The Nigerian government suspended fintech companies from an identity verification system.
Analysts told Decrypt it’s likely related to the government’s desire to streamline identity verification.
But without a functioning alternative, fintechs can no longer take on new customers. That’s an additional hurdle for crypto companies.
Nigerian fintech companies were on Friday suddenly cut off from a government service they need to perform mandatory identity checks on their customers.
While they wait for the government to install a revamped identity system, fintech companies can’t legally onboard new customers or switch to services that don’t require identity checks, such as peer-to-peer services, analysts told Decrypt.
“The timing of this move couldn’t be worse, especially given all the recent regulatory obstacles that fintech has faced this year, like the ban on banks dealing with crypto,” Oluwaseun Opeyemi, a lawyer in Nigeria’s capital Lagos, told Decrypt.
The sudden blackout adds yet another hurdle for crypto companies and forces them to move to services that don’t require identity verification, such as peer-to-peer. “Not very encouraging signs for foreign investment in Nigeria,” said Opeyemi.
Switching off the lights
Like so many other countries, Nigerian law requires fintech companies to verify their customers’ identity.
To do so, businesses in Nigeria rely on the government’s seven-year-old verification database, the BVN, or Bank Verification Number.
[ad-unit /]
But a regulatory directive on Friday suspended fintech companies’ access to the BVN without warning.
The government hasn’t explained why, but it’s likely because the government is replacing its patchwork network of identity systems, of which BVN is just one part, explained Olaleye Oladimeji, an associate at the law firm Aliant Law and a blockchain fellow at Kleros.
In its place will come a slicker identity system, the National Identification Number (NIN).The NIN functions like America’s Social Security Number (SSN) and consolidates all identity information into one handy number.
But in its attempt to streamline verification, the government has left fintech companies high and dry. A lot of people haven’t switched to the new NIN system and fintech companies don’t have the tools to query the new database.
It leaves fintech companies in a tough place, said Danny Oyekan, CEO of crypto investment firm Dan Holdings and social payments app Coins App. “How do startups verify the identity of their users without the BVN verification?”
To remain compliant, Nigerian fintech companies could return to expensive identity verification methods that predated the BVN, said investment analyst Oluwaseun Esq, such as checking information through with other institutions.
“And those are cumbersome methods, imposing additional costs on fintech businesses and their customers.”
Until the shiny new system takes off, fintechs must wait. And crypto companies, already struggling under Nigeria’s directives against them, will likely have to wait even longer.
US-based crypto exchange Coinbase could be adding four new crypto assets to its growing list of supported coins soon, according to influencer and trader Tyler Swope.
In a new video, Swope tells his 222,000 YouTube subscribers that the red-hot decentralized video delivery network, Theta Network (THETA), has been on Coinbase’s radar since July 2020.
The crypto influencer highlights a tweet from Steve Chen, Youtube co-founder and core advisor of Theta Network, who recently congratulated the team behind Origin Protocol (OGN) for its recent Coinbase listing. Swope says that Chen’s connections in Silicon Valley might just do the trick to get THETA added to the crypto exchange.
“So him congratulating Origin, tweeting it, is a sign to me that Theta might have been in talks with Coinbase, too. He’s a little jealous, but his new company’s time will come soon, especially with how connected they are. My guess: this month.”
Another coin that could be added to Coinbase according to Swope is Kadena (KDA), a blockchain platform that features interoperable private and public networks. The crypto trader looks at Rosetta, an open-source project led by Coinbase that offers a set of tools that facilitate blockchain integration. Swope says that out of the 10 blockchain teams that support Rosetta, only Celo and FIlecoin (FIL) have been listed on the exchange. But he says that could change soon.
“Now what’s interesting to me, Filecoin and Celo were both pulled from an exploring asset blog post all the way back in September of 2019. Who else was included in that exploring post? Many of the assets also on Rosetta: Coda, Handshake (HNS), Kadena, Near, and Oasis. My guess, a soon to be addition is going to be one of these, the one that is the most ready. Who is that? Well, who was the first to deploy with the Rosetta API when launched?
