BITCOIN’S WONDER WEEK – 10 signs a boom is coming

There are plenty of reasons to get depressed during ‘Crypto Winter’. But every day we read new stories about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency adoption that make us think the next boom is incoming. Here are 10 stories from this week alone:

1. Bitcoin is now legal in more than 100 countries

According to Coin Dance, Bitcoin is now legal (or at least not specifically banned) in 111 countries out of a total of 256. That includes almost all of the biggest economies in Europe, Russia, South Africa and South America. Bitcoin gets a less enthusiastic welcome in Asia and Africa.
 

2. History shows this could be the last time many can afford a Bitcoin

Crypto trader and investor Josh Rager shared a chart this week of Bitcoin’s overall upward movement since inception, and suggested this could be the last time the public could actually afford to buy a whole Bitcoin. “After 2021 – Bitcoin could move to a market price where most will only buy fractions … $BTC speculative value could be out of reach for most.”
 

3. Nasdaq announced it will add Bitcoin and Ethereum indices this month

Nasdaq announced this week it will launch two new indices tracking cryptocurrency prices from February 25. The Bitcoin Liquid Index (BLX) and the Ethereum Liquid Index (ELX) — provide real time updates in thirty-second intervals for clients using NASDAQ’s Global Index Data Service (GIDS). Now, that’s a long way from a Bitcoin ETF approval, but it shows crypto is now firmly on the radar of traditional and institutional investors. Nasdaq is also reportedly launching Bitcoin futures in the first half of this year.

4. Two US retirement funds invested in a crypto fund

The institutional money has started to flow. For the first time two US pension funds invested in a $40 million cryptocurrency fund overseen by Morgan Creek Capital. Virginia’s Fairfax County’s Police Officers Retirement System and Employees’ Retirement System both think Bitcoin is now worth gambling other people’s retirements on.
 

5. Bitcoin will ‘grind back up,’ says Mike Novogratz

Former Goldman Sachs partner Mike Novogratz told Bloomberg this week that Bitcoin won’t explode all of a sudden, but will “grind back up to $8000”. “It feels like we’re just grinding along the bottom and the next move is significantly higher. We are not gonna bubble back up… We are going to grind back up… But if you start buying, could you go to $8,000? Of course, you could… And then you see the enthusiasm pick up… ”
 

6. Bitcoin is now mining its biggest blocks ever

Blockchain.com showed that February 12 had an average block size of 1.305 megabytes, the biggest on record. Blocks mined today by the Bitcoin network are now regularly bigger than 1MB, which was the limit that existed before Segregated Witness (SegWit) was introduced in August of 2017. Unfortunately up to 20 percent was by a startup called VeriBlock and their transactions have been called ‘spam’.

7. You can now buy pizza easily and cheaply with Bitcoin

Domino’s Pizza now accepts Bitcoin via the Lighting Network, through a third party called

Lightning Pizza. Every order comes with a five per cent discount and fees will cost less than one US cent.
 

8. Chinese Bitcoin billionaire forecasts end of winter

On WeChat Chinese Bitcoin (BTC) billionaire Zhao Dong told investors there are a few more months of winter to endure and predicted the crypto spring will come in 2020, and summer will arrive in 2021. That means now is the time to buy up while it’s cheap.
 

9. 13% of consumers across 22 countries have actually bought stuff with crypto

A survey by Kaspersky Labs of more than 12,000 consumers in 22 different countries found about 13 percent of people have used cryptocurrency as a payment method. Separate data from Coinmap shows there are now 14,346 venues that accept BTC as against 1,789 recorded almost six years ago, an increase of 702 percent since December 2013.

10. Lightning network lighting up

Yes, apparently the Lightning Network now has 6,000 Nodes and $2.4 million capacity. OK, that’s about as much as one house costs in Sydney. But still. The Lightning Network aims to solve the high costs, low transaction volume and rubbish transaction speeds associated with Bitcoin. While it’s early days yet, if it can scale, then this could make Bitcoin king of crypto for years to come.

By Andrew Fenton -February 17, 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin price prediction – BTC/USD bears have a hard time at $3,550 – Confluence Detector

• BTC/USD is well-supported at the current price level.

