A closely-followed crypto trader who continues to build his following with bullish altcoin predictions says that an under-the-radar altcoin has virtually no price ceiling despite exponential gains over the last two months.
In a new tweet, the pseudonymous analyst known as Capo says VRA, the native token of the Verasity platform, has “no limits.”
$VRA has no limits https://t.co/6atV99AydY
— il Capo Of $NOIA (@CryptoCapo_) April 15, 2021
Verasity is a video-sharing platform that aims to disrupt the online video ecosystem by encouraging more direct, transparent relationships with content creators, viewers and advertisers. The Verasity economy is powered by the VRA token, which is used to distribute payments and rewards on the platform.
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In the last two months, the crypto asset has rocketed 2,550% according to CoinGecko, climbing from a low of about $0.002 in March to a high of $0.053 last week, and is sitting at a market cap of about $337 million.
VRA isn’t the only coin on Capo’s radar. The trader is also keeping a close watch on Syntropy (NOIA), which is a protocol that optimizes and encrypts the public internet for its users.
“I don’t see any of the big accounts posting about NOIA, except one or two.
It will be interesting to see how little by little more people will comment on this project, until everyone talks about it. Bookmark this tweet.”
At time of writing, NOIA is trading at $0.64, and has witnessed gains of 14,868% in the last year, according to CoinGecko.
The popular trader isn’t just focused on the more overlooked altcoins. He’s also mega bullish on Ethereum (ETH), the world’s second-largest crypto asset by market cap. Capo appears to believe ETH is gearing up for a 3x rally.
Still doubting 1 $ETH = $10k?
— il Capo Of $NOIA (@CryptoCapo_) April 15, 2021
ETH and NOIA are part of Capo’s list of coins that he calls “the chosen ones,” that he expects to maintain their bullish momentum. The other assets on the list are: Binance Coin (BNB), Band Protocol (BAND), Balancer token (BAL), Litentry (LIT), Zilliqa (ZIL), TomoChain (TOMO), and Hedera Hashgraph (HBAR).
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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.
Binance Smart Chain (BSC) has rapidly risen to prominence in 2021 as high transaction costs and congestion on the Ethereum (ETH) network led smaller-size investors to search for cheaper alternatives.
One of the top choices to earn a yield on the BSC is Venus (XVS), an algorithmic money market and synthetic stablecoin protocol that provides a lending and borrowing solution for the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.
XVS/USDT daily chart. Source:TradingView
Data from Cointelegraph Markets and TradingView shows that the price of Venus catapulted 3,000% in the first two months of the year, going from a low of $3.20 on Jan. 1 to an all-time high of $103 on Feb. 19 before correcting to $35 on March 25. At the time of writing, XVS price is trading for $98.
Traders seek stable yield with less risk
When comparing different protocols across blockchain networks, the top competitor for Venus on the Ethereum network is Maker (MKR) and its DAI stablecoin. Aside from being able to deposit collateral to earn a yield, users can also borrow against their collateral by minting the VAI stablecoin, a synthetic BEP-20 token that is pegged to the value of one U.S. dollar.
Users who prefer to hold a significant portion of their portfolio in a stablecoin can purchase VAI and deposit it in the Venus vault to earn a 19.91% yield at the time of writing.
Those wishing to get more involved in the community can purchase the XVS token, which is the governance token for the Venus protocol and enables token holders to vote on changes to the ecosystem, such as adding new collateral types or organizing product improvements.
The list of tokens supported by the protocol continues to expand, with many of the top tokens already available for users to earn a yield. Currently supported coins include Ethereum, Binance Coin (BNB), Litecoin (LTC), Chainlink (LINK), Polkadot (DOT), XRP and Cardano (ADA).
Yields offered by the protocol are on average between 4% and 10%, with earnings paid out in the same form as the collateral staked. While the amount earned on Venus is lower than on many of the yield farming options, users do not need to worry about impermanent losses or the value of the protocol token falling and erasing their gains.
Data from Defistation shows that Venus is currently the top-ranked DeFi platform on the BSC by total value locked, with $7.8 billion in collateral currently deposited on the protocol.
Total value locked on Venus. Source:Defistation
When compared to DeFi platforms across all blockchain networks, Venus ranks eighth behind its main Ethereum competitor Curve, which currently has $6.47 billion in TVL.
The flow of institutional and retail investors into the cryptocurrency ecosystem has picked up in 2021 and this trend is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
Despite this week’s Berlin upgrade to the Ethereum network, fees are still high and this leaves the door open to competing chains and protocols looking to expand their userbase.
Venus is well-positioned to see further growth as people increasingly flee the legacy financial system in search of higher yields and effortless capital mobility.
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.
