Category Archives: Bitcoin

Does bitcoin belong in your financial plan?

With cryptocurrency starting to pop up in portfolios managed by institutional investors, its a question a growing number of individuals are asking themselves and their financial advisers.

The answer, advisers say, is: It dependson factors including an investors tolerance for risk, financial capacity to absorb losses, and knowledge of the digital asset industry. Among those who use it for some clients, most recommend sticking to a small allocation, on the order of 1% to 2%.

In a recent survey of more than 500 financial advisers conducted by organizations including the Financial Planning Association, nearly half of advisers said clients have asked them about investing in cryptocurrencies, up from 17% in 2020. About 14% said they use or recommend it, compared with fewer than 1% last year.

Bitcoin is only 10 years old, said Ric Edelman, founder of advisory firm Edelman Financial Engines LLC and an investor in digital startups. The focus has been on mining and trading it. But now people are beginning to go to the next level of how to incorporate it as part of a larger portfolio.

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How to Dip a Toe Into Bitcoin - The Wall Street Journal

A local business in El Salvador that accepts bitcoin payments.

Alex Pena/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Bitcoin, the world's most traded cryptocurrency, will surpass money issued by central banks as the dominant form of finance worldwide in less than 30 years, according to a panel of fintech specialists.

54% of 42 crypto experts surveyed foresee so-called hyperbitcoinization - or the moment that bitcoin overtakes global finance -- occurring by 2050, according to a report Friday from Finder.com, a personal finance comparison site. That event could take place even sooner, by 2035, according to 29% of the respondents.

The projection come during a time of growing interest in the cryptocurrency market among institutional and retail investors and as the majority of the central banks are conducting work on digital currencies, ranging from research to pilot programs.

"Some countries will leverage BTC as their primary currency of choice. With fixed circulation, ease of transfer, it will serve them well to move to a "bankless" model inherent in this ecosystem," Joseph Raczynski, a Thomson Reuters technologist and futurist, said in Finder.com's report. He expects by 2025 for bitcoin to overtake fiat currencies and, by then, it priced to be $150,000.

El Salvador is breaking ground with its move in becoming the first country to adopt bitcoin as legal tender. Usage will begin in September following approval by lawmakers in June. 55% of the panelists think bitcoin will become the currency of choice in developing nations, with Finder.com asking them about bitcoin's use in such countries specifically in light of El Salvador's action and as Venezuelans use bitcoin as a way to beat hyperinflation.

But 44% of 41 respondents don't think hyperbitcoinization will occur at all. Among them is Lee Smales, an associate professor at the University of Western Australia.

"Ultimately I think Bitcoin (and many other cryptocurrency assets) will lose out to central bank digital currencies - many of which will be live by the end of the decade," Smales said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told US lawmakers this week that cryptocurrencies have failed to become a viable payment method and that an official US digital currency could undercut the need for cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Powell said a research paper on whether the Fed should establish a digital currency will likely be published in September.

86% of central banks are exploring the benefits and drawbacks of central bank digital currencies, or CBDC, according to a 2020 survey by the Bank for International Settlements.

Looking at bitcoin's price in 2021, 61% of Finder.com's panel said bitcoin is currently undervalued. On average, the panel expects bitcoin to climb to $66,284 by the end of the year. Bitcoin on Friday traded below $32,000 and was headed toward its worst weekly performance in more than a month.

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More than half of experts in a recent crypto survey said bitcoin will replace fiat currency by 2050 - Markets Insider

The investor who sold his bear fund as the 2008 financial crisis was unfolding is delivering a grim long-term prognosis to Wall Street.

From the S&P 500 to Big Tech to bitcoin, David Tice warns it's a "very dangerous period" for investors right now.

"The market is very overpriced in terms of future earnings. We are adding debt like we've never seen,"the former Prudent Bear Fund manager told "Trading Nation" on Friday."We have the Treasury market acting very strange with rates falling dramatically."

Tice, who's known for making bearish bets during bull markets, now advises the AdvisorShares Ranger Equity Bear ETF, which has $70 million in assets under management. The fund is up 3% over the past month, but it's off 62% over the last two years.

