Coming every Saturday, Hodlers Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more a week on Cointelegraph in one link.

A recent report shows that Russia could potentially see a countrywide ban on cryptocurrency. Alternatively, its possible that crypto trading via regulated exchanges may continue under strict oversight.

On the one hand, Russias central bank is said to be behind a potential move to make crypto illegal in the country, according to Reuters. On the other hand, Anatoly Aksakov, who heads the Russian parliaments Committee on Financial Markets, publicly disclosed that the industry may continue to operate under regulations that would ensure greater tax compliance. However, Aksakov left open the possibility of an outright ban.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) now has a permanent chairman following approvals by the United States Senate. On Thursday, Rostin Behnam, who had been serving as acting chairman, was given the permanent position. The CFTC is one of three U.S. governing bodies responsible for crypto industry regulatory oversight.

Behnam has previously commented on the crypto space, noting that the CFTC should focus more on the sector. He noted in October: Given the size, the scope and the scale of this emerging market, how its interfacing and affecting retail customers, and with the scale of the growth being so rapid, potential financial stability risks in the future, I think its critically important to have a primary cop on the beat.

The CFTCs overall brass is also changing. In the coming months, four CFTC commissioner spots must be filled, which is a large number given that the regulatory body typically carries five commissioners.

New York Digital Investment Group (NYDIG) is now worth roughly $7 billion after the company successfully raised $1 billion from WestCap and other venture investors. Led by co-founder and CEO Robert Robby Gutmann, NYDIG is a company dedicated to providing access to investment opportunities centered around Bitcoin (BTC).

NYDIG plays a unique role in the industry, empowering companies of all types to incorporate Bitcoin in a secure and compliant way, WestCap partner Scott Ganeles said in a public statement announcing NYDIGs additional capital achievement. We are proud to partner with Robby and his outstanding NYDIG team as they forge new paths to accessibility and further accelerate Bitcoin adoption.

Sports apparel company Nike officially joined the Metaverse this week by acquiring virtual sneakers and collectibles brand RTFKT.

Prior to the move, Nike expressed strong interest in this emerging market by pursuing Metaverse-specific patent and trademark filings for its logo. The company also publicized a job search for people with specific Metaverse expertise.

Our plan is to invest in the RTFKT brand, serve and grow their innovative and creative community and extend Nikes digital footprint and capabilities, Nikes CEO and president John Donahoe said.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has decided to delay a verdict on two physically-backed Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) until February 2022. The Commission published its decision on Wednesday.

The two ETF applications were filed by Bitwise Asset Management and Grayscale. Whereas Bitwise aimed to introduce an entirely new spot Bitcoin ETF, Grayscale intended to create a spot offering by repurposing its current Grayscale Bitcoin Trust product.

The SEC has turned down multiple Bitcoin spot ETF applications in 2021. The Commission delayed one such product from WisdomTree earlier in 2021, only to deny it in December.

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) is at $46,292, Ether (ETH) at $3,852 and XRP at $0.79. The total market cap is at $2.16 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are yearn.finance (YFI) at 52.51%, OKB (OKB) at 31.83% and Avalanche (AVAX) at 29.75%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week are Decred (DCR) at -22.85%, Theta Fuel (TFUEL) at -17.98% and BitTorrent (BTT) at -17.65%.

For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read Cointelegraphs market analysis.

DeFi is the most dangerous part of the crypto world. This is where the regulation is effectively absent, and no surprise its where the scammers and the cheats and the swindlers mix among part-time investors and first-time crypto traders. In DeFi, someone cant even tell if theyre dealing with a terrorist.

Elizabeth Warren, U.S. senator

I argue that we are winning [the digital currency] race because of the sum of free-market activity taking place inside the U.S. regulatory perimeter with digital currencies and blockchain-based financial services. The sum of these activities are advancing broad U.S. economic competitiveness and national security interests.

Dante Disparte, head of global policy and chief strategy officer at Circle

Stablecoins can certainly be a useful, efficient, consumer-serving part of the financial system if theyre properly regulated. Right now, they arent. They have the potential to scale, particularly if they were to be associated with one of the very large tech networks that exist.

Jerome Powell, U.S. Federal Reserve chair

Bitcoin is not a good substitute for transactional currency. Even though it was created as a silly joke, Dogecoin is better suited for transactions. The total transaction flow that you do with Dogecoin, like transactions per day, has much higher potential than Bitcoin.

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla

[Crypto] companies have the cash and have been bidding away very senior talent who only have one or two years of crypto experience with offers that they cannot turn down.

Adrianna Huehnergarth, engagement manager for Heidrick & Struggles

The beauty of crypto is that you can be based anywhere. There is this community approach regardless of where you kick-start a flywheel from.

Matt Zhang, founder of Hivemind Capital Partners

Cryptocurrencies cannot become a means of payment.

Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput, governor for the Bank of Thailand

Bitcoins price has been on a rollercoaster the past week. The coin saw prices as high as almost $51,000, while also visiting levels below $46,000, based on Cointelegraphs BTC price index.

According to a report from Delphi Digital, Bitcoins price could finish out the year trading relatively sideways. The firm noted the recent spike in stablecoin transactions as reason to be cautious. Much like the May 2021 price crash, current market conditions are defined by much higher than normal stablecoin volumes, presumably as investors exit BTC positions and enter into stablecoins.

