Category Archives: Bitcoin

Bitcoin (BTC) and spot gold hovered below their key psychological levels on Wednesday as a stronger United States dollar weighed on investors appetite for hedging assets.

The BTC/USD exchange rate dropped 5.27% to its intraday low of $44,423 but recovered a portion of those losses after reclaiming the $45,00046,000 range as support. The pairs recovery also came as an extension to its ongoing rebound from $42,830, a level it reached on Tuesday after falling by more than 18% in the session.

Bitcoins massive sell-off coincided with a strikingly similar but dwarfed decline in the rivaling gold market. In detail, the precious metal suffered its worst daily drop in a month on Tuesday as spot XAU/USD rates fell below $1,800 following a minus 1.37% intraday move.

The large red hourly candle on gold and Bitcoin charts appeared between 10:00 and 11:00 UTC. However, the precious metal consolidated sideways after the big decline in contrast to Bitcoin that extended its downtrend.

In detail, the cryptocurrency crumbled under the weight of excessively leveraged bullish bets. Bybt data showed that about $3.68 billion worth of longs in the Bitcoin options market got liquidated in the last 24 hours, marking it the largest liquidation since June.

Automated liquidations caused additional selloffs in the Bitcoin market, as traders were forced to sell their BTC holdings to cover their margin calls.

Worth noting, the sudden drop in Bitcoin and gold prices coincided with a sharp spike in the U.S. dollar index (DXY).

The index,which measures the dollars strength against a basket of top national currencies, rose by 0.41% to 92.53 on Tuesday and continued climbing in the ongoing session to settle its intraday high at 92.73.

DXY moved away from its one-month low, benefiting from the rising U.S. Treasury yields ahead of the government debt sale this week, including $58 billion in three-year notes, $38 billion in 10-year notes, and $24 billion in 30-year bonds.

The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note yield, which was around 1.32% after Fridays weak non-farm payroll report, rose to 1.377% on Tuesday. At the time of writing, it stands at 1.351%.

Rising yields typically compete for haven flows against Bitcoin and gold. But despite the latest climb, they remain below Julys 5.4% core inflation, thus posing non-yielding safe havens as more attractive bets against rising consumer prices.

But with the Federal Reserve planning to start winding down its $120-billion-a-month asset purchasing facility at the end of this year, some analysts believe that bond yields will keep on recovering. In turn, they will provide the dollar a bullish backstop.

Shaun Osborne, chief FX strategist at Scotiabank in Toronto, toldCNBC:

Related:Bitcoin price to hit $100K in 2021 or early 2022: Standard Chartered

Meanwhile, the rising COVID-19 Delta variantthreatens to dampen recovery prospects. In turn, it could force the Fed to sustain its expensive bond-buying program, thus keeping a lid on yields and the dollar alike.

As a result, the outlook for Bitcoin and gold looks mixed. The Federal Open Market Committees meeting later this month expects to shed more light on the taper timeline.

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

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Bitcoins sharp fall from $50K linked to stronger US dollar, gold Correlation shows - Cointelegraph

Sep 11th 2021

San Salvador

ON SUNDAY September 5th a couple of hundred protesters huddled beneath the Monument to the Constitution in San Salvador, the capital of El Salvador, holding hand-made signs. Most were in their mid-twenties. Taking turns to use a microphone they condemned Nayib Bukele, the 40-year-old president. Nearly all of them covered their faces, less for fear of catching covid-19 than of being identified by the police who took photographs of the event.

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They were out on the streets to decry a ruling by the Supreme Court two days earlier that presidents can run for a second consecutive term. That allows Mr Bukele to stand in 2024, and appears to go against the constitution. Daniel, a 28-year-old graphic designer, attended the protest with his mother, holding a sign that read Bukele Fascista. He had voted for Mr Bukele, but now feels that the constitution is being trampled upon.

The ruling is the latest power grab by Mr Bukele. In February New Ideas, his party, won a supermajority in legislative elections. Since then he has taken over the judiciary. Five judges from the Supreme Courts constitutional chamber were sacked in May and replaced by sympathisers; they were the ones who ruled that he could run again. On August 31st the Legislative Assembly passed a series of bills, including one that boots out all judges over the age of 60 or with 30 years of service under their belts. Mr Bukele can now replace themup to a third of the judiciary.

