Bitcoin (BTC) has been struggling to rise above the $50,000 mark, which could have resulted in traders dumping their Bitcoin positions to invest in altcoins. Glassnode data suggests that whale addresses owning more than 1,000 BTC have reduced from about 2,500 in February to 2,100. If large investors continue to sell, Bitcoin could witness a sharp correction until institutional investors step in and buy at lower levels. While MicroStrategy announced the purchase of 271 Bitcoin on May 13, other existing institutional investors appear to be adopting a wait and watch approach. In an interview with Financial NewsSquare, Square chief financial …

Major protocol upgrades are one of the most potent sources of price movement for cryptocurrency projects as community members and investors get excited about new features and traders rush in to “buy the rumor and sell the news.” One protocol that has seen its price rise to new heights this week, despite the overall bearish conditions affecting the market, is Kusama (KSM), an experimental blockchain platform and a sister chain to Polkadot’s platform. Kusama is designed to provide an interoperable and scalable framework for developers. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after dropping to a low of …

The Crypto Fear and Greed Index has dipped to levels not seen since April 2020, indicating that traders are nervous about Tesla backtracking on accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments, Bitcoin's multi-week technical weakness and U.S. regulator's supposed investigation into the business operations of Binance exchange. This nervousness also led to a massive inflow of 30,000 Bitcoin to the exchanges, the highest number since the March 2020 crash. This suggests some traders are booking profits on their long positions. CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said that whales have continued to send more coins to exchanges than usual, implying that near-term bearishness may …

Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on May 13 that the company will stop accepting Bitcoin (BTC) payments for its vehicle purchases, citing “rapidly increasing use of fossil fuels for Bitcoin mining and transactions, especially coal.” Shortly after the announcement, Bitcoin price dropped by 17% to hit a new local low at $46,000. While Musk’s decision is a short-term blow to the sentiment of the market, it is unlikely to change the course of the crypto markets altogether because the institutional demand for cryptocurrencies remains high. Proof of this came yesterday as Cowen Inc., a 103-year-old bank, announced that it had …

Decentralized exchange dTrade is bringing derivatives trading to the Polkadot ecosystem after concluding a $6.4-million seed investment round, setting the stage for wider decentralized finance use cases on the developer network. The private investment round was led by some of the biggest names in the blockchain venture capital world, including Three Arrows Capital and DeFiance. Polychain Capital, ParaFi Capital, Huobi, Mechanism Capital, Bixin Ventures, IOSG Ventures, Hypersphere Ventures and Fenbushi Capital also participated. Several companies have also stepped up to support liquidity on dTrade, including Alameda Research, CMS Holdings, MGNR, Kronos and Wintermute. Alameda Research has invested heavily in Defi …

Bull market cycles in the cryptocurrency market can be exhilarating for day traders and long-term investors alike, but the speed at which the prices move can make it a challenge for promising new projects that are looking to catch the momentum before the cycle plays itself out. This reality has led to some projects listed on exchanges in the form of token IOUs so that interested parties can get in on the trading action before the token is officially released. Polkadot (DOT) is one of the most well-known examples of a token that went through this process. Casper (CSPR), a …

The astronomical rally in Ether (ETH) is not showing any signs of slowing down. The bulls easily cleared the overhead hurdle at $4,000 today, which also pushed the biggest altcoin’s market dominance to over 19%. It is not only Ether that is witnessing sharp buying from traders. Litecoin (LTC) and Cardano (ADA) have also risen new all-time highs, suggesting a broad-based altcoin rally. However, Bitcoin (BTC) seems to have lost its momentum as it continues to struggle near the $60,000 mark. That has pulled its market dominance to below 44% for the first time since July 2018. However, the recent …

Goldman Sachs has started offering its clients access to Bitcoin (BTC) trading through non-deliverable forwards, according to Bloomberg Law. Max Minton, Goldman's Asia-Pacific head of digital assets, said that “institutional demand continues to grow significantly in this space.” Even Citigroup plans to introduce crypto-related services due to the increasing demand from asset managers and hedge funds. Although inquiries about Bitcoin surged in August 2020, the investment bank has been slow to jump into the crypto market. Citigroup’s global head of foreign exchange, Itay Tuchman told the Financial Times that “crypto is here to stay and that we are just at …

Dogecoin (DOGE) skyrocketed above $0.69 today and flipped XRP to become the fourth largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over $88 billion at its highest point. Galaxy Digital recently released a report titled “Dogecoin: The Most Honest Sh*tcoin,” and the document highlighted the fact that no updates have been logged in Dogecoin’s GitHub repository since 2017. Even the blockchain’s network security is suboptimal with only 26% of the overall node count running fully synced notes, the report added. There seems to be a massive mismatch between Dogecoin’s fundamentals and its valuation. The meme coin’s rally is an indication that …

Polkadot’s parachain auctions will mark the most significant milestone on its roadmap since the mainnet launch in 2020. Currently in the testnet on the Rococo network, the next stage of the launch will involve the rollout of parachains on Polkadot’s crazy cousin, the “canary network” Kusama. The rollout of Polkadot parachains on the main network will follow. What does this mean? The Polkadot mainnet has officially been in live operation for nearly a year now. However, only the central Relay chain has been up and running, with the last 12 months of development focused on implementing the platform’s decentralized governance. …

Ether (ETH) has been the star performer among major cryptocurrencies in the past few days as its rally has continued unabated. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization crossed the $3,300 today sending projects market cap to $381.6 billion. Ether has now become the 24th largest asset in the world, vaulting the project above blue-chip names like Mastercard, NVIDIA, Walt Disney, Bank of America and Home Depot, according to data from Infinite Market Cap. This strong performance in Ether has also brought back murmurs of Ethereum flippening Bitcoin (BTC). However, Ether has a lot of catching up to do if it …

The recent weakness in Bitcoin (BTC) price did not see any panic selling by investors, suggesting the sentiment in the crypto sector remains bullish. After Ether’s (ETH) strong run in the past few days, Bitcoin played catch up today as it reclaimed the $55,000 level. This suggests investors continue to accumulate on dips. Gaming-focused venture capital fund Bitkraft Ventures, with more than $400 million in assets under management, has tied up with crypto research firm Delphi Digital to invest in crypto-assets and related projects. The demand from institutions also seems to be picking up in Asia. To cater to this …