The most likely path forward for BTC in the short term is choppy or sideways action, Delphi Digital stated. However, any major risk-off event in the broader market could negatively impact the leading digital currency.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi suffered a Twitter account hack on Dec. 12. Although the nefarious party only had control of the account for a short period of time, they were able to send out a scam tweet from the account, proclaiming false news.

The hackers tweeted that India had picked up Bitcoin as an official currency a sizable lie considering the headlines El Salvador made in the lead-up to actually adopting BTC as legal tender in September 2021. The tweet sent out by the hackers included a lie about India purchasing hundreds of BTC, as well as an external link.

Modi also suffered a Twitter account hack in September 2020.

Hackers recently siphoned nearly $80 million in digital assets from crypto trading platform AscendEX. Estimates from analytics outfit PeckShield put the total number of stolen crypto assets at $77.7 million. The sum consists of $8.5 million worth of Polygon-based tokens, $9.2 million of Binance Smart Chain-based tokens and $60 million worth of Ethereum-based tokens.

The pillage affected the platforms hot wallet but not its cold storage amounts, as per a tweet from the crypto platform on Dec. 11. AscendEX also noted in the same tweet that customers who lost funds would be covered by the platform.

Coinbase, Kraken and several other crypto-involved companies received backlash from the United Kingdoms Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for certain advertisements. The ASA claimed the ads did not adequately provide viewers with proper risk warnings, and that they preyed on viewers who lacked crypto expertise.

One ad from Coinbase Europe noted the large profit outcome an early Bitcoin investment would have yielded if held until 2021. The ASA pushed back on the ad, essentially saying it made it look like the future would hold similar profit potential. The ASA also pointed out that the ad lacked an explanation that the future does not promise the same rewards reaped in the past.

NFTs are here to stay and the arrival of the Metaverse is only set to make their appeal and use even more popular.

Because the crypto space is largely a challenge to central banks, at least in a lot of peoples minds, then anything that happens in banking and finance is interesting to us.

When it was finally time to take off the mask and get on the plane home, it was weird.

See original here:
SEC delays spot Bitcoin ETF decisions, Nike throws its hat into Metaverse arena, and a crypto exchange gets hacked: Hodler's Digest, Dec. 12-18 -...

On December 13, cryptocurrency Bitcoin reached 90 per cent of its maximum supply. A research by blockchain.com revealed that of the total supply of 21 million Bitcoins, 18.89 million have already been mined and are circulating in the market. The milestone comes almost 12 years after the first block, which consisted of 50 Bitcoins, was mined on January 9, 2009.

For the uninitiated, Bitcoin is one of the few cryptocurrencies with limited supply. Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto capped the number of Bitcoin at 21 million, to make the cryptocurrency scarce and control inflation that might arise from an unlimited supply. Bitcoin is mined by miners who solve mathematical puzzles to verify and validate block of transactions occurring in its network. It is a process of adding new Bitcoins into circulation. After performing a set of transactions successfully, the miner is awarded a block of Bitcoins.

Before examining the implications of Bitcoins 21 million cap, it might be interesting to consider whether it will ever reach that figure.

It should be noted that every four years the reward for mining Bitcoin is halved. So, when Nakamoto created Bitcoin in 2008, the reward for confirming a block of transactions was 50 Bitcoins. In 2012, it was halved to 25 Bitcoins, and it went down to 12.5 in 2016. In May 2020, miners stood to earn 6.25 Bitcoin for every new block, and by the end of 2024 it is expected that miners will only earn 1.56 Bitcoins for verifying a block of transactions. This process is called halving and will continue till the last Bitcoin is mined.

It may seem that the worlds most popular cryptocurrency is close to being exhausted, but Bitcoins halving schedules predict that the remaining 10 percent supply will sustain until February 2140, as per blockchain.com.

Further, the total number of Bitcoins are not available for open market distribution. Chainalysis, an analytics firm, revealed that around 3.7 million Bitcoins have already been lost due to various reasons, including loss of access to ones private key, death and more.

As Bitcoins supply is nearing its limit, here are some notable implications it will have on investors and on the blockchain network.

After reaching 21 million supply in circulation, Bitcoin will become more scarce and miners will be dependent on transaction fees, instead of block rewards. The miners will start earning more out of the transactions that happen on these blockchains than from the mining itself.

It is worth noting that Bitcoin is not just a cryptocurrency, but a blockchain network that processes transactions on a distributed ledger framework. So the technology has far more use cases than just being a crypto asset.

Irrespective of any future efforts to change the underlying Bitcoin technology, experts continue to speculate on the future once the maximum limit is reached. Some analysts claim new technologies will likely help to cut the cost of mining(Bitcoin mining requires high-powered computers that make intensive use of electricity)which will eventually result in more profit for miners.

Others suggest that Bitcoin platforms will only be used for large transactions of very high value, which will offer sufficient revenue to keep stakeholders satisfied.

Currently, the average fee for every Bitcoin transaction is $15 (Rs 1,149 approx). Note that this fee was as low as $1.40 (Rs 106 approx.) last year, meaning that the price can continue to spike in some events like a crypto bust. However, there is no assurance that the cost of the mining process will remain high in the years to come.

Ankur Dubey, principal of investments at Jupiter Capital, toldindianexpress.comthat even after all Bitcoins are mined, crypto miners will still participate in the decentralised blockchain network because of the transaction fee they are making on the transactions. Perhaps, the focus at that point of time, may shift from mining the Bitcoin to facilitating the transaction, but the network as an overall entity will not suffer too much.

Dubey believes there is an inverse relationship between the prices and the total Bitcoin supply. Investors can expect the price to go up, as the supply of Bitcoin willcome down further. So, it is exactly the opposite, when the supply comes down, the prices move up rather than the other way around.

Meanwhile, another expert Hitesh Malviya, founder ofitsblockchain.com, finds It hard to predict how the Bitcoin price will look like after 120 years. He added, price will depend on the future demand, regulations. But one thing is for sure, Bitcoin will become the most scarce asset in the world by then.

Continue reading here:
Heres what could happen after Bitcoin runs out of supply - The Indian Express

The Bank of England has said that bitcoin could be worthless and people investing in the digital currency should be prepared to lose everything.

In a warning over the potential risks for investors, the central bank questioned whether there was any inherent worth in the most prominent digital currency, which has soared in value this year to close to $50,000 (37,786) a piece.

The cryptocurrency peaked above $67,000 in early November, but suffered a sell-off after news first broke of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, before stabilising around its current level in the past week.

The deputy governor, Sir Jon Cunliffe, said the Bank had to be ready for risks linked to the rise of the crypto asset following rapid growth in its popularity. Their price can vary quite considerably and [bitcoins] could theoretically or practically drop to zero, he told the BBC.

The market capitalisation of crypto assets has grown tenfold since early 2020 to about $2.6tn, representing about 1% of global financial assets. About 0.1% of UK households wealth is in bitcoin and similar crypto assets, such as ethereum and Binance coin. As many as 2.3 million people hold crypto assets, at an average amount of about 300 each.

The Banks financial policy committee, set up in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to monitor risks, said on Monday there was little direct threat to the stability of the UK financial system from crypto assets. However, it warned that, at the current rapid pace of growth, such assets could become more interconnected with traditional financial services and were likely to pose a number of risks.

Publishing its regular health check on the financial system, the Bank said major institutions should take a cautious approach to adopting crypto assets and that it would pay close attention to developments in the market.

Enhanced regulatory and law enforcement frameworks, both domestically and at a global level, are needed to influence developments in these fast-growing markets in order to manage risks, encourage sustainable innovation and maintain broader trust and integrity in the financial system, it said.

In a separate blogpost published on its website on Tuesday, a member of the Banks staff said bitcoin failed to fulfil many of the features required of a currency and that it risked being inherently volatile.

Thomas Belsham, who works in the Banks stakeholder and media engagement division, wrote: The problem is that, unlike traditional forms of money, Bitcoin isnt used to price things other than itself. As Bitcoiners themselves are fond of saying, one Bitcoin = one Bitcoin. But a tautology does not a currency make.

He said scarcity of the crypto asset which is limited to 21m bitcoin is among the key reasons for its attraction for investors, but this feature embedded into its design may even, ultimately, render Bitcoin worthless.

About 19m bitcoin is currently in circulation, with new coins added when miners validate changes to the blockchain ledger underpinning the cryptocurrency. While the ultimate number of bitcoin in circulation is not expected to be reached until February 2140, it would become harder to sustain this system over time, Belsham said.

Simple game theory tells us that a process of backward induction should, really, at some point, induce the smart money to get out. And were that to happen, investors really should be prepared to lose everything. Eventually.

Read this article:
Bitcoin could become worthless, Bank of England warns - The Guardian

Bitcoin (BTC) may be flagging below $50,000, but its bull market is actually three years old this month.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingViewconfirms that Bitcoin bulls have at least something to celebrate as 2021 draws to a close.

Despite disappointing when it comes to end-of-year price expectations, BTC/USD remains an order of magnitude higher than where it was even 18 months ago.

March 2020 marked a brief return to near-cycle lows in what had otherwise been a solid bull market ever since December 2018. At that time, Bitcoin capitulated to lows of $3,100 a level that was never seen, and likely never will be seen again.

It was Dec. 15, 2018, when Bitcoin ended an entire year of retracement from all-time highs of near $20,000. Compared to this years $69,000 peak, BTC investors have thus had exposure to as much as 2,125% gains.

Consolidation lasted for several months afterward, with April 2019 being the watershed moment as the market climbed toward the years high of $13,800.

The anniversary of peak bear is timely, coming as analysts weigh the chances of consolidation and a slow grind upwardcharacterizing the end of this year and the beginning of the next.

Welcome to the chop season, Cointelegraph contributor Michal van de Poppe summarized.

As Cointelegraph reported, Sept. 15 formed another birthday for Bitcoin in the form of it spending an entire year above $10,000.

While a return even to $20,000 is not in the cards for the majority of market participants, analysts are not discounting the idea that Bitcoin will dip considerably again in the short term.

Related:Analyst lists 21 factors calling for Bitcoin price upside But just 4 bearish signals

For popular trader Pentoshi, this could take the form of another leverage cascade to flush excessive speculation from the market.

Major support levels revolve around $40,000, a breach of which would put BTC/USD on course to challenge its dip from after Mays miner rout.

Conversely, a max pain scenario would in fact be a run higher toward $60,000, fellow trader Filbfilb arguedthis week.

Continue reading here:
Happy bearday, Bitcoin: Its been 3 years since BTC bottomed at $3.1K - Cointelegraph

What happened

Today, three of the five largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization,Bitcoin(CRYPTO:BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH) andSolana(CRYPTO:SOL), saw substantial declines, bringing their weekly returns into the red. Over the past 24 hours, these tokens have sunk 5.5%, 7.3%, and 8.3%, respectively, as of 10:30 a.m. ET.

These returns generally paced the overall crypto market, which is unsurprising given that these three tokens account for approximately two-thirds of the aggregate market capitalization of the entire sector.

Interestingly, these three top tokens have begun to trade in closer correlation with equities in recent weeks, surging and plunging on macro news that has caused volatility not only in the crypto world but in equities as well. Today, it appears that overall risk-off sentiment from investors, in addition to concerns around rising coronavirus cases due to the omicron variant and tightening monetary policy related to surging inflation, have many taking a cautious approach to the crypto sector.

Image source: Getty Images.

The increasing correlation between equities and cryptocurrencies we've seen of late has generally been a negative for many investors. Many look at digital currencies as a means of diversifying their portfolios. These higher-volatility assets tend to move investors up the risk curve, but also increase a portfolio's overall return potential, should the historical performance of these top tokens hold true over the longer term.

Thus, investors can expect to see higher volatility with cryptocurrencies relative to other assets such as stocks. However, when both asset classes consistently move in the same direction, investors may become concerned that even the best cryptocurrencies (such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana) are simply becoming higher-beta proxies for growth stocks. Accordingly, those looking for diversification and better risk-adjusted returns may not get them if this high-beta environment continues.

The historical performance of cryptocurrencies over the past decade (in the case of Bitcoin) and in recent years (in the case of all other cryptocurrencies) is impressive. However, it's important for investors to keep in mind that cryptocurrencies generally haven't had to weather a recession or major economic crisis. Bitcoin itself came into existence in 2009, after the Great Recession. Sure, the pandemic provided a brief pause for risk assets; however, we've seen low interest rates and an accommodative Fed juice risk assets to an incredible extent.

If the punchbowl gets taken away, the likelihood is that we'll see substantially higher volatility for all risk assets (equities, crypto, and others). Thus, those with a weak stomach may want to stay away from even the highest-quality tokens, such as these three juggernauts.

However, the longer-term track record these tokens have put up suggests capital is looking to find its way into technologies that could prove to be the building blocks for our future world. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana are likely here to stay.

That said, questions remain as to what the near- to medium-term performance of these tokens will be in what could be a much more hawkish environment moving forward.

This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the official recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. Were motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.

Read the original post:
Why Top Cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana Plunged Today - The Motley Fool

Starting in 2022, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is expected to shut down a longtime tax loophole that allows cryptocurrency investors to harvest their losses to offset their tax burden.

Digital coins, already under heavy selling pressure as the holidays approach, are getting hit by wealthy investors fearing a tighter tax regime next year. The shrinking loophole could be making matters worse.

Following a "relief rally" after the Federal Reserve's policy decision, cryptocurrencies have been hammered along with stocks, as Omicron variant fears grip markets again. While short-term volatility has come to define crypto trading, year-end tax positioning may also be playing a role.

Buying high and selling low isnt an ideal investing strategy, but with crypto there is a silver lining. Savvy investors can reap advantages on their tax returns by selling their crypto at a loss, then buying it back shortly thereafter.

The "wash sale" rule is used to tax capital gains on stocks, bonds and other financial securities but not cryptocurrencies. That loophole is one of several positions that might get closed by the Build Back Better bill pending in Congress.

Jordan Bass, a certified public accountant (CPA) and tax lawyer, explained to Yahoo Finance the 30-day wash sale rule hasn't ever applied to crypto assets that aren't distinctly classified as securities.

That has allowed savvy investors to sell their underwater positions, use the loss to offset income or other capital gains taxes, then buy back into the position at a lower cost basis within a short period of time.

For example, if an individual takes a $10,000 position in a crypto asset then the price of that crypto asset plummets by 75% to $2,500, that person can sell their asset at a loss of $7,500 and use the loss to offset their total tax liability.

Since the market for cryptocurrencies is very volatile, investors can quickly buy back into the coin of their choice at the $2,500 price at a more favorable tax rate, and occasionally recover their full position.

Story continues

Once executed, they can use their capital loss to offset other gains or taxable income per year up to $3,000 according to the rules. The remainder can be carried forward for future taxable years indefinitely. For large investment portfolios, the outcome can make a staggering difference. The tactic is a well-worn strategy for billionaires.

According to Bass, a number of his clients have harvested crypto losses for tax purposes, especially during the start of the asset class' previous bear market in 2018.

Investors can do that in crypto at least for the rest of the month. They cant do that in the securities realm. Brokerage accounts track this information and report it in 1099s with adjustments based on the wash sale rule, Bass explained.

The attorney also admitted harvesting tax losses is less ideal during booming times such as most of 2021, at least for "blue chip" crypto units like Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and Ethereum (ETH-USD). However, even those cryptocurrencies experienced major, albeit temporary, down swings through out the year.

The strategy proves especially useful for day traders who accumulate far more taxable events than a standard buy-and-hold investor. Bass admitted some clients newer to the cryptocurrency markets actually ended up owing more taxable income than the value of their total crypto holdings come tax day.

Though investors can attempt tax loss harvesting all year long, it's often considered and executed at the end of the year, according to Andrew Gordon, an attorney and CPA with Gordon Law.

He told Yahoo Finance that a number of his firms clients have used the method this year, especially with their non-fungible token (NFT) holdings. And the method isn't for the faint at heart, as many investors often miss or misunderstand the rules, Gordon explained.

The IRS economic substance doctrine explicitly prohibits a tax filer from reporting a loss that has no economic impact. That means investors can't just sell their crypto, then buy it back at the same price and write it off as a loss. Also, they cannot do this with an NFT, whose selling point is its uniqueness (hence the 'nonfungible' in NFT).