Kadena did by dropping their blog, ‘A First Look on Integrating With Rosetta, Launched by Coinbase.’”
The third coin that could soon be added to Coinbase says Swope is a blockchain protocol that aims to reinvent the allocation of top-level internet domains: Handshake (HNS).
“They were the second to deploy and be live with Rosetta, open-sourcing it two days later, June 19th. Handshake’s price chart [is also] similar to Theta and Kadena’s, especially lately.”
The last coin that could soon be added to Coinbase says Swope is lossless lottery PoolTogether (POOL).
“Through the process of elimination, through WalletLink, yes there is a likelihood of POOL eventually being added to the base. They have a token. They have an investment from Coinbase, and they are one of the projects using the WalletLink.”
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Over the past six months blockchain projects that have issued token airdrops have re-emerged. Most notably, the airdrops by Uniswap (UNI) and MEME will be remembered as recipients were rewarded with gains ranging from $20,000 to $600,000 simply for holding the tokens.
One Ethereum (ETH) competitor that has seen numerous projects launch with airdrops in the past three weeks is Solana (SOL), an open-source project that focuses on utilizing blockchain technology to provide decentralized finance solutions.
While Solana isn’t explicitly making a concerted effort to launch these projects, the protocol’s main decentralized exchange Serum (SRM) was responsible for the recent COPE airdrop which distributed 2,000 tokens to users who participated in the joint DeFi hackathon held by Solana and Serum.
After the airdrop, COPE eventually listed on Serum for $0.50 on March 30 and the price of the token surged to a high of $5.43 on April 11, rewarding holders with a $10,860 reward.
SOL/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:TradingView
The success of the COPE airdrop prompted a series of token launches and airdrops with similar-sounding names including HOPE, ROPE and KOPE, whose launches on the Solana blockchain have coincided with a 55% rise in the price of SOL since the start of April.
Airdrops on the network may have played a small role in the recent price appreciation due to users needing SOL to receive airdropped tokens but this is not possible to ascertain based on the available data.
Interactions on the Solana blockchain, including the addition of new tokens to the Sollet wallet, require small amounts of SOL to complete the contract executions. Thus, users rushing to sign up for airdrops before they filled up would have needed to purchase SOL and fund their wallets in order to create new addresses for the airdropped tokens.
Analysts expect the airdrop trend to continue
For those worried that they missed out or that the ‘airdrop season’ is over, a recent tweet from Solana’s Twitter feed suggests that the Solana ecosystem is just getting started, meaning the likelihood of future airdrops remains high.
☀️New Projects building on Solana@HedgehogMarket prediction markets platform@solstarterorg IDO platform@HxroNetwork derivatives protocol@cyrii_MM $COPE@StepFinance_ Position tracking@Media_FDN P2P CDN @PsyOptions options protocol@synthetify for synthetic assets$SOL $SRM pic.twitter.com/K1DN51R4DO
— S◎L mates ☀️ (@Solana_Mates) April 7, 2021
New users are the lifeblood of successful blockchain networks, and the use of airdrops continues to be one of the most utilized methods for drawing attention to fledgling projects and sapping liquidity from one protocol to another.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Bitcoin seems to be losing steam as it trades back and forth between $59,000 and $60,000. In the daily chart, BTC is moving sideways (0.3%) after a week with modest gains of 4.9%.
BTC moving sideways in the daily chart. Source: BTCUSD Tradingview
Trader Josh Rager has set support for BTC at $59,000. Holding this level could give it enough momentum to retest the $60,600 area. The trader expects “new highs” by Wednesday.
On-chain data seems to support this prediction, as shown by CryptoQuant shared by “Byzantine General”. BTC reserves for the spot market continue their downtrend and indicate a “consistent demand”. This trader said:
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Except for those 2 inflow outliers most significant flows have been outflows. This massive consolidation range that we’re in sure looks a lot like re-accumulation.
