Crypto Exchange Coinbase Launches Web3 Social Marketplace for NFTs in Beta – Exchanges Bitcoin News

Crypto Exchange Coinbase Launches Web3 Social Marketplace for NFTs in Beta – Exchanges Bitcoin News
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Nasdaq-listed crypto exchange Coinbase has launched a Web3 social marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in beta. In addition, the exchange noted that for a limited time, there will be no Coinbase transaction fees.

‘Coinbase NFT’ Officially Live in Beta

Nasdaq-listed cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase announced Wednesday that “Coinbase NFT” is officially live in beta. Coinbase NFT (non-fungible token) “is a peer-to-peer community platform where creators and collectors can come together to discover, display, purchase and create digital assets,” the company described. Coinbase first announced its plan to launch an NFT marketplace in October last year.

The official Twitter account for Coinbase NFT detailed:

Today we kick things off with a full-access experience for some of our waitlist frens. As we ramp up, everyone can explore the vast collection of NFTs on the first version of Coinbase NFT.

The company added: “For a limited time, there’ll be no Coinbase transaction fees. We’ll eventually add fees, which will be in-line with web3 industry standards, and we’ll provide notice ahead of time.”

Sanchan Saxena, Coinbase’s VP of Products, described Coinbase NFT in a blog post published Wednesday as “a Web3 social marketplace for NFTs.” He explained that starting Wednesday, anyone can explore the vast collection of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. Beta testers can additionally create a Coinbase NFT profile to buy and sell NFTs “using any self-custody wallet.”

“We’re building a social marketplace powered by web3,” Coinbase emphasized. “You won’t need a username and password. Instead, you’ll use a self-custody crypto wallet as your digital passport to log in. You’ll also use it to pay for stuff and store NFTs.”

Furthermore, the Coinbase NFT website notes that “At launch, Coinbase will only support file types in the form of digital illustrations, photos, and videos,” elaborating:

At a later date, we plan to support more file types, such as audio and more.

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buy nfts coinbase, Coinbase, coinbase nft, coinbase nft community, coinbase nft marketplace, coinbase nft platform, coinbase web3, NFT marketplace, sell nfts coinbase, trade nfts coinbase, Web3

What do you think about Coinbase NFT? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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What This Means For Bitcoin

What This Means For Bitcoin
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Bitcoin halvings are important events that have taken place since the digital asset was first launched in 2009. Since then, there have been a total of three halvings that have seen block reward cut down by half each time. The next bitcoin halving will happen in 2024 which means that the market is halfway there. As this fourth halving draws close, we take a look at how this affects the supply of BTC and in turn, the value of the cryptocurrency.

Fourth Halving Coming Up

The bitcoin halving is scheduled to happen every 210,000 blocks and the estimate for the next halving is put at May 4th, 2024, going by the current rate at which BTC is being mined. Currently, there have been a little over 19 million BTC mined, which only leaves an additional 2 million BTC that is left to be mined. With the halving cutting block reward by half, presently sitting at 6.25 BTC per block, it helps to predict the supply mechanics of the digital asset.

Related Reading | New Wallets Surge On Cardano, What’s Behind This?

With each halving, the daily issuance and supply go down. It is expected to fall even lower with the next halving, where each block reward would only be 3.125 BTC, and with the average of 144 blocks that are mined per day, the daily BTC awarded to miners on a daily basis will fall from 900 to 450. This helps to ensure that the supply of bitcoin diminishes over time, making it one of the core features of the monetary policy of the network.

How It Impacts Bitcoin

The bitcoin halving has various effects on the cryptocurrency. One of the ways where these effects are more prominent is mining difficulty. With less BTC being rewarded to miners for each block, it makes for stiffer competition, causing mining difficulty to skyrocket. This is evident in the trend that has followed the last bitcoin halving which took place in 2020. Likewise, bitcoin’s hashrate also increases as miners require more computing power to be able to mine blocks.

BTC recovers above $41,000 | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

One notable thing about the current state of the network is the low fees. Even though bitcoin is halfway to another halving, transactions fees have remained near all-time lows. This is said to be the result of more efficient use of block space as there is no evidence that there is a decline in the economic usage of the network. 