For Bitcoin or Ethereum which are fungible, it doesnt matter which piece you have, it's all the same. Thats not true for NFTs. You typically cant sell and buy back the same one and if you are, then, perhaps, the entire sale is a sham, said Gordon.

"We've had people 'sell' to their friends then buy it back or they very immediately buy it back in the same instant," Gordon said. "That's not going to be accepted by the IRS."

While the 30-day wash sale rule applies next year, Gordon pointed out that investors can always recognize losses from poor performing crypto assets, scams, or "rug pulls" since they hopefully won't ever buy back those same assets.

On the other hand, the opposite maneuver "gain tax harvesting," often favored by high net worth investors, also contributes to selling pressure around crypto and other assets like stocks, according to Gordon.

He said many of his clients with substantial holdings are also selling their gains now before a tighter tax regime in the U.S. takes hold next year.

David Hollerith covers cryptocurrency for Yahoo Finance. Follow him @dshollers.

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Read the latest cryptocurrency and bitcoin news from Yahoo Finance

Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Flipboard, and LinkedIn

Read the rest here:
Why tax season may be adding to the rout in Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies - Yahoo Finance

I type d that tyitle twice because I knew it was wrong the first time. Still wrong. w/e.

Eight years ago today, in a now infamous, whiskey-soaked Bitcointalk post, a meme was born.

so ive had some whisky

actually on the bottle its spelled whisky

w/e

sue me

(but only if its payable in BTC)

Starting 2013 at around $15, the bitcoin price had just risen to an all-time high over $1,100 when the message was posted, and little did its author, GameKyuubi, know that while his then-current condition would prevent him from spelling correctly, the energy and passion behind his mindset would inspire millions of people across the planet to treat their satoshis like the precious assets they are.

The HODL meme is both as innocuous as it is powerful, and the sentiment behind the post is as true in 2013 as it is today in 2021. No, it is not an acronym for hold on (for) dear life, but indirectly it has taught us the most practical and overall most successful method for how to handle your bitcoin exposure. Presidents, senators, CEOs, congressional members and plebs alike all have signaled their ideal money financial strategy with these four little letters.

But what does it mean to HODL (or hodl), and why has it captured such a huge network of public figures praising and utilizing its name? In a surprisingly flawless use of spelling, capitalization and the English language, GameKyuubi finished the meat of his post by writing, In a zero-sum game such as this, traders can only take your money if you sell.

Within 10 minutes of the post going live, multiple responses to this newfound camaraderie appeared, culminating in a I AM HODLING! meme from 300 (the 2006 film) by user Piramida. Things move fast in the Bitcoin space, and by the turn of the hour, over 20 posts from Bitcointalk users referenced the misspelling, including a handful of posts prophetically shedding light on the memeability of HODLING.

It all just goes to show you that signal is signal, regardless of whatever temporary motor skill impairment might be occurring in the individual responsible for dispensing said truth.

WHY AM I HOLDING? I'LL TELL YOU WHY. It's because I'm a bad trader and I KNOW I'M A BAD TRADER

The liquid-encouraged humility of GameKyuubi is something we can probably all stand to relate to a bit more. Trading is hard, and the retrospective glances at historical charts can bring a very false sense of ease for the emerging retail day trader.

Blow-off tops and generational bottoms are easy to spot after the fact, and despite all of the loving warnings from experienced HODLers to first-cycle traders, at every inflection point, high and low margin traders alike get their liquidation emails or simply get stuck buying high and selling low. Again, trading is hard, and the very wonderful qualities that make bitcoin a decentralized market of true price discovery also make it susceptible for experienced market makers to sweep lows and find your stops, while also baiting the inexperienced to buy their exit liquidity with moon price predictions and other bull-trapping techniques.

The best strategy, as outlined by GameKyuubi, is just to simply hold your bitcoin, stack humbly and not worry yourself with the tax implications and the economic risks of attempting to time the selling of tops and try and catch knives on bitcoin's inevitable and iconic merry-go-round of volatility.

As it currently stands, bitcoin is regulated as a commodity, much like a typical security or stock option, and with each conversion between satoshis and dollar-denominated stablecoins comes a taxable event. By HODLing, not only do you not put your digitally-scarce bearer asset in the hands of the bigger-fish traders, you get to keep your bitcoin from ending up in the gullet of the two biggest market manipulating fish of them all; the IRS and the extended United States budget committee.

Limiting your exposure to stop-loss hunts and removing your bitcoin from centralized exchanges is not just good financial advice, it is an ethical and game theory necessity to avoid the pitfalls and disadvantages of legacy markets.

There was no option to remove your stock from the CME, NYSE or precious metal markets such as COMEX and actually physically hold the tokenized representation of ownership, and thus little to no ability to take responsibility for your assets in a self-custodial way, nor to perform an audit on actual circulating share supply. These technological issues have come up many times, with JPMorgan paying a $1 billion dollar fine, the largest financial fine in history, for spoofing silver markets, and of course, the now infamous naked short selling of $GME by Citadel, the hedge-fund behind the pay-to-order, zero-fee trading books of the Robin Hood brokerage app.

Of course, when GameKyuubi channeled their inner Nostradamus, the trading vehicles for bitcoin were vastly underrepresented compared to now, but the few that did exist were highly unregulated and even more prone to wild liquidation events in BTC-denominated volume, despite far less volume in USD terms.

