Category: Bitcoin

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Bitcoin Crypto News

SkyBridge Capital Fund Rumoured to Own $700 Million in Crypto

Anthony Scaramucci, CEO of alternative investment firm SkyBridge Capital, has revealed that the fund now holds US$700 million in cryptocurrency. The firm has filed for a crypto-focused exchange-traded fund (ETF) and has revealed plans for an Algorand fund.

This is a technology and a product of the future, and the future is going to come more quickly than people expect.

Anthony Scaramucci, CEO, Skybridge Capital

A long-time believer in Bitcoin, Scaramucci launched SkyBridge Capital’s first BTC fund last year with a US$25 million investment.

With a US$700 million investment in Bitcoin and Ethereum spread across all SkyBridge products, Scaramucci is convinced that BTC is growing faster than tech giants Google, Amazon and Facebook, and will reach one billion users by 2025.

Scaramucci, a former White House communications director, says the firm has raised more than US$100 million toward its newly announced Algorand fund. He adds that “cryptos are here to stay”, noting that regulators must “act very quickly” if they are to stem the snowballing adoption of cryptos.

A Change is Gonna Come

Scaramucci is of the opinion that cryptos are here to stay and will revolutionise the finance world as Amazon and Facebook did for the internet and e-commerce. Bitcoin and crypto in general will represent a breakaway from an “old economy” that will survive and co-exist in the future, he says.

My eureka! moment was when I recognised that the blockchain is allowing us to transact with each other without a third party, without an authority.

Anthony Scaramucci

Bitcoin ‘Will Reach $100,000’ Before End of 2021

“As long as I see that, I see those prices rising,” Scaramucci says. “So we’re going to stick with the US$100,000 price target.”

Scaramucci’s prediction is based on BTC’s limited and fixed supply coupled with exponentially bigger demand each month. The fund manager adds that for SkyBridge Capital, BTC is not a trade but rather a long-term investment and store of value.

Bitcoin Can No Longer Be Ignored

Demand for BTC is on the rise, and financial institutions can no longer ignore it. Banks and financial institutions are slowly accepting this inevitability, albeit with some trepidation.

Morgan Stanley now offers three bitcoin funds to its wealthiest investors but due to the inherent volatility of BTC currently allows clients to invest only 2.5 percent of their capital in bitcoin, citing it as a risky investment. The bank has also recently filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to allow bitcoin exposure into multiple funds.

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Bitcoin Cardano Crypto News Ethereum Markets Ripple Solana Trading

$2.5 Billion Longs Liquidated As Crypto Market Sees Sudden Drop

Over the past two days, more than US$2.5 billion longs have been liquidated as the crypto market sees yet another drop.

Traders woke up to a rough Monday as the crypto market saw up to double-digit percentage losses across the board. The sudden drop saw Solana, Cardano and Ripple (XRP) drop millions from their market caps, and Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) plunge 10.4 and 14.7 percent respectively over the past seven days, according to data from CoinGecko.

More than $1B got liquidated in this 24 hours, therefore making total liquidation in 2 days more than $2.5B! from CryptoCurrency

What are Liquidations?

Liquidations occur when traders borrow excess capital from exchanges or brokerages to place bigger bets on the assets they trade, known as margin trading or trading futures.

Traders pay a fixed fee for borrowing while exchanges close out these positions at a predetermined price. If a trader’s collateral is equal to the loss on that position, a trade then becomes ‘liquidated’.

Of all the traders liquidated in the past few days, a shocking 91 percent of them were in the ‘long’ market. Being in the long market means traders had put on positions betting on higher asset prices.

According to data from Bybt, 136,690 traders were liquidated in the past 24 hours, while the total value of liquidations during that period reached over US$635 million.

Total liquidations observed. Source: Bybt

Investors REKT

Liquidations of US$236 million BTC and US$216 million ETH were recorded, while large-cap altcoins such as Solana (SOL) and XRP saw liquidations worth US$26 million and US$17 million respectively in that 24-hour period.

The largest single liquidation order took place on Bitfinex-ETH, to the value of US$14.52 million.