Up 150.3% over the past 14 days, VeChain (VET) trades at $0,23 with 15.6% and 84.4% profits in the daily and weekly chart, respectively. In addition to the rally, the company celebrated a major milestone that could give a new impulse to its corporate adoption.
VET with strong gains in the daily chart. Source: VETUSDT Tradingview
Via its Twitter handle, the VeChain Foundation announced VeChain was mentioned in 2021 Forbes Blockchain 50. Celebrated for its third year, this event was created to offer a “definitive accounting” of those companies using blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies.
Forbes declares that Bitcoin and blockchain have gone mainstream in 2020. With a growing interest and use in many sectors, this technology has a real impact in the corporate world. Forbes said:
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Bitcoin and blockchain have gone mainstream. Bitcoin’s 2020 surge grabbed the attention of C-suite executives worldwide; not only are companies employing the technology underlying Bitcoin to perform tasks such as reconciling invoices and verifying product provenance, but dozens are now holding Bitcoin as a treasury asset.
The list includes software company MicroStrategy, led by Michael Saylor; Ant Group, founded by the former executive chairman of Alibaba Group; Binance, Coinbase, PayPal, Samsung, Square, and others. The VeChain Foundation said:
Blockchain is transforming the supply chain & traceability industries, eliminating inefficiencies. Thank you, Archana Sristy, for mentioning #VeChain in the 2021 Forbes Blockchain 50! We’re proud to power Walmart China’s Food Traceability Platform.
VeChain’s (VET) recent price action manipulated?
Trader Justin Bennet has been bullish on VeChain’s native token VET. However, he believes the 24-hour rally could have been caused by a “large Discord group”. Bennet classified the token’s rally as inorganic and said there was manipulation in yesterday’s price action. He added:
Stating that there was a coordinated VET pump on Friday takes nothing away from the fundamentals behind VeChain. Does VET deserve to be where it is? Hell yes. I’ve said multiple times I think it’s going to $1 to $3 this year.
The Discord group Bennet referred has approximately 200,000 members and their alleged move converge with a high trading volume for VET in South Korea’s exchanges.
On the other hand, trader VeChain Justin said VET is poised for a “parabolic move”. According to the chart he shared, VET has formed a “massive bullish Cup & Handle Pattern”. In addition to an increase in trading volume, this could send VET to a 377% rally. He added:
This aligns closely with 4.618 Fib extension. Expect consolidation in handle before liftoff. $VET target: $0.5008.
The junior U.S. Senator from Wyoming, Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), is calling Bitcoin a solid store of value that is capturing the attention of mainstream investors.
In a MarketWatch interview, Sen. Lummis cites the Coinbase initial public offering (IPO) and Tesla’s $1.5 billion investment in Bitcoin as evidence of the flagship cryptocurrency reaching mass adoption.
“We’re seeing it come into the mainstream. You’re seeing people like Elon Musk (Tesla CEO) make big investments in Bitcoin. You saw Coinbase just today go public and have a valuation that is just dumbfounding.
And so it is going mainstream and that’s because everybody from [Goldman Sachs CEO] Jamie Dimon, who used to criticize Bitcoin, is looking at making an investment in Bitcoin because I think they finally understand why Bitcoin is a good solid store of value.”
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Sen. Lummis argues that the flagship cryptocurrency’s hard cap and its fundamental principles are what make it such an appealing option to store wealth.
“There’s only going to be 21 million Bitcoin ever created. And so you’ve got an automatic finite supply. And there’s so many guarantees about the manner in which Bitcoin is going to be mined, and rolled out, and can be held, that there are assurances that these values are going to hold up. And it’s going to hold up over the test of time.”
While referring to Bitcoin as a “great equalizer” since it can be owned indiscriminately by both retail investors of all sizes and institutional investors alike, Sen. Lummis insists on a buy-and-hold strategy to protect against currency debasement in the wake of loosening monetary policies.
“So, I would say to the guy who’s outside of this building washing the windows, ‘Hang on to that Bitcoin.’ Buy it. Hold it. And when you hold it, it’ll be there when you retire. Who knows how many US dollars will have been printed by the time that gentleman retires?”
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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.
Societe Generale has announced the issuance of its first structured product as a security token on the Tezos (XTZ) blockchain. The bank says the move is part of the development process of its crypto assets structuring and issuance subsidiary dubbed Forged. Forge is scheduled to go into full operations by 2022.
Societe Generale Issues Token on Tezos
According to a pressreleaseon April 15, 2021, Societe Generale (SocGen), a French multinational financial services company and investment bank established in 1864, has made Tezos (XTZ ) its blockchain of choice for the issuance of its security token.
