Solana Falling Faster Than Gravity

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Solana (SOL), a well-known high-speed blockchain platform, struggles below important resistance levels due to recent strong selling pressure.

The bears appear to be taking control as the altcoin struggles to sustain its upward momentum, putting a critical $180 support level in a problem. SOL is currently trading at about $183, but a further decline may be imminent given the most recent market signals that indicate growing pessimism. The continuous pressure highlighted traders might not be as hopeful about a speedy recovery, even though Solana has made prior attempts to surpass its all-time high.

Solana’s attempts to rally have encountered resistance in the $220 range in recent weeks. As the price has struggled to hold higher levels, bears have taken advantage of the situation and driven the price lower. A decline in buying pressure has exacerbated this resistance, suggesting a waning sense of bullishness.

Traders who had anticipated a quick upward movement may want to reevaluate their expectations given that several technical indicators suggest additional downside risk,

There are some liquidity concentrations around $175 as seen on the liquidation heatmap. Bears may try to push the price toward or even below this support zone, but it is evident that the $180 level is a key concern for Solana, even though this might offer some initial support if the price rises.

The cryptocurrency world has been in turmoil for a few weeks. Widespread losses and increased volatility are putting investor portfolios to the test and eroding trust in several assets. However, some cryptocurrencies can stand out amid this confusion, grabbing analysts’ attention and igniting investors’ interest.

On-chain activity has decreased by 7% over the last 21 days, with 5.37 million unique addresses completing at least one transaction on L1. Solana’s network revenue has fallen because of its low usage.

The SOL cryptocurrency’s performance has exacerbated this decline, as its value has decreased by 35% over the past 30 days. The network’s revenue has dropped by 24% since the start of December, according to data from Artemis.

Euro-Based Stablecoins Turn Best Sellers in 2024

Posted on December 23, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

The introduction of the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) in 2024 helped to make euro-backed stablecoins a major force behind the expansion of the European cryptocurrency market after gaining institutional players and liquidity throughout the region.

Monthly volumes of euro-backed stablecoins surged to almost €800 million in November, marking a multi-year high. This sharp increase can be largely attributed to Banking Circle’s EURI stablecoin, which gained significant traction after being listed on Binance, according to the most recent report by research firm Kaiko and cryptocurrency exchange Bitvavo, based in the Netherlands.

MiCA’s regulatory clarity, which went into effect in June, has boosted liquidity, brought in institutional players, and restored investor confidence. Tether’s decision to stop supporting its euro-backed stablecoin, EURT, citing regulatory concerns, highlights ongoing difficulties within the changing framework.

The European cryptocurrency market saw revolutionary expansion in 2024, with trade volumes in euros reaching all-time highs.

The euro’s share of Bitcoin-fiat trading increased from 3 to 6 percent to almost 10 percent, solidifying its position as the third most traded fiat currency in global crypto markets, behind the US dollar and the Korean Won. European exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitvavo were important; Bitvavo held a nearly 50% market share and led in euro-denominated trading volumes. These platforms greatly increased the number of euro-denominated pairs they offered To satisfy the increasing demand listing over 330 new pairs in 2024. B

Shiba Inu Can’t Bark Again

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Shiba Inu dropped by double digits over the last week, just like many altcoins available on the market as appetite for risk moderated considerably. Recent price action highlighted that it may be challenging for the meme asset to recover swiftly in such circumstances.

Shiba Inu peaked at $0.000034 and then experienced a sharp decline to $0.000021. This decline, which amounts to a significant market correction, signifies a dramatic slowdown following a stretch of robust growth. The sudden change in direction coincides with a period when the token’s momentum appeared driven by optimism regarding Shiba Inu ecosystem initiatives.

Recent market fundamentals suggest that cryptocurrency asset’s drop will likely continue amid a hawkish Fed narrative. The Bulls and Bears indicator currently affirms this bias. The latter monitors the activity of addresses that have recently made purchases (bulls) and sales (bears). The SHIB price may be under a lot of upward pressure when there are more buyers. But the number of bears has been growing recently. The meme coin’s value may fall below the $0.00002 support line.

Another important sign that suggests a possible further drop in the price of Shiba Inu is network activity. The number of active addresses linked to the token has significantly decreased, according to Santiment’s on-chain data. Active addresses count the number of distinct wallets using cryptocurrency during a specific time frame.

Increased engagement is another bearish sign here. The reason for this is that more wallets are taking part in cryptocurrency transactions. On the other hand, as seen with SHIB, a decline in active addresses signifies less engagement with the token, which translates into fewer successful blockchain transactions. SHIB’s value will likely drop shortly because this declining activity indicates declining demand.

Bitcoin Shows Cat Bounce Sign

Posted on December 22, 2024December 22, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Bitcoin began to lose value on Sunday despite high signs of recovery on Friday. The digital asset is still down 2% for the day with market capitalization struggling to stay above $1.09 trillion, and its dominance over the altcoins has increased to 55% as most altcoins suffer badly.

The pioneer digital asset had a run over the last few weeks, setting a new record high above $100,000 on the daily chart. But the market hasn’t been able to maintain its bullish momentum over the last few days, dropping below $100,000 and as low as $92,000.

In the short term, a more significant correction towards the $90,000 level and possibly the $85,000 support zone may be anticipated if the bulls can’t regain this area quickly. It appears more difficult to predict the price action when looking at the 4-hour time frame. Although the market experienced higher highs within an ascending channel, it was rejected from the channel’s upper boundary at the $108,500 level.

ETFs, finally caught up to the overall decline in the cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin futures ETFs saw a $680 million net outflow on December 19. This was the biggest outflow day and the first net outflow in fifteen days. The biggest withdrawal was from Fidelity’s ETF, which saw $208.55 million depart.

The BTC and GBTC funds of Grayscale experienced withdrawals of $188.6 million and $87.86 million, respectively, while Bitwise’s BITB completed the four biggest withdrawals with a $43.61 million loss. While there were no inflows or outflows from Blackrock’s IBIT, Wisdomtree’s BTCW drew in $2.05 million despite the large outflow.

Historically, a period of notable growth has followed each Bitcoin correction. Bitcoin’s current price of $96K is a sign that last week’s correction is nearing its peak. However. analysts continue to exercise caution because future developments will rely on investor responses and market stability.

Bitcoin correction offered opportunities for astute investors even though it initially appeared concerning. The bull run in Bitcoin has resumed, and analysts are still upbeat about the cryptocurrency’s long-term prospects, projecting new highs in 2025.

XRP Melts Like Snow Under Sun

Posted on December 22, 2024December 22, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

XRP fell by almost 7% in the past week due to downward pressure on the cryptocurrency market in Sunday’s trading session.

A major withdrawal from Bitcoin-focused ETFs and a rate cut by the Federal Reserve preceded this decline, which has wiped 7% off the global market capitalization. Jerome Powell’s cautious outlook for 2024 and the Federal Reserve’s announcement of a 0.25 percent rate cut caused a wave of selling in cryptocurrency markets.

Investors were taken aback when Powell suggested a halt to monetary easing although the rate cut was expected.

Cryptocurrency markets are notoriously volatile, with prices influenced by macroeconomic trends, investor sentiment, and market speculation. The entire cryptocurrency market has fallen in the past week with losses recorded by numerous leading coins.

Last month’s bullish run of the cryptocurrency market supported the Ripple-backed token. XRP recovered its $2 level after breaking the $1 threshold midway through November. XRP has increased 135 percent in the last month since then. The token now faces a psychological resistance level of $3 while consolidating around the $2.2 mark.

The weekly chart shows that XRP has fallen more than 6 percent since hitting a multi-year high of $2.80. According to the Network Realized Profit/Loss (NPL) indicator, investors in XRP kept taking profits in December. 17, generating over $1.48 billion in revenue. This is the second-highest profit per day in 2024.

The resistance level at $2.50 needs to be turned back into support by bulls. The price of XRP may surpass its all-time high of $3.84 from 2018 if this occurs, and it may also surpass the multi-year high of $2.90 if there is strong volume during the uptrend.

On the other hand, the relative strength index (RSI) and the moving average convergence divergence (MACD) indicator are downsloping. XRP may lose the $2.2 support level if the sell-off persists, which would refute the bullish thesis.

Former Binance Chief Joins MicroStrategy

Posted on December 22, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Brian Brooks, the former CEO of Binance US, and two other executives have joined MicroStrategy’s board. Gregg Winiarski, chief legal officer at Fanatics Holdings, Jane Dietze, who is also on the board of Galaxy Digital, and Brian Brooks have joined the board of directors of MicroStrategy.

New members were added to the board of directors after the company filed with the SEC. The new members have interestingly worked for digital asset companies, which supports Microstrategy’s plan to increase its market share.

Their inclusion raises the number of MicroStrategy board members to nine after 20 filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Brooks left his position at Binance U.S. in August 2021 citing “differences over strategic direction” less than four months later.

The crypto industry recently took notice of Brooks after he was rumored to be one of Donald Trump’s possible candidates to succeed Gary Gensler as SEC Chair. Trump nominated pro-crypto Paul Atkins on December 4 to succeed Gensler as the new head of the SEC.

Microstrategy became one of the most lucrative stocks of 2024 after amassing billions of dollars in Bitcoin reserves. Nasdaq declared that MicroStrategy (MSTR) would be included in the Nasdaq-100 Index, which will begin trading in December. 21. MicroStrategy is one of three companies that have been added to the index in addition to Palantir Technologies according to Nasdaq.

Groupe BPCE Receive Crypto Regulatory Approval

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

Hexarq, the cryptocurrency division of Groupe BPCE, has received regulatory approval from France’s Financial Markets Authority (AMF) to provide crypto services to its customers in 2025. The authorization classified as PSAN registration, enables Hexarq to offer custody, purchasing, and selling services for digital assets by French law.

Hexarq, introduced in 2021, has been operating covertly but is now expected to be a key component of BPCE’s strategy. Hexarq wants to provide an ecosystem of cryptocurrency services catered to high-net-worth and retail customers, beyond simple transactions.

This helps the French banking behemoth to provide Bitcoin (BTC) to its 35 million clients. It also emphasizes BPCE’s strategic yet cautious approach to digital finance as it enters the cryptocurrency market through Caisse d’Épargne and Banque Populaire. The group hopes to offer safe, regulated alternatives to clients interested in cryptocurrency platforms by utilizing Hexarq.

BPCE’s investment banking division, Natixis, is establishing a distinct niche in blockchain innovation, whereas Hexarq concentrates on retail crypto services.

Natixis and Caisse des Dépôts issued a €100 million blockchain bond last month. Natixis continues to set itself apart from Hexarq’s customer-focused offerings as part of its broader strategy to look into tokenization and digital market infrastructure.

The development of tokenized securities solutions is one of Natixis’ ongoing blockchain initiatives; this could facilitate institutional investors’ operations and increase access to illiquid asset classes.

The two-pronged strategy of BPCE is reflected in these initiatives: institutional market transformation through blockchain and retail crypto adoption through Hexarq. Notwithstanding the momentum, BPCE has stressed that there is no assurance that crypto services will be launched in 2025. According to a spokesperson, the bank can take advantage of opportunities thanks to its PSAN registration, but the rollout will be contingent on continuous risk assessments.

Coinbase Richer Than Nasdaq in Transaction Revenue

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

According to a crypto analyst from the private bank Coutts, Coinbase surpassed two of the biggest securities exchanges in the world in terms of transaction revenue.

The Nasdaq, home to many of the world’s most valuable companies, such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft, only made $4.54 billion in transaction revenue over the last 12 months, while the cryptocurrency exchange made $5.75 billion.

Coinbase also outperformed Brazil’s Bolsa Balcão, which made $1.81 billion within the last year, and the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the HKEX, which made $2.67 billion. In addition to the sheer volume of transactions, these figures are not directly comparable and are reliant on the fees exchanges charge per transaction, such as when buying or selling stocks or Bitcoin.

Coutts’ data shows that to put these figures in perspective, the global cryptocurrency, stock, and commodity exchanges collectively generated approximately $51.27 billion in transaction revenue. Coinbase still lags well behind the biggest exchanges in the world, despite having a very high transaction revenue growth rate.

the London Stock Exchange (LSE) generated $10.82 billion in transaction revenue in the last 12 months. Additionally, with $9.16 billion in transaction revenue, the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which runs the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and several futures, debt, and commodities exchanges, continues to lead the market

According to Mouloukou Sanoh, CEO of liquidity provider MANSA Finance Coinbase’s transaction volume is less than that of the NASDAQ despite having more transaction revenue than many of the biggest exchanges in the world.

Forex Signals Brief December 20: Can PCE Inflaiton Surprise to the Upside?

Posted on December 20, 2024December 19, 2024 by Skerdian Meta

Today we have retail sales numbers from the UK and Canada, but the highlight will be the US PCE inflation which might send the USD either way.

Continue reading “Forex Signals Brief December 20: Can PCE Inflaiton Surprise to the Upside?” →

323,816 Traders lose $1 Billion amid Bitcoin, XRP, Solana Crash

Posted on December 20, 2024December 20, 2024 by Olumide Adesina

BTC dropped below the $95K market on Friday, continuing the negative price developments that began following the contentious remarks made by the US Federal Reserve Chair. The altcoins have been even more severely affected, with notable double-digit losses from major altcoins like Ethereum, XRP Doge, and Solana

Coinglass data showed 323,816 traders were liquidated for the day the total liquidations come in at $1.07 billion. The largest single liquidation order happened on Binance – ETHUSDT valued at $15.8 million.

The altcoins followed suit as Bitcoin fell from over $105,000 on Wednesday to just under $95K on Friday The pioneer asset is currently in a state of freefall, though, as its price dropped by several thousand dollars just a short while ago, plunging to a weekly low of $94.9K on Biannce.

A less dovish monetary policy in 2025 is bad news for the cryptocurrency market. The prolonged rise in the US dollar value also poses a macro risk to digital assets which is generally bad for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency assets. The biggest threat to Bitcoin is a strong dollar and declining liquidity.

Arthur Hayes, the co-founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange BitMEX, thinks that the current bullish trends in the cryptocurrency market might not last for long in light of Donald Trump’s recent victory in the presidential election,.

According to the co-founder of BitMEX, many politicians will start campaigning by the end of 2025 because of the midterm elections in November 2026. This implies that Trump may not be able to push his policies through at least for for some time.

Trump has more than doubled the price of Bitcoin this year due to his promises to protect cryptocurrency mining interests, establish a Bitcoin reserve, and establish America as the world’s “crypto capital.”.

Policymakers expect the Fed funds rate to fall to 3 percent by the end of 2025 or by an additional 50 basis points in rate cuts the following year, according to the Fed’s quarterly economic projections, which include a “dot plot” illustrating the central bank’s expectations for the rate’s trajectory.

However, the fact that on-chain factors for the cryptocurrency are still very positive, particularly the ongoing decline in exchange balances, supports the hypothesis that the BTC supply deficit is elevated.