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Bitcoin Slumps Down To $45K; Will The King Coin Ever Hit $60K?

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Bitcoin [BTC] saw a five-fold increase over the last couple of months. During this process, the asset experienced certain setbacks that further drove the price of the king back and forth between $45K to $51K. The last couple of days particularly showed BTC as an extremely volatile asset.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was seen trading $46,214.98 with a 7.57% drop over the last 24-hours. The king coin slumped by $3,572.84, in the last 24-hours. While BTC remains on top of the charts, the latest numbers were considered a major downfall for the king coin. Just four days ago, BTC hit an all-time high of $58,330 further leading to speculation about the asset hitting $60K very soon. However, BTC decided to take a ride with bears as opposed to the bulls.

The market cap of the king coin also witnessed a major dip from $1 trillion to $800 billion. At press time, BTC’s market cap was at $862.12 billion.

Despite this, massive downfall, the market sentiment of Bitcoin seemed to be bullish. Several crypto users even responded to the current drop in Bitcoin’s price and suggested that the king coin was taking a breather. One Twitter user who goes by the name, ZeroHedge tweeted,

“Everyone’s losing their minds bc #BTC is taking a breather. Step back, look at the infrastructure being built around you. All that’s not going anywhere anytime soon. It’s only going to keep getting bigger. This is still the best space to be in the current macro environment.”

But what’s really happening with BTC. The one-day price chart of the king coin suggested that the bears were still residing in Bitcoin’s market.

Bitcoin [BTC] One-Day Price Chart

Bitcoin

The one-day price chart of Bitcoin on the cryptocurrency exchange Binance was seen harboring the bears. The Parabolic SAR indicator with dotted lines over the candlesticks revealed that BTC’s potential uptrend could be interrupted by this line of resistance. The Awesome Oscillator with red closing lines announced the presence of bears in the BTC market.

The Relative Strength Index indicator was down by the 50 median, suggesting that a sellers’ sentiment had started in the BTC market.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, And Other Coins Find Shelter At 177-Year-Old Bank

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The cryptocurrency industry has been gaining traction across the globe. Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], and an array of currencies were seen skyrocketing. All these assets were finding a place in several platforms all over the world. Several mainstream companies were seen diving into the crypto shores.

Traditional and centralized systems were also getting on par with the existing trend. A 177-year-old Swiss bank seems to be the latest to jump onto the crypto bandwagon.

Bitcoin Gets Back In Action

The driving demand for cryptocurrencies has forced platforms to onboard these digital assets onto their systems. Following a similar trend, Bordier & Cie SCmA revealed that cryptocurrencies were the latest addition to their services list. This would allow its users to trade cryptocurrencies as well as buy and hold them. Currently, the bank has added support to Bitcoin [BTC], Ethereum [ETH], Tezos [XTZ], and Bitcoin Cash [BCH].

The bank in its press release stated,

“We have seen increasing demand from our clients to diversify into alternative asset classes such as digital assets.”

The bank intends to incorporate Sygnum’s B2B banking platform to allow users to make use of the digital assets offered by the platform.

Bitcoin, at the time of writing, was seen trading for $51,526 and its market cap was once again trying to make it past $1 trillion. BTC witnessed a five-fold increase within a period of three months. This undoubtedly steered heads and Bordier & Cie SCmA seems to be making the right use of its resources.

Elaborating on the same, the managing partner of Bordier & Cie’s SCmA, Evrard Bordier said,

“We have seen increasing demand from our clients to diversify into alternative asset classes such as digital assets. By partnering with Sygnum Bank, we are providing our clients* with a one-stop, integrated solution while empowering them to invest in this new, high growth asset class with complete trust.”

The bank’s latest move could even spruce up the adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Indian Crypto Ban Receives Endorsement From Billionaire Jhunjhunwala

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The Indian government seems to be steering away from the path that several countries have been opting for. The surge in the value of the crypto market has paved the way for an array of countries to dive into the industry. While it all started with the acceptance of cryptocurrencies, currently several governments have been working towards incorporating crypto into the system.

Amidst this, a highly populated country like India revealed that it would be banning crypto very soon. Voicing his support for this move, prominent billionaire, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala aka India’s Warren Buffet appeared in an interview with CNBC.

Indian’s Could Be Banned From Using Crypto

Bitcoin was on the brink of hitting $60K, the latest crash posed as a major setback for the king coin. Yet, BTC emerged as one of the most valuable assets in the globe. Currently priced at $51K, BTC sits on the top as the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

While India’s Bitcoin ban was looked down upon by many, Jhunjhunwala was seen urging the government to speed up the process and rather focus on rolling out the digital rupee. CBDC’s have interested several governments across the globe. As nations like China and the Bahamas have already rolled out their central bank currencies, Jhunjhunwala seemed to be yearning for the launch of the digital rupee.

In the interview, the billionaire also suggested that he would steer clear of buying BTC. He added,

“I think it’s speculation of the highest order. I don’t want to join every party in town. I think the hangover is much worse.”

Earlier this month, news pertaining to the possible ban of crypto surfaced. This was when BTC was at its peak. The news undoubtedly shocked the Indians as they were given a time frame of three to six months to liquidate their funds in crypto. The former CTO of Coinbase, Balaji Srinivasan also commented on the potential ban and compared the Indian government’s move to an internet ban.

Kraken Amasses Legal Threats After The Crypto Market Records A Slump

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The latest crypto rally paved the way for increased trading activity in the industry. This had required exchanges like Kraken, Binance, Coinbase, and other prominent crypto platforms to stay on top of their game. However, the crypto market experienced carnage as all the assets were plummeting.

The entire crypto market, during the time of writing, was seen drowning in the red sea. From a high of $57K, Bitcoin crashed to a low of $45K. Kraken, however, was seen experiencing a “flash crash” as the price of BTC slumped below $45K, while Ethereum dropped to a low of $700. This came across as surprising considering no other exchanges endured such a crash. The crash further insinuated the liquidation of leveraged trades on Monday.

These activities seemed to have infiltrated a sense of anger and worry in many Kraken users. An array of tweets and Reddit posts regarding the same were swarming in the crypto community.

Kraken Users Hit Back

The Kraken Support page on both Twitter and Reddit saw several queries concerning the funds of the users. While several complained that they had lost money, a few others revealed that their deposits/ withdrawals were stuck.

A Reddit user, who goes by the username, RedditKenCann revealed that the individual had lost a whopping $215,000 in ADA on the exchange, the exchange’s latest glitch reportedly cost them their entire amount stored on the platform. This user further urged other users who have been affected by this to take this to a lawyer.

Another user reported that they had lost their life savings during the latest crash. The post read,

“I lost most of my life savings and haven’t received a response from a human. I’d think they would refund or they would lose all their customers. I’m sick to my stomach but will join the lawsuit with plenty of proof(screenshots) if not refunded”

While Kraken replied to certain users suggesting that an investigation was underway, several others were looking forward to a statement by the exchange.

India’s Security Mkt Watchdog Wants IPO Promoters To Sell Crypto Holding

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India’s cryptocurrency space has been facing gloomy days and troubles are far from over. If the latest reports are to be believed, holding cryptocurrency in the country may now become a major problem for promoters looking to raise money through an initial public offering [IPO].

This comes as the latest blow to the country’s crypto ecosystem as the Securities and Exchange Board of India [Sebi] reportedly wants IPO promoters to divest themselves of any crypto holdings before their companies consider filing for public listings.

According to the report, the matter appears to originate from the possibility that the government may ban cryptocurrency that is not issued by the Reserve Bank of India [RBI].

While there is no formal written communication provided by SEBI, however, the Economic Times reported that SEBI has communicated to merchant bankers and securities lawyers involved with the IPO.

A top securities lawyer currently working on some of the largest IPOs was quoted as saying,

“There could be a direction from the government in this regard. The market regulator seems to think that this could become a risk for investors if a promoter holds an asset that is illegal in the country”

#IndiaWantsBitcoin

The country’s sizeable crypto ecosystem had previously come into the spotlight after concerns regarding the drafting of the framework of Cryptocurrency and Regulation of Official Digital Currency Bill emerged. The bill essentially plans to makes it easy for RBI to launch its own crypto and the second to ban “private cryptocurrencies”.

Hence, the campaign #IndiaWantsBitcoin rose to prominence once again.

This was followed by several platforms such as CoinDCX, WazirX, Unocoin, CoinSwitch Kuber, Zebpay, and PocketBits, to join hands to launch the online platform of the same name. The website was created to enable the citizens to show support for the cryptocurrency ecosystem to their leaders.

Commenting on the lack of regulatory clarity in the country, Sumit Gupta, who happens to be the CEO and Co-founder of CoinDCX, tweeted,

“Crypto will enable Indians to participate on the global level and build companies that can be the next Google, Facebook. Other countries are looking to tap this opportunity, India shouldn’t be left behind in this.”

South Korea To Levy 20% Tax On BTC

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South Korea has been emerging as a global leader with its pop culture. The country decided to jump on the crypto bandwagon by recognizing these digital assets. South Korea has time and again revealed its intention of taxing cryptocurrencies, now the government has announced a date that it would start taxing these assets.