Now, with meaty institutional interest and corresponding exchange-traded funds live across the world, the opportunity for veteran traders to get a piece of your economic activity has never been more ample. To HODL is to limit your exposure to not only the compounding, lossy inflation vampire of fiat central banking, but also to humbly sit on your hands and self custody your liquidity away from centralized failsafes and the exposed attack vector that is trying to trade on a public book.

...but you know what? I'm not part of that group. When the traders buy back in I'm already part of the market capital...

HODLing is not just a good idea for avoiding capital gains taxes, but also a fantastic method of keeping your mental health intact as we surf the waves of true price discovery.

Bitcoin is a free market that allows its users a unique but double-edged outlet from the madness of market opens and closes, un-auditable share supplies and exchange circuit breakers, for the price of a different beast; a 24-hour, we never close market. The opportunity costs of simply ignoring the real-time fluctuations and HODLings may not be transparently clear on your PnLs, but perhaps stunningly apparent in your quality of life.

For some, this is a revolution, for others, simply savings, but to all, Bitcoin should be viewed as a means to whatever end. And what better end than a head out of the Ichimoku clouds and far away from one-minute candlesticks?

Many of the economic benefits to the Bitcoin protocol simply are not being utilized until you take personal responsibility for your wealth. But wealth is health, and the simplicity of the HODL strategy is to find the perfect balance between exposure to healthy volatility, with the price historically trending up, without letting your satoshis out of your personal sovereignty.

To know that, no matter what decisions elected (or unelected) officials make overnight, that your share of the network is mathematically secure this is to know a financial nirvana not before available to humanity. Take advantage of the orange-colored lifeline and get off the ride of the fiat rat race. If you find the nausea of the ride exhilarating, by all means, trade away, but never, ever, let your main bitcoin leave your HODLing grasp.

To paraphrase a man who took his alias from this very meme, American Hodl, ...HODLing bitcoin is very simple, but it's not easy, it's f----ing difficult.

And while one must agree it is difficult to find the maturity to HODL, the mechanisms of a proper cold storage solution combined with the eternal wisdom of that time in the market is greater than timing the market continues to drive the simplest solution to the bitcoin game; stay humble, stack sats.

Zoom out and realize that the seemingly many opportunities to find a few percentage points of alpha in properly timing bitcoin's price swings will simply round themselves away over time. We all like to hound the charts and news aggregates for any hint of what comes next, but those who have kept their heads down, dollar-cost averaged and perhaps momentarily increased their savings allocations during red days have come out significantly ahead over the last halvening epoch.

The compounding annual growth rate of bitcoin against the dollar is quite literally unprecedented in historical asset markets since the launch of the Bitcoin network just four years before the HODL meme was born.

It is a simple act of rebellion from our fiat overlords, but the conviction shown from those who HODLed throughout the ebbs and flows of the highs and lows of a free energy market in true price discovery mode should inspire future HODLers of this emerging, disruptive technology.

March 2020 was perhaps our most recent and truest test of resolve, but it will not be the last. The price you pay to get access to such necessary volatility is exposure to moments that remind you that there are no circuit breakers in free markets. The gift you receive for paying that price, however, is the truly decentralized miracle of a digitally-scarce bearer asset that can actually give users ownership of a piece of Satoshi's immaculate conception.

If you have been HODLing along for the past eight years, you surely have felt the life-altering effects of the Bitcoin network. So, raise your whiskey, or actually, according to the bottle mentioned in the original post, your whisky, and toast to the mostly-articulated gospel of GameKyuubi, as our beloved HODL turns eight years old. It has served us all very well thus far; a rallying call for seasoned Bitcoiners to calm the nerves of young coiners.

If Bitcoin continues to grow and attract new users in the explosive ways it has thus far, then truly the best is yet to come for those who HODL.

This is a guest post by Mark Goodwin. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.

The rest is here:
Eight Years Since The Meme Was Born, Were Still HODLing Bitcoin - Bitcoin Magazine

Editorial IndependenceWe want to help you make more informed decisions. Some links on this page clearly marked may take you to a partner website and may result in us earning a referral commission. For more information, see How We Make Money.

Bitcoin notched its latest all-time high of the year last month when it went over $68,000 for the first time. By early December, it had dropped back below $46,000.

This latest high point is a huge increase for Bitcoins price after starting the year below $30,000 in January. Its price fluctuates wildly by the day and even by the minute. Bitcoins price has ranged from below $46,000 to above $58,000 this month. It hasnt cracked $50,000 since Sunday, and at its lowest this week has been below $46,000.

Despite the volatility, many experts say Bitcoin is on its way to passing the $100,000 mark, though with varying opinions on exactly when that will happen. The volatility is nothing new, and is a big reason experts say new crypto investors should be extremely cautious when allocating part of their portfolio to cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin has shown as steady a rise in value over the years as any other cryptocurrency on the market. Its only reasonable for Bitcoin investors to be curious about how high it can ultimately go.

Unfortunately, Bitcoins price is extremely difficult to predict and even more susceptible to market factors than more established asset classes. But we decided to ask some experts for their best guesses anyway. Heres what they said:

Conservative predictions of Bitcoin say the cryptocurrency will reach $100,000 by 2023.

Some experts are more bullish. The most knowledgeable educators in the space are predicting $100,000 Bitcoin in Q1 2022 or sooner, says Kate Waltman, a New York-based certified public accountant who specializes in crypto.