Notably, the Paris-based bank has made it clear that the launch of its security token on the Tezos blockchain is part of the development process of Societe Generale – Forge, a regulated subsidiary of the Societe Generale Group, which will focus primarily on offering cryptocurrency products to users.
Scheduled to go live by 2022, SocGen has hinted that Forge will offer its professional clients crypto custodial services, issuance, structuring and exchanging.
Blockchain’s Potential Reaffirmed
At a time when bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are steadily reaching new heights, SocGen says its latest “experimentation” goes a long way to show that public blockchains such as Tezos (XTZ) have all it takes to handle complex financial vehicles.
“This new experimentation, performed in accordance with best market practices, shows the legal, regulatory and operational feasibility of issuing more complex financial instruments (structured products) on a public blockchain,” SocGen wrote.
Notably, a good number of traditional financial institutions are now warming up to cryptoassets and the underlying distributed ledger technology (DLT). SocGen says it firmly believes that innovative technologies like blockchain are crucial to its digital transformation and will arm it with the tools it needs to serve its clients better.
It’s worthy of note that this is not the first time Societe Generale is issuing a financial instrument on the blockchain. AsreportedbyBTCManagerin April 2019, the lender adopted Ethereum for the issuance of a $122 million covered bond.
And the bank says it tapped the Bank of France’sCBDCto issue another EUR 40 million covered bond in May 2020.
At press time, the price of tezos (XTZ) is up by 10.65 percent in the past 24-hours, trading at $7.12, with a market cap of 5.44 billion, as seen on CoinMarketCap.
The crypto market seems to be astonished by yesterday’s season. Dogecoin (DOGE) threw every fundamental out of the window and smashed its way to the 5th position in the crypto top 10 by market cap. DOGE is trading at $0,27 with 20.6% losses in the daily chart.
DOGE with heavy losses in the 24-hour chart. Source: DOGEUSDT Tradingview
DOGE reached an all-time high of $0,50 after a 500% pump. Chief Strategy Officer at CoinShares, Meltem Demiros, linked Dogecoin surge to the controversial subreddit r/WallStreetBets.
This group decided to lift its ban on crypto discussions. These were still limited to only Bitcoin, Ethereum, and DOGE.
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However, the group decides to reinstate their ban in less than a day due to an article published by Bloomberg, as announced on their subreddit. With the title “WallStreetBets Bows to Crypto”, the article and moderator’s decision caused discomfort in that community.
As a sort of “revenge pump”, WallStreetBets might have caused DOGE’s rally. As evidence, Demiros pointed at the cryptocurrency’s traded volume. At its peaked DOGE, daily trading volume stood at $70.772.770.653, as shown by CoinGecko, with a $48B market cap.
In comparison, State Street Global Advisors’ SPY ETF, one of the “most widely held and traded”, registered around $25B in this metric during the April 17th session, according to Demiros. Also pointing at Dogecoin’s repository in GitHub, with many contributions over the past year, CoinShares CSO said:
the people have spoken, and the people want DOGE. The power of memes is moving markets. You absolutely love to see it. It’s gonna break people’s brains, and we’re just getting started. To all the @TikTokInvestors who are now $DOGE millionaires, cheers.
Coinbase Effect and Bitcoin’s price
After a bullish momentum leading up to Coinbase’s debut on the stock market, Bitcoin’s price seems to be trending downwards. At the time of writing, BTC is trading at $60,174 with 1.9% losses in the 24-hour chart and 3.6% over the past week.
BTC with moderate losses in the 24-hour chart. Source: BTCUSD Tradingview
During this period, many investors were positive Coinbase’s direct offering was going to support a pump across the crypto market. The opposite happened. As Demiros stated, this is due to the high level of leveraged positions in the derivatives market.
When Bitcoin was unable to pump due to Coinbase debut, leverage traders “dip” and closed their positions. Demiros said the following on this crypto market dynamic:
One – bitcoin markets are very much driven by derivatives. funding rates, implied vol, and open interest are important to monitor. spot follows futures -> tail wags dog. Two – there isn’t enough leverage, and cost of capital limits capacity!
Data from Glassnode still points to a bullish outlook for BTC. The metric Realized Cap HOLD Waves indicates the first peak in the number of short-term holders moved to the market by retail mania.
In previous bull runs, there have been at least 3 peaks for the same metric. This could indicate that the rally is still early and BTC’s price could rise a lot more if it follows a previous pattern, as shown below.
Each #Bitcoin Bull Cycle has had 3 distinctive peaks of supply held by short-term holders. (as a % of total supply)
We’re still cooling off after just the first major peak. pic.twitter.com/g9M8G4mPrK
— William Clemente III (@WClementeIII) April 17, 2021
Coming every Saturday,Hodler’s Digestwill help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top Stories This Week
Coinbase gets off to a rocky start as it lists on the Nasdaq
It was billed as a “watershed” milestone for cryptocurrency — the industry’s “Netscape moment.”This week, Coinbase made its stock market debut.