Further evidence suggests that Bitcoin’s current price action is driven by institutions unlike the previous bull-run in 2017. Besides from Google search volume for “Bitcoin” is at a relatively low, Coinbase trading volume has skyrocketed since Q3 and Q4, 2020.
However, on this metric, the percentage of retail investors has trended downwards, as the following graph demonstrates. The trader said:
Last bull run we were talking about institutions coming, but now they’re actually here, and they’re buying.
Source: IntoTheBlock
Bitcoin 4 years cycles could change
On April 14, crypto exchange Coinbase will go public on the U.S. stock market. Under the ticker COIN, the trading platform will be one of the first major crypto companies on the traditional market.
This moment converges with VISA testing stablecoins, PayPal expanding its crypto services, Tesla integrating Bitcoin as a payment method. The above could play an important role during this week as the 14th approaches. The trader said:
That doesn’t mean there won’t be any corrections anymore. Of course not, I mean we’ve seen three massive (liquidations) corrections this year alone. But, this bull run could be different. Maybe the 4 year cycle structure that we’re used to from bitcoin could break.
Two additional key metrics are the percentages of BTC trading above 1 Trillion USD market cap and the amount of BTC on exchanges. The former is estimated at 11% as BTC’s price trades above $53,000 which points to a “validation” of the current price, as stated by analyst William Clemente.
Source: Glassnode
On the latter, there is a correlation between the miners and long-term holders keeping their BTC and the increased supply outflow from the trading platform. Clemente added:
In combination with exchange withdrawals, supply is becoming increasingly illiquid. This means the new wave of institutional demand (just beginning) must compete for the mere 2.3M coins left on exchanges.
Reddit’s r/Cryptocurrency community revived an interesting piece of Bitcoin (BTC) history on Sunday, with a new thread reminiscing about the time that American software developer Gavin Andresen gave away 19,700 BTC.
A thread started by “uGroundbreakingLack78” took the Reddit community all the way back to June 2010 when Andresen first launched the so-called Bitcoin faucet website. Using the domain “freebitcoins.appspot.com,” Andresen allowed users to earn 5 BTC per day just by solving a captcha, which is a program intended to distinguish human from machine input.
User “uGroundbreakingLack78” explained:
“To fuel the first faucet, Andresen loaded it with 1,100 BTC of his own. After these were given away, the faucet was reloaded, with early bitcoin miners and whales also donating coins.”
The faucet’s creator announced his “really dumb” idea of giving away free BTC on the now infamous Bitcointalk forum in a post that appeared June 11, 2010. His motivation: “[…] I want the Bitcoin project to succeed, and I think it is more likely to be a success if people can get a handful of coins to try it out.”
Andresen played a major role in development during Bitcoin’s formative days. He was the main software developer for BTC’s reference implementation, having joined the core development team in 2012 after Satoshi Nakamoto, Bitcoin’s pseudonymous founder, announced they would be leaving the project.
Although the Bitcoin faucet website is no longer functioning, a screengrab of the domain’s homepage revealed a very basic setup where users can earn BTC and set up their digital wallet. The Bitcoin faucet reportedly gave away 19,700 BTC to users just for solving a captcha. Those BTC are worth almost $1.2 billion at today’s prices.
The Bitcoin faucet website, as it appeared sometime in 2010. Image via Reddit
With Bitcoin in the midst of yet another bull market, many investors would love to get their hands on just 5 BTC. However, that’s easier said than done at current values. Given the apparent shortage of BTC on major exchanges, the flagship digital currency could be poised to go higher in the short term. On-chain data reveals that Bitcoin’s moonshot could still be months away, which means investors remain overwhelmingly bullish.
The Bitcoin price peaked just below $62,000 in mid-March before the rally paused and altcoins played catch-up. At current values, Bitcoin’s market capitalization exceeds $1 trillion. Major institutions and corporations have invested in the digital asset as a hedge against currency debasement, among other motivations.
