Bitcoin (BTC) has been consolidating near $23,000 for the past few days. The next big question troubling investors is whether the rally is over or if Bitcoin resume its recovery. The strong year-to-date rally in Bitcoin has turned several analysts bullish in the short term. They anticipate Bitcoin to extend its up-move and reach $25,000 and even $30,000. However, for the slightly longer term, analysts seem to be divided. In comments to Cointelegraph, economist Lyn Alden said Bitcoin could face “considerable danger” in the second half of 2023 as liquidity risks rise. On the other hand, ARK Invest CEO and …

Bitcoin investors' sentiment improved after signals pointing to lower inflationary pressure suggested that the U.S. Federal Reserve could soon move away from its interest rate increase and quantitative tightening. Commonly known as a pivot, the trend change would benefit risk assets such as cryptocurrencies. On Jan. 22, the China-based peer-to-peer trades of USD Coin (USDC) reached a 3.5% premium versus the United States dollar, indicating moderate FOMO by retail traders. This level is the highest in more than 6 months, suggesting excessive cryptocurrency buying demand has pressured the indicator above fair value. The all-time high on the 7-day Bitcoin hash …

Australian cryptocurrency exchange Digital Surge appears to have narrowly avoided collapse, despite having millions of dollars in digital assets tied up in the now-bankrupt FTX crypto exchange. On Jan. 24 local time, Digital Surge creditors approved a five-year bailout plan, which aims to eventually refund its 22,545 customers who had their digital assets frozen on the platform since Nov. 16, while allowing the exchange to continue operating. The rescue plan was first floated to customers by the exchanges’ directors via email on Dec. 8, the same day the company fell into administration. As per the “Deed of Company Arrangement,” the …

Surojit Chatterjee, the former chief product officer at Coinbase, will officially leave the company on February 3rd after reportedly making an estimated $105 million in stock sales. According to disclosures filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Chatterjee will also retain 249,315 shares of Coinbase stock. At the time of publication, Coinbase stock was valued at $54.28 per share, by Google Finance. Chatterjee joined Coinbase from Google in February 2020 with a salary of just under $1 million per year. In recognition of Chatterjee's contributions to the company, Coinbase and Chatterjee have entered into a separation agreement that includes severance …

The price of Ether (ETH) rallied 16% between Jan. 14 and Jan. 21, peaking at $1,680 before facing a 5.4% rejection. Curiously, the same resistance level resulted in a substantial correction in late August 2022 and again in early November 2022. From one side, traders are relieved that Ether is trading up 35.5% year-to-date, but the repeated corrections that follow retests of the $1,680 resistance may have weakened investors' sentiment. Negative newsflow might have limited Ether investors' appetite after troubled cryptocurrency company Digital Currency Group (DCG) faced more legal issues this week. On Jan. 23, a group of Genesis Capital …

Solana’s (SOL) recent 250% rally to $25 has shocked many investors in the crypto market. At the same time, traders who had eyes on the negative funding rate for SOL in the futures market could have anticipated the bullish move ahead of others. It’s because excessive negative funding rates, like the one in Solana displayed below, implies that the majority of traders are on the short side, providing an opportunity for buyers to run their stops. Regardless of the reason behind the price increase, if enough buyers are interested in joining the bullish move, it can turn into a medium-to-long-term …

Cryptocurrency has faced more than its fair share of catastrophes, nearly all of which seemed as though they might end or at least seriously impede the continued growth of the sector. Yet despite the many “teachable moments,” the social layer of crypto refuses to learn its lesson and continues to place its trust in the hands of individuals rather than fully utilize the technologies it claims to support. Since the early days of the industry, crypto has faced major blows at the hands of centralized actors — Mt. Gox, which handled 70% of global Bitcoin transactions, lost track of 25,000 …

Major cryptocurrency exchange Binance reportedly admitted that it mistakenly stores some customer funds in the same wallet with its collateral for some in-house tokens. After the revelation, Binance started the process of transferring the assets in question to dedicated collateral wallets. Binance mistakenly put collateral for some of the Binance-minted tokens, or B-Tokens, in a wallet that also holds customer assets, Bloomberg reported on Jan. 24. On Monday, Binance released a proof of collateral for B-Tokens, providing information for all 94 tokens issued by Binance. The firm previously stressed that B-Tokens are always fully collateralized and backed 1:1. According to …

Bitcoin (BTC) rallied 11% between Jan. 20 and Jan. 21, reaching the $23,000 level and shattering bears' expectations for a pullback to $20,000. Even more notable is the move brought demand from Asia-based retail investors according to data from a key stablecoin premium indicator. Traders should note that the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 index also gained 5.1% between Jan. 20 and Jan. 23, fueled by investors' hope in China reopening for business after temporary shutdowns caused by the CCP’s virus contagion measures and weaker than expected economic data in the U.S. and the Eurozone. Another bit of bullish information came on Jan. …

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has risen about 37% year-to-date and is not showing any signs of slowing down. The S&P 500 index (SPX) has also made a winning start to the year but has seen a relatively muted rally of roughly 4%. While the price of risky assets are rising, the United States dollar index (DXY), perceived as a safe haven, extended its downtrend and declined more than 1% in January. The change in sentiment toward risky assets may have been triggered by expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve could slow down its rate hikes as inflation cools off. Some analysts …

The New York Department of Financial Services, or NYDFS, has released guidelines on how licensed crypto firms should handle customer assets should they face “insolvency or similar proceeding”. In a Jan. 23 announcement, NYDFS superintendent Adrienne Harris said crypto firms and exchanges operating under a BitLicense — required in New York state — should segregate corporate funds from users’ virtual currency holdings both on-chain and in the “internal ledger accounts” of the company’s custodian. According to the regulator, crypto firms are expected to hold users’ assets “only for the limited purpose of carrying out custody and safekeeping services”: “A [virtual …

The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation, or Europol, has reported authorities took control of crypto wallets containing more than $19 million in cryptocurrency as part of enforcement actions against crypto firm Bitzlato. In a Jan. 23 announcement, Europol reported that roughly 46% of assets — 1 billion euro, or $1.09 billion at the time of publication — moved through Bitzlato were linked to illicit activities. The government agency’s analysis suggested that Bitzlato received more than 2.1 billion euro in cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC), Dash (DASH), and Dogecoin (DOGE), much of which was converted into Russian rubles. “While the …