While this law is soon to be implemented, a prominent member of the country’s central bank has exhibited angst about the volatile nature of cryptocurrencies.

South Korea To Tax Profits Acquired By Crypto in 2022

The price movement of Bitcoin in the past few days has certainly spruced up the adoption of crypto. While some governments are outrightly banning these assets, a few others seem to be reaping benefits by taxing them. South Korea joined the list of an array of countries that have levied a tax on crypto.

In a recent report by the Korean Herald, the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the country reportedly proclaimed that a 20% tax would be levied on the profits acquired by trading cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. This would commence from 1 January 2022. However, those individuals who make profits lesser than $2,300 or 2.5 million won are exempted from this rule.

While this law helped recoginze Bitcoin as a part of the financial structure, 20% was a bit too much several officals believed. A police officer reportedly said,

“I sold stocks I was holding recently and started to invest in (digital) coins after seeing my colleague made a lot of money from them. I think it’s unfair to charge that much (cryptocurrency) tax when compared to taxes on stocks”

Furthermore, the government had expressed interest in going on board with tax rule in 2020, however, it seems to have been pushed to 2021.

Additionally, as these crypto-assets recorded a massive slump,  Lee Ju-yeo the Governor of the Bank of Korea. Once again, another authority has commented on the highly volatile nature of Bitcoin,

Larger Bitcoin Wallets Are Shuffling Supply

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One of the most promising trends that Bitcoin has witnessed was its corporate balance sheet acquisition, with MicroStrategy at the tip of the spear. But the latest market movement proved to be the biggest and the most damaging correction that Bitcoin sustained in its lifetime.

The crypto-asset lost $200 Billion in just 24-hours following panic among the retail traders.

Bitcoin Accumulation Wallets Hit Reversal

Leading up to this event was the peculiar activity from the large wallet holders who were found to have been shuffling supply. As noted by the blockchain intelligence firm, Glassnode, wallets with 1k to 10k Bitcoin holdings appeared to be ‘reducing holdings’.

This is in a clear reversal in the accumulation trend by these high-profile wallets which had been in accumulation throughout 2020. But this class of BTC holders saw a perfect inverse in 2021.

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According to the weekly report by Glassnode, Whales saw a supply increase in January of around +80k BTC and a subsequent decrease in the supply of -140k BTC in February.

It is important to note how the supply changes for the 100 to 1k BTC class [purple] and1k to 10k BTC,[(green] is mirrored in volume and shape.

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Upon closer inspection, it was found that when one class saw an increasing volume, the other saw a decreasing volume and vice-versa. Hence, large vertical changes in charts like this often represent that a few large entities [example: exchanges, whales, or miners] making internal transactions.

The latest wallet behaviour could, in fact, signify that a sizeable portion of these coins may not be sold, but instead being restructured in custodial wallets. Along the same line, Glassnode noted,

“There was a preference for 1k to 10k wallets in January that are now transitioning into larger sets of UTXOs with smaller denominations between 100 and 1k. Perhaps coins are being placed into multi-signature schemes or custodians are undertaking internal shuffling to meet client requirements.”

Furthermore, the balance held by accumulation addresses continued to remain in a steadily upward direction which suggested long-term ‘HODLer heuristics’. The fact that these wallets saw no spends further validated the above argument.

That being said, while it is no secret that these Bitcoins are on the move and larger balances are being reclassified, it, however, does not necessarily demonstrate an end to, as Glassnode said, “whale spawning season”.

Traders Keep Bitcoin’s Avg Funding Rate For Perpetual Swaps Low

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Another week, another all-time high for Bitcoin. And as usual, shortly after pulling an astounding rally a new water higher mark of $58,000, the world’s largest crypto-asset retraced its steps back and was currently trading at $54,879.

20210222 bitcoin charts coinmarketcap

With this Bitcoin’s YTD gains now stood at around 86%. Despite this, the blockchain intelligence platform, Glassnode, noted that there has not been any significant increase in funding rates yet. The average funding rate for perpetual swaps across major exchanges was found to be around 0.05%.

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So what does this mean for Bitcoin?

Firstly, the reason for a lack of increase in the funding rates could indicate that the market participants are more keen in buying Bitcoin in the spot markets rather than using leverage.

The investors doing BTC perpetual swaps are not yet ready to enter short positions as the market kept soaring. In short, these participants do not view a potential damaging plunge in the near-term. This was evidenced by the average funding rate which remained a little over zero.

Hence, it can be drawn that investors and traders expect the market to move higher.

Soaring Trade Volume

Moreover, Bitcoin’s trading volume on spot exchanges has climbed significantly after surging above $50K. As the figures for trade volume on spot exchanges continue to rise even at the current price level, it is likely that the said region may become crucial support for Bitcoin in the near-term.

Reversal would be damaging

It was a watershed moment for Bitcoin when it climbed a $1 trillion market cap due to increased institutional inflow. And here’s why the fear of a damaging reversal lingers.

bybt chart

Going by the derivatives chart, it can be noted that open interest [OI], as well as a trading volume, continue to cut through new levels for BTC futures across exchanges, hence there is a probability that if the price were to correct below $50000, it may trigger a slew of liquidations and have a long-term negative impact on the price.

Bitcoin Briefly Becomes More Expensive Than a 1 KG of Gold

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The buzz around the cryptocurrency space has intensified, thanks to Bitcoin’s record-breaking rally to a $1 trillion market capitalization.

Now the world’s flagship crypto is nearing yet another milestone of $60,000 after adding nearly $7K throughout the week. After smashing through the record high of $58,000, Bitcoin became more expensive than one kilogram of gold.

Around this time, last year, Bitcoin was under $5,000. But now it is well over $50,000. And this development is indeed a pivotal moment for Bitcoin especially at a time when debates on whether the cryptoa-asset is investment-worthy have flourished among investors, analysts, and the public.

Several BTC pioneers and advocates have long pinned for the crypto-asset to be a digital store of value. And its gains have been fueled by signs it is gaining acceptance among mainstream investors and companies, from Tesla and Mastercard to BNY Mellon. And its prominence this bull season was due to the entry of these institutional players who also believed the store of value narrative.

Gold’s market cap stands at around $9-10 trillion. If one were to consider that Bitcoin gets to half of gold’s market cap, that still signifies an astounding growth of 4X, or $200,000. Hence, there is a lot of upside to the crypto if the store of value narrative strengthens for it.

Rough Patches For Bitcoin?

The world witnessed Bitcoin fair against traditional assets in 2020 right after suffering one of the biggest crashes in its history. Its proponents argue the cryptocurrency is “digital gold” that can hedge against the risk of inflation sparked by the massive central bank and government stimulus packages designed to counter COVID-19.

The value of US dollar incurred a sharp fall as a result of quantitative easing measures. Around this time, gold and Bitcoin both went up too, which strengthened its cause.

Despite an overall macro bullish trend, there are several hurdles that BTC has to cross. For instance, the asset class, in general, is patchily regulated and happens to be a highly volatile digital asset that is used very little for commerce.

While the latter has been changing slowly, many analysts and investors still remain skeptical.

Canada’s First Bitcoin ETF Collects $421M In First 2 Days

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Times are changing and Bitcoin ETF’s long-term outlook is brightening, at least in North America. The first-ever Bitcoin ETF that was launched earlier this week has reportedly collected an astonishing $421 million in assets in the first two days of its launch.

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This was revealed by Bloomberg’s Analyst Eric Balchunas in his latest tweet about the world’s first Bitcoin ETF by the asset management company, Purpose Investments Inc. It made a debut on the Toronto Stock Exchange on the 18th of Feb.

Soaring Bitcoin ETF

Here’s what Balchunas had to say about the latest figures of the Bitcoin ETF,

“Proportionally speaking it is the equiv of a US ETF taking $8 billion in first two days. If it were to keep up this pace it will be the biggest ETF in Canada in 20 days.”

He also went on to add,

“The premium on this puppy was a mere 0.40% on Friday, or 250x less than $GBTC on Day Two. The beauty of arbitrage. This is about what we thought it would be, 20-60bps depending on day and poss over 100b on crazy days. In short, working as designed”

The figures show the popularity of Bitcoin ETFs in the country as its underlying crypto-asset continued to conquer new highs every week as it sits above the $1 trillion market cap.

The immense popularity can be attributed to the fact that these vehicles offer investors looking for a low risk way of reaping the profits Bitcoin’s bull run.

For the uninitiated, two Bitcoin exchange-traded funds were launched back to back on the Toronto Stock Exchange this week. Leading the charge was Purpose’s ETF, under the ticker “BTCC” launched this Thursday.

The fund witnessed a monumental interest, as it was found to be trading more than $100 million shares on its first day alone. If this continues, the ETF could potentially reach $1 billion in assets by the end of next week.

Just a day later, Evolve Funds Group Inc which happens to be yet another Canadian platform with $1.7 billion in assets under management [AUM], announced the launch of the Bitcoin ETF – EBIT. This Bitcoin ETF, on the other hand, was trading at $1.271 million AUM.

The latest news definitely raises stakes for the US policymakers especially the SEC which is yet put a stamp of approval to a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund.