English News

Bitcoin misses key resistance flip as BTC price falls below $68K

(Coin Telegraph)-29/05/2024

BTC price action shows sensitivity to Mt. Gox events, leaving $69,000 unclaimed as new support — to the frustration of Bitcoin bulls.

saw four-day lows into the May 28 Wall Street open after holiday BTC price action deceived bulls.

Bitcoin wobbles on Mt. Gox fund movements

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hovering below $68,000 after spiking to weekly highs.

The trip to $70,600 during the Memorial Day holiday in the United States came without institutional involvement, for example in the form of demand for the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Despite rapidly gaining momentum, Bitcoin’s latest rally failed to endure for long before the market retraced all of its progress.

The volatility came amid new movement of BTC worth $7 billion from wallets linked to defunct exchange Mt. Gox.

“And there is a full retrace of that recent pump as expected,” popular trader Credible Crypto wrote in part of his ongoing commentary on X (formerly Twitter).

“Let’s see what kind of reaction we get here at the lows.”

The latest data from monitoring resource CoinGlass highlighted liquidity concentrations around spot price, with the area around $67,000 now the nearest point of interest below.

Responding to the past 24 hours’ moves, fellow trader Daan Crypto Trades revealed a positive impact on market structure — a removal of leverage.

“All positions entered during yesterday’s move were flushed out and the funding rate is back to neutral,” he wrote on X alongside a chart of open interest data.

“ETH is a bit stronger still but as long as BTC is within its bigger range we’ll keep seeing more of this low timeframe chop.”

BTC price performance thus continued to hinge on overcoming key resistance and flipping it to support.

Bullish BTC price visions unfazed

As Cointelegraph reported, the greatest challenge remains the 2021 all-time highs of $69,000 and the subsequent trip to $73,800 this year.

Zooming out, popular trader Jelle revealed a mere consolidatory structure on monthly timeframes despite the lack of upward momentum since March.

In a further post, he considered a broader BTC price range in place all the way since mid-2017 — when BTC/USD hit historical all-time highs of $20,000 two cycles ago.

“Bitcoin has spent the past 6.5 years inside this rising channel, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon,” he confirmed.

“If history is any indication, it’s time for another trip towards the highs of the channel. 6-figure Bitcoin is coming.”

DDoS attacks in blockchain networks, explained

(Coin Telegraph)-29/05/2024

What are DDoS attacks?

A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack attempts to take down a website, computer or online service by flooding it with requests, depleting its capacity and affecting its ability to respond to valid requests.

A DDoS attack involves hackers inserting malware into possibly thousands of internet-enabled devices, collectively referred to as a botnet, and prompting them to deliver a deluge of requests to the target system simultaneously. These compromised machines, individually termed bots or zombies, could be cellphones, desktops, servers or even Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Attackers usually establish direct control over bots by infecting them with malware without the knowledge of the victims.

The influx of incoming traffic overwhelms the target system’s ability to respond to valid requests because the attack consumes too much bandwidth, processing power or memory. In its Q1 2024 DDoS threat report, Cloudflare noted an alarming 50% rise in DDoS attacks in general.

Is a DDoS attack possible on a blockchain network?

Attacking a blockchain network with a DDoS attack is theoretically feasible, though it is more difficult than targeting centralized systems like websites or servers. Blockchain networks are inherently resistant to such attacks thanks to their decentralization.

A blockchain operates as a decentralized distributed ledger, functioning across an array of nodes, which are responsible for validating and processing transactions and creating blocks. Unlike traditional systems, there is no central point of control within a blockchain network. Decentralization makes a blockchain network harder to attack as attackers need to deal with a multitude of nodes.

One way to disrupt the network is by flooding the blockchain with spam transactions, which overwhelms the network and slows down transaction throughput, hindering the timely validation of legitimate transactions. This queues up transactions from genuine users in the mempool, a mechanism in blockchain nodes that stores unconfirmed transactions.

A well-known instance of a DDoS attack was one on the Solana blockchain network, which lead to a 17-hour downtime in September 2021. During Grape Protocol’s initial decentralized exchange offering (IDO) on the Solana-based DEX Raydium, bots bombarded the network with 400,000 transaction loads per second, causing network congestion.

