Ethereum started a fresh increase after the bulls defended $1,700 against the US Dollar. ETH price is likely to continue higher above the main $2,000 resistance.
Ethereum is showing positive signs above the $1,850 and $1,900 resistance levels.
The price is now well above $1,900 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.
There was a break above a major bearish trend line with resistance near $1,840 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD (data feed via Kraken).
The pair is likely to clear the $2,000 barrier and it could accelerate higher in the near term.
Ethereum Price is Gaining Pace
Ethereum remained well bid above the last swing low near $1,700. ETH formed a base above $1,700 and it started a major increase. The bulls were able to push the price above the $1,850 resistance zone.
There was also a break above a major bearish trend line with resistance near $1,840 on the hourly chart of ETH/USD. The pair climbed above the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the of the key decline from the $2,038 swing high to $1,715 low.
It is now well above $1,900 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. Ether price is consolidating above the 76.4% Fib retracement level of the of the key decline from the $2,038 swing high to $1,715 low.
Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com
It seems like the price could continue to rise above $1,980. The next key resistance is near the $2,000 zone. Any more gains could set the pace for a move towards the $2,115 level. It is near the 1.236 Fib extension level of the of the key decline from the $2,038 swing high to $1,715 low. An intermediate resistance could be near the $2,050 level.
Fresh Decline in ETH?
If Ethereum fails to clear the $2,000 and $2,050 resistance levels, it could start a fresh decline. An initial support on the downside is near the $1,920 level.
The first major support is now forming near the $1,875 level and the 100 hourly SMA. A downside break below the $1,875 zone could lead the price further lower. In the stated case, the price could move down further towards the $1,800 level.
Technical Indicators
Hourly MACD – The MACD for ETH/USD is slowly gaining pace in the bullish zone.
Hourly RSI – The RSI for ETH/USD is currently well above the 60 level.
Institutional exposure to cryptocurrencies via derivatives continued to grow in the second quarter, as CME Group’s newly launched Bitcoin (BTC) micro contract received considerable uptick in its first two months of trading.
Since launching on May 3, CME’s Micro Bitcoin futures contract has already surpassed 1 million contracts traded, the Chicago-based derivatives market announced earlier this week. CME executive Tim McCourt said the new product has been popular among institutions and day traders seeking to hedge their spot Bitcoin price risk.
Denominated at 0.1 BTC, the micro contract is one-tenth the size of one Bitcoin. By comparison, CME’s main Bitcoin futures contract unit is 5 BTC.
“We’ve seen more institutional volume than we anticipated, which shows that the timing was right for a smaller bitcoin contract,” said Brooks Dudley, the global head of digital assets at ED&F Man Capital Markets.
Related: ‘Bitcoin will go all the way to $160,000 this year,’ says Celsius CEO
Institutions have reduced their long-term exposure to Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies during the latest correction, with outflows totaling $79 million last week, according to CoinShares data. In the case of BTC, newly liquidated coins are being scooped up by long-term holders who remain convinced in the long-term prospects of their investment.
More activity in the derivatives market suggests traders are hedging their positions, speculating on the short-term directional movement of Bitcoin or both. Although derivatives trading has increased institutional exposure to Bitcoin, it has also become a source of stress for spot holders. As Cointelegraph reported, Friday’s $6 billion in Bitcoin and Ether (ETH) expiries created considerable friction in the market, with some traders expecting extreme volatility.
The Bitcoin price mostly traded between $30,000 and $35,000 last week. Source: Cointelegraph
High volatility was reported in the latter half of the week, with the BTC price falling 13.6% peak-to-trough between June 24-26.
Elon Musk has seemingly left behind the Dogecoin for a shiny new dog coin; Shiba Inu. Shiba Inu is a dog breed. More specifically, the dog that is used in the Dogecoin memes is a Shiba Inu. Given the popularity of Dogecoin, the coin seems to have been created to benefit from that popularity.
The coin is created by someone who is only known by the name Ryoshi. Little else is known about the founder. This is very similar to the case of bitcoin with Satoshi Nakamoto. A moniker that no one has claimed is them to this date.
Related Reading | Crypto Isn’t Money, Annual Economic Report On Bitcoin
Musk posted a cryptic tweet on his Twitter earlier today apparently in reference to a dog breed he’s getting. But the message behind the tweet was received loud and clear by the market.
The tweet simply said, “My Shiba Inu will be named Floki.”
After the tweet went live, the price of Shiba Inu rose quickly. Rising 23% in a couple of hours.
More interestingly is the creation of another dog coin named Floki. The coin seems to have been created after Musk tweeted and now the coin is up a whopping 3,000 percent.
Rise Of The Dog Coins
The billionaire has always been a die-hard fan of Doge. Always tweeting in support of the coin and the project. He calls it the coin of the future. But it wasn’t until a couple of months ago that the billionaire’s tweets started leading the coin to pumps.
With the movement of market prices after his tweets, people seem to have started to hang on to the billionaire’s every word. Putting money into a newly made coin just because he mentioned that he was going to name his dog that.
Shiba Inu price pumps after Elon Musk's tweet | Source: SHIBUSD on TradingView.com
This is not the first time that Elon Musk has mentioned Shiba Inu. He made reference to the coin earlier in March when he tweeted that he was going to get a new dog. A Shiba Inu breed. The tweet read, “I’m getting a Shiba Inu. #resistanceisfutile.”
The tweet made no mention of the coin itself. But nonetheless, people took it as such and the coin pumped. SHIB, as the Shiba Inu coin is commonly known, has pretty much followed the pattern of Dogecoin ever since. Rising and falling accordingly whenever Musk tweeted and people bought the coin.
Doge And Subsequent Dog Coins
There have been a number of meme coins made as a nod to the Dogecoin. Coins like the DogeFather, Shiba Inu, ShibaPup, and others. Shiba Inu touts itself as the Dogecoin killer.
These coins have no use cases really. If anything, they are just coins made to pump and dump and make a quick buck from. There is nothing remarkable about the projects themselves.
But the remarkable thing is how these coins seem to gain market value. Coins with seemingly nothing to offer the market somehow end up with a huge market valuation. Shiba Inu currently has a $7.32 billion market cap.
Related Reading | Can Elon Musk Go To Prison For Manipulating Prices And Shilling Shitcoins?
All of these coins have one thing in common; they are all in reference to dogs.
Dogecoin itself that started all of it was created as a “tongue-in-cheek” joke towards bitcoin and the crypto market. It was not meant to do anything. Even the founders sold off all of their coins early on.
Musk has been talking about getting a Shiba Inu for months now but has still not gotten one. And people are using his tweets to manipulate the market.
Whether Musk meant the tweets to promote to coin is not known. But investors certainly think that’s what it’s meant to do.
Musk has been talking about getting a Shiba Inu for months now but there is none in sight.
Featured image from Observer, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin (BTC) and the U.S. dollar fell in tandem while the S&P 500 refreshed its record high at open on Friday as the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation indicator surged to its highest levels in almost three decades.
According to data shared by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis, the US Core Personal Consumption Expenditure (PCI) rose 0.5% in May, coming in below the estimation of 0.6%.
Nevertheless, the expenditure rose 3.4% year-over-year, the highest level since 1991. The Federal Reserve treats core PCI as its benchmark metric to gauge inflation. The U.S. central bank has indicated that it would tolerate inflation above 2% until it ensures a stronger labor-market recovery.
The prospects of higher inflation fueled volatile bullish rallies across the risk-on markets in 2020, including Bitcoin and the U.S. stock market.
Bitcoin and the S&P 500 rallied in tandem against Fed’s expansionary policies. Source: TradingView
Investors considered them as better safe-havens as the Fed elected to hold interest rates near-zero and maintained its $120B monthly asset purchase program to contain the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the U.S. economy.
However, the central bank’s policy ended up pushing the U.S. bond yields lower while hurting the dollar’s demand globally, thereby shifting investors to riskier haven alternatives, including Bitcoin.
But the flagship cryptocurrency dipped after the latest PCI readings, hinting that investors chose to ignore its safe-haven narrative over risks concerning China’s latest crypto ban and amid speculations that the U.S. would impose strict regulations on the cryptocurrency sector, on the whole.
The BTC/USD exchange rate slipped to an intraday low of $32,350 shorty after the New York opening bell Friday. Meanwhile, Gold, Bitcoin’s top safe-haven rival, recorded early morning gains after higher core CPI readings, with the August Comex Gold Futures trading 0.73% higher at $1,789.70 an ounce in the morning session.
Investors also snubbed the so-called safest safe-haven, the U.S. dollar. As a result, the greenback’s index against a basket of foreign currencies fell 0.33% to 91.525 in the early morning trade Friday. It later recovered back to 91.749.
Alexander Vasiliev, co-founder and CCO of Mercuryo said that demand for the dollar among corporate and retail investors would remain weaker against the prospects of higher inflation. Instead, they would rather hedge in assets with lower depreciation potential. He explained:
“While Bitcoin has won the argument as a suitable asset in this regard, its currently collapsing price will favor gold much more at such a time as this, and as such, investors may favor the latter more than the former. The price impact of these inflation figures on the asset classes will be more visible in the days and weeks ahead.”
Bitcoin dipped also as investors’ focus shifted towards the Wall Street equity markets following President Joe Biden’s latest stimulus deal worth $1T. The S&P 500 index surged 0.27% to an all-time high of 4,280.55. The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite went up 0.1%.
Fed’s mixed signals and Bitcoin
Francesco Sandrini, senior multi-asset strategist at fund manager Amundi, stated that inflation readings would keep going higher in the months ahead. Meanwhile, markets would struggle to find confidence in terms of how to protect them from higher consumer prices, especially as the Fed officials send mixed signals about whether inflation should result in tighter monetary policy.
For instance, Fed’s chair Jay Powell has called the recent inflation spikes in the U.S. economy, which could wipe long-term returns from stocks and bonds, as “transient” in nature. But St. Louis Fed president James Bullard said on Thursday that inflation may keep rising in the sessions ahead.
The Federal Open Market Committee’s latest set of economic projections took a hawkish turn as it suggested dual-rate hikes in 2023. As a result, Bitcoin turned lower on the news.
Related: 4 reasons why Paul Tudor Jones’ 5% Bitcoin exposure advice is difficult for major funds
“We remain unsure as to exactly what will happen to inflation over the coming 5 years,” noted CoinShares, a digital asset management firm, in a report published on June 21.
“But we see adding bitcoin and other real assets as a prudent measure to protect portfolios from the tail-risk of out-of-control inflation,” the firm added.
Vasiliev noted that strong anti-inflation narrative would keep investors’ interest in Bitcoin in the coming months, adding:
I believe a recovery to $40,000 is the goal, while investors look toward breaking the previous ATH of $64,000 in the mid to long term.
UPDATED to include Quant (QNT) as of June 24 at 3:34 p.m. PT
Starting today, BarnBridge (BOND), Livepeer (LPT) and Quant (QNT) are available on Coinbase.com and in the Coinbase Android and iOS apps. Coinbase customers can now trade, send, receive, or store BOND, LPT, and QNT in most Coinbase-supported regions, with the exception of Singapore. Trading for these assets is also supported on Coinbase Pro.
BarnBridge (BOND) BOND is an Ethereum token that governs BarnBridge, a protocol that enables users to hedge against DeFi yield sensitivity and price volatility. Its first application, SMART Yield, allows users to choose between risk profiles for lending on DeFi protocols such as Aave and Compound. By using SMART Yield, senior bond investors can receive fixed rates at potentially lower risk while junior bond investors can receive higher rates at higher risk.
Livepeer (LPT) LPT is an Ethereum token that powers the Livepeer network, a platform for decentralized video streaming. LPT is required to perform the work of transcoding and distributing video on the network while also incentivizing peers to ensure that the network is cost-effective and secure.
Quant (QNT) QNT is an Ethereum token that is used to power Quant Network’s Overledger brand of enterprise software solutions, which aim to connect public blockchains and private networks. Quant Network allows the creation of so-called mDapps that enable decentralized applications to operate on multiple blockchains at once.
One of the most common requests we hear from customers is to be able to buy and sell more cryptocurrencies on Coinbase. We announced a process for listing assets, designed in part to accelerate the addition of more cryptocurrencies. We are also investing in new tools to help people understand and explore cryptocurrencies. We launched informational asset pages (see BOND , LPT, and QNT ), as well as a new section of the Coinbase website to answer common questions about crypto.
Customers can sign up for a Coinbase account here to buy, sell, convert, send, receive, or store BOND, LPT, and QNT today.
### Please note: Coinbase Ventures may be an investor in the crypto projects mentioned here, and additionally, Coinbase may hold such tokens on its balance sheet for operational purposes. A list of Coinbase Ventures investments is available at https://ventures.coinbase.com/. Coinbase intends to maintain its investment in these entities for the foreseeable future and maintains internal policies that address the timing of permissible disposition of any related digital assets, if applicable. All assets, regardless of whether Coinbase Ventures holds an investor or Coinbase holds for operational purposes, are subject to the same strict review guidelines and review process.
This website contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of Coinbase, Inc., and its affiliates (“Coinbase”), and Coinbase is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. Coinbase is not responsible for webcasting or any other form of transmission received from any Third-Party Site. Coinbase is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by Coinbase of the site or any association with its operators.
Crypto is a new type of asset. Besides potential day to day or hour to hour volatility, each crypto asset has unique features. Make sure you research and understand individual assets before you transact.
All images provided herein are by Coinbase.
BarnBridge (BOND), Livepeer (LPT) and Quant (QNT) are now available on Coinbase was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
The apocalyptic crash in NFT prices and market activity has caused some doubt over the longevity of non-fungible tokens. Even the art world, where non-fungible tokens have made the biggest splash, seems to be growing wary of NFTs.
Ben Reynolds, the Chief Executive and Founder of Sure Dividend, told Finance Magnates that: “to create a sustainable artist economy long-term, several changes need to occur.”
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“With the lack of high-end identity and creation verifications, NFTs aren’t really supporting artists long-term. It has potential as a way for artists to earn money and royalties. Still, there’s a lot of issues to overcome to put more protection in place for artists,” he said, specifically pointing to instances of fraud and plagiarism within the NFT space.
Just last week, Coinbase Co-Founder Fred Ehrsam said on Bloomberg TV that: “90% of NFTs produced…probably will have little to no value in three to five years.”
“You could say the same thing about early internet companies in the late ’90s,” he added.
Ben Reynolds, Chief Executive and Founder of investment advisory firm Sure Dividend.
Ehrsam drew a parallel between NFTs and crypto markets at large: “People are going to try all sorts of things. There’ll be millions and millions of cryptocurrencies and crypto-assets, just like there were millions and millions of websites. Most of them won’t work.”
However, even if 90 per cent of NFTs will lose their value in the next several years, some of them will retain it, and as non-fungible token technology continues to develop, some analysts believe that new use cases will bring new verticals value to non-fungible token markets.
“NFTs Will Continue to Adjust Organically into a Wide Variety of Use-Cases.”
So, are NFTs over and done with?
Mango Dogwood, the Community Manager at Charged Particles, told Finance magnates that the answer is “Absolutely not.” Charged Particles is a platform that allows users to Interest-bearing Non-Fungible Tokens (DeFi NFTs).
“What we’re seeing is really just the beginning of what NFTs will be used for,” Dogwood said. “Art turned out to be an incredibly successful vehicle for teaching a huge new group of people about the underlying technology that is the blockchain, and a lot of these people are very creative thinkers who are bringing completely new innovation to the space.”
In other words, the boom-and-bust cycle that NFT markets saw at the beginning of this year may not have a meaningful impact on the future of non-fungible tokens: “I don’t think that NFTs have lost their relevance at all. In fact, I don’t think they’ve even seen the threshold of the relevance that’s coming in the next few years.”
“I think NFTs will continue to adjust organically into a wide variety of use-cases beyond what we’ve seen this year in the art world,” Dogwood said.
Mango Dogwood, the Community Manager at Charged Particles.
“Core NFT Developments Are Happening at a Deeper Level.”
Les Borsai, who is both the Chief Strategy Officer of Waves and a renowned NFT collector, has a different perspective: “I would say the hype has been increasing,” though “I suppose it depends where you are looking,” he told Finance Magnates.
“NFTs can be viewed in many ways. I think the basic understanding was that it was a collectable piece of art sold in a marketplace. The mainstream centralized outlets became interested, and everyone was launching an NFT. Today we have Television Stations, Shoe Brands, Sports Franchises and Gaming companies looking at them,” he said. “But for those outlets, the demand may have gone down.”
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Borsai pointed out that even in their current iterations, NFTs already have many use cases. “For me, the core NFT developments are happening at a deeper level, not unlike altcoins that launched in 2014 on the back of the Ethereum launch. An NFT, unlike a piece of art that hangs on my wall, can be so many things.”
For example, “It can be a financial instrument that pays out like an annuity; it can be something I borrow and lend money on instantly. It can be used for yield farming based on Rarity. It can be an artefact in augmented reality or an avatar in VR. It can represent my identity the way a CryptoPunk can be a profile pic, which I have.”
“So for me, the hype is far from done,” Borsai said. “You don’t have to look far to find a Bored Ape or Wicked Cranium creating an economy…supported by the [NFT] community.”
“The ‘Metaverse’ Component and Gamification of NFTs Will Continue to Keep Them Relevant.”
However, Borsai, like many others, believes that the non-fungible token space is undergoing a major shift in focus: a move away from collectables and toward tokens that have a wider set of applications.
For example, “the ‘metaverse’ component and gamification of NFTs will continue to keep them relevant,” Borsai said. “If you look at Aavegotchi, Bored Apes and Alien Boys as examples, they have robust offerings where the NFT is part of their structure.”
At the same time, non-fungible token technology has been improving behind the scenes over the past few years. “In 2017, when I bought a CryptoKitty, I had to wait hours (if not days),” he said. “That was a technology problem. Today, we are not seeing that with NFT drops. As a matter of fact, the drops are blowing out in a matter of hours. We also have great new scaling solutions emerging.”
The “Democratization of Art.”
Borsai, Dogwood, and many others believe that the next frontier for non-fungible tokens is decentralized finance.
“I think we’ll start to see more and more intersection between NFTs and DeFi (Decentralized Finance),” Dogwood said, adding that: “this is what we’re exploring at Charged Particles.”
“Bringing together the implicit value from the financial side of crypto and the speculative value from the art side, we start to see some fascinating new doors open in the future of the NFT space.”
Similarly, Borsai added that decentralized finance could enable NFT market-making and “[building] an economy around collectables” in similar ways that DeFi innovators have “created new markets that bring superior returns,” for example, practices like Yield Farming.
But, the principles of decentralized finance can be used to create new use cases for non-fungible tokens, even within the art world.
“[DeFi innovators] look at traditional gallery systems and the approach to valuations in art and have better ideas,” Borsai said. “Ideas that support the community creating art so that a major collector or gallery isn’t the final say on what art deserves to be seen. It’s the democratization of art.”
Furthermore, Borsai pointed out that the intersection between DeFi and art could lead to the creation of new kinds of artistic work: for example, “sharing music is super interesting: taking a song and having many pieces create a different experience as a whole piece. It’s not unlike buying a series of pieces that make up one bigger piece.”
“I am excited to see my NFTs on my Samsung Frame,” he said.”If we have any doubt that we are headed in this direction, take a look at Christie’s and Sotheby’s launches. I could go on and on.”
What do you think about the future of NFTs in art and beyond? Let us know in the comments below.
Starting Today,Wednesday June 23, transfer BOND, LPT & QNT into your Coinbase Pro account ahead of trading. Support for BOND, LPT & QNT will generally be available in Coinbase’s supported jurisdictions with the exception of Singapore. Trading will begin on or after 9AM Pacific Time (PT) Thursday June 24, if liquidity conditions are met.
One of the most common requests we receive from customers is to be able to trade more assets on our platform. Per the terms of our listing process, we anticipate supporting more assets that meet our standards over time. Most recently we have added trading support for Chiliz (CHZ) Keep Network (KEEP), Polkadot (DOT), Gitcoin (GTC), Enzyme Token (MLN), Amp (AMP), Dogecoin (DOGE), Internet Computer (ICP), Cartesi (CTSI), iExec (RLC), Mirror Protocol (MIR), Tellor (TRB), Tether (USDT), Ampleforth Governance Token (FORTH),1inch (1INCH), Enjin Coin (ENJ), NKN (NKN), Origin Token (OGN), Ankr (ANKR) Curve DAO Token (CRV), Storj (STORJ), Cardano (ADA), SushiSwap (SUSHI), Polygon (MATIC), & SKALE (SKL), along with supporting additional order books. Coinbase continues to explore support for new digital assets.
Starting immediately, we will begin accepting inbound transfers of BOND, LPT & QNT to Coinbase Pro. Trading will begin on or after 9am Pacific Time (PT) Thursday June 24, if liquidity conditions are met.
Once sufficient supply of BOND, LPT & QNT is established on the platform, trading on our BOND-USD, LPT-USD & QNT-USD order books will launch in three phases, post-only, limit-only and full trading. If at any point one of the new order books does not meet our assessment for a healthy and orderly market, we may keep the book in one state for a longer period of time or suspend trading as per our Trading Rules.
We will publish tweets from our Coinbase Pro Twitter account as each order book moves through the phases.
BarnBridge (BOND) BOND is an Ethereum token that governs BarnBridge, a protocol that enables users to hedge against DeFi yield sensitivity and price volatility. Its first application, SMART Yield, allows users to choose between risk profiles for lending on DeFi protocols such as Aave and Compound. By using SMART Yield, senior bond investors can receive fixed rates at potentially lower risk while junior bond investors can receive higher rates at higher risk.
Livepeer (LPT) LPT is an Ethereum token that powers the Livepeer network, a platform for decentralized video streaming. LPT is required to perform the work of transcoding and distributing video on the network while also incentivizing peers to ensure that the network is cost-effective and secure.
Quant (QNT) QNT is an Ethereum token that is used to power Quant Network’s Overledger brand of enterprise software solutions, which aim to connect public blockchains and private networks. Quant Network allows the creation of so-called mDapps that enable decentralized applications to operate on multiple blockchains at once.
BOND, LPT & QNT are not yet available on Coinbase.com or via our Consumer mobile apps. We will make a separate announcement if and when this support is added.
You can sign up for a Coinbase Pro account here to start trading. For more information on trading BOND, LPT & QNTon Coinbase Pro, visit our support page.
### Please note: Coinbase Ventures may be an investor in the crypto projects mentioned here, and additionally, Coinbase may hold such tokens on its balance sheet for operational purposes. A list of Coinbase Ventures investments is available at https://ventures.coinbase.com/. Coinbase intends to maintain its investment in these entities for the foreseeable future and maintains internal policies that address the timing of permissible disposition of any related digital assets, if applicable. All assets, regardless of whether Coinbase Ventures holds an investor or Coinbase holds for operational purposes, are subject to the same strict review guidelines and review process. This website contains links to third-party websites or other content for information purposes only (“Third-Party Sites”). The Third-Party Sites are not under the control of Coinbase, Inc., and its affiliates (“Coinbase”), and Coinbase is not responsible for the content of any Third-Party Site, including without limitation any link contained in a Third-Party Site, or any changes or updates to a Third-Party Site. Coinbase is not responsible for webcasting or any other form of transmission received from any Third-Party Site. Coinbase is providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement, approval or recommendation by Coinbase of the site or any association with its operators.
Crypto is a new type of asset. Besides potential day to day or hour to hour volatility, each crypto asset has unique features. Make sure you research and understand individual assets before you transact.
All images provided herein are by Coinbase.
BarnBridge (BOND), Livepeer (LPT) and Quant (QNT) are launching on Coinbase Pro was originally published in The Coinbase Blog on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
For the past several weeks, the price of Bitcoin has been dancing just above the $30,000 support level, sometimes dipping below and occasionally making strong moves toward the $40,000.
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But, every time Bitcoin seems to make a decisive move one way or the other, it is only a matter of hours before BTC retreats to familiar territory: price levels around $31K, $33K, $35K with no clear path forward.
Bitcoin’s relative stagnancy around this level has caused a bit of division amongst analysts attempting to predict what could happen next. Some believe that BTC is just moments away from regaining its losses and riding a rally back to $60K and beyond by the end of the year. In June, some analysts have predicted that BTC could reach as high as $200,000 by the end of 2021.
However, not everyone is so optimistic. If Bitcoin falls to sustained levels below $30K, some analysts believe that BTC may be in for a prolonged depression before any upward movement is possible. Thus, Bitcoin seems to be in a rather precarious position: while BTC seems fairly stable above $30K, movement below $30K could lead Bitcoin to new lows. So what’s next for Bitcoin?
Would a Move below $30K Trigger Another Wave of Leveraged Bitcoin Liquidations?
“If Bitcoin drops below $30K for more than a few hours, it will cause a worldwide panic from traders and people searching for places to buy BTC,” said Kelan Kline to Finance Magnates. Kline is a personal finance expert and Co-Founder of The Savvy Couple.
A prolonged movement below $30K could essentially trigger a series of events that closely resemble what happened to Bitcoin markets in May of this year: “Exchanges will be under extreme pressure with too many customers on the website at once, causing market instability in both fiat and cryptocurrency markets.”
“When it’s trading time in Asia, Bitcoins liquidity could be significantly lower as traders would follow suit of selling their bitcoins off as well, which would create an even larger waterfall effect on the global financial system.”
“We Haven’t Lost All Gains in 2021.”
One point of possible positive news for Bitcoin is the fact that it actually did briefly fall below $30K earlier this week, and it did not trigger a new wave of liquidations, as some believed it would.
In fact, some analysts see the drop below $30K as a sort of non-event: Marco Van Den Heuvel, Head of Community at decentralized search engine Presearch, told Finance Magnates that: “This dip honestly did not come as a surprise.”
“Breaking $30,000 pretty much indicated we would see $28K levels, followed by hopeful support and a bounce. Which is what we saw starting just now, back to $31,500,” he explained.
In fact, Van Den Heuvel pointed out that any further drops below $30K could be a good thing for Bitcoin’s price levels in the long term. After all, the price drops may present opportunities for longer-term hodlers with ‘diamond hands’ to scoop up BTC at a discount.
Marco Van Den Heuvel, Head of Community at decentralized search engine Presearch.
“They are key levels in which a lot of buys are waiting to scoop up ‘cheap’ Bitcoin,” Van Den Heuvel said. “Personally, I believe we’re trading around support levels now for Bitcoin, whereas altcoins can still see another 30-40% decrease in price if bitcoin dominance actually attempts the 50% retest and successfully breaks it.”
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“Realistically, we haven’t lost all gains in 2021,” he continued. “Bitcoin is trading around January 2021 levels, as are many altcoins. I feel like this event puts many people back into reality; making money is ‘easy, but keeping it is a different skill. It requires stone-cold decision making, rather than being permanently bullish.”
“Risk management is important. It’s also clear how much speculation there is still in this space, and how people’s emotions take over, resulting in a [downward] spiral of events.”
How deep is this downward spiral? “To me, current sentiment shows we’re hopefully close to a bottom,” he said. “Many people that capitulate now may not find their lower buy orders hit.”
BTC Sales by “Weak-Handed” Hodlers Could Give Way to Purchases by Longer-Term Investors
Indeed, under current market conditions, Bitcoin may not be poised to drop anytime soon, but negative news could bring a new round of bearish movements to BTC.
Ben Reynolds, the Founder of Sure Dividend, pointed out to Finance Magnates that Bitcoin is still reeling from negative news that hit the headlines in May: “China has recently cracked down more on crypto by banning more crypto-related social media accounts on Weibo,” he said, adding that Elon Musk’s Twitter drama may have influenced Bitcoin.
Ben Reynolds, Chief Executive of Sure Dividend.
Reynolds also pointed to “the FBI reclaiming the millions of dollars worth of bitcoin from the pipeline ransom hackers group,” which he said “[proves] that governments can still manipulate it even when it is not regulated, which could have some investors who prefer to question their investments.”
These pieces of news, and any other negative reports that could come out soon, may continue to wash out new money from bitcoin markets. “Any new investors who are susceptible to emotion and fear clouding their investment decisions might be the ones who pull out and cause BTC to drop below $30K,” Reynolds said.
On the other hand, positive news updates about Bitcoin could act as a boon for crypto prices and positive developments are underway: “Businesses are developing bitcoin ETFs, allowing customers to buy, sell and checkout by using crypto. The FBI used it to reclaim a ransom and strengthened its ability to become more mainstream.”
“Investor Fixation on Every Little Price Fluctuation Is Derailing the Ecosystem from What It’s Supposed to Be Doing.”
And while $30K seems to be Bitcoin’s ‘magic number’ of the moment, Kirobo Chief Executive, Asaf Naim pointed out that BTC analysts and investors often become fixated on certain price points.
“We all know that investors can panic when they see an asset fall below the price they consider symbolic,” Naim told Finance Magnates. “But, let’s not forget that these numbers are arbitrary – back in 2017, $20,000 was considered the magic number for Bitcoin.” In the years between 2018 and 2020, it was all about Bitcoin’s so-called “curse of $10,000.”
“Then in April of this year, it topped $63,000, and now $30,000 is considered the bottom,” Naim continued.
Asaf Naim, Chief Executive of Kirobo.
Indeed, Bitcoin’s big price rally from November of 2020 until May of 2021 reset the global mindset about where Bitcoin should be price-wise. Before the chain of liquidations that sent the price spiralling in May, some analysts and investors believed that a steady price above $50K could soon be Bitcoin’s new ‘normal’. However, BTC has failed to regain enough momentum to sustain levels above $40K for weeks.
Now that the latest round of hype seems to be over, the conversation around Bitcoin seems to be shifting away from how big BTC will be and back towards how it can and will be useful to the world.
“I think that if people would focus on the very real, practical applications of decentralized technology instead of obsessing over whatever mood Bitcoin has decided to be in on a given day, they’d find that the fundamentals of the crypto market as a whole are rock-solid,” Naim told Finance Magnates.
“Frankly, I think that investor fixation on every little price fluctuation is derailing the ecosystem from what it’s supposed to be doing – upgrading the way the world transacts through decentralized technology.”
CoinJar, a popular Australian-based bitcoin/crypto exchange, today announced it has listed six new coins including BAL, ENJ, GRT, MATIC, ESDT, and WBTC. From today, users will be able to buy and sell all of these coins on CoinJar; joining the 24 cryptocurrencies that users can already trade, store and send.
Six New Listings
Balancer (BAL)
Enjin (ENJ)
The Graph (GRT)
Polygon/Matic (MATIC)
Tether (USDT)
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC)
Balancer (BAL)
An automated market maker (AMM) built on the Ethereum blockchain, similar to Uniswap and Curve. Users earn the BAL token by creating and maintaining liquidity pools. BAL tokens are governance tokens, meaning that they give holders the right to take part in decisions regarding the network. As these decisions often involve rewards and fees being generated by the Balancer protocol, there’s a financial incentive to hold and participate.
Enjin (ENJ)
One one of the pioneers of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs are one-of-a-kind markers that allow the holder to prove absolute ownership of a digital asset. Through a process known as minting, Enjin makes it easy to create NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. ENJ is the currency that powers this process, allowing holders to both mint and “melt” NFTs.
The Graph (GRT)
The Graph describes itself as “a protocol for organizing blockchain data and making it easily accessible. The Graph creates an open marketplace where information from different blockchains can be sold to developers who may require it to power their own smart contracts. The Graph Token (GRT) is the currency that powers this marketplace, offering incentives for those that index, curate, and sell the data.
Polygon/Matic (MATIC)
A fast, cross-blockchain dApp development platform built on Ethereum. Like the ETH token, MATIC is the fuel that powers the Polygon network, facilitating the payment and settlement of transactions. Polygon uses a Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, which means that holders of the token can “stake” their tokens and receive more MATIC in return.
Tether (USDT)
Pegged in value to the US dollar, Tether allowed people to buy and sell cryptocurrency at a time when it was difficult for exchanges to find reliable banking and fiat currency partners. Cut to 2021 and the stablecoin market is booming, with more than USD $100 billion in circulation. But Tether remains the biggest player by far, accounting for more than 60% of the market and essentially functioning as the crypto world’s reserve currency.
Wrapped BTC (WBTC)
An invention of the DeFi movement. Pegged to the same value as Bitcoin itself, WBTC is a way of representing Bitcoin ownership on the Ethereum network (i.e. you lock Bitcoin in a smart contract and receive an equivalent amount of WBTC in return). Having WBTC means you can use the Bitcoin you own on DeFi apps, for instance, to purchase tokens on Uniswap or as liquidity pool collateral on a platform like Compound or Balancer.
The concept of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) causing an explosion in the art world is of course not surprising for pundits who have been following the evolution of NFTs since Crypto Kitties. The opportunities that NFT technology can provide is core to why there is so much interest.
TWO TWO is an extreme art gallery that has jumped on the NFT bandwagon in a big way and we have here with us the co-founder Avron Goss who will give us more details of how TWO TWO is navigating art and technology in this new digital art frontier.
Q. Please introduce yourself and what you do at TWO TWO.
My name is Avron Goss and I am one of the co-founders of TWO TWO along with Steven Meistrich and Stacey Maites. I have spent my career building successful businesses globally. I attribute my success to my determined and steadfast nature combined with my process and deliverable oriented approach which I developed while studying Biomedical Engineering and then through the early part of my career in Accenture. Success of a company always comes down to ensuring the community gets a product that they want and need. At TWO TWO my primary focus is to build the platform, processes and team to deliver a thriving token economy. My co-founders are focussed on building a global network of galleries and acquitting world class established and emerging artists for the galleries. We are all passionate about what we do and work well together. I have known and worked with Steven for over 25 years now and Steven has known Stacey for even longer.
Q. Can you describe what TWO TWO is about?
For far too long the art market has been controlled by the elite. Galleries and auction houses control which artists are brought to market and, typically, each gallery works with a small select group of high net worth individuals who receive preferential treatment. When you consider that 82% of art sales are made in the US, China and the UK and that most galleries serve about 75 core customers it is not hard to see that the majority of the world are cut off from access to art.
“At TWO TWO we bring a collection of progressive street, urban and graffiti works seldom seen in galleries, let alone as a single exhibit.”
– Stacey Maites, Co-Founder TWO TWO
There have been a number of attempts in the past to break this, going all the way back to the Salon des Refuses of 1863 which displayed the works of Gustave Courbet, Edouard Manet, Camille Pissarro and Johan Jongkind; all of whose works had been rejected for display by the Parisian galleries because they did not meet the taste requirements of Emperor Napoleon III. Fast forward 150 years and we now have the blockchain, a technology that truly enables the removal of intermediaries. Combine this with NFTs and DeFi and this has profound implications for art.
TWO TWO enables a global community to be the gallery and to find and enable the next Banksy. Talent is no-longer confined to the hallowed and dusty halls of well-known auction houses where only a select few get a seat.
As a gallery, TWO TWO sets out to blur the distinction between real and virtual art and its vision goes beyond that. We are now able to blur the boundaries between the art enthusiasts and the artists too.
Q. Can you explain how the TWO TWO token (X22) functions with the TWO TWO ecosystem as well as its real-world utility?
The TWO TWO ecosystem is built out of a number of real world and virtual components. This includes the TWO TWO Gallery that is about to open in Resorts World Las Vegas, 3rd Party Galleries, Artists, the X22 Foundation, X22 holders and liquidity providers. The X22 token provides the mechanism that enables all these components to work together seamlessly.
“There is no point in creating a token that has no real-world utility. People must clearly understand its use and be given plenty of opportunity to use it.”
– Avron Goss, Co-Founder TWO TWO
There are a number of real world uses for the X22 token, with the following being some of the most critical uses:
Gallery Membership Fees Starting with the TWO TWO Gallery, galleries can pay membership fees in X22 tokens to access the X22 community. The gallery will be required to purchase an agreed amount of X22 tokens monthly from the community which will then be paid to X22 Foundation who will lock up the tokens in the treasury. In return, the gallery will obtain marketing access to the X22 community. This is the first step to making the community the gallery.
Art Loans Loans will be made to artists and art projects using a portion of the X22 Foundation’s liquidity pool. In return the artist will be expected to sell their works through X22 member galleries, ensuring access to the X22 community. They will also, of course, be expected to repay the loan and pay stability fees to the Foundation an agreed amount of X22 which they will have to acquire on the open market from the X22 community. The stability fees will be paid to the X22 Foundation and locked in the treasury.
Hosted Nodes and Liquidity Mining X22 holders who provide stability to the network by staking on hosted nodes and by providing liquidity to DEXs will be rewarded with additional X22 tokens. In addition, community members who provide liquidity to the X22 Foundation liquidity pool and lock up this liquidity will also be rewarded with X22 tokens.
Voting on the DAO In addition to all the above, X22 tokens held in each hosted node will give the holder a vote on a one-to-one basis in all votes on the DAO. This is the final piece which enables the community to be the gallery as it makes them decision makers.
Q. Thanks, that was a very comprehensive breakdown of the utility of the X22 token within the TWO TWO ecosystem. We understand your seed investment was oversubscribed. How did you manage that?
We had a very simple philosophy when raising investment — add value. TWO TWO looks to provide value by delivering real world value and, in return, we looked for investors that understand that value and wish to bring value to TWO TWO. By demonstrating our real commitment to value we were able to find the investors that would create a synergistic relationship with us.
“We see our investors as partners in our business, by working collaboratively we can create value for the entire TWO TWO community.”
Steven Meistrich, Co-Founder TWO TWO
It is our belief that our investors see the value we bring by combining real world galleries with NFTs and DeFi. We are not about creating a marketplace, we are about creating a long term sustainable market.
Q. What do you see as some of the challenges your project and industry face?
I believe the crypto industry is facing the challenges of scaling and acceptance. Both of these issues are being addressed and will be resolved with time. From TWO TWO’s perspective we are solving these solutions in the following way:
Scaling: We believe that to successfully make the community the gallery we need to enable large and small community members to have equal access to our platform. As we are not building our own chain we cannot influence the speed of transactions, volume of transactions or gas fees directly. But we can choose the blockchain we operate on. Our philosophy is to be blockchain agnostic and support chains that support our community. We are therefore launching on both Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain to ensure that both gas fees and market reach are balanced.
Acceptance: Lobbying governments and regulatory bodies is outside of our expertise, but we do have one thing that is working in our favour right now. NFTs have captured the imagination of the non-crypto using community and our art gallery which manages real word and NFT art sales acts as a natural bridge for the non-crypto using community. We therefore see ourselves as an early real use case and an ability to grow crypto users globally.
Q. Any other exciting news you’d like to share?
We do have exciting news to share!
Firstly we are in the final stages of launching the X22 token which means that we are running IDOs (Initial DEX Offering) on the 1st July and the 8th July — this is the first real opportunity to grow the community. This will be followed very shortly by our TGE (Token Generation Event) which will then allow open trading of the X22 token. There is no point in launching a token without use so we are also going to be launching V1 of our platform at the same time as the TGE. For details please follow us on twitter and telegram.
From a gallery perspective, we have some truly unique NFTs which we are going to launch in July. One of them is going to be a one-of-one digital image taken from a never before printed negative of a photo taken of Jimi Hendrix at the Monterey Pops in 1967. This is a truly ultra-rare piece and if a target price is reached the buyer will also receive the negative. We also have a great line-up of some truly remarkable and well known artists, such as Nick Walker. Once again, follow us on twitter and telegram for announcements.
Thanks to Mr Avron Goss for the very informative and interesting interview!
More information on TWO TWO can be found at the following links:
