Category: Crypto News

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Angry and Upset Crypto Traders Take To Reddit

May has been definitely one of the craziest and most volatile months for the crypto market so far in 2021.

There are several possible reasons why the market has shaken so much. The previous bull run attracted new traders and investors entering the crypto world, sometimes without any proper training and buying at the top of the market.

With so much happening, some crypto traders have taken their stories to Reddit, especially sharing their frustrations and to blow off some steam.

Some Lost Everything

Some traders were hit hard by the crypto crash — seeing even 50% of their portfolio vanished, losing life savings, the chance to pay their houses, car, or even rent.

One user shared his story on how he and his wife lost 50% in their total investments, and now they can’t buy a car and their dreams of being homeowners will be put on hold — and to complete the picture, they have a baby incoming.

However, despite the adversity, they still don’t plan to sell.

She was upset, but she said we shouldn’t sell for a loss, and just to keep holding for the next few years and act as if the money doesn’t exist. […] Remember, if you do all the investing, that means you did all the losing. Don’t deny this.

A Reddit user

Some are Staying Optimistic

One trader said the crypto crash came amid an already rough month for him. Despite the adversity, he incited everyone in the community to not let themselves go in a downward spiral if they’re going through a similar situation. “Remember to consider the good things in life first before dwelling on depressing news and events”, he said.

Excited for crypto to change the world for the better, just going to take a little bit longer than we want but the good things always take patience and especially this year, I am trying to be as patient as any sane person in these tumultuous times.

A Reddit user

Some traders believe the current situation is an opportunity for everyone that wants to join the crypto space but thought they were already too late. One user bought ETH when it was priced around $120 USD. However, he emphasised the difficulty of buying the dip especially when there’s a lot of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) going on and the markets are in red, adding “it takes courage to buy dips”.

The thing I’m trying to say is that it’s impossible to time the market, but don’t call people who buy at dips ‘lucky’. It takes courage to buy at long time lows, not knowing if the market is going to back up. It’s much easier in hindsight, during a bull run. Remember this.

A Reddit user

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Binance Binance Coin Cardano Crypto News Cryptocurrencies Dogecoin

Binance BNB Crypto Nikes Custom Designed By A Creator

Nevertoolavish, a “custompreneur” based in Jakarta, has made limited-edition hand-painted sneakers for crypto enthusiasts.

Although many custom pairs of kicks are simply colour changes, some are made by artists who change plain white into elaborate designs and dreamy sketches – or into crypto fashion statements.

Slip Into Your HODLing Shoes

The pairs were overall met with enthusiasm by potential buyers.

Aside from these BNB-themed shoes, custom AF1s are available for fans of Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Cardano and others. A pair of these will set you back around 445 AUD (excluding shipping and other fees) according to the product page on Tokopedia (only for Indonesian customers).

As mentioned on Twitter, international customers have to inquire Nevertoolavish directly. However, their Twitter profile cannot be direct-messaged so you might need to contact them via WhatsApp (numbers provided on Twitter profile). There is also a LinkTree page with more resources.

Not Only Shoes, NFTs Too

In addition to selling custom shoes and other clothing items, Nevertoolavish also sells NFTs, created through the same thought process used to give solid colour shoes a fresh coat of paint.

Although crypto fashion has been around for a while, it’s mostly been limited to virtual pieces. There have also been notable exceptions, however, such as SwapPay – an Aussie Cryptocurrency for Fashion made specifically for the fashion industry. Some big brands seem to be aware of this niche, indeed Nike holds a patent for blockchain-based sneakers.

Now, however, you can show your love for crypto by wearing an eye-catching fit.

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Crypto News Dogecoin Ethereum

DOGE vs ETH – Elon and Vitalik Battle It Out

Vitalik Buterin, Elon Musk, Dogecoin
Vitalik Buterin, Elon Musk, Dogecoin

Founder of Ethereum (ETH) Vitalik Buterin said the idea of scaling Doge is “fundamentally flawed,” as Elon Musk plans to. 

CEO of Tesla Elon Musk said that Dogecoin (DOGE) could scale its block production by 900%. This sparked a long and heated Twitter thread between Doge defenders and detractors, including other prominent personalities in the crypto space like Michael Saylor and Anthony Pompliano.

However, Buterin wasn’t so convinced. In an article published on his personal blog, Buterin addressed the limits and subtle technical issues of scaling a blockchain, adding the risk of centralization—which would change a blockchain’s original concept. 