He acknowledges it's tough to time the next major pullback, and he's often early. However, Tice is convinced a market meltdown is unavoidable.

"We're not out of the woods yet, and this is a dangerous market," Tice reiterated.

He's encouraging investors to weigh the risks: Try to earn 3% to 5% near-term gains while contending with the threat of a 40% pullback? Tice thinks it's a bet not worth taking.

Tice is particularly worried about Big Tech and the FAANG stocks, which include Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet, formerly known as Google.

"A lot of money has been thrown at Alphabet and Microsoft, Apple and Facebook, Twitter, etc.," noted Tice. "Costs are going up in that sector."

He's also urging investors to be vigilant in the cryptocurrency space. Tice, who came into the year as a bitcoin bull, turned bearish on bitcoin when it hit all-time highs in March.

"We had a bitcoin position when bitcoin was at $10,000," Tice said. "However, when it got to $60,000 we felt like that was long in the tooth... Lately, there's been a lot more uproar from central bankers, Bank for International Settlements [and] the Bank of England have made profound negative statements. I think it's very dangerous to hold today."

Due to his overall bearishness, Tice co-founded hedge fund Morand-Tice Capital Management almost exactly a year ago. It's devoted to metal and mining stocks. Tice, a long-time gold and silver bull, believes it's a once in a decade opportunity for investors.

"You look at this lack of discipline in monetary and fiscal markets. Gold is truly the place to be," said Tice. "Over 5,000 years, gold and silver do very well as protection against fiat money."

Gold closed at $1,812.50 an ounce on Friday. It's down 4% so far this year and up 28% over the past two years. Tice expects the precious metal to rally 10% to $2,000 by December.

"I would be owning gold, especially gold and silver mining companies. These companies have never been cheaper. Many are at single digit multiples yet have potentially 15 to 20% growth rate in earnings even with this flat gold price," Tice said. "But then you add on what we think is going to be a 20% annual increase in the gold price, and these companies are going to be outstanding opportunities."

Disclosure: David Tice owns gold, silver and mining stocks.

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It's very dangerous to invest in stocks and bitcoin right now, long-time bear David Tice warns - CNBC

Interviews with Tim Draper and industry leaders concerning Bitcoins recent tribulations.

Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency -- just the only one your relatives are likely to have heard of. However, the fate of Bitcoin can impact the price of alt coins everywhere and the cryptocurrency industry overall.

In the past week, Bitcoin dipped to around $32,000 -- less than half of its April high of $65,000 -- and though it has shown some signs of recovery, public sentiment seems to feel worried. Elizabeth Warrens comments to the SEC have exacerbated regulatory fears and the discussion about crypto has been active in government with supporters and detractors sending mixed signals as to its regulatory future.

Price movements and sheepish publish sentiment have people worried about the future of this amazing bull run that has been ongoing since late 2020, raising the question of whether laser eyes (Bitcoin reaching $100,000) are a realistic consideration in 2021-2022.

Billionaire investor Tim Draper has been a long time advocate for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency overall. Drapers other famous investments include Baidu, Hotmail, Skype, Tesla, SpaceX, AngelList, SolarCity, Ring, Twitter, DocuSign, Coinbase, Robinhood, Ancestry.com, Twitch, Cruise Automation, and Focus Media -- so he has a proven track record of picking winning investments.Draper hasnt been shy in his predictions about Bitcoin. In 2018, when Bitcoin was trading for around $8,000, Draper predicted that Bitcoin would reach $250,000 by end of 2022 or early 2023.

In order to fully appreciate the magnitude of Drapers prediction, understand it was seen by some as a hyperbolic claim at the time. But 3 years later he stands by his prognostication.

In an exclusive interview with Benzinga, Draper confirmed his prediction.

Tim Draper Are you standing by your predictions? How certain are you feeling given the recent negative movements?

Yes, I stand by my prediction. $250k per bitcoin by end of 2022 or early 2023. We have had many ups and downs and will continue to, but the global, trusted, decentralized, frictionless, open, transparent bitcoin will become increasingly popular as more and more applications evolve, Draper said.

