In today’s bitcoin and cryptocurrency news, read about in the last month, Bitcoin’s price has been around the $19,000 mark, with brief fluctuations here and there. Meanwhile, for PayPal, this past weekend was a big one (NASDAQ: PYPL). On Saturday, the publicly-traded online payments processor and financial services company caused a media frenzy by publishing an update to its acceptable use policy (AUP) that would have given it the power to effectively fine its users US$2,500 per offense for “misinformation,” among other transgressions added to its existing list of prohibited offenses that the company deemed to present risks to the “wellbeing” of its userbase. Lastly, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap stays stable just at $19,000.
Bitcoin Stays Around $19,000 Amid Significant Institutional Use
Original Source: Bitcoin holds steady around $19,000 amid growing signs of institutional adoption
Bitcoin on Tuesday stayed about $19,000, where it has been for a month with brief breaks.
The largest cryptocurrency by market value, whose volatility has been minimal in recent weeks, was down 1.1% at $19,002.70, according to Coin Metrics. Ether declined 2% to $1,282.17.
Bitcoin is off its all-time high from nearly a year ago by more than 70%. If bitcoin fails to hold at $19,000, chart analysts expect it will revisit its June lows of about $17,000 and establish a new bottom, maybe as low as $10,000. Slight breaks below that level haven’t been notable.
“Crypto markets continue their slumber with little development either way,” said Richard Usher, head of OTC trading at BCB Group. “Until broad risk bounces, this sector won’t.”
Traders are watching economic data expected later this week. Though bitcoin volatility is modest compared to stocks, the correlation is still substantial.
“The price of bitcoin is sustaining the $19,000 level, but with the FOMC’s minutes and CPI ahead this week, the market will likely refrain from taking risks, which will likely put pressure on bitcoin,” Yuya Hasegawa, crypto market analyst at Japanese crypto exchange Bitbank, told CNBC Tuesday.
Prices maintained constant following two large announcements showing that institutional acceptance and usage of crypto is growing despite the downturn market. Google said Tuesday it will examine using Coinbase’s service to store and trade bitcoins. BNY Mellon announced Tuesday it will add cryptocurrencies to the assets it manages as a custody manager.
“These huge firms trust in digital assets and Web3,” said Oppenheimer analyst Owen Lau. It takes time to create, but these companies are taking a long-term view to bulk out their capabilities so they won’t be behind in 3-5 years.
In the previous month, Nasdaq launched crypto custody for institutions, and Franklin Templeton, Betterment, Société Générale, and other wealth managers entered crypto.
A year ago, news like that would have influenced the crypto market, but prices are mostly macro driven now.
Prices will likely be stuck for some time. The Federal Reserve drove crypto into the well with its rate-hiking agenda, and investors think it’s on the central bank to pull it out.
Paypal’s Latest Power Grab Shows Why the World Needs Bitcoin
Original Source: Despite walk back, PayPal’s latest attempted overreach of power again demonstrates why the world needs Bitcoin
PayPal’s weekend was eventful (NASDAQ: PYPL). The publicly-traded online payments processor and financial services company set off a media storm on Saturday when it published an update to its acceptable use policy (AUP) that would have allowed it to fine its users US$2,500 per offense for “misinformation” and other transgressions deemed to present risks to the “wellbeing” of its userbase.
The changes, which were to take effect on November 3—less than a month after being posted—would have given PayPal “sole discretion” in administering these infractions, which would have likely resulted in the user being de-platformed from using its services.
Less than 12 hours after being first reported by The Daily Wire, a popular conservative publication, PayPal was forced to walk back the policy, characterizing the publication as unintentional and erroneous.
A recent AUP notice contained incorrect information. PayPal doesn’t fine for misinformation, and this language was never intended to be in our policy, a spokesperson told National Review.
“Our teams are updating policy pages.” We regret the confusion.”
If you think the policy “went out in error” and wouldn’t have been implemented without public outcry, I’ll sell you a bridge. Despite the backlash this latest overreach from PayPal drew, it’s far from the first time the company has played judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to freezing funds and de-platforming users—with a laundry list of examples, including independent media outlets and associated journalists, legal cannabis and adult entertainment companies, and even WikiLeaks.
Next time, they’ll be more calculated and clever.
This latest misstep shows how much the world needs Bitcoin—the real Bitcoin, not the speculative BTC ticker. Because, let’s be clear, subjecting your personal money (or that of your business) to the unchecked power of a self-installed centralized authority—like PayPal or a cabal of rogue developers like with BTC—never produces optimal results for honest people, intentional or not.
Unarguable.
Dr. Craig Wright, creator of Bitcoin and blockchain technology, is demonstrating with a litany of positive litigation that due process is a pre-requisite for a well-balanced and properly functioning society—which includes our finances. Because, despite the rhetoric of BTC bag holders, digital assets are not beyond the reach of governments and law enforcement.
In recent years, law enforcement has seized ill-gotten BTC, ETH, NFTs, and other digital assets. Almost all of these cases involve law-abiding, KYC-requiring digital asset exchanges or the criminal’s private keys.
Law enforcement will soon have a new tool to rein in “cryptocurrency” if due process is followed.
The Bitcoin Association for BSV launched its self-developed Blacklist Manager last week, a software tool that allows miners on the Bitcoin network to freeze lost or stolen coins as required by court order. Tools to aid in the recovery of these assets are expected to follow.
The Blacklist Manager tool indicates blockchain’s maturation. If we want the corporate world, large firms, banks, and governments to adopt blockchain technology, we need a way to recover lost or stolen assets, said Bitcoin Association for BSV General Counsel Marcin Zarakowski.
Without this, blockchain technology will remain a layer for trading and speculating asset classes. Big players have said this often. We are heavily scrutinized for compliance, and we can’t allow digital assets on the blockchain where a court order or crime has been committed.
When the Blacklist Manager will be used on BSV or another blockchain is unknown. Dr. Wright has already scored a victory by returning Bitcoin’s creator’s stolen coins, but there is reportedly a long list of wronged parties eager for the return of their digital assets.
The law is coming to Bitcoin, and it will change what’s possible in digital assets.
PayPal isn’t out of the fire yet.
PayPal’s latest misstep may end up being more far-reaching and ultimately detrimental to their business than they could have ever predicted when revising their AUP. Despite the quick course correction and PR blitz, it may not be enough.
So egregious was PayPal’s latest power grab that its co-founder and former CEO (and prospective Twitter buyer), Elon Musk, publicly criticized the move and chastised the company’s latest overreach.
Musk has used X before. After selling Zip2, an online city guide, for $22 million, he co-founded X.com, an early online bank that merged with Coinfinity and became PayPal. Musk repurchased X.com from PayPal in 2017 saying, “No plans right now, but it has great sentimental value to me.”
This could spell trouble for the struggling financial services firm.
Musk told Twitter staff in June that he wanted to create an app similar to China’s WeChat, which began as a microblogging social media platform and now includes e-commerce, payments, gaming, and more.
“We want to address why fewer people use Twitter. Why do Twitter users leave? Musk told Twitter employees that if they can address these reasons, users will use the service more and get more value.
“WeChat in China is a great app, but it’s not popular outside of China. I think that’s possible. In China, you live on WeChat because it’s so useful. If we could do that with Twitter, it would be a huge success.”
Should Musk create a Western WeChat, it presents an even stronger case for blockchain integration than if it remained as a pure social media service.
The only blockchain capable of powering a Western version of WeChat is the original Bitcoin, currently operating under the BSV ticker. It has already proven its mettle in supporting a wide variety of apps throughout the ecosystem, from social media to video games to native peer-to-peer payments and B2C micropayments.
With Teranode, the BSV blockchain will be able to process the volume of Tweets on Twitter eight times over and still have enough transaction capacity to power the Visa network’s average volume.
As seen on Twetch, if every post, like, retweet, and comment was also a transaction, the 8x multiplier would be reduced. Horizontal scaling will keep Teranode’s transaction throughput capacity growing with each iteration. That’s not to mention the optimizations Twitter’s engineering team (or “X Platform”) would undoubtedly make, such as batching transactions, as they consider a Bitcoin-powered platform.
Native payments, regulation-friendly, near-limitless throughput and on-chain capacity, smart contracts, decentralized apps… It’s endless.
Elon Musk should consider Dr. Wright’s 2021 overture for a conversation.
Bitcoin Quiet Before FOMC Minutes
Original Source: Market Wrap: Bitcoin Remains in a Quiet Place Ahead of FOMC Minutes
Bitcoin and ether traded flat on Tuesday, continuing a recent trend of low volume and volatility.
Bitcoin (BTC) trading volume has fallen below its 20-day moving average for 7 days in a row. Bitcoin’s price fell 0.45% in 24 hours. Six of the last seven days were negative. In October, the average true range of BTC price movement has fallen 22%, indicating less volatility.
Ether (ETH) trading volume has fallen 11 straight days. Price dropped 0.6% and is now below $1,300. ETH’s price has been range-bound since Sept. 21 like BTC’s.
In broader crypto markets, the CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) fell 0.90 percent. terraUSD gained 34% to 5 cents, while quantstamp(QSP) fell 22%. Tuesday’s most-traded cryptocurrency was BinanceUSD (BUSD).
Macrosight
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) rose 0.12%, while Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 fell 1.10% and 0.65%.
71% of stocks on the NYSE, Nasdaq, and NYSE American (formerly AMEX) declined, compared to 22% that rose. Market breadth compares the number of rising and falling assets.
West Texas Intermediate oil fell 1.7% to below $90 per barrel. Brent fell 1.6% to $94.61 per barrel. Copper futures, a gauge of economic growth, fell 0.03 percent. Gold rose 0.14 percent.
Costs
936.32 1.7% $19,042 1.0% Bitcoin $1,285 1.7% 3,588.84 0.7% S&P 500 daily close Gold: $1,673/oz +0.4% Ten-year Treasury yield: 3.94% +0.05 Bitcoin, ether, and gold prices are around 4pm NY time. Gold is the COMEX spot price. Bitcoin is the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX). Visit coindesk.com/indices for more information.
Technical Bitcoin trades quietly again
Bitcoin remained flat. Tuesday as macroeconomic themes continued to weigh on investors who are awaiting the release of the last FOMC meeting minutes on Wednesday and the latest CPI inflation data on Thursday. Low volume.
Economic observers expect the CPI to drop to 8.1% annually but rise 0.1% month-over-month. The next FOMC rate decision should emphasize taming inflation.
BTC trades above and below its 20-day moving average before reversing to its mean.
BTC’s hourly chart shows above-average volume during hours when the price breaches its Bollinger Bands before reversing course.
Traders who can execute a nimble mean reversion strategy may find success in this market. Given current price behavior, traders won’t find many trending asset classes. Investors looking to minimize their cost basis may find positive news on-chain, but not without concern.
Glassnode data shows a decline in “whale” net volume since Sept. 16. Whales hold 1,000 BTC.
Moving coins off centralized exchanges boosts prices because they’re likely going into cold storage. Moving BTC to exchanges implies selling.
Glassnode data shows that whales cost $15,800 since 2017. Since Sept. 16, BTC has dropped 5%. Large BTC holders are moving their coins off exchanges as the price nears their cost basis.
While not necessarily bullish, this trend reveals BTC holders’ sentiment.
Derivatives markets suggest caution. Open interest for $19,000 put options has increased. BTC’s put/call ratio has risen, indicating traders are buying downside protection.
Altcoin Update
Former CEO of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius cashes out $960K. Statistically, Alex Mashinsky, Celsius’ former CEO, moved crypto out of wallets while withdrawals were suspended. Here’s more.
Bloomberg reports that the SEC is investigating Yuga Labs’ unregistered offerings. Bloomberg reports that the key legal question is whether NFTs are securities.
The Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices, classifies digital assets by sector. The CoinDesk Market Index (CMI) measures market capitalization-weighted digital asset market performance, subject to minimum trading and exchange eligibility requirements.
Summary of today’s Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency news
In summary, the cryptocurrency market would have been affected by such news a year ago, but today, prices are mostly determined by macroeconomic factors. Prices are anticipated to remain unchanged for some time. Investors believe the Federal Reserve is responsible for rescuing cryptocurrencies after its rate-hiking agenda sent them into a deep abyss.
In addition, because of PayPal’s most recent gaffe could have far-reaching consequences for their business that their legal team didn’t foresee when they were busy revising its AUP. The case’s swift course correction and the PR blitz that is expected to follow it may not be enough.
Lastly, Bitcoin’s (BTC) price action remains consistent with that of a “mean reversion” trade, with swings above and below the 20-day moving average typically being followed by a reversal back to the mean. BTC’s price has shown above-average volume during hours when the price breaks the upper range of its Bollinger Bands before reversing course, which is more evident on the hourly than the daily chart.