Bitcoin is now a $1 trillion asset. It is more valuable than Tesla and Facebook, And as of now, only six companies have higher market capitalizations than Bitcoin.
However, I am not interested in talking about Bitcoin’s “mad gains.” I want to talk about the dominating narrative behind Bitcoin in late 2020 and so far in 2021: increased institutional investment.
Before I do, here is a small primer. What exactly is Bitcoin? Well, according to Lily, a 3-year-old who is also a bitcoin HODLer, “Bitcoin is digital money.” I couldn’t have put it better myself!
Institutions Hooked On Bitcoin
As far as institutions are concerned, Bitcoin has jumped from undesirable to undeniable. A few years ago, some of the biggest names in finance were dismissing Bitcoin as a scam. Warren Buffet went so far as to label it as “rat poison squared.” JP Morgan also jumped on the Bitcoin hate train and labeled it a scam. JP Morgan has since changed its tune and is now expecting the price of Bitcoin to rise as high as $130,000, labelling it “digital gold.” They have since created a “Cryptocurrency Exposure Basket” of Bitcoin proxy stocks.
Source
Tesla and Elon Musk have been dominating the headlines because of their $1.5-billion investment in Bitcoin, and they are now accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for Tesla vehicles. Before that, MicroStrategy, the largest independent, publicly traded business intelligence company, had purchased more than 90,000 BTC.
In mid-December 2020, UK-based asset manager Ruffer announced that it had accumulated £550M worth of bitcoin in a cumulative investment since November, allocating 2.7% of the company’s portfolio to bitcoin. In addition, BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, also announced that it has “started to dabble” in Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is considered a potential hedge against global economic instability, but as Tyler Winklevoss said, the opportunity lies in being an early adopter.
Source
Why Are Institutions Flying In?
Institutions are currently dipping into the market because they now understand Bitcoin’s credibility as a store of value. Bitcoin has come to be considered as a safe-haven asset alongside gold, and never has this been more evident than during the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the last year, Bitcoin has outperformed every other asset class significantly. At one point, it was outperforming the Nasdaq 100 by 300% and the S&P 500 by almost 1600%.
Year-to-date (YTD), bitcoin has also outperformed the top-performing tech companies from the FAANG group (Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google). With 80% YTD gain, bitcoin has also handily outperformed gold (29% YTD) as the safe-haven asset of choice.
Because of the unique challenges presented by 2020, Bitcoin has been able to add credence to its status as a capital-preservation asset that can act as a hedge against financial uncertainty.
Institutions Didn’t Want To Invest In Bitcoin—They HAD To Invest In Bitcoin.
I believe that this narrative is going to remain strong during the next decade. Many Fortune 500 companies will follow Tesla’s lead and convert parts of their balance sheets to bitcoin. Companies like MicroStrategy and Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital are already ahead of the curve with their large investments, and many others will continue playing catchup. Square CFO Kate Rooney, subsequent to the purchase of an additional $170 million worth of bitcoin, said, “Bitcoin has the potential to be the native currency of the internet, and we want to participate in it.”
We may see more retail companies selling their products directly for bitcoin, which will open up further use cases. Indeed, Tesla is already accepting bitcoin for their vehicles.
Are ETFs Going To Open The Floodgates?
Earlier in February, the Ontario Securities Commission made a landmark decision to approve Purpose Investments Inc.’s application to launch a Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), the first legal and fully regulated Bitcoin ETF in North America. Within its first 48 hours, the ETF had already collected $421 million, crushing all estimates. Proportionally speaking, this is the equivalent of a US ETF taking in $8 billion in the first 2 days. It is on pace to become the biggest ETF in Canada in 20 days.
Previously, both Gemini Exchange and investment firm VanEck attempted to bring regulated Bitcoin ETFs to the North American market. However, they were both rejected multiple times by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Luckily, President Joe Biden has nominated Gary Gensler, a cryptocurrency researcher and professor, as the next SEC chair, and it is highly likely that the US will finally get a Bitcoin ETF soon.
So, why is this major news?
