curve.
Source: Jurrien Timmer via Twitter
In contrast, Bennett expects more losses for BTC’s price and the crypto market. The first crypto by market cap could bottom between $9,500 to $13,500.
The expert bearish thesis is based on the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) current monetary policy. The financial institution is set on stopping inflation from going higher and will continue to increase interest rates, Bennett believes, to achieve that goal.
Bear market rallies are easy to identify even without a chart. It comes down to one simple question.
Is the fed easing or tightening?
➡️If easing, dips are for buying ➡️If tightening, rallies are short-lived
The fed just began tightening and isn’t likely to stop anytime soon.
— Justin Bennett (@JustinBennettFX) August 17, 2022
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Despite changes in the asset’s price, Ethereum is steadily adding to the ETH 2.0 staking contract.
According to the development team, this occurs about a month before the Merge is scheduled to occur.
Ethereum Staked Token Hit New ATH
According to Dune Analytics data, more over 13.2 million ETH have been deposited to the staking contract, however there are only about 80,000 unique depositors.
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ETH Staked on ETH 2.0 Contract. Source: Delphi Digital
The graph above shows how ETH’s amount locked in the staking contract has gradually increased and reached a new all-time high in terms of ether.
A far cry from the peak reached last year, when ETH was close to $5,000, the USD value had soared to just shy of $24 billion.
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The remarkable results come as the Ethereum development team continues to provide updates on the progress of the switch from PoW to PoS.
The most anticipated event in the bitcoin sector this year is referred to as the Merge.
Among other advantages, it should make Ethereum less energy-intensive and increase the network’s durability.
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Numerous well-known crypto insiders predict that it will significantly affect the price of ETH. According to recent claims made by Arthur Hayes, it might increase the asset’s USD valuation in a manner comparable to BTC’s halving.
On the other hand, Mark Cuban cautioned that the Merge might initially be a “sell-the-news” event but thinks it’s a good move overall.
Price Have Began To Slide
According to the weekly shift in the Ether-Bitcoin cross rate, Christophe Barraud, chief economist, strategist, and top forecaster at Bloomberg, Ethereum is poised to lose ground against Bitcoin for the first time in seven weeks.
ETH/USD trades at $1,800. Source: TradingView
After the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or inflation data report came in better than expected, Ethereum has outperformed Bitcoin in recovery despite the decline relative to BTC as both remain highly correlated with the S&P 500 stocks, according to a report published on August 17 by the on-chain social metrics platform Santiment.
Featured image from Pixabay, Chart from TradingView.com, Delphi Digital
The price trend for Bitcoin seems to be moving with the set rates of the US Federal Reserve. BTC plunged shortly after the Federal Reserve’s July meeting. However, from the minutes released on Wednesday, August 17, policymakers had discussed more interest rate hikes to fight inflation.
They deliberated on the need for checkmate borrowing costs by increasing rates which could restrict the country’s economic growth. By that, they could have the required time and influence in controlling potential inflation.
It’s not surprising to see the recent performance of cryptocurrency following the news of the Fed’s plans. The assets are pretty sensitive to such changes. For instance, the market saw crypto value halving as the central bank implemented its tightening cycle in March.
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BTC price data showed a drop of about 2%. This dip went below its high performance from the lows of both July 15 and July 26. With the dramatic appearance of the bears in the BTC market, deliberations are high on different platforms about a possible sell-off.
The crypto market has become more vulnerable to the possibility of a further increase in rates and the US restrictive policy. As a result, there could be more spikes of volatility which could confuse the crypto market.
Furthermore, the move acts against the current market pricing and anticipation for more cuts in the interest rates in 2023. Also, the price of BTC had surged impressively to hit a two-month high of above $25,200.
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Reactions To Fed And Spike In Bitcoin Interest Rates
A Decentral Park Capital researcher, Lewis Harland, noted that the rates move to affect Bitcoin adversely. He mentioned that the Fed consistently handles inflation even as the costs contract the economy.
Also, Michael Kramer of Mott Capital Management observed that there’s no hope for Fed fund futures traders, that the central banks would switch to rate cuts in 2023.
They expected that once the rate peaked at around 3.7% by March, it would stall till ending of 2023. However, the central bank increased the rate by 75 basis points last month. It now sits between 2.25% to 2.5%.
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The price of Bitcoin is slightly recovering today as it hovers around $23,500 against its low of $23,180 on Wednesday. However, despite the small gain, the value of BTC is still below the supportive level during its rising trendline.
Bitcoin is trading sideways on the chart l Source: BTCUSDT on TradingView.com
There are reactions from observers that have come across the Fed minutes. For example, a former Fed trader, Joseph Wang, declared that it’s hawkish.
In his observation, the transcript also expresses concerns about the implications of excessive tightening while managing inflation. But, on the other hand, policymakers also advised to create normalcy by slowing the rate at certain levels.
Featured image from Pixabay, Charts from TradingView.com
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