Analysis Crypto by Thebittimes.Com

BTC price bets pile in as Bitcoin approaches one of its most important monthly closes since the November 2021 all-time high. Bitcoin (BTC) is back below $28,000 as the countdown to the monthly close keeps everyone on their toes. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView 200-week trend line among popular BTC price targets Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows BTC/USD dropping to two-day lows of $27,533 on March 31. A modest bounce means that the pair is trading at around $27,800 at the time of writing as traders flag the most important support and resistance levels going forward. For Crypto Tony, the current part of Bitcoin’s trading range is key, as $27,700 forms the equilibrium (EQ) level and key support that bulls should preserve. “$27,700 is the level (EQ) you need to watch this weekend if you are currently in a fresh long position. Those who are in with me from awhile back, we are not worried unless we lose that range low,” he wrote in part ...

In an exciting turn of events, the OKX crypto exchange said it is handing over approximately $157 million in frozen FTX and Alameda-related assets to the relevant authorities — in response to a motion filed in the bankruptcy proceedings. According to the official statement on Thursday, OKX claimed to have proactively initiated investigations in the days surrounding FTX’s collapse to determine whether there were any FTX-related transactions on its platform. Upon discovering accounts related to FTX and Alameda Research, OKX immediately froze the associated accounts to safeguard the assets. For #OKX, doing right by crypto traders & the industry is always a top priority. We did a proactive investigation when FTX collapsed and froze all associated assets & accounts. Today, we are turning over USD157 MN in frozen FTX & Alameda-related assets. Details ↓ — OKX (@okx) March 29, 2023 Notably, a hacker stole $600 million from FTX wallets shortly after it went ou...

Elon Musk quite literally took over Twitter in 2022, and now, the Tesla CEO is leading the platform with the highest number of followers. Former U.S. President Barack Obama has been the most followed person on the social media giant for the longest time. Earlier today, Musk’s followers count reached 133,044,709, beating Obama’s 133,042,105 at that moment. JUST IN: Elon Musk surpasses Barack Obama to become the most followed Twitter account in the world. pic.twitter.com/uGwEY91VfP — Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) March 30, 2023 Obama follows nearly 500K ac count s on the platform, whereas Musk only follows 186 ac count s. Both these ac count s are quite contrasting. Musk has always been active on Twitter even before his acquisition of the network. However, right after the deal came through, he became more regular in tweeting out his opinion. Most of his posts are quirky and informal as opposed to Obama’s. The 44th President of the United States uses a more measur...

Cointelegraph’s Elisha Owusu Akyaw shares how cryptocurrency is changing the financial landscape in Africa — and the opportunities and challenges that come with it. The crypto currency space has no shortage of skeptics. While many people criticize the environmental impact of proof-of-work blockchains or the proliferation of scams, one particular argument against crypto often stands out: Blockchain has no real use cases.  Every two weeks, Cointelegraph’s The Agenda podcast breaks down this critique and explores the various ways blockchain and crypto can help everyday people. On this week’s episode of The Agenda , hosts Jonathan DeYoung and Ray Salmond chat with Elisha Owusu Akyaw, Cointelegraph’s own social media specialist and host of the Hashing It Out podcast, to break down how Africans are using crypto to strengthen financial inclusivity and potentially turn countries into hubs of technological innovation. How crypto is helping everyday Africans According to Akyaw, crypto offers ...

Amidst the average potential global economic growth falling to a 30-year low of 2.2% per year through 2030, a concerning reality could come to fruition. Moreover, the World Bank has warned of a “lost decade,” for the world’s economy without ambitious changes in policy. Reuters reporting on the World Bank warning arrives in a tumultuous time for the global economic state. Moreover, a failure to reverse the slowing of potential gross domestic product (GDP) growth could impend “profound implications” on issues like climate change and poverty, a new report states. Source: Reuters World Bank Makes Grim Warning The economic state of the world has been under the microscope over the last month. Following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and a budding banking crisis, the United States and Europe have found difficulty in solidifying the troubling banking sector. Now, the World Bank has warned of a potential “lost decade,” without ambitious and vital changes in policy. Speci...

Tim Draper, a venture capitalist and bitcoin millionaire, has included bitcoin as part of a series of cash management recommendations offered to startup founders. Draper recommended having at least two payrolls worth of cash in bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies to avoid being affected by bank failures like the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Tim Draper Touts Bitcoin as Hedge Against Bank Failures Tim Draper, a well-known venture capitalist and crypto enthusiast, has recommended bitcoin as part of his cash diversification advice for business founders. Draper, known for winning an auction of 30,000 bitcoins from the U.S. Marshals back in 2014, and for his bitcoin price predictions, posted a document on Twitter that comments on several considerations businesses should make in the face of bank failures. The document, which presents seven different ways to avoid a cash crunch, states: Since boards and management are responsible for making payroll, even in times of crisis, it is ...

The US Internal Revenue Service, the statutory body responsible for collecting the US federal tax has proposed to impose a tax on non-fungible tokens (NFTs), considering them as collectibles. The IRS along with the Treasury Department released a document on 21 March 2023, seeking public opinion on the proposal. Notably, in the proposal, the IRS announced that the department is “soliciting feedback” for the tax treatment of NFTs, adding: Today’s guidance also requests comments on the treatment of NFTs as collectibles and describes how the IRS intends to determine whether an NFT is a collectible until further guidance is issued. In addition, the agency assured that IRS would utilize a “look-through Analysis ” for determining an NFT as a collectible until further guidance on the proposal is issued. In detail, an NFT would be treated as a collectible “if the NFT’s associated right or asset falls under the definition of collectible in the tax code.” Significantly,...

Several Chinese banks have been seeking to offer services to crypto firms in Hong Kong, despite a ban on crypto on the Chinese mainland. Crypto firms setting up in Hong Kong ahead of a new licensing regime for crypto exchanges in June have reportedly found some unexpected allies in the region — Chinese state-owned banks. According to a March 27 report from Bloomberg, Chinese banks including Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, the Bank of Communications Co., and Bank of China Ltd. have either started offering banking services to crypto firms in Hong Kong or made inquiries with crypto firms, according to "people with knowledge of the matter." One source claims that a Chinese bank sales representative even visited a crypto firm's main office to pitch banking services. This is all despite an ongoing crypto ban in China. Cointelegraph reached out to Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, the Bank of Communications Co., and Bank of China Ltd for further comment, but did not receive a...

Fiscal policy shapes economies through government spending, taxation and borrowing. Fiscal policy is a tool used by governments to regulate economic activities in their country. It involves the use of government spending, taxation and borrowing to influence economic growth, stabilize inflation and maintain a stable economy. This article will explain what fiscal policy is, how it works, and why it is important. What is fiscal policy? Fiscal policy is a tool used by governments to regulate economic activities in their country. It is one of the two main categories of economic policy, along with monetary policy. The main goal of fiscal policy is to control the economy through government spending and taxation. How does fiscal policy work? The government has a number of ways to affect the economy through fiscal policy. One of the primary methods used is government spending. The government may boost economic activity and create jobs by raising spending, which will add more money to the econo...

Bitcoin (BTC), the original cryptocurrency, is seeing a surge in its spot and derivative volumes. In fact, last week we saw the biggest spot volume for BTC in its history. The development shows investor confidence in BTC’s recent rally. I just realized that last week we had the biggest spot volume week in $BTC's history o_o pic.twitter.com/rrrEeyaVUA — Byzantine General (@ByzGeneral) March 24, 2023 The 7-day Moving Average of Bitcoin trade volumes on exchanges reportedly reached almost $24 billion earlier this week, according to data provided by The Block. The level is the highest since the middle of 2021. Source: The Block Furthermore, the amount of Bitcoin futures traded on exchanges this month is already close to $1 trillion. This is the largest level for BTC futures trades since last September. Source: The Block The volumes on the BTC options market are also surging. Although March hasn’t even ended, it has already seen more Bitcoin options trade than ...

The crypto market weathered the storm that had been brewing amid the expectation of the United States Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates. Terra Price dropped, although briefly to $1.3161 toward the end of the session on Wednesday from the daily open of $1.44. LUNA is still in the red, with data from CoinMarketCap showing a 3.5% drop in 24 hours to trade at $1.40 at the time of writing. The $333 million token saw a 42% spike in trading volume to $75 million, possibly from traders leveraging short positions on the backdrop of the FOMC’s 25 basis points interest rate hike. According to Jerome Powell, the Fed chair, the regulatory institution is preparing for zero interest rate hikes in the coming months in spite of the ongoing banking crises in the country. Powell is confident that the US will bring inflation down to 2% while providing a conducive environment for the economy to thrive. Regulators in the US have been blamed for the banking crisis that left three ban...

Benjamin Cowen, a cryptocurrency strategist, is bearish on Ethereum (ETH) because the second-largest digital asset has failed to climb back above a key resistance level. In a new video, Cowen tells his 785,000 YouTube subscribers that the price of Ethereum is likely to go down because there is a lot of “anxiety” around the $1,800 mark. Cowen says that there isn’t as much “apathy” in the market as there was during the bear season of 2019/2020. “There’s so much anxiety in this level [$1,800 resistance level] like I think it’s much more likely to break down eventually… I will be the first to admit it’s taking longer than I thought it would. But I also don’t really feel that same type of apathy in the market now that I did back in 2019 and 2020.” At the time of writing, one Ethereum is worth $1,736. Cowen says that less people would care about Ethereum if the price of the second most valuable cryptocurrency fell to triple digi...

On Monday, the non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden announced the launch of Bitcoin Ordinal inscription support. Magic Eden said it has partnered with the wallets Hiro and Xverse to “bring a familiar wallet transaction experience to the marketplace.” Magic Eden’s Decision to Launch on Bitcoin Without Royalty Support and Compete With Emerging Markets Magic Eden announced in a recent blog post that it has added Bitcoin Ordinal inscription support to the NFT marketplace. Last year, the Solana-based NFT market expanded to Polygon and Ethereum. With the addition of Bitcoin, Magic Eden now supports a total of four blockchains. The team is also “re-planning a more concerted entry into Ethereum,” according to the blog post. The Bitcoin-centric section of the marketplace currently Features several Bitcoin Ordinal inscription collections, including “Bitcoin Boos,” “Bitcoin JPGs,” “BTC Machines,” “Or...

Following the Arbitrum airdrop announcement, crypto users who have been eligible for the airdrop are already selling them in OTC markets. The Arbitrum community is speculating and selling off their unreleased ARB tokens in over-the-counter (OTC) markets following the Arbitrum airdrop announcement.  The Arbitrum Foundation announced that ARB, Arbritrum’s new token, will be airdropped to eligible community members on Thursday, March 23. It explained that ARB marks Arbitrum’s official transition into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO), meaning ARB holders will be able to vote on key decisions governing Arbitrum One and Arbitrum Nova — networks that allow users to transact on the Ethereum blockchain with better speeds and lower fees. OTC Trading allows easy buying and selling of cryptocurrencies directly between a seller and a buyer. The process is usually very fast and funds are transferred directly from a bank account to the seller. In this case, when a price is agreed on by ...

After completing the preparatory stage and obtaining the operational license in Dubai, Crypto.com plans to provide a comprehensive range of institutional services in compliance with regulatory requirements. Crypto.com has announced its receipt of a Minimal Viable Product (MVP) Preparatory license from Dubai's Virtual Asset Regulatory Authority (VARA). This preparatory phase operations license came after the exchange obtained provisional approval from the regulator in Dubai last year. In the preparatory stage, the MVP license allows the exchange to fulfill the conditions to operate within the set VARA rules. The rules outline that no company may carry out any virtual asset activity by way of promotions, offers, or appear to do so in Dubai unless it is authorized and licensed by VARA for such activity. Dubai’s VARA was established in March 2022 and is in charge of regulating, supervising, and overseeing virtual Assets and virtual asset activities in all zones across the Emirate of D...

Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz has warned of a credit crunch in the U.S. and globally. Emphasizing that “we are heading into a recession,” he expects the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates “sooner than we think.” Novogratz on Global Credit Crunch and Recession Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz shared his outlook for the U.S. economy in an interview with CNBC Wednesday. Comparing the current market condition to one in December 2018, he said: “This reminds me a lot of 2018, December, when the Fed had this idea of one last [interest rate] hike and, of course, it sent the market into a tailspin, and they had to reverse it soon after.” Noting that “information has changed dramatically” in a short period of time, he explained: The commodity market is telling you, the oil market is telling you that we are heading into a recession. We are going to have a credit crunch in the U.S. and globally. Novogratz stressed that Federal Res...

Top10 News 1. Bitcoin mixer ChipMixer shut down and assets seized in money laundering probe link On March 15, authorities in Germany and the United States shut down the infrastructure of Bitcoin mixer ChipMixer and seized four servers, 1909.4 Bitcoins and 7 TB data. Investigation shows that ChipMixer may have facilitated the laundering of 152,000 bitcoins. 2. Coinbase announced a new strategic banking partner ship with Standard Chartered link On March 15, Coinbase announced a new strategic banking partner ship with Standard Chartered, as well as an upgraded retail platform, Singpass, where customers in Singapore can transfer funds to and from their Coinbase accounts for free using any local bank in Singapore. 3. Signature Bank’s weekly summary a. Depositors can get their money back in full after the Fed rescues the market link The Fed and Treasury created an emergency program to backstop deposits at both Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank using the Fed’s emergency lending authorit...