ETFs could bring in a whole new class of institutional investors looking to diversify their portfolios while minimizing their risk exposure. In addition, ETFs provide a low-cost way of entering a new market, are tradeable 24 hours/day, and always maintain high liquidity. All of these factors make them darlings of institutional investors, and this bodes well for Bitcoin.
The Positive Implications Of Institutions Rushing In
There are both short-term and long-term implications of institutional investors rushing in and investing in Bitcoin. The most obvious short-term factor is the shock-and-awe effect of a rockstar company like Tesla buying vast chunks of bitcoin. It often acts as a “shot-in-the-arm” for the price of bitcoin and pushes it to new heights.
However, the long-term implications are what’s really interesting. Bitcoin has a maximum supply limit of 21 million coins. Of them, more than 18.5 million have already been mined. With only 2.5 million coins left to mine, and institutions showing more interest, there is a huge supply crunch incoming, which will make the price shoot up.
The Misconceptions Surrounding Bitcoin Investment
The author who came up with the concept of a “black swan event,” Nassim Nicholas Taleb, has written a slew of hate tweets about Bitcoin. Calling Bitcoin a “failure,” Taleb said:
Source
I believe that this criticism is unfair because currently, Bitcoin’s primary use case is as a store of value. The mode of regular payment” will be layers of abstraction above Bitcoin. It is a testament to Bitcoin’s versatility that it has so many potential use cases and is robust enough to build an entire ecosystem around. Bitcoin has only been around for 12—13 years, and as the network becomes more mature, we will see more sophisticated financial products.
Moral Of The Story: Despite Bitcoin’s explosive growth, don’t forget that the market is still very young and has more space to grow. Bitcoin has become a trillion-dollar asset in such a short period because it represents a proper paradigm shift.
Some economists may continue to hate Bitcoin with a passion because it is such a trailblazing asset that works differently from the traditional legacy markets. After all, technically, Bitcoin goes against conventional economics.
However, sooner rather than later, everyone will have to evolve with the times. The companies evolving with this changing fintech landscape, like Tesla, MicroStrategy, and Square, have realized that in the future, finance will run on the internet and not in the stunningly super-fancy buildings of Wall Street. For now, we need that criticism.
Concluding Thoughts
As Elon Musk put it, with the benefit of hindsight, institutional investment in bitcoin was inevitable. This sentiment has further solidified Bitcoin as a legitimate asset class and the most robust hedge against financial uncertainty. The COVID-19 pandemic has proven the latter to be completely and irrevocably true. With major companies like Oracle rumored to be investing in bitcoin next, I expect 2021 to be a watershed year when Bitcoin firmly secures its place in the mainstream.
A public university in the Romanian city of Sibiu in Transylvania has said it will allow students to pay for their admission fees in crypto.
According to an announcement from Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, or LBUS, on Wednesday, the institution plans to implement crypto payment methods for its more than 11,000 students starting in July. Students will reportedly be able to pay for admission fees — tuition is roughly $1,000 per year for undergraduates — using Elrond (EGLD), which the university will then convert to Romanian leu.
“Our university has been and will continue to be a supporter of the community and local business, and the decision to develop this partnership with Elrond is part of this strategy,” said university Rector Sorin Radu.
Starting as an initial exchange offering from the Binance Launchpad in 2019, Elrond has offices in the Transylvanian town of more than 400,000 people and its team contains many graduates of the local university. The project said it plans to carry out other collaborations with LBUS in the future, including research.
According to legislation implemented in July, exchange providers that monitor the purchase of crypto with fiat currency and vice versa must now be authorized if they operate in Romania. Many crypto users handling digital assets in the country are required to use exchanges that incorporate Know Your Customer requirements and comply with both domestic and foreign Anti-Money Laundering provisions.
Elrond has recently seen some significant changes, including its mainnet swap last year as the ERD token became EGLD. At the time of publication, the price of EGLD is $231, having risen more than 13% in the last 24 hours.
Prominent on-chain data analyst Willy Woo says that Bitcoin’s market cap will probably never dip below the $1 trillion mark ever again.
