As global equity markets continue to get pummeled, bitcoins return to the $9,000 level may have been driven by some of the same forces causing a rally in bonds a desire for respite from a coronavirus-plagued markets.

After sharp gains in price Thursday, bitcoin (BTC) has been trading steadily in a range between $9,000 and $9,200. For the past 24 hours, bitcoin's price change has been minimal, down half a percent as of 18:00 UTC (1 p.m. ET).

Traders see bitcoins jump back into the $9,000 range as another sign bitcoin is trending upward in 2020 while traditional markets stumble. Year to date, bitcoin is up over 26 percent while the S&P 500 stock index is down 9 percent. Cryptocurrency sentiment appears bullish as prices remain above significant moving averages.

Although traders seem to be open to viewingthe cryptocurrency markets as a safe haven from stock market turmoil, more volatility is possible ahead of Mays halving, an event that will slash in half the reward bitcoin miners obtain.

It's a relief rally. In my opinion, we have a likelihood of sweeping another low before the post-halvening rally, said Mostafa Al-Mashita of Canadian crypto brokerage firm Secure Digital Markets.

I believe gold and BTC are safe havens, said Henrik Kugelberg, a Sweden-based crypto OTC trader. As coronavirus has just started to spread, I believe a strong market will last well until the halving will have effect. To me it seems plausible that we can hit an all-time high this year, perhaps within six months.

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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Bitcoin's $9,000 Price Stays Steady as Sentiment Stays Positive - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Jill Carlson, a CoinDesk columnist, is co-founder of the Open Money Initiative, a non-profit research organization working to guarantee the right to a free and open financial system. She is also an investor in early stage startups with Slow Ventures.

People think I got into bitcoin (BTC) because I have a high risk tolerance.

Actually, I got in because I have a low risk tolerance for worst-case scenarios.

Bitcoin is often touted as a risky bet. It is nascent. It has only been around for about a decade. It is poorly understood by mass markets. It is an experiment. It could still fail. All of these claims are true. In many ways, the risk profile of bitcoin resembles that of an early stage startup. Bitcoin appears to be hovering between the trough of disillusionment and the slope of enlightenment. This means that most people continue to view cryptocurrency as kind of crazy. Its a gamble.

These dynamics mean that investors often bucket bitcoin as a risk asset. It gets put in the same category as high-growth stocks, high-yield debt, high-beta exchange-traded funds, venture capital investments and emerging markets.

Markets broadly have two modes: risk-on and risk-off. In risk-on scenarios, when markets are confident and things are moving higher, risk assets tend to outperform safe havens. When the markets are risk-off, safe-haven assets like gold, treasury bonds and cash fare better, and are often the only investments trading higher as investors sell out of their riskier positions.

Whether a financial product is a risk asset or a safe haven depends on a number of properties. In some cases it depends on the fundamentals of the asset. Share price is a reflection of the projected future cash flows of the business, which in turn depend on dynamics like customer demand. The dynamics can make companies more or less subject to movements of the markets. In other cases, the categorization of a given asset might depend on supply and demand dynamics. Gold, with its relatively fixed supply and consistent demand from entities like central banks, is resilient to market cycles and downward shocks. In all cases, however, I would argue that what matters most in understanding asset correlations and behavior is market perception. Do traders and investors view the asset as a good place to hunker down in volatile markets? Or do market participants view the investment as vulnerable to the downside, but also prime to participate in boom cycles?

The markets certainly still seem to view bitcoin as the latter. And as far as the price of bitcoin is concerned, and as far as any market correlations are concerned, that perception is all that matters.

This perception misses bitcoins most important properties. Bitcoin is, in many ways, the ultimate safe haven asset. It can be self-custodied, so even when systems of trust and rule of law breaks down, it can be held. It is open and borderless, with relatively liquid markets in every country in the world. It is censorship-resistant, meaning no government nor institution can, practically speaking, prevent investment or transaction in bitcoin. Bitcoin has a fixed supply, much like gold. Bitcoin is digital, which makes it practical to hoard, hold and transport. For doomsday preppers, dystopian sci-fi fans and apocalypse predictors, there is a lot to like about bitcoin.

Yet, if we look at the behavior of the bitcoin price over the last couple of weeks, as concerns over a global pandemic have ramped up, it is clear that bitcoin continues to behave more like a high-risk investment than like the safe haven which it promises to be.