But on the other side of the city from the protest, in Plaza Morazn in downtown San Salvador, few were bothered by Mr Bukeles undemocratic tendencies or the intricacies of the judicial system. When Mr Bukele was mayor of the capital, from 2015 to 2018, he cleaned up the plaza and the downtown area, which used to be controlled by gangs. Dorian Martnez, a waiter in a caf there, feels that the president has been successful in most things, and is different from previous politicians. He praises his ability to get a hospital built during the pandemic. I would vote for him a second time, he says. Imagine what he could achieve.

More of Mr Martnezs compatriots seem to agree with him than with the protesters, who turned out in slightly larger numbers on September 7th. The presidents approval rating has hovered at around 90% since he took power in 2019, by far the highest of any leader in Latin America, and possibly the world.

Many Salvadoreans say that Mr Bukele has made their lives better. They point to new roads, food handouts and safer neighbourhoods. Some credit him with bringing down murder rates, which started to fall well before he took over (see chart). Though many suspect Mr Bukeles government of negotiating with gang members (as previous governments also did), he denies this. On August 23rd El Faro, a digital newspaper, revealed that officials had secretly met imprisoned gang members over the past year, allegedly to keep crime low in exchange for better prison conditions.

Mr Bukeles popularity is not the only thing that has given him cover for his astonishingly quick takeover of the state. Salvadoreans lack faith in democracy, thanks in large part to the corruption and poor governance of the two parties that had alternated in power since the end of the civil war in 1992. Mr Bukele promised to shake up that duopoly with New Ideas, which was registered as a party only in 2018.

It also helps that the president is a masterful self-publicist. The Supreme Court judgment happened just a few days before El Salvador became the first country to make bitcoin legal tender, alongside US dollars. The move is not terribly popularin one survey over two-thirds did not want to be paid in crypto. But it has attracted headlines around the world (although the rollout was a shambles). Mr Bukele has been frantically tweeting about the cryptocurrency, of which the country has bought hundreds of tokens (spending around $30m). By contrast he stayed silent about the Supreme Courts decision.

Meanwhile Mr Bukeles control of the judicial system means that it would be impossible to mount a legal challenge, says Ruth Lpez, a lawyer at Cristosal, a human-rights organisation in El Salvador, even if the rulings and sackings are illegal. The electoral authority has said it will abide by the courts decision to allow the president to run for a second consecutive term, although one of its officials expressed surprise at the decision.

The United States appears to be hamstrung in how it deals with the president of a country of just 6.5m people. President Joe Bidens administration has condemned Mr Bukele; the American ambassador to El Salvador likened him to Hugo Chvez, Venezuelas late dictator. Officials in Washington may be able to exert some economic pressure, perhaps by pressing for conditions on an IMF loan worth $1bn that is in the works. The State Department stopped supporting the attorney-generals office after the incumbent was ousted in May.

Yet the United States is battling a migrant crisis of Central Americans on its southern border. Over 2m Salvadoreans now live in the United States, up from 700,000 in 2000. Mr Bidens team would rather not risk destabilising the country, causing more people to flee. On August 27th it donated equipment including eight helicopters to El Salvadors armed forces, who are loyal to Mr Bukele.

Some may take comfort in a poll which showed Mr Bukeles approval rating at 87%. Although still ridiculously high, that is the lowest it has been since he took office. But with the levers of power now under his control, and $30 of free bitcoin to any Salvadorean who signs up to the crypto service (the equivalent of about three days on minimum wages) the millennial caudillo can afford not to please everyone.

This article appeared in the The Americas section of the print edition under the headline "Crypto creep"

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El Salvador's bitcoin bro president is beloved and dangerous - The Economist

A Suffolk County IT supervisor was arrested this week for allegedly running a cryptocurrency mining operation out of government offices on Long Island, officials announced Wednesday.

Christopher Naples, 42, a supervisor of information technology operations for the county clerks office, is accused of operating 46 cryptocurrency mining devices in a county building in Riverhead, according to the Suffolk County Districts Attorneys Office.

At least ten of the machines have been running since February, mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency and inflating the electricity bill by $6,000, the prosecutors said.