Story continues

What should investors remember here that they will tend to forget in all the furor around the dip?

Bitcoin represents freedom and trust to me. Many people around the world are already benefiting from the economies that can be built around Bitcoin. These small movements are nothing compared to the constant degrading of the Nigerian or Argentinian currencies. And if the government keeps printing dollars, bitcoin is a modern hedge against inflation, Draper said.

What lesson do we need to learn from this?

Technology ultimately prevails through fits and starts, Draper said.

Though blame has and will be cast, at Musk primarily and now, perhaps, Elizabeth Warren, there has been a confluence of events that led to some negative price movements for Bitcoin.

Blockchain startup Kirobo recently announced they surpassed $1 billion in transactions for their cryptocurrency which adds an undo feature for transactions.

On that note, in looking for the flashpoint that led to Bitcoins recent ill fortune, we asked experts what recent events they would hit CTRL+ALT+Z and undo if they had the power.

Few Regrets in 2021

Adrian Pollard, Co-Founder at bitHolla pointed to the energy consumption concerns of Bitcoin as an obstacle he would undo if possible.

If we could undo a recent event in BTC it would be Elon Musk's energy comments which were about how energy intensive the industry is which was false information. This setback adoption of bitcoin by larger companies as energy usage today is a sensitive issue. Luckily I think this is a 1 step back, 2 steps forward, kind of thing as it will push for better insight and data into the real energy usage of BTC and will show that mining is in fact highly energy-efficient, Pollard said.

Ben Weiss, CEO for CoinFlip, pointed to the advancements in Bitcoin adoption outside of the U.S. as a point of inspiration, with no regrets for 2021.

This past year has been an incredible one for the advancement of crypto as a technology and a currency. From what weve seen in El Salvador to institutional investors to adoption in some of Americas largest cities, there has been a massive evolution in how crypto is perceived and used, Weiss said.

Weiss also pointed out that what seems like bad news at the time has a way of working out for the betterment of the industry.

For example, many people were upset over increased Chinese regulation of bitcoin mining, but this will actually help bitcoin in the long run as China had the most miners by far before regulations. Now, these miners will be forced to operate elsewhere, distributing mining amongst more countries. In addition, the energy Chinese miners use almost twice the amount of fossil fuels that North American miners use. Chinas strict regulations will also make bitcoin mining cleaner, Weiss said.

Marie Tatibouet, CMO at Gate.io concurred -- no regrets even for events that arguably negatively impacted Bitcoin prices.

The two biggest events that happened were Tesla refusing BTC payments and China banning mining. I believe both of them will have a long-term positive effect on the Bitcoin ecosystem. The Tesla ban has forced us to think about the long-term sustainability of mining, while the China ban will help in decentralizing hashrate distribution, Tatibouet said.

The Fallout of Bitcoins Summer Slump

Bitcoins summer slump threatens to take some of the momentum away from other blockchain projects and alt coins by reducing buyer interest and trading volume. Its impact has already been many projects including Ethereum, Cardano, and Dogecoin.

However, Weiss from Coinflip sees this as a time of opportunity for alt coins.

Volatility always breeds opportunity, as many individuals can profit from buying and selling at the right time. All altcoins generally follow bitcoin, for the most part, but we have seen a bit of divergence in Ethereum relative to BTC. Altcoins have begun to gain in price relative to bitcoin, Weiss said. I dont think instability is a bad thing. When we see the price dip, an opportunity is created for new investors who may not have wanted to get in at higher prices, Weiss said.

Tatibouet of Gate.io sees the correlation but sees a future moving toward decoupling BTC and alt coins. As much as the shining star of the crypto world has brought global attention to blockchain and crypto projects, other projects will not thrive if kept solidly in Bitcoins shadow.

Bitcoin has always been more volatile compared to other crypto assets. Being the market leader, BTC often dictates how the rest of the market performs. However, we have definitely seen over the last 3 months that when BTC doesnt move much, the traders get bored and move to altcoins, leading to alt season. As the market keeps maturing, there should be a reasonable amount of decoupling from Bitcoin and the rest of the crypto market. Hence, I dont really think BTCs unstability will be detrimental in the long term, Tatibouet said.

