Bitcoin Gives Bullish Clues, Will The FED Meeting Get In The Way?

Bitcoin is still stuck in the $38,000 area with sideways movement during the past week. The first crypto by market cap has displayed resilience as traditional finances take a bearish turn.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Holders Trigger Largest Capitulation In Its History, Bearish Horizon For BTC?

At the time of writing, Bitcoin (BTC) trades at $38,400 with 1.1% losses in the last 24-hours.

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

Tomorrow, the U.S. Federal Reserve (FED) branch Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will hold a meeting. Market participants expect the financial institution to announce a more aggressive shift in their monetary policy.

Two months ago, the FED hinted at an increase in interest rates by 25 basis points (bps). Tomorrow the increase could be set higher at 50 basis points (bps).

This will be the first 50 bps hike in over two decades, according to trading firm QCP Capital. The firm believes that Bitcoin and the crypto market have been suffering because of several factors.

These include a dropped in equities, with the NASDAQ Index and the S&P 500 recording 13% and 9% losses in 30 days. Bitcoin has been moving in tandem with big tech stocks. Therefore, the crash was expected, but not the subsequent strength.

The latter has been underestimated by market participants. The general sentiment in the crypto market seems bearish despite Bitcoin’s capacity to hold critical support at its current levels.

In addition to the macro-outlook, QCP Capital believes there has been an increase in negative headlines which contributed to the losses. Several DeFi protocols suffered exploits over the past week, and other networks experienced outages.

However, the trading firm noted the following:

In spite of the overall bearishness, we’ve actually been seeing decent upside demand both in the front-end as well as out to September and December.

In the options market, QCP Capital records an increase in demand for calls for Bitcoin at $40,000 in May. Thus, the cryptocurrency could rally in the coming days as the FED’s announcement seems to be priced in.

Bitcoin Shows Some Bullish Signals, But Doom Is Still In The Cards

Analysts from Material Indicators seem to support the short-term bullish thesis. This could provide Bitcoin with support to get back into the $40,000 levels.

As one analyst recorded, for the first time in a while, exchanges’ order books show that big players have been stepping up and buying into BTC’s current price action. In past months, the cryptocurrency has been able to bounce, but any rally has been rejected at critical resistance.

#FireCharts CVD is showing #BTC Whales and Mega Whales have been market buying in this range and a rounding bottom pattern is forming. A relief rally may be coming. Doesn't mean the macro bottom is in. #NFA #Crypto #tradingpsychology https://t.co/VzE3V2kA8Q pic.twitter.com/MmIyleHGer

— Material Indicators (@MI_Algos) May 3, 2022

Related Reading | TA: Bitcoin Bears Keep Pushing, Why Upsides Remain Limited

Another analyst claims the U.S. dollar could present some losses as it trends downwards into “weak” support at $0.95 in the EUR/USD chart. The analyst said the following hinting at the possibility of another “dead cat” bounce and more downside price action for BTC:

Last time it hit one of these was in the first March week. BTC rallied afterwards. So, now that it hit another level, maybe BTC will give us another exit pump before doom?

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ADA On Discount? Cardano Whales Go On $200M Shopping Spree

Cardano (ADA) has been on a steady downtrend since September of 2021 after hitting its all-time high of $3.1. This has been one of the most brutal downtrends for its investors, the majority of which are now drowning in losses. However, as they say, that one man’s misfortune is another man’s come up, whales have seen this as a perfect opportunity to buy up as much ADA as they can.  They have now ramped up their buying and have accumulated about $200 million worth of ADA in the space of a month.

Whales Buy 194 Million ADA

Over the past five weeks, Cardano whales have been busy accumulating the digital asset. These whales who hold between 1 million and 10 million ADA on their wallet balances have been the most active since the digital asset has been falling and trending around $1. It seems this has presented a buying opportunity to these whales who have now purchased 196 million ADA in this five-week period.

Related Reading | Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Fires Back At Warren Buffett’s Bitcoin Slander

Prior to this though, these same addresses have been on a dumping spree. It has caused their collective holdings to drop during this time and in the middle of March had hit one of the lowest points it has ever been. However, after prices had hit a new month low, the whales had resumed their accumulation trend which has increased their collective balances drastically. 

#Cardano whale addresses holding 1M to 10M $ADA are accumulating their bags these past 5 weeks (196M more $ADA) after a 7-month stretch of dumping (-1.7M less $ADA). The 9th largest market cap asset recently hit prices last this low in February, 2021. https://t.co/co8BcqHJAF pic.twitter.com/OXpbu3KSXp

— Santiment (@santimentfeed) May 3, 2022

In total, these whales have purchased about $200 million worth of ADA in a little over a month. This is not a new trend for Cardano whales though. In the first quarter of 2022 alone, it is reported that addresses that held between 1 and 10 million ADA on their balances had bought over 4 billion ADA. This had increased their collective balances to 12.19 before the dump trend that had started in the middle of March.

Cardano Hits Yearly Lows

The current price of Cardano is nothing to write home about but it seems that there is no clear end to this downtrend anytime soon. The digital asset has now managed to hit new yearly lows. ADA had last been at prices this low in February of 2021 and that was when the digital asset was at the beginning stages of its impressive 2021 bull rally.

ADA price hits one year low | Source: ADAUSD on TradingView.com

Even though the network boasts one of the most loyal investors following in the space, its price does not reflect this loyalty, nor does it reflect all of the upgrades that are being made on the network. This coupled with the flatlining transaction volume paints a rather gloomy future for the digital asset.

Related Reading | Bored Ape’s Land Sale Broke Ethereum. Extreme Success Or Roaring Failure?

Cardano investors are also bearing the brunt of the losses in the crypto market. According to data from IntoTheBlock, only 6% of all ADA holders are currently in profit. A measly 1% of holders are sitting tentatively in neutral territory, while the majority of holders (93%) are completely in the loss.

Featured image from Blaze Trends, chart from TradingView.com

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Bitcoin Price Continues Struggle, But Miners Refuse To Sell

On-chain data shows while the price of Bitcoin has continued to struggle recently, miners have shown diamond hands.

Bitcoin Miner Reserve Holds Still Amid The Recent Price Consolidation

As pointed out by an analyst in a CrypoQuant post, BTC miners have been accumