Tech Analysis

Google DeepMind AI predicts 2 million novel chemical materials for real-world tech

A paper published in the science journal Nature says the AI developed by DeepMind underwent training using data sourced from the Materials Project, an international research consortium established at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2011.

Google DeepMind artificial intelligence (AI) has predicted the structure of over two million novel chemical materials, marking a breakthrough in enhancing real-world technologies.

In a scientific paper released in Nature on Wednesday, Nov.

According to the paper, identifying and creating new materials is often expensive and time-intensive.

Ekin Dogus Cubuk, a research scientist at DeepMind, expressed optimism that advancements in experimentation, autonomous synthesis and machine learning models could substantially reduce the lengthy 10 to 20-year timeline for material discovery and synthesis.

The paper reveals that the AI developed by DeepMind underwent training using data from the Materials Project, an international research consortium established at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 2011.

The organization expressed its intention to distribute its data to the research community, aiming to expedite additional advancements in the field of material discovery.

After employing AI to forecast the stability of these novel materials, DeepMind has shifted its attention to predicting their synthesizability in laboratory conditions.

How AI can make the metaverse a more interactive space

The metaverse will likely impact physical and social interactions, with artificial intelligence a critical factor in this shift.

The potential behind the metaverse is becoming greater as virtual and physical worlds converge. Market intelligence firm Contrive Datum Insights recently found that the global metaverse market is estimated to surpass $1.3 trillion by 2030. According to the study, this growth will be driven by newly adopted virtual economy trends, combined with the rise of both crypto and online games.

Additionally, a recent survey conducted by CoinWire highlighted that the metaverse would likely reshape social lifestyles. CoinWire found that 69% of respondents believe that the metaverse will eventually modify social lifestyles due to new approaches taken for entertainment and activities.

AI will make the metaverse more interactive

Cathy Hackl, author of Into the Metaverse: The Essential Guide to the Business Opportunities of the Web3 era, told Cointelegraph that the metaverse comprises virtual shared experiences that happen both in virtual spaces and in the physical world:

“It’s just that the physical world side of the metaverse equation hasn’t been fully enabled. It’ll come in the next 10 years. If you take that into account, then how we socialize will be deeply impacted by the metaverse.”

Hackl elaborated that technologies such as volumetric video — a technique that offers a more immersive experience by capturing three-dimensional spaces — will likely change how individuals communicate. “For example, this may help us feel more present when our loved ones are far away,” she said.

Hackl added that artificial intelligence (AI) would help create more interactive metaverse environments moving forward. Although the concept of AI and the metaverse is relatively new, some examples today demonstrate how this may play out.

For instance, Sebastien Borget, co-founder and chief operating officer of The Sandbox — a popular decentralized virtual world — told Cointelegraph that over 1 million users played games in The Sandbox last year. Borget believes that users of The Sandbox have become familiar with using avatars to showcase their digital identities. He said:

“In The Sandbox, users can connect with their digital identity, make friendships and have real emotions through these experiences. It doesn’t matter the background, age or where users are from. The Sandbox is a global, digital nation.”

With this in mind, Borget is aware that metaverse platforms have the potential to reshape social lifestyles. “Three billion people are now digitally native — there is no way back from that. The way to interact is now with avatars in social worlds and across social media platforms,” he said.

Recent: Inside the World Economic Forum: Circle, Ripple reflect on Davos 2023

While this may be, Borget shared that The Sandbox users will eventually be able to incorporate their own physical movements into their digital avatars, resulting in more personalized and realistic characteristics. Borget explained that The Sandbox would partner with Kinetix, a technology startup specializing in AI, to bring “emotes” — animations that express emotion — to video games and virtual worlds.

Yassine Tahi, CEO of Kinetix, told Cointelegraph that emotes will allow users to animate avatars through customized dance moves and physical interactions displayed in reality. “We have developed a unique AI that allows users to record movements with a phone’s camera, which can then be applied to avatars,” he said.

According to Tahi, emotes are important for recreating social interactions. “In the future, people will want to embody the physical world to behave in certain ways in virtual worlds. For instance, if someone falls during a runway show in the physical world, this can be recreated in the metaverse with avatars using emotes.”

*Example of emotes being applied to avatars. Source: Kinetix*

In addition to emotes, using AI to implement voice characteristics may also help deepen interactions within digital worlds. Sabin Dima, CEO of Humans.ai — a layer-1 protocol built on top of Cosmos — told Cointelegraph that AI would play a massive role in the metaverse when creating better user interactions. “Humans.ai is the blockchain of AI and is being used to mint ‘superskills’ and voices that users can apply to avatars within different virtual worlds,” he explained.

According to Dima, creating a digital voice or allowing avatars to speak in different languages will increase social engagement and improve experiences. To put this in perspective, Dima shared that Humans.ai lets users create digital voices, speak in different languages and implement synthetic voices that may prevent discrimination.

“You can enter a zoom call with a different voice, for instance, which could prevent discrimination if you wish to remain completely anonymous. This will certainly reshape social lifestyles,” he said. Moreover, Dima noted that voices are minted as nonfungible tokens to give users true ownership of their voice clips.

*Diana, Humans.ai’s Synthetic Avatar, is an example of generative AI technology which can be used for multiple use cases. Source: Humans.ai*

Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands, further told Cointelegraph that he believes AI will enhance metaverse experiences.

“One primitive example of this is chatbots. In video games, we constantly engage with non-player characters with rudimentary character development. AI changes this significantly. They will deepen and enhance engagement as well as create deeper meaning and utility to their related ownership of their assets in the metaverse,” he said.

Will metaverse interactions replace physical encounters?

While the metaverse has already started demonstrating how people can engage socially in virtual worlds, incorporating AI within these environments will likely create better engagement. Yet it remains questionable if social interactions in the metaverse will eventually replace physical engagements.

According to Siu, individuals are already influenced by online experiences. Therefore, he believes that the metaverse will likely create deeper immersion moving forward. Given this, Siu noted that the metaverse will not replace real-life engagements but rather enhance these interactions.

Recent: Genesis Capital’s fall might transform crypto lending — not bury it

Dima added that the metaverse, combined with AI capabilities, will result in a digital transformation that could make individuals “smarter.” “AI will allow avatars to speak in different languages or be present in multiple spaces at the same time,” he said.

Yet while virtual worlds powered by AI will likely result in more realistic experiences, Hackl pointed out that the physical world remains a key part of the metaverse. She said:

“The future of the metaverse is about connected experiences that transcend the physical and virtual divide. They will just be experiences. The difference is that experiences will be augmented by technology.”

Crypto in 2023 — Do bulls have a chance? Watch Market Talks on Cointelegraph

Join us as we discuss what 2023 holds for crypto. Hosting the show will be Cointelegraph’s head of markets, Ray Salmond, with special guest Mohit Sorout.

On this week’s episode of Market Talks, Cointelegraph welcomes Mohit Sorout, co-founder of Bitazu Capital, a proprietary algorithmic trading and investment management platform.

This week, to kick things off, we get to know a little bit about Sorout, his background in finance and trading. We also dive into his skillset, trading style and unique approach to the crypto markets. We get his view on the current Bitcoin (BTC) market sentiment and price action. Is Bitcoin finally shifting toward a bullish trend?

Volatility has been low across the board as things have been pretty boring, but Ether (ETH) and BTC both have reported record-low volatility. What does this mean, and is this a positive sign or a negative one? What about altcoins, should traders be paying close attention to them since there isn’t much happening with the big two cryptocurrencies?

As much as we would like to put the whole FTX debacle behind us, there is still much to unfold. We get Sorout’s take on FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, the extent of the contagion and how it might continue to impact crypto markets. We also look forward to the new year and try to spot any other potential black swan events.

Next we get specific about Bitcoin and its price action. With everything happening in the world, including the Fed’s fight against inflation and the strength of the dollar index, we ask Sorout what his vision for Bitcoin’s price action is and if it has changed at all for 2023.

Make sure to stay tuned until the end to get all of these insights and more. We’ll also be taking your questions and comments throughout the show, so be sure to have them ready to go.

Market Talks streams live every Thursday at 12:00 pm ET (5:00 pm UTC). Each week, we feature interviews with some of the most influential and inspiring people from the crypto and blockchain industry. So, be sure to head on over to Cointelegraph’s YouTube page and smash those Like and Subscribe buttons for all our future videos and updates.

Redeeming physical NFTs: Easier said than done?

A number of challenges must be overcome in order for “phygital” NFT projects to gain traction.

Despite the crypto winter, nonfungible tokens (NFTs) continue to draw interest. This has become apparent as many brands and retailers have started to offer digital NFTs attached to physical products. Known as “phygitals,” these offerings allow real-world products to be tied to digital NFTs.

For example, RTFKT — a digital fashion and collectible company — recently launched a project called Cryptokicks iRL. According to sources, RTFKT is creating digitally-designed sneakers backed by a physical product.

RTFKT’s official Twitter account recently tweeted that Lace Engine NFT holders will be able to reserve a pair of Cryptokicks iRL, which can then be redeemed for its physical version starting May 1, 2023.

1/ We are allowing all Lace Engine holders to reserve their sneakers in the RTFKT Interdimensional Hub. This will allow holders till May to figure out a US shipping address.

To pick up a Lace Engine NFT on secondary:https://t.co/PoPwbooYqG

— RTFKT (@RTFKT) December 12, 2022

Redeeming physical NFTs can be challenging

While the concept behind phygitals may be appealing to brands and consumers, redeeming physical NFTs has proven to be challenging. For instance, in some cases, NFT holders may only need to provide a wallet address to redeem a digital NFT linked with a physical item. Yet, this makes it difficult to collect personal information, such as shipping details, from NFT holders.

Jacob Ner-David, CEO at wine marketplace Vinsent, told Cointelegraph that he encountered such a problem after launching two NFT drops tied to physical bottles of wine. Ner-David explained that at the end of 2021, Vinsent launched both a public and private NFT drop. This allowed consumers to purchase tokenized bottles of fine wine that could be redeemed for physical bottles one year later.

*Image from Vinsent’s collaboration with a company called LAAVA. Source: Vinsent*

Although the project was successful, Ner-David shared that only a small percentage of NFT holders have come forward to claim their physical bottles of wine. According to Ner-David, this is due to challenges with the redemption process and poor communication to NFT holders that their wine is ready to be claimed.

“The only way we can communicate with our NFT holders is through Discord, Twitter and Telegram. We need to collect their shipping information,” he said.

Recent: How time-weighted average price can reduce the market impact of large trades

Ner-David elaborated that 15% of NFT holders associated with the private drop have claimed their physical bottles of wine, while close to 30% involved with the public drop have redeemed their bottles.

“We have learned that there must be a redemption mechanism in place before launching a physical NFT drop,” he said. Ner-David added that storing the unclaimed wine bottles has become problematic, noting that these continue to be held at the Israel-based Jezreel Valley Winery.

Due to issues such as these, companies launching physical NFT drops have started taking different approaches. For example, Jeff Malko, strategic adviser for NFT firm NXTG3NZ, told Cointelegraph that he helped facilitate the 7220 NXTG3NZ NFT digital sneaker drop rapper Lil Durk launched in March 2022.

Malko explained that physical sneakers tied to these digital NFTs would be available in Q1 of 2023. He added that this particular drop is targeted toward non-Web3 natives, noting that users have the option to submit their physical shipping addresses upon purchase.

“We expect 80% of our users to be non-crypto holders. If they wish to submit their data, they can. It would be ideal for NFT owners to input their shipping data immediately upon purchase, so the items are shipped automatically,” he said.

*“7220 NXTG3NZ” NFT digital sneaker drop. Source: nxtg3nz*

In addition, Malko noted that NXTG3NZ might implement a first-come, first-served system. This would mean that a top-tier group of NFT holders could claim their physical sneakers but must choose their item and redeem it immediately. If this isn’t properly facilitated, another user could come forward to claim the physical item. Malki said:

“NFTs are cutting edge and we are all trying to innovate. There are no blueprints for this process. Brands and companies are interested in working on phygital projects, but there is still a lot of risk involved.”

Although this may be the case for some phygital projects, others claim to have found successful strategies. For example, Charlotte Shaw, chief marketing officer of BlockBar — an NFT project offering digital and physical wine founded in 2021 — told Cointelegraph that the firm offers NFT owners storage, insurance, a marketplace for resales and global shipping.

“Each BlockBar NFT corresponds to an actual physical bottle of wine or spirit, which bottle owners can resell, collect, gift or at any time ‘burn’ in exchange for the physical bottle,” she said.

Shaw elaborated that physical bottles are shipped from BlockBar’s facility in Singapore and can be redeemed via the BlockBar website. “When you redeem your bottle, you will be ‘burning’ the digital version in order to receive the physical version [one is exchanged for the other], which means one less digital NFT will exist. When you redeem, you will also be asked to enter your shipping address and you will need to be in full compliance of your jurisdiction,” she explained.

*Image from the BlockBar collection. Source: BlockBar*

According to Shaw, no challenges have been associated with redeeming physical BlockBar NFTs. However, collecting user information when NFTs are purchased creates less of a decentralized platform. Yet this may be the norm when it comes to ensuring NFT holders receive physical items. Brian Trunzo, metaverse lead at Polygon studios, told Cointelegraph that capturing user information is necessary for phygital projects.

Fortunately, solutions are being developed to ensure greater privacy for NFT holders disclosing personal information. For example, Justin Banon, co-founder of Web3 commerce layer Boson Protocol, told Cointelegraph that “doxing” oneself is a big concern for Web3 natives.

To solve this dilemma, Banon explained that Boson Protocol had created a decentralized application that serves as an end-to-end encrypted messaging solution. “This ensures buyers only have to share private information with the seller and no other parties,” he said.

Ner-David also noted that Vinsent is currently working with the cross-chain NFT minting platform NFTrade to devise a solution for the two previous phygital drops. For example, regarding the storage of physical wine bottles, Ner-David mentioned that a period of time would be included within the cost of the NFT to cover storage fees. “We would then be able to communicate with the NFT holder that costs will accrue if the NFT remains unclaimed. This would all be incorporated into the NFT metadata.”

Physical NFTs are here to stay

Challenges aside, industry experts believe that phygitals will play a major role for brands and consumers moving forward. For instance, Banon believes physical NFTs will lead the way for Web3 loyalty programs.

Recent: What is institutional DeFi and how can banks benefit?

While companies like Starbucks have already started to implement loyalty programs using NFTs, Banon mentioned that physical NFTs would soon become a part of these models:

“NFTs and Web3 technology enable brands to create ‘programmable loyalty commerce’ applications and programs. Where customers receive NFTs for performing target behaviors such as purchasing, engaging, and staying loyal, these loyalty NFTs can then unlock access to digital, physical and experiential assets.”

Although innovative, Akbar Hamid, co-founder of Web3 diversity project People of Crypto Lab, told Cointelegraph that there is a long road ahead in terms of solving the challenges and logistics involved with offering physical NFTs within fashion, retail and luxury consumer goods:

“There can be challenges with fulfilling utility for a much larger drop when you are talking about physical items attached to digital. This is also the case if you are considering tradeability and someone beyond the original purchaser redeeming the utility and physical good. Many brands don’t have the infrastructure or team to monitor this and that is key because we have to ensure the utility is delivered to the end user.”

Due to concerns such as these, Hamid explained that it might be best for companies doing NFT drops to work closely with brands and buyers to ensure that utility is redeemed efficiently.

Chainlink plunges from three-month high as LINK price eyes another 50% correction

LINK could drop to nearly $4 by December 2022 given its failure to close above a key resistance level despite strong whale accumulation.

Chainlink (LINK) returned to mimic the broader crypto market downtrend as its price fell alongside top coins Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) on Nov. 8.

LINK plunged by as much as 10% into the day to reach $8. While BTC and ETH slipped by approximately 6.5% and 9%. That contrasts with the trend witnessed on Nov. 7, wherein LINK rallied 14% to $9.25, its three-month high, while BTC and ETH dropped 1.5% and 0.5%, respectively.

*LINK/USD two-hour price chart. Source: TradingView*

Overall, on a week-to-date timeframe, Chainlink has outperformed both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

What’s making Chainlink stronger

LINK’s price has rebounded by nearly 75% after bottoming out at $5.29 in May. Notably, the Chainlink token’s recovery rally has coincided with a persistent increase in the supply held by its whales (entities that hold at least 1,000 LINK).

The Chainlink supply percentage held by addresses with a balance between 1,000 LINK and 1 million LINK has risen to nearly 23% in November from 18.2% in May, according to Santiment data. This indicates that rich investors may have been the key players behind the LINK price recovery.

*LINK supply distribution among addresses holding 1K-1M tokens. Source: Santiment*

Interestingly, the LINK accumulation trend is rising in the days leading up to the launch of “Chainlink Staking.”

Chainlink Co-founder Sergey Nazarov announced at SmartCon 2022 that their long-awaited LINK staking reward function would go live in December. In addition, the project’s official website confirms that it would enable “eligible community members” to stake LINK into its pool in December.

The LINK staking service will be opened for the public in the same month, with the initial annual percentage yield set at 5%. The event has started drawing speculations about increased demand for the Chainlink tokens by the end of 2022.

LINK appears to have benefited in the short-term due to the euphoria around the Chainlink Staking function, given other coins have tumbled in unison in response to the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research’s insolvency rumors.

#Chainlink spiked all the way above $9.20 for the first time since August 13th, a ~3 month high despite very volatile markets. This rise has been supported by the largest amount of active $LINK addresses in 5 weeks, and traders are longing aggressively. https://t.co/ZxsZnveURm pic.twitter.com/lia6XAgSar

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) November 8, 2022

A 25% correction setup is still in play

From a technical perspective, LINK’s recovery rally since May has been confined inside an ascending triangle range.

Ascending Triangles are continuation patterns, meaning they typically send the price in the direction of its previous trend after a consolidation period. LINK was trending downward before it formed its ascending triangle.

The token’s likelihood of continuing its downtrend and reaching its profit target stands at 44%, per the observation of ascending triangles by veteran investor Thomas Bulkowski. The profit target is measured after adding the maximum triangle height to its breakdown point, as illustrated below.

*LINK/USD three-day price chart featuring ascending triangle breakdown setup. Source: TradingView*

That puts LINK en route to around $4.15 by December 2022, down about 50% from today’s price.

Conversely, independent market analyst Pentoshi anticipates LINK to reach $12 in the same period, given the token has been floating above the same support that was instrumental in sending its price to a record high in May 2021.

*LINK/USDT three-day price chart. Source: TradingView/Pentoshi*

“While people are quiet on it now. I don’t think that will be the case 3-4 weeks from now,” Pentoshi said.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Chainlink plunges from 3-month high as LINK price eyes another 50% correction

LINK could drop to nearly $4 by December 2022 given its failure to close above a key resistance level despite strong whale accumulation.

Chainlink’s LINK (LINK) token returned to mimic the broader crypto market downtrend as its price fell alongside top coins Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) on Nov. 8.

LINK plunged by as much as 10% into the day to reach $8, while BTC and ETH slipped by approximately 6.5% and 9%. That contrasts with the trend witnessed on Nov. 7 wherein LINK rallied 14% to $9.25, its three-month high, while BTC and ETH dropped 1.5% and 0.5%, respectively.

*LINK/USD 2-hour price chart. Source: TradingView*

Overall, on a week-to-date timeframe, LINK has outperformed both Bitcoin and Ether.

What’s making Chainlink stronger?

The LINK supply percentage held by addresses with a balance between 1,000 LINK and 1 million LINK has risen to nearly 23% in November from 18.2% in May, according to Santiment data. This indicates that rich investors may have been the key players behind the LINK price recovery.

*LINK supply distribution among addresses holding 1,000–1 million tokens. Source: Santiment*

Interestingly, the LINK accumulation trend is rising in the days leading up to the launch of “Chainlink Staking.”

Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov announced at SmartCon 2022 that the long-awaited LINK staking reward function would go live in December. In addition, the project’s official website confirms that it will enable “eligible community members” to stake LINK into its pool in December.

LINK appears to have benefited in the short term due to the euphoria around the Chainlink Staking function, given that other coins have tumbled in unison in response to the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research’s insolvency rumors .

#Chainlink spiked all the way above $9.20 for the first time since August 13th, a ~3 month high despite very volatile markets. This rise has been supported by the largest amount of active $LINK addresses in 5 weeks, and traders are longing aggressively. https://t.co/ZxsZnveURm pic.twitter.com/lia6XAgSar

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) November 8, 2022

A 25% correction setup is still in play

From a technical perspective, LINK’s recovery rally since May has been confined inside an ascending triangle range.

Ascending triangles are continuation patterns, meaning they typically send the price in the direction of its previous trend after a consolidation period. LINK was trending downward before it formed its ascending triangle.

The likelihood of the token continuing its downtrend and reaching its profit target stands at 44%, per the observation of ascending triangles by veteran investor Thomas Bulkowski. The profit target is measured after adding the maximum triangle height to its breakdown point, as illustrated below.

That puts LINK en route to around $4.15 by December 2022, down about 50% from Nov. 8’s price.

Conversely, independent market analyst Pentoshi anticipates LINK to reach $12 in the same period, given that the token has been floating above the same support that was instrumental in sending its price to a record high in May 2021.

“While people are quiet on it now. I don’t think that will be the case 3-4 weeks from now,” Pentoshi said.

Autumn bulls vs. winter bears — Will October be bullish or bearish for Bitcoin? Watch Market Talks

October has historically been a green month for Bitcoin, but will this trend continue, keeping in mind the current macro market conditions? Join us as we discuss this and more with our host, Joe Hall, and Rekt Capital, a crypto trader and analyst.

In this week’s episode of Market Talks, we welcome Rekt Capital, a cryptocurrency analyst who shares macro research, commentary and technical analysis related to crypto markets. He publishes a popular newsletter and provides courses that help educate traders on how to make informed decisions when buying and selling cryptocurrencies. He has more than 328,000 followers across his various social media platforms, many of whom are prominent individuals, including big names like Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

First things first, we have officially entered Q4 2022 and, more importantly, October, which has historically been a bullish month for cryptocurrencies. We ask Rekt Capital if he thinks this trend is likely to continue or if we are headed toward more downside for Bitcoin (BTC). Will we stay above the $20,000 level or head toward $17,000?

We take a look at where the Bitcoin bottom might lie by looking at historical data and analysis to try and figure out one of the main questions on everyone’s minds. We also discuss if Bitcoin needs a significant catalyst to finally break out of this bear market and what that could be.

There has been an increasing correlation between Bitcoin and the S&P 500, but how long will this go on, and is there a decoupling on the horizon? We’ve just witnessed a historic moment in crypto with the Ethereum Merge moving from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake consensus. Many hoped this would be a shift in the current market trend, but it was a pretty uneventful transition, even price-wise. We get Rekt’s thoughts on this and also what he sees in the future for Ether (ETH).

Many are fearful of the current market conditions, with the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index being the lowest it’s ever been, but some might consider this a buying opportunity, especially considering that the United States Federal Reserve will have to pivot at some point and start easing the interest rates, which could potentially be bullish news for Bitcoin. Should you use this time to stack sats or stay on the sidelines? We’ve got the experts to break it down for you.

Other topics up for discussion are what altcoins to keep an eye on moving forward and what is the best strategy to use right now. So, make sure you’re tuned in to keep yourself informed and up-to-date with the latest information.

Tune in to have your voice heard. We’ll be taking your questions and comments throughout the show, so be sure to have them ready to go.

Market Talks streams live every Thursday at 12:00 pm ET (4:00 pm UTC). Each week, we feature interviews with some of the most influential and inspiring people from the crypto and blockchain industry. So, be sure to head on over to Cointelegraph’s YouTube page and smash those Like and Subscribe buttons for all our future videos and updates.

Solana (SOL) price is poised for a potential 95% crash — Here’s why

SOL price gained 75% in the past two months, but technical analysis suggests it could be an elaborate bull trap.

Solana (SOL) price rallied by approximately 75% two months after bottoming out locally near $25.75, but the token’s splendid upside move is at risk of a complete wipeout due to an ominous bearish technical indicator.

A major SOL crash setup surfaces

Dubbed a “head-and-shoulders (H&S),” the pattern appears when the price forms three consecutive peaks atop a common resistance level (called the neckline). Notably, the middle peak (head) comes to be higher than the other two shoulders, which are of almost equal height.

Head and shoulders patterns resolve after the price breaks below their neckline. In doing so, the price falls by as much as the distance between the head’s peak and the neckline when measured from the breakdown point, per a rule of technical analysis.

It appears SOL has been forming a similar bearish setup on its longer-timeframe charts.

*SOL/USD weekly price chart featuring H&S breakdown. Source: TradingView*

On the weekly chart, the token has been forming the right shoulder of the overall pattern, suggesting a correction toward the neckline at $27 during the second half of 2022. Meanwhile, a breakdown below $27 could result in an extended correction toward $2.80.

In other words, a 95% price decline by the end of 2022 or early 2023, a setup also projected by pseudonymous analyst “PROFIT BLUE.”

I will leave this here, now that it looks better.. #Solana pic.twitter.com/w03Y4Ffl8o

— PROFIT BLUE (@profit8lue) August 14, 2022

Is this a bear market rally?

Solana’s extremely eerie bearish setup appears as it closely tails trends across risk-on markets, mainly driven by the Federal Reserve’s hawkish response to inflationary pressures.

For instance, SOL closed the week ending Aug. 14 at a 10.5% profit, similar to Bitcoin (BTC) and the benchmark S&P 500 index. These markets reacted to a softer-than-anticipated U.S. consumer price index (CPI), raising possibilities that the Fed would slow the pace of its interest rate hikes.

*SOL/USD and S&P 500 daily correlation coefficient. Source: TradingView*

But many analysts have warned about these ongoing price rallies in the risky corners of the market, citing pieces of historical evidence of similar bear market bounces. So, SOL’s 75% rebound risks turn into a fakeout if its correlation with riskier assets remains positive.

From a fundamental perspective, Solana also faces extreme FUD due to its recurring network outages and rumored centralization. However, the project’s backers have introduced new upgrades to fix these issues, as Cointelegraph discussed.

But even then, a 95% price crash is too “wild,” suggests market analyst IncomeSharks, saying that it would mean Solana is a rug pull project like Terra (LUNA) — now Terra Classic (LUNC).

The next big drop could have SOL explore bounce opportunities near a multi-year ascending support trendline, as shown below.

*SOL/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

In other words, SOL’s bearish continuation could last until its price hits $20, down over 55% from August 16’s price.

Shiba Inu eyes 50% rally as SHIB price enters ‘cup-and-handle’ breakout mode

The Shiba Inu breakout appears almost ten days after SHIB’s addition to Binance Card.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) broke out of its prevailing “cup-and-handle” pattern on Aug. 14, raising its prospects of securing additional gains in the coming weeks.

Shiba Inu could soar 50%

A cup-and-handle appears when the price falls and rises in a U-shaped trajectory in the first stage, followed by a swift move sideways or downward in the second. Notably, the price trend develops under a common resistance level.

Typically, cup-and-handle patterns resolve after the price breaks above the resistance level; SHIB did the same on Aug. 14 after rising 27% to $0.000016, as shown below.

*SHIB/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

Per the rule of technical analysis, a cup-and-handle breakout target is determined by measuring the distance between the pattern’s lowest point and resistance line and adding it to the breakout point. As a result, SHIB could head toward $0.00002253.

In other words, a 50% price rally by September.

A nonsense rally, nonetheless?

Fundamentally, Shiba Inu’s 27% intraday price rally on Aug. 14 had no visible catalysts except a metric showing that SHIB’s burn rate surged by 825% in a day. But the amount of burned SHIB is worth only over $4,500.

*Shiba Inu burn rate. Source: Shibburn.com*

On the whole, however, the Shiba Inu network has burned over $6.36 million worth of SHIB tokens in its lifetime.

In addition, the Shiba Inu rally came almost ten days after Binance’s announcement to add SHIB support on its payment cards issued in Europe. In doing so, the crypto exchange raised SHIB’s potential to find new users in the emerging European cryptocurrency space.

We are pleased to announce that @binance has added SHIB to the list of supported tokens for the Binance Card issued in Europe.

You can now pay with SHIB at 60+ million merchants worldwide. Furthermore, get up to 8% cashback and zero annual or FX fees!https://t.co/0Xj7IXPyt0 pic.twitter.com/FqINtnHFWx

— Shib (@Shibtoken) August 5, 2022

Weak fundamentals could offset SHIB’s technically bullish bias, however, given tha cup-and-handle setups have only a 61% success rate in meeting their profit targets, according to veteran analyst Tom Bulkowski.

Therefore, a failed cup-and-handle breakout—also on a pullback from the 200-day exponential moving average (200-day EMA; the blue wave in the chart below) near $0.00001755—could have SHIB eye an initial correction toward $0.00001306, down 20% from today’s price.

Shiba Inu’s cup-and-handle setup could fizzle because of the token’s overbought daily relative strength index (RSI). Notably, the RSI has crossed above 70, which typically results in a period of sideways consolidation or correction.