Of course, Scott Melker, The Wolf of All Streets, crypto trader and writer/podcaster, challenges the premise completely that there is any instability to really worry about.

"Bitcoin price has been stable for over 8 weeks, trading in a range between 41K and 30K on decreasing volume with minimal volatility. The notion that it is unstable is a result of over analysis paralysis and not of reality. Until price breaks above or below this range, there's very little to discuss in terms of price action. The old Wall Street adage Sell in May and Go Away seems to be appropriate, as traders are clearly watching the market from the sidelines... Oftentimes, it is best to sit on your hands and wait then to obsessively watch a market that is doing nothing.

Summary

It may be too optimistic to use this cross-section of investors and project leaders in blockchain as a positive indicator for BTC, but it does show that the industry is in lock step. That seems like potentially good news for the investor. Bitcoin is staked in the belief of the participants.

The outpouring of interest in Bitcoin from mainstream finance and the public at large, as well as the surprising notoriety of NFTs this year, have been major boosts for the blockchain world as a whole, bringing mainstream interest as an unsteady tide that helped raise at least many ships.

But Bitcoin is just 13 years old after all -- and all the enthusiasm and demand for a globally distributed cryptocurrency bring equally enthusiastic scrutiny, and as Scott Melker said, reactions can become perhaps unduly magnified.

At any rate, it wouldnt be as dramatic a climb to $100,000 if there werent a few setbacks in the journey.

Cover image modified from image by nuspla from Pixabay

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2021 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.

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Draper says Bitcoin is Stronger than Fiat Abroad; Serves as a Hedge for Inflation in the U.S. - Yahoo Finance

Plan B Passport founder Katie Ananina explains how her company can help people avoid paying taxes on cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin traded higher by more than 1% early Thursday morning.

The price was around $32,360 per coin, while rivals Ethereum and Dogecoin were trading around $1,950 and 19 cents per coin, respectively, according to Coindesk.

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One company could potentially help people avoid paying taxes on cryptocurrencies.

Plan B Passport founder Katie Ananina explained on "Varney & Co." on Wednesday.

The business works primarily with owners of Bitcoin to obtain legal residency status in their choice of tax-haven nations, CoinDeskreported, noting that the "open approach to tax avoidance is perfectly legal."

The company claims to be "helping the free market evolve to make governments compete for your wealth and fruits of your labor, while incentivizing them to provide you with better services at better prices," according to its website.

Host Stuart Varney pointed out on Wednesday that for about $200,000 Ananina will sell investors a passport to oneof seven nations that do not imposecapital gains taxes on cryptocurrency gains.

Ananina told Varney that in order for people to avoid paying taxes on cryptocurrencies using her company "you would have to become a non-tax resident of the country youare currently a citizen of," whichshe acknowledged is "really hard" to do in the United States.

Ananina clarified that whoever buys a passport from her must live in one of the seven nations or "maintain a nontax residency status" in order to "takeadvantage of the tax regimethose nations provide."

GIANTS' SAQUON BARKLEY WILL HAVE ENDORSEMENT MONEY CONVERTED TO BITCOIN

In other cryptocurrency news, another athlete is asking for compensation paid in cryptocurrency.

New York Giants superstar running back Saquon Barkley announced on Wednesday that he plans on having all of his endorsement money converted to Bitcoin, which is equivalent to more than $10 million per year.

Barkley made the revelation in an interview with "The Best Business Show."

"Im taking my marketing money in Bitcoin," Barkley said.

He added: "When you see the KDs, the Lebrons, and [Tom] Bradys of the world, and you want to create generational wealth, you cant do that with the sport that I playand coming off of injuries. When you sit out of football for a whole year, you realize that this game could be taken away from you."

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The Giants star isnt the only NFL player asking to be compensated in cryptocurrency. Jacksonville Jaguars rookie quarterback Trevor Lawrence had his $24.1 million signing bonus put into an account for Blockfolio -- which is a cryptocurrency app.

Fox Business' Talia Kaplan and Dan Canova contributed to this report.