• The bulls need to take out $3,650 to put Bitcoin back on the recovery track.

BTC/USD has steadied below $3,600 handle as the bullish enthusiasm proved to be short-lived. The largest digital coin has been rangebound with downside bias for a few days, singling the loss of the recovery momentum.

A steady flow of positive fundamental news did little to support the prices or engineer a new bullish trend. The industry seems to be humming along, but the market remains skeptical. Traders are in no hurry to push Bitcoin and other digital assets out of the recent ranges and to new highs.

BTC/USD the daily confluence detector

Bitcoin bears may have a hard time pushing the price lower, considering a thin layer of strong technical indicators clustered right under the current price. They include a host of short-term SMA levels, the midline of 1-hour Bollinger Band, 38.2% and 61.8% Fibo retracement on a daily chart, 38.2% Fibo retracement weekly.

Once this barrier is out of the way, the price will bump into another support zone, created at $3,540-$3,520 by a confluence of 23.6% Fibo retracement monthly, SMA200 and SMA50 4-hour and Pivot Point 1-day Support 1.

This area is followed by psychological $3,500. A sustainable move lower may trigger strong sell-off with the next focus at $3,338, which is the lowest level of the previous week.

On the upside, the recovery is capped by a psychological $3,600, which is closely followed by DMA50 at $3,624. This is a strong resistance area that also contains 23.6% Fibo retracement weekly, 161.8% Fibo projection weekly and Pivot Point 1-day Resistance 2.

A minor resistances is also registered on approach to $3,650 (38.2% Fibo retracement monthly, pivot Point 1-day Resistance 3). By taking this hurdle out, Bitcoin bulls will effectively clear out the way towards $4,000 as there is little in terms of technical levels there.

BTC/USD, 1D

Tanya Abrosimova

FXStreet

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin’s highly publicized meteoric rise to its all-time high of $20,000 in December 2017 was a classic bubble cycle at its peak. The media attention and hype from individuals talking about the crypto on social media and in social circles sparked FOMO (fear of missing out) in retail investors who eventually got burned when the price of BTC collapsed starting in January 2018.

Throughout the current bear market, due to early investors getting in long before Bitcoin went parabolic, collectively, investors were able to stay above water. But once support at $6K broke and capitulation set in, Bitcoin investors became deep underwater and are still drowning in losses since. However, according to data shared by a prominent crypto analyst, Bitcoin is “seldom underwater” and it could signal that investors could be seeing gains again in the future.

Bitcoin Investors Have Only Been Underwater for Under 2 Out of 10 Years

Bitcoin has been rightfully lauded for the asset’s ability to produce substantial gains not seen in traditional financial assets or investments. Even at current prices of roughly $3,600, from the first ever recorded BTC price of $0.003 represents a 120 million percent increase – gains that are typically unheard of in other markets.

Due to the first ever cryptocurrency’s rise from practically worthless, to nearly $20,000, there have been many opportunities for investors to become profitable in their journey alongside Bitcoin and rarely are investors underwater on their BTC holdings.

According to a price chart from CoinMetrics that approximates the price paid for all circulating coins – as was shared by prominent crypto analyst Willy Woo – Bitcoin investors are underwater for only the third time in the technological and financial breakthrough’s ten years in existence.

Only two times before the current dive have investors went underwater.

At the tail end of 2011, Bitcoin took a three-month dip into the water starting around September when price fell from nearly $8 in late August, all the way down to roughly $2 in November of the same year. It wasn’t until December when BTC made a recovery and came up for a breath of air.

During the dreaded 2014-2015 bear market following the Mt. Gox disaster, Bitcoin again fell deep underwater in January 2015 and stayed there until early November of the same year.

In total, Bitcoin has spent only around 18 months out of the ten years since the Genesis Block with investors of the asset underwater. Given Bitcoin’s resiliency and ability to bounce back, the market may be closer to establishing the ever elusive bottom.

Bye-Bye BTC Bear Market? Not So Fast

While the data does show that Bitcoin investors falling underwater could indicate a bottom is in or at least near, the same data could also be a sad signal for bulls.

