Tag: Bitcoin (BTC)

US Treasury Touches "Crypto-waters"

Posted on by Aibek Burabayev

On 6th of April, the U.S. Department of the Treasury published the 2023 DeFi Illicit Finance Risk Assessment, the first illicit finance risk assessment conducted on decentralized finance (DeFi) in the world. The assessment considers risks associated with what are commonly called DeFi services.

The document is 42 pages long. This report looks at how criminals are using DeFi services to move and hide money illegally. DeFi services use technology called blockchain and smart contracts to allow people to make transactions without banks or other financial institutions.

However, many DeFi services are not following the rules meant to stop money laundering and financing terrorism. Some DeFi services are trying to avoid these rules by claiming to be fully decentralized, but this doesn't excuse them from following the rules.

The report recommends improving the rules and regulations for DeFi services to make sure they follow the laws and don't help criminals.

The cryptocurrency market may face regulatory scrutiny as authorities look to increase oversight on digital assets, so be informed and prepared for real bombshells in the not so distant future.

What do you think is the real target of the Treasury?

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I would love to see your comments on this news.

Let me update some crypto charts to snapshot what’s going there. The comparison chart of major cryptos vs. the market follows below. Continue reading "US Treasury Touches "Crypto-waters"" →

Alert In Two Major Cryptocurrencies

Posted on by Aibek Burabayev

It is time to update the crypto charts as I spotted a strong alert in two major coins for you.

It is ironic that the signal comes from the same indicator that accurately predicted the rally of Bitcoin last November when the price was around $16k.

Bitcoin Daily

Source: TradingView

Indeed, the main coin has rallied for whopping 52% after the signal topping slightly above $25k. The previous peak of August 2022 at this level unexpectedly acted as a strong barrier that the price couldn’t overcome.

In my recent update last month I warned that “the bullish impulse should not fade until it touches the moving average around $27k to convince the trading community”.

Unfortunately for bulls, the rally has faded below the target. However, the majority of readers did not see this rally as a sign of a global market reversal.

This time, the same RSI indicator doesn’t confirm the most recent peak on the price chart as it shows a lower top. This is called a Bearish Divergence. Continue reading "Alert In Two Major Cryptocurrencies" →

Bitcoin VS Gold VS S&P 500

Posted on by Aibek Burabayev

How does gold and its digital competitor Bitcoin relate to each other?

Gold is a traditional store of value, while Bitcoin from a conventional standpoint is highly risky. Even though the latter was nicknamed "digital gold," we can see from the chart below that it does not act like one.

Which opinion do you support?

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Gold BTC USM2 Real IR Quarterly

Source: TradingView

In the above quarterly chart, I combined 5 items:

The gold price is in black bars on scale A. The Bitcoin price is in orange bars on scale B. The U.S. money supply indicator M2 (M2) is in histogram on scale C. The red line represents the U.S. real interest rate (RIR) on scale D. There is a 2-year correlation coefficient of Bitcoin to gold (blue) in the sub-chart. Continue reading "Bitcoin VS Gold VS S&P 500" →

Is 'Crypto Spring' Coming?

Posted on by Aibek Burabayev

Last week, crypto enthusiasts got a boost when the crypto market cap almost reached the mark of $1 trillion, the highest level since last November.

That very month, I shared with you the bullish signal in the Bitcoin chart I spotted then. It was a Bullish Divergence on the weekly chart of the main coin.

Below is the distribution of your opinions on that bullish alert.

Poll Results

The "I am Bearish" option had gathered the most votes. The second largest bet was to see Bitcoin bounce back towards its prior consolidation area at $30-$35k. The price of digital gold was $16.5k at that time.

Before we check what happened to the price of Bitcoin since then, let us review the major crypto market.  
Top 5 Cryptos

Source: coinmarketcap.com

These are the five largest cryptocurrencies in the table above. Top coins are monumental at #1 Bitcoin with gain of 26% year-to-date (YTD) and #2 Ethereum with profit of 30% YTD. Binance’s native coin BNB has attained #3 spot (+28% YTD) long ago, surpassing the Ripple, which is now only #4 with gain of 20% YTD. Cardano closes the ranking at #5 with the largest gain of 47% YTD. Continue reading "Is 'Crypto Spring' Coming?" →

FTX Disaster Could Be Good For Crypto Market

Posted on by Matt Thalman

The disaster we are all still watching play out with Sam Bankman-Fried and his cryptocurrency exchange FTX could actually be suitable for the longer-term viability of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies.

I know it sounds crazy, and if you were an investor who had money in FTX, you are certainly not happy with this, but long-term, the size of the losses incurred by investors in FTX could benefit the crypto market in years to come.

Why?

Since massive losses were incurred, regulators are taking note and investigating what happened.

Sam Bankman-Freid has been arrested and charged with many crimes, including conspiracy, fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance violations.

However, while those charges against him don't have much to do with cryptocurrencies, it is likely that the investigation into how these crimes were committed and, more importantly, how he and his team at FTX were able to evade detection sooner will lead to some changes in the crypto world.

The change I'm referring to, which would boost cryptocurrencies and in some ways turn a bad situation into a good one, would be government oversight and regulation of the cryptocurrency markets.

Since Bitcoin, Ethereum, and all the cryptocurrencies came into existence, we have had no legitimate regulation or oversight of the industry.

While some believe that is a good thing, a lot of investors have been hesitant up to this point to jump into the world of crypto because there is limited to zero oversight. And I am not just talking about small retail investors who have sat on the sidelines, but big-time money managers who are not permitted to invest client funds in such investments due to their largely unregulated markets. Continue reading "FTX Disaster Could Be Good For Crypto Market" →