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Bitcoin rises as ways to avoid taxes emerge - Fox Business

One evening this spring, Strike CEO Jack Mallers was eating at a sushi restaurant in San Salvador with a couple of his friends when he got a strange DM on Twitter. It purported to be the brother of El Salvador's president, saying they wanted to talk to Jack about the sudden growth of his app in the country.

The Strike app, which had launched in the country in March, had quickly become El Salvador's most-downloaded app. Jack didn't know if the government was pleased or furious about this. So, for the meeting he was summoned to the next day, he brought a friend who promised he'd go with Jack to jail if need be, and another to wait outside to make sure they actually returned safely.

Their concern turned out to be misplaced. El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, welcomed what Strike was doing--which was basically to offer fast, cheap money transfers to a nation where 20% of the GDP depends on remittances, and using existing players like Western Union can be prohibitively expensive and dangerous. The Strike app's new way of doing payments is where Bitcoin and its "second-layer" Lightning network come in.

Basically, the Strike app lets users do things like pay bills or send money using Lightning's technology (typically through a QR code) connected to their bank account or debit card. You need Lightning because otherwise Bitcoin transactions could take ten minutes each and involve steep fees. Lighting is not unlike Visa or Mastercard facilitating your payments instantly before they are actually settled by the bank.

You can see how transformative this would be for a country like El Salvador, whose current system is so broken you can barely even transfer your dollars from one bank to another. So the government and the banks are jumping on board with this fresh alternative. After many meetings and discussions with Jack, the country even decided it will start accepting Bitcoin as legal tender on September 7th, making it even easier to do transactions that don't have to be switched back into dollars.

That announcement, originally made at the Bitcoin Miami conference in early June, is plenty controversial. Critics say it will enable even more corruption in a highly corrupt country (since taking office in early 2020, Bukele has been called "autocratic" and "authoritarian"), and that more than half of El Salvadoreans don't even know what Bitcoin is. The World Bank has even refused to help the country implement Bitcoin as legal tender, citing its "environmental and transparency shortcomings."

But proponents argue that El Salvador is already being abused by the reigning financial system. A decade-long civil war in the 1980s that the Reagan administration got involved with resulted in a devastated economy and population flight to the U.S. The country then adopted the U.S. dollar in 2001 in the hopes it could help juice growth. Despite heavy trade with America, that hasn't panned out.

Now that El Salvador is adding Bitcoin as legal tender, and demonstrating its unhappiness with the dollar-based financial system upon which it currently depends, many are wondering who else might be next. With its move, "Latin America has started to chip away at a financial system that doesn't work well for the region," one observer has written. There's lots of speculation about Paraguay, for instance.

And while this obviously all represents a threat to the dollar as the global standard, along with the primacy of the World Bank and the IMF, it may not actually be the worst thing from their point of view. As El Salvador's situation has become increasingly desperate, it has actually tried to deepen relations with China in recent years. In mid-2018, it severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In late 2019, it signed a "massive" infrastructure deal with China.

Could Bitcoin actually become an ally of the west in its "cold war" with China, one that by offering a financial alternative to Chinese funding could actually improve existing relations in the Western Hemisphere? Sure makes you reflect back on China's shocking recent decision to ban Bitcoin mining. And hey, I hear Bitcoin Beach is lovely this time of year.

See you if Powell finishes early!

Kelly

P.S.--You can listen to the whole story from Jack Mallers himself here.

Twitter: @KellyCNBC

Instagram: @realkellyevans

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Kelly Evans: Where will Bitcoin strike next? - CNBC

Jack Dorsey in 2017.

Rolf Vennenbernd/picture alliance via Getty Images

Square CEO Jack Dorsey earlier this week announced his payments company was diving into the decentralized finance space. But he's not doing it on ethereum, the usual stock-in-trade of DeFi. Dorsey wants to build his platform with bitcoin.

DeFi, which some call the "fourth wave" of crypto, is blossoming. Companies are building it, users are buying into it, and regulators are worried about it. Over $50 billion in assets are locked into a DeFi exchange, according to DeFi Pulse.

But the ethereum-based applications that have come to dominate DeFi, such as Uniswap and Compound, don't have to be the only option.

