BitPay Executive Maintains Bullish Stance on Bitcoin

Amid a multi-month downtrend, the price of altcoins and Bitcoin have fallen to yearly lows, pushing market sentiment to near bottom. While price action wanes, BitPay’s Chief Commercial Officer Sonny Singh maintains an optimistic outlook on Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Gaining Institutional Traction

Following the drastic Bitcoin price drop last week, Singh appeared on Bloomberg to discuss the state of the cryptocurrency market and the future of the industry.

Founded in 2011, BitPay offers Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash payments processing and storage services for merchants around the world.

With institutional solutions to cryptocurrency investing on the rise, Singh believes the market is too eager for certain catalysts to arrive:

“Right now, you’re just seeing rumors that somebody might do something–someone might launch a trading desk; someone might not be launching a trading desk. But I think next year, you’re going to see the big entrance become real; where you see Goldman does launch a trading desk; fidelity does launch a Bitcoin product; Square offers Bitcoin processing for merchants; Blackrock launches an ETF. So all that will then become real and you’ll see some adoption, actually, and you’ll see the price start bouncing back up again.”

Wall Street firms continue to explore digital asset investment products and services, but few have confirmed their plans to follow through. Currently, there are no major investment banks that offer direct cryptocurrency trading services to clients.

Earlier this month, Goldman Sachs CFO Martin Chavez confirmed that the firm never had a defined timeline to launch a Bitcoin trading desk, which had been largely anticipated earlier in the summer.

On Aug. 22, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected nine Bitcoin ETF applications by ProShares, Direxion and GraniteShares.

The SEC cited failure to prevent manipulation and fraud as well as failure to prove Bitcoin markets are “markets of significant size” as reasons for rejection. This was similar to the reasoning provided by the SEC when it issued a denial of the Winklevoss ETF.

While investment products may still be farther off on the horizon, it’s apparent that the development of blockchain technologies and adoption is still growing. With increasing Bitcoin payments volume on BitPay, Singh gave a bullish stance on the largest cryptocurrency’s future growth:

“Bitcoin will rebound next year when all these products become mainstream adopted. And we’re seeing no slow down at all at BitPay. Our merchants are seeing great growth still every week. They’re signing up more and more all the time. We’re hiring more salespeople.”

Maintaining an optimistic outlook on Bitcoin, Singh did not share the same sentiment for the falling altcoin market, stating:

“It’s still full speed ahead in the Bitcoin space. I can’t guarantee what’s going to happen in the altcoin world. There’s a lot of dodgy ones that are out there that are still overvalued. They can go a lot further down. Who knows what’s going to happen to them. But Bitcoin, again, is the leader in this space.”

The overall cryptocurrency market continues to show a general downward trend. While institutional solutions and emerging regulations continue to develop, it’s unclear which way the market will move.

Traders are reminded to remain cautious and invest only what they can afford to lose.

Jonathan Kim

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Cryptocurrencies Pick Up – Bitcoin Emerges As Safe Haven

Cryptocurrencies Pick Up - Bitcoin Emerges As Safe Haven

Cryptocurrencies Pick Up – Bitcoin Emerges As Safe Haven

Investing.com – Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies steadied on Thursday morning in Asia after days of plummeting.

Bitcoin rose 2.08% to $6,394.7 at 10:30AM ET (02:30 GMT) on the Bitifinex exchange.

Ethereum climbed 4.29% to $188.72 on the Bitifinex exchange.

XRP/USD also edged up 4.9% to $0.27088 on the Poloniex exchange, while Litecoin rose 3.83% to $52.866 on the Bitifinex exchange.

Despite the volatility of recent weeks, Bitcoin’s value has risen 0.1% over the past 30 days, making it something of a safe haven among digital currencies. Ethereum, on the other hand, has slumped about 45% over the past 30 days.

“In this case, Bitcoin is acting like more of a safe haven for cryptocurrencies – it’s kind of consolidating,” said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at cryptocurrency brokerage eToro.