There was no shortage of excitement in the run-up to Wednesday’s direct listing on the Nasdaq, with Bitcoin rallying to$64,863.10before the open.COIN’s reference price was set at just $250, withall 1,700 staff pocketing 100 shares each.
In true crypto form, it was a volatile debut.Coinbase’s stock quickly rose to $430 before falling sharply within the first few minutes of trading, closing its inaugural session at a still-impressive $328.It wrapped up Friday at$342, with a market cap of$67.2 billion.
COIN’s arrival on Wall Street is significant because of how it gives investors indirect exposure to cryptocurrencies.Ark Invest is especially bullishon the stock, snapping up more than 1 million shares that will be shared across three exchange-traded funds.
Overall, the stock’s performancehas been hailed as positive so far, especially compared with how IPOs have performed in the past.Will this embolden other exchanges to follow suit?
Coinbase could see fee compression in long term, CEO expects
As you’d expect,the exchange enjoyed much fanfareon the big day and even embedded the title of a New York Times article referencing Joe Biden’s stimulus package into the Bitcoin blockchain.Nonetheless, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong was keen to address some of the concerns raised by analysts.
Some fear that the mooted$100-billionvaluation ahead of the listing was too high amid fears crypto exchanges will soon end up in bitter competition that will drive down fees — and affect overall profitability.Given how this accounted for 96% of Coinbase’s revenue in 2020, it’s kind of a big deal.
On CNBC, Armstrong sought to tackle this head on. While he said that fee reductions are possible in the long term, the executive doesn’t believe it’s an imminent threat.Plus, by the time it is, he predicts “maybe 50% or more” of revenues will come from alternative streams such as debit cards and crypto custody.
Dogecoin doubles in a day as YTD gains hit 5,000%, while Bitcoin price dips
Bitcoin cooled once COIN started trading.And while Ether has comfortably outperformed the world’s biggest cryptocurrency this week (securing a new all-time high of $2,547.56 on Friday), altcoins have been stealing the show.
If Dogecoin is a joke, it’s certainly wiped the smile off cynics’ faces.DOGE was trading at just $0.07 on Monday but began a frenzied 514% climb to highs of $0.43 by Friday.That’s a surge of8,735%since the start of the year — and there’s little doubt it will have turned a number of enthusiasts into overnight millionaires.
The frenzy saw DOGE leapfrog Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin in the rankings, with a market cap that’s twice as big as Deutsche Bank’s.
Even professional traders have been caught by surprise.There’s one thing we know for certain, though: Bold predictions of a$1DOGE one day are now looking less outlandish.
XRP price soars to new highs after recent legal victories and relisting rumors
With the market cap of altcoins surpassing$1 trillion, one clear theme has emerged this week: Older cryptocurrencies are enjoying something of a renaissance.And it isn’t just DOGE that’s mooning… XRP is racing higher, too.
XRP hit multi-year highs of$1.96this week.Although that’s some way off the all-time record of $3.84 set in January 2018, this still reflects year-to-date gains of 790%.The latest spike causeda whopping$420 millionof liquidationson derivatives exchanges.
Momentum for XRP has been building thanks to a series of legal victories for Ripple in its battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission, along with rumors that the token may be relisted on multiple exchanges.
Elsewhere, two forked projects that once sought to challenge Bitcoin and Ethereum for their seats at the top — Bitcoin Cash and Ethereum Classic —also racked up triple-digit gains.Will other retro cryptocurrencies be next?
Jim Cramer cashes out half his “phoney money” Bitcoin to pay off mortgage
Enigmatic CNBC host Jim Cramer risked attracting the ire of crypto enthusiasts this week — for two reasons.
Not only did he refer to Bitcoin as “phoney money,” something that causes the red mist to descend for many maximalists, but he also revealed he has sold 50% of his BTC portfolio to pay off a mortgage.
Cramer confirmed he had bought a lot of Bitcoin at$12,000— meaning it had risen fivefold by the time he offloaded half of it.The anchor subsequently admitted: “I know people are going to be angry with me.”
Some Twitter users likened the one-time crypto critic’s move to the infamous pizza purchase for 10,000 BTC.But others have praised Cramer’s move and argued that it’s important to take profits off the table, writing: “Selling only 50% after a 5x gain doesn’t sound toooo silly.”
Winners and Losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin is at$62,272.53, Ether at$2,466.78and XRP at$1.69. The total market cap is at$2,274,625,979,472.
Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week areDogecoin,Ethereum ClassicandSiacoin. The top three altcoin losers of the week areKuCoin Token,KlaytnandCelsius.
For more info on crypto prices, make sure to readCointelegraph’s market analysis.
Most Memorable Quotations
“This is a really important day for the whole crypto world. This is saying ‘this is an asset class, and it’s an asset class that’s here to stay.’”
Mike Novogratz, Galaxy Digital founder and CEO
“We haven’t seen any margin compression yet, and I actually wouldn’t expect to see it in the short and the midterm. Longer term, yes I do think there could be fee compression just like in every other asset class out there.”
Brian Armstrong, Coinbase CEO
“PayPal really wants to use cryptocurrency as a funding source for everyday transactions. The endgame, though, is a more noble vision of this inclusive economy, and things will be done much differently than today.”
Dan Schulman, PayPal CEO
“Bitcoin is looking strong at RSI 92. Still not above RSI 95 like 2017, 2013 and 2011 bull markets.”
PlanB
“You gotta buy Coinbase when that deal comes. Even though it’s a $100 billion deal, this has become common knowledge that there are many companies that are going to switch. MicroStrategy has always been the leader, so others would want to follow.”
Jim Cramer, CNBC host
“Coinbase is the watershed moment in terms of legitimizing some valuations you see in crypto.”
Ben Lilly, Jarvis Labs co-founder
“Coinbase IPO May Boost #Bitcoin to $70,000, Like #Tesla to $60,000 — The lowest 30-day volatility since October indicates Bitcoin is ripe to exit its cage and bull-market continuation is favored for the next $10,000 move.”
Mike McGlone, Bloomberg Intelligence
“Truth be told I seriously think we’ve entered the final leg of this $btc bull market. To be clear, final leg could be 2-3 weeks or even more. Price could reach 200k or even more who knows. Just don’t make irrational life decisions based on unrealized PnL.”
Mohit Sorout, Bitazu Capital founding partner
“An ETF would be a bigger deal, obviously, than Coinbase getting listed.”
Eric Crown, entrepreneur
Prediction of the Week
Ethereum could go to $10,000 in 2021 and outperform Bitcoin, says veteran trader
Back to Ether now, which has been in the ascendancy this week followingan irreversible hard forkthat aims to deliver some reforms to transaction fees.On-chain data suggeststhat ETH’s price could double between now and the end of May — but some analysts are going even further.
In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph, Scott Melker said gaining exposure to ETH was “like investing in the internet in the early 1990s.”
Even though his price target for$10,000by the end of this year may seem outlandish, he added:“I don’t see why that’s crazy. It’s basically just under a 5x from here. […] Bitcoin did almost three times that last year.”
FUD of the Week
r/Wallstreetbets finally allows crypto threads…then bans them again
This week, there seemed to be a major breakthrough when r/Wallstreetbets announced that it would allow Bitcoin, Ether and Dogecoin to be discussed in a daily thread on Reddit.
The new policy lasted a day, and the reason why the ban has been reimposed has raised eyebrows.
Bloomberg had claimed that r/Wallstreetbets was “bowing” to digital assets by opening up the discussion beyond stocks, something thatreallypissed off one moderator.
A new post read:“Due to the article that was written [by] Bloomberg who somehow felt that ‘WallStreetBets Bows to Crypto.’ Crypto discussion is banned indefinitely. I’ve read a lot of dumb articles written about wsb. This one takes the cake. P.S. Like always. Please be respectful.”
Despite the plea for respect, many Reddit users weren’t pleased with the dramatic reversal.
Turkey to ban cryptocurrency payments
A new ban in Turkey will prohibit crypto holders from using their digital assets for payments in addition to preventing payments providers from providing fiat onramps for crypto exchanges.
The ban will come into effect on April 30, rendering any crypto payments solutions and partnerships illegal.
According to Turkey’s central bank, “any direct or indirect usage of crypto assets in payment services and electronic money issuance” will be forbidden.
Banks are excluded from the regulation, which means users can still deposit Turkish lira on crypto exchanges using wire transfers from their bank accounts.
ECB endangers itself by waiting around on digital euro, says ConsenSys exec
The European Central Bank will put itself in jeopardy if it waits around to launch a digital euro for too long, according to a ConsenSys executive.
With a central bank digital currency set to be years away, Monica Singer said such projects are a chance for central banks to repair their mistakes and fix a broken financial system.
She warned that if global banks miss this opportunity, alternatives from private tech giants like Facebook could make fiat currencies obsolete.
Singer added: “If the central bank in Europe is gonna wait until 2028, by then there won’t be a central bank. Because who’s gonna use the euro in its current form? There are gonna be so many choices.”