Vitalik Responds to Elon

In summary, Buterin said there are two ways to try scaling a blockchain: by simply adjusting its parameters or implementing fundamental technical changes. While the first one is the most attractive for developers, he outlines as follows why the approach is “fundamentally flawed”.

  • Computers can’t provide 100% of their CPU power because it would leave them unusable for other applications while it’s running a blockchain node.
  • Computers need a safe margin to prevent DoS (Denial-of-Service) attack.
  • Computers need spare capacity for other tasks like processing transactions in the mempool.

Buterin added the importance of users being able to freely run nodes to make the ecosystem truly decentralised:

For a blockchain to be decentralised, it’s crucially important for regular users to be able to run a node, and to have a culture where running nodes is a common activity.

Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum [source]

However, technical changes can greatly improve a blockchain over time, and that’s what Buterin is currently working with Ethereum developers. He added that sharding the Ethereum network (that is, “decoupling the data contained on a blockchain from the data that a single node needs to process and store”) could increase throughput to 1 million TPS (transactions per second) without risking network security.

The current bottleneck for Ethereum is storage size. Statelessness and state expiry can fix this and allow an increase of perhaps up to ~3x – but not more, as we want running a node to become easier than it is today

Vitalik Buterin, founder of Ethereum [source]

Elon’s Response to Vitalik

Elon Musk didn’t take too much time to reply the same way Buterin did. His only response to Buterin was “He fears the Doge,” with a poster of a Shiba Inu trying to bite a dollar bill underwater, with a caption saying, “You’ll never use the dollar again”.

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Banking Bitcoin Crypto News Institutions

Billionare Ray Dalio Opens Up In Interview “I Have Some Bitcoin”

Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates (one of the world’s largest hedge funds), has revealed that he holds some Bitcoin (BTC).

The entrepreneur and fund manager, who has previously expressed concern about the possibility of heavy regulation of Bitcoin, now seems to have acquired some.

Bitcoin Over Bonds

Both Dalio and Stanley Druckenmiller, also a billionaire hedge fund manager, have pessimistic views of the dollar and have taken positions in Bitcoin.

The elephant in the room is inflation. It may become so obvious that the Fed has to move, and the longer they wait to move, the bigger the bubble will be and the bigger the reaction.

Stanley Druckenmiller

With views like these pervading the air, many people are looking for an alternative to the dollar. Dalio mentioned during an interview with CoinDesk that retailers might prefer buying bitcoin over bonds due to inflation. This poses a risk to government and since “it goes into bitcoin, and it doesn’t go into credit, then [governments] lose control of that.”

Dalio also mentioned that Bitcoin’s “greatest risk is its success” such that governments, fearing competition from Bitcoin to state monetary systems, could crack down on its owners.

One of the great things, I think, as a worry is the government having the capacity to control almost any of them, including bitcoin, or the digital currencies,

Ray Dalio

An Asset To Combat Inflation

One of the perceived uses of Bitcoin is that it could act as an asset that fights inflation, and in an inflationary future where “cash is trash” Bitcoin might catch on as a store of wealth. Due to the ongoing printing of money and harsh economic position due to the COVID-19 pandemic and various other factors, the power of the dollar has decreased.

You need to borrow money? You have to print that. You need more money? So, taxes go up and that produces a dynamic. Now I can keep going on about what happens in that dynamic. It may be capital controls. … I painfully learned in 1971 that it causes stocks to go up. It causes… gold, bitcoin, real estate, everything to go up, because it’s really going down in dollars. And that’s the part of the cycle we’re in.

Ray Dalio

In countries like Argentina, Bitcoin has seen a major increase in use due to the devaluation of the Argentine Peso (ARS), causing a major reduction in the buying power of people in the country. For them Bitcoin is a solution to store their wealth. If someone had 100 ARS in 2019 versus 100 ARS worth of BTC, that BTC investment would be considerably higher now. In the last 10 years the Argentine Peso has devaluated almost 95% against the US dollar.

The steady devaluation of the Argentine Peso [xe]

Dalio also spoke at Consensus, a massive online blockchain seminar on Monday regarding money, monetary policy & Bitcoin. Being part of an event like this shows that there is an interest in the technology and a willingness to share information and knowledge with individuals in this space.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Market Analysis

Bitcoin’s Historical Corrections And Why They Happened

Bitcoin (BTC) has shown a tremendous increase in value since its inception and even been considered one of the best performance institutional digital assets.

However, its price history has not been a smooth one. In fact, the leading cryptocurrency has suffered a number of significant drops (not less than 20 percent) since January 2012, as shown in an infographic by Visual Capitalist Datastream.

Bitcoin’s Massive Drops

2012

After Bitcoin recovered from the first massive drop of  42.9 percent ($7 – $4 USD) in January 2012, the price further declined by 56.3 percent ($16 – $7 USD) in August the same year, following the exit of Bitcoin Savings and Trust Ponzi scheme with about 150,000 BTC belonging to clients.

2013 – 2016

The biggest BTC drop was noted between November 2013 – January 2016, when Bitcoin price declined from $1,163 – $152 USD, which accounted for about $86.9 percent price change. This happened after the news of Mt. Gox hack, China’s ban on Bitcoin, and regulatory challenges.

2017 – 2018

In 2017, the largest cryptocurrency also dropped by over 40 percent following the breaching of Coincheck, one of the leading Japanese exchanges. The attack resulted in the loss of over $530 million worth of cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin also took a significant drop of over 83 percent ($19,666 – $3,220 USD) from December 2017 to December 2018. This had many people referring to Bitcoin as a “burst bubble.”

2019 – 2021

Bitcoin also dropped by over 60 percent between June 2019 and March 2020, which was partly induced by the coronavirus outbreak. This leads up to the recent market crash in March 2021, which was triggered by Tesla’s news that they stopped accepting Bitcoin for payment and China’s call to crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading. Bitcoin is down by about 33 percent when compared to its current price of around $38,000 USD at the time of writing.

Following these historical corrections of Bitcoin, many people are optimistic that the cryptocurrency will rebound from the current dip.

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Crypto News

95% of BTC Mining Pools Have Signalled Taproot Activation

95% of major Bitcoin (BTC) pools have briefly signalled for Taproot activation, an upgrade that could boost BTC’s network with higher scalability, more security, and cheaper gas fees.

What is Taproot?

Taproot is an upgrade of the Bitcoin network. It integrates Schnorr Signatures, which is an alternative signature algorithm to the current ECDSA (Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm) implemented on the BTC network.

Taproot is a long-awaited update because it would bring many benefits to the BTC network, like lower fees, faster transactions, and scalability. Besides, the integration of Schnorr Signatures would make multi-signature multi-input transactions (UTXI) faster and more efficient.

A Two-Week Period To Reach 90%

According to Taproot.watch, 9 out of 10 mining pools signalled for Taproot. However, there are still almost 200 non-signalling blocks at the time of writing.

Source: Taproot.Watch

The most recent mining pool that included an activation signal was the last pool of the top 10, BTC.Top, which represents 4.14% of the entire network’s hash power. The pool did so on block number 683,945.

While most miners have briefly shown support for Taproot, the upgrade seems unlikely for November 2021 considering the difficulty epoch for Bitcoin. The current signalling ratio is approximately over 64%, and a 90% consensus needs to be reached to move forward with the upgrade.

There is a two week period to reach 90% out of 2016 mined blocks with an activation signal. If reached, this could be one of the most innovative upgrades for the Bitcoin network since 2017, when block size was increased.

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Binance Crypto News Market Analysis Swyftx Trading

Polygon (MATIC) Just Surged +118% in a day as Dotmoovs is scaling with Polygon

polygon dotmoovs
polygon dotmoovs https://twitter.com/0xPolygon/status/1396851361044582405/

Polygon (MATIC) is trading in an uptrend, like many other altcoins. The cryptocurrency MATIC just went up +118% in a single day by breaking a falling wedge pattern with strong buying volume and surges over +145.23% in a week.

What is MATIC?

Polygon (previously Matic Network) is one of the first well-structured, easy-to-use platform for Ethereum scaling and infrastructure development. Its core component is Polygon SDK, a modular, flexible framework that supports building multiple types of applications.

Polygon effectively transforms Ethereum into a full-fledged multi-chain system (aka Internet of Blockchains). This multi-chain system is akin to other ones such as Polkadot, Cosmos, Avalanche, etc. with the advantages of Ethereum’s security, vibrant ecosystem, and openness.

MATIC Price Analysis

At the time of writing, MATIC is ranked 13th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $2.41 AUD. This is a +145.23% increase since 18th May 2021 (7 days ago) as shown in the chart below.

Source: TradingView

After looking at the above 2-hour candle chart, we can clearly see that Matic was trading inside the falling wedge pattern on the MATIC/USDT pair. The first resistance was on the $1.90 AUD price levels which MATIC broke with a strong bullish trend buying volume and is now heading towards the all-time high price in AUD. Seeing that many altcoins are holding a strong position this week after the recent bitcoin crash recovery, MATIC might continue to increase in the uptrend if the traders keep buying with high volume.