The dip has investors confused and fuming as the market drop comes only days after BTC had reached a “Golden Cross”. One Reddit user aptly described his dismay at the situation:

Today’s dip is proof that TA is useless. “Golden Cross” my ass from CryptoCurrency

The golden cross is a chart pattern that is generally seen as an indicator of bullish price action to come, but this is not always the case. Given the market is more mature, diminishing returns ought to be expected.

Investors should approach with caution, and not rely on a single indicator to guide them. Many factors influence the price, none of which is predictable.

Just a ‘Bit’ Too Soon

September is proving itself to be a worthy opponent to those finding their way in the crypto market.

Investors are still reeling from the previous round of liquidations on September 7, in which over US$3.7 billion worth of cryptos were liquidated after BTC and other major altcoins tanked.

During that period, a total of 375,824 traders were forced out of the market after becoming overleveraged as sudden crypto price drops were experienced.

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Bitcoin Bitcoin Mining Crypto News

El Salvador Buys the Dip Again, Now Owns 700 BTC

For the third time this month, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele has “bought the dip”, adding another 150 bitcoins to the Central American republic’s stash of 550.

The bitcoin price was around US$45,700 at the time of Bukele’s tweet announcing the latest purchase, down from earlier highs near US$50,000. “They can never beat you if you buy the dips,” Bukele told the El Salvadorean media.

El Salvador Starts With 200 BTC, Adds 500 More

On September 6, the day before bitcoin officially became legal tender in El Salvador, Bukele announced his government had bought 200 BTC, adding to its initial reserve of 200. Thus El Salvador became the first country in the world to publicly put bitcoin on its balance sheet.

After bitcoin was declared legal tender in El Salvador the next day, its price declined from around US$51,000 to $43,000 and Bukele announced that El Salvador had again bought the dip. That bumped up the country’s total bitcoin reserves from 400 to 550 BTC.

The latest purchase on September 20 took El Salvador’s bitcoin reserves to 700 BTC, with the price at US$40,683 at the time of writing.

After El Salvador, among interested second nations to publicly adopt bitcoin and flag bitcoin mining are Laos and Ukraine. Bitcoiners are watching and waiting to see who will be next to adopt bitcoin as nations opt to either compete or be left behind.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Crypto Wallets

Satoshi-Era 2012 Wallet With 616 BTC Has Been Activated, Triggering Speculation

For a host of reasons, Satoshi-era wallets tend to have extremely low levels of activity. It was therefore unsurprising that a recent transaction of 616 bitcoins to another wallet triggered widespread speculation as to the identity of the wallet owner.

Wallet’s Value Skyrocketed

After showing absolutely no activity since 2012, on September 9 the wallet containing 616 bitcoins shifted the entire stash to a new wallet. Since then, the bitcoins have again been moved and currently appear to be located within a previously unused, empty wallet.

BTC price chart since 2012

At the time of the bitcoins being deposited, the wallet’s value was US$8,195, or approximately US$13 per BTC. Some nine years later, the wallet had swelled to US$29.4 million, providing its owner with a rather generous return in excess of 358,000 percent.

Speculation Runs Rife

Given Bitcoin’s elusive and mysterious founder, speculation is unavoidable on each occasion that Satoshi-era transactions like this spring up.

In July this year, Crypto News Australia reported that a wallet which had been dormant for close to a decade had transferred US$21 million worth of bitcoin.

On this occasion, speculation was rife and varied: from suggestions that it was someone involved in the infamous Silk Road who had got out of jail to Satoshi himself.

Whatever the reality, the prospect of establishing the true identity behind the transaction is slim to none.

Bitcoiners tend to be private, particularly those with significant holdings. The one exception of course is the widely discredited Dr Craig Wright, an Australian with a penchant for the limelight who famously declared that he is Satoshi.

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ATM Bitcoin Bitcoin ATMs Crypto News Regulation

Bitcoin ATM Burned in El Salvador Amid Anti-Government Protests

A bitcoin ATM was burned and defaced with anti-BTC messages that read “democracy is not for sale” as protesters demonstrated resistance towards El Salvador’s pro-crypto President Nayib Bukele.