In a series of tweets, the widely followed trader posits that Bitcoin’s price action is mirroring similar periods of previous bull runs right before the continuation of an upward explosion.
“I’m putting us here in the bull run compared to past cycles (on-chain data supports this).
Double top theory: in my opinion, Bitcoin is completing the first of the ‘double tops,’ and turns out an ascending triangle going sideways is all we get.
Volatility is visibly lower this cycle.”
Source: Willy Woo/Twitter
Woo elaborates that once Bitcoin gets out of the $1 trillion market cap area, which is a price of $53,500 per BTC, the flagship cryptocurrency will likely never revisit the price level ever again.
“Once we clear this region, we’re unlikely to ever go below $1T cap again. The bottom of the next bear market historically has been higher than this juncture.”
The analyst notes that 11.5% of all BTC in circulation were last moved above Bitcoin’s market cap of $1 trillion, implying massive support at the $53,500 price level.
“We did get 2 days closing below $1T cap, and it was quickly rejected.”
On a larger timeframe, Woo is on record predicting that Bitcoin will break above $2 million as it faces a massive supply shock and the masses realize how easy it is to store value in BTC compared to other assets.
“Once you get a glimpse of something that’s easy to access like Bitcoin without the trouble of holding assets like real estate, it’s going to take a big chunk out of that. There’s no way Bitcoin is going to stop at the market cap of gold, which is $10 trillion. It’s going to go a lot higher, which means that we’re going to be going into the millions of dollars per coin, which is hard to believe right now, but if you look at the sheer fundamentals and stretch it over the long term, that’s how cheap Bitcoin is today.”
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Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any loses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing.
Anonymous developer of protocol Mist, Stephane, has sparked a debate over the possibility of a reduction in Ethereum gas fees. Data from Etherscan points to a reduction in the average gas price since it skyrocketed in mid-2020.
Source: Etherscan
Although the reduction seems subtle now, Stephane has predicted gas prices will go below 20 by the end of 2021. The developer wrote via Twitter:
Overheard from a major mining pool: “Flashbots is cause of recent low gas prices as traders shut down their PGA bots”.
As stated above, the reduction could come from the broader use of Flashbots, an organization that defends a transparent Miner Extractable Value (MEV) ecosystem. In contrast, Public has Auction (PGA) bots, a way to front-run transactions on the network that could be becoming less usable.
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Flashbots are positive for Gas’ price reduction. PGA bots have the opposite result. Stephane said:
With 58%+ of hashrate now being activated on flashbots, it seems like we are crossing the threshold where PGA bots can no longer compete. PGA bots get beat by flashbots almost every time.
In July, Hard Fork London is set to integrate EIP-1559 and change Ethereum’s fee model by creating a “burn fee” and a “tip fee”. The latter will go to the miners. The proposal has created a great deal of controversy and resistance from this sector.
They claim their earnings will take a severe hit, MEV and Flashbots seem like an alternative that can benefit all actors in the ecosystem. As shown by data scientists Alex Svanevik in the graph below, “The Flashbots effect” could be real and its positive impact might be felt across the blockchain.
Source: Alex Svanevik
What are Flashbots and their impact on Ethereum?
As mentioned, Flashbots is an organization that researches and develops ways to reduce the “negative externalities” and risks that come from MEV.
As explained by developer Silto, one of the reasons Ethereum gas price has increased is due to the “bidding war” between PGA bots. These entities try to get “the same tx include first on” Ethereum’s blockchain. The developer explained:
If multiple bots detect an arbitrage between pools, they will craft the same tx, send it to the mempool, but then detect that other bots are on it too and start raising the gas price on their tx to be included first, like in an auction.
The bots benefit from the arbitrage if the profits stay below the transaction cost. The miners, as the developer said, get a “fat fee” from this race. Data from Flashbots register profits of over $45.6 million in the past month.
