Crypto Weekly: 24 – 30 October 2022
Mastercard has launched a program in partnership with Paxos to help financial institutions offer cryptocurrency trading to their clients. Mastercard will help financial institutions follow crypto compliance regulations, verify transactions, adhere to anti-money-laundering laws, and provide identity monitoring services. Testing for the product is expected to begin in the first quarter of next year.
Walmart’s global Chief Technology Officer, Suresh Kumar, has stated that he sees that cryptocurrencies could become a major part of how consumers transact for physical and virtual goods. Kumar explicitly highlights that as the Metaverse grows in prominence, Crypto’s adoption as a payment option is likely to grow as well. The multinational retail giant appears to regard Crypto in a positive light and looks to be committed to exploring avenues for consumers to use their digital assets.
Bloomberg Intelligence senior commodity strategist Mike McGlone has opined that Bitcoin’s current price level of around $19,000-$20,000 represents Bitcoin’s most discounted price for some time. McGlone appears to be unfazed by the current bear market as he believes Bitcoin will eventually break into a bull run and rally toward $100,000 in the future.
Investment giant Fidelity has announced plans to offer its institutional users access to ETH transactions (buying, selling, and transferring) starting 28 October. The announcement specifically highlighted Ethereum’s recent successful Merge upgrade, and Fidelity’s decision to being supporting ETH transactions is potentially representative of growing institutional interest and demand for Ethereum.
According to a new report by crypto data aggregator Token Terminal, approximately 50% of exploits in DeFi, occur on cross-chain bridges. In the past two years, more than $2.5 billion has been stolen by hackers via exploiting vulnerabilities on cross-chain bridges. It appears that the majority of cross-chain exploits occur on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) blockchains, with notable exploits including the Axie Infinity Ronin bridge $650 million hack earlier this year.
The Terra Classic community has passed a proposal that will lower the network’s “burn tax” levied on all LUNC transactions in an effort to revive on-chain activity. The tax rate has been adjusted from 1.2% down to 0.2%, with the previous 1.2% burn tax precipitating a 91.67% reduction in on-chain transaction volume for LUNC.
Per Tesla’s latest earning reports, the automotive and clean energy company did not sell any of its Bitcoin holdings nor purchase any additional Bitcoin in the third quarter of 2022. The value of Tesla’s digital asset holdings remains at $218 million, following the sale of 75% of Tesla’s total Bitcoin holdings, netting the Musk-led company $936 million this past July.
A report from analytics firm DappRadar suggests that while trading volume for the top 10 Metaverse projects has plummeted by 80%, the average number of NFT sales for these ten projects only decreased by 11.55% compared to Q2. The report suggests that the lower trading volume could be a reflection of decreasing asset prices rather than a lack of interest in NFTs/Metaverse-related assets. Despite the drastic price correction, it seems there is still interest and demand in the Metaverse.
Weekly Technical Analysis: 24 – 30 October 2022
Bitcoin (BTC)
BTC prices remained largely stable over the past week before seeing a breakout that powered BTC through its short-term resistance. Resistance and short-term support are set at $20,5000 and $18,100, respectively, this week. Traders should consider waiting to see the fallout from key news/events, such as the upcoming release of US GDP figures, before purchasing any additional BTC.
Ethereum (ETH)
ETH is still trending sideways, so a short-term channel trading focused on buying and selling between support and resistance could potentially be profitable. ETH will have to break through the $1,500 resistance level to return to an uptrend while remaining above the $1,200 support level. Assuming no significant or unexpected events, ETH prices are expected to stay within this range for the week.
Klaytn (KLAY)
KLAY is up by +27.1% from last week, seeing a massive rally from its previous low last week. KLAY’s rally may have been a byproduct of prices reaching oversold territory; regardless, it remains to be seen whether this rally can be sustained. This week, KLAY’s support and resistance are set at 6 baht and 9.50 baht, respectively.
Balancer (BAL)
After a prolonged sideways trend, BAL is up by +20.76% from last week. Despite the rally, an upwards recovery has yet to be confirmed. BAL will have to continue to create higher highs and break through its initial 260 baht resistance level before confirming a recovery.
Trading and Investment Considerations For The Week
Keep an eye on this week’s release of US GDP figures, which is set to be published on 27 October, with market expectations anticipating a 2.1% growth. If GDP figures are significantly higher than expectations, this could trigger a further correction as particularly strong GDP figures may give the FED the confidence they need to continue enacting its aggressive interest rate hikes. In contrast, lower-than-expected GDP figures would cause the US Dollar to weaken, allowing asset prices the opportunity to recover.
On the same day, the European Central Bank will also be convening in Frankfurt for its monetary policy meeting. If the ECB decides to enact significant interest rate increases to combat inflation, this could lead to the weakening of the US Dollar, which could have a positive effect on asset prices.
It may also be worthwhile to keep an eye on the earnings announcements of major tech companies such as Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, and Apple. Positive earnings numbers could have a positive impact on the US stock market and likely Bitcoin as well.
US GDP figures will likely be the dominating factor leading into next week’s FOMC meeting and whether the FED will raise interest rates by 0.75% for the fourth consecutive time. For now, Bitcoin’s trend remains uncertain, and the market is still waiting for any news that could spur a Bitcoin rally in November.
Disclaimer:
-Cryptocurrency and Digital tokens are highly risky; investors may lose all investment money. Investors should study information carefully and make investments according to own risk profile.
– Past Returns/Past Performance does not guarantee future returns/performance.
*Materials on Bitazza Weekly Newsletter are intended to be used and must be used for informational purposes only. The views, information, or opinions expressed are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Bitazza and its employees. The information contained herein is not intended to be a source of advice or financial analysis with respect to the material presented, and the information and/or documents contained in this website do not constitute investment advice.
Sources:
https://cryptopotato.com/mastercard-launches-program-to-help-banks-offer-crypto-trading/
https://cointelegraph.com/news/walmart-cto-says-crypto-will-become-a-major-payments-disruptor
https://cryptopotato.com/bitcoin-is-trading-at-discount-and-will-rally-to-100k-bloomberg-strategist/
https://finbold.com/fidelity-rolls-out-ethereum-trading-and-custody-is-eth-about-to-turn-bullish/
https://cointelegraph.com/news/report-half-of-all-defi-exploits-are-cross-bridge-hacks
https://cointelegraph.com/news/metaverse-trading-volume-plummeted-80-but-hype-hasn-t-decreased
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