Protesters destroyed the Chivo machine in the Plaza Gerardo Barrios, located in the nation’s capital city centre. The government has installed 200 BATMs throughout the country as part of the reform to allow bitcoin as legal tender as El Salvador implemented the Central American republic’s Bitcoin Law on September 7.

Thousands of pro-democracy Salvadoreans took to the streets to protest against the government’s acceptance of cryptocurrency. The September 15 demonstration coincided with the bicentenary of El Salvadorean independence.

Protesters marched through the central square in San Salvador holding placards reading “Respect the Constitution” and “No to Bitcoin”, denouncing a perceived dictatorship.

Last month, protesters gathered to oppose the Bitcoin Law outside the capital’s Legislative Assembly Building, claiming the legislation only facilitates money laundering and corruption.

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Bitcoin Bitcoin Mining Crypto News Ethereum Litecoin Mining Trading

Debt-Laden Laos Approves Crypto Mining for Economic Growth, Reverses Previous Ban

The one-party socialist government of landlocked South-East Asian country Laos has green-lit six domestic firms to trade and mine cryptocurrencies.

As named by government mouthpiece The Laotian Times, the companies that have been licensed are Wap Data Technology, Phongsubthavy Road & Bridge Construction, Sisaket Construction, Boupha Road-Bridge Design Survey, Phousy Group and Joint Development Bank. Only the latter, a state-backed lender, appears to have any financial background. 

Most of the others are construction or infrastructure-related firms. Phousy Group, for example, has been active in road and bridge building in Laos since 1998, mainly as a favoured contractor to the Laotian government.

All six companies have been given permission to trial mining and trading of digital assets including bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin. A commission led by the Laotian Ministry of Technology and Communication will set out a regulatory plan to be scrutinised by the country’s prime minister, Phankham Viphavanh, this week.

After Banning Crypto in 2018, Laos Changes Its Tune

The announcement comes less than a month after Laos’s central bank issued a warning to the public against trading digital tokens. The government issued a decree that effectively banned crypto in 2018 and repeated its stance as recently as last month.

The country’s rediscovered enthusiasm for cryptos follows the crackdown earlier this year on bitcoin mining by Laos’s nearest and biggest neighbour, China, ostensibly on power consumption grounds. 

The Nam Ou hydro-electric project on the Mekong River in Laos, established in 2016 with an installed capacity of 1,272 megawatts.

What Laos has going for it is that it is a hydro-electric superpower, making it an ideal potential home for power-hungry crypto miners. Its economy is based on harnessing hydro electricity from the country’s extensive river system and exporting two-thirds of its reserves to neighbouring countries Thailand, China and Vietnam.

Crypto Mining: A Ready Antidote to Foreign Debt?

For that reason alone, Laos is seen by the World Bank as one of the Pacific region’s fastest-growing economies, with annual GDP growth averaging 7.4 percent since 2009, though the nation is also mired in foreign debt.

Government powerbrokers may have one eye on developments in El Salvador, which officially made bitcoin legal tender this month and plans to harness the Central American republic’s abundant geothermal energy, derived from its many volcanoes, to mine bitcoin. Based on the current BTC price, this could earn the Salvadorean government more than A$1 billion per year.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Market Analysis Markets Trading

Bitcoin Price Hits Golden Cross, Bull Run Imminent?

After showing signs last month, the holy grail of technical analysis is finally upon us – bitcoin has reached a “Golden Cross”, which typically is viewed as an indicator of bullish price action on the horizon.

What is a Golden Cross?

In the world of technical analysis (TA), the golden cross is a chart pattern where a shorter-term moving average (MA) crosses above a longer-term moving average. This is typically considered to be a bullish signal.

BTC golden cross. Source: Reddit

When considering a golden cross, the most commonly used moving averages are the 50- and 200-day periods. Once the crossover happens, the longer-term moving average is typically considered to be a strong area of support.

The opposite of a golden cross is a death cross, where a shorter-term moving average crosses below a longer-term moving average. This is typically considered to be a bearish signal.

