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Bitcoin Tanked Due To Power Outage In China Says Willy Woo

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Bitcoin’s hash rate dropped by significantly last week. This was the single largest one-day drop in mining hash rate since November 2017 that was enough to trigger mayhem in the cryptocurrency market as the week ended.

This was due to the Xinjiang power outage, which caused an electrical grid blackout, causing Bitcoin’s hash rate to decline. It is worth noting that this territory in northwest China powers a substantial amount of the Bitcoin mining network.

Over the weekend Bitcoin’s price also crashed prompting million in liquidation. However, the price dropped on the 16th of April and preceding the drop of the network’s hash rate. Moreover, reports emerged that speculated that mining farms in Xinjiang were closed on the same day due to a coal mine accident earlier in the week

Contrary to popular notion, many experts in the community believe that Bitcoin’s hash rate was not slashed by half, rather they opined that the figure declined by only 20% and that this was not the reason for the downsizing of the crypto-asset. One such is the Co-founder and the CEO of Blockstream, Adam Back who clarified,

“hash rate has never been above 168 EH, and last week’s low from power station failure is 124 EH. people are misreading/relying on graphs which are wrongly extrapolating too short sample periods from high variance block-interval.”

But not everyone was reached the same consensus.

Willy Woo’s Remark On Bitcoin Hash Rate Affair

Willy Woo, the popular on-chain data analyst is of the opinion that the crypto-asset’s price and hash rate have always been correlated. Woo went on to explain that 9000 BTC was sent into Binance, on the same day as of the price crash.

While acknowledging that Binance more serves volume from Asia than the West, he speculated that the amount was sent in from a whale with “closer knowledge to happenings in China”. Delving more into details, Woo also said that the market-wide meltdown was compounded by the sell-off of quarterly futures on derivative markets which was already underway as early as 13th April.

“The two combined sell pressures were sufficient to tip the price below liquidation levels ($59k). This triggered a cascade of automatic sell-offs in a chain reaction.”

Taking into account the latest hash rate stats on a 6h moving average, Woo stated that the metric has mostly been fully recovered and also asserted that this event could potentially be a huge buying opportunity for market participants that are seeking to enter the space.

Bitcoin Future Traders Are Not Bullish Despite Recovery Above $56K

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After an impressive run, Bitcoin fell close to $50K as the cryptocurrency industry saw one of the most damaging corrections this bull season. Despite the fact that the crypto-asset recovered quickly and was trading at $56,859 at the time of writing, derivative traders are not optimistic about its price action.

This was because the funding rate of Bitcoin slid to a 7-month low which, in turn, triggered massive uproar in the market. The figure was in the negative zone, a level last seen in September 2020 when the crypto-asset was priced around $10K.

Revealing the same, Lex Moskovski, the CIO of Moskovski Capital tweeted,

“Wow, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen funding this negative. Fear.”

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What Does Negative Bitcoin Funding Rate Mean?

Funding rate essentially demonstrates the premium that futures traders have to pay [or receive] to order for them to keep a position open.

A negative funding rate, on the other hand, implied that a majority of investors are shorting or selling, which was further indicative of a rising sentiment of fear in the BTC market. In short, more contracts were found to be betting against Bitcoin’s price rising than contracts betting in favor of it.

On the contrary, a funding rate on the positive in Bitcoin derivatives markets signifies that investors with long positions pay those with short positions. The funding rate spikes have historically coincided with a strong optimism and high leverage from short-term trader.

For instance, the funding rates had previously regained some upward momentum in the last week March similar to the final weeks of January and February.

The market sentiment has flipped rapidly. This was observed from the fact that ahead of the much-awaited Coinbase’s listing on Nasdaq, Bitcoin’s funding rate was neutral at 0.1%-0.15% in larger derivative platforms such as Binance. The world’s largest crypto-asset soared to an ATH as many traders continued to long or buy it Bitcoin, thus overheating the futures market.

