As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold with dire consequences across the globe, desperate measures to keep the economy afloat continue to be taken by world governments. Currently the most notable example is the U.S., which recently announced an unlimited quantitative easing program and also reached an agreement for a $2 trillion stimulus package.

The unlimited quantitative easing process will entail the Federal Reserve purchasing assets in the amounts needed to support smooth market functioning and after the announcement was made Bitcoin (BTC) price rallied almost 10% from $6,300 to $6,900.

At the moment, Bitcoin has dropped to $6,630 and crypto markets have remained fairly stable throughout the day.

Crypto market data. Source: Coin360

Gold and silver have also recovered after several days of losses. Gold price dropped by more than 12% in 10 days but has since recovered to the $1,620-$1,680 price range seen between February 20 and March 9.

SILVER USD/m2 chart. Source: TradingView

Meanwhile silver has hit its generational low against the US dollar when money supply adjusted, a figure to keep in mind while the Fed prints billions of dollars. In the last 3 days, silver has seen modest gains, surging from $12 to $14.5.

As the U.S. government sets out to spend billions of dollars this week, stock markets reacted positively and the S&P 500 rallied over 9% on March 24, the biggest daily surge since 2008. The Feds QE efforts may prop up stock prices for now but the long-term consequences will likely have a significant impact on the economy for years to come.

While stock markets are currently reclaiming some of the ground lost during the past two weeks, the worst may be yet to come as the total impact of the Coronavirus and its effects on the population and on the economy are not yet visible.

At the time of writing the number of newly confirmed cases is growing at an alarming rate. Just yesterday, in the U.S. the number of confirmed cases grew by 10,270 to a total of 54,453. At this rate, the total number of confirmed cases in the U.S. may soon overtake Chinas.

Cumulative total number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. Source: CDC

As for Bitcoin price, it is showing stability and painting higher highs and lower lows on the daily time frame. It seems likely that Bitcoin will continue to hold its own as the dollar inflates, although its worth noting that today's difficulty adjustment may cause the digital asset to lose value as mining becomes cheaper.

BTC USD daily chart. Source: TradingView

To the surprise of many investors, precious metals had been falling alongside global equity markets which on March 9 saw their worst performance since the 2008 financial crisis. However, this isnt entirely new for gold or silver.

In 2008, safe-haven assets behaved similarly, dropping alongside stocks and rallying after the announcement of the Fed's quantitative easing program. For the time being, gold and silver seem to be back to providing security for traders and Bitcoin has been following the lead by holding its own in what could be its biggest test as a unique asset class so far.

The Feds unprecedented new measures highlight one of the primary value propositions of decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, the issuance rate cannot be tampered with.

As the current global financial meltdown has demonstrated, precious metals also have their weaknesses. On March 23, three of the worlds largest gold refineries announced that they would stop production for at least a week in order to comply with requests by local authorities. How this will weigh on price is yet to be determined.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, operates on a decentralized system that ensures that no geo-specific event can alter its production. Unlike precious metals, Bitcoins system allows miners to leave and join the network without severely impacting the amount of Bitcoin mined.

Over the past month the U.S. Dollar has also seen steady gains throughout the crisis due to the market participants quick exit from stocks and other risk-on assets. So far DXY has risen 6.35% in March but it has fallen by nearly 1% since the Feds announcement of unlimited QE.

Coincidentally, Bitcoin is set to have its next halving event in April which will lower its issuance rate drop from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC every ten minutes. This means the supply will increase less than 2% per year, and will drop to less than 1% after 2024, a rate which is similar to the average rate of increase of the gold supply.

As the Fed sets out to print an unlimited supply of dollars, Bitcoin is in a prime position to become the next ultimate store of value currency as its issuance rate remains relatively unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the upcoming halving continues as programmed.

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.

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Feds Unlimited QE Places Spotlight on Bitcoin Store-of-Value Narrative - Cointelegraph

The crypto market remains volatile, with analysts actively trying to seek insight into its next moves. Litecoin now appears ready for a notable correction. Such a move could set off a similar drop in Bitcoin and other cryptos, as it has done before.

As crypto traders attempt to find patterns in the present market environment, many look to altcoins which have lower liquidity and tend to be traded by more experienced players. Analyst Benjamin Blunt asserts that Litecoin may soon see a price drop. In a recent tweet, he stated:

Should Blunts prediction prove true, and Litecoin does tank to the low 20s, Bitcoin may soon follow. Litecoins curious relationship with Bitcoin dates to the earliest days of crypto adoption, with market action between the two frequently working in tandem. In fact, Litecoin moves can often be used as predictors for Bitcoin.

As with the rest of the cryptocurrency market, Litecoins price has swung wildly over the past several days. It is down two percent over the past twenty-four hours. This decline is understandable, as profit takers are now selling to reap the rewards of yesterdays big gains.

Much has been made of the uniform movement of all coins within the cryptocurrency market. Despite the tremendous differences between different platforms, they all seem to rise and fall together. Before the introduction of stablecoins, altcoins tended to move opposite of Bitcoin. More recently however, the market tends to move as one.

Litecoin critics have long claimed that its similarity to Bitcoin makes it unnecessary, and thus doomed to fail. Nevertheless, it has remained resilient, with a large group of dedicated advocates that have stood by the project even after founder Charlie Lee sold off his huge LTC stash. Longevity notwithstanding, Litecoin remains primarily a speculator coin used almost entirely for trading.

Altcoin advocates repeatedly assert that mass adoption of blockchain technology will lead some platforms to challenge Bitcoin for the top spot in the market rankings. However, Bitcoin remains by-far the most valuable and best-known blockchain asset, worth far more than all others combined. It has been almost three years since another coin presented a serious threat to this hegemony.

Following altcoin prices as a metric to gauge Bitcoin will no doubt continue. Such a strategy may be useful, yet all crypto trading remains risky. Blockchain adoption and mass use of cryptocurrency as a new asset class is a near certainty, but more time is needed for the space to become fully mature.

Do you think Litecoin is heading towards another crash? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter @SmartContractor

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Litecoin Could See Another Price Crash Soon, Will Bitcoin Follow? - Bitcoinist

NULS, an open-source adaptive blockchain, wants to leave its isolation from the rest of the blockchain ecosystem and create bridges to other networksand perhaps one day between them. The first step is connecting NULS to Bitcoin and Ethereum.

That vision is laid out in a whitepaper the NULS Technical Community released on Thursday. The whitepaper details a new network called Nerve, a cross-chain solution for making NULS interoperable with Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other networks.

The NULS network runs on a democratized staking system that mixes delegated proof of stake with a credit rating. The proposed Nerve Network sits atop the NULS protocol, allowing users to transfer major cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, and ERC20 tokens, to the NULS blockchain. The company hopes the network will compete with Cosmos and Polkadot, two other cross-chain solutions in development.

While the protocol doesn't bridge Bitcoin and Ethereum in quite the way Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin pined for earlier this week, Berzeck, the pseudonymous developer of NULS, conceded to Decrypt that it is a step in this direction.

Clarified Berzeck: The protocol doesnt directly bridge Bitcoin and Ethereum; it instead allows the NULS blockchain to bridge into Bitcoin and Ethereum, respectively. Though, he added, We could definitely explore ways to have NULS act as an intermediary between these blockchains and broker transactions.

To make cross-chain transactions possible, Berzeck said the Nerve Network will use a native token called NVT to transfer value between networks. Essentially, Nerve Network will operate like an autonomous virtual broker with masternodes that can dock blockchains and digest their transactions, he said. Nerve will then translate that function and value to the NULS blockchain, effectively making them interoperable.

Berzeck noted that this could enable microtransactions with specialized blockchains. With cross-chain functionality, developers wont have to worry about maintaining a singular network with limited scale, he said. Instead, several concurrent blockchains could run independently (one for games, one for supply chain, etc.) and NULS could act as a terminal for disparate functions to become more collaborative and autonomous.