“The Falling Wedge is a bullish pattern that begins wide at the top and contracts as prices move lower. This price action forms a cone that slopes down as the reaction highs and reaction lows converge.”

Source: TradingView

What Do The Technical Indicators Say?

TradingView indicators for MATIC

TradingView indicators (on the 1 day window) mainly suggest MATIC as a strong buy, except the Oscillators which indicate MATIC as a neutral.

So Why Did Matic Breakout?

General market sentiment seems to suggest cryptos are hopefully turning back bull run season after recent massive price corrections. Another reason for this sudden pump in price could be whales secretly buying MATIC for the next Altcoins rally. Recent news also announced exciting development involving Polygon.

Investors are taking a deep interest into Polygon. Its unique model, success in drawing users from larger blockchains, and high-and-growing market capitalization make it a safer bet for buyers. Growth seems very likely. But, at what rate the token will grow is a point of contention among analysts.

Where to Buy or Trade Matic?

MATIC has high liquidity on the Binance exchange which could help for trading MATIC/BTC or MATIC/USDT pairs. Instead, if you’re looking at buying and HODLing cryptos, then Swyftx Exchange is a popular choice in Australia.

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Binance Crypto News Market Analysis Swyftx Trading

3 Coins that Might Breakout this Week: REEF, SFUND, SOL – Altcoins Trading Analysis

candle bars graph
candle bars graph https://unsplash.com/photos/ZzOa5G8hSPI

In today’s trading news, we’re looking at three Altcoins that might breakout this week by showing bullish trends in the charts.

1. Reef Finance (REEF)

Reef is a DeFi platform built on Polkadot that aims to deliver cross-chain trading. A yield engine and a smart liquidity aggregator are among the project’s offerings. Reef aggregates liquidity and provides automation. It also aims to address the drawbacks associated with existing trading platforms. While centralized exchanges are prone to security breaches, decentralized rivals can lack liquidity and are often difficult to use.

REEF Price Analysis

At the time of writing, REEF is ranked 128th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $0.03093 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.

Source: TradingView

After a nearly three-month period of distribution, REEF has dropped to the 79% retracement of its candle-bodied range. With the price at a steep discount relative to its trading range, buyers hunting for a deal could see an opportunity.

The consolidation low near $0.02538 AUD has provided support. However, the multiple equal lows may attract a stop run before any significant break to the upside.

If the price sweeps these lows, the daily gap beginning near $0.02165 AUD could cap its downward movement. Strong bearish momentum may propel the price into the consolidation near $0.01870 AUD.

Layered resistance rests overhead, with $0.03525 AUD possibly providing a ceiling to the first bullish impulses. A move through this level may find some resistance near $0.03918 AUD, while $0.04478 AUD could form the roof until a new bullish trend emerges.

2. Seedify.fund (SFUND)

Seedify.fund is a blockchain innovation ecosystem, with a community-driven Seed Stage Fund, Decentralized Incubator, and Launchpad. Seedify.fund cross-bridges a community-driven DAO with an incubator/seed fund to provide seed investments to projects selected by community votings.

SFUND Price Analysis

At the time of writing, SFUND is ranked 877th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $2.76 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis. Note: this chart is on the pair SFUND-BNB.

Source: TradingView

SFUND‘s five days of glory culminated in eleven days of bullish despair as the price plummeted nearly 75% from its highs.

The explosive pump left little bullish support below, with $1.95 AUD providing an area to look for buying on the daily chart. A test of this level could reach possible support near $1.80 AUD, which marks the approximate midpoint of the four-hour chart’s consolidation that preceded the pump.

However, the final bottom may emerge below $1.52 AUD, where a nine-day consolidation suggests the bulk of the buying took place.

The lower half of the upcandle at $2.80 AUD may provide resistance, with a pump through this level possibly letting trapped buyers out near $3.25 AUD.

A burst of bullish energy could reach as high as the daily gap near $4.75 AUD. However, this doesn’t seem likely to occur unless market conditions become more bullish.

3. Solana (SOL)

Solana is a highly-functional open source project that banks on blockchain technology’s permissionless nature to provide decentralized finance (DeFi) solutions. The Solana protocol is designed to facilitate decentralized app (DApp) creation. It aims to improve scalability by introducing a proof-of-history (PoH) consensus combined with the underlying proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus of the blockchain.

