Tether,the third most valuable cryptocurrency witha market capitalization of about $9.1billion,is expectedtopass Ethereum ($27 billion))as the number two cryptocurrency,on the strength of the dollar.

Bloomberg News reportedrecentlythatthere is ahigh probabilitythat it expects Tether (USDT)tooutsize Ethereum (ETH) in market capitalization.

The report outlines the organic growth of Tethers market capitalization as one of the major reasons for the gain Bitcoin (BTC) is presently having in the mid-term.

Interest in digital links to the dollar represents the need tohandleand store value in the worlds reserve currency without an intermediary.

(READ MORE:Bitcoin loses $1500 in 3 mins, pigs get slaughtered in BTC market)

What you need to know:Tether is designed as a blockchain-based cryptocurrency whose digital coins in circulation are backed by the same value of traditional fiat currencies, like the U.S dollar, Japanese Yen, or the Euro. It trades under the ticker symbol USDT.

Recall that Nairametricsearlierreported how Tether had overtaken XRP (XRP) asthe number three most valuable cryptocurrency by market capitalization. Bloomberg reports added that the momentumwith the help of the U.S dollaris expected to makeTether gainand moveto the second spot:

Absent an unlikely reversal in predominant crypto trends, it should be a matter of time until Tether passes Ethereum to take the No. 2 spot in total assets behind Bitcoin.Receiving helpfrom widespread adoption witha workablecase as a proxy for the worlds reserve currency, there seems little to stop the increasing adoption of the dollar-linked stable coin.

READ MORE: Did Satoshi Nakamoto cause the panic sell-off in Bitcoin market

Also,Bloombergs report expectsTether to rise based onEthereumslimited upside.

We see little upside in the ETH price absent a rising tide from Bitcoin. The pre-eminent crypto is breaking away from the pack in terms of adoption and is supported by almost-ideal macroeconomic conditions for stores-of-value amid quantitative easing.

Tether is in a similar position. Strengthening Dollar Supports Stable Coins. The advancing dollar will fuel demand for the Tether stable coin, in our view. In terms of gold and Bitcoin, the dollar is depreciating, butit isgoing in the other direction vs. most other currencies.

READ ALSO: Nigeria and China finalize currency swap deal; The low down explained

The greenback appears best positioned as global currency valuesretreat, with all facing unlimited supply.

Tether and stable coins are gaining traction as vehicles for dollar exposure without intermediaries and for transferring value among the numerous highly speculative and volatile crypto assets.

Original post:
Meet ZCash, the cryptocurrency that protects your privacy better than Bitcoin - Nairametrics

Bitcoin (BTC)s value appreciation over the past 11 years sets it apart from virtually all of the worlds fiat currencies.

Central banks around the globe continue to churn out money, deliberately devaluing existing currency through inflation. They have also had a lot longer than Bitcoins 11 years for the effects to accumulate. So how do major fiat currencies compare to Bitcoin?

The first Bitcoins were mined on Jan. 3, 2009.

The first widely accepted commercial transaction was on May 22, 2010. Laszlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 BTC in an event that has since been immortalized as Bitcoin Pizza Day. With the pizzas worth about $30, this puts a value of around $0.003 on one BTC at this point.

Exchange rates were being calculated even before this though, based on the amount of energy it took to mine each Bitcoin. On October 5, 2009, this method suggested an exchange rate of $1 = 1,309.03 BTC, or $0.000764 for one BTC.

However it is unclear whether anyone bought any Bitcoin at this theoretical price point, so for simplicity's sake we will put an initial price of $0.003 on Bitcoin almost exactly 10 years ago. In those ten years BTC price has appreciated over 320 million percent.

The U.S. dollar has been the official currency of the United States since the Coinage Act of 1792. So how has its value fared in the ensuing 228 years?

According to consumer price index data, $1 in 1792 bought the equivalent of $26.71 today. In other words, it has lost over 96% of its value in 228 years.

This figure may come as a surprise, as one often hears statistics about the dollar losing much of its value since 1900. However both of these facts are true. The value of the dollar went both up and down in its first 150 years, and the vast majority of its value has been lost since its decoupling from the gold standard in 1971.

The euro became legal tender on January 1, 1999, when it superseded the national currencies of participating countries, making it just 10 years older than Bitcoin. Surely such a modern invention should compare better?

Sadly no, as the Euro suffers from the same design issues as the dollar. Inflation has meant that 1 euro today is worth the equivalent of 0.70 euro in 1999, meaning that it has lost thirty percent of its value in just 21 years.

The oldest world currency still in use is the British pound. which is an impressive 1,200 plus years old.

Of course, the decimalized pound sterling of today is a far cry from the original pound, which predates the formation of Britain and even of England (with the unification of the Angles, Saxons and Danes in 927). This makes a direct comparison of the value then and now somewhat moot.

However the original 8th Century pound was composed of 240 silver pennies, comprising one Mercian pound of fine silver, hence the name. [N.B. Later this became one tower pound of sterling silver, giving us the pound sterling.]

One Mercian pound was equivalent to 350g, which at todays silver price would be valued at 156.45 ($200). So, if we consider the original precious metal value rather than the spending power of the currency, in 1,200 years the coin of the realm has arguably appreciated by 15,545%.

When the Coinage Act was passed in 1792, the dollar also had a similar definition, being 371.25 grains (or 24 grams) of silver. This is worth $13.58 today, so one could equally claim that, in terms of the silver value, the original dollar has appreciated by 1,258% in the last 228 years.

Even more impressively, anyone who had kept hold of a silver dollar from 1792, would today find themselves in possession of an artefact worth around a million dollars. So an actual 1792 dollar has arguably appreciated by 100 million percent in value.

Of course, even if we do choose to measure our relative currency value in this way, it still doesnt hold a candle to Bitcoins performance over the last 10 years.

Plus your 1792 dollar will be a lot harder to spend.

Link:
Bitcoin Has Been the Best Currency Investment for Over 1,200 Years - Cointelegraph

Bloomberg analysts are the latest to jump on the bandwagon of experts expecting bitcoin to revisit its record high in 2020.

The bold prediction is largely based on the fact that price action seen over the last 2.5-years looks similar to the patterns over the 2.5-years following the leading cryptocurrencys rise to record highs in December 2013.

After 2014s 60% decline, by the end of 2016 the crypto matched the 2013 peak. Fast forward four years and the second year after the almost 75% decline in 2018, noted Bloomberg Crypto in a monthly report.Bitcoin will approach the record high of about $20,000 this year, in our view, if it follows 2016s trend.

Lets take a look at those patterns.

2013 to 2017

Bitcoin printed a lifetime high above $1,100 in early December 2013 and fell by over 55% in the following year.

The bear market ran out of steam at lows near $150 in January 2015 and bitcoin turned higher in the fourth quarter of that year. Prices then rose back to levels above $700 ahead of its second mining reward halving (a coded-in supply cut), which took place on July 9, 2016.

2017 to present

Having topped out at a record high of $20,000 in mid-December 2017, bitcoin fell by 75% in 2018. The cryptocurrency bottomed out near $3,100 in December 2018 and rose 90% in the following year.

Moreover, prices remained largely bid (bar a March sell-off) in the five months leading up to the third halving on May 11, 2020. The cryptocurrency clocked highs above $10,000 in early May.

With bitcoin tending to move in these long-term cycles, prices may indeed challenge $20,000 this year, as expected by Bloomberg.

Something needs to go really wrong for bitcoin to not appreciate, the analysts added in the note.

Macro factors

This year is about increasingly favorable technical and fundamental underpinnings for bitcoin, Bloombergs note continued.

Indeed, with increased institutional participation and other factors accelerating the maturation of the bitcoin market, the odds appear stacked in favor of continued upward move in prices.

Open interest or open positions in futures listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), which is considered synonymous with institutions and macro traders, has increased by over 500% so far this year, according to data provided by the crypto derivatives research firm Skew.

Further, bitcoin-based exchange-traded instruments like Grayscales Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the largest by assets under management (AUM), have recently been on an accumulation spree.(Grayscale is a subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, the parent firm of CoinDesk.)

So far this year, its increasing AUM has consumed about 25% of new Bitcoin-mined coins vs. less than 10% in 2019. Our graphic depicts the rapidly rising 30-day average of GBTC AUM near 340,000 in Bitcoin equivalents, about 2% of total supply. About two years ago, it accounted for 1%, Bloomberg said.

The trust has accumulated coins 1.5 times the total coins mined since the May 11 halving, according to crypto analyst Kevin Rooke.

Put simply, demand looks to be outstripping supply and that is a classic factor driving price rises, regardless of the asset.

Additionally, the unprecedented monetary and fiscal stimulus lifelines launched by central banks and governments across the globe to counter the coronavirus-induced economic crisis and joblessness is widely expected to push up inflation, leading to a further increase in demand for bitcoin.

Most analysts consider bitcoin a hedge against inflation, given its supply is capped at 21 millions and its monetary policy is set in code to cut cut by 50% every four years.

At press time, bitcoin is changing hands near $9,500, representing a 1.4% decline on the day.

Disclosure:The author holds no cryptocurrency at the time of writing.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

Read more here:
Bloomberg Analysts Predict $20K Bitcoin This Year - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $9,687 representing a 0.87% loss in value in the last 24 hours and 1 % for todays session

Looking at performance relative to its peers, Ether (ETH) and XRP are both underperforming versus Bitcoin at the moment. Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, being down 1.29% and XRP 1.22% in the last 24 hours. But both have outperformed Bitcoin this week with ETH up a notable 9% over the last seven days.

Bitcoin dominance remains at 65% and continues to lose ground following a strong couple of weeks for altcoins.

Cryptocurrency market 24-hour view. Source: Coin360

The weekly Bitcoin chart shows BTC/USD at the peak of its third attempt to push the price action back across the $10,000 handle after a period of lower lows.

Since August of 2019, $10,500 is the price point at which Bitcoin has been unable to close above on the weekly chart and it is generally a level Bitcoin has struggled to sustain.

The Moving Average Convergence Divergence indicator (MACD) is trending above zero and crossed bullish with higher highs printing on the histogram implying that there remains strength within the move.

Spot volume has been overwhelmingly in the green with 10 of the last 12 weeks printing bullish volume.

BTC/USD 1-week chart. Source: Tradingview

The VPVR indicator shows volume traded by price rather than by day and is useful to see which price levels attract the most interest in the market.

Volume has traded with a large bias below $9,700 since 2019 and little volume traded above this level, meaning Bitcoin is at the top of the trading range of interest. However, a break across this level means that there is little volume history and would likely lead to volatility.

Below $9,700 is the vast majority of price history meaning Bitcoin should find support if prices were to push lower.

High volume nodes are also visible around the $8,800 level and the $8,000 level, which are also where the 50 and 20-week moving averages are located. These would be areas buyers would be expected to step in should a breakdown occur. The yearly pivot also resides in the $8,100 area and has already acted as important support on the ascent to $10,000.

The 20-week moving average has often been a clear line in the sand between Bitcoin being in a bull and bear market, but should that fail there is the 100-WMA at $7,200 and the 200-WMA at $5,900, which are also both areas of strong price history.

Each of the key moving averages mentioned all have their price above and are trending to the upside, which is generally what would be expected for a market to be considered bullish. But the higher high on the weekly chart remains a miss for the bulls.

BTC/USD 1-week chart. Source: Tradingview

The 4-hour chart again shows Bitcoin above all of the key moving averages with a notable recent golden cross of the 50-DMA above both the 100 and 200-DMA.

Price action has been trapped within a large symmetrical triangle, which is generally considered bullish and has a measured move target of $12,000 as decided by the width of the triangle.

The price is also showing a false breakout and rejection at the key $10,400 level, which Bitcoin has struggled with in the past three quarterly periods. Traders need close and reclaim above this level and form a higher high before the chart can be in the clear for the bulls.

BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Tradingview

The 1-day chart is showing the MACD momentum being marginally bullish, trending above zero but overall lacking momentum. Volume has generally been below average, with higher volume bars lately being predominantly bearish.

Low volume can be expected in a period of consolidation as seen when BTC worked towards the breakout above $8,000. However, the consistent buying volume led to a breakout in the OBV, a volume indicator that adds or subtracts daily volume based on price movement and therefore, emphasizes the effect volume has upon price.

OBV presently remains flat and has not broken out of sideways consolidation. Volume generally tends to lead price and there is not evidence of a breakout either way on the daily timeframe.

BTC/USD 1-day chart. Source: Tradingview

The 4-hour chart also shows Bitcoin is being supported by the 50-MA and is attempting to break but also finding support on the triangle apex. This is the second meaningful breakout from the triangle and sustaining price outside and above $9,600 would be positive for the bulls.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Tradingview

The MACD looks to be rolling over on the 4-hour chart with a bearish cross after consecutive red volume bars, which also show a clear breakdown in the OBV.

There is also a clear divergence between the OBV and price, with BTC pushing higher. But the OBV moving lower meaning that the bulls are perhaps not supported by the volume needed to sustain the move.

BTC/USD 4-hour chart. Source: Tradingview

The CME futures chart shows a slightly different chart to that of the Bitcoin chart with a very clear divergence between volume and price. Volume is clearly favoring the bears as demonstrated by the above-average red volume bars and also the divergence on the OBV, which is clearly moving lower.

CME Futures Bitcoin 1-day chart. Source: Tradingview

Futures prices for Bitcoin are carrying around a 0.5% premium for the end of July and there is not an expectation of breaking $10,000 before the end of the year.

This is generally not a bad sign as there is not any overly bullish sentiment as prices are moving higher, though this has proved to be a bearish sign in the past.

Listed BTC Futures/Perpetual Swaps. Source: Skew

Perpetual swap funding is showing to be low at around 0.01% per session and is generally trending up on average. However, it is clearly below the higher levels, implying the market is overleveraged to the bullish side.

Generally speaking, there is an inverse relationship between funding rates and the following price direction.

BTC Perpetual Swaps Funding. Source: Skew

The price of Bitcoin remains in a state of being bullish at resistance but has failed to find the volume to break above the key resistance of $10,500. Volume confirmation and support at $10,500 should see Bitcoin move into an area where volatility will pick up and bulls will then set $12,000 as their next target.

However, the volume does appear to be controlled by the bears around the $10,000 level, and the current bullish responses have not been sufficient enough to break out of the OBV.

Bitcoin price price may need to go lower to find more consistent bullish buying interest, with the 20-week moving average and the pivot around the $8,100 area likely to play an important role in determining the price over the next six months.

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

Read more:
Why $8.1K Will Be a Key Level for Bitcoin Price for the Next 6 Months - Cointelegraph

Based on a slew of recent predictions, bitcoin prices could more than double this year to $20,000. Or go to$250,000 by early 2023. Or$300,000 within five years.

Whatsconfounding cryptocurrency traders now is the wide gap between suchlofty forecasts and the banal reality: Since late April,bitcoin has traded in a range between roughly $8,500 and $10,200.

Thursdays market action was no different, with prices rising 1.3% to about $9,800. The highest in two days. Not much to get excitedabout.

Youre readingFirst Mover, CoinDesks daily markets newsletter. Assembled by the CoinDesk Markets Team, First Mover starts your day with the most up-to-date sentiment around crypto markets, which of course never close, putting in context every wild swing in bitcoin and more. We follow the money so you dont have to. You cansubscribe here.

The newest forecast attracting chatter, onTwitterandelsewhere, emerged this week when analysts at Bloomberg predicted, based largely on an analysis of historical trading patterns,that bitcoin prices would approach$20,000 later this year.

A jump to thatlevel would bring bitcoin back to its December 2017 all-time-high of $20,089. Clearing the thresholdwould represent a remarkable comeback for bitcoin, and itwould reset many of the conversations around the market. Imagine the daily breathlessheadlines in both cryptocurrency-and Wall Street-focusedmedia as the 11-year-old digital asset charted new price records.

A glance at bitcoins price chart since early 2017 shows how far off bitcoin remains from that$20,000 threshold. But it also shows how rapidly the price ran up in 2017. In the volatile bitcoin market, its hard to rule anything out.

Greg Cipolaro, co-founder of the cryptocurrency analysis firm Digital Asset Research, says predicting prices for bitcoin has been notoriously difficult.

Its a highly volatile asset with not a lot of understanding of valuation and pricing frameworks, Cipolaro said in a phone interview. People kind of throw darts at a dart board. Sometimes theyve been proven to be wildly low, and sometimes wildly optimistic.

Whats easier to predict, according to Cipolaro, is where prices are headed more generally. He says hes bullish.

The current backdrop,the macroeconomic and social and political divide that were experiencing, all point to a non-sovereign-backed store of value, and that is something like bitcoin, Cipolaro said.

Maybe thats the right approach. Such finger-in-the-wind forecasts areincreasinglythe modus operandi on Wall Street these days.

The Standard & Poors 500 Index isnow close to its 2019 year-end level, even though the coronavirus and related lockdowns have pushed the global economy into its worst contraction since the 1930s, hitting corporate profits anddriving large retailers into bankruptcy. Unemployment is soaring.

Some commentators on U.S. stocks argue that valuations arent really supported by the fundamentals, but by a belief that governments and central banks like theFederal Reserve will pull every official lever to keep share prices from falling. The implication is that stocks might have little downside, but little upside either.

With bitcoin, there are naysayers of course. Goldman Sachss money-management division wrote last week thatbitcoin is not a suitable investment. The billionaire investor Warren Buffett said in February that bitcoin has no value.

But to professional crypto analysts, the downside risks are far more mundane. Nicholas Pelecanos, head of trading at NEM Ventures, said in an email that bitcoin prices could fall toward $7,000 if they break below the $8,500 mark. Not exactly catastrophic, given that prices have often traded below $7,000 over the past six months.

And theres a lot to talk about when it comes to theupside.

The European Central Bank on Thursday announced it would inject as much as 600 billion euros more into financial markets than previously promised, potentially bolstering bitcoins use as a hedge against inflation.

CoinDesks Zack Voell reported on Thursday that bitcoin isincreasingly being used in tokenized formwhen transacting ondecentralized-finance networks on the Ethereum blockchain. A fast-growing use case, as it were.

CryptoCompare, a London-based data aggregator, said Thursday in a report thatcryptocurrency derivatives volumes surged to a record $602 billion in May.

And CoinDesks Wolfie Zhaoreported Thursday that the Bitcoin blockchainunderwent an automatic adjustment that will make iteasier to minenew units of the cryptocurrency, theoretically luring more operators back to the network to keep its distributed ledger secure.

Mati Greenspan, of the foreign-exchange and cryptocurrency-analysis firm Quantum Economics, says the milestone could catapult bitcoin into the next wave of its price cycle. The adjustment comes roughly a month afterbitcoins once-every-four-years halving, which cut bitcoin rewards for miners in half.

Though we only have two examples of previous halving events, the price began to rise approximately one month after the event, begging a brand new massive bull run each time, Greenspan wrote in an e-mail to clients.

Bitcoinmay not go to $300,000. It may not even go to $20,000.

But the base case for now is that the price is likely to go up. First it needs to get past $10,000.

Tweet of the day

Bitcoin watch

BTC: Price: $9,738 (BPI) | 24-Hr High: $9,875| 24-Hr Low: $9,472

Trend: A key bitcoin price indicator continues to call a bullish move despite the cryptocurrencys recent failure to keep gains above the $10,000 mark.

The weekly charts moving average convergencedivergence (MACD) histogram is producing higher bars above the zero line, indicating a strengthening of upward momentum. Its now reporting a value of 282 the highest since mid-July 2019. Put simply, the indicator is currently suggesting the strongest bullish bias in 11 months.

While the MACD is based on backward-looking moving average studies, it has proven its fortitude in the past by marking the beginning of bullish trends with a cross above zero. For instance, the MACD crossed above zero in mid-February 2019 and began climbing above zero well before the cryptocurrency broke into a bull market with a 26% rise in the first week of April 2019. Similarly, the bearish trend seen in the second half of last year began after the MACD moved back below zero.

The weekly charts relative strength index is also signaling bullish bias with an above-50 reading, while the daily chart is flashing agolden crossover, a long-term bull market indicator.

Multiple long-tailed candles seen on the hourly chart show persistent dip demand near the 200 hour average, currently at $9,581. The immediate bias will remain bullish as long as prices are holding above that level.

All in all, the charts seem to have aligned in favor of a re-test of $10,000. The cryptocurrency was rejected above that hurdle on Tuesday, falling sharply by $800 in just five minutes. As a result, some analysts say a sustained move above $10,000 is required to restore the rally from the March low of $3,867.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

See the article here:
First Mover: Bloomberg's Pie-in-the-Sky Bitcoin Call Looks Directionally Defensible - CoinDesk

In its latest report cryptocurrency data provider Coin Metrics predicted that Bitcoins daily volume could eclipse that of the U.S.equity market, if growth rates are maintained. But how likely is it really?

The report cites Bitcoin as an asset class with incredible growth potential due its low trading volume compared with more traditional markets:

The interpretation is that Bitcoin, in its current state, is most comparable in size to a large capitalization stock rather than a distinct asset class.

Bitcoins daily spot market volume is currently $4.1 billion in USD markets according to Coin Metrics its dwarfed by the U.S. equity, bond and global FX markets at $446 billion, $893 billion and $1.98 trillion respectively.

Bitcoin volume compared to major asset classes. Source: Coin Metrics

But Coin Metrics projects an exponential increase in daily volume:

If historical growth rates can be maintained, however, Bitcoins current daily volume from spot markets of $4.3 billion would need fewer than four years of growth to exceed daily volume of all U.S. equities. Fewer than five years of growth are needed to exceed daily volume of all U.S. bonds.

To achieve this, Bitcoins current volume would need to increase by more than 100X from Coin Metrics current figure to exceed the daily volume of U.S. equities. This also assumes no growth in the equity market between now and 2024.

Bitcoin spot volume projection. Source: Coin Metrics

While it seems a tall order, Coin Metrics suggests that not only could Bitcoin trading volume overtake these major asset classes within five years, but it has the potential to reach $1 trillion by 2025. This would be incredible growth from a young and emerging market in order to outpace one that has existed for over 200 years.

The report discusses the difficulty in accurately measuring Bitcoins daily volume with different methods yielding significantly different results. The biggest market by far is the derivatives market which accounts for $13.9 billion in trading volume, however this is still a developing market and isnt included in the main analysis:

If reported volumes are to be believed, gaining exposure through derivatives markets may be the most efficient path. However, crypto derivative markets are still developing, and market participants must contend with a confused mixture of differing contract specifications.

The reported $4.1 trading volume comes from stablecoins dominated by Tether ($2.3 billion), fiat markets ($1.2 billion), and cryptocurrency exchanges ($0.5 billion).

Coin360 and CoinMarketCap report Bitcoins trading volumes of over $9 billion and over $25 billion respectively, casting confusion as to which is the most accurate figure. However the Coin Metrics data refers to U.S. dollar volume.

Bitcoin volume distribution by exchanges. Source: Coin Metrics

Coinbase, Bitstamp, Bitfinex, and Kraken account for 90% of the $500 million in reported daily volume.

The second half of 2020 will be defining as many analysts are predicting the setup for a new bull run. Should the bull run eventuate, not only will this increase trading volume but it will also see new investors and institutions entering the market which makes an exponential increase of 100x in the coming years all the more likely.

But the focus may also turn from Bitcoin to other coins as the novelty of an emerging financial market wears off and is replaced with a more technology-focused market.

Here is the original post:
Could Bitcoin Trading Volume Really 100X in Four Years? - Cointelegraph

Despite Tuesdays sudden price decline, miner flows suggest the bitcoin market remains strong.

The biggest cryptocurrency by market value fell 8% from $10,137 to $9,298 in less than 5 minutes during Tuesdays U.S. trading hours, dashing hopes for a continued upward move.

The price drop, however, has not deterred miners from running down their inventory.

According to data source ByteTree, miners have sold 920 BTC and generated 844 BTC in the past 24 hours, pushing their inventory down by 76 BTC and keeping the miners rolling inventory (MRI) figure above 100%.

Miners HODL [hold] when the market is weak, not because they are bullish, but because the market cant take it. When they can sell, it is an indication that the market is well supported, said ByteTree founder and chairman Charlie Morris, who added that the MRI is currently high.

Morris theory contradicts popular belief that miners, being sellers, would want to sell high and hoard their bitcoin when prices are expected to rise.

And while they have the biggest influence on prices, gyrations in price affect mining profitability. A sustained price drop often crowds out small and inefficient miners from the market.

Miners, therefore, would want to sell less in a market lacking the strength to absorb their offers. On the contrary, they would be inclined to sell more when the upward momentum is strong.

Hence, it could be said that the increased supply seen in the past 24 hours is a sign of miner confidence in a broader bull market, although some observers may argue that 24-hour changes are too small to draw valid conclusions.

However, inventory has declined over the past week amid the price rise.

Bitcoin is currently up 6% on a week-on-week basis despite miners running down inventory by 504 BTC. Similarly, miners have sold more than what they generated throughout the uptrend from the March low of $3,867 to recent highs near $10,400.

At press time, bitcoin is changing hands near $9,580, representing a 0.5% gain on the day. Analysts expect deeper declines in the near term.

A break below $8,800 will see more aggressive selling, said Nicholas Pelecanos, head of trading at NEM Ventures. $8500 is the last support before price moves toward $7,000.

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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Miners Are Selling More of Their Bitcoin. That May Actually Be Bullish - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Bitcoin & Black America author Isaiah Jackson says that people invoking Bitcoin during the protests over the police killing of George Floyd have identified the real enemy a legacy financial system that shuts out African Americans.

Jackson spoke to Cointelegraph on June 4, saying he welcomed pictures on social media of protesters holding up signs promoting the cryptocurrency.

He said the result of black people being shut out of the economic system was tragedy. "When the economic system is broken ... no matter how hard you try, you get pushed to areas where police oversight is very heavy. You get these clashes and police start killing black men and it's all just a domino effect, he said. "So I think them holding signs is them saying, Hey once this is over, remember who the real enemy is.

Jackson cited economic factors including the Federal Reserve printing money and 40 million people unemployed. What is the strategy we could leverage for our community in the future? he said. I think they just realize Bitcoin could be that, so [Im] glad to see it.

The death of George Floyd has thrown the country into turmoil, with protesters calling for police reform and equal access to justice. A few are even pushing Bitcoin as a solution, with Jacksons name and book title appearing on signs at protests in North Carolina, New Jersey, and even London.

Hes supportive of protesters on the streets worldwide, but Jackson also sees buying Bitcoin (BTC) as an alternative solution. Hes been telling audiences on his tour for the book which was published mid 2019 that Bitcoin is a peaceful protest, long before Binance CEO Changpang Zhao expressed the thought in a Tweet on June 1.

I usually say that that the most peaceful protest you can do is simply buying Bitcoin on a regular basis, because you're just moving your money out of this system into what I believe is a better and hard money system that can be used in the future.

Despite the benefits Jackson talked about, cryptocurrency adoption isnt mainstream among the African American community yet. The author estimated that within the black community maybe less than 10% use Bitcoin and less than 1% actually use it regularly.

He also drew a parallel between the way some in the media reported on black communities, and how some reported on Bitcoin.

Honestly, the perception of Bitcoin in the media has been eerily close to how black people have been perceived, said Jackson, which includes a lot of lies and projection based on misinformation.

Continued here:
Bitcoin and Black America Author: Protest by Buying BTC - Cointelegraph

Bitcoin automated teller machines (BATMs) will become the next target for regulators, as world governments tighten screws on money laundering.