Best Cointelegraph Features
A cure for copyright ills? NFTs promise to empower creative economies
NFTs are not an immediate solution to all IP rights issues, but eventually, they can give creators more power than they ever had.
Life beyond Ethereum: What layer-one blockchains are bringing to DeFi
Ethereum is the dominant force in DeFi, and layer-two solutions are a promising alternative, but the layer-one blockchains are not done just yet.
All that mined is not green: Bitcoin’s carbon footprint hard to estimate
The impact of BTC mining on the environment has turned into a debate — here’s what academics think… and if “green Bitcoin” is possible.
Larry Fink, the CEO of multi-trillion dollar investment giant BlackRock, is revealing his rosy outlook on Bitcoin and the crypto markets at large.
In a CNBC interview, Fink changes his tune on Bitcoin as he says he now believes in the future of cryptocurrencies.
“I’m still fascinated about it, I’m encouraged by how many people are focusing on it, I’m encouraged about the narrative that it may become a great asset class. And I do believe this could become a great asset class.”
In 2017, Fink referred to Bitcoin as “an index for money laundering.”
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While the BlackRock head may be fascinated by Bitcoin, he’s skeptical that cryptocurrencies could replace fiat currencies.
“I don’t believe it’s a substitute for currencies. I think we’re going to have cryptocurrencies of dollars, cryptocurrencies of other currencies. But I don’t believe we should think about crypto as a substitute of currency. But I’m fascinated by it as an asset class.”
The BlackRock CEO adds that even though the investment giant has dabbled in cryptocurrencies, as the firm’s chief investment officer of global fixed income Rick Rieder revealed in February, other large institutional investors have yet to show deep interest in the digital asset space.
“I will tell you of our investors worldwide… we don’t have that much inquiry on it. We are investing in it. Rick Rieder’s been on your show talking about things that we are doing in it. And we’re studying it…
There are components in the financial markets about crypto that are real, that is growing. But if you’re asking me specifically about long-term investing from sovereign wealth funds, from pension funds, from retirement services, from big family offices, the conversation about crypto is a very minor conversation compared to so many other conversations.”
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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.
This week’swNewsdigs into why various left-of-the-curve cryptocurrencies enjoyed some serious bullish attention. So hard did 2017’s favorite altcoins pump that the market quickly forgot about the industry’s first-ever direct listing.
Dogecoin swept headlines, but other altcoins like Ethereum Classic, Bitcoin Cash, and Litecoin all took flight this week. There are several reasons why this activity is strange and worrisome to investors.
Ethereum Classic is up 140% this week. It’s a completely dead chain.
Be careful out there. Don’t fall for the mania and be sure to scale out what would make you happy once everything inevitably drops.
— eric.eth (@econoar) April 17, 2021
Dogecoin’s repo on GitHub isabsent of activity, and Ethereum Classic has already suffered fromtwo 51% attacks. Neither facts suggest either project is fundamentally strong. As for the rest of the market, who knows.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin and Ethereum traded price action. Bitcoin dropped after being banned inTurkey, and amining accidentin China reduced the network’s hashrate. Thanks to positive scalability news, ETHhit an all-time highjust a day after Coinbase waslistedon NASDAQ.
This week’s volatility has already spooked some traders, however. For those moving into stablecoins, this week’s Crypto To-Do List introduces readers to a convenient way to earn up to 15% on their idle holdings.
All that and much more below.
Digging into Dogecoin, Not Coinbase
It’s perfectly reasonable in crypto that the industry’s greatest moment of validation is eclipsed by the inordinate pumping of a “meme coin.” Just as Wall Street finally perks up to crypto, market participants remind them that the sector is still growing.
Unpacking this juxtaposition, however, does reveal several curious insights. First Dogecoin.
Headline after headline, tweet after tweet, commentators overthought the underlying reasons as to why DOGE rose from $0.07 to $0.41 in under a week. The money-as-a-meme narrative was certainly at play.
But there was another unexpected motor that pushed the coin to new highs.
DOGE price action from Apr. 12 to Apr. 16. Source:CoinGecko
Like all strange money matters, it involved a tweet from Elon Musk. Alongside the serial memester, the Dogecoin pump also involved a “truly exceptional” trader.
When inspecting thetop DOGE wallets, one particular address stood out last week. Looking through this account’s activity, one can see what looks like a massive campaign tolure and baitspeculators.
100,000,000 DOGE sold here, 250,000,000 sold there. With such volume, it’s not difficult for a single address to move prices.
Source:Bitinfocharts
Once this information became clear to the public and Twitter threads revealed the carnage, another unusual document emerged:God.pdf.