Do the markets have it wrong? Should bitcoin be more correlated with gold than with Apple stock? Maybe. But as John Maynard Keynes put it, The markets can stay irrational longer than you can stay solvent. The road to having bitcoin understood and viewed as a safe haven is a long one, demanding deep investment in education. What matters is the narrative around the asset, and right now the narrative around bitcoin is that it is an early-stage, high-risk bet. As far as the markets are concerned, that perception is reality.

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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Stop Treating Bitcoin as Risky. It's a Safer Asset Than Most - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

Michael Novogratz, CEO & Founder, Galaxy Digital

Julie Cooling, Founder & CEO,RIA Channelinterviewed Michael Novogratz, CEO and Founder ofGalaxy Digital, a merchant bank dedicated to digital assets and blockchain technology. In 2018, Galaxy launched the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index (BGCI), an index set to track the performance of the larger, liquid cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP. Galaxy recently launched the Galaxy Bitcoin Funds, which provide simple and secure bitcoin exposure for institutional and accredited investors. They currently manage over $350 million in assets.

Blockchain is a proven technology of peer-to-peer networks actively used today by some of the largest institutions in the world to digitize their businesses and improve efficiencies. In order to transact within a decentralized environment via any blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies are required. Many cryptocurrencies are used as a means of exchange, while bitcoin is widely regarded as a store of value and an alternative to other hard assets such as gold. The IRS classifies cryptocurrencies as assets, and its perfectly legal to use bitcoin to transact business.

As more and more mainstream companies embrace digital assets and invest in infrastructure to support it, the overall system should become safer and company values within this asset class should increase. Fidelity now offers custody of cryptocurrencies, for example. Facebook recently announced Libra, a new cryptocurrency set to release in 2020 to facilitate global payments and empower consumers with low cost, easily accessible capital. Some investors are concerned about the recent volatility of bitcoin and the overall value of digital currencies. Warren Buffett has been quite outspoken on his disdain for cryptocurrencies, calling them an elusion, and claiming he will never invest bitcoin.

While skeptics sideline their investments, Novogratz points to younger generations that maintain a higher comfort level in the digital ecosystem and who are actively investing in bitcoin, blockchain companies, and modern payment platforms. Novogratz further points to the asset class as a whole as being non-correlated with equity and bond markets, adding diversity to portfolios and thus lowering overall portfolio risk. A macro hedging expert, Novogratz is no stranger to risk, and considers bitcoin and the entire digital assets universe an opportunity with many unknowns. As investor education, transparency, custody and access points improve, Novogratz plans to participate by investing methodically and wants to bring his investors along with him.

For more information on Galaxy Digital, watch the recent RIA Channel webcast:Diversifying with Digital Assets.

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Novogratz On Bitcoin & Beyond: Redefining The Digital Assets Ecosystem - Forbes

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Bitcoin (BTC) is flashing green on Monday, having suffered a double-digit price drop last week.

The top cryptocurrency is currently trading over $8,740, representing a 1.9 percent gain on a 24-hour basis, according to CoinDesks Bitcoin Price Index.

The news will be welcomed by bitcoin's bulls, as prices fell by 13 percent in the seven days to March 1, registering the biggest weekly loss since the third week of November. Back then, the cryptocurrency dropped by 18.7 percent over the same period.

Equity markets across the globe also fell sharply last week as investors shunned risk on fears the coronavirus pandemic will cause a serious slowdown in the global economy.

The S&P 500, Wall Streets benchmark stock index, fell for the seventh straight day on Friday. The sell-off wiped out five months of the rally from 2,855 to 3,393.Even so, the index outperformed bitcoin on a weekly basis with an 11 percent drop.

Despite last week's drop, bitcoin is still outperforming both gold and the S&P 500 on a year-to-date basis with 20 percent gains. Meanwhile, ethereums ether (ETH) token, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, has rallied 74 percent so far this year.

Liquidity source?

Bitcoin fell last week as investors liquidated their holdings to fund margin calls triggered by the stock market crash, according to billionaire investor and Galaxy Digital founder Micheal Novogratz.

A margin call occurs when the value of the investors leverage account drops below the minimum margin requirement. The investor is then required to bring in additional capital or securities to build back the account up to the minimum margin requirement.

Essentially, Novogratz thinks bitcoin served as a source of liquidity last week, having apparently found a role as a safe haven in January when prices rose by 30 percent amid the U.S. Iran tensions and the beginnings of the coronavirus outbreak in China.

Currently, there is no evidence to prove that margin call-related selling fueled bitcoins price drop. That possibility, however, cannot be ruled out altogether, as perceived safe havens like gold are often used as source of liquidity.

Gold, a classic anti-risk asset, fell by 4 percent last week also the biggest weekly loss since November reportedly due to margin calls.

At press time, the metal is changing hands at $1,610 per ounce up 3 percent from Fridays low of $1,563.

As bitcoin also gains ground, the bulls need a close above Sundays high to maintain the rally.

Daily chart

Bitcoin created a doji candle on Sunday, signaling seller exhaustion. A UTC close above Sundays high of $8,756 would validate the doji candle and confirm an end of the pullback from the recent highs above $10,500.

A bullish close could bring additional gains towards the former support-turned-resistance of the head-and-shoulders neckline at $9,500.

Alternatively, if prices find acceptance under Sundays low of $8,410, a bearish doji continuation pattern would be confirmed and a deeper drop to $8,213 (Feb. 24 low) and possibly to $8,000 may be seen.

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.

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Bitcoin Rallies After Biggest Weekly Drop Since November - CoinDesk - Coindesk

Twitter cofounder and chief executive Jack Dorsey is one of the biggest bitcoin cheerleaders in Silicon ValleyDorsey "loves" bitcoin.

The bitcoin and cryptocurrency community was worried by news last week the powerful Wall Street activist investor Elliott Management has bought $1 billion worth of Twitter stock and is working to oust Dorsey from the company he helped build.

However, while bitcoin fans might cheer Twitter's recent addition of a bitcoin emoji, Dorsey could do much more for bitcoin and crypto without having to worry about running one of the world's biggest social media sitesperhaps sending the bitcoin price to the moon.

Jack Dorsey runs both the micro-blogging platform Twitter and payments company Square. Square has ... [+] recently set up a bitcoin and cryptocurrency division to help develop crypto products.

The New York-based hedge fund Elliott Management is led by Republican-supporting billionaire Paul Singer, who once described bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as "one of the most brilliant scams in history."

But if Singer gets his way at Twitter it's unlikely the bitcoin and crypto industry would be significantly effectedElliott Management is far more concerned with Twitter's share price performance, how it deals with major world events like the spread of the coronavirus and the up-coming U.S. election, and ongoing accusations of political bias at the company.

Meanwhile, Dorsey would be free to commit his time and considerable resources to the other company he leads: the payments giant Squarealong with its newly created cryptocurrency division and its bitcoin-buying sensation Cash App.

Square's Cash App garneredalmost half its revenuefrom bitcoin in the last quarter of 2019, earning bitcoin revenue of $178 million between the start of October and the end of December, with gross profits of $3 millionup 50% over the prior two quarters.

Meanwhile, Square Crypto, the bitcoin development unit of Square, this week awarded grants to two bitcoin developers, allowing them to work full-time on open-source projects that benefit the bitcoin network.

In January, Square Crypto released a Lightning Development Kit to aid the growth of bitcoin's Lightning Network, a second-layer technology that could help bitcoin scale by enabling small payments to happen away from bitcoin's blockchain.

"Square Crypto is focusing on Lightning," Dorsey said viaTwitter.

Dorsey's growing interest in bitcoin and cryptocurrencies has, however, caused him problems.

Dorsey attracted criticism from Twitter and Square investors last year when he promised to spend from three to six months in Africa to explore cryptocurrency opportunities in 2020.

"Sad to be leaving [Africa]... for now," Dorsey said viaTwitter. "Africa will define the future (especially the bitcoin one!). Not sure where yet, but I'll be living here for 3-6 months mid-2020."

Interest in bitcoin and crypto from some of the world's biggest technology companies sent the ... [+] bitcoin price sharply higher last year.

Last year, the bitcoin price soared due to interest in bitcoin and crypto from technology giants including social media giant Facebook and iPhone-maker Applerising to highs of around $14,000 per bitcoin before faltering in the face of fierce regulatory scrutiny.

Facebook's plans for what it had hoped would be a bitcoin-beating private cryptocurrency, libra, have become derailedleaving bitcoin, the original and by far most valuable cryptocurrency, the front runner for what Dorsey has said could be the "internet's first currency."

Dorsey's support for bitcoin during his leadership of Twitter has been good for crypto's imagebut it's Square, not Twitter, that will make bitcoin mainstream.