SOL Price Analysis

At the time of writing, SOL is ranked 18th cryptocurrency globally and the current price is $38.51 AUD. Let’s take a look at the chart below for price analysis.

Source: TradingView

The -67% finale to SOL‘s nearly month-long distribution calls “Solana Summer” into question. However, the coin has often shown strength during the crypto market’s bearish microcycles.

The recent sweep of the $28.03 AUD low into support starting near $29.50 AUD could be all bulls require before some upward movement.

Just below, a monthly gap at $26.55 AUD might provide support on a sweep of last week’s low, although the price may pierce through this gap. If the crypto market stays bearish, the price might visit the consolidation lows and support near $16.44 AUD.

Trapped bulls looking for hedges or exits could be selling near the swing low and daily gap starting near $41.25 AUD. A higher bounce might find more resistance around $48.91 AUD, near the midpoint of an upcandle and the distribution range’s swing low. Beyond these two resistances, the zone near $55.36 AUD might mark the top until a new bull cycle.

Where to Buy or Trade Altcoins?

These 3 Altcoins have high liquidity on Binance Exchange so that could help with trading. Instead, if you’re looking at buying and HODLing cryptos, then Swyftx Exchange is a popular choice in Australia.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Institutions

The 4th Largest Bitcoin Whale Just Bought An Additional 926 BTC

Whale's tail on water
Whale's tail on water https://unsplash.com/photos/kkXDhAUnxYI

A Bitcoin billionaire has been buying the dips since early 2019 and this dip is no different. There was an additional 926 BTC added to the wallet yesterday for $3.9 million USD at $37,738 per bitcoin.

BTC Price and Wallet Balance [BitinfoCharts]

The wallet above has a balance of 105k bitcoin with an estimated market value of $4 billion USD. The largest address, according to bitinfocharts, currently holds 269,427 BTC worth $10 billion USD, which also bought 34,000 BTC last week.

In crypto talk, when stuff like this happens, people say it shakes out all of the weak hands and the people … who maybe bought because they saw it on the news,

Ethan Lou, author of “Once a Bitcoin Miner” [source]

Whales Loving The Dip

Institutions and long term HODLers have been accumulating bitcoin during this dip after the large sell-off inspired by various influences.

Institutions seem to be the forerunners in buying however, no one really knows who these massive wallets belong to. Some companies have been quite open about their crypto acquisitions, including Micro Strategy which recently bought additional bitcoin for $10 million USD. They hold more bitcoin than any other institution according to Bitcoin Treasuries. They currently hold 92,000 bitcoin with Tesla in second place holding 43,000 bitcoin.

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Bitcoin Crypto News Market Analysis

Bitcoin Has Crashed, But is it Time to Buy?

Over a 50% ShakeOut

Don’t panic. This is normal. Even though it has been hailed as the best performing asset ever, Bitcoin’s infamously known for its wild volatility. As more and more money has poured into the cryptocurrency market and Bitcoin, from new retail investors and also large institutional deep pockets; the volatility is crazier than ever.

Market Correction or Huge Dump?

Call it what you will, there is no denying that there is a mixture of panic and excitement in the air: for those more experienced investors who are not deterred by the sea of red, who have weathered many a Bitcoin storm and have a bag of cash set aside, exactly for these ‘rainy days’, can only smell opportunity.

Is it time to buy?

Was this huge ‘correction’ inevitable? Bitcoin had been experiencing an impressive state of steady growth, however, the usual 20% and 30% dips we are used to seeing, were getting bought up faster than ever before, causing the price to rise too quickly for it to be sustained. Those that are unshaken by this last correction hope that Bitcoin will now continue to the upside, but at a more slow-and-steady healthy pace.

Reasons to stay bullish

There are some key levels of support and resistance around the low $30,000 range that Bitcoin needs to either break or sustain before we can know if this is the start of the bear market or just the bull market being prolonged. If so, we might see a second rally to the upside. Either way, the market will likely be very choppy for the next few weeks or even months.

When in doubt, zoom out

While it now seems extremely unlikely that Bitcoin will hit a target of $300,000 anytime soon, we do have some fundamentally good news still to come later this year. Parachains such as Polkadot and Kusama are coming, we have Ethereum’s EIP 1559 and Smart Contracts being announced for Cardano. If Bitcoin can keep its head up, it might just carry the Bullrun into 2022.

Youtuber Sheldon Evans breaks it down.