Kategorie: Bitcoin News

Bitcoin is down by more than 60% from its all-time high, but Bakkt’s CEO says the leading cryptocurrency isn’t going away.

Gavin Michael, the CEO of ICE-owned Bakkt, told Yahoo Finance in an interview on Friday that Bitcoin isn’t going away. He made this statement at a time when Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market are underperforming. 

Michael said institutional interest in cryptocurrencies is growing despite the ongoing bear market. He said;

“There’s still strong interest and momentum with our partners, many of whom are multinational companies… They understand the peaks and troughs that we’re seeing. [But] we are anticipating that the partners may move at a slightly more conservative pace. They’re being more thoughtful about how they enter the crypto economy.”

The crypto market has seen its total market cap drop from $2.2 trillion at the start of the year to currently stand around $1 trillion. Despite that, Michael said he expects Bakkt to remain engaged with its crypto services in the second half of the year, and expects a massive ramp-up through 2023. He said;

“We’re seeing this change in narrative, if you like, from crypto being viewed simply as an investable asset to a more widespread utility across consumers, across businesses, and across institutions. So our work is about working with our partners to really unleash [crypto’s] functionality and its full utility.”

The bear market is a time to grow, and Bakkt has been doing just that. The company, which operates a crypto trading platform for institutional investors, announced a new partnership with Visa earlier this month and has an existing partnership with Mastercard. 

The partnership with Visa will see Bakkt offer crypto debit and credit cards, making it easier for consumers to pay using cryptocurrencies. 

Bakkt’s partnership with Mastercard empowers companies to offer crypto as part of their loyalty reward programs. Michael said;

“We’re seeing consumers who value their loyalty points even more in this challenging economic environment. They see it as a way to offset rising costs.”

Bakkt’s revenue increased by 60% in the second half of the year, thanks to the sales growth from consumers redeeming loyalty points for crypto.

The post Bitcoin isn’t going away, says Bakk’t CEO appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Bitcoin looks to have reached levels similar to those hit before a bounce in July, veteran trader and analyst Peter Brandt says. 
• However, with risk-off sentiment largely intact, he notes it might not be time to flip so bullish.
• BTC/USD was trading near $21,400 at the time of writing.

Bitcoin price is about 1.2% up in the past 24 hours at the time of writing, trading above $21,400 as bulls look to push higher.

The slight gains on the daily chart have two small green candles after six consecutive red ones.

However, with the broader market largely undecided, the bellwether cryptocurrency is still vulnerable to the sell-off that pushed BTC/USD from highs above $25,000 last week.

Ascending wedge targets: what’s next for BTC?

On Friday, BTC price fell nearly 10% as the broader risk assets market sank on news the US Federal Reserve was intent on maintaining a hawkish approach despite data suggesting a slowing inflation.

The risk-off sentiment saw Bitcoin hit its lowest price level in over three weeks ($20.760 on Coinbase, with the pair down nearly 12% this week). Here’s what legendary trader Peter Brandt says about the BTC price movement:

For all practical purposes the target of the rising wedge in Bitcoin $BTC has already been met. That is not a reason per se to be bullish and it does not mean BTC cannot go lower yet pic.twitter.com/fB3sGa9e6o

— Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) August 20, 2022

The benchmark cryptocurrency is therefore poised at key downside targets, Brandt said as pointed to a chart indicating a breakdown from an ascending wedge.

It’s possible for some bounce from here if bulls hold support, but more pain is likely if the demand reload zone breaks, a scenario crypto analyst Michael van de Poppe also highlights in the tweet below.

If we continue to drop, it’s important to keep an eye on the $19.3K level for #Bitcoin and probably $1,400 area for #Ethereum.

Buyers should regularly step in around those zones.

— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) August 20, 2022

The last major breakdown below $20,000 saw BTC/USD fall to lows around $17,600.

The post Bitcoin price: Peter Brandt suggests possible bottom for BTC appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Bitcoin has declined by more than 8% in the past 24 hours to currently trade below $21,400.
• Glassnode data shows Bitcoin Realized Price is $21,700.
• BTC price has fallen below the realized price before – December 2018 and March 2020, with June, July and August 2022 also seeing the scenario.

Bitcoin has declined by more than 8% in the past 24 hours to see BTC price break below the Realized Price.

In July, the cryptocurrency dipped below the realized price level – at the time around $21,800 – before breaking higher to hold above it for a consecutive 23 days.

On Friday, with BTC/USD breaking lower to around $21,320, on-chain analytics platform Glassnode shared a chart showing the actual price had once again broken below the realized price.

According to the platform, the current realized price for Bitcoin is at $21,700, which suggests the market is nursing aggregate losses.

#Bitcoin prices have broken back below the Realized Price after 23 consecutive days above the market cost basis.