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Bitcoin Could Moon If Jack Dorsey Is Ousted From Twitter - Forbes

The Bank of England governor-designate earned himself a place in Bitcoiners hall of shame alongside Peter Schiff and Warren Buffett. Bitcoin has no intrinsic value, he said. Anyone who wants to buy it should be prepared to lose all your money. Yet, amid weak forex markets and a global contagion, BTC is holding its own. Heres why you should hold Bitcoin over government fiat.

As the coronavirus brings Chinas economy to its knees and causes global stock markets to fall, Donald Trump urges the Fed for more quantitive easing.

While Chairman Jerome Powell stands by the policy saying in no sense this is QE!, we all know what happens when governments print money at will.

Just take a look at the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar over the last 100 years. If you had a $100 bill in 1900, that would be worth around $3.48 today. Your $10,000 would only leave you with $348. Thats a 96.4% decrease in its buying power.

Bitcoins purchasing power on the other hand, with its built-in scarcity and limited supply, will not erode, but increase over time. This makes bitcoin a far superior store of value when compared to government fiat.

As the world braces for the next global economic recession, it pays to remember that this time around you have a choice. Bitcoin emerged as a response to the 2008 financial crisis in which excessive risk-taking by banks caused global economic dismay and widespread government bail-outs at the taxpayers expense.

If youre holding government fiat and the banks begin to collapse one by one, do you have a guarantee of being able to access your savings? No one can seize your bitcoin or initiate irresponsible monetary policies to control its price.

Unlike fiat, it also has an excellent chance of yielding a dramatic rate of return when compared to 0.01% in your savings account.

When faced with statistics like these, the Bank of England governor-designate doesnt have a leg to stand on. In fact, if youre holding government fiat now, it looks far more likely that you will lose all your money over time.

Do you think bitcoin is a better bet than government fiat? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Images via Shutterstock, Twitter: @MMcrypto, @cz_binance, ObservationsAndNotes

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Op-Ed: Why You Should Hold Bitcoin Over Government Fiat? - Bitcoinist

Bitcoin (BTC) remains on the hunt for a notable recovery with prices holding above widely tracked average support.

The top cryptocurrency is currently trading above $8,760, having defended the 200-day moving average (MA) support at $8,720 early on Wednesday.

The support level is widely considered a barometer of long-term market trends and tends to attract buying or selling pressure, depending on the direction in which it is breached.

Therefore, a corrective bounce to levels above $9,000 put forward by a bullish reversal candlestick pattern confirmed Monday may remain elusive if prices find acceptance under the long-term average.

The key support has held ground so far today, keeping hopes for a recovery rally alive. The average support withstood selling pressure on Tuesday.

Bitcoin ran into offers during Tuesdays U.S. trading hours as the stock markets dropped with the Federal Reserve's announcement of a 50 basis point rate cut. Prices briefly fell below the 200-day average but the bears failed to secure a daily close under the support level.

Bitcoin jumped 4.5 percent on Monday, confirming a bullish reversal doji candle and opening the doors for a notable corrective rally.That pattern will remain valid as long as prices are holding above $8,410 (Sundays low).

That said, the prospects of a quick move to resistance at $9,075 (Feb. 4 low) would weaken if the 200-day average support at $8,720 gives in. That could yield a re-test of $8,410.

However, a sustained drop below the 200-day MA looks unlikely, as the MACD histogram is registering a higher low below zero for the fourth consecutive day a sign of weakening bearish momentum.

So bitcoin appears more likely to bounce from the 200-day MA toward resistance at $9,075 (Feb. 4 low). A violation there would expose the next resistance lined up at $9,312 (Feb. 19 low).

Bitcoin is trapped in a broadening descending channel on the hourly chart. A break above the top end of the channel, currently at $8,820, would confirm a breakout and imply an end of the pullback from Mondays high of $8,980 and a resumption of the rally from Sundays low of $8,410.

That would strengthen the case for a bounce to levels above $9,000.

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.

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Bitcoin Keeps Recovery Hopes Alive With Defense of Major Average Support - CoinDesk - Coindesk

A transfer of $1.4 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) is turning heads among crypto whale watchers.

The transaction was identified by ByteTrees Bitcoin tracking terminal andposted on Reddit, where crypto enthusiasts speculated on the nature of the transfer.

Although some Reddit users are concerned that the move implies that a whale is gearing up to rock the market by cashing out, the transfer could also be a crypto exchange moving its assets around for security purposes. The addresses of both the sending wallet and the receiving wallet are unknown at time of publishing.