Market Intelligence platform CoinFi’s data revealed that short-sellers are putting pressure on markets as bets against Ethereum is at all-time high.

“Retail investors were completely euphoric a few months ago. Now, that emotion has flipped and they’re panicking. Shorts are going to ride that wave,” said CoinFi CEO Timothy Tam.

Chinese Wuhan General Group (China) Inc. is seeking to acquire a former U.S. Department of Defense data center to transform it into a digital currency mine and house 1,200 mining machines there.

“We had planned to build this operation three months ago, but with the bearish cryptocurrency market, we took a step back to reassess our strategy,” said Wuhan Group’s CEO Ramy Kamaneh.

On Tuesday, U.S. securities regulator announced tighter measures on companies involved with cryptocurrencies.

On Monday, Mexico also took steps to required crypto exchanges and banks offering crypto services in the country to obtain a permit from the Bank of Mexico. Users will also not be allowed to access cryptocurrencies on the same day their accounts are created, under new rules.

Assets acquired by crypto beneficiaries need to undergo additional validation checks to prevent money laundering and illicit activities.

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Bitcoin rises above $6,300 as NY approves dollar-linked digital currencies

Bitcoin briefly climbed above $6,300 on Monday after New York state’s Department of Financial Services approved the Gemini Trust Company’s and Paxos Trust Company’s dollar-linked digital currencies, the first stable coins to get the nod from the regulator.

At 9:24am (1324 GMT), the world’s biggest and best known virtual currency was up 0.58% at $6,268.50 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch – Tight Battle Between Bulls and Bears

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch - Tight Battle Between Bulls and Bears

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch – Tight Battle Between Bulls and Bears

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

Bitcoin price is currently consolidating in a short-term symmetrical triangle visible on the 1-hour chart.
The breakout could set the longer-term direction for bitcoin as it nears a key support area.
Technical indicators are suggesting that a downside move is more likely to happen than an upside break.

Bitcoin is consolidating inside a symmetrical triangle, which might be a bearish continuation pattern from the earlier drop.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is below the longer-term 200 SMA to indicate that the path of least resistance is to the downside. In other words, the selloff is more likely to resume than to reverse. The 100 SMA also lines up with the top of the triangle to add to its strength as resistance also.

The gap between the moving averages has been widening to reflect stronger bearish pressure. A break below the $6,250 level could be enough to signal a bearish break and further losses, possibly by the same height as the mast of the flag that spans $7,400 to around $6,200.

RSI is already turning lower after spending a brief period in overbought levels, indicating that bears are eager to return. Stochastic is also pointing back down and may draw more selling pressure.

Market Factors

Bitcoin was off to a terrible start for the week on reports that the SEC decided to suspend trading in a couple of crypto-based securities. This weighed on odds that the regulator could approve the bitcoin ETF applications anytime soon as they could site similar reasons on their ruling.

However, it’s worth noting that there were some positive updates so far this week, including the NYDFS backing of the Winklevoss twins’ fiat-based stablecoin. There have also been developments in Canada as a bitcoin fund achieved mutual fund trust status, allowing unit holders to put units in a self-directed registered account such as an RRSP or TFSA.

SARAH JENN | SEPTEMBER 11, 2018 | 4:54 AM

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

BTC/USD consolidates the weekend losses despite Citigroup plans to tap cryptocurrency trading

Bitcoin price analysis - BTC/USD consolidates the weekend losses despite Citigroup plans to tap cryptocurrency trading

Bitcoin price analysis – BTC/USD consolidates the weekend losses despite Citigroup plans to tap cryptocurrency trading

Bitcoin has gained 2% since his time yesterday, but the upside is limited.
Citigroup has reportedly invented legal way to trade cryptocurrencies.

BTC/USD is changing hands at $6,301 with 2% gains on a daily basis. The coin has partially recovered from the weekends' slump, however, the upside momentum is weak despite some positive news about Citigroup taking cryptos closer to institutional investors.

Citigroup solves the puzzle

Citigroup has developed a new way to get exposure to cryptocurrency market without actually owning the assets, according to Business Insider. The new structure is called Digital Asset Receipt or DAR and it would place digital assets within the regulatory framework, allowing institutions, hedge funds and other big investors to tap this profitable market in a less risky way.

The instrument will work like an American Depository Receipt or ADR, which allows US investors owning foreign stocks that are not traded on US exchanges.

"In this case, the cryptocurrency is held by a custodian and the DAR is issued by Citigroup, the people said. The bank will alert the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp, a Wall Street middleman that provides clearing and settlement services, once it's issued the receipt," a person with knowledge of the plans explained to Business Insider.

Bitcoin's technical picture

On the intra-day basis, BTC/USD is capped by SMA50 (1-hour) at $6,316, followed by SMA100 (1-hour) at $6,373. Once these areas are cleared, the recovery may be extended towards $6,400, though the ultimate bulls' goal is created by 23.6% Fibo retracement at $6,800, strengthened by SMA200 (1-hour).

On the downside, the nearest support comes at $6,116 (September 8 low), followed by critical $6,000.

BTC/USD, 1-hour chart

Tanya Abrosimova

FXStreet

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

EU-level regulation for cryptocurrencies and ICO market may send Bitcoin and other coins to fresh lows

EU finance ministers call for crypto and ICO regulation on EU level.
Brussels-based Bruegel suggests tighter regulation or even ban.

The Brussels-based think tank Bruegel prepared a document for EU finance ministers with the aim to promote EU-level regulation of digital assets and initial coin offerings, according to Reuters. It is supposed to be discussed by the ministers on Friday during their meeting in Vienna.

EU authorities have been making noises about risks related to highly volatile crypto market, prone to scams and vulnerable to hack attacks. However, they avoided comprehensive regulation due to the small size of the segment, but the growing popularity of digital assets in the European countries might force them to change their mind.

"Now the possible expansion of the crypto exchange business in Europe and considerable interest in ICOs in EU countries, which account for 30 percent of the global market in terms of projects funded, is pushing regulators to take a closer look," Reuters reports.

Malta, for example, strives to create a favorable regulatory environment for blockchain projects in hopes that they will support the economic development. The efforts of the Maltese was rewarded as many companies including Hong Kong-based Binance, one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges, flocked to Malta.

According to Bruegel, the authorities should focus on regulating or even banning entities that deal with cryptocurrencies and tokens. The think-tank noted the restrictive Chinese approach towards the industry.

Tanya Abrosimova

FXStreet

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Bitcoin â Bulls Need to Make a Move or Pay a Heavy Price

Bitcoin – Bulls Need to Make a Move or Pay a Heavy Price

Bitcoin holds on to positive territory in the early hours, though will need to break back through to $7,400 levels to avoid a bearish move.

Bitcoin gained 1.23% on Tuesday, reversing Monday’s 0.47% decline, to end the day at $7,357.2.

Recovering from an early morning intraday low $7,246.2. Steering clear of the day’s first major support level at $7,187.47, Bitcoin rallied through late morning and early afternoon to an intraday high $7,415.4.

The rally through to the day high saw Bitcoin break through the day’s first major resistance level at $7,356.47 and back through the 38.2% FIB Retracement Level of $7,376 to hit $7,400 levels for the 2nd time in 3-days, prior to which was back in the 1st week of August.

In spite of the breakout from the 38.2% FIB Retracement Level of $7,376, Bitcoin failed to hold on to $7,400 levels with a late in the day broad based market sell-off seeing Bitcoin’s gains for the day reduced, with Bitcoin pulling back through the 38.2% FIB Retracement Level by the day’s end.

With selling pressure evident at the 38.2% FIB Retracement Level, Bitcoin’s failure to hold above $7,376 by the day’s end reaffirmed the extended bearish trend formed at early May’s swing hi $9,999, with a break out from $7,376 needed to support the formation of a bearish trend reversal.

The gains came with the news wires on the friendlier side at the start of the week, with regulator chatter on hold, allowing the Bitcoin bulls to talk up the prospects of a return to bullish form and a run at $20,000 levels by the year-end.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up just 0.07% to $7,363.9, with moves through the early morning seeing Bitcoin recover from a start of a day morning low $7,357.2 to a morning high $7,398.7 before easing back, the early moves leaving the day’s major support and resistance levels untested, while resistance at $7,400 proved to be too great in the early hours.

For the day ahead, moving back through the 38.2% FIB Retracement Level of $7,376 would support another run at $7,400 levels to bring the day’s first major resistance level at $7,433 into play, with market sentiment to dictate whether Bitcoin can take a run at $7,500 levels, investors continuing to be on the more cautious side in spite of Bitcoin’s recent weekly gains and hold on to $7,300 levels.

Failure to move back through the 38.2% FIB Retracement Level of $7,376 could see Bitcoin hit reverse, with any fall through 7,340 bringing sub-$7,300 levels and the day’s first major support level at $7,263.8 into play before any recovery.

We would expect Bitcoin to steer clear of sub-$7,300 levels should the news wires remain crypto friendly, with Bitcoin’s relatively minor gains through the early part of the week likely to limit profit taking in the middle part of the week, though investors will wary of what’s to come on the regulatory front, which continues to pin Bitcoin back from $8,000 levels and beyond.

Bob Mason

19 minutes ago

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch- Nearby Inflection Points to Watch

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

Bitcoin price continues to crawl higher and is moving closer to completing its double bottom.
Once completed, price would need to break past the neckline at $8,400 to confirm a long-term uptrend.
Corrections from the climb could find support at the short-term rising trend line that held since last month.

Bitcoin price is slowly moving up to form a double bottom reversal pattern, and a neckline break could lead to more gains.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is also completing its bullish crossover from the 200 SMA to indicate that the path of least resistance is to the upside. This would mean that the rally is more likely to resume than to reverse. Price is also moving above a rising trend line connecting the lows since mid-August and the moving averages could serve as dynamic support close to this area.

However, RSI is pointing down after recently reaching overbought territory, which means that selling pressure might still return. Similarly stochastic is on the move down so bitcoin price could follow suit while bearish pressure is in play.

Market Factors

In the absence of any major updates lately, bitcoin appears to be taking its cues from the improving sentiment in the industry. More and more analysts are renewing their bullish calls, with one group even predicting that it could reach $33,000 in 2019.

Furthermore, Satis ICO Advisory Research projects that bitcoin price could surge to $96,000 over the next five years then to $143,900 in 10 years. The firm is also bullish on Monero, predicting it will reach $18,000 over the next five years.

On the flip side, it is less optimistic about ethereum and litecoin while being bearish on Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, EOS. The report also wasn’t optimistic on utility tokens either, and this “weeding out” sentiment appears to be more favorable to bitcoin.

SARAH JENN | SEPTEMBER 4, 2018 | 4:19 AM

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Bitcoin (BTC) Price Watch – Don’t Miss This Bullish Pullback

Bitcoin Price Key Highlights

Bitcoin price is trending higher inside an ascending channel on the 4-hour chart and is testing the top.
A pullback to support might be due from here, so as to gather more bullish energy on the climb.
The uptrend is likely to resume since the 100 SMA is completing a crossover above the 200 SMA.

Bitcoin price hit resistance at the top of the channel but might be ready to resume the climb on a test of support.

Technical Indicators Signals

The 100 SMA is crossing above the longer-term 200 SMA to indicate that the path of least resistance is to the upside. This suggests that the uptrend is more likely to resume than to reverse or that support is more likely to hold than to break.

However, RSI is pointing down to indicate that sellers are trying to regain control from here while buyers take a break. Similarly stochastic is moving south so bitcoin price might follow suit while bearish pressure is in play.

Price could bounce upon hitting support at the Fib levels or the channel bottom, which lines up with the 61.8% level in particular. This also coincides with a former resistance around $7,000, which might also hold as an area of interest.

A larger pullback could last until the swing low just above the moving averages, which might be the line in the sand for any bullish correction.

BTCUSD Chart from TradingView

Bitcoin price does seem to remain support, especially after landing back above the $7,000 major psychological mark that many are watching. Optimism for approval by the SEC in bitcoin ETF applications appears to be keeping bulls present for fear of missing out on a big rally.

Apart from that, many analysts are renewing their bullish calls on this particular cryptocurrency, with Tom Lee even citing that the launch of ethereum futures might wind up positive for bitcoin.

Sarah Jenn – NewsBTC – 1 hour ago

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden

Bitcoin At $7000, Undervalued Or Overvalued

Bitcoin At $7000, Undervalued Or Overvalued?

At $7,000, Bitcoin can be both undervalued or overvalued, depending on how the “intrinsic” value of the digital currency is calculated.

After testing the $6000-mark for a while, Bitcoin has staged a big comeback lately. In the last seven days, the digital currency has rallied 6.15%, trading close to the $7,000-mark. Other cryptocurrencies have rallied in sympathy—see table 1 and Table 2.

Table 1

Coin %7d

Bitcoin (BTC) 6.15%

Ethereum (ETH) 1.35

XRP 3.22

*As of 8/31/2018, at 4pm.

Source: Coinmarketcap.com

Table 2

Number of Cryptocurrencies That Advanced/Declined In The Top 100 Ranks Over The Last Seven Days

Cryptocurrencies Advance/Decline Number

Advance 84

Decline 16

*As of 8/31/2018, at 4pm.

Source: Coinmarketcap.com

The rally in cryptocurrencies have some experts cheering. One of them is Global Blockchain CEO, Shidan Gouran, who sees a 'hard value' at$6000. “What this means for the present is that motion is already happening. Because it costs about $6,000 to mine a Bitcoin, it couldn’t go too much lower than that. If no one sees any value in it, it will naturally only command its ‘hard value’ price of about that much. But as we can see, people clearly do see value in it. For example, the efforts to legalize a Bitcoin ETF are persisting. Further, story after story is hitting the news about big-name institutions taking steps to trade Bitcoin. While the idea of these big-time uses of Bitcoin were nothing more than a fantasy about a year ago, the signs are actually starting to emerge that it’s going to happen. So undoubtedly, this is stimulating demand to some degree.”

Clement Thibault, Senior Analyst at Investing.com, doesn’t share Gouran’s enthusiasm. "$7,000 is a level we've seen before so I don't regard it as a particularly noteworthy milestone,” says Thibault. “Psychologically, there might be something to it for speculators but the price is completely disconnected from any meaningful fundamentals. If the level was the result of an event, development, or adoption, that would be something more substantial — but at this point, we're trying to invent a narrative to explain the price action when there's nothing to explain."

What do econometric models say? My co-author of an academic paper on Bitcoin valuation, Greg Giordano, ran three econometric models — the Haye’smodel, the Wheatley model, and the Market Model (our own)—see table 3.

On the one side, the Hayes’ model and the Market Model estimate the Bitcoin’s intrinsic value to be $8,778.11 and $8,335.54 respectively. This means that at the current price level the digital currency is undervalued.

On the other side, Wheatley’s Model estimates Bitcoin’s value to be $1,080.58. This means that at the current price the digital currency is overvalued.

Table 3

Three Estimates Of Bitcoin’s Intrinsic Price*

Econometric Model Price Estimate

Hayes $8,778.11

Wheatley $1,080.58

Market Model $8,335.54

Panos Mourdoukoutas

Contributor

David Ogden – Http://markethive.com/david-ogden