Crypto Currency

Bitcoin price has hit resistance at the $24,000 level, resulting in a slight pullback in select altcoins. Is the rally over? Bitcoin ( BTC ) hit a six-week high above $24,000 on July 29, extending its rally that picked up momentum after the United States Federal Reserve hiked rates by 75 basis points on July 27. If the rally sustains for the next two days, Bitcoin could be on target to close the month of July with gains of more than 20%, according to data from Coinglass. It is not only the crypto markets that have seen a post-Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) rally. The U.S. equities markets are on track for big monthly gains in July. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite are up about 8.8% and 12% in July, on track to their best monthly gains since November 2020. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 The crypto and equities markets have risen in the expectation that the pace of rate hikes by the Fed will slow down in the future. Arthur Hayes, ex-CEO o...

“The intention is to remain right-sized for any entity considering a potential acquisition of or partnership opportunity with CoinFLEX,” said the exchange. Cryptocurrency exchange CoinFLEX said it had downsized a “significant number” of team members in an effort to cut operating costs. According to a Friday blog post, CoinFLEX said it had cut some staff across “all departments and geographies” as part of measures to reduce the company’s costs by 50% to 60%. The majority of the remaining team members will focus on product and technology , and the exchange said it would consider scaling as “volume comes back.” “The intention is to remain right-sized for any entity considering a potential acquisition of or partnership opportunity with CoinFLEX,” said the exchange. On Saturday, CoinFLEX halted withdrawals after an unnamed party reportedly failed to meet a $47 million margin call. CEO Mark Lamb later took to Twitter to confirm rumors that CoinFLEX had a written contract with Bitcoin C...

BTC futures and stablecoin margin data show whales holding steady even as Bitcoin price failed to hold above $24,000. Bitcoin ( BTC ) rallied on the back of the United States Federal Reserve's decision to hike interest rates on July 27. Investors interpreted Federal Reserve chairman Jeremy Powell’s statement as more dovish than the previous FOMC committee meeting, suggesting that the worst moment of tight economic policies is behind us. Another positive news for risk assets came from the U.S. personal consumption expenditures price (PCE) index, which rose 6.8% in June. The move was the biggest since January 1982, reducing incentives for fixed income investments. The Federal Reserve focuses on the PCE due to its broader measure of inflation pressures, measuring the price changes of goods and services consumed by the general public. Additional positive news came from Amazon after the e-commerce giant reported that its quarterly financial results beat the $119.5 billion estimated...

$24,000 BTC price refuses to flip to support while the weekly close remains shrouded in uncertainty. Bitcoin ( BTC ) saw fresh volatility after July's final Wall Street open as highs north of $24,000 remained solid resistance. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Resistance strikes BTC at $24,000 Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView  reflected bulls' continuing struggle as BTC/USD lurched around the $24,000 mark on July 29. The pair had attempted to match the week's local top of $24,450 , this ultimately failing to materialize as a resurgent U.S. dollar pressured crypto despite the gains of U.S. stocks . The U.S. dollar index (DXY) continued higher during the Wall Street trading, passing 106 after falling to its lowest levels since July 5. U.S. dollar index (DXY) 1-hour candle chart. Source: TradingView Record eurozone inflation  added to the mix of macro triggers on the day, while the monthly close remained a guessing gam...

“While significant, the $2.2M worth of crypto donated to pro-Russian orgs still pales in comparison to the tens of millions in crypto donated to Ukraine,” said Chainalysis. According to data from crypto analytics firm Chainalysis, users have sent more than $2 million in crypto to 54 pro-Russian groups since Feb. 24, a fraction of that received by many wallets controlled by the Ukrainian government. In a Friday blog post, Chainalysis said it had tracked funds sent to social media accounts controlled by pro-Russian groups in Bitcoin ( BTC ), Ether ( ETH ), Litecoin ( LTC ), USDT-TRX, and Dogecoin ( DOGE ) starting with the country’s invasion of Ukraine in February. According to Chainalysis’ data, users sent roughly $2.2 million to the pro-Russian groups, with more than $1 million going to a single unnamed account. While there may be other groups outside of Chainalysis’ investigation of those supporting pro-Russian forces, the available data suggested that the $2.2 million in donatio...