The devices were located in six different rooms inside the county building, including under removable floorboards and inside an unused electrical wall panel.

Mining cryptocurrency requires an enormous amount of resources, and miners have to navigate how to cover all of those electricity and cooling costs, District Attorney Sini said.

This defendant found a way to do it; unfortunately, it was on the backs of taxpayers, said Sini.

Investigators are working to determine if Naples profited from the scheme.

Naples was charged with public corruption, grand larceny, computer trespass and official misconduct, officials said.

He was arraigned Wednesday at Southampton Town Justice Court and released on his own recognizance.

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Suffolk County IT supervisor accused of mining Bitcoin at workplace - New York Post

Miami, Sept. 9, 2021 Miami Dade Colleges (MDC) Business Innovation & Technology (BIT) Center will present a webinar on Cryptocurrencies Trends + Bitcoin with special guest Mike McGlone of Bloomberg Intelligence on Thursday, Sept. 30, from 12 1 p.m. Join the webinar in person at the BIT Center or via Zoom. Its free and open to the general public with registration.

During the webinar, McGlone will share his outlook for Bitcoin and crypto-assets Where markets are heading and why. What are the risks and potential rewards? Are crypto-assets the epicenter of a new cold war? What to expect and what might trip up current trends.

McGlone is a senior commodity strategist for Bloomberg Intelligence, a unique research platform that provides context on industries, companies, and government policy, available on the Bloomberg Professional service. With over 25 years of futures and commodity trading and investing experience, he specializes in the broad investible commodity and crypto markets, authoring the monthly Bloomberg Commodity Outlook and Bloomberg Crypto Outlook. Prior to joining Bloomberg, he was a head of U.S. research at ETF Securities. He also headed the commodity business at S&P Indices and was head of futures research at ABN Amro and VP research, analyst, trader, sales at Aubrey G. Lanston / IBJ Futures.

MDCs state-of-the-art BIT Center explores the role of technology in digital transformation, process automation, and analytics in the ever-changing business landscape. The BIT Center is an initiative of MDCs Miguel B. Fernandez Family School of Global Business, Trade & Transportation and offers various programs and courses in three core areas marketing and digital marketing; banking and finance; and industry certifications.

WHAT: MDCs BIT Center Presents Webinar on Cryptocurrencies Trends + Bitcoin

WHEN:Thursday, Sept. 30, noon 1 p.m.

WHERE: BIT Center, MDC Wolfson Campus

300 N.E. 2nd Ave, Building 2 / or join via Zoom

Register for the webinar at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cryptocurrencies-trends-bitcoin-by-bloomberg-tickets-170235877091.

For a complete list of BIT Center courses and events, visit http://www.mdc.edu/bitcenter.

For more information about the BIT Center, please contact Chechu Lasheras at 305-297-5696, jlashera@mdc.edu, or Max Ramirez rramirez2@mdc.edu.

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MDC's BIT Center to Host Cryptocurrencies Trends + Bitcoin by Bloomberg Webinar Sept. 30 - The Reporter

Bitcoin surpassed the $52K handle on Monday morning, as crypto-asset markets have been moving northbound and gathering more fiat value. The overall crypto economy is around $2.45 trillion and it has gained 3.5% during the last 24 hours. Meanwhile, bitcoin charts show a pending golden crossover which to many means the overall market outlook looks bullish.

Digital asset markets are in the green today and many crypto assets have seen single to double-digit gains during the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, the entire crypto-economy of 10,000+ cryptos in existence is around $2.45 trillion on Monday. Bitcoin (BTC) has gained more than 3.5% today and 6.3% during the last seven days. On Monday morning (EST), BTC surpassed the $52K zone reaching $52,230 per unit. Many assume BTCs next few months will be bullish and a pending golden cross chart signal indicates this may be the case.

Basically, when the short-term moving average jumps over the long-term moving average and starts moving northbound, traders call it a golden cross and assume an upward trend is coming. On Friday, BTC broke through the resistance of $50,500, paused for the weekend, and exceeded $51,500 on Monday, where it is now struggling to hold on, Fxpro senior financial analyst Alex Kuptsikevich told Bitcoin.com News.

Actually, Bitcoin has been trading above $50,000 since last week as the bulls managed to keep the rate above the 200-day moving average. In light of this, the price of over fifty has become quite common over the past few days, Kuptsikevich added. The analyst further stressed:

Anchoring above this mark will open the way to $60,000 and may become a catalyst for a fully-fledged reversal of the crypto market.

Meanwhile, ethereum (ETH) is only up 0.3% today but over the last week, ether has gained 22.2%. ETH hit a high above the $4K handle on September 1, but has been below that region since then. Simon Peters, Etoros crypto-asset analyst, says ether is headed toward all-time price highs.

Ether is closing in on all-time highs while bitcoin has reached above $50,000 for the first time since mid-May, Peters said. ETH surged in the last week, coming close to breaching the $4,000 level. The crypto asset began the week below $3,200 but rose quickly through the week, reaching $3,981 by Friday. Over the weekend gains have flattened but remain trading in this range, he added. The Etoro crypto analyst continued:

A confluence of factors is contributing to the rising price of ETH. ETH burning, staking, gas fees, transactions, and locked away tokens on defi are all working in concert to support price levels. BTC meanwhile has hit above $50,000 for the first time since mid-May. The crypto asset started the week with falls to below $47,000 before rallying midweek above $50,000. In early trading today BTC has surged again, closing in on $52,000.

As bitcoin and ethereum have seen some gains and of course attention, a number of other crypto-assets have seen better returns over the last 24 hours. Coins like quant, omg network, filecoin, ftx token, fantom, qtum, chainlink, mdex, bitcoin cash, and EOS have all seen double-digit 24-hour gains.

What do you think about bitcoin and the rest of the crypto economys recent improvements? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, bitcoinwisdom.io

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Bitcoin Quickly Jumps Above the $52K Zone Only to Get Pushed Back, Crypto Economy Climbs 3.5% Markets and Prices Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News

A Bitcoin ETF has been long denied to U.S investors. In recent times, countries such as Canada and Brazil have authorized BTC, ETH ETFs. And yet, the SEC continues to refrain from doing so in the United States.

However, such optimism has grown significantly over the last few weeks after SEC Chair Gary Genslers comments at the Aspen Security Forum. Gensler discussed crypto in detail, and one of his comments was,

Given these important protections, I look forward to the staffs review of such filings, particularly if those are limited to these CME-traded Bitcoin futures.

Now, many speculated that this was an indirect suggestion to Wall Street about the kind of Bitcoin ETF the SEC will be willing to accept. A Futures-based ETF without direct exposure to spot markets.

Hypothetically, let us assume a Bitcoin ETF does become official by the end of the year. How will Bitcoins market would react post-approval?

In order to draw a realistic comparison, the case study of Gold can be taken to address a possible path for Bitcoin after its ETF launch. The first Gold ETF was approved in Australia back in 2003, following which the SEC approved one in 2004, with trading commencing on November 2004.

Now, between a yearly low in 2001, to right before the ETF approval in 2004, Golds value rose by 76%. However, right after the ETF, the market started to thread sideways and dropped down by 9% in one month.

It was almost a year later that the ETFs impact was felt on the charts.

Source: jarvislabs

Over the next 5-6 years, Gold went on a parabolic rise, hitting a high of $1900 from $420-$440 A straight 330% hike from the time Gold ETF started trading.

It was a clear fractionalization of assets, according to statistics. Gold was made easily accessible and fresh institutional interest emerged for the asset during the 2008 financial crisis. Gold was already considered a hedge against inflation.

That remains one of the best periods to have invested in Gold.

An official Bitcoin ETF will obviously improve the credibility of the digital asset as a legitimate investment vehicle. If it emulates Gold like-for-like, BTC will be valued at over $200,000 within the next 5 years.

However, a few difficulties may arise as well.

A Bitcoin ETF regulated by the SEC is possibly going to have a weekend off period. Right now, the trading desks for both BTCC and EBIT are from Monday to Friday. That is a problem when BTCs spot market is 247.

Any Bitcoin ETF would be subject to extraordinary volatility during off-market hours, and investors will not be able to exit their positions during off-hours.

In order to tackle such a scenario, a U.S ETF would need to offer 24-hour trading on OTC exchanges. This will ensure investors do not have a blind spot with these Bitcoin products.

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Assessing how Bitcoin's market will REALLY do if an ETF is approved - AMBCrypto News

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Bitcoin is just one important aspect of the accelerating changes we see in the contemporary world. From culture and medicine to art and education, the shifts we are beginning to see will undoubtedly only gain momentum in the near future.

One of the events that shines a light on this is the well-established SALT Conference, and the Bitcoin Magazine Podcast was lucky enough to host a conversation with the brains behind this event, Anthony Scaramucci.

Scaramucci is also the founder of SkyBridge, and has had years of experience across different high-powered sectors of the economy. We got into a fascinating conversation centering on the conference, but also delving into many topics including the education system, psychedelics, literature, and so much more.

Our political class has failed us, Scaramucci said. They don't think long-term. They don't think strategically. They react to the efforts of lobbyists, and they react to the efforts of influences of foreign powers, frankly.

Scaramucci has a very unique take on cryptocurrencies and decentralization and some of his views may not align with the majority of our audience, but they are incredibly thought-provoking and worthwhile for the open minded. So, to hear it all and for a few more reasons to entice you to attend The SALT Conference, be sure to check out this episode.

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Bitcoin And The SALT Conference With Anthony Scaramucci - Bitcoin Magazine

Over the past month, the crypto market has looked like a rising tide for all coins from Bitcoin to Cardano but data suggest growth across the asset class hasnt been equal.

Last week, Bitcoin (BTC-USD) breached $50,000 for the second time in two weeks, extending a rally that put a grim sell-off that started in May further in the rear-view mirror. While notable for its volatility, gains in the largest cryptocurrency may have gotten lost in the swell of rising prices across the entire asset class.

With a majority of decentralized finance and non-fungible token (NFT) trading happening on the Ethereum (ETH-USD) blockchain, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization rose by a third from $2,700 to $3,900, a growth rate 17% higher than BTC.

And other blockchain-based currencies such as the third highest valued cryptocurrency, Cardano (ADA-USD) has more than doubled while a newer one, Solana (SOL-USD), has more than tripled in value over the past month. ADA and SOL have continued to notch almost daily all time highs for the past two weeks.

In fact, new data released on Tuesday from MejoresApuestas.com showed Solana, Dogecoin and Cardano were the fastest-growing cryptos this year. All three posted four-digit increases to their market capitalization, with Solana's surging by 8,616%, and Dogecoin (DOGE-USD) and Cardano following with a 4,351% and 1,499% jump, respectively.

Bitcoin IRA, an investment platform that helps retail investors gain crypto exposure in their retirement accounts, saw record-breaking inflows of new accounts over the previous month.

We broke our record in the first quarter right before Bitcoin ran from $45,000 to $65,000, the companys Chief Operating Officer, Chris Kline told Yahoo Finance. Were seeing the same pattern happen again. So this past month [August] felt a lot like April, but about twice as big.

Currently, Bitcoin IRA has close to 120,000 client accounts, with approximately $2 billion in assets on the platform. Although the platform's heft doesnt move the market, the swell of retail investors opening new accounts especially for tax-advantaged IRA accounts is an indicator of how curious investors are as they seek more traditional ways to participate in this market.

Story continues

By rough approximation across all accounts, Kline said his clients hold 43% of their portfolio in bitcoin, 27% in ethereum, and the remaining 30% in a mix of other cryptocurrencies. The company offers 10 different cryptocurrencies in total, and is planning to more than double its crypto offerings in the fall.

Back in early May when Ethereum started rising to its all-time high above $4,000, the company saw a large influx of swaps or pairing from BTC to ETH. It signaled many of his clients were shifting their portfolios from BTC to ETH.

However, in recent weeks? Not so much this time, Kline told Yahoo Finance.

To be sure, there could be a lag. Retail buyers are looking for percentage growth. While bitcoin reigns supreme, it has relatively stable growth while there is exponential growth happening on ethereum. Thats what really gets their attention, Kline explained.

Bitcoin's August peak at $50K served as a key technical and psychological level, according to Will Clemente, an analyst at crypto mining and hardware broker Blockware Solutions.

Clemente told Yahoo Finance that for the last seven days, bitcoins price has remained in what he called a volatility squeeze. The idea being that buyers and sellers have balanced each other out, thereby reducing the assets typically high volatility.

But the analyst suggested that could be about to change. A volatility squeeze for bitcoin usually takes a week to two weeks to resolve.

Bitcoin Illiquid Supply (RSI)

Thats not telling you the direction, it's just telling you that theres going to be a big move soon, said Clemente.

Analyzing price action alone remains a dominant, more contested method for predicting buyers and sellers around a cryptocurrency. But Clementes specialization, on-chain analysis, has quickly become a crucial tool kit of metrics for investors hoping to glean some clarity into the nascent asset-class.

Similar to technical analysis, the on-chain technique tries to forecast future moves based on supply and demand. However, it relies on a far larger quantity of data only available for assets operating on publicly available blockchains.

While Clemente cannot predict the price shift of Bitcoin, he pointed to a handful of supply shock ratios, such as the movement of coin supply from speculators to long term holders and the exchange supply ratio, which shows the number of Bitcoins available to buy on exchanges relative to the overall circulating supply.

Each of these metrics continue to rise higher after Bitcoin crested above $50,000, according to Clemente. Historically, supply shocks begin before the Bitcoin price moves upward.

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

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For more information about cryptocurrency, check out:

Dogecoin, what is it? How to buy it

Ethereum: What is it and how do you invest in it?

The top 21 crypto leaders to watch in the back half of 2021

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Crypto: Cardano (ADA) and Solana boom as bitcoin retakes $50,000 - Yahoo Finance

Bitcoin has struggled to reach its all-time high over the last several months.

Bitcoin prices have been doing well lately, following a steady, upward trend for the last several weeks as they climb toward the record high they set earlier this year.

The worlds largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization reached $51,037.01 today, its highest since May 14, CoinDesk figures show. At this point, it had risen more than 75% since hitting a local low on June 22.

While this might sound impressive, other prominent digital currencies have been outshining bitcoin lately with their superior performance.

Ether, the second-largest digital asset by market value, more than doubled in recent months, and Cardanos ada token tripled in the same time, according to CoinDesk price data.

Ether reached $4,026.93 earlier today, having climbed more than 130% after falling to a recent low of $1,711.23 on June 22, additional CoinDesk figures show. At this recent high, ether was up more than 400% year-to-date.

Cardanos ada token has been benefiting from even more compelling gains, rising to an all-time high of $3.10 yesterday, at which point it had climbed more than 200% after reaching a local low of $1.00 June 22.

[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]

Amid these latest developments, some investors might wonder whether bitcoin is still the market leader it was for years.

For most of its history, Bitcoin has acted as the reserve currency of the crypto ecosystem, leading the direction up or down for everything else, said Jesse Proudman, cofounder and CTO of crypto hedge fundStrix Leviathan.

Over the past few months, weve witnessed a marked change in that status and over the last week, were seeing the beginning of a clean break where Bitcoin is now following moves of other currencies like Ethereum, he stated.

Jeff Dorman, chief investment officer of asset managerArca, put things a bit more bluntly.

Bitcoin does not lead markets anymore, he stated. It has exhibited both poor upcapture and poor downcapture all year, meaning it doesn't keep pace with rallies AND sells off more than other assets in downturns.

More importantly, everyone (other than the individuals and businesses that rely solely on Bitcoin's success) are beginning to understand that Bitcoin shouldn't be tied to the success or failures of other assets. They are completely different.

Unlike the early days of digital assets where Bitcoin was the only game in town, this asset class has now evolved far beyond cryptocurrencies, he noted.

There are new sectors that have much faster growth trajectories, like DeFi (decentralized finance), gaming, sports, NFTs and web 3.0, all of which have completely different factors and token attributes that contribute to their returns.

Bitcoins Maturation

Blockstream VP of financial products Jesse Knutson offered a more optimistic take, weighing in on how the worlds most prominent digital currency continues to develop.

I think what were seeing here is the maturation of Bitcoin, he stated.

Over the past 12 months, theres been an incredible amount of institutional and even sovereign interest in the space, said Knutson. This interest has been focused almost exclusively on Bitcoin.

The largest asset managers in the world, firms like Capital, Fidelity, Blackrock, and Tudor are trying to build Bitcoin exposure, but are still largely limited to listed proxies and derivative products, he noted.

Morgan Stanley and JPM are rolling out dedicated Bitcoin products to private wealth clients, and countries like El Salvador are looking to Bitcoin not only as a growth driver but to also actually solve financial infrastructure challenges.

Given the massive change in market participants this year, I think it makes sense to see some price divergence between Bitcoin and more speculative digital assets from time to time, Knutson stated.

The macro backdrop is extremely supportive of the Bitcoin investment thesis and there is a wave of money building that I think will probably struggle to fit into what is still a relatively small asset class by institutional and sovereign standards.

Continued Market Evolution

Other analysts offered differing perspectives, speaking to how they think the broader digital asset markets will mature over time.

The crypto asset class is viewed by many as a monolith driven by Bitcoin, claimed Amber Ghaddar, cofounder of decentralized capital marketplace AllianceBlock.

Our thesis has always been that even if Bitcoin is the poster child of crypto, bifurcation and a decrease in correlation is to be expected in the long run.

As time goes on, she expects individual digital assets to derive their values less from speculation and more based on their own specific characteristics.

Prices are made of two components: a fundamental component and a speculative component. The speculative part is usually the largest and is driven by sentiment, future expected uses and scalability, Ghaddar noted.

We expect the fundamental component - easily calculated by looking at network data - to take a larger proportion of price as new layer 1 blockchains start maturing and/or go live.

Jalak Jobanputra, founder and managing partner of Future Perfect Ventures, also spoke to the growing divergence between bitcoin and other digital assets.

We have firmly believed in a multi-crypto world and that each currency will eventually be valued according to its particular use case, she stated.

Bitcoin has emerged as a store of value and inflation hedge while Ethereum has become the currency for DeFi and NFT applications, and thus in many ways the reserve currency for Web 3.0. I expect Bitcoin will follow more macroeconomic trends as it is doing right now.

This is an exciting transition as we are seeing some of these more blue-chip cryptos come into their own beyond being used as tools for speculators.

Disclosure: I own some bitcoin, bitcoin cash, litecoin, ether and EOS.

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Is Bitcoin Losing Its Position As The Crypto Market's Leader? - Forbes

Mauricio Moura, a current director of the Central Bank of Brazil, stated that anonymity wont be a choice when making cryptocurrency transactions in the country. The representative stated that, sooner or later, all users would have their transactions identified by the government. These comments came at an event promoted by the Institute of Professionals for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.

Mauricio Moura, director of citizenship relations and supervision of conduct for the Central Bank of Brazil, stated that the coming regulation could ban anonymity in cryptocurrency transactions made in the country. Moura stated that the central bank is currently devising ways to achieve this objective jointly with the Brazilian Securities Commission. He declared:

I cant say much. But the names of those involved in cryptocurrency operations will be known end-to-end. I can say that anonymity will not be an option.

Currently, all exchanges and companies in Brazil must report their operations and the operations of their customers to the regulator. But some of these companies still arent complying with this mandate. Moura didnt detail how the bank would accomplish the planned objective.

Brazil is in the process of issuing a complete regulatory system for cryptocurrency assets, and the Central Bank of Brazil is included in the institutions that have a say in this process. In June, a law project that proposes a fixed period for establishing cryptocurrency regulations was introduced in Congress. While it is still awaiting approval, it would give the government 180 days to propose and approve a system to regulate and tax cryptocurrencies like normal bank transactions.

There is another commission that is currently focusing directly on the regulation of cryptocurrencies in the Chamber of Deputies. However, even with all these institutions trying to regulate crypto, the market keeps growing, and more companies are integrating crypto-related solutions into their operations.

This is the case of Visa, which recently announced it will integrate cryptocurrency solutions with traditional banking. But more importantly, the vice president of new business in Brazil has stated the company will be testing direct bitcoin payments this year. This suggests regulation is not scaring big players still interested in joining the cryptocurrency market or embedding crypto into existing platforms.

What do you think about the stance on cryptocurrency transactions that the Central Bank of Brazil has taken? Tell us in the comment section below.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Central Bank of Brazil Director States Government Will Know 'Everything You Have in Bitcoin' Bitcoin News - Bitcoin News