Realized Price currently sits at $21,700, reflecting the aggregate acquisition price, valued at the time coins last moved on-chain.

Chart: https://t.co/za5BFAI6nC pic.twitter.com/rVY5uyzKnK

— glassnode (@glassnode) August 19, 2022

What’s the Bitcoin Realized Price?

On-chain analysis looks at Realized Price as the value of all BTC at the time they were last moved (bought), with the metric arrived by taking into consideration Bitcoin’s circulating supply.

A measure of the value of these coins is equivalent to the coin’s ‘average cost basis’, and is not the same as the current price of Bitcoin in the market. For instance, BTC is trading near $21,330 at the time of writing, but realized price is around $21,700.

Bitcoin price has moved below its realized price multiple times over the years, with the last four occasions being in December 2018, March 2020 and in 2022 – June/July and now August.

Historically, a decrease below the BTC realized price has marked cycle lows and have been followed by an upside bounce, on occasion with new all-time highs reached. However, the measure of how long price stays below the metric differs. 

In 2018, it took four months for the actual price to bounce above the metric, but lasted less than two weeks in March 2020.

In June, Bitcoin stayed below the realized price for a month before a brief upside.

The post Bitcoin breaks below Realized Price as bears push BTC below $21.4K appeared first on CoinJournal.

Bitcoin has dropped below the $22k support level after losing more than 6% of its value and could record further losses soon.

The cryptocurrency market has been underperforming since the start of the week. The broader market has lost more than 6% of its value over the last 24 hours, causing the total market cap to drop below the $1.1 trillion mark earlier today.

Bitcoin continues to lead the market, and its massive dip resulted in the broader market recording huge losses over the last 24 hours. 

Bitcoin has lost more than 6% of its value so far today, resulting in BTC trading below the $22k level for the first time this week. BTC has maintained its value above $20k in recent weeks, and the bulls would be hoping to keep it above that level over the weekend.

The bulls would, however, need to defend the BTC price and ensure it doesn’t drop below the $21k resistance level in the near term.

Key levels to watch

The BTC/USD 4-hour chart has turned bearish as Bitcoin has been underperforming since the start of the week. The technical indicators show that BTC could record further losses soon.

The MACD line dropped below the neutral zone earlier this week and has remained there ever since. Thus, indicating that the bears are currently in control of the market.

The 14-day relative strength index of 19 strongly indicates that Bitcoin is in the oversold region.

At press time, BTC is trading at $21,814 per coin. If the bearish trend continues, BTC could drop below the $21k support level over the next few hours or days. However, the bulls should defend BTC above $20k in the near term.

The bulls might regain control of the market and push BTC above the $22,500 resistance level before the end of the day.

Unless there is an extended bullish run, BTC might find it hard to surge past the $23,409 resistance level over the next few hours.

The post Bitcoin could slip below $21k as the broader market dips again appeared first on CoinJournal.

• Brazil’s largest brokerage firm XP has announced its crypto trading platform called XTAGE.
• The company has partnered Nasdaq to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum trading.
• Latin America conglomerate BTG Pactual also launched a crypto exchange dubbed Mynt to offer its clients direct exposure to Bitcoin.

Brazil is seeing a major shift in gears when it comes to crypto adoption, with key developments currently being a move by two of the country’s behemoths warming up to the crypto revolution.

Brazilian giants announce crypto trading services

XP, Brazil’s largest brokerage firm, on Monday announced the launch of its crypto trading platform XTAGE, targeting to bring Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading to millions of customers.

The firm, currently counting more than 3.6 million customers, plans to add to BTC and ETH within the next several months and sees over 200,000 users jumping onto the new offering.

The Brazilian giant’s new crypto product is a collaboration with Nasdaq, and will also include forex and stock trading.

Meanwhile, with the XP project coming into the market amid expected recovery for the crypto industry following the bear market crash, another Brazilian conglomerate signals growing institutional interest.

BTG Pactual, Latin America’s largest investment bank with over $200 billion in assets, has also launched a cryptocurrency trading platform. Dubbed the Mynt, the Brazil-based Bitcoin exchange offers the bank’s customers access to Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot and Cardano trading.

Customers will be able to trade these crypto assets with a minimum of 100 Brazilian reals (roughly $19.44).

According to the bank, their crypto offerings will also include educational content via video or papers to help customers understand the investment.

Commenting on the double move, GlobalBlock analyst Marcus Sotiriou said it points to the “efficient exchange of value which blockchain technology provides.”

In a note shared on Tuesday, the analyst said the continued adoption across traditional firms shows how “incredibly more advanced” the crypto technology is compared to current financial systems.

The post Brazil giants XP and BTG Pactual launch crypto trading platforms appeared first on CoinJournal.