Crypto traders are also tracking a number of XRP transactions. The largest is a transfer of nearly 86 million XRP worth about $20.6 million. The transfer happened between two wallets of unknown origin.

A separate transaction of 22 million XRP worth $5.3 million was transferred from the crypto exchange Bithumb to an unknown wallet on Friday.

In addition, Ripple sent 41 million XRP worth $10 million to the companys co-founder Jed McCaleb on Friday. The transfer is part of a settlement brokered between Ripple and McCaleb in 2016 that allows McCaleb to sell portions of his XRP holdings on a weekly basis.

A recent review from Whale Alert found McCaleb has sold $1.05 billion worth of XRP since 2014.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Martin Prochazkacz

Excerpt from:
$1,400,000,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) on the Move As Ripple Sends $10 Million in XRP to Co-Founder Jed McCaleb - The Daily Hodl

Brian Armstrong, CEO of digital currency exchange Coinbase, says Bitcoin (BTC) may be surpassed by other digital coins as the crypto industry evolves into maturity.

In a series of tweets, Armstrong highlights the parallels between the early internet and cryptocurrency. He says challenges that early internet developers faced are comparable to those that hound todays young crypto industry.

At Netscape, they were working with early internet protocols. Things werent very scalable (dial up modems), you had to be somewhat technical to figure out how to get online, and early websites were pretty basic (static sites, looked like toys).

Sound familiar to crypto at all??

They figured theyd try making a shopping cart (see if they could build a first party app).

There was no way to save state or create a session (for instance, to make a shopping cart), so they created the concept of cookies.

Then, next problem was that nobody wanted to put a credit card into the internet, because everything plain text over http. So they went and invented SSL/HTTPS.

Armstrong says that just as early internet users came up with better web tools, the 11-year-old crypto industry is also gearing up toward new solutions.

Slow internet speeds/dial up models reflect early challenges in scaling blockchains.

SSL and HTTPs are similar to some of the privacy coin efforts.

Based on the parallels of the two industries, Armstrong cites the features that digital coins need for the crypto industry to reachmass adoption.

For me, the biggest areas of development I see that I think we need to get right as an industry are: 1. Scalability we need blockchains that can get to at least thousands of TPS to get mainstream adoption of crypto (similar to broadband internet being a big unlock on the web)

2. Privacy perhaps a contrarian view, but I think well need privacy coins, just like we needed HTTPS as the default on the web, for many use cases in crypto long term. Everyone deserves access to financial services, and financial privacy.

Transaction scalability and privacy are two features that Bitcoin currently lacks. Because of these deficiencies, Armstrong says there is ultimately an opportunity for an altcoin to become the dominant crypto asset in the future.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Proxima Studio

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Coinbase CEO Says Bitcoin (BTC) May Lose Cryptocurrency Race to Altcoins Heres Why - The Daily Hodl

Bitcoin (BTC) is heading to at least $100,000 during the bull cycle which has already begun, one of the industrys best-known analysts has confirmed.

Speaking to RT financial news show the Keiser Report on March 3, Willy Woo said that described BTC/USD hitting $135,000 as a common-sense prediction.

Woo highlighted the cumulative average Bitcoin price as a particularly effective metric for forecasting future gains.

You go could 35 times the cumulative average of the price and thats actually picked every single top in the ten-year history of Bitcoin right now thats sitting above $50,000, but it keeps climbing the longer it runs for, he told host Max Keiser.

Explaining that Bitcoin ebbed and flowed in line with the four-year cycles of its block reward halvings, Woo likened new highs in BTC/USD to water sloshing in a bathtub.

If you make a best guess, its above $100,000; I think one of the more common-sense predictions would be around $135,000 based on the timing cycleture and the 35x of average cap, he continued.

Im looking at around the $100,000 to $250,000 range depending on how long this bull market runs.

Woo was speaking as BTC/USD continued trading at around its 200-day moving average after a week of noticeable losses.

A sudden but suspicious rally in traditional markets failed to spill over into Bitcoin, leading to criticism from one skeptic in particular that its successes in 2020 would be short-lived.

At the same time, several industry figures have delivered buoyant price forecasts for the rest of the year, while technical forecasts suggest that current price performance is exactly on schedule prior to Mays block reward halving.

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Bitcoin Hitting $135K This Bull Cycle Is Common Sense Willy Woo - Cointelegraph