For now, however, with the blueprints laid out, the NULS community is ready to build an interconnected future for blockchains.

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NULS to bridge to Bitcoin and Ethereum with new network - Decrypt

Current Price: $6,160

BTC/USD daily confluence detector shows a lack of healthy support levels on the downside, so further price drop is expected. On the upside, there are three strong resistance levels at $6,215, $6,500 and $6,715. $6,215 has the one-hour and one-day Bollinger Bands and SMA 10. $6,500 has the one-day and one-week Fibonacci 38.2% retracement levels, while $6,715 has the SMA 10, SMA 50, SMA 100, SMA 200 and one-week Fibonacci 23.6% retracement level.

Key Levels

Current Price: $127.70

Quite like BTC/USD, ETH/USD also has a lack of support levels on the downside, holding the price up. On the upside, there are two strong resistance levels at $134.50 and $143. The former has the SMA 10, SMA 50, SMA 200 and one-day Fibonacci 38.2% retracement level, while the latter has the one-day Previous High, one-day Bollinger Band and one-week Pivot Point resistance-one.

Key Levels

Current Price: $0.168

Unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, Ripple actually has healthy support levels on the downside at $0.1675 and $0.162. $0.1675 has the SMA 5, 4-hour and one-day Bollinger Bands, while $0.162 has the one-week Fibonacci 61.8% retracement levels, SMA 10 and SMA 50. On the upside, XRP/USD has strong resistance at $0.1765, which has the one-hour Bollinger Band, Previous Year low and SMA 100.

Key Levels

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Top three coins price prediction: Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple go through bearish correction Confluence Detector - FXStreet

So, you may not be a gambler, even though Im pretty sure people have called you that just because youre invested in crypto. But you know just as well as me (if not better) thats far from the whole truth.

Just as Bitcoin is quite misunderstood by many, so is the notion of the casino being impossible to beat. But it has been done.

Slots is probably not your best bet

Sitting down at one of the slot machines and pressing random buttons is probably not the best strategy if you want to win (even though BitStarz saw a guy winning 2.4 million dollars on a single spin last year).

Because if that was the case, those old ladies playing penny slots close to the entrance of a Vegas Casino smoking Marlboro Lights would probably be millionaires at this point. Im not that much of a betting man myself, but Id place my money on that not being the case.

With that said, it can be fun to check out the various slot games for entertainment purposes. Personally, I prefer just having a look at the various new games and themes. I mean, theres a potpourri of weird titles that are out there. Family Guy, Fruits, Wolves howling at the moon with some weird Arizona backdrop. Yeah, they never cease to amaze me.

But if youre looking to use your savant level mathematical skills like Dustin Hoffman in Rainman, the table games area is your playground.

This is not Hollywood, well kind of

So when I mentioned Beating the Casino, Im not talking about Danny Oceans crew in Oceans Eleven, trying to get away with as much money as possible from Bellagio in some elaborate heist. First of all, that would be illegal, and second, Im sure that would result in a possible lawsuit that Im too poor to handle right now.

A better idea (since Im stuck with the movie references now) would be to take the approach of the MIT Blackjack Club which was the inspiration of Kevin Spacey movie 21. In this classic casino movie, a group of students from MIT got together to try to master the game of Blackjack and beat the Vegas casinos at their own game. Spoiler alert they did.

Blackjack is one of the games with the highest return to the player if played with Basic Strategy (which is the term of making the most mathematically optimal plays based on you and the dealers cards). If you do this, your return will be 99.5%.

With that said, 99.5% still means the Casino has a slight edge over you, and if we want to beat the casino, having a return which is lower than 100% isnt going to do us any favors.

Combination of Strategies

Now you might ask yourself what other aspects of playing can affect the outcome of the game. Because if were already executing the most logical plays, how can we further influence the game? By combining this with a betting strategy.

One of the most popular ones would be a classical hi-lo count strategy, and although it may require quite a bit of practice, its intellectually stimulating to say the least. It requires you to keep track of the cards (and dont worry, you dont need to be Rainman or Darren Brown), more specifically if the count of the deck is negative or positive.

Ask the dealer to shuffle the deck, and when the cards show up on the table, you need to keep track of the positive cards (2, 3, 4, 5, 6) and the negative cards (10, J, Q, K, A) in each game round.

If the game round resulted in 2 more positive cards than negative cards being dealt, your deck count is now +2. You continue to keep track of the deck count and increase your bets the more positive the deck is as it favors the player to have more high cards in remaining in the deck.

Excerpt from:
It Is Possible to Use Your Bitcoin to Beat an Online Casino Heres How - newsBTC

Data provider Messari announced a new charting feature that allows its users to receive data on the Bitcoin (BTC) price performance relative to the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). The feature is called Covid V Markets and allows the overlay of data on Ethereum, Litecoin and other cryptocurrencies, precious metals, stocks, crude oil, among others, with COVID-19.

Through his Twitter account, Messari CEO Ryan Selkis stated that the feature will allow users:

Plot Bitcoin against the S&P and see how significantly BTC outperformed up until the corona induced carnage.

On the other hand, users will be able to follow the progress of the pandemic globally. Users will have access to country-by-country data, see the number of cases, recovered, deceased, death rate, even see key moments, such as when the United States became the country with the most infected among other relevant data. Selkis further outlines:

() And you can better understand when different countries or regions start to flatten their curves. Weve spent time making sure all of these resources are available as a public good, and hope you find them helpful.

This feature will be a powerful addition for users who want to see the effect of COVID-19 on the market. The spread of this pandemic has had a negative effect on traditional markets and on the price of Bitcoin and the crypto market. Due to the uncertainty it has caused in the world, the crypto market has experienced an increase in volatility and one of its worst sudden declines in its history.

On the other hand, users of the Covid V Markets feature will be able to see how the correlation between Bitcoin and traditional markets is evolving. Although speculation has begun about a decoupling between Bitcoin and the S&P 500, it is still possible to see how Bitcoin reacts to traditional market performance.

At the time of publication, Bitcoins price trades at $6,262 with a 6.32% loss in the last 24 hours.

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Last Updated on 28 March, 2020

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Messari releases tool to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on Bitcoin - Crypto News Flash

Bitcoin has been swinging wildly over recent months, seeing even higher volatility than usual.

The bitcoin price, which has had all of its 2020 gains wiped out by panic sparked by the spreading coronavirus, fell to 10-month lows earlier this month only to rebound sharplyand is now trading at around $6,000 per bitcoin.

Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investors are keenly watching for any signs of further volatility with one analyst pointing to "large increases in exchange inflows" as heralding extreme bitcoin price moves.

The bitcoin price has fallen heavily in the face of a broader coronavirus-related market sell-off, ... [+] with some warning bitcoin is failing to act as a so-called safe-haven asset.

"Large increases in exchange inflows have proven to be a good indicator of increased volatility, so we recommend keeping an eye on the amount being transferred to exchanges," Philip Gradwell, the chief economist at New York-based bitcoin, crypto, and blockchain research company Chainalysis, wrote in a blog post this week.

Bitcoin and crypto exchanges saw their daily inflows increase by 250% during the second week of March compared to their 2020 average, according to Chainalysis research.

From March 9 to March 16, exchanges around the world received 1.1 million bitcoin per day, 712,000 bitcoin more than average with trading activity increasing as bitcoin flowing into exchanges was sold.

Chainalysis found that bitcoin trading was driven primarily by new bitcoin entering exchanges, rather than bitcoin already held on exchanges.

"The majority of excess bitcoin arriving at exchanges has been sold, and the worst of the oversupply appears to be finished for now," Gradwell wrote, adding that due to the "uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic, its hard to predict where the bitcoin market will go next."

"We also expect that professional traders will continue to drive events, as opposed to retail exchange users, simply because they are responsible for much larger volumes," Gradwell wrote.

Bitcoin exchange inflows rose dramatically during the second week of March, just ahead of the ... [+] bitcoin price taking a huge step downward.

Last month, ahead of bitcoin's coronavirus-related plunge, research found bitcoin's early 2020 rally was being driven by long-awaited institutional investors buying up bitcoin.

At the peak of 2017's epic rally, bitcoin exchange deposits outpaced the bitcoin price, with bitcoin and crypto analytics firm Glassnode recording around 200,000 daily exchange deposits.

Bitcoin exchange deposits have previously increased along with the bitcoin price, with deposits falling back during bear markets, however, average bitcoin exchange deposits dropped sharply over the last six months even as the bitcoin price rosesuggesting the last bitcoin rally wasn't driven by retail investors.

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Heres How To Predict Major Moves In The Price Of Bitcoin - Forbes

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin posted a tweet on March 24 claiming that the continuing lack of easy movement between the Ethereum and Bitcoin networks was embarrassing.

As a solution, he proposed putting resources into building a decentralized exchange (DEX), to act as a trustless bridge between the two.

Buterins plan calls for the DEX to be trustless and serverless, with a user experience very similar to Uniswap. Uniswap is a decentralized exchange that runs without an order book, instead relying on asset pairs with Ether as a fixed base currency.

As Cointelegraph reported, Uniswap has just announced plans to release a V2 update in Q2 2020, which will allow direct token-to-token swaps.

Decentralized exchanges have struggled to gain market share against traditional exchanges, despite being more closely aligned to the overall trustless ethos of cryptocurrency. Part of the issue has been a lack of liquidity, although a dedicated BitcoinEhereum DEX supported by Buterin may well see greater uptake.

Vitalin suggested further suggested that Bitcoin was not the only potential destination for a DEX bridge from Ethereum, and other blockchain ecosystems should also be up for consideration.

Buterin specifically mentioned Zcash as one example, saying that he has already had discussions to this end with Zooko Wilcox, CEO of Zcash-creators, the Electric Coin Company. However, he admitted that they could both work harder to turn such talk into action.

Excerpt from:
Vitalik Proposes Solution to 'Embarrassing' Lack of BitcoinEthereum Bridge - Cointelegraph

The crypto market is still deciding who will lead the next uptrend.

Bitcoin is using its position as the undisputed king of the crypto board to increase its dominance level to 67.64% of the market capitalization. It may seem like a lot, but we must remember that in February 2017, the same dominance metric reached 96%.

The eternal prince Ether, for his part, now has 8.45% of the market capitalization. It is interesting to note that Ether shares the percentage of capital that Bitcoin leaves free among more than 2500 tokenized projects.

Ether's dominance is now at the base of a slightly bullish long-term channel. Since records began, the maximum Ether dominance on the Crypto board was recorded in July 2017, with a level of 30.85%.

The situation of Ether is delicate as it is very close to losing the current support and could be lost in a very negative scenario. The MACD and Directional Movement indicators show structures that are compatible with a change in direction, but still need some time to be able to materialize it.

The ETH/BTC pair starts the session with gains, although short term in light of the immediate presence of the SMA200. The long-term moving averages continue to trend higher, so the market fund continues to be positive for the price.

Above the current price, the first resistance level is at 0.021, then the second at 0.022, and the third one at 0.0228.

Below the current price, the first support level is at 0.020, then the second at 0.018, and the third one at 0.019.

The MACD on the daily chart shows a relatively flat profile, while the moving averages are very close, making a bullish attempt possible in the next few days.

The DMI on the daily chart shows that the bears continue to lose strength, although the bulls do not take advantage of this weakness to increase their activity.

The BTC/USD pair shows weakness at the start of the session and is unable to break the $6909resistance level. The roof of the bullish channel is at only two resistance levels, a distance theoretically attainable for Bitcoin.

Above the current price, the first resistance level is at $6900, then the second at $7100 and the third one at $7150.

Below the current price, the first support level is at $6575, then the second at $6375 and the third one at $6250.

The MACD on the daily chart expands the bullish profile and the line separation. It is precisely the slightly exaggerated line separation that warns of a possible pause in the upward movement of the BTC/USD pair.