Written by another trader namedWolong, the document described the precise tactics put in play in the latest Dogecoin action. It revealed how whales could delicately manipulate price and volume in seven key steps. What’s more, Wolong was notorious forcontrolling the priceof DOGE before disappearing.
Shiba Inu being put to sleep right now. Is #wolong at it again? Heavy trade manipulation – ridiculous. Keep barking doge bandwangoners
— fireinyourhole (@fireinyourhole) February 2, 2014
The first step is position building, or slowly making “microbuys” over a period and creating a large coffer of the specified token without disrupting prices. The second is price suppression.
Here the whale quells rising prices through wave after wave of sell walls. Wolong writes, “our sell walls are usually just enough to appear as though as it’s the invisible hands of the market, minor supply over demand.”
Step four is the test pump to shake out weak hands and “ensure that [whales] have absolute control of the market.” Step five is the actual pump, like what the market saw on Friday.
Step six is a re-allocation of the tokens, followed by step seven: “The Dump.”
After the general explainer, Wolong writes:
“By now, everyone should be very curious and if not dying to find out how I orchestrated my pumps and dumps, especially with dogecoin.”
In another March 2020articlefrom the Daily Dot, his technique was explained thusly:
“A Bitcoin trader who asked to remain anonymous told me Wolong was likely trading mostly with himself, ‘playing the part of the fighting whales’ (‘whales’ are traders with significant bankrolls). He described a pattern of trading where Wolong would make it appear that a whale was keeping the market below a certain price, and then play the part of a second whale buying enough Dogecoin to lift the price through the first whale’s resistance. Once the price broke that resistance, out-of-the-loop traders would buy more Dogecoin, hoping to see it rise even higher.”
Because Wolong had been executing these tactics long before last week’s pump, many experienced traders quickly drew comparisons.
/5 Every component of a mesmerizing trade was there:
– wait for an ideal moment in market conditions and narrative (https://t.co/ikWpBHkNKF)
— light (@lightcrypto) April 16, 2021
With this bit of context in mind,calling“all money a meme” seems a bit silly.
And just like on Wall Street, if traders don’t know why prices are moving the way they are, they probably aren’t looking hard enough.
Either way, of course, retail will always be left holding the bags.
Market Action: Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin moved past the $60,000 resistance and recorded a 7.6% gain following the breakout.
The price retested support yesterday as negative catalysts fromTurkeyandChinaput pressure on the price. The ascending triangle target of $76,500 is still in action, though.
Source: Trading View
The high funding rate for long BTC orders on Binance’s futures market suggests that fear is creeping among traders.
For reference, on Wednesday, when Bitcoin broke above $60,000, the funding rates were above 0.1% across all platforms for an eight-hour interval or a 110% annual percent rate.
Bitcoin and Ether funding rate for perpetual contracts on exchanges. Source:ViewBase
The derivatives market saw a $1.1 billion liquidation dominated in long orders afteryesterday’s crash. Overall, the market still seems bullish.
TheCoin Days Destroyed(CDD) metric, which gauges the movement of old and large Bitcoin addresses, possibly moving to sell, continued to decline in March, which is a positive signal. It suggests that long-term holders are willing to wait for higher prices.
Bitcoin CDD indicator. Source:Glassnode
However, since the top of $64,500, reports of exchange deposits of nearly 16,000 Bitcoin (worth nearly $1 billion) have emerged.
Then on Friday, after Bitcoin’s dip to $60,500, Ben Lilly of Jarvis Labs recorded a massive inflow of over 11,000 BTC, adding to the negative pressure over the weekend.
pic.twitter.com/UnmIWGniFn
— Ben Lilly (@MrBenLilly) April 16, 2021
If the price drops further, the previous low of $55,600 will support the bulls.
Market Action: Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum’s native token ETH broke a new all-time high this week with positive development around theblockchain’s scalability issues.
The comparison between the daily chart of ETH and BTC reveals that the second-largest cryptocurrency is, in fact, leading the market.
Ether broke and retested the breakout from the ascending channel in the first week of April. In comparison, BTC followed a similar trajectory this week.
Source: Trading View
The ETH/BTC also brings positive tidings as it trades above the pivotal value of 0.034 BTC.
Before stablecoins like USDT took over, Bitcoin was the dominant exchange pair in the market. However, in 2019 and 2020, the volume of USD pairs exploded on the spot and even the futures market.
Still, the levels of support and resistance in the ETH/BTC chart provide useful information about the change in market trends.
The 0.034 BTC level marks a pivotal point of decoupling between Bitcoin and Ethereum.
During the parabolic 2017 run, breakout and retest of this point acted as a robust trading indicator. Over the last two years, the price has held near this level, seeing upward resistance at 0.045 BTC and 0.058 BTC.
