The World Bank has warned of a possible global recession in 2023. In a press release on Sept. 15, the bank said that the current pace of rate hikes and policy decisions is unlikely to be enough to bring inflation down to pre-pandemic levels. Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of Bridgewater Associates said in a blog post on Sept. 13 that if rates were to rise to about 4.5% in the United States, it would “produce about a 20 percent negative impact on equity prices.” The negative outlook for the equity markets does not bode well for the cryptocurrency markets …

Bitcoin (BTC) exchanges have seen huge volumes this month as price declines lead to renewed interest in trading. Data from sources including on-chain analytics firm Glassnode shows exchange inflows hitting their highest since March 2020. "The scent of volatility is in the air" On Sep. 14, over 236,000 BTC made its way to the eighteen major exchanges tracked by Glassnode. This was the largest single-day spike since the chaos tha surrounded Bitcoin’s dip to just $3,600 in March 2020. The sell-offs in May 2021 and May and June this year failed to match the tally, suggesting that more of the …

ETHPoW, a separatist Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain forked from Ethereum's Merge, went live on Sep. 15. However, the chain suffered technical issues after the launch, which put downward pressure on its ETHW token. ETHW price down 65% amid "ChainID" fiasco The price of ETHW has dropped by 65% since ETHPoW's launch to around $14 on Sep. 16, according to CoinMarketCap. At its lowest, the token was changing hands for $9.50. The losses coincided with a technical issues related to ETHPoW's ChainID." ChainIDs are identifiers that help users identify one blockchain from another. Thus, ETHPoW required a new ChainID to separate its …

Bitcoin (BTC) attempted to violate local lows on Sep. 16 as the latest cross-crypto downtrend intensified. No relief for BTC bulls post Merge Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD approaching $19,600 at the time of writing, with buyer support just avoiding a further drop. The level had remained in place as an intraday floor as the Ethereum (ETH) Merge concluded, only to spark a sell-off, which took ETH/BTC toward three-week lows. Amid the gloomy mood, traders and analysts showed little inclination to reassess their market outlooks. “I feel confident with the scenario of quick pump to 23k …

The shedding of Ethereum’s energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) system is expected to see Ether (ETH) “flow into the institutional world,” according to a number of fund managers and co-founders. On Sept. 15, Ethereum officially transitioned to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which is expected to cut energy consumption used by the network by 99.95%, according to the Ethereum Foundation. The upgrade effectively ended the need for the Ethereum network to rely on miners and energy-guzzling mining hardware to validate transactions and build new blocks, as these functions are now replaced by validators who “stake” their ETH. "The merge will reduce worldwide …

The Ethereum Merge has finally happened. It’s over, and fortunately it went smoothly without any major hiccups. As predicted by many, the event turned out to be a “buy the rumor sell the news” style event, or perhaps, the hotter-than-expected consumer price index print on Sept. 12 was the real catalyst that pushed the market in its current direction. Regardless of the reasons for this week’s downturn, the Merge is over and in its wake, bulls are left holding a whole lot of nothing. It’s likely that a new bullish narrative will need to emerge, or analysts will need to …

Bitcoin (BTC) spent a second day threatening $20,000 support on Sep. 15 as markets processed the Ethereum (ETH) Merge. BTC stuck between price magnets' Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD spiking below $20,000 again overnight to recover marginally above the boundary for a brief period. The largest cryptocurrency broadly failed to regain lost ground after surprise United States inflation data on Sep. 13 sent risk assets into a tailspin. Down 13.5% versus the week’s top at the time of writing, Bitcoin offered little inspiration to traders who were still eyeing further losses. Yes, we could pump from …

Ethereum successfully completed its long-awaited transition to proof-of-stake via "the Merge" on Sep. 15, while traders have been increasingly shorting Ether (ETH) in anticipation of a sell-the-news event. Ethereum funding rate plumme Ether's futures funding rates across leading derivatives platforms dropped below zero—to their worst levels to date—before the Merge. The rate dropped to as low as -0.6% on BitMex. Funding rates are a percentage of the fee paid to either short or long position holders. The platform decides the fee based on the difference between the perpetual futures contract and the spot price. Therefore, traders consider a market bullish …

Solana-based nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace Magic Eden has fended off some community backlash following the launch of MetaShield, its new enforcement tool aimed at deterring NFT buyers who bypass creator royalties. MetaShield, which was reportedly launched in partnership with NFT marketplace and aggregator Coral Cube saw mixed reactions from the NFT community following its launch on Sep. 12, who were split on whether NFT marketplaces should protect creator rights or cut royalty fees to make NFTs cheaper for collectors. The NFT royalty enforcement tool is designed to allow NFT creators to flag and blur NFTs that may have been sold …

The United States equities markets and the cryptocurrency markets had been rising leading up to the Sept. 13 release of the August consumer price index data, but the rally fell apart once the data showed inflation rising, rather than falling. The negative data dashed any hope of a Federal Reserve pivot in the near term and it triggered a sharp decline in risky assets. The market capitalization of U.S. stocks plunged by about $1.6 trillion on Sept. 13 and the market cap of the cryptocurrency markets slipped below $1 trillion. Statistician and independent market analyst Willy Woo, believes that Bitcoin …

Given the current state of the wider crypto market, some traders might be surprised to learn that Ether (ETH) has been trading in an ascending trend for the past 17 days. While the entire cryptocurrency market experienced a 10% decline on Sept. 13, Ether price held firm near the $1,570 support level. In less than 12 hours the Ethereum network is scheduled to undergo its largest ever upgrade and the possibility of extreme volatility should not be ignored. The transition to a Proof-of-Stake network will be a game changer for multiple reasons, including a 98.5% cut in energy use and …

Bitcoin (BTC) market behavior is not yet “synonymous” with previous bear market bottoms, one of the leading crypto analysts argues. In a Twitter thread on Sep. 14, statistician Willy Woo, creator of data resource Woobull, offered three examples of why BTC/USD should still have further to fall. Despite many calling a new macro price bottom during June’s trip to $17,600, not everyone is confident that Bitcoin will avoid a retest. For Woo, there is still reason to believe that lower levels will mark the new price floor — and this could be anywhere, including below $10,000. "Underwater" supply short of …