Related Reading | Whales Accumulate Through The Dip As Bitcoin Repositions To $40K

However, one thing has always remained consistent across all bitcoin halvings and that is the effect it has on the price. Now, halfway through to the next halvings have been when the digital asset has recorded some of its lowest prices. So there are expectations that the price will suffer at this point. Nevertheless, a halving that reduces the supply of BTC going into circulation has always been a trigger for the next bull rally and 2024 is expected to be no different.

Featured image from 99Bitcoins, chart from TradingView.com

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Debunking the ‘Bitcoiners are psychopaths’ study

Debunking the ‘Bitcoiners are psychopaths’ study
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A study claiming that psychopaths and others with ‘Dark Tetrad’ personality traits are drawn to crypto has been criticized as “meaningless” for showing very weak correlativity by a psychology expert from The University of Otago.

Researchers with backgrounds predominately in marketing and advertising from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) surveyed 566 people on their attitudes toward crypto and correlated the results with four specific personality traits: narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and sadism.

The findings were first shared by The U.S. Sun, and were widely syndicated by the mainstream media, with the New York Post headline screaming “Bitcoin fans are psychopaths who don’t care about anyone,” and Salon asserting that “Impulsive psychopaths like crypto”.

But speaking to Cointelegraph, Professor Martin Sellbom from The University of Otago’s Psychology Department — an international expert on personality disorders and personality assessment — criticized the results of the study as essentially meaningless.

“The effects they report, for example, the strength of relationships between these so-called ‘dark tetrad’ traits and attitude and intention to buy cryptocurrency are very weak, pretty much meaningless, in my opinion.”

The widely used Short Dark Triad (SD-3) personality test which rates the traits of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism out of a maximum score of 5 was used to assess participants’ personalities.

The results of the study show that participant’s scores for psychopathy and narcissism were below the average levels as determined by psychometric assessment group OpenPsychometrics. The participants scored 2% below the average for psychopathy and 16.7% below average for narcissism, however the scores for Machievellism were 3.6% higher.

But Professor Sellbom said that in any case this line of research is “uninformative about psychopathy and narcissism,” adding:

“The measurement devices used in this literature do not capture the full manifestations of these disorders.”

The authors expanded on their results in an article for The Conversation, stating that narcissists like crypto “because of their great faith in the future”, and because of a “confidence their own lives will improve”.

Related: Crypto critics: Can FUD ever be useful?

Psychopaths were drawn to crypto apparently, because they “fear missing out on investing rewards that others are experiencing,”and Machiavellians like crypto because “they distrust politicians and government agencies.”

Other traits, like positivity, and belief in conspiracy theories were also measured as traits that “might connect the dark tetrad judgements about crypto”.

Of those surveyed only 26% owned cryptocurrency, and of those who didn’t nearly 64% said they would be “interested” in investing.

Sellbom said the methodology to link traits such as FOMO to psychopathy was flawed as collecting a sample of both the level of interest in crypto and psychometric results at the same time, from the same person only once, is “pretty much uninformative”, adding the conclusions the researchers reached “cannot be supported in the simple way that they are presenting.”

“Looking at the same results, my interpretation would be the relationship between dark tetrad traits and attitudes towards and buying intention of cryptocurrency is weak, and it is unlikely that these traits will provide much understanding of those who do engage in purchasing cryptocurrency.”

It should be noted the researchers themselves stated in the report that they aren’t out to propose that Bitcoiners are psychopaths, in the way some media outlets were quick to declare.

“We are not suggesting all crypto buyers exhibit Dark Tetrad traits. Instead, we are studying a subset of people interested in crypto who do have these traits.”

Discussing the limitations of their work, the researchers said that whilst they gauged participant interest in investing in stocks, bonds or crypto, the study could have set a control variable by measuring their intention of engaging in those types of investments.

“Many experts on psychopathy and narcissism question this so-called dark personality literature,” said Professor Sellbom, “because the researchers are not really studying these personality disorders, which are far more complex than what the measures used would suggest.”

The authors of the study are Brett Martin, Professor of Marketing QUT; Dr. Di Wang, Senior Lecturer at the QUT School of Advertising and Marketing; Jun Yao, Senior Lecturer in Marketing Macquarie University; Carolyn Strong, Professor of Marketing and Strategy Cardiff University; and Polymeros Chrysochou, Professor of Marketing Aarhus University.

Given the authors’ background in marketing and advertising, it seems possible they would understand how to frame the results of a study in a way to appeal to the mass media.

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Switzerland Has ‘the Most Profitable Bitcoin Traders’ Worldwide, While France ‘Is the Best Bitcoin Trading Nation’ – Bitcoin News

Switzerland Has ‘the Most Profitable Bitcoin Traders’ Worldwide, While France ‘Is the Best Bitcoin Trading Nation’ – Bitcoin News
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According to a recent study published by the online investing news and education platform Invezz, Switzerland currently has the most profitable bitcoin traders worldwide. That’s according to data stemming from Chainalysis, Worldometers, and Triple A, which helped Invezz assign each country a score in terms of the most profitable bitcoin trading by country.

Researchers Rank the Best Bitcoin Trading Nations and the Most Profitable Bitcoin Traders by Country

This week, invezz.com researchers published a study that looks at the most profitable bitcoin traders by country by leveraging statistics from multiple datasets. The study’s author Dan Ashmore explained one dataset stemmed from Chainalysis, which shows the top 25 countries in the world by realized bitcoin (BTC) gains in 2020.

The top 15 country rankings according to invezz.com’s research team.

This served as the study’s backdrop, as the invezz.com research team also utilized statistics from Worldometers and Triple A. While the data shows Switzerland currently has the most profitable bitcoin traders worldwide, France is the top country in terms of “the best bitcoin trading nation.”

“[France] ranked 12th in the percentage of the country invested in crypto (3.3%), but an impressive third and eighth respectively in bitcoin gains per capita and bitcoin gains per investor, at $275 and $13 respectively,” Ashmore’s report explains. “While a lot of other countries placed well in certain categories, France was the only country to be above average in all three metrics.”

Invezz.com Study: ‘France Claims the Title of Best Bitcoin Traders, Switzerland Has the Most Profitable Traders at $1,268 of Gains per Investor’

Following France on the list of countries, the Czech Republic and Belgium are second and third in terms of the best bitcoin trading nations. Then there’s Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, Australia, United Kingdom, United States, Spain, Japan, Ukraine, South Korea, and Italy respectively. Other notable countries included Argentina, Vietnam, Poland, Russia, Thailand, Brazil, Turkey, and India. Out of all the countries listed, Switzerland’s bitcoin traders ruled the roost as far as BTC gains are concerned.

“Switzerland has the most profitable traders at $1,268 of gains per investor, however with only 1.8% of the country invested in crypto, they get knocked down to a sixth-place finish. The Czech Republic is similar,” the invezz.com study details. But both Switzerland and the Czech Republic are much lower on the list than France for specific reasons. “Switzerland and Czech Republic ranking 23rd and 21st respectively, out of 24 countries, for the percentage of population invested in crypto (1.8% and 2.2%), [it] ultimately kills their chances,” Ashmore’s report says. The invezz.com researcher concludes:

It is France [that claims] the title of best bitcoin traders. But there must be something in the water in mainland Europe, because their dominance of the top of the table is clear.

Tags in this story
Argentina, Australia, belgium, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Dan Ashmore, France bitcoin traders, France bitcoin trading, Germany, India, invezz.com researcher, invezz.com researchers, invezz.com study, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Poland, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Switzerland bitcoin traders, thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States, Vietnam

What do you think about invezz.com’s study and the results that show the most profitable bitcoin traders by country? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.




Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, invezz.com’s study

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Blockchain games are leading the DApp industry, says latest DappRadar report

Blockchain games are leading the DApp industry, says latest DappRadar report
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Market tracker DappRadar and the Blockchain Game Alliance, or BGA, published the Blockchain Games Report for Q1 2022 on Wednesday. After citing that $720 million was invested into blockchain games and infrastructures in February in a previous report, the latest number for total Q1 investment is $2.5 billion. Venture capitalists and other investors raised $4 billion in 2021.

The biggest deals listed in the report include Animoca Brands raising $360 million, bringing its valuation to $5 billion and becoming a leading Web3 brand. Sequoia Capital led a $450 million investment in Polygon (MATIC), while Yuga Labs, the studio behind Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) nonfungible tokens (NFTs), received a $450 million investment led by Animoca Brands, with The Sandbox, FTX and Coinbase to launch its Otherside metaverse with play-to-earn (P2E) games.

According to DappRadar, Blockchain games attracted 1.22 million unique active wallets (UAW) in March, and more than half of the industry’s activity came from game decentralized applications (DApps) or gaming applications with play-to-earn incentives. Splinterlands is named the number one play-to-earn DApp. And Polygon is the layer-2 (L2) sidechain with the top played P2E games, such as Crazy Defense Heroes, Pegaxy, Arc8 and Aavegotchi. 

Cointelegraph asked Sebastian Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox metaverse and president of the Blockchain Game Alliance, why he thinks Polygon has benefited the most from P2E mechanics and NFTs compared to other ecosystems like Wax, Harmony and BNB Chain. He listed a few main reasons; namely, that Polygon remained Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible and the Polygon Foundation supported them heavily in marketing and grants. Another reason is that guilds easily migrated their users to Polygon while keeping MetaMask as the main wallet.

Borget also pointed out that Polygon was the first L2 blockchain for NFTs on OpenSea, which drove additional liquidity for NFTs. He predicts that the emergence of NFTs and blockchain-based games on ImmutableX (IMX, Tezos (XTZ), Solana (SOL) or BNB Smart Chain (BSC) will “definitely shift the distribution in the second half of 2022.”

“NFTs represent an opportunity for game developers to create games with player-owned economies; where the community of holders are both the early supporters of the game but also the main actors of its development and true stakeholders of its success.”

Related: Immutable raises $200M to invest in blockchain gaming, bringing valuation to $2.5B

The report also found that the metaverse is “one of the most exciting opportunities in the blockchain industry.” Even though the trading volume in virtual worlds decreased slightly from Q4 2021, it reached over $430 million in Q1 2022. Platforms like The Sandbox, which completed its second Alpha season, are attracting players and brands like Warner Bros, Ubisoft and HSBC. At the same time, lifestyle metaverse Decentraland hosted a Fashion Week in March for brands to further engage with consumers.

DappRadar underscores an important point when it comes to the Metaverse: “The ownership entitled by NFTs and the underlying financial ecosystem enabled by cryptocurrencies and play-to-earn games will shift the paradigm from the traditional metaverse that is limited to a virtual, augmented reality.”

Additionally, while Axie Infinity (AXS) is among the top 10 most played games based on daily usage, the report pointed to a decrease in UAW after the $650 million hack of Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge in mid-February. 

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Lackluster Buzz as Dogecoin’s Price Is 65% Lower Than Last Year – Altcoins Bitcoin News

Lackluster Buzz as Dogecoin’s Price Is 65% Lower Than Last Year – Altcoins Bitcoin News
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While April 20 or 420 is synonymous with cannabis culture, the day is also considered “Doge Day,” by a great number of dogecoin supporters. The day prior on Twitter, the Doge network’s co-founder Billy Markus asked what people should expect on Doge Day and for dogecoin’s price action. 12 months ago dogecoin was swapping hands for $0.44 per unit on Doge Day and today the meme-based crypto asset is down 65.3% from that value.

Last Year During Doge Day, Dogecoin Was up 18,299% and Saw Fresh New Price Highs

Last year, the popular meme-token dogecoin (DOGE) saw phenomenal gains. Statistics show on April 16, 2021, DOGE was up 18,299% against the U.S. dollar in 12 months and as April 20th, otherwise known as Doge Day approached, DOGE was awfully close to $0.50 per unit. Year-to-date, metrics show DOGE is currently down 65.3% despite gaining 19.2% over the last 30 days. DOGE also reached an all-time high last year at $0.731 per unit on May 08, 2021, just after last year’s Doge Day. Since that day, DOGE has shed 80.7% in value against the U.S. dollar.

Doge Day Then and Now: Lackluster Buzz as Dogecoin's Price Is 65% Lower Than Last Year
Last year from mid-April up until mid-May, dogecoin (DOGE) markets and media hype was on fire. In May 2021, it was reported that a Goldman Sachs executive reportedly resigned from massive DOGE gains, Elon Musk hinted at Tesla accepting DOGE for payments back then, and he also mentioned dogecoin on Saturday Night Live when he appeared on the comedy show.

Doge Day in 2021 was a whole lot different for the meme token as dogecoin got a great deal of attention. For instance, that month in April, the popular talk show host Ellen Degeneres talked about dogecoin with the Shark Tank co-star and billionaire investor Mark Cuban. One dogecoin investor told the press that month he became a millionaire in as little as two months. Another dogecoin investor donated her gains to a dog shelter in Florida after DOGE reached new price highs in April.

While 2022’s Doge Day May Be Lackluster, Dogecoin Is Still a Top 20 Crypto Asset and the Largest Meme-Based Digital Currency Today

This year dogecoin markets and the hype surrounding the meme-based crypto have been extremely lackluster compared to last year. On April 19, DOGE co-founder Billy Markus asked on Twitter: “[Question:] what should we expect on [Doge Day] for dogecoin price action tomorrow? [Answer]: nothing.” Later in the day, Markus tweeted: “Happy Doge Day,” with a dog GIF animation. There were plenty of dogecoin fans that tweeted celebratory statements about Doge Day, but the day’s buildup was nothing like it was in 2021.

Doge Day Then and Now: Lackluster Buzz as Dogecoin's Price Is 65% Lower Than Last Year
DOGE/USD 12-month chart on 4/20/22. Dogecoin is down 65.3% since this time last year on Doge Day.

Dogecoin is still the largest meme-based crypto asset by market capitalization with $18.8 billion. DOGE also commands the 12th largest market capitalization out of the 13,671 cryptocurrencies in existence today. It has also inspired a myriad of meme-based crypto assets which are currently worth $34.4 billion today. This included the top meme cryptos below dogecoin’s market cap such as shiba inu (SHIB), dogelon mars (ELON), baby doge coin (BABYDOGE), and floki inu (FLOKI).

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420, addresses, Baby Doge Coin (BABYDOGE), Billy Markus, Doge, DOGE co-founder, Doge Day, DOGE Markets, Doge Price, DOGE whales, dogecoin, dogecoin fans, Dogecoin price, Dogelon Mars (ELON), Elon Musk, jackson palmer, Mark Cuban, meme, Meme Coin, protos.com report, Saturday Night Live, shiba inu (SHIB), Shiba Inu dog, SNL, strong hands, Whales

What do you think about dogecoin lately and the difference between last year’s and this year’s Doge Day? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.




Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

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Bitcoin Trading Volume Stabilizes At Lows Of July 2021 As Market Sleeps

Bitcoin Trading Volume Stabilizes At Lows Of July 2021 As Market Sleeps
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Data shows the weekly average Bitcoin trading volume has stabilized around the same lows as July 2021 as market activity remains low.

Bitcoin Trading Volume Has Stayed Low In Recent Weeks

According to the latest weekly report from Arcane Research, the BTC trading volume has sunk down to July lows recently.

The “trading volume” is an indicator that measures the total amount of Bitcoin being transacted on the chain in a day.

When the value of this metric goes up, it means investors are moving a higher number of coins right now. Such a trend suggests the market activity is going up as holders become more interested in trading.

On the other hand, a downtrend in the indicator implies the Bitcoin market is turning more inactive currently. This may show a general lack of interest in the crypto among investors at the moment.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the BTC trading volume over the past year:

The indicator's value seems to have been at low values recently | Source: Arcane Research's The Weekly Update - Week 15, 2022

As you can see in the above graph, the daily Bitcoin spot trading volume has struggled a lot recently, and has declined to 7-day average values of around just $3 billion.

Related Reading | Now Or Never: Bitcoin Builds Base At Decade-Long Parabolic Curve

The metric is now at the same lows as July of last year. Back then, the price had been consolidating sideways for a couple of months following the May crash.

Bitcoin Price Surges Above $42k, Can It Revive The Volume?

Usually, periods of high trading volumes have been when the price of BTC has successfully made some large moves. It’s because to sustain any such move, the market needs a high number of active traders.

Related Reading | Calm Before The Storm: Bitcoin Volatility Reaches Pre-Bull Breakout Levels

But it’s also true that any large price move attracts more investors to the market, thus raising the volume. In cases when it doesn’t happen, the rally generally dies down before too long.

Today, Bitcoin’s price has crossed above the $42k mark again after plunging down below the $39k level just a few days back. The below chart shows the trend.

Bitcoin Price Chart

The value of BTC seems to have shot up over the last couple of days | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView

It’s possible that this new surge may be able to revive the volume a little. However, it’s also true that there have been a few instances this year already where a rise in the price wasn’t accompanied by a spike in the volume. It now remains to be seen which scenario will play out this time.

Featured image from Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com, Arcane Research

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FCA veteran becomes interim head of financial regulator’s digital assets unit

FCA veteran becomes interim head of financial regulator’s digital assets unit
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Victoria McLoughlin, who has worked more than 11 years at the Financial Conduct Authority, is temporarily heading the digital assets department of the United Kingdom’s financial watchdog.

According to a Tuesday post on LinkedIn, McLoughlin assumed the position of interim head of the department of the regulator’s digital assets unit in April after serving as supervision manager of crypto assets and digital markets for more than two years. The FCA veteran started working for the financial watchdog in 2009 as an associate, later moving on to oversee supervision of virtual asset service providers.

“It’s an incredibly important time for the sector,” said McLoughlin. “[It] will be a real privilege to lead delivery of our supervisory strategy & our fantastic specialist teams in a new FCA Department as we shape the future of financial services & deliver good outcomes for consumers, markets & firms in coming months.”

Victoria McLoughlin’s announcement on LinkedIn

As the interim head of the FCA’s digital assets unit, McLoughlin will be responsible for supervising digital asset firms based in the United Kingdom as well as supporting the development of a regulatory framework in line with the government’s “vision for crypto.” This year, the FCA has announced multiple active investigations as part of its efforts to crack down on unregistered crypto firms.

Related: FCA issues termination order for Bitcoin ATMs

In the United Kingdom, firms permitted to “carry out crypto asset activities” must either be registered with the FCA or have been granted temporary operating status following a crackdown on Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) compliance. As of April 7, five crypto firms were continuing to operate under temporary registration status following the regulator’s decision to extend its original March 30 deadline for select companies.

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Why Bitcoin Needs To Go Above This Level To Reclaim $50K

Why Bitcoin Needs To Go Above This Level To Reclaim $50K
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Bitcoin slows downs as it makes its way back from the high area of around $30,000. The top crypto by market cap still records profits over the past week (3%) but could re-test support at lower levels.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Bounces Back Past $40,000, But May Struggle To Maintain Position

At the time of writing, Bitcoin trades at $41,300 with sideways movement over the past day. The cryptocurrency continues to trade in a tight range but soon could see an increase in volatility.

BTC moving sideways on the 4-hour chart. Source: BTCUSD Tradingview

Data from Material Indicators (MI) records short-term resistance as BTC’s price is above its current levels. There are over $5 million in asks orders from $41,300 to around $41,400. This could suppress the price from continuing its bullish momentum.

On the other side of the trade, there is major support for BTC’s price at $39,000. At these levels, the cryptocurrency records $9 million in bid orders with much more liquidity at lower levels. This suggests BTC could strongly rebound if it returns to that area.

Bitcoin BTC BTCUSD
BTC with strong support at $39K (bid orders in red and yellow below the price). Source: Material Indicators

A pseudonym trader recently pointed out that BTC’s price has seen constant rejection from the 200 Exponential Moving Average (EMA), a level often associated with trend direction for an asset. BTC’s current EMA stands at around $42,000.

In that sense, Bitcoin needs to break above that price point to continue upwards into further resistance. This potentially will be located at around $45,000, and $48,000. The latter stands as a major high timeframe for the cryptocurrency.

The pseudonym analyst is optimistic about BTC’s price capacity to break above its 200 EMA for the 4-hour chart.

As NewsBTC reported, Bitcoin records a decrease in its 90-day implied volatility. This metric stands at its November 2020 low, according to data from Arcane Research. At that time, the decrease in volatility and BTC’s long period of consolidation preceded a major rally into its current all-time high levels.

Why A Weakening U.S. Dollar Could Push Bitcoin Upwards

BTC bulls seem to be displaying more strength. The liquidity sitting lower at $30,000 appears to have moved up which leads to faster BTC price bounces. This contributes to the bullish thesis for the cryptocurrency as it could be preparing for an imminent break of short to mid-term resistance.

On the latter, analyst David Ellis said:

(…) I’ve been staring at the charts for long stretches of time the past week-plus. I haven’t seen dips getting bought up this aggressively since Q4 2020. Again, WAY too early to get too excited, but this is an encouraging sign IMO.

Related Reading | The CEO Of Ripple Says Bitcoin Tribalism Is Holding Back The Crypto Industry

The U.S. dollar has been rallying on the back of an increase in interest rates from the U.S. Federal Reserve. Bitcoin is negatively correlated to the currency, as Arcane Research found. This could suggest more upside potential for the digital asset.

Bitcoin DXY
DXY with minor losses on the 4-hour chart. Source: DXY Index Tradingview

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Fed’s Bostic Cautious About Rate Hikes as President Biden Blames Higher Prices on Covid-19 and Putin – Economics Bitcoin News

Fed’s Bostic Cautious About Rate Hikes as President Biden Blames Higher Prices on Covid-19 and Putin – Economics Bitcoin News
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As inflation continues to wreak havoc on the lives of ordinary American citizens, all eyes are focused on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plans to fix the situation. Meanwhile, as the St. Louis Fed president James Bullard wants to aggressively hike the benchmark bank interest rate, Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic thinks the central bank needs to use caution.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic: ‘The Fed Needs to Be Cautious as We Move Forward’

The U.S. economy looks bleak after two years of abnormal inefficiencies that have plagued the citizenry’s wealth. Blame has been placed on the erratic spending decisions of public policymakers, the Federal Reserve’s massive monetary expansion over the last two years, the supply chain shock from aggressive Covid-19 lockdown procedures, and the tightest sanctioned economy in decades stemming from the current Ukraine-Russia conflict. All of these factors have led to the fastest rising inflation rate the U.S. has seen in over 40 years.

On Monday, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, James Bullard, explained that the Fed could get the benchmark bank interest rate up to 3.5% by the year’s end. Bullard mentioned an aggressive rate hike that could see the rate increase by 75 basis points like Fed chair Alan Greenspan did in 1994.

Despite Bullard’s intentions, a report written by Wall Street Journal authors Jon Hilsenrath and Nick Timiraos published on Monday says that “the Fed has never successfully fixed a problem like this.” Hilsenrath’s and Timiraos’s report further notes that “many factors are out of [the Fed’s] control” and “they are strikingly behind.”

While Bullard wants to raise rates drastically, Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic has expressed caution about aggressively hiking the benchmark bank interest rate. Speaking with CNBC’s Sara Eisen on Tuesday, Bostic said that he believes staying neutral is also a top priority.

“I think I’m in the same areas as my colleagues philosophically,” Bostic elaborated. “I think it’s really important that we get to neutral and do that in an expeditious way.” However, Bostic’s envisioned neutral benchmark rate is a lot different than Bullard’s 3.5% by Q4 2022. While it could be 2-2.5%, the Atlanta Fed president said he could also see the rate as low as 1.75%.

“I really have us looking at one and three-quarters by the end of the year, but it could be slower depending on how the economy evolves and we do see greater weakening than I’m seeing in my baseline model,” Bostic remarked during the interview. “This is one reason why I’m reluctant to really declare that we want to go a long way beyond our neutral place, because that may be more hikes than are warranted given sort of the economic environment.”

The Atlanta Fed president added:

[The Fed] needs to be cautious as we move forward. We do need to get away from zero, I think zero is lower than we should be right now. But at the same time, we need to just pay attention.

US President Joe Biden Blames High Prices on Covid-19 Pandemic and Russia’s Vladimir Putin

Of course, many are skeptical that the U.S. central bank will be able to fix the economy’s ongoing issues. Many blame the Fed’s monetary and asset expansion and the massive stimulus bills forwarded by former president Donald Trump and the current U.S. president Joe Biden.

However, Biden is blaming the poor economy on Covid-19 and Russia’s Vladimir Putin. “I know that families are still struggling with higher prices. I grew up in a family where if the price of gas went up, we felt it,” Biden said on Twitter on April 20. “Let’s be absolutely clear about why prices are high right now: COVID and Vladimir Putin,” the president added.

Biden’s statements got a lot of flack on Wednesday as fingers were pointed directly at the Fed’s money printing. “Sure it has absolutely nothing with the Federal reserve’s ‘money printer go brrrr for Wall Street,’” one individual said in response to Biden’s tweet. “Not all of us have dementia Joe, some of us are still cognizant and can see you and your administration are full of sh**,” the person added. Another individual replied to Biden and wrote:

Actually POTUS, it was because YOUR Federal reserve printed too much money during Covid. Don’t make Putin a scapegoat for your mismanagement of the economy.

Tags in this story
1.75%, 3.5% by Q4, Atlanta Fed president, Benchmark Bank Rate, COVID-19, Donald Trump, economics, erratic spending decisions, Federal Reserve, high prices, inflation, interest rates, James Bullard, Joe Biden, monetary expansion, Money Printing, POTUS, raphael bostic, St Louis fed president, stimulus, U.S. Central Bank, Vladimir Putin

What do you think about Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic saying the Fed should be cautious when it comes to interest rate hikes? What do you think about Biden blaming the U.S. economy’s flaws on Covid-19 and Putin? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.




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