The customized pendants are set to cost 30 ETH a pop and will go on sale on August 5. Luxury jewelry brand Tiffany & Co has announced the sale of 250 diamond and gemstone encrusted pendants for CryptoPunk non-fungible token (NFT) holders.  The handcrafted CryptoPunk pendants were announced by the jewelry brand on July 31 on Twitter, and are priced at 30 ETH , equivalent to $50,600 each at the time of writing. We’re taking NFTs to the next level. Exclusive to CryptoPunks holders, NFTiff transforms your NFT into a bespoke pendant handcrafted by Tiffany & Co. artisans. You’ll also receive an additional NFT version of the pendant. Learn more: https://t.co/FJwCAxw8TN #NFTiff #TiffanyAndCo pic.twitter.com/pyKlWejHv4 — Tiffany & Co. (@TiffanyAndCo) July 31, 2022 According to an NFTiffs Frequently-Asked Questions page, the NFTiff token sale is set to launch on August 5 at 9 am (CST), and will only be available for purchase NFTiff tokens via its website. Each Crypto...

Tether said the hedge funds that saw Terra’s collapse as a reason to short USDT have “a fundamental misunderstanding of both the cryptocurrency market and Tether." Tether, the issuer of Tether (USDT), says that hedge funds that attempted to short its stablecoin after Terra’s collapse in May are using a thesis that is “incredibly misinformed” and “flat out wrong.”  In a blog post from July 28, Tether pointed to a June 28 Wall Street Journal podcast in which host Luke Vargas and guest Caitlin McCabe discussed the bearish crypto market and concerns over Tether’s backing assets as the reasons for short sellers’ appetite for Tether. Tether said that the hedge funds, which saw Terra’s collapse as a reason to short USDT, have “a fundamental misunderstanding of both the cryptocurrency market and Tether." “The simple fact that hedge funds view Terra’s collapse as a constructive thesis to short USDT represents the asymmetric knowledge gap between cryptocurrency market participan...

Bitcoin meetups have been around for years, but now there are companies helping Bitcoiners to meet and even find love “IRL.” Finding real love starts with Bitcoin ( BTC ). That’s according to the founders of Bitcoiner dating service The Orange Pill App and LoveisBitcoin. The services join a growing list of ways in which Bitcoin enthusiasts can meet, chat and now fall in love “IRL” (in real life). But first, why do people who love Bitcoin need to connect with others who are “orange-pilled?” For George Saoulidis, cofounder of LoveisBitcoin, Bitcoiners need a dating service because money shapes our lives more than we realize: “Issues can and do arise if time preferences diverge a lot. Part of the orange-pilling process makes you see through the marketing and the propaganda to distinguish what is truly valuable: Experiences, family, friendships.” Part of the Bitcoin ethos is having a lower time preference , and not succumbing to instant gratification. Saoulidis explains that personall...

Ethereum is all set to transition to PoS by the third week of September, but most of the promised scalability features will only be available after 2023. The Ethereum blockchain is on the verge of one of the most crucial technical updates since its inception, moving from proof-of-work (PoW) to proof-of-stake (PoS) , also called Ethereum 2.0, or Eth2.  Ethereum devs gave Sept. 19 as the perpetual date for the merger of the current PoW chain to the PoS chain. The Merge is expected to be deployed on the Goerli testnet in the second week of August. After the successful integration of the Goerli testnet, the blockchain will initiate the Bellatrix update in early August and roll out the Merge two weeks later. The discussion around the transition began with a focus on scalability, so Ethereum developers proposed a three-phase transformation process. The transition itself is nearly two years in the making, starting on Dec. 1, 2020, with the launch of Beacon Chain, initiating Phase 0 o...