Should Bitcoin’s price follow a similar path and trajectory as the 2014-2015 bear market, and it has done so eerily closely thus far, investors in the asset may be stuck spending another 7-9 months underwater before a bull trend resumes.

The previous time Bitcoin went underwater, it stayed there for 11 months before a relief rally occurred that wasn’t immediately batted down by overhead by bearish resistance. The current bear market only dove underwater following the break of critical support at $6,000 back in November of last year, which could suggest that the bear market has a lot longer to go before the end of crypto winter is here.

TONY SPILOTRO | FEBRUARY 14, 2019 | 1:00 AM

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

BITCOIN BREAKTHROUGH – The institutions ‘have arrived’

Bitcoin evangelist Anthony Pompliano says the institutions have arrived to cryptocurrency, after his digital asset firm signed two US pension funds.

Morgan Creek, which focusses on institutional clients and family offices, says the Fairfax County’s Police Officers Retirement System and Employees’ Retirement System contributed to the US$40M fund.

“Blockchain technology is being applied in unique and compelling ways across multiple industries,” said Katherine Molnar, chief investment officer of Fairfax County’s police officer’s retirement system, in a press release.

“We feel it is important to be opportunistic and are excited to participate in this emerging opportunity, due to the attractive asymmetric return profile that it represents.”

Mr Pompliano believes it’s the first time a cryptocurrency venture fund has raised money from a public pension.

“The institutions aren’t coming. They’re already here!” Mr Pompliano proclaimed.

“A tonne of people worked their asses off to make this happen and it took some incredibly forward thinking capital allocators to have the courage to be the first.

“Couldn’t be more proud of everyone.”

It’s understood the fund will primarily make equity-based investments in start-up companies active in the blockchain space, but also smaller investments in security tokens and cryptocurrencies.

The fund’s investors also include a hospital system, a university endowment and an insurance company.

“We’re investing in infrastructure companies with some small liquid crypto exposure,” Mr Pompliano said.

February 13, 20196149

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

The cumbersome process of bulding laws for Bitcoin

Crypto is in a precarious legal state, with slow-moving regulation struggling to keep up with technological innovations.

In a press release with News.Bitcoin, two lawyers working on a crypto money laundering case highlight how murky the legal framework for crypto really is. The lawyers in question, Matt Kohen and Justin Wales, are involved in a case in which a man named Michell Espinoza sold Bitcoin to undercover officers. The man was charged with money laundering, which eventually was dropped by a judge who decreed Bitcoin as a legally distinct from ‘money.’ This decision itself has since been overturned by a separate judge. Furthermore, in a separate jurisdiction involving a seperate money laundering case, Bitcoin was declared ‘unambiguously money’ by US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Kohen and Wales describe the legal framework which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies exist in as ‘patchwork.’ Furthermore, the legal or criminal implications of crypto are separate from its place in securities law, and how it is overseen by the CFTC and SEC.

In a recently published speech by Hester Pierce, the so-called ‘crypto mom,’ the SEC commissioner attempted to make more clear the opaque process by which the SEC is to decide whether Bitcoin is a security, and the exact specifications involved with regulating a BTC ETF. Pierce paints her (and the rest of the SEC’s role) as a gatekeeper to innovation.

The SEC, as well as the criminal and civil courts, are attempting to decide not only exactly what crypto is, but what limitations and barriers their should be on its use. In the meantime, blockchain and crypto are not going to slow down, and the necessarily bulky legal system is likely just beginning to turn its gaze towards the asset class. The process of Bitcoin and other crypto becoming truly legally recognized entities may not have even started yet in earnest, and 2019 will be an interesting year for crypto in court.

12 FEB, 2019 BY ARTHUR SILLERS

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Analysis – Finally, Some Signs of Life!

Bitcoin enjoyed a sharp pop higher, enough to lead to a break above the descending trend line on its 4-hour chart. Price made a strong rally but is encountering resistance at the top of the falling channel seen on the same time frame.

The 100 SMA is still below the longer-term 200 SMA to indicate that the path of least resistance is to the downside. In other words, the downtrend is more likely to resume than to reverse. Then again, price is trading above both moving averages to signal that bullish momentum is picking up. The gap between the moving averages is narrowing also, so a bullish crossover might follow.