Others are hesitant to predict a number and a date, but rather point to the trend of increasing value over time. Investors should expect a pretty sustainable rise in Bitcoins long-term value driven by organic market movement, with the $100,000 threshold in near-sight, predicted Jurrien Timmer, director of global macro at Fidelity Investments, last month.

What I expect from Bitcoin is volatility [in the] short-term and growth [in the] long-term, says Kiana Danial, founder of Invest Diva and author of Cryptocurrency Investing For Dummies.

Unsurprisingly, youll find widely varying opinions and predictions on how high Bitcoin can go (and when) from well-known crypto investors, evangelists, and public commentators. Here are some more predictions we found, ranked from low to high over the next year:

And it isnt just crypto insiders who are making Bitcoin predictions. Big financial institutions have made their own predictions, as well, with JPMorgan predicting a long-term high of $146,000 and Bloomberg predicting it could hit $400,000 by 2022.

Even if Bitcoin breaks $100,000, stay focused building on your overall portfolio including passive index funds, emergency savings, and your retirement account(s).

Normal economic factors influence the price of cryptocurrency just like any other currency or investment supply and demand, public sentiment, the news cycle, market events, scarcity, and more.

As a new and emerging asset, additional factors influence Bitcoins value more than the average currency or security. Here are some:

There are only 18 to 19 million Bitcoins currently in circulation, and minting will stop at 21 million. Industry experts consistently point to this built-in scarcity as a big part of cryptocurrencys appeal.

Theres a fixed supply but increasing demand, says Alexis Johnson, president of the blockchain public relations and events company, Light Node Media.

Other experts point out Bitcoin has value because people give it value. Thats really why everybodys buying because of the psychological aspect, says Nelson Merchan, Johnsons Light Node Media co-founder. That can make it difficult for the average consumer to discern whether Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are legitimate. The whole concept of supply and demand only works when people want something scarce even if it previously didnt exist.

It actually does almost kind of seem like a scam, Merchan says about Bitcoins origins. Though he says hes seen his crypto holdings reach millions at times since he began investing in 2017, hes also seen them disappear in an instant.

Im a big believer that if its not in cash, you dont really have that money because in crypto, anything can drop dramatically overnight, Merchan says. This is why certified financial planners suggest only allocating 1% to 5% of your portfolio to crypto to protect your money from the volatility.

One of the main factors driving the price increase of Bitcoin is the rate at which new consumers are buying and exploring cryptocurrency, says Waltman.

Crypto technology is being adopted at a faster rate than humans first adopted internet technology, she says. Assuming it continues, the compounding acceleration of new adoption could keep pushing the value of Bitcoin higher and higher.

Bitcoin adoption has been increasing at an annual rate of 113%, according to data from the digital asset management firm CoinShares. (Meanwhile, people adopted the internet at a slower rate of 63%.) If people warm up to Bitcoin at a comparable rate to that of the internets early days (or faster), the report makes the case that there will be 1 billion users by 2024 and 4 billion users by 2030.

CoinDesk reported last month the number of new wallets worldwide increased 45% from January 2020 to January 2021, to an estimated 66 million. Popular crypto exchange Coinbase says it has now over 73 million worldwide users, while fellow exchange Gemini recently released its State of U.S. Crypto Report, which found 21.2 million Americans own cryptocurrency of some kind.

Federal officials have made it clear in recent months they are paying attention to the crypto industry. President Joe Biden recently signed an infrastructure bill requiring all crypto exchanges to notify the IRS of their transactions. Similarly, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen recently said stablecoins a type of crypto linked to the value of the U.S. dollar should be subject to federal oversight.

The conversation on regulatory policies is patchy, said an industry white paper published byFlourish, a fintech platform designed for investment advisors. With a relatively new asset class like cryptocurrency, any new regulation has potential to impact value and in turn investors portfolios.

When China banned crypto in September 2021, for instance, investors saw the price of Bitcoin drop, though it has since risen and resumed its usual volatility. Even though theres now about a decade of precedent for Bitcoin, the Securities and Exchange Commission is taking all decisions on a case-by-base basis in what experts refer to as its crawl, walk, run strategy toward mainstream crypto adoption.

[Regulation has] kind of evolved over the last five years, says Ben Cruikshank, head of Flourish, Regulators can always change their mind.

Finally, another major influence on Bitcoins price is a cycle known as halving. Its complicated and algorithmic in nature, but in essence halving is a step in the Bitcoin mining process that results in the reward for mining Bitcoin transactions getting cut in half.

Halving influences the rate at which new coins enter circulation, which can impact the value of existing Bitcoin holdings. Historically, halvings have correlated with boom and bust cycles. Some experts try to predict these cycles down to the day after a halving event concludes.

As with any investment, financial planners and other experts advise against letting Bitcoins price fluctuations lead you to emotional decision making. Studies have shown investors who contribute regularly to passive index funds and ETFs perform better over time, thanks to a strategy called dollar cost averaging.

Thats part of why experts recommend not investing more than 5% of your overall portfolio in cryptocurrency, and never to invest at the expense of saving for emergencies and paying down high-interest debt. The path to long-term wealth and saving for retirement is most often successful for people with diversified investments like low-cost index funds, with crypto making up a very small part.

And even with crypto, experts say a set-it-and-forget-it approach makes sense. Passive investing is a very valid way to achieve financial goals, says Arkansas-based certified financial planner Sarah Catherine Gutierrez.