Mining expert Mohamed El Masri predicts that Bitcoin will be worth around $430,500 when the last coin is minted. When the last Bitcoin ( BTC ) is finally mined, the livelihood of miners who rely on block rewards as a source of income will be affected. Despite this, the future of mining stays promising, according to an expert in the space.  In a Cointelegraph interview, Mohamed El Masri, the founder of mining solutions provider PermianChain, talked about new players jumping into mining, the future of mining and what happens to mine profitability after the 21 millionth BTC is minted. El Masri highlighted that efficiency is a very important focus that new players in the space must take into consideration. Because mining profit depends on how efficient a mining operation is, the executive noted that efficiency brings the cost of energy down to a minimum. When asked about the future of the mining space, the executive shared that it’s not always about profit. El Masri said that the...

Cryptocurrency market analysts unpack the ramifications of consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth in America. Data from the United States commerce department suggests America has entered a technical recession, but market analysts have highlighted key metrics that suggest investors are optimistic. The American economy shrunk for the second consecutive quarter, according to government data released on Thursday, fitting the criteria for a technical recession. The Biden Administration maintains that the U.S. is not in a recession, highlighting low unemployment rates and other metrics that counter the argument. Mati Greenspan, founder & CEO of Quantum Economics, addressed the topic in his latest QE newsletter, noting a paradoxical effect between the GDP drop and a surge in stocks and other risk assets. He attributed this move to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates by 0.75%, which saw cryptocurrency markets outperform stocks , with Ethere ( ETH ) surgin...

Estimates for July inflation across the euro area make for grim reading at 8.9%, with the U.S. dollar rebounding. Bitcoin ( BTC ) sought to pin $24,000 as support before the July 29 Wall Street open as fresh inflation data sparked worries for the euro. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView Eurozone inflation estimate shows no peak Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView  showed BTC/USD maintaining most of its latest gains after spiking to nearly $24,500 overnight.  The day’s macro action delivered painful news for the European Economic Area (EEA), as the latest estimates for euro inflation came in at 8.9% for July — still climbing from June’s 8.6%. “Looking at the main components of euro area inflation, energy is expected to have the highest annual rate in July (39.7%, compared with 42.0% in June), followed by food, alcohol & tobacco (9.8%, compared with 8.9% in June), non-energy industrial goods (4.5%, compared with 4.3% in June...

Singapore’s Second Minister for Law believes an integrated platform using the Metaverse will make the dispute resolution process more convenient and efficient. Legal marriage proceedings, court case disputes and government services may one day be offered on the Metaverse , according to a Singaporean government minister.  Speaking at the TechLaw Fest 2022 on July 20, Singapore’s Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong argued even highly personalized, intimate events such as the solemnization of marriages have taken place online in the Metaverse: “It would not be unthinkable that, besides registration of marriages, other government services can soon be accessed online via the Metaverse.” On the subject of legal services in the Metaverse, the Minister added that there is “no reason why the same cannot be done for legal services.” “The pandemic has already shown us that even dispute resolution — once seen to be a physical, high-touch process [...] can also be held almost entirely onl...

The June 15 vote took place for verified NFTs hodlers via a temporary Discord channel. Professional English soccer team Crawley Town F.C. have followed through on a community vote by fans and nonfungible token (NFT) holders who were recently given a voice on what type of player the team should recruit next. The vote, which took place on June 15 and was the first team decision opened up to fans, took place for verified NFTs hodlers via a temporary Discord channel. Votes were also taken from nearly 1,000 season ticket holders.  Speaking with the Daily Mail on Thursday, Crawley Town co-owner and former ESPN gambling analyst Preston Johnson emphasized the significance of being able to offer fans a stake in the club via NFTs: “A lot of NFT projects are just speculation with no real tangible spine, no real true story. Having a football club to root for every week? That’s a spine that people attach themselves to.” “If we can bring that to this crypto audience, especially if we’re ...