Source: Trading View
However, the funding rate of Ether is running hotter than Bitcoin, which is a concern for investors.
While the target of $2,750 and $3,000 is still on, traders must not rule out the possibility of a retest of the $2,100 support.
Crypto To-Do List: Use a Yield Optimization Tool
Crypto is deep into its biggest bull run to date, which means some are already beginning to take profits.
In the past, this usually meant exchanging from crypto to fiat via a centralized exchange. With the advent of DeFi, however, users needn’t move holdings outside of the crypto ecosystem.
DeFi, themajority of which occurs on the Ethereum blockchain, offers unrivaled yields, especially compared to any bank in the traditional world. This means that if and when a slump does hit, DeFi users will still be able to continue banking profits on their assets by putting their money to work.
“Yield farming,” as it’s popularly known, introduced a new layer to the crypto ecosystem, but it also added complexity. The best yield farming strategies can be difficult for casual users to find, however, and moving assets between liquidity pools can require heavy amounts of gas. Plus, as yield rates change with the number of assets deposited in a pool, it can be difficult to keep track of the best place to deposit funds.
Most users don’t have a lot of capital—in time or crypto—to invest in yield farming alone.
That problem has been solved with the arrival of yield optimization tools. Aggregators for some of DeFi’s leading projects, these protocols use smart contracts to find the best returns for users when they deposit their assets.
By far, the best-known yield optimization tool in DeFi today isYearn.Finance.
Built by cult DeFi figure Andre Cronje in 2020, Yearn integrates Compound, Curve, Balancer, SushiSwap, Aave, and other DeFi mainstays. It offers a range of products, though they are designed to help users capture yield more efficiently (Cronje has said that he built it for himself).
With Yearn’s Vaults, users can deposit an asset, which Yearn users can access to borrow stablecoins and farm yield. The yield then gets exchanged to the same deposited asset, which the user can withdraw. Earn is a similar product, designed specifically for stablecoins like DAI, TUSD, USDC, and USDT. It also supports WBTC. The protocol also integrates cover options to protect assets.
Yield optimization tools like Yearn.Finance simplify the process of leveraging DeFi’s yield opportunities, creating new ways for users to move their assets without the heavy gas burden. Nonetheless, making a deposit and withdrawal from Yearn still requires gas.
Moreover, yield optimization tools are highly experimental, designed for more proficient DeFi users. As such, caution is advised.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, some of the authors of this feature had exposure to ETH, AAVE, CRV, BTC, UNI, DPI, and POLS.
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The price of Bitcoin (BTC) declined below $60,000 on April 17 after a strong rally throughout the past week in anticipation of the Coinbase public listing on Nasdaq.
However, after the COIN listing, which is the ticker of the Coinbase stock, the cryptocurrency market started to correct.
Coinbase’s public listing brought significant attention to the cryptocurrency market. It marked the first public listing of a major cryptocurrency exchange, leading to high institutional demand.
As a result, the cryptocurrency market rallied leading up to the listing with BTC price hitting new all-time highs above $64,00. However, it was almost expected to see Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) drop after the fact, considering the tendency of cryptocurrencies to sell off after a major event.
Another major factor that contributed to the drop in price was the relatively high funding rates for longing Bitcoin. This, alongside strong technical resistance at $64,000-$65,000 were the likely reasons that BTC tested $60,000 support after the hype around Coinase’s listing began to fade.
Bitcoin funding rates. Source: Bybt.com
Meanwhile, the $60,000 level is an important price point for Bitcoin because it took roughly a month for BTC to break out above it.
Hence, it is important for Bitcoin to hold the $60,000 area to maintain the bullish market structure heading into next week.
Traders predict what would likely come next
At the same time, cryptocurrency traders are mixed regarding where Bitcoin will go with its new weekly candle.
For instance, Cantering Clark, a popular cryptocurrency derivatives trader, said that the market isn’t necessarily bullish nor bearish, based on options data.
The Bitcoin options market open interest is ranging. Source: Bybt.com
Instead, Clark noted that the options market trend shows that Bitcoin would likely see sideways actions, which would mean consolidation at around $60,000. He wrote:
“50k and 80k strikes highest contract/notional for $BTC I think these writers will be happy and I am still in the same opinion that the end of April – May begins the shift that makes Bitcoin a less favorable long. No breakout, just range and rotation.”
In the long term, traders are still optimistic about Bitcoin. A pseudonymous trader known as “Crypto Capo” noted that based on historical trends, Bitcoin has broken out of a range that goes back 1,000 days.
The trader emphasized:
“Now some $BTC technical analysis. Bitcoin has broken out of an accumulation range of over 1000 days. This usually results in long extensions. Currently, the increase over the previous ATH is only 200%.”