The DMI on the daily chart shows the two sides of the market moving nearby. The confrontation between bears and bulls seems to be close, which could also support a scenario of a pause in the bullish trend.

The ETH/USD pair is currently trading at the price level of $141.6and it is having trouble breaking out of the price congestion resistance level at $142.5.

Above the current price, the first resistance level is at $142.5, then the second at $150 and the third one at $155.

Below the current price, the first support level is at $130, then the second at $125 and the third one at $120.

The MACD on the daily chart shows a completed bullish cross, although it is very recent and therefore still fragile.

The DMI on the daily chart shows the bears losing strength as the bulls gain strength. However, the distance between the two sides indicates that there won't be a confrontation between the two sides of the market for a few days.

The XRP/USD pair is currently trading at the price level of $0.1649and is the least performing member of the Top 3.

Above the current price, the first resistance level is at $0.165, then the second at $0.175 and the third one at $0.19.

Below the current price, the first level of support is at $0.15, then the second at $0.14 and the third one at $0.135.

The MACD on the daily chart shows a full bullish cross but still not developed. The slope of the fast-moving average is higher than Ether so that we can see some upward volatility in XRP.

The DMI on the daily chart shows the bears are losing strength, but the bulls are not taking advantage of it and are giving up for the time being on the selling side of the market.

.Get 24/7 Crypto updates in our social media channels: Give us a follow at @FXSCrypto and our FXStreet Crypto Trading Telegram channel

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Top 3 Price Prediction Bitcoin, Ether, Ripple: Crypto market decides the road ahead - FXStreet

The non-profit that holds funds raised in Tezos' $400 million initial coin offering (ICO) sold as many as 8,000 bitcoins (BTC) in 2019.

The share of the Tezos Foundation's portfolio made up of bitcoin fell from 61 percent in July to 47 percent as of the end of January, the non-profit disclosed in its biannual report, released Thursday. The value was reinvested into XTZ tokens and into other asset classes.

Per the report, the Tezos Foundation, which is based in Switzerland, held approximately $397.7 million worth of bitcoin on July 31, 2019. As bitcoin traded at the $10,000 mark, according to CoinDesk's Bitcoin Price Index, the foundation held roughly 39,700 bitcoins.

As of Jan. 31, the foundation held 31,800 bitcoin, worth roughly $298.5 million based on a spot price of $9,400. That means the foundation sold as many as 8,000 bitcoins, which, even with the recent downturn in prices, would still be worth as much as $53 million today.

The total value of the foundation's portfolio fell from $652 million on July 31 to $625 million by Jan. 31. It is managed by an asset-management strategy that is established and reviewed by the Tezos Foundation Council the group that leads the organization on a regular basis, according to the report.

Value was reinvested into other asset classes, including bonds, equities and fiat currencies.

The foundation also increased its tezos (XTZ) token exposure, upping the share from 15 percent to 23 percent. With the XTZ price increasing by nearly 40 percent in the six months between the reports, according to CoinGecko, the value of holdings went up by approximately $48.2 million.

Roman Schnider, CFO of the Tezos Foundation, told CoinDesk that although it considered bitcoin to be a "key store of value," its asset strategy policy was to focus and pay for its long-term objectives "without being distracted by short-term market moves."

Investments into a stability fund a diversified range of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and bonds as well as fiat currencies, acted as risk management instruments that ensured "operational effectiveness" against crypto volatility, Schnider added.

In Thursday's report, the Tezos Foundation said it had no plans to liquidate any of the XTZ allocated from the genesis block or generated from its own baking activities, a form of staking used to produce blocks and secure the tezos protocol.

UPDATE (Mar. 23, 12:35 UTC):A previous version of this article stated the Tezos Foundation had moved value into ether. Ryan Lackey, a Foundation council member, reached out to say this was not the case and that the ether came from the 2017 ICO.

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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Tezos Foundation Offloaded Millions of Dollars Worth of Bitcoin in 2019: Report - CoinDesk - CoinDesk