Moreover, DDoS attacks may target decentralized applications (DApps), which are applications built on top of the blockchain, rather than the blockchain network itself. Cryptocurrency exchanges, which play a key role in ensuring liquidity in a blockchain-based ecosystem, frequently fall victim to DDoS attacks, resulting in temporary service outages.

How can DDoS attacks affect blockchain networks?

DDoS attacks can affect blockchain networks via transaction flooding and compromising smart contracts. The objective is to clog the network with fraudulent transactions, slowing it down and, in worse cases, bringing it to a halt.

Transaction flooding

Malicious actors can intentionally overload a blockchain network with a voluminous number of transactions, disrupting its normal operations. The attackers would stir up a volley of transaction requests, usually using automated scripts or specialized software. These transactions resemble legitimate transactions but are designed to squeeze the network.

The attackers broadcast these transactions to the nodes. To achieve consensus, the network propagates the transactions across multiple nodes, which work to process these transactions. However, the sheer volume of incoming transactions overwhelms their processing capacity. The network becomes congested and even genuine transactions get stuck in the backlog. The disruption could affect businesses, exchanges and other services reliant on the blockchain network.

Smart contracts

Hackers can identify vulnerable smart contracts in a blockchain network and flood them with transaction requests. These transactions contain fraudulent instructions or excessive computations to exhaust the functionality of the contract and the underlying network. The execution of code in the smart contract becomes increasingly burdensome, leading to inordinate delays in transaction validation.

As smart contracts are a key part of blockchains, the impact of such an attack may propagate across the network, affecting other smart contracts and transactions, disrupting critical operations and rendering services inaccessible to legitimate users.

Software crashes

Core application software in blockchains has built-in limits regarding the memory allocated and the number of transactions it can process in a block and store in the mempool. When there is a surge in transactions, the software might behave unexpectedly or simply crash.

Moreover, immutability is an inherent characteristic of blockchain transactions, which means they simply cannot be altered once they are recorded in blocks. This mechanism creates a problem when transactions flood the network during an attack. The network gets overloaded with useless transactions, which might be much beyond the software’s ability to handle.

Node failure

Nodes, acting as validators or miners, run the core blockchain software on equipment robust enough to handle the rigorous demand. When malicious actors stream in loads of junk data in a DDoS attack, a node might run out of memory or processing power and crash. A node’s failure due to an attack will increase pressure on the other nodes in the network.

Blockchain networks are essentially an amalgamation of nodes where each receiving node keeps track of the state of the blockchain and broadcasts information regarding transactions to other nodes. Flooding of fraudulent transactions affects the node architecture deleteriously, slowing down the whole network or even pulling it down.

How DDoS attacks affect crypto exchanges

Crypto exchanges are an indispensable part of the blockchain ecosystem, as they make digital assets liquid. They are often the target of the attackers.

When attacking exchanges, the modus operandi of attackers is to exploit vulnerabilities, such as outdated security patches in exchange infrastructure, disrupt operations, extort ransom, or manipulate markets. According to Cloudflare, a major chunk of DDoS attacks on crypto exchanges stemmed from simple service discovery protocol (SSDP) amplification attacks, network time protocol (NTP) amplification attacks and application layer attacks.

An SSDP attack is a reflection-based DDoS attack that exploits universal plug-and-play (UPnP) networking protocols to dispatch a huge amount of traffic to the target system. An NTP attack refers to a technique where the attacker sends a series of small queries that trigger large responses from different bots, multiplying the traffic. An application layer attack refers to an attacker methodology that targets the top layer in the open systems interconnection (OSI) model.

How to prevent DDoS attacks on blockchain networks

To protect blockchain networks from DDoS attacks, security measures are required at the node and network levels. Regular audits take care of vulnerabilities, while redundant infrastructure and stress testing keep the network functioning even during an attack.

Node-level security measures

Nodes should have adequate storage, processing power and network bandwidth to be resilient against DDoS attacks. Strong authentication methods and access controls help to protect network nodes. A completely automated public Turing test to tell computers and humans apart (CAPTCHA) is quite useful in ensuring only legitimate users are able to send transaction requests and prevents bots from infiltrating the network. Load balancing helps in dividing traffic and lessening the effect of node-level attacks.

Network level protection

Putting in place adequate defense mechanisms at the network level is important to safeguard a blockchain network. To identify and reduce the impact of DDoS attacks, firewalls and intrusion detection/prevention systems (IDS/IPS) serve well. Content delivery networks (CDNs) are also helpful in dispersing and absorbing attack traffic.

Audits

To find and fix any vulnerabilities, a thorough audit of various aspects of the blockchain is important. This should include analyzing smart contracts, auditing the integrity of the blockchain’s data structure and validating consensus algorithms. Fault tolerance in consensus mechanisms should be strong enough to resist attacks. Updating the code regularly is important to keep attackers at bay and improve security.

Stress testing

Networks and systems should perform stress tests on blockchain protocols at regular intervals to evaluate their ability to withstand DDoS attacks. This will facilitate the detection of potential vulnerabilities in time, enabling patching of the network infrastructure and upgrading of defense mechanisms.

Redundancy and backup

Blockchain protocols and DApps need to have redundant network infrastructure and backup servers to ensure that the system keeps functioning even when under attack. Nodes located across multiple geographical locations can hold out against a DDoS attack that is limited to a specific region.

Central banks turn to generative AI for enhanced cybersecurity: BIS

(Coin Telegraph)-29/05/2024

Central banks are increasingly adopting generative AI for cybersecurity, with a BIS report indicating that 71% are already using it and more planning to follow.

The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) believes in the potential for widespread adoption of generative artificial intelligence (AI), an area in which many central banks have developed a strong interest.

The BIS, an international financial institution comprising 63 central banks and monetary authorities, surveyed 32 of its central bank members to assess their interest in adopting generative AI tools for cybersecurity. The report found:

“Over two-thirds (71%) of respondents are already using gen AI, and 26% have plans to incorporate such tools into their operations within the next one to two years.”

The BIS predicts all of its members will adopt generative AI to enhance their internal cybersecurity measures. Central banks that have already implemented generative AI have praised its effectiveness in detecting cyber threats compared to traditional tools.

Moreover, generative AI tools have accelerated banks’ response times to cyberattacks and aided in the detection of suspicious trends and anomalies. However, the most common concern for central banks remains the costs associated with implementing generative AI tools.

Additionally, the BIS report highlighted:

“Risks related to social engineering and zero-day attacks as well as unauthorized data disclosure are of highest concern.”

Central banks unanimously believe that generative AI tools can eventually replace cybersecurity staff for conducting routine tasks. BIS anticipates this move to “free up resources” that could be reallocated for other initiatives.

BIS members include the central banks of prominent economies such as Australia, China, France, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and India, among others.

The BIS recently teamed up with seven central banks to explore asset tokenization within the monetary system alongside private financial institutions.

France, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States Federal Reserve Banks are among the participating countries.

Dubbed “Project Agora,” the initiative will build on a unified ledger concept proposed by BIS that bridges tokenized commercial bank deposits and tokenized wholesale central bank money.

Donald Trump’s crypto portfolio briefly peaks above $10M

(Coin Telegraph)-29/05/2024

Former United States President Donald Trump’s on-chain crypto asset holdings briefly surpassed $10 million on Monday, primarily driven by his largest tokenholding, TRUMP.

On May 27, blockchain intelligence firm Arkham reported that presidential candidate Donald Trump’s crypto asset portfolio topped $10 million.

The surge to a seven-figure portfolio was catalyzed by the MAGA memecoin, TRUMP, which surged to an all-time high of $13.24 on May 27.

According to Arkham, Donald Trump holds 579,290 TRUMP tokens, currency worth around $6.79 million.

The memecoin has surged 53% over the past week following Donald Trump’s crypto endorsements.

“I am very positive and open-minded to cryptocurrency companies, and all things related to this new and burgeoning industry,” he said on May 25.

On May 21, the Trump 2024 campaign launched a fundraising page for people to donate in crypto.

However, TRUMP prices have declined 8.8% since that peak in a fall to $12.04 at the time of writing, according to CoinGecko.

This has caused the entire portfolio to retreat to $9.5 million as crypto markets declined during early trading on May 28.

MAGA was launched in August to donate to U.S. veterans and protect children. While it bears the former president’s name, it is not officially affiliated with or endorsed by Donald Trump.

According to the official website 234.75 ETH has been donated to United States veterans and 204.5 ETH to child trafficking prevention since MAGA launched.

Donald Trump also has a big Ether bag with 464.2 ETH worth around $1.79 million at the time of writing.

He also holds a million MVP tokens worth around $473,000. MVP is another memecoin offering rewards and supporting donations to the Trump election campaign. It hit an all-time high of $0.709 on May 17 but has fallen back 33% since then to trade at $0.477 at the time of writing.

One-Third of U.S. Voters Prioritize Political Candidates’ Stance on Crypto: Harris Poll

(Crypto News)-29/05/2024

One in three voters in the United States considers a candidate’s position on cryptocurrencies before making their voting decision.

According to a recent online survey conducted by the Harris Poll, 77% of respondents believe that a U.S. presidential candidate should possess at least an “informed perspective” on cryptocurrencies.

The poll, which surveyed likely U.S. voters, was funded by Grayscale, a Bitcoin ETF issuer, and involved over 1,700 participants.

Interestingly, the survey highlighted that voters are equally divided on which political party takes the lead on digital asset issues.

Crypto Finds Increased Political Attention

This recent poll builds upon a previous round of questioning conducted late last year, which indicated that an increasing number of people anticipate cryptocurrency becoming a part of their investment portfolios (47%).

The growing interest in cryptocurrencies could explain the heightened political attention the topic is receiving.

Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale, said that likely American voters, regardless of their political affiliation, demonstrate a heightened interest in investing in crypto assets and supporting candidates who are well-versed in emerging technologies.

The survey revealed that the majority of respondents (98%) had heard of Bitcoin, indicating its widespread recognition.

Additionally, a significant segment of voters claimed to be familiar with Ethereum’s ether (ETH), with only 46% stating that they had never heard of it.

Moreover, around 17% of voters reported having invested in Bitcoin, placing it on par with bonds as an investment option and surpassing investments in exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Furthermore, 44% of voters expressed their belief, to varying degrees, that “crypto and blockchain technology are the future of finance,” marking a four-percentage-point increase from responses to the same question asked the previous year.

However, respondents also indicated a desire for government oversight, with 52% stating that they would be more likely to invest in digital assets if the field were subject to more regulations.

Fed Survey Finds 7% of US Adults Using Crypto

The number of United States adults reporting crypto ownership or usage has seen a significant decline, according to the latest annual household survey conducted by the Fed.

The survey, known as the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), indicates that approximately 18 million US adults reported using cryptocurrencies in 2023, representing a drop from previous years.

In the 12-month period leading up to October 2023, the survey found that 7% of the surveyed US adults reported using cryptocurrencies, down from 10% in 2022 and 12% in 2021.

These findings from the Federal Reserve survey significantly differ from Coinbase’s claim that 52 million Americans own cryptocurrencies.

Furthermore, another survey conducted by The Harris Poll in December last year revealed that approximately 73% of US voters believe that US presidential candidates should have an informed perspective on innovative technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency.

Likewise, a recent report from Coinbase claimed that California voters who own cryptocurrencies are expected to have a significant impact on the 2024 elections.

US FDIC needs ‘fresh start’ with new chair, White House official says

(Reuters)-22/05/2024

The White House believes the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp needs a “fresh start” with a new chair who is not part of the leadership that presided over its long-running cultural problems, a White House official told Reuters on Tuesday.

FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg finally succumbed on Monday to a months-long scandal over sexual harassment at the agency, announcing that he would step down once the Senate has confirmed a successor, in a move that could kill bank capital hikes and other major Wall Street bank rules sought by Democrats.

Washington insiders and analysts said the White House is under pressure to quickly fill the role and preserve Democratic President Joe Biden’s financial regulation agenda just six months ahead of the U.S. presidential election.

They expect the White House would seek a female nominee already in government who would be better placed to overhaul the agency’s toxic culture and get through the nomination process faster.

“Assuming that the White House were to announce a nominee tomorrow to replace Mr. Gruenberg, the best it could hope for is a vote on the Senate floor in September,” Stifel Chief Washington Policy Strategist Brian Gardner wrote on Tuesday.

The administration is “very conscious” of the tight Senate calendar and wants to put a nominee in front of the Senate Banking Committee as soon as possible, said the official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Gruenberg, a Democrat, had clung to his job since the scandal erupted in November, despite many lawmakers demanding he step down. A Monday statement by top Democrat and Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown calling for fresh leadership appeared to tip the balance.

A top bank regulator, the FDIC faces a critical moment as regional banks remain under stress following last year’s turmoil, and as it finalizes capital hikes and other major new rules for Wall Street banks.

Under the law, the only way for the administration to replace Gruenberg without handing control of the agency to Republicans is to have the Senate, which Democrats control by one vote, confirm their new pick. But many Washington analysts believe Gruenberg may struggle to hold onto his job much longer, as Republicans continue to pile pressure on Biden to fire him.

A damning independent review this month found widespread misconduct at the FDIC went unaddressed for years, and cited instances in which Gruenberg – who has spent nearly two decades in leadership at the agency – lost his temper with subordinates.

The agency’s deep-seated problems, combined with the uncertainty created by the election, may put off the relatively small pool of viable candidates, said analysts.

“I don’t know who they’re going to find who can get the number of votes quickly and even if they find the perfect person, I wonder if that perfect person would be interested,” said Isaac Boltansky, director of policy research for brokerage BTIG.

POSSIBLE CONTENDERS

Among the candidates who could fit the bill is Christy Goldsmith Romero, a Democratic member of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said one regulatory and one industry source.

Goldsmith Romero, who declined to comment, is in the process of being re-nominated to the CFTC role, meaning the White House could switch her nomination to FDIC chair quickly, one said.

Treasury Undersecretary for Domestic Finance and former top Federal Reserve official Nellie Liang would also be a strong candidate, having already been Senate confirmed, one of the people said.

While New York State Department of Financial Services Superintendent Adrienne Harris is not Senate-confirmed, she was in contention for Gruenberg’s job back in 2022 and could also be a potentially strong candidate, said two other people.

Spokespeople for Liang and Harris declined or did not respond to a request for comment.

Gruenberg, 71, had been at the FDIC since 2005 and is the longest-serving FDIC board member in the agency’s 89-year history. During that time he served as its chair twice – once under President Barack Obama and the second time under Biden.

While Gruenberg was not found to be directly responsible for the agency’s broad cultural issues, he apologized for misconduct under his leadership and for his own transgressions.

Should he leave the agency without a confirmed replacement, its leadership would fall to Travis Hill, the agency’s vice chair and a Republican who has voted against some of the proposed new rules. The agency would then be deadlocked 2-2.

That could delay indefinitely the Basel capital hikes, and other major draft rules the agency is working on with fellow regulators; those include requirements for some lenders to hold more long-term debt to boost their resilience; restrictions on banker executive pay; and changes to bank merger policies.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Tuesday that the president “is taking this very seriously.”

Yellen warns German banks to boost compliance with US sanctions on Russia

(Reuters)-22/05/2024

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urged German bank executives on Tuesday to step up efforts to comply with sanctions against Russia and shut down efforts to circumvent them to avoid potential penalties themselves that would cut off dollar access.

Yellen said at the start of a meeting with bankers that the Treasury’s new authority to hit banks with secondary sanctions if they aid Russian military-related transactions had helped to frustrate Russia’s efforts to procure goods needed for its war in Ukraine, but more work was needed.

“Russia continues to procure sensitive goods and to expand its ability to domestically manufacture these goods. We must remain vigilant and be more ambitious,” Yellen said.

“I urge all institutions here to take heightened compliance measures and to increase your focus on Russian evasion attempts,” Yellen said in prepared remarks for the meeting in Frankfurt.

In an unusually direct warning, she told the executives to police sanctions compliance among their banks’ foreign branches and subsidiaries and reach out to foreign correspondent banking customers to do the same, especially in high-risk jurisdictions.

“Russia is desperate to obtain critical goods from advanced economies like Germany and the United States,” Yellen said. “We must remain vigilant to prevent the Kremlin’s ability to supply its defense industrial base, and to access our financial systems to do so.”

She later cautioned, however, that the Treasury will be “judicious” in applying any secondary sanction on banks and that the executives she had met on Tuesday had expressed a “very strong commitment” to doing their part.

RAIFFEISEN WARNING

Yellen’s warning comes shortly after the U.S. Treasury successfully pressed Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank, the biggest Western bank in Russia, to ditch a deal involving a Russian tycoon.

Earlier this month, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) (RBIV.VI), opens new tab dropped a bid for a 1.5 billion euro ($1.6 billion) industrial stake linked to Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska after intense U.S. pressure.

The deal’s collapse was a fresh setback for the lender, which faces criticism for its ties to Moscow more than two years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The pressure also underscored Washington’s willingness to take European banks to task over their Russia ties.

Raiffeisen was warned by the U.S. Treasury in writing that its access to the U.S. financial system could be curbed because of its Russia dealings, a person who has seen this correspondence told Reuters.

On May 6, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo sent a letter to RBI, expressing concern about RBI’s presence in Russia as well as a $1.5 billion deal.

RBI’s announcement followed weeks of pressure over its plan to buy a stake in construction group Strabag, a move designed to unlock bank funds frozen in Russia.

MEANINGFUL CONSTRAINTS

And a senior U.S. Treasury official acknowledged that Western banks face “meaningful constraints” in exiting Russia, but they should not be seeking to expand their Russian businesses as Raiffeisen has.

The official added that Austrian regulators should take a more aggressive posture to avoid reputational risks for a systemic institution.

“The mere fact of the secondary sanctions existing already gets us to our goals in some ways,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Spokespersons for Germany’s two largest banks, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, both said they had significantly reduced their business in Russia and were complying with the sanctions.

Yellen said the most concerning Russian sanctions evasion activity was coming through China, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey. She added that the Treasury “is working to disrupt evasion wherever we see it, from Central Asia to the Caucasus and throughout Europe.”

Yellen, who also gave remarks on the U.S.-European alliance in Frankfurt before attending a meeting of G7 finance ministers in Italy this week, said she sees the global economy outperforming expectations with risks broadly balanced and financial conditions easing since last year’s banking turmoil.

“We also remain vigilant to potential vulnerabilities, including elevated levels of corporate debt, leverage and liquidity mismatches in the non-bank sector, and strains in commercial real estate markets,” Yellen added.

Bitcoin price hits $70K as spot and BTC ETF buying surges

(Crypto News)-22/05/2024

Bitcoin price rallied to the coveted $70,000 mark amid a noticeable surge in spot buying and spot BTC exchange-traded fund (ETF) purchasing, with the cryptocurrency community pondering whether the bull market is just beginning or nearing its peak.

Bitcoin charts and spot ETF activity highlight the trend reversal

Analyst “ELI5 of TLDR” suggested that the majority of on-chain indicators point to a nascent bull market, despite some showing topping patterns. The recent support bounce near $60,000 has sparked increased interest, with Farside Investors reporting approximately $950 million in inflows last week, a figure not seen since March.

Should this trend continue, BTC could potentially exceed expectations. Currently, BTC is trading within a few hundred dollars of $70,000, with the 20-day EMA at $64,371 and a positive RSI indicating that an upward breakout is more likely. Overcoming the $68,000 resistance suggests that BTC price is on the path to $73,777, though this level may trigger a strong bearish response.

Conversely, a break below the moving averages could signal a bearish downturn, with potential drops to $59,600 and $56,552.

Changing U.S. monetary policy buoys Bitcoin price

In the broader economic context, Bitcoin’s 51% year-to-date gain is reflective of investors’ anticipation of U.S. monetary expansion, which saw the M2 monetary base surpass $21.0 trillion in April 2024.

This increase in circulating money hints at rising inflationary pressures despite a period of spending hesitancy by companies and individuals. The United States Federal Reserve’s strategies to manage inflation and avoid a recession could impact the liquidity and, consequently, the attractiveness of scarce assets like Bitcoin.

Exchange reserves hit seven-year low as Bitcoin nears all-time high

Adding to the bullish sentiment, exchange BTC reserves have plummeted to a seven-year low, with CryptoQuant data showing only 1,918,417 BTC available on major trading platforms as of May 19, a significant decrease from the previous year.

This scarcity, coupled with the recent halving event that has halved the potential new supply from miners, makes a bearish stance on Bitcoin increasingly difficult to justify.

Bitcoin Hits Record Highs Against Local Currencies in Asia and South America with 7% Daily Surge

(Crypto News)-22/05/2024

Bitcoin has achieved all-time highs against local currencies in several countries across Asia and South America, following a significant 7% surge in its price.

On May 21, Bitcoin reached an intraday and six-week high of $71,650, marking a gain of over 7% within a 24-hour period.

According to CoinGecko, this puts the asset within a 3.4% range of its all-time high in USD terms, recorded on March 14, at $73,738.

Bitcoin Sets New Highs Against Various Fiat Currencies

The surge in Bitcoin’s price has resulted in new record highs against various fiat currencies.

In Japan, BTC hit an all-time high of 11.2 million yen during early trading on May 21.

This marks the first time that the asset has surpassed the 11 million JPY threshold.

The Japanese yen has experienced a weakening trend against the U.S. dollar in recent months, depreciating by 10% since the beginning of the year.

Argentina also witnessed Bitcoin reaching a peak value of 63.8 million Argentine pesos (ARS) on May 21, slightly surpassing the highs seen in mid-March.

The country has been grappling with high inflation, currently standing at a staggering 290%, along with currency devaluation over the past couple of years.

In the Philippines, Bitcoin briefly reached a record high of 4.18 million pesos (PHP) on May 21, surpassing the mid-March highs.

Similar trends were observed in other countries such as Britain, Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Egypt, Norway, India, South Korea, Taiwan, and Turkey, as noted by industry observer Thomas Fahrer on X.

Bitcoin Short Squeeze on the Horizon?

In a recent post on X, crypto analyst Willy Woo highlighted the liquidation of a month’s worth of Bitcoin short positions, suggesting the possibility of a short-squeeze beyond the all-time highs.

Coinglass reported that within the past 24 hours, 79,010 traders were liquidated, with total crypto liquidations amounting to $345 million, of which 78.5% were short positions.

As reported, Markus Thielen, the head of research at 10x Research, previously predicted that a breakthrough above $67,500 could potentially lead to new all-time highs.

Currently, BTC is trading at $70,945, just $2,500 away from reaching a new all-time high in U.S. dollars.

Aside from 10x Research, some other analysts have also turned bullish on Bitcoin following weeks-long consolidation.

Leading trading firm QCP Capital has expressed optimism about Bitcoin’s price momentum, forecasting a potential return to the highs of $74,000.

In a recent note, the firm said it has observed substantial buyers acquiring 100,000 to 120,000 BTC Calls for December 2024, indicating confidence in the upward movement of the cryptocurrency.

“US CPI numbers triggered a break out of the range across risk assets. BTC has since traded back above 66k,” the firm wrote.

Brazil Central Bank Crafting Crypto Regulation Plan, Expected by Year’s End

(Crypto News)-22/05/2024

Brazil’s central bank unveiled a multi-phase plan to regulate crypto and virtual asset service providers on Monday. It aims to finalize the regulatory proposals by the end of this year.

These regulations will establish rules that verify and enforce greater transparency around the potential benefits and risks of these investments, the bank said. It said it opted for a phased approach to effectively regulate the country’s cryptocurrency service market.

“From this point on, the contributions will be used and the regulatory proposals will be finalized at the end of 2024,” the bank added.

The central bank’s latest decision pushes back the finalization of the process, according to Reuters. It follows a 2022 law that gave the bank the authority to develop these regulations.

During a congressional hearing last year, the central bank’s director of regulation, Otavio Damaso, anticipated completing the crypto regulations by June 2024.

The bank conducted a public consultation on the matter in Dec. 2023, which wrapped up in January. Following this, it announced a new public consultation scheduled for the second half of this year.

The central bank told Reuters that the first consultation aimed to collect feedback from the public on the proposed regulations. It also addressed aspects not covered by the 2022 law, such as how virtual asset service providers should segregate their assets.

To address this, it explained that the first public consultation required “reasonable dedication from the teams involved.”

The bank is also moving forward with regulating stablecoins, particularly those used for payments and foreign exchange.

Brazil Blocks Crypto Donations in Elections

In a move to crack down on cryptocurrencies in campaign finance, Brazilian authorities solidified a ban on crypto donations to political parties and candidates last week.

The electoral court defended its ban, emphasizing the need for transparency and traceability in campaign financing. It stated its commitment to protecting elections “from irregular or illicit practices.”