What Happened with Previous Golden Crosses?

Since inception, there have been six Golden Crosses and in four cases it has resulted in massive price action. In the past two instances, it has resulted in values increasing by five and three times respectively.

Let’s examine how bitcoin has fared in each of the previous six Golden Crosses.

May 2020: + 600 percent

February 2020: +5 percent

April 2019: +150 percent

November 2015: +7,000 percent

July 2014: +0.5 percent

February 2012: +21,000 percent

What’s the TLDR?

It’s clear that in general, golden crosses tend to result in rather bullish price action, but not always. Given that the market is more mature, diminishing returns ought to be expected.

Importantly, one shouldn’t overly rely on any single indicator – a multiplicity of variables have an impact on the price, none of which is predictable. Experienced investors know this and are no doubt taking it into account going forward. Just recently, bitcoin looked unstoppable as it crossed US$50,000, before declining sharply shortly thereafter to US$44,500.

If you’re interested in upping your technical analysis game, be sure to consult Crypto News Australia‘s guide to bear and bull markets.

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Bitcoin Crypto News

Bitcoin Supply Squeeze Likely as Whales Gobble Up 103,600 BTC, 80% of Supply Held by HODLers

After breaching US$50,000 some three weeks ago, bitcoin at face value appeared to have lost some momentum, fluctuating around the US$45,000 mark. Glassnode’s latest on-chain report, however, paints a picture of strong underlying fundamentals and a potential supply squeeze on the horizon.

Close to 80% of Supply Held by HODLers

Who is a HODLer? According to Glassnode, it refers to investors whose coins have a lifespan of around 155 days or more. For obvious reasons, they tend to have extremely high levels of conviction and are therefore seen as “buyers of last resort”, snapping up discounted coins when volatility and fear take hold.

On that basis, coins purchased after mid-April would be regarded as short-term holders and, as per the chart below, only 16.8 percent of them are currently in profit.

Perhaps more telling is that HODLer-owned supply reached 79.5 percent of all bitcoin supply this week. This is the same level reached in October last year, when bitcoin traded for around US$10,750. If the following three months replicated what happened in October 2020, we may be looking at a price north of US$120,000 before year end.

Long-term v short-term holders profit and loss. Source: Glassnode

Peaks in LTH (long-term holders) owned supply typically correlate with late stage bear markets, which are historically followed by a supply squeeze and initiation of cyclical bull runs.

Checkmate, Glassnode

In absolute terms, HODLers currently own the most coins in history, hitting 12.97 million bitcoin this week. Supporting the “buyers of last resort thesis”, much of the momentum has been since the market crash in May this year.

Total supply held by HODLers. Source: Glassnode

As further evidence of the bullish supply-side dynamics, it’s also worth noting that 93 percent has not moved in a month.

Bitcoin HODL waves. Source: Glassnode

Whale Feeding Frenzy

This week, MicroStrategy, a well-known whale, has once again been at it:

While MicroStrategy may be one of the best known whales, other lesser known whales have been on the prowl, gobbling up 103,600 BTC over the past three weeks alone.

Bitcoin whale holdings. Source: Glassnode

A strong case is mounting for some strong price gains into the last quarter of 2021. Don’t bet on it, however – the world of crypto never ceases to offer all sorts of surprises along the way. As Mark Yusko likes to say: “Price is a liar”. We’ll see.

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Banking Bitcoin Cryptocurrency Tax Investing

El Salvador to Exempt Foreign Investors from Tax on Bitcoin Profits

The government of El Salvador announced on September 13 that the country will exempt foreign investors from taxes on their bitcoin (BTC) profits to stimulate and hopefully increase foreign investment.

According to Javier Argueta, legal adviser to President Nayib Bukele, “there will be no taxes to pay on either the capital increase or the income” of bitcoin. After El Salvador became the world’s first country to make Bitcoin (BTC) legal tender earlier this month, policymakers made their move. For the bitcoin enthusiast, however, not paying taxes on capital gains might sound too good to be true.