Since crypto is still new to most people, its OK to wait and see how things unfold before putting your money on the line. We only have about 10 years of data to inform crypto price predictions, and the value of Bitcoin while climbing long-term is highly volatile from day to day.

Volatility makes it hard to know the what and why behind your crypto strategy. Before investing in Bitcoin or any alternative assets, ask yourself what you want to achieve from your participation in this particularly volatile market, and why. That will help you stay focused.

I dont think people understand across the board how to value [Bitcoin], says Gutierrez. When youre buying it, you need to know your expectation of what value youre going to get from what youre buying.

Financial planners dont have a bias against cryptocurrency, Gutierrez says, particularly if a client expresses an interest in learning about it. However, you should ask yourself whether you need crypto as part of your plan. In most cases, says Gutierrez, the answer is no.

Our take is that we dont think you need Bitcoin in order to reach financial goals, she says, adding that the average person should favor simple ways of investing that are easy to understand. This will keep you on track for core financial goals and better position you long-term for a healthy retirement.

Here is the original post:
Bitcoin Will Hit $100,000, According to Experts. Heres When They Predict It Will Happen - NextAdvisor

A Paraguayan bill seeking to regulate the trading and mining of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in the country passed the Senate on Thursday. Senator Fernando Silva Facetti, a co-author of the bill, said on Twitter that the legislation now heads to Paraguays Chamber of Deputies, where it will be debated in 2022.

The bill does not make bitcoin a legal tender in Paraguay. In July, Bitcoin Magazine obtained an exclusive look into the draft bill through a conversation with Paraguayan Congressman Carlitos Rejala. The legislation hinted at increased regulatory security from the countrys regulators regarding bitcoin mining and an overarching goal to offer investor protections from businesses offering bitcoin services.

With this we want to welcome the innovation of cryptocurrencies in Paraguay to the world, Rejala told Bitcoin Magazine at the time. This is the result of a very strong and arduous teamwork of many experts in the field, both local and foreign.

However, it isnt clear yet whether the lengthy and complicated Paraguayan bill will welcome Bitcoin and cryptocurrency innovation.

While El Salvadors final bill was just a few pages of text representing easily the most favorable, accommodating Bitcoin legalese ever passed, the early draft of Paraguays legislation set a different tone, Bitcoin Magazine reported in August, highlighting how Paraguay chose to stand in stark contrast to the Central American countrys friendlier legislation.

The bill approved by the Paraguayan Senate states that individuals or companies interested in bitcoin mining will have to request authorization for industrial energy consumption. However, after the approval is granted, the entity would still need to go further and apply for a license to mine bitcoin.

According to the bill, bitcoin miners could enjoy thousands of megawatts that Paraguay currently has as surplus if it comes under the countrys regulations. The text noted that the industry would be jointly regulated by Paraguays Industry and Commerce Secretariat, National Securities Commission, Anti-Money Laundering Office, and National Electricity Administration.

Regarding transactions with crypto assets, the National Securities Commission will establish the registration requirements for intervening agents for negotiation, compensation, custody, and intermediation in the securities market, Silva Facetti said in another tweet.

Read more:
Paraguays Bitcoin Bill Passes the Senate - Bitcoin Magazine

Cryptocurrency prices and investor sentiment reversed course on Dec. 15 after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell confirmed the bank's plan to hike interest rates in 2022 and slow down the bond purchasing program that had been in play since the emergence of the coronavirus in March 2020.

Following the announcement, Bitcoin (BTC)price tacked on a 1.65% gain, bringing the price above $49,000 and Ether trekked back above the $4,000 mark. Altcoins followed suit with their usual double-digit gains and for the moment, it appears as if bulls have taken back control of the market.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were ECOMI (OMI), Aragon (ANT) and RAMP.

ECOMI is a technology company focused on building a blockchain-based digital collectibles marketplace where users can buy and share nonfungible tokens (NFTs) across the social network service using the project's native OMI token as a medium of exchange.

VORTECS data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for OMI on Dec. 1, prior to the recent price rise.

The VORTECS Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS Score for OMI climbed into the green zone and reached a high of 81 on Dec. 1, around 96 hours before the price began to increase 39% over the next ten days.

The building momentum for OMI comes as the ECOMI ecosystem migrates to Immutable, an Ethereum (ETH) scaling solution specifically designed for NFT projects.

Aragon Ethereum network-based protocol that supports decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) developing governance structures to encourage community engagement.

VORTECS data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for ANT on Dec. 12, prior to the recent price rise.

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS Score for ANT began to pick up on Dec. 12 and reached a high of 70 around two hours before the price began to increase 60% over the next two days.

The rally in ANT price is taking place at the same time as a DAO global hackathon aims to attract developers to the Aragon ecosystem and there are rumors that the DAOpunks NFT project conduct an airdrop to ANT holders.

Related: Bitcoin sheds dumb money as retail buys most BTC since March 2020 crash

RAMP is a multi-chain decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that helps investors become more capital efficient.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $0.179 on Dec. 14, the price of RAMP spiked 52.56% to a daily high at $0.274 on Dec. 15 as its 24-hour trading volume surged 800% to $54.2 million.

The price spike for RAMP came after the launch of a liquidity mining incentive program resulted in a sharp uptick in the total value locked in the protocol. Currently there is $63.3 million invested across Ethereum, Polygon and Binance Smart Chain.

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $2.126 trillion and Bitcoins dominance rate is 41.7%.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Link:
ECOMI, Aragon and Ramp breakout after Bitcoin price pushes above $49K - Cointelegraph