Bitcoin DeFi is rising, albeit slowly, and could see significant gains from Square's entry into the space. By one count, there are at least 26 active bitcoin-related DeFi projects, spanning everything from derivatives trading to payments.

So far, DeFi services have largely been built on ethereum, in part because of the cryptocurrency's easy use of smart contracts, pieces of code that automate agreements between two parties. 80% of products listed by DeFi Prime, an analytics firm, are based on ethereum.

Smart contracts directly on the bitcoin blockchain could exist in principle, but the technology just hasn't come to fruition, said Peng Zhong, CEO of Tendermint and a developer at Cosmos, a collective trying to stitch together independent blockchains.

"I've heard of smart contracts being able to be built directly on bitcoin for quite a while," Zhong, a veteran of the crypto world, told Insider. "I do feel like development has stalled a little bit. So we haven't seen any real examples of this yet."

The main attempt to create bitcoin DeFi has come through the "Layer 2" network - that is, protocols built on top of "Layer 1," the main bitcoin blockchain. But by and large, smart-contract protocols on Layer 2 have simply received less development energy than smart contracts on ethereum.

"Ethereum is the network with the most developers," Tally Greenberg, business development head at Allnodes, told Insider. "But I think the smart contract idea is coming to bitcoin as well."

"It will take a while for bitcoin to catch up," she added, noting that even a highly successful bitcoin DeFi ecosystem would be unlikely to hurt ethereum's development trajectory or price.

As Dorsey's Square develops its new venture, bitcoin DeFi could get new impetus from Taproot, a protocol upgrade slated for this November. Taproot is supported by broad swathes of the bitcoin community, and will make a number of technical changes to bitcoin that should smooth the process of creating Layer 2 smart contracts.

"There are hundreds of projects on DeFi right now," said Greenberg.

"The more the merrier!"

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Bitcoin DeFi is on the rise as Jack Dorsey's Square muscles into territory long held by ethereum - Markets Insider

Bitcoin continues to squeeze into a tight consolidation range of low-$30,000s as inflation hits a ... [+] 13-year high

Bitcoin continues to squeeze into a tight consolidation range of low-$30,000s, trading at $32,511, more than 4% down on the week, as of 7:10 a.m. ET, according to crypto data aggregator COIN360. The cryptocurrency, promoted as a hedge against inflation but still seen as a risky asset, took a slight dip on the news of an uptick in inflation yesterday. Per a report from the Labor Department, the consumer price index, measuring the average change in prices paid for goods and services, increased 5.4% from a year earlier, the largest jump since August 2008.

Bitcoin price according to Coinbase

Meanwhile bitcoins 7-day volatility keeps declining and currently sits at 2.76%, while the 30-day volatility is now back to March levels when bitcoin consolidated above $50,000, according to analysis from Norwegian crypto analytics firm Arcane Research.

This dampened volatility matches trading activity in the derivatives markets, where open interest is stalling and trading volumes are falling to 2021 lows, data from Glassnode shows. Since the May sell-off, futures open interest has remained bound between $10.7 billion and $13 billion, 57% below the all-time high set in April when Coinbase went public. Volumes across futures markets have fallen 62.5% and 49% compared to May and June highs respectively, now standing at $45 billion of futures traded per day.

Bitcoin Futures Volume

Glassnode analysts write, With such a significant decline across all derivatives markets, it becomes increasingly likely that market volatility will be driven by spot volumes, rather than short/long squeezes or leveraged liquidations. In June, trading volumes at major cryptocurrency exchanges, including Binance, Coinbase and Kraken, fell by more than 40% compared to the previous month, according to crypto market data provider CryptoCompare.

This sentiment is mirrored by Jehan Chu, founder and managing partner of Hong Kong-based crypto investment firm Kenetic Capital. In a message to Forbes he wrote, Lower prices, volume, and sentiment are working together to create further downward pressure on the crypto markets. With a lack of positive sentiment in both the crypto and macroeconomic markets, we can expect sideways and downward movement for the near term, while whales and institutions continue to slowly add to their positions and consolidate a floor.