Soon after Coinbase went public, Bitcoin noted a double-digit crash from above $60K to a little over $50K which was enough to send panic among investors that use high leverage across major exchanges. The cascading liquidations during this pullback even eclipsed that of the Black Thursday crash of March 12, 2020.

ICC Investigates Former Zimbabwe Cricket Team Captain Over The Use Of BTC In Corruption

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The International Cricket Council aka ICC has been dealing with corruption for quite some time now. However, this time the cricket council encountered the involvement of cryptocurrency.

The crypto industry has tried long and hard to fend off its association with the dark web. But once again, crypto was seen getting embroiled in a recent case of cricket corruption. The Anti-Corruption Unit of the ICC revealed that the Former Zimbabwe captain Heath Streak was banned for eight years following his revelation of cricket corruption with crypto.

ICC Bans Heath Streak For Eight Years

Recently, the Zimbabwe captain had reportedly admitted to having unveiled information pertaining to an Indian bookie who was under the ICC’s radar. Streak shed light on the occurrences that took place during his time in Zimbabwe, Bangladesh during the Bangladesh Premier League, India during the Indian Premier League [IPL] as well as the Afghanistan Premier League.

While cricket corruption is no big news, the use of Bitcoin in it posed to have caused a hurdle to the ones investigating it. Streak had garnered about two Bitcoins back in 2018 while it was valued at $35,000. However, the price of Bitcoin has shot up immensely since the time. At the time of writing, the price of one BTC was $61K.

Elaborating on the complications of investigating such a case, the ICC ACU General Manager Alex Marshall stated,

“It is a new phenomenon for us, but we have staff capable of investigating it. Corrupters try to use all modes including cash and ‘hawala’, which are not easy to trace either. Bitcoins pose a similar challenge.”

While tracing the whereabouts of Bitcoin is undoubtedly a hard nut to crack, Marshall affirmed that the ICC had the right kind of people to look into it. The agency reportedly uses the right kind of expertise to stay ahead of the corrupters.

Additionally, IPL has garnered a wide range of audiences across the globe. The league rose to impeccable fame. However, rumors regarding corruption were seen making the rounds. While Streak gave the officials information regarding an Indian bookie, the head of Anti Corruption Unit (ACU) of the BCCI, Shabbir Hussain Shekhada Khanwawala announced that it was the first time that he had come across payments in Bitcoin. He added,

“We always catch the people, not by the amount or how the money is paid (bitcoins in this case). Our clues are different. We keep a watch on them and their activities and telephonic calls.“

Bitcoin [BTC] From 2016 Bitfinex Hack On The Move

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The crypto industry is no stranger to hacks or scams. While some go on to lose a large number of Bitcoins, a few others have lost personal data. Bitfinex, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, went on to experience the largest hack to date. Back in 2016, the exchange was subjected to a massive attack, which resulted in the loss of nearly 119,756 BTC.

More recently, the hacker behind these stolen funds decided to move some of the loot. While the hacker has moved some of the BTC in the past, this time it seemed to have caused a drop in the price of the king coin.

Bitcoin Worth More Than $740 Million Moved

Prominent analytics platform, Whale Alerts went on Twitter to alert the community of the massive transaction that took place. In an array of tweets, the portal revealed that over 11,799 BTC was moved in over 30 transactions. Most of the transactions were for about 1 or 1.5 BTC, the largest transaction entailed over 1,000 BTC. The tweet below sheds light to the largest transaction that was worth about $78 million.

Furthermore, the community speculated that this could have caused the recent drop in the price of BTC. Just yesterday, Bitcoin surged up to a high of $64K. However, in no time the asset collapsed to $62K with a 2.79% dip in the last 24-hours.

