Cryptocurrency

Navigating this bull market and securing profit will be tougher than it seems

There are a few things you should do if you want to succeed in crypto during a bull market. But above all, remember to take profit.

Strategically navigating the cryptocurrency market when it surges isn’t just a skil. It’s an art. Volatility is constant. Volatility measures the price movements of assets and demands a sophisticated approach from players in the market. Similar to the ebb and flow of tides, it can be navigated strategically.

Bitcoin (BTC) peaked at $69,000 during the 2021 bull run, while Ether (ETH) did the same at $4,800. Despite the market hitting an all-time high of $3 trillion in market capitalization, that figure sits a little below $1.7 trillion as of Dec. 15 — a difference of just more than 30 percent. While significant, the comparison obviously doesn’t do justice to what a rollercoaster the market has been.

Understanding the driving forces behind that volatility is key to navigate it. Market sentiment, technological breakthroughs, and regulatory developments play crucial roles. It is crucial to comprehend the prevailing mood and adapt to market dynamics, leveraging insights analyzing social sentiment, news sentiment, and technical analysis indicators.

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Immutable expands Web3 gaming payment options with Transak integration

Immutable deploys Transak’s functionality into its zkEVM gaming development infrastructure, powering in-game cryptocurrency and fiat payment methods.

Web3 gaming firm Immutable is set to integrate Transak as the sole payment service provider for its Immutable zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine (zkEVM). The service is set to directly power fiat and Web3-based payments in gaming environments.

Transak’s service will be integrated into Immutable Checkout and Immutable Passport. The former acts as Immutable’s all-in-one transaction infrastructure for games and provides a configurable interface for game developers to integrate various payment options.

Transak’s on-ramp, off-ramp and nonfungible token (NFT) payment service allows fiat payments through credit and debit cards, as well as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Transak marketing head Harshit Gangwar told Cointelegraph that the payment rail will power in-game transactions for digital assets:

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Is the Bitcoin price dip toward $40K a bear trap?

Bitcoin’s sharp price drop from $44,000 has all the makings of a buy-the-dip scenario after leveraged longs get flushed out.

Bitcoin (BTC) price finally witnessed a significant 7% pullback on Dec. 11 as multiple indicators flashed sell signals and traders booked profits. Bitcoin’s ability to hold above $42,000 will determine whether this crash is a buy-the-dip opportunity or a general market reversal. 

The sharp BTC price drop observed on the daily chart corresponds with a sudden 6.5% drawdown and over $300 million long liquidations across the cryptocurrency market.

Zooming to the longer 1-day candle timeframe, however, this movement appears as a minor retracement in a more extensive bullish trend established over the past few months. Moreover, the relative strength index (RSI) has retreated into neutral territory below 70. 

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What is market manipulation in cryptocurrency?

Market manipulation in cryptocurrency involves artificially influencing prices or trading volume to deceive investors.

Market manipulation in the crypto sphere, explained

In the cryptocurrency space, market manipulation refers to the deliberate use of different deceptive strategies to artificially inflate or deflate the price of cryptocurrencies. 

One of the signs of market manipulation includes sudden, unusual price increases or decreases that have nothing to do with important news or trends.

Moreover, persistent anomalies in the market or opaque trading methods may indicate manipulative activity, raising doubts about the market’s integrity among investors and authorities. Also, pump-and-dump schemes are prevalent in the crypto sphere, where a group deliberately inflates the price of a cryptocurrency by disseminating false information to entice buyers, who subsequently sell their holdings at a profit. 

Additionally, whale manipulation is a market manipulation technique used by large holders, or whales, to purposefully buy or sell huge sums of a cryptocurrency to manipulate its price. Moreover, spoofing — the practice of placing huge buy or sell orders and then canceling them before they are executed to simulate a false sense of market demand — aims to manipulate the crypto market. 

Crypto markets are also impacted by insider trading, which is the practice of people making trades based on secret knowledge.

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Cointelegraph Markets Pro’s 390% gain dwarves Bitcoin’s 33% rise

Cointelegraph Markets Pro alerts beat the market once again, providing seven trading opportunities based on four different asset indicators.

In Cointelegraph Markets Pro’s latest VORTECS™ Report, the institutional-grade crypto trading platform displayed how its members could have captured a cumulative 390% gain by following seven trades based on four different advanced data indicators. The report depicts trading alerts generated between March 11 – 18, 2023. 

The potential gains available to Cointelegraph Markets Pro subscribers significantly outperform a simple buy-and-hold strategy during the same period, which would’ve yielded holders of Bitcoin (BTC) a 33% gain.

Cointelegraph Markets Pro uses indicators such as the VORTECS™ Score, NewsQuakes™, Most Active On-Chain and Top 5 Exchange Outflows to provide alerts for subscribers in real time.

The past three reports have included alerts with cumulative returns over 100%, showing that this advanced crypto intelligence platform churns out winning trade opportunities each week.

VORTECS™ Alerts

SingularityNET (AGIX) — 100% gain

AGIX’s price chart after a green VORTECS™ Score alert. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

On March 12, AGIX was trading at $0.30 when a score of 77 noted bullish historical patterns for the token. Three days later the price jumped to $0.60, an impressive 100% rise! Scores above 80 also flashed on March 14, when it was trading at $0.40. Traders who bought at this price point could have seen a 50% increase.

AGIX is the utility token of SingularityNET, a decentralized artificial intelligence (AI) network on which participants create, share and monetize AI services at scale. AGIX is used for staking, governing and transacting on the network’s decentralized applications.

Radicle (RAD) — 23% gain

RAD’s price chart after a green VORTECS™ Score alert. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

On March 8, RAD was trading at $1.64 when a score of 79 noted bullish historical patterns for the token. Nine days later the price jumped to $2.02, a 23% gain. Remember, the annual return investing in index funds is roughly 10%.

RAD is the native token of Radicle, a decentralized network for software development collaboration.

NewsQuakes™

Prom (PROM) — 64% gain

PROM’s price chart after a NewsQuakes™ alert. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

A NewsQuake™ alert immediately informed Cointelegraph Markets Pro subscribers of PROM’s listing on Binance when the asset’s price was $4.49. Just three hours later, the price flew up to $7.34, a rise of 64%!

PROM is the native token of the Prometheus network, a blockchain-based structure where users seek to communicate worldwide. The platform aims to allow the trading of any data in a decentralized manner, and users need to spend or stake a certain quantity of PROM tokens to use the services and products.

Sommelier (SOMM) — 62 gain

SOMM’s NewsQuake™ alert and return data. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

SOMM also performed well this week, after a NewsQuake™ about its listing on Gate.io. Just three days after the NewsQuake™ informed Markets Pro subscribers of the listing, the token’s price shot up 62%.

SOMM is the native utility token of Sommelier, a non-custodial, cross-chain platform for executing actively managed decentralized finance (DeFi) investment strategies. The token is used for security, transaction fees, staking and governance.

Rocket Pool (RPL) — 24% gain

RPL’s NewsQuake™ alert and return data. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

On March 13, a NewsQuake™ alerted Cointelegraph Markets Pro subscribers that the asset would be listed on BitPanda. At the time, RPL’s price was $36.74. The next day, the price shot up to $45.48, an increase of 24%.

RPL is the utility and governance token of Rocket Pool, a liquid staking protocol on Ethereum. The currency is the first Ethereum staking pool that is fully decentralized.

Top 5 Exchange Outflows

The Top 5 Exchange Outflows indicator, launched in Cointelegraph Markets Pro 2.0, tracks the assets being removed from an exchange the most frequently over the last hour or 24 hours. If users are removing money from exchanges, it’s possible that they are less likely to sell.

MASK Network (MASK) — 59% gain

MASK’s position on the Top 5 Exchange Outflows chart. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

MASK was on the Top 5 Exchange Outflow chart on March 15, 16 and 17. On March 15, it was trading at $4.06 and its price peaked three days later at $6.38, an increase of 59%.

MASK is the native utility token of Mask Network, which enables users of popular social media platforms to send cryptocurrency, interact with decentralized applications and share encrypted content. MASK holders can vote on ecosystem initiatives via a decentralized autonomous organization called MaskDAO.

Most Active On-Chain

Wrapped NXM (WNXM) — 59% gain

WNXM’s price chart after a 205% increase in Most Active On-Chain volume. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

Like all the other dashboard features, the Most Active On-Chain chart had a great week for winning alerts. For instance, on March 11, WNXM was on the chart when it was trading at $18.15. Soon after, its price began to rapidly rise, peaking on March 18 at $25.37, an increase of 59%.

Cointelegraph Markets Pro delivers yet again

Cointelegraph Markets Pro has a demonstrated history of delivering these kinds of gains on a weekly basis. Sure, the magnitude of the gains may differ from week to week, but they’re typically there — regardless of market conditions.

Additionally, the institutional-grade platform has diversified from its two original indicators: the VORTECS Score and Newsquakes™ alerts. Version 2.0 of Cointelegraph Markets Pro now includes indicators like the Most Active On-Chain and the Top Exchange Outflow, both of which provided winning trades last week.

The existence of multiple indicators is a form of risk diversification for members of the Markets Pro community. With up to seven individual indicators to choose from, members are no longer reliant on just VORTECS™ Scores or Newsquake™ alerts, regardless of their historical dependability.

See how Cointelegraph Markets Pro delivers market-moving data before this information becomes public knowledge.

Cointelegraph is a publisher of financial information, not an investment adviser. We do not provide personalized or individualized investment advice. Cryptocurrencies are volatile investments and carry significant risk including the risk of permanent and total loss. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Figures and charts are correct at the time of writing or as otherwise specified. Live-tested strategies are not recommendations. Consult your financial adviser before making financial decisions.

All ROIs quoted are accurate as of March 30, 2023…

Australian senator introduces private bill to expedite crypto regulation

Senator Andrew Bragg has introduced a bill proposing regulatory standards for the cryptocurrency industry in Australia.

A new bill has been introduced to the Australian Parliament proposing regulations for providing cryptocurrency services in the country.

Senator Andrew Bragg submitted a private senators’ bill titled Digital Assets (Market Regulation) Bill 2023 to “protect consumers and promote investors,” which includes regulatory recommendations for stablecoins, licensing of exchanges and custody requirements.

Proposed regulatory changes are typically introduced by Australian ministers. However, as the Parliamentary Education Office stipulates, members of parliament can introduce private members’ or private senators’ bills, which can take months or years to pass through parliament.

Bragg provided further information for the submission of the private bill, hitting out at the current Labor government for not following through on 12 recommendations relating to cryptocurrency regulation introduced by the Senate Select Committee on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre in October 2021.

The senator also added that Australian consumers had been left exposed to industry-wide events like the collapse of FTX by the inaction of the Australian government to provide regulatory clarity to the sector.

“Australia can be a digital asset hub whilst protecting digital asset consumers. But we must act now.”

The act aims to provide a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency exchanges, custody services and stablecoin issuers, which both protects consumers and promotes investment.

It also looks to provide guidelines for reporting information by authorized deposit-taking institutions for the issuance and control of a central bank digital currency.

Related: Australia introduces classification for crypto assets

If passed, the bill would require a person or business to hold a license granted by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission or a foreign license to operate a cryptocurrency exchange. This would also apply to cryptocurrency custody services and stablecoin issuers in Australia.

The bill also sets out various obligations and requirements for exchanges, custody services and stablecoin issuers. These range from capital or minimum reserve requirements, segregation of customer funds, reporting on customer holdings, auditing, assurance and disclosure arrangements.

Public consultation is currently ongoing in Australia over the classification of cryptocurrencies and various digital asset tokens, services and platforms. The “token mapping” consultation paper was released in February, outlining basic definitions for the cryptocurrency sector.

Magazine: Best and worst countries for crypto taxes — plus crypto tax tips

Galaxy Digital swings to profit after $1B net loss in 2022

The Mike Novogratz-led digital asset firm recorded a pre-tax income of $150 million during most of Q1 2023.

On March 28, Canadian investment firm Galaxy Digital, operated by blockchain personality Mike Novogratz, disclosed that it had achieved a preliminary pre-tax income of $150 million from Jan. 1, 2023, to March 24, 2023. 

The results followed a $1-billion net loss in 2022, which was largely attributed to a $659-million unrealized loss on digital assets and a $496-million unrealized loss on investments. As told by Novogratz:

“2022 was a formative year for Galaxy, and while we and our industry faced unprecedented macroeconomic events, we succeeded in staying the course and were able to opportunistically take advantage of strategic opportunities to build our operating businesses for the future.”

On May 19, 2022, Novogratz claimed that he was “permanently humbled” by the collapse of the $40-billion Terra ecosystem and reiterated the crypto industry “looks stronger than ever and wouldn’t be going away any time soon.” A year earlier, on Feb. 3, 2021, Cointelegraph reported Galaxy Digital invested $25 million into the Terra protocol. Galaxy Digital reported a net income of $1.7 billion in 2021 during the height of the crypto bull market. 

In August 2022, Galaxy Digital reportedly dropped its plans to go public in the United States after terminating a $100-million deal to acquire digital asset custodian BitGo. Later in November, the firm disclosed a $77-million exposure to bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, with $48 million likely locked in withdrawals. 

By the end of 2022, partner capital in the firm declined from $2.6 billion to $1.4 billion year-over-year. Despite setbacks, Novogratz said the firm has a strong liquidity position of $957 million. Among other items, the company projects its subsidiary, Galaxy Mining, will have grown its Bitcoin (BTC) mining hash rate to 4 exahashes per second by the end of this year, partly aided by its $65-million acquisition of Argo Blockchain’s flagship Helio facility. 

Magazine: 5 years of the ‘Top 10 Cryptos’ experiment and the lessons learned

Multichain wallet BitKeep raises $30M at $300M valuation

The firm previously raised $15 million at a $100 million valuation in May 2022.

On March 22, cryptocurrency derivatives exchange Bitget announced a $30 million investment into the multichain wallet BitKeep at a $300 million valuation. The deal will see Bitget become the controlling shareholder of BitKeep and allow the latter to “access to the exchange’s proven technology and security capabilities in the exchange domain, thus helping it improve the stability and security of its services.” Gracy Chen, managing director at Bitget, commented:

“Being one of the most trusted crypto exchanges with a $300 million user protection fund, we know how much security and reliability mean to cryptocurrency users and are confident that the integration of our native solutions in this domain into BitKeep’s framework will bolster its image as an attractive wallet.”

Meanwhile, Moka Han, chief operating officer at BitKeep, added:

“The investment deal implies not only financial but also technical support, which will be provided to us by a professional team along with the experience necessary for product growth and market expansion. We are excited about this partnership and the potential it has to provide our users.”

BitKeep is a self-custody wallet popular among users in the Asia-Pacific region, although it also has a substantial global presence. Aside from providing access to decentralized finance protocols and non-fungible tokens, the wallet is known for its ability to process cross-chain swaps of digital assets between different blockchains within the application itself. The firm says BitKeep wallet has surpassed 8 million users and supports over 250,000 cryptocurrencies across 80 blockchains. Previously in May 2022, BitKeep raised $15 million at a valuation of $100 million, with Dragonfly Capital leading the investment.

“This is one of Bitget’s crucial moves towards Web3 entry as part of its new Go Beyond Derivatives strategy, which foresees linking CeFi and DeFi, transforming the platform from a leading contract exchange to a comprehensive and holistic exchange with its own ecosystem.“

Magazine: Account abstraction’ supercharges Ethereum wallets: Dummies guide

EU MiCA crypto regulation is a ‘balancing act’: Paris Blockchain Week 2023

Industry experts and regulators weigh in on the European Union’s proposed MiCA rules at Paris Blockchain Week.

Regulators and industry players highlighted several implications and potential impacts of the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation at the Paris Blockchain Week 2023.

A panel titled “MiCA: How is the EU Regulating Crypto?” delved into the proposed MiCA regulation, which is expected to take effect in 2024. The 400-page regulatory guidelines for cryptocurrencies and digital assets have been a major talking point across the continent.

Unpacking MiCA and its implications — a panel discussion featuring industry experts and regulators at Paris Blockchain Week 2023. 

Gundars Ostrovskis gave inside insights into the development of the MiCA documentation, given his involvement as a team leader in the Digital Finance Unit of the European Commission. Working alongside colleagues that drafted the MiCA regulations, Ostrovskis highlighted the belief that the legislation would be of benefit to companies and users in the cryptocurrency ecosystem:

“We clearly expect it to be helpful in terms of strengthening the industry by giving regulatory certainty, this is one of the things that is important for businesses strategic planning, and protecting customers of the industry while ensuring market integrity.”

MiCA has been in development for a couple of years, involving conversations with various countries and industry players. Ostrovskis highlighted that the implementation of MiCA would require adjustments in states where regulatory frameworks for the cryptocurrency industry already exist.

Related: European Parliament Committee passes MiCA crypto framework in landslide vote

Janet Ho, head of EU policy at Chainalysis, believes that the success of MiCA will be dependent on a number of factors. Firstly, a sufficient understanding of the requirements of the legislation will be required, followed by robust feedback and reworking of certain parts of the documentation:

“Legislation is not a static process. There’s not always a perfect piece of regulation. We know there will be reviews and improvements.”

Ho suggested that the European Commission should review the implementation of obligations, and consider feedback from government supervisors and industry participants, and the initial impact of MiCA.

Hubert de Vauplane, a partner at law firm Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel, also provided food for thought as an adviser to European and French lawmakers on a variety of areas, including fintech, economics and digital payments.

De Vauplane was particularly concerned about the impact of MiCA on existing cryptocurrency and Web3 regulations in specific countries in the European Union:

“Some countries like France have local regulation. It is important to keep in mind that those regulations will disappear, potentially entirely.”

De Vauplane also said that newer industry phenomena like nonfungible tokens (NFTs), and decentralized finance (DeFi) products and platforms that are not currently included in the MiCA documentation might well continue to fall under the purview of country-specific laws:

“That means that there is no space for local regulation, which is covered by MiCA, specifically for the definition of digital assets.”

Nadia Filali, Caisse des Dépôts Group’s blockchain program director, stressed the importance of governments, regulators and industry participants working together, highlighting the development of regulation in France as an example:

“For me the regulation is something that could help innovation and could help the popularity of the technology.”

Ostrovskis remained convinced that the European Commission has provided a good balance of regulatory parameters for certain aspects of the cryptocurrency ecosystem while leaving other areas more open to unencumbered development:

“That will provide a sound regulatory framework for many activities in the crypto asset ecosystem while we also have this centralized finance (CeFi) space, which will, to some extent, remain unregulated.”

Ostrovskis stressed that CeFi and DeFi are areas in which the European Commission wants to foster innovation, allowing for new ideas to be tested as the space develops:

“These activities are still of a limited scale, which also has some characteristics that allow us to, let’s say, leave it on its own for the time being before it possibly endangers financial stability.”

A final vote on the European Union’s MiCA regulation is set for April 2023. The anticipated final decision on the legislation was deferred in January 2023 due to technical issues relating to the translation of the document into the 24 official languages of the European Union.