Altcoins are also trading in the red. Ether fell below $2,000 for the first time this month yesterday and continues to trade south of that level, worth $1,950 as of press time. The cryptocurrency shed 16.01% over the past seven days though the upcoming upgrade to the Ethereum protocol, on track for August launch, may reverse the trend.

Cardano, XRP and Litecoin are similarly down by nearly 4%.

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Bitcoin Falls To $32,500 As Inflation Hits A 13-Year High - Forbes

An analyst who predicted the bitcoin mid-May price slide says the cryptocurrencys current range play is likely to be resolved on the higher side.

The consolidation phase itself is neutral, but we think a breakout is more likely than a breakdown, Katie Stockton, founder and managing partner of Fairlead Strategies, said in a research note published on Monday. Intermediate-term momentum has been improving based on the MACD histogram.

Bitcoin has been trading between $30,000 and $40,000 since late May. The price range has narrowed further in the past two weeks, with bulls unwilling to send prices above $36,000 and sellers refusing to step in below $32,000.

A big move looks overdue and could be bullish, as the weekly chart MACD histogram, an indicator used to gauge trend strength and trend changes, has turned higher, having bottomed out in mid-June.

The consecutive shallow bars below the zero line indicate seller exhaustion.

The stochastic indicator continues to indicate oversold conditions with a below-20 print. Intermediate-term oversold conditions have generated stabilization above $30,000, which has proven to be strong support for bitcoin, Stockton said.

According to Stockton, the expected breakout would be confirmed on consecutive daily UTC closes above the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) at $35,500. That would open the doors to the next resistance level, near $44,000.

The 50-day SMA is one of the most widely-tracked technical lines. Stockton mentioned it as the level to defend for the bulls back in April, when prices were trading well above average. The SMA support was breached on April 20 and was followed by a sell-off in May.

At press time, bitcoin is trading little changed on the day near $33,200. A break below the long-held support at $30,000 could invite chart-driven sellers. However, Stockton sees a low probability of a range breakdown.

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Bitcoin's Range Play Likely to End With Bullish Breakout: Analyst - CoinDesk - CoinDesk

As bitcoin and ether remain in the red on Monday, here are five things worth knowing in crypto from the past week from Jack Dorsey confirming Square is building a bitcoin hardware wallet to TikTok banning cryptocurrency promotions.

On Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., addressed a letter to Gary Gensler, the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), calling for more crypto regulation.

"As demand for cryptocurrencies has grown in recent years, the amount of trading activity on cryptocurrency exchanges has also grown, particularly amongst the largest exchanges," Warren wrote. "...The increased use of cryptocurrency exchanges presents unique risks to consumers."

Warren asked a series of questions on the matter and set a response deadline for July 28.

On June 4, Dorsey first mentioned that Square was "considering making a hardware wallet" on Twitter, and on Thursday, he confirmed that his financial services company is actually creating one.

On Thursday, Jesse Dorogusker, hardware lead at Square, tweeted that the company has "decided to build a hardware wallet and service to make bitcoin custody more mainstream." Dorsey retweeted it, saying, "We're doing it #bitcoin."

On Friday, the SEC charged three individuals with insider trading ahead of Long Island Iced Tea's rebranding to Long Blockchain in 2017. In its shift from a beverage company to a blockchain company, Long Blockchain's stock price soared.

"The SEC remains committed to preventing all types of fraudulent conduct in connection with purported 'crypto'companies, including profiting from trading on material non-public information,"said Richard R. Best, director of the SEC's New York regional office, in a release.

This isn't the first time the company has been involved with the SEC. Long Blockchain's stock wasdelistedby the SEC in February.

TikTok banned influencers from promoting financial services and products on its social media platform, The Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The list of prohibited "branded content" includes loans and credit cards, cryptocurrency, pyramid schemes and get rich quick schemes, among others.

In the U.S., TikTok also prohibits ads promoting virtual currencies and cryptocurrencies, as well as cryptocurrency trading platforms and advisory services, according to its website.

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Jack Dorsey confirms Square's bitcoin wallet and TikTok bans crypto promotions: 5 things that happened in crypto this past week - CNBC