According to Ciphertrace CTO John Jeffries, crypto-cash machines will attract greaterregulatory focus in a bid to rein-in alleged cross-border illicit financial transfers.

Jeffries urged the need for more uniform regulatory enforcement and compliance as governments start to crack down on crypto-infused automated teller machines.

This comes as Ciphertrace released a report showing that cross-border transactions accounted for 74% of bitcoin moved between exchanges in 2019. Of this, 88% of funds leaving the United States through bitcoin ATMs were sent to cryptocurrency exchanges abroad mostly to high-risk platforms.

The amount of money wired to overseas exchanges at high-risk has grown rapidly, doubling every year since 2017, said the crypto intelligence firm, in the report published on June 2, 2020. The report did not provide specific figures on the extent of capital leaving via BATMs.

High-risk exchanges are nefarious exchanges known for facilitating criminal activities and money laundering, according to Ciphertrace. These types of exchanges may not be inherently criminal, but illicit transfers through the platforms are cause for concern, it said.

Until now, bitcoin-facilitating machines which total about 8,000 worldwide have appeared to operate outside national anti-money laundering (AML) laws, attracting users keen on privacy the wrong crowd, in governments eyes.

In Canada, regulators have become stricter on bitcoin ATM transactions, recently passing a law that compels operators to report all deals above 10,000 Canadian dollars (about $7,400), as part of measures to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.

Germany, Spain and the United States are all cracking down on bitcoin ATMs, both for tax and AML purposes. The crypto teller machines allow users to buy and sell cryptocurrency. They can also work in remittances, allowing transactions between two fiat currencies, underpinned by bitcoin.

What do you think about regulators going after Bitcoin ATMs? Let us know in the comments section below.

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US Regulators Target Bitcoin ATMs: 88% of the Funds Exit the Country via Machines | News - Bitcoin News

A lawsuit alleging stablecoin issuer Tether and sister exchange Bitfinex manipulated the bitcoin market is getting bigger.

On Wednesday, cryptocurrency exchanges Bittrex and Poloniex became the latest defendants accused of fraudulently toying with crypto asset prices in an ongoing class action whose plaintiffs have been pursuing Tether and Bitfinex on allegations of fraud, deception and market-manipulation since October 2019.

The 156-page amended suit filed Wednesday continues to allege that Tether and Bitfinex orchestrated a grand scheme to launder and circulate billions of allegedly unbacked USDT stablecoins through the market to the detriment of their customers the crux of plaintiffs Matthew Script, Benjamin Leibowitz, Jason Leibowitz, Aaron Leibowitz and Pinchas Goldshteins case.

Plaintiffs further claim that Poloniex and Bittrex were essentially backdoor conduits in that scheme. They claim the pair set up wallet addresses specifically to receive huge USDT transfers and knew that Bitfinex was the one sending it along.

Given the size and regularity of these transfers through a mechanism they created for that exact purpose and their perfect visibility into the transactions, Bittrex and Poloniex knew the manipulative effect of the transactions on their exchanges, the plaintiffs allege.

The plaintiffs point to USDT inflow patterns as evidence. On Feb. 6 2018, for example, they allege Bitfinex transferred $2 million of allegedly valueless USDT to Poloniex right when bitcoin was hitting a low for the day. A cross-crypto market rally and higher trading volumes ensued.

For otherwise peripheral exchanges, these large trades of purportedly fiat-backed USDT created an impression of legitimacy and consumer trust, leading to further trades and fees for the two exchanges, the suit alleges.

They also allege that the cabal coordinated USDT transfer patterns in response to the news of the day, including in the wake of the Tether Report.

Stuart Hoegner, Bitfinex and Tethers in-house counsel, called the amended lawsuit untethered to either the facts or the law in a statement emailed to CoinDesk. Plaintiffs conflate perceived correlation with causation in an effort to prop up theories that are untrue and unsupportable, he said.

Poloniex did not immediately respond to requests for comment and Bittrex could not be immediately reached.

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Bittrex, Poloniex Added to Lawsuit Claiming Tether Manipulated Bitcoin Market - CoinDesk - CoinDesk