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Why is Avalanche up by more than 13% on Tuesday?

Avalanche is the best-performing cryptocurrency amongst the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

AVAX, the native token of the Avalanche blockchain, is up by more than 13% over the last 24 hours. Thus, making it the best-performing cryptocurrency amongst the top 50 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

AVAX’s positive performance comes as the broader crypto market recovers from its poor start to the week. The broader crypto market is up by more than 4% in the last 24 hours, taking the total crypto market cap close to the $1 trillion mark.

Bitcoin is now trading above $20k once again after adding more than 3% to its value over the last 24 hours. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is close to the $1,600 resistance point after rallying by nearly 10% today.

There is no immediate catalyst behind AVAX’s ongoing positive performance. AVAX has recorded huge losses in recent days and is simply recovering from the slump.

Despite today’s rally, AVAX is still down by more than 9% over the past seven days, indicating that the bearish momentum is not yet over.

Key levels to watch

The AVAX/USD 4-hour chart is still bearish despite Avalanche adding more than 13% to its value today. The technical indicators show that AVAX is recovering from its recent slump.

The MACD line remains below the neutral zone, indicating bearish momentum. However, with the bulls now in control, AVAX’s MACD line could move into the positive region in the near term.

The 14-day relative strength index of 49 shows that AVAX is no longer in the oversold region. However, AVAX would need to rally higher to enter the overbought territory.

At press time, AVAX is trading at $20.34 per coin. If the bulls continue to be in charge, AVAX could rally past the $23.02 resistance level before the end of the day. 

Unless there is an extended bullish run, the second major resistance point at $26.29 should cap further upward movement in the near term.

The post Why is Avalanche up by more than 13% on Tuesday? appeared first on CoinJournal.

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Fed’s inflation fight is bad for short-term bitcoin traders, says Bitfury’s CEO

The United States Federal Reserve has been hiking interest rates in recent months, and Bitfury’s CEO believes it is suppressing Bitcoin’s price. 

Bitfury CEO Brian Brooks told CNBC in a recent interview that the Federal Reserve’s inflation fight is bad for Bitcoin in the short term.’

The United States and other top economies in the world are dealing with heightened inflation as the economic impacts of Covid-19 continue to bite harder. 

To fight inflation, the Fed has been hiking interest rates in recent months, and that has affected the broader financial markets, Bitcoin included. Brooks told CNBC,

“We have talked about the idea that bitcoin is an inflation hedge. The more the market expects tough policy from the Fed, the more people think the Fed is going to keep an aggressive posture, and that would tend to harm Bitcoin.”

Since the start of 2022, the United States Fed has implemented a policy of aggressive financial tightening. The Fed has increased the cost of borrowing via interest rates.

At the start of the year, the interest rates were close to zero. However, the Fed increased interest rates by 0.25% in March, another 0.50% in May, 0.75% in June and 0.75% in July. So far, the interest rates have gone up by 2.25% since the start of 2022. 

This has affected the financial markets, including cryptocurrencies. The total cryptocurrency market cap has dropped from the all-time high of $3 trillion to currently stand around $1 trillion.

Bitcoin has lost more than 65% of its value over the past nine months. After reaching an all-time high of $69k in November 2021, Bitcoin is struggling to maintain its price above $20k.

Brian Brooks discussed his annoyance with how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is handling regulation in the crypto space. He said;

“Regulation does not mean suing people, and the approach the SEC has had for the last couple of years has been to not tell anybody what the rules are in advance but to sue people after they’ve launched a project, started a company, or listed a token, and then caused people to infer what the rules were later. That’s not a good thing, and so at some point, congress and the regulators need to get serious about telling people, ‘what is the speed limit on the crypto highway?’”

The US SEC has rejected numerous spot Bitcoin ETF proposals over the past few years. 

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Argentina’s wine capital Mendoza accepts crypto for provincial taxes

The government of Mendoza has added crypto to legal tax payment options and provided a step-by-step guide for users.

The Mendoza province, the wine capital of Argentina and one of the world’s leading destinations for oenophiles, now accepts cryptocurrency for tax obligations and other government fees.

This is after the Mendoza Tax Administration (ATM), the province’s tax agency, announced it had added the new payment method to facilitate payment of taxes online.

Pay tax online with crypto

According to a press release the government published on Friday, taxpayers can go to the tax administration’s ‘pay online’ section and follow a step-by-step guide on how to pay their taxes with crypto.

“This new service is part of the strategic objective of modernization and innovation carried out by the Mendoza Tax Administration so that taxpayers have different means to comply with their tax obligations,” read part of the press release.

The crypto payment option will support all types of crypto wallets and taxpayers will have to scan a QR Code to complete the transaction, the agency advises in the guide.

But while the payments will be made in crypto, ATM has partnered with a crypto payments provider to convert cryptocurrencies into the local currency pesos. This will help the tax watchdog to offer proof of payment as well as remit these to the government in pesos, according to the announcement.

The government of Mendoza’s move to accept crypto for tax obligation payments comes as more people turn to cryptocurrencies as Argentina’s inflation skyrockets. Annual inflation hit a 20-year high of 71% in figures reported earlier this month, with the central bank hiking interest rates by 950 bps to 69.5%.

Economists recently projected the country’s inflation rate will hit 90% by the end of the year.

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Sam Bankman-Fried denies FTX is looking to acquire Huobi

FTX has been active in the acquisitions arena this year, snapping up firms like Liquid and Bitvo amid the crypto winter.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of crypto exchange FTX, has said his company does not plan to acquire cryptocurrency exchange Huobi.

The FTX boss, whose firm has in recent months dominated news headlines around huge acquisition and expansion efforts amid the crypto winter, noted in a tweet on Monday:

“Just to be explicit because apparently a lot of people are saying this: No, we are not planning to acquire Huobi.”

Huobi launched in 2013, one of the earliest cryptocurrency exchanges, and one with a growing footprint following establishments in Korea and Hong Kong.

FTX’s acquisitions and plans

Bankman-Fried’s remarks come after reports surfaced of FTX being in talks to acquire Huobi. 

According to one such recent report, Huobi founder Leon Li had discussed the sale of a majority stake in his company to FTX, with the potential bid then putting the exchange’s valuation at around $3 billion.

Reports also claimed that Tron (TRX/USD) founder and former CEO Justin Sun had also shown interest in Huobi. Sun also refuted the claim.

FTX’s growth plans despite the crypto winter include acquisition of crypto exchange Liquid and trading platform Bitvo. 

The firm, which also has an agreement to acquire crypto lender BlockFi, has reportedly also been in talks to acquire South Korea-based crypto exchange Bithumb.

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