However, Ethereum’s users suffer the consequences. Flashbots have created an alternative that uses 0gwer gas price and the infrastructure to support it:
Flashbots created an Eth node for miners, that not only watches the mempool like any other node, but also connects to a relayer (a server) operated by Flashbots. This MEV-Relay is a kind of parallel channel that directly connects miners to bots that want their tx included.
ETH is trading at $2.152 with 1,1% profits in the 24-hour chart. In the weekly and monthly chart, ETH has profits of 56,9% and 17,9% respectively.
ETH with small gains in the 24-hour chart. Source: ETHUSD Tradingview
Bitcoin’s (BTC) hesitation near the all-time high suggests that the bulls and the bears are waiting for a trigger to start the next trending move.
The bulls are searching for a positive catalyst to thrust the price above the overhead resistance. On the contrary, the bears may be standing by in anticipation of any signs of weakness that could confirm a short-term top.
The event that may act as a trigger is the Nasdaq listing for Coinbase’s COIN stock on April 14. A successful listing is likely to be cheered by the crypto bulls because that could signal increased crypto adoption by traditional investors in the future. Conversely, a tepid reception to the Coinbase listing could embolden the bears.
Crypto market data daily view. Source:Coin360
Onchain indicator HODL waves suggests that both the long-term investors and the short-term speculators are not booking profits as they expect higher levels in the future. An increase in the number of HODLers is generally a bullish sign but could become an overhang if fresh money dries up and the market starts to reverse direction.
If that happens, the short-term speculators are likely to panic first and dump their positions. That may hit stops of the swing traders and intensify the selling, paving way for a deeper correction.
As markets wait for a trigger, let’s analyze the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that could benefit from a bullish sentiment.
BTC/USDT
Bitcoin soared above the $60,000 overhead resistance on April 10 and reached $61,301.21, just short of the all-time high at $61,825.84. However, the bulls continue to find difficulty in keeping the price above $60,000, indicating stiff resistance from the bears.
BTC/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The price has yet to close above $60,000 which means the inverse head and shoulders pattern is still not complete.
The bears will try to capitalize on the small window of opportunity and pull the price down to the 20-day exponential moving average ($57,513). A strong bounce off this support will increase the possibility of a break above $61,825.84.
If that happens, the BTC/USDT pair could start the next leg of the uptrend that could push the price to $69,540 and then $79,566.
On the other hand, if the bears sink the price below the 20-day EMA, the pair could challenge the critical support at the 50-day simple moving average ($54,723). A break below this support will be the first indication of a possible change in trend.
BTC/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows the bears are active above $60,000. However, the positive sign is that the bulls have not allowed the price to sustain below the 20-EMA. This means the bulls are buying on every minor dip.
If the bulls can once again push the price above $60,000, the pair may challenge the all-time high. On the contrary, if the bears sink the price below the 20-EMA, a drop to $57,600 is possible. If this support cracks, the next stop could be $55,600.
XLM/USDT
Stellar Lumens (XLM) broke above the $0.60 resistance today and rose to a new 52-week high at $0.65. Whenever an asset hits a new 52-week high, it is a sign of strength because it shows that traders are in a hurry to buy as they expect the price to rise further.
XLM/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The upsloping 20-day EMA ($0.46) and the relative strength index (RSI) in the overbought territory suggest the bulls have the upper hand. If the bulls can propel the price above $0.65, the XLM/USDT pair could start the next leg of the uptrend that could reach $0.72 and then $0.85.
However, the long wick on today’s candlestick suggests that the bears have other plans. They are trying to trap the aggressive bulls and pull the price back below $0.60. If the bulls do not allow the price to dip below $0.55, it will suggest accumulation on dips. That will keep the sentiment positive.
Contrary to this assumption, if the bears sink the price below $0.55, a drop to the 20-day EMA is possible. A break below this support will indicate that the bulls have lost their grip.
XLM/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows the pair closed above $0.60 but the bulls could not build upon this strength. The bears pounced on the opportunity and have pulled the price back below the breakout level at $0.60.
However, if the bears fail to sink the price to the 20-EMA, it will suggest the bulls are accumulating on dips. That will increase the possibility of the resumption of the up-move. Conversely, a break below the 20-day EMA may tilt the advantage in favor of the bears.
MIOTA/USDT
IOTA (MIOTA) is in an uptrend. The bulls pushed the price above the psychologically important level at $2 on April 10. If bulls can sustain the breakout, the up-move could reach the next target objective at $2.35 and then $2.60.
MIOTA/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The upsloping 20-day EMA ($1.66) and the RSI near the overbought zone suggest the bulls have the upper hand.
However, if the bulls fail to sustain the price above $2, the bears may try to pull the price down to the 20-day EMA. The bulls have successfully defended this support since the start of the current leg of the rally in March.
Hence, if the price again rebounds off the 20-day EMA, it will suggest the sentiment remains positive and the bulls are buying on dips. Alternatively, a break below the 20-day EMA will suggest that the bears are making a comeback.
MIOTA/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows profit-booking above $2. The MIOTA/USDT pair could now drop to the 20-EMA, which is sloping up. If the price rebounds off this level, it will enhance the prospects of the resumption of the uptrend.
On the contrary, if the bears sink the price below the 20-EMA, the pair could extend its decline to the 50-SMA. Such a deep correction could delay the start of the next leg of the up-move.
XMR/USDT
Monero (XMR) broke above the $268.60 resistance on April 10, indicating the possible resumption of the uptrend. If the bulls can sustain the breakout, the altcoin could rally to the next target objective at $334 and then $384.
XMR/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The rising 20-day EMA ($258) and the RSI above 75 suggest the path of least resistance is to the upside.
However, if the bulls fail to sustain the price above $288.60, the XMR/USDT pair could drop to the 20-day EMA. A strong bounce off this support will suggest the sentiment remains positive and the bulls are buying on dips. The bulls will then make one more attempt to resume the uptrend.
On the other hand, if the bears sink the price below the 20-day EMA, it will suggest a possible change in sentiment. That could result in a drop to the 50-day SMA ($232).
XMR/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows the bears attempted to stall the rally near the psychological resistance at $300 but the bulls did not give up much ground. They purchased the dip to the 20-EMA and pushed the price above $300.
The rising moving averages and the RSI near the overbought zone suggest the bulls are in control.
This positive view will invalidate if the price turns down and breaks below the moving averages. Such a move will indicate the demand has dried up and traders are booking profits. That could pull the price down to $250.
XTZ/USDT
Tezos (XTZ) is in a strong uptrend. It broke above the stiff overhead resistance at $5.64 on April 5 and completed a successful retest of the breakout level on April 7 and 8. The altcoin resumed its uptrend and made a new all-time high at $7.21 on April 10.
XTZ/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
The 20-day EMA ($5.42) is sloping up and the RSI is near the overbought territory, indicating advantage to the bulls. In a strong uptrend, corrections usually last between one to three days as traders buy every minor dip aggressively.
The long tail on today’s candlestick suggests traders are buying at lower levels. If they can drive the price above $7.21, the XTZ/USDT pair could rally to the next target objective at $8.14.
The major support on the downside is the 20-day EMA. If the price rebounds off this support, it will suggest the sentiment remains bullish. The buyers will then again try to push the price above $7.21. Conversely, a break below the 20-day EMA will suggest the bullish momentum has weakened.
XTZ/USDT 4-hour chart. Source:TradingView
The 4-hour chart shows the bulls are trying to arrest the pullback at the 20-EMA. If they can push the price above $6.85, a retest of $7.21 is possible. A breakout of this resistance will start the next leg of the up-move.
Contrary to this assumption, if the pair breaks and sustains below the 20-EMA, it may drop to the 50-SMA. The bulls are likely to defend this support aggressively because the price has not dipped below the 50-SMA since March 29.
However, if the bulls fail to arrest the decline at the 50-SMA, the slide could extend to $5.40 and then to $4.60.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.
