Bitcoin (BTC) began a nervous weekend at around $39,000 on Feb. 26 after an overnight spike briefly saw $40,000 return. Stocks gains but crypto "fear" pervades Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView revealed calmer conditions for BTC/USD Saturday after overnight volatility saw highs of $40,330 on Bitstamp. With traditional markets closed, the probability of "fakeout" moves up or down was elevated thanks to thinner weekend volumes on crypto markets. The geopolitical turmoil focused on Ukraine and occupier Russia formed the backdrop for continued cautious sentiment, amid concerns that Monday, in particular, could bring fresh instability. The Crypto Fear & …

Ether (ETH) reached a $3,280 local high on Feb. 10, marking a 51.5% recovery from the $2,160 cycle low on Jan. 24. That price was the lowest in six months, and it partially explains why derivatives traders’ main sentiment gauge plummeted to bearish levels. Ether’s futures contract annualized premium, or basis, reached 2.5% on Feb. 25, reflecting bearishness despite the 11% rally to $2,700. The worsening conditions depict investors’ doubts regarding the Ethereum network’s shift to a proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism. As reported by Cointelegraph, the much-anticipated sharding upgrade that will significantly boost processing capacity should come into effect in late …

The U.S. equity markets and Bitcoin (BTC) have rebounded sharply from their Feb. 24 lows while gold has made a retreat from its recent highs. This indicates that investors may be buying risky assets and reducing exposure to assets perceived as a safe haven. Recent reports also suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin may send a delegation to negotiate with Ukraine and this raises hope that the conflict could end sooner than analysts expect. Some analysts believe that the U.S. Federal Reserve may not raise rates aggressively in March due to the geopolitical situation. Allianz chief economic advisor Mohamed El-Erian …

Anton Bukov, the co-founder of 1inch Network, thinks that Ethereum will likely become the main settlement layer for a multi-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. “There is like a high chance that most of the chains will try to commit their states to Ethereum as a higher layer,” Bukov said in an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph. Bukov, who is number 39 in Cointelegraph’s Top 100 list for 2022, acknowledges that in order to achieve that, Ethereum needs to solve the scalability issues that limit its transaction output. DISCOVER COINTELEGRAPH’S TOP 100 IN CRYPTO AND BLOCKCHAIN 2022 According to Bukov, the best …

As the market dips over escalating tensions in Eastern Europe, Dr. Raullen Chai, the co-founder and CEO of blockchain network IoTeX, is urging crypto investors to hold on to their crypto. The Russian army recently started its advance on Ukraine, firing missiles on the second-largest European country. Following this, crypto markets took a nosedive, with all the top coins dropping between 8% and 18%, according to Cointelegraph Markets Pro. However, despite the current market conditions, Chai tells holders to think twice before selling their digital assets. Chai told Cointelegraph that, while it’s not impossible for Bitcoin (BTC) to fall below …

Bitcoin (BTC) and several altcoins have bounced off their immediate support levels after buyers attempted to arrest the current decline. Bloomberg Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone highlighted in a recent Tweet that Bitcoin was trading roughly 20% below its 50-week moving average and such discounted levels have “often resulted in good price support.” The bearish price action of the past few days does not seem to have deterred the institutional traders from accumulating at lower levels. According to CoinShares’ Feb. 22 “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” report, institutional investors pumped about $89 million into Bitcoin funds between Feb. 14 and …

Avalanche (AVAX) rallied by around 20% in the last two days as a new report revealed millions of dollars flowing into AVAX-based investment products. Penned by CoinShares, an institutional crypto fund manager, the report highlighted that Avalanche-based investment vehicles attracted about $25 million in the week ending Feb. 21, the second-biggest inflow recorded in the said period after Bitcoin's (BTC) $89 million. In contrast, Ether (ETH), Avalanche's top rival in the smart contracts sector, witnessed an outflow totaling $15 million. On the whole, Avalanche and similar cryptocurrency investment products attracted around $109 million, recording their fifth week of positive inflows …

Bitcoin (BTC) began to see much-welcomed volatility to the upside on Feb. 23 as European markets opened with modest upside. $39,600 set to spark "heavy resistance" Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD rapidly gaining Wednesday, hitting $39,000 before consolidating. The pair had staged a steady comeback overnight, with progress totalling 6.8% versus Tuesday's lows. "Seems I'm not getting that little pull back but continuation higher already. Doesn't change the structure really much. $40k is key level," popular trader Crypto Ed reacted. Previously, Crypto Ed had warned that any push towards the $40,000 could well end up as …

Laura Shin, a cryptocurrency journalist and host of the Unchained Podcast, claimed to have discovered the identity of the individual behind an exploit which drained more than 3.6 million Ether from Germany-based startup Slock.it’s The DAO in 2016. According to a Tuesday Bloomberg report, Shin claimed that she had “extremely strong evidence” that Mimo Capital co-founder Toby Hoenisch was responsible for removing more than 3.6 million Ether (ETH) from The DAO in June 2016 — roughly $50 million at the time. An unknown hacker used an exploit to drain roughly a third of The DAO’s ETH supply, forcing developers to …

Bitcoin (BTC) dipped below $38,000 on Feb. 21 but the bulls are attempting to arrest the decline and start a recovery. The sustained weakness in 2022 seems to have toned down expectations of a strong rally. Huobi crypto exchange co-founder Du Jun said that if the Bitcoin halving cycle repeats, then the current weakness could be the start of a bear market. Jun believes that the next Bitcoin bull cycle is expected to begin either at the end of 2024 or at the beginning of 2025. In the short term, crypto markets are likely to be influenced by the geopolitical …

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) price are still being hard hit by the current wave of volatility and this is leading traders to go back to the drawing board and readjust their short-term expectations. On Feb.17, Bitcoin price briefly dipped below $40,000 and Ether failed to hold support at $2,900, raises the chance of a drop to $2,500. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hovering near the $2,900 support level through the morning trading hours, Ether was hit with a wave of selling that dropped it to an intraday low of $2,752. Here’s a look at …

Welcome to the latest edition of Cointelegraph’s decentralized finance newsletter. This week has been full of funding raises, innovations, service deployments, and a bit of volatile technical price action — for a change. Axelar Network attains $1B valuation following secondary raise The Axelar Network announced the completion of a $35-million Series B funding round this week, elevating its total market valuation to over $1 billion and establishing its status as a unicorn corporation. Major participants of the round include Dragonfly Capital, Polychain Capital and North Island Ventures, among others. The network has implemented partnership integrations with a suite of validators, …