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2022-04-27 23:01:36 ​Here’s why ALGO is a great long-term pick at its current price range

Algorand remains one of the top blockchain networks thanks to its focus on innovation and sustainability. However, its native cryptocurrency ALGO has had better days and is currently trading in a critical price point.

ALGO traded at $0.70 at the time of writing and has been on a bearish performance since the start of April, after peaking at $0.98 on 31 March. However, its monthly discount pales compared to its $2.82 ATH that it achieved in November last year. This means its current price is currently trading at roughly a quarter of its ATH price.

Zooming out on ALGO’s price tag reveals that it has been trading in a triangle pattern underpinned by descending resistance and lateral support. Its end-of-March peak brushed against the resistance line before retracing and retesting support on 14 April. ALGO is currently in a critical zone as the support and resistance line squeeze the price into a narrow range.

Why ALGO’s current support is critical
ALGO’s current support level near $2.11 has so far proved to be quite a strong reversal point. It has bounced back from the same level multiple times so far this year and at least 3 times in 2021. This means that it has already been established as structural support and the last time it was below this essential level was in February 2021.

ALGO might be due for a significant upside especially if the same support level holds strong in the next few days. The probability of such an outcome is further enhanced by the heavy discount that it is trading at compared to its previous ATH.

However, it might also break through support as has been the case with most of the top cryptocurrencies due to intensified selling pressure in the last few days.

Algorand’s on-chain activity
Market forces currently have a heavy hand in ALGO’s current value. However, its on-chain activities also play a critical role not only in its current value but also its future price action. The NFT market is among the key utility drivers that can help gauge the level of activity on the Algorand blockchain.

The number of unique addresses that purchased less than $1,000 worth of NFTs have consistently stayed above 13,400 in the last 90 days. NFT trade volumes have increased significantly from mid-March.

The total volume of NFTs worth more than $100k registered a noteworthy uptick in the last 2 days as prices dipped lower. Looking back over the last 12 months reveals that NFT volumes registered significant growth during this period. Open / Comment

2022-04-25 20:00:06 ​Here’s why ALGO is a great long-term pick at its current price range

Algorand remains one of the top blockchain networks thanks to its focus on innovation and sustainability. However, its native cryptocurrency ALGO has had better days and is currently trading in a critical price point.

ALGO traded at $0.70 at the time of writing and has been on a bearish performance since the start of April, after peaking at $0.98 on 31 March. However, its monthly discount pales compared to its $2.82 ATH that it achieved in November last year. This means its current price is currently trading at roughly a quarter of its ATH price.

Zooming out on ALGO’s price tag reveals that it has been trading in a triangle pattern underpinned by descending resistance and lateral support. Its end-of-March peak brushed against the resistance line before retracing and retesting support on 14 April. ALGO is currently in a critical zone as the support and resistance line squeeze the price into a narrow range.

Why ALGO’s current support is critical
ALGO’s current support level near $2.11 has so far proved to be quite a strong reversal point. It has bounced back from the same level multiple times so far this year and at least 3 times in 2021. This means that it has already been established as structural support and the last time it was below this essential level was in February 2021.

ALGO might be due for a significant upside especially if the same support level holds strong in the next few days. The probability of such an outcome is further enhanced by the heavy discount that it is trading at compared to its previous ATH.

However, it might also break through support as has been the case with most of the top cryptocurrencies due to intensified selling pressure in the last few days.

Algorand’s on-chain activity
Market forces currently have a heavy hand in ALGO’s current value. However, its on-chain activities also play a critical role not only in its current value but also its future price action. The NFT market is among the key utility drivers that can help gauge the level of activity on the Algorand blockchain.

The number of unique addresses that purchased less than $1,000 worth of NFTs have consistently stayed above 13,400 in the last 90 days. NFT trade volumes have increased significantly from mid-March.

The total volume of NFTs worth more than $100k registered a noteworthy uptick in the last 2 days as prices dipped lower. Looking back over the last 12 months reveals that NFT volumes registered significant growth during this period. Open / Comment

2022-04-24 18:30:32 ​Bitcoin Price Forecast for 2022 Cut Once Again as Break 'Only' Above USD 80K Now Expected

The price of bitcoin (BTC) will hit a peak of USD 81,680 this year, before falling back to USD 65,185 by the end of the year, argued a panel of members from the fintech and crypto industry surveyed by comparison website "Finder com".

The peak of over USD 80,000 was described as “significantly higher” than the current bitcoin price (USD 40,542 as of Friday at 11:17 UTC), but still 15% lower than Findercom’s end-of-year prediction from January of USD 76,360.

Martin Fröhler, CEO of trading platform Morpher, who gave one of the most bullish end-of-year predictions for BTC, commented that,

“Political uncertainty, inflation, and an ever increasing desire to own non-government controlled assets will propel Bitcoin to new all-time highs.”

Offering a more cautious prediction, crypto trading app CoinJar’s CEO Asher Tan said he believes BTC will hit a peak of USD 60,000 this year.

“There's still plenty of uncertainty about the short-term Bitcoin outlook. Given the macroeconomic headwinds, it would not surprise me to see Bitcoin spend the whole year bouncing around between USD 30-60k – the sort of conditions that are terrible for traders, but rewarding for accumulators with a multi-year timeframe,” Tan said.

Notably, half of the participants in Finder’s panel, made up of 35 “industry experts,” said they believe bitcoin will eventually be overtaken by another coin as the most popular cryptoasset.

Among those who claimed bitcoin’s days as the top crypto are numbered, Jeremy Cheah, an associate professor of decentralized finance at Nottingham Trent University, said the coin “consumes too much energy and suffers from interoperability and scalability problems.”

Meanwhile, 32% of the panelists also said they think that BTC should move from the more energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) model to proof-of-stake (PoS). However, only 9% said they believe BTC will actually make the move.

Overall, 67% of respondents said BTC is still a good buy, despite their price predictions being lower now than in the last survey from January.

24% of the respondents opined that users who already hold BTC should not sell it, while 9% said that BTC holders should sell the coins they have. Open / Comment

2022-04-23 13:00:07 ​What Are Wrapped Tokens?

Wrapped tokens have opened new opportunities for crypto investors by allowing them to deploy assets from one chain to another in tokenized form.

Read on to learn about wrapped tokens, how they work, and which wrapped coins are the most popular.

Wrapped tokens explained
A wrapped token, also referred to as a wrapped coin, is a tokenized version of another cryptoasset. It is referred to as a wrapped token because the original digital asset is put in a “wrapper,” essentially a digital vault, that allows the wrapped version of the crypto to be created on another blockchain network.

Unlike the original asset, wrapped tokens can be used on non-native blockchain networks and ultimately redeemed for the original crypto.

You can think of a wrapped token being similar to a stablecoin in that it derives its value from another asset, which in this case is fiat currency. In the case of wrapped tokens, however, the value is derived from a cryptoasset.

Wrapped tokens improve interoperability between different blockchains with the underlying tokens operating cross-chain. For instance, the Bitcoin (BTC) network is completely unaware of what is happening with the Ethereum (ETH) network. However, if you hold wrapped tokens, you can create connections between different blockchains and benefit from their functions.

Because wrapped tokens are pegged to another asset, they are usually managed by a custodian that wraps and unwraps the asset. The first crypto asset to be wrapped was bitcoin to form wrapped bitcoin (WBTC), which is used in the Ethereum network to enable bitcoin holders to deploy BTC in the Ethereum decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

How do wrapped coins work?
Wrapped coins usually require a custodian to mint tokens. The wrapping process is initiated by merchants like CoinList, Airswap, and AAVE, who send a request to the custodian to mint the wrapped version of the original token on a different blockchain.

Using the example of wrapped bitcoin (WBTC), the custodian needs to hold BTC 1 for each WBTC 1 that is minted. Proof of this reserve is recorded on-chain.

The wrapped tokens are converted back into the original asset when the merchant puts in a request to the custodian to “burn” (destroy) the wrapped tokens and release the original asset from the reserves. In essence, the custodian acts as the wrapper of the asset.

Again, using the example of wrapped bitcoin, for every WBTC token that exists, there is the equivalent value of BTC being held by the custodian.

Top wrapped coins
Here is a list of the top wrapped tokens ranked according to market capitalization.

Wrapped bitcoin
Wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) is the most popular wrapped token. The ERC-20 conversion of bitcoin was launched in 2019 by BitGo, Ren, and Kyber and represents over 75% of the market for wrapped tokens.

Wrapped bitcoin is beneficial to users as they can use it to plug into DeFi protocols on Ethereum. This means WBTC, a synthetic asset offering the same exposure to bitcoin’s price, unlocks the potential to transform bitcoin into a yield-bearing asset. You can even use WBTC to earn returns from liquidity pools on Uniswap or Yearn Finance.

To get hold of wrapped bitcoin, you can use merchants such as CoinList to wrap your BTC. The merchant will send your BTC to a custodian who mints WBTC equivalent to the bitcoin you sent and keeps the original asset locked away.

If you decide to redeem your WBTC for bitcoin, the merchant will send a burn request to the custodian, who will, in turn, destroy the wrapped bitcoin and release your original bitcoin to you.

This system of minting and burning ensures that bitcoin and WBTC are pegged in the ratio of 1:1. You can also purchase wrapped bitcoin at crypto exchanges. As of April 1, 2022, the total market capitalization of WBTC is over USD 12 billion.

Wrapped BNB
Wrapped BNB (WBNB) is a tokenized version of BNB that conforms to the BEP20 standard. Consequently, you can use wrapped BNB on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) and not BNB. Open / Comment

2022-04-21 19:30:53 ​Why Monero [XMR] is a growing favorite among ransomware groups


Monero is reportedly the most favored currency used by ransomware actors. A recently released study by CipherTrace reports on the trends in ransomware in 2021. The study titled, “Current Trends in Ransomware” talks about the growing trend of ransomware in the crypto ecosystem.

Monero: The new face of ransomware
CipherTrace analysts have found a growing pattern in recent ransomware attacks. Most groups have been found to use privacy coins such as Monero (XMR). Groups tend to use these coins for their increased anonymity as compared to Bitcoin.

The report sheds light on the same with this example.

“DarkSide—the group behind the US Colonial Pipeline attack— accept both BTC and XMR but charge a 10-20% higher price for payments in BTC. This can be seen in the image below, under the “$350,000” and “700,000”, a note reads “(+20%)” for BTC. In other cases, CipherTrace analysts have observed premiums of only +10%.”

Recently, a group called Everest Ransomware allegedly hacked into the U.S government. After a failed negotiation, the group decided to sell the data for $500,000 in XMR only.

Another trend emerged with the increasing measures of curbing security breaches. The act of double extortion has grown at large where attackers threaten to release encrypted data. The data points to a 5X increase in the number of double extortion attacks from 2020 to 2021.

Where does XMR stand now?
Monero has been on a surge since late February. Despite the failure of flagship currencies such as Bitcoin and Ether failing to hold their 2022 highs, XMR has continued to rise.

As per Bloomberg, many XMR owners began withdrawing from major exchanges. The move was later dubbed as “Monerun”. According to a post on the token’s dedicated subreddit, the move away from exchanges is designed to create an intentional short squeeze.

“The Monero community has come to a loose consensus that many exchanges don’t actually hold all of XMR which customers have purchased,” according to the post by Reddit user “bawdyanarchist”.

The withdrawal is intended to force those exchanges to purchase actual tokens, which would in turn push Monero’s price much higher, according to the Reddit user.

The Monero surge is evident in the price chart with XMR dashing its highest numbers since November 2021. XMR was able to cross $275 twice in the bull run and looks set to extend the resistance line over $300 in the coming weeks.

The RSI value has also suggested a bullish activity with the index value consistently staying in the overbought zone. The value has stabilised around 70, at reporting time which represents a major demand for the currency. It looks set for a bullish surge further as we wrap up April. Open / Comment

2022-04-20 16:00:08 ​Financial Stability Board, IMF Warn of ‘Cryptoization’ Risks in Wake of Russia-Ukraine War

The Basel-based Financial Stability Board (FSB) has echoed sentiments expressed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with both bodies warning that in the wake of the war in Ukraine, an “acceleration of cryptoization in emerging markets” could be on the cards.

Today, in a letter from the FSB to G20 finance chiefs and central bankers, the body (formerly known as the Financial Stability Forum), which is tasked with monitoring and making recommendations about the global financial system, wrote that "the current financial stability challenges reinforce the importance, and increase the urgency, of the FSB’s ongoing policy work in a number of areas, including [...] strengthening the resilience of non-bank financial intermediation as well as cryptoassets and cyber risks.”

The FSB claimed that the “Russia-Ukraine war has reinforced pre-existing concerns” it has concerning the “growth and potential illicit use of cryptoassets.”

It explained:

“Cryptoasset markets are fast evolving and could reach a point where they represent a threat to global financial stability due to their scale, structural vulnerabilities and increasing interconnectedness with the traditional financial system.”

The FSB claimed that it was responding by “taking forward, in collaboration with standard-setting bodies,” including the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), its “work on the regulation and supervision of ‘unbacked’ cryptoassets and stablecoins,” as well as “analyzing the financial stability impacts” of the “rapidly evolving” decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.”

It claimed that its moves would “create the necessary conditions for safe innovation,” but did not expand on what kind of regulatory measures it might seek to recommend. Instead, it said that it would “keep the G20 updated” on its “work on cryptoassets.”

The IMF, meanwhile, has been addressing its own crypto-related concerns in its Global Financial Stability report, published yesterday, where it noted:

“Repercussions of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and ensuing sanctions continue to reverberate globally and will test the resilience of the financial system through various potential amplification channels, including […] the acceleration of cryptoization in emerging markets.”

In a foreword, the IMF’s Financial Counsellor Tobias Adrian warned that “the fragmentation of payment systems could be associated with the rise of central bank digital currency (CBDC) blocs.”

He added:

“[The] more widespread use of cryptoassets in emerging markets could undermine domestic policy objectives. Multilateral cooperation will remain key to overcome these medium-term challenges.” Open / Comment

2022-04-19 21:00:04 ​Bitcoin Maintains Dominance Despite Massive Proliferation of Altcoins

The bitcoin (BTC) dominance, or bitcoin’s share of the overall crypto market capitalization, has remained at almost the same level as four years ago, despite a massive proliferation of altcoins in the meantime.

Prominent bitcoiner and chief technology officer of bitcoin wallet Casa, Jameson Lopp, pointed out that the bitcoin dominance in April 2018 stood at 42%, with approximately 1,500 other cryptoassets – or altcoins – in existence at the time.

In April 2022, however, bitcoin had a dominance that had ticked down marginally to 41%, with more than 15,000 altcoins now competing with it.

Lopp didn't specify his source for the number of altcoins. Meanwhile, on its website, the crypto market data provider CryptoMarketCap shows that there are almost 19,000 "cryptos," while CoinGecko gives a number closer to 14,000.

In either case, the stat could be seen as a testament to the staying power that the number one cryptocurrency has managed to achieve versus other cryptos over the past five years.

As pointed out by several of Lopp’s followers, bitcoin’s price is also up by about 350% during the same period, despite the increased competition.

“All those shitcoins and not one can effectively challenge dominance. It’s only a matter of time before this starts to become obvious to all,” one follower wrote.

On a similar note, another user argued that if ethereum (ETH) is taken out of the equation, bitcoin’s dominance jumps to over 90%.

“Take out Ethereum (which plans to try and centralize further by switching to proof of stake) & it’s around 94%. And the others are so illiquid that one large holder dropping can eliminate the entire marketcap,” Richard "Dick" Whitman, wrote.

He went on to refer to what he called the ‘Real Bitcoin Dominance Index,’ which measures BTC’s dominance without the proof-of-stake coins and currently sits at around 65%. (Ethereum is still a proof-of-work blockchain, while its transition to proof-of-stake is now estimated a “few months after” June.) (Learn more: 'Fiat-Like' Proof-of-Stake Chains Favor Centralization & Rich Players)

As usual, however, not everyone is in agreement that bitcoin will remain the best bet going forward.

“April 15 2024: Bitcoin holds 20% dominance and maxis are running out of reasons to not buy ETH,” one person with the username crypto_advisory predicted, while another suggested, responding to Lopp: “So what you are saying is in 164 years [bitcoin] will hold 0% market cap against 600,000 shitcoins.”

At 14:00 UTC on Tuesday, BTC is trading at USD 41,386, having appreciated 5.1% in a day and 4.5% in a week. At the same time, ETH is up 5.4% in 24 hours and 3.1% in 7 days, currently changing hands at USD 3,088. Open / Comment

2022-04-18 19:00:08 ​Liquidations Soar in Crypto Market while Some Traders Hope for ‘Upcoming Bounce’

The crypto market saw a broad sell-off led by ethereum (ETH) and other major layer 1 competitors falling between 4% and 7% over the past day. The fall led to a spike in liquidations, with some popular traders now speculating that the market could be getting ready for a reversal higher.

Over the past 24 hours, bitcoin (BTC) fell by 3.6% to a price of USD 39,027, while ETH was down by 4.3% to USD 2,916. For the past 7 days, BTC and ETH were down by 7.7% and 9.4%, respectively (as of 10:24 UTC).

As can often be seen during sharp sell-offs in the crypto market, a large number of leveraged derivatives traders were caught on the wrong side of the bet.

At press time, more than USD 35m of leveraged bitcoin long positions had been liquidated since midnight UTC time on Monday. For the crypto market as a whole, the liquidations reached close to USD 134m during the same time period – a level not seen since the major market sell-off on Monday last week.

New support forming, but risks remain
According to the on-chain analytics provider Glassnode, BTC is in the process of forming a new support level at the USD 39,000 to 40,000 level, after being rejected at the USD 47,000 resistance level in late March.

However, the firm warned in a newsletter today that the correlation between bitcoin and traditional risk assets such as stocks remains high, hinting that support levels will not necessarily hold should stock prices fall.

Sentiment turning bearish
The downside risks for the bitcoin price were also reflected in the crypto Fear & Greed Index, which on Monday morning indicated ‘extreme fear’ among market participants.

The current reading marks a worsening in sentiment from Sunday and a further worsening from last week when only ‘fear’ was indicated.

According to crypto exchange Kraken’s latest Intel & Insights report from Friday, “aggressive buy interest” was seen for ETH and Terra’s stablecoin UST last week.

Additionally, the report described buying interest for BTC as “broad” when prices dipped around USD 40,000, strengthening the case for some level of support around this level.

The report also noted that on-chain activity on the Bitcoin network fell during the week, with active addresses falling by 4.4% and the transaction count dropping by nearly 2.1%.

Meanwhile, bearishness could also be sensed from some popular crypto traders on Twitter, with one such user opining that momentum in the market now “looks terrible.”

On the more optimistic side, Michaël van de Poppe, CEO & founder of crypto consultancy Eight, said on Twitter on Monday that the current price level is key for bitcoin’s direction in the near term.

“If this level is lost, I'm looking for new lows and potentially sub USD 30K,” van de Poppe wrote, before saying that he believes chances now are greater for an upside move rather than a further move to the downside.

“[I]f you want to long Bitcoin. This is the area,” the popular crypto trader said.

Similarly, Crypto Ed, another widely followed crypto trader and educator, said in a video update on Monday that he remains optimistic about the bitcoin price for the week.

“Price action will come later this week, and then I do expect some sort of bounce,” said the trading educator, noting that the two technical indicators RSI and MACD are currently showing a “bullish divergence.”

“As long as that holds, that’s an extra sign of an upcoming bounce,” Crypto Ed said. Open / Comment

2022-04-17 17:00:06 ​Opera's Crypto Browser Enters iOS, Worldcoin's Open Source, LUNA Gift + More News

Adoption news
Web browser Opera announced that its Crypto Browser for iOS is out and available for download from its website, and that it comes with a built-in non-custodial crypto wallet that supports several blockchain networks. In addition, the browser will give users access to Web 3-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and decentralized apps, including 7,000 services based on the Polygon (MATIC) ecosystem.
Self-custodial crypto software platform Exodus Movement announced that customers now have the ability to buy crypto using their bank accounts within the Exodus mobile application. This is enabled through the fiat on-ramp service Ramp Network, and it enables customers to exchange USD, EUR, or GBP for over 25 cryptoassets within the app, they added.
The Emirates airline will launch NFTs and metaverse experiences for its customers and employees, with the launch of the first projects anticipated in the coming months. The company also announced that its Emirates Pavilion at the Expo 2020 site will be used to introduce new projects, including those relating to the metaverse, NFTs, and Web3.
Portugal-based financial institution Bison Bank received a license from the Banco de Portugal, the country’s central bank, to operate as a virtual asset service provider (VASP). Although it is the fifth VASP to be authorized by the central bank, it is only the first bank-owned entity on the list.

Altcoins news
Major crypto exchange Coinbase-backed startup Worldcoin announced that they are open-sourcing the stack. In the coming weeks and months, the team will open-source most of their work from the last two years and will post deep–dives explaining each component, the announcement said. Everything will be published with permissive or responsible legal licenses, it added.

Stablecoin news
Terra (LUNA) blockchain developer Terraform Labs gifted the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) LUNA 10m (USD 81m). The LFG is tasked with collateralizing the network’s algorithmic stablecoin terra USD (UST).

Investments news
In a letter to investors, analytics platform MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor called his multibillion-dollar bitcoin (BTC) trove “a tremendous success” in driving shareholder value. He added that this strategy was complementary to the company’s decades-old analytics business, and that they would “continue to vigorously pursue both strategies.”
Tech entrepreneur, author, and Bitcoin proponent Jeff Booth is launching Ego Death Capital, an investment fund aimed at providing funding to entrepreneurs who are working to grow the bitcoin ecosystem. Nico Lechuga and Andrea Pitt have joined as co-founding partners, while bitcoin advocates Lyn Alden and Preston Pysh will join as advisors. “The onboarding of billions of people to the Bitcoin ecosystem will come from creating products that solve real needs,” Booth wrote in a letter introducing the fund.
Digital asset gateway Fasset raised USD 22m in a Series A funding round co-led by Liberty City Ventures and Fatima Gobi Venture. The project aims to expand its offerings in Islamic and emerging markets which include Indonesia and Pakistan.

DeFi news
Decentralized finance (DeFi) and decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator 1inch announced it has deployed its Aggregation Protocol and the Limit Order Protocol on the Fantom (FTM) blockchain. Open / Comment