In cooperation with global companies such as Bitso crypto exchange and Silvergate Bank, El Salvador has launched the official BTC wallet known as Chivo, which allows users to convert bitcoin transactions into USD or withdraw without incurring transaction fees by using a specific ATM. The wallet also aims to facilitate remittances for Salvadoreans working overseas.

Using Bitcoin Safely

Experts and regulators have highlighted concerns about the cryptocurrency’s volatility and its potential to impact inflation in a country with already high poverty and unemployment. That transactions are not reversible and lack protection for users is a potential weak point.

However, according to Argueta, transactions would be halted temporarily if bitcoin’s value were to collapse, in order to minimise the impact of extreme currency fluctuations. And even as the BTC price saw heavy fluctuation last week, El Salvador bought the dip.

The government says its experiment will give many Salvadoreans access to bank services for the first time, and hopes it will shave millions of dollars off commissions on remittances sent home from abroad, mainly from the US.

Remittances account for more than a fifth of the country’s GDP.  The introduction of bitcoin as legal tender will cut the fees of those remittances significantly and remove commissions entirely. The technology used for bitcoin is another step toward banking El Salvador’s unbanked.

What About Fraud and Money Laundering?

There are concerns about the anonymous nature of bitcoin and its role in money laundering and other financial crimes. But since Salvadoreans use a specific app, and not unregistered exchanges and the like, some of those problems are eliminated.

Argueta said that the Chivo wallet has traceability measures to alleviate popular misunderstandings and outright false narratives that bitcoin is used primarily for money laundering or anonymous criminal activity.

“We are implementing a series of recommendations from international institutions against money laundering,” Argueta specified.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Surveys

Recent Poll: Half of Brazilians Want to Follow El Salvador’s Bitcoin Path

According to local financial news outlet Valor Investe, a new poll conducted by Sherlock Communications has found that almost half of Brazilians are pro-bitcoin.

Brazil May Follow Trailblazing El Salvador

In a study that included other South American nations, Sherlock Communications found that Brazilians were the biggest supporters of El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin, with 56 percent agreeing with the republic’s approach.

Of those surveyed, 48 percent of Brazilians expressed a belief that their nation ought to follow suit and adopt bitcoin as legal tender – 31 percent agreed and 17 percent agreed strongly with the idea.

The nation appears to be confident in Bitcoin’s future – 23 percent believed that in the future, there would be many more Bitcoiners compared to only four percent who believed Bitcoin would have absolutely no future in the country.

The research showed that the reasons to invest in bitcoin were varied:

  • 55 percent used it as a portfolio diversifier;
  • 39 percent to guard against inflation and ongoing economic instability; and
  • 37 percent to keep up with technological trends and developments.

Bitcoin was comfortably the best-known crypto; 92 percent of those surveyed knew about it, compared to only 31 percent who knew about Ethereum.

Brazil Increasingly Crypto-Friendly

Even though 31 percent of those surveyed felt that crypto was progressing well in Brazil, 35 percent believed that the nation was lagging behind. That belief perhaps stems from rumblings all over South America of other countries looking to follow El Salvador’s example.

This is certainly an interesting perspective, considering Brazil has beaten many developed nations such as the US and Australia in establishing a bitcoin exchanged traded fund (ETF). Brazil has some 1.4 million bitcoin and crypto users, in addition to 21 bitcoin ATMs distributed nationwide.

The research suggested that adoption was partly linked to the availability of an ETF which “allows people to invest in a regulated way, allowing more conservative investors to experiment with the cryptocurrency”.

As expected, El Salvador’s moves were regarded as being a potential brushfire that could trigger a wave of Bitcoin adoption across Central and South America.

El Salvador’s experiment could become a big reference for Latin American countries on how to incorporate blockchain and cryptocurrencies to their economies and generate greater wellbeing [for] its citizens.

Luiz Eduardo Abreu Haddad, consultant for Sherlock

It’s evident that Brazil is marching forward within the crypto space, and even Visa appears to have taken notice of the momentum. Last week, it was established that the company is reportedly working to integrate bitcoin into its Brazilian payments infrastructure.