However, some investors like Alistair Milne tweeted,

“No, the Bitfinex hacker can’t sell the #Bitcoin (not in any volume). But he/she/they can move it to try to manipulate the market while they short it elsewhere …”

Additionally, Santiment, a prominent on-chain analytics platform pointed out that the whales would look for opportunities to “make big moves.” Turns out Bitcoin wasn’t the only asset experiencing $100+ transactions, ETH, reportedly followed suit. The tweet further read,

While this did cause quite a stir in the crypto-verse, the hacker or hackers behind the attack are still on the run. The exchange did not garner any luck, despite offering an award of $400 million.

Fed Chairman Powell Needs To Dig Deeper Into Crypto, Suggests Republican Leader

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The crypto industry has been booming with regard to popularity. Just as the world has been embracing the industry, certain lawmakers like the Fed Chairman, Jerome Powell as well as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen were urged by Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the United States House of Representatives’ Republican party to reconsider their stance on crypto.

Appearing in a recent interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, McCarthy addressed the ongoing interest in crypto. However, he suggested that the Fed Chairman was ignoring the entire situation hoping for it to go away,

Fed Chair And Treasury Secretary “Tried To Ignore It To Make It Go Away”

When the Republican leader was asked if the aforementioned lawmakers had a good understanding of the crypto industry, particularly Bitcoin, McCarthy was quick to suggest otherwise. He went on to suggest that these lawmakers were reportedly turning a blind eye towards Bitcoin hoping it would go away.

Both Yellen and Fed’s Powell have exerted their hate towards the king coin. While suggested that it was a “growing concern” the other went on to point out that its volatile nature. McCarthy further suggested that the US government should focus on the prospects of the crypto industry.

He added,

“This is moving towards the future. They should not ignore it. They should not only learn more about it, but the basis is going to continue to grow.

Furthermore, China and several other countries have been seen moving ahead in the digital currency space. The Asian country has time and again revealed its inclination towards crypto. While the country is already ahead with the development of its Central Bank Digital Currency [CBDC], the digital yuan, several governments have expressed fear over China’s global financial takeover. Speaking about garnering a setback in this race, McCarthy asserted,

This is something that those who regulate, those who are in government that make policy, better start understanding what it means for the future because other countries are moving forward, especially China.”

Bitcoin Goes To The Nightclub; Miami’s E11even Announces Support For BTC

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The popularity and the price of Bitcoin [BTC] were noted making its way to the moon. The institutional interest in the king coin seemed to be going through the roof. Just as several platforms across many industries have started to take a keen interest in the asset, a nightclub in Miami decided to be a part of this movement.

In a recent press release, E11even, a prominent luxury nightclub in Miami revealed that it would soon allow its customers to pay in Bitcoin as well as a few other currencies. While digital payments have recorded explosive growth following the COVID-19 pandemic, the cryptocurrency industry seemed to be making the most out of this.

Bitcoin, XRP, Dogecoin, Bitcoin Cash To Be Accepted For Payments

The lack of human touch during the pandemic gave rise to the emergence of digital payments. Even though the pandemic is still on, the vaccination against the deadly virus came out as a ray of hope to several across the globe. Complying with the situation an array of platforms shut doors to their businesses and E11even was one among them. The nightclub shut its doors to the public back in March 2020 and is all set to make a re-entry on 23 April 2021.

Alongside the announcement of their reopening, the nightclub pointed out that they would start accepting prominent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, XRP, Dogecoin [DOGE] as well as Bitcoin Cash [BCH]. The club reportedly intends to carry this out with its latest partner, a prominent cryptocurrency payments processer, whose name was not disclosed.

Not too long ago, the Mayor of Miami, Francis Suarez was seen trying to induce crypto into the city’s system. While the Mayor encouraged digitalization with the use of crypto, E11even seemed to be aiding this strive. Elaborating on the same, the founder and CEO of E11even, Dennis DeGori said,

“With the tremendous growth and relevancy of cryptocurrency coupled with Mayor Francis Suarez leading the charge for Miami’s tech boom, we felt it made sense to introduce Cryptocurrency as an option to our guests to pay for their night out. E11even is dedicated to always staying ahead of the curve, and we believe cryptocurrency is here to stay.”