If so, price could break past the channel top around the $3,700 mark and carry on with its climb. The current consolidation appears as a flag pattern, which is often seen as a continuation signal.

However, RSI is turning lower from the overbought zone to indicate that buyers are tired and letting sellers take over. This could lead to a pullback to the broken short-term trend line resistance or all the way down to the bottom of the channel at $3,300. Stochastic is also turning lower so price might follow suit as sellers take the upper hand.

Bitcoin’s strong rally is seen to have been spurred by a combination of low volumes and a few positive updates. This has prompted several analysts to renew their bullish forecasts and some even to switch from a bearish to a slightly more upbeat view.

Tom Lee of Fundstrat cites that technical analysts that were bearish in early-2019 are becoming “incrementally bullish” on BTC. This follows a claim by another analyst who said that he wouldn’t be surprised if Bitcoin surged to $5,000 in the next ten days. Mitoshi Kaku, a popular cryptocurrency trader on Twitter, posted:

“I wouldn’t be surprise at ALL, if the price goes straight to $5K in the next 10 days. The conditions are present TA-wise. Obviously that sort of move would need a strong catalyzer, but anything is possible when it comes to price action.”

Rachel Lee by Rachel Lee February 11, 2019

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member

Report: Philippines-Based Banking Giant Launching Two-Way Crypto ATMs

When you think of nations with a notable Bitcoin ecosystem, many crypto investors would immediately think of the U.S., Malta, Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. Yet, many draw little attention to the Philippines, a nation that is seemingly filled to the brim with cryptocurrency users.

A large financial institution based in the Philippines made a notable pro-crypto move last week — one that could potentially spark widespread adoption within the Asian nation.

Meet Union Bank’s Crypto ATMs

According to reports from Filipino media, Union Bank of the Philippines, a banking giant that is the seventh largest in the country, is launching crypto asset automated teller machines (ATM). The Philippine Star, who broke the news on the matter, cited a Union Bank press statement.

Per the statement, the company launched its first two-way cryptocurrency ATM earlier this week, allowing customers to purchase and sell assets like Bitcoin for pesos. Union Bank has purportedly collaborated with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), the nation’s central bank, to ensure that this newfangled offering is compliant. The Manila-headquartered institution, which has over 300 branches smattered across metropolises and the countryside, remarked:

“In the bank’s continued quest to cater to the evolving needs and tastes of customers, including clients who use virtual currency, the ATM will provide these clients an alternative channel to convert their pesos to virtual currency and vice versa.”

In a comment on Twitter, NewsBTC’s Joseph Young remarked that Union Bank’s proactivity in the crypto space is not only good for regulation, but for awareness and adoption too.

No reports indicate that Union Bank has plans to inaugurate more than a few Bitcoin-friendly ATMs at the moment. Regardless, this move only underscores the growing industry theme of ATMs that cast aside the shackles of the traditional financial system, which include fiat and payments processors like Visa and Mastercard.

Per previous reports from NewsBTC, Bitcoin Depot, a subsidiary of Lux Vending, is looking to prop up 30 ATMs in Chicago that support Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other digital assets in the coming months. While these efforts are centered around Chicago, a little-known crypto hotspot that hosts ErisX, hype regarding brick and mortar crypto purchases is a global trend, as there are now over 4,323 of these machines worldwide. And according to data from CoinATMRadar, this number is swelling by 5.6 each and every day.

Fiat To Crypto On-Ramps To Boost Bitcoin Over 2019

This venture in the Philippines comes as Fundstrat’s research team, which includes Rob Sluymer and Tom Lee, claimed that the rise in the fiat-to-crypto on-ramp sector will be a positive catalyst for Bitcoin in the coming year. According to a sneak peek of a Fundstrat report, the New York investment advisory outfit noted that influx of consumer interest in Bitcoin may be catalyzed by Binance’s recent addition of credit card crypto purchasing capabilities, along with other fiat-supported infrastructure from other upstarts.

NICK CHONG | FEBRUARY 10, 2019 | 6:03 AM

Alan Zibluk Markethive Founding Member