Bitcoin [BTC] Blast Past $63K Thanks To ‘Rick Astley’ HODlers

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Bitcoin [BTC] just broke above a fresh all-time high above $63K on the 13th of April as it reaffirmed the strong bullish trend.

The world’s largest crypto-asset has been consolidating since the mid-March dip and at the time of writing was found to be trading at $63,050. It was up by nearly 6% over the past 24-hours.

It was exactly a month ago, that Bitcoin rallied to establish a new mark on the charts, following which the cryptocurrency declined as the selling pressure trapped the price into a narrow range. Meanwhile, volatility in the market remained consistent.

What Drove The Bitcoin Bulls?

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Rick Astley’s Coins. Yes, here’s a new jargon for the crypto-verse depicting Bitcoin holders. Developed by prominent Statistician Willy Woo, ‘Rick Astley‘ buyers [named after the British singer who had his one-hit-wonder in 1987] are essentially strong hands who are never gonna give you up, instead are HODling coins forever and never let the balance of their sats go down.

Wo

According to the blockchain intelligence platform, Glassnode, and Woo’s latest chart, the above image demonstrated the liquid supply change in the red zone indicating that the coins were not moving or were being spent. The metric called the Liquid Supply Change indicates the rate at which coins are crossing the Liquid to Illiquid threshold.

Besides, Glassnode’s weekly report also revealed that the Bitcoin HODLer Position Change, which utilizes 155 days as the measure of ‘old coins’, has not been touched for the same period of time. 155 days prior, the metric was found to be near mid-November when prices of Bitcoin were trading from $16k-$18k after the institutional titan, MicroStrategy’s initial two acquisitions.

Hence, it is likely that the cryptocurrency bought by institutions in late 2020 and early 2021 are beginning to mature past the 155-day threshold, this presuming that the entities in question held on in “true Rick Astley style”, asserted the report.

Glassnode also went on to add,

“As such, the HODLer Position Change metric is currently trending higher and if these institutional buyers did HODL, it is likely to continue in this trajectory over the coming months (keep in mind there will be a time lag between purchase and coins ending up in their final custody/cold storage arrangement).”

Bitcoin Briefly Surpasses $60K Prompting Volatility Debates

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From buying a pizza for 10,000 Bitcoin to the world’s first pseudonymous poker tournament that took place eleven years ago with the prize being 1,000 BTC, the cryptocurrency has sure come a long way.

In yet another crucial development, Barron’s newspaper, which happens to one of the largest financial publications in the United States, just featured Bitcoin on its front page. While most aspects mentioned in the newspaper about the world’s largest cryptocurrency were not positive, it is, however, an important development as MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor put it:

“The world is waking up to the phenomenon of Bitcoin.”

Over the past year, it was up by more than 720%. When compared to its peer altcoins, the gains were comparatively lower, nevertheless, it did make an attempt to brush past $60K after nearly two weeks. During the latest weekend surge, the crypto-asset’s market cap, which stood at $1.14, briefly surpassed the GDP of Mexico, which was found to be at $1.13.

Bitcoin’s Volatility An Achilles Heel?

Since Bitcoin rose to full-fledged prominence especially in the eyes of the general public at the end of 2017, its detractors have constantly relied on the high volatility to criticize and denigrate the rapid growth of the cryptocurrency. Cut to the present, popular Economist Steve Hank opined that the volatility in the market will never allow Bitcoin to serve as a reliable unit of account. His tweet read:

“BREAKING: For the first time in over two weeks, Bitcoin’s price has surpassed $60,000/BTC. #Bitcoin’s volatility turns out to be its Achilles’ heel. Bitcoin will never serve as a reliable unit of account.”

How’s the current market scene? Bitcoin saw six-straight months of intense volatility which generated double-digit gains for the token. However, off late, the trend has cooled down and many experts believe that this factor could potentially lead to more institutional investors warming up to the cryptocurrency.

Popular Statistician, Willy Woo explained that the current volatility in the BTC market is essentially upward volatility that is tied to its fast exponential surge towards global acceptance. According to Woo, the market will gain more clarity once 1 billion people manage to find exposure to the asset. He also added,

” It really depends on how the future of money turns out, and who’s on the denominator. If it flips the current fiat regime and becomes part of the new monetary base, then the unit of account becomes largely expressed in BTC; everything else becomes volatile against it.”

Bitcoin’s [BTC] Strong Buyers’ Sentiment Could Drive Its Price To $62K

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The crypto-verse was getting back on track. Bitcoin [BTC] was aiming for a new all-time high as all the assets followed. Ethereum [ETH], Binance coin [BNB], XRP were all noted recording new highs. The overall market cap of the crypto industry was seen at $2.06 trillion with a 3.57% daily rise.

Bitcoin, during the time of writing, BTC was trading for $60, 819.12 with a 4.69% surge in the last 24-hours. Despite this noteworthy rise, the dominance of the king coin had slumped down to 55%. The market cap of the asset was at par with the increasing price of the coin. At press time, the market cap of BTC was at $1.14 trillion.

While the asset went up to a high of $61,683, last month, the chances of the king coin hitting $62K were quite steep.

Bitcoin [BTC] Four-Hour Price Chart On Binance

Bitcoin

The bulls were seen trying hard to push BTC to $62K as they were camping in the short-term price chart of the asset. The Parabolic SAR indicator had laid down dotted lines below the candlesticks. These lines further acted as a barricade against the bears and any sudden downfalls. The Chaikin Money Flow indicator was over the zero median in the bullish arena.

The Awesome Oscillator indicator had formed green closing bars indicating the presence of the bulls in the BTC market. All these signs seemed favorable for the asset, despite the HSBC ban on Bitcoin.

Bitcoin [BTC] Four-Hour Price Chart On Binance

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The four-hour price chart of the king coin was seen exerting a buyers’ notion. The Relative Strength Index [RSI] indicator suggested that the asset was close to being overbought. Additionally, the Money Flow Index indicator was also mirroring a similar sentiment.

While the price of Bitcoin was staggered at $59K for quite a while, the asset didn’t take too long to bounce back. Once again, the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk tweeted about the progress of the king coin.

Bitcoin ETF To Take More Than Year To Make A Debut In The US

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The entire crypto market saw significant growth in terms of both price as well as market cap. Despite this surge, Bitcoin ETFs still seem to be struggling to garner approval from the United States’ prominent financial watchdog, the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC].

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds [ETF] have seen the light of the day in various countries across the globe. However, due to the stringent laws in the United States of America ETFs are still struggling to receive approval. While crypto lovers across the globe assumed that the SEC would give Bitcoin ETF a thumbs up considering the drastic growth of the coin, a prominent analyst pointed out that this could take more than a year.

Bitcoin ETF Could Take Up To Two Years

Appearing in a recent interview with CNBC, CFRA Research’s prominent analyst, Todd Rosenbluth suggested that the SEC would be taking some more time to approve Bitcoin ETFs. While prominent platforms like  VanEck, Fidelity Investments, and Valkyrie Digital Assets have laid out their proposals for the roll-out of a crypto ETF, CRFA’s head of ETF and mutual fund research asserted that these platforms would have to wait for quite a while.

He stated,

 “We’ve got a number of firms that have either gone through the filing process or have previously filed but are waiting for more clarity. The SEC is less likely we think to try to pick a winner, as to who comes first and I think we’re more likely to see them — if they do approve an ETF — to approve multiple Bitcoin-related ETFs.”

The United States of America has time and again revealed that it has been very strict with regard to laws pertaining to the crypto industry. While several countries like Canada have already given a green signal to Bitcoin ETFs, the US seems to be lagging behind. Rosenbluth added,

“We’ve got a number of firms that have entered. We think we’re likely to see one in the coming year or two, but we don’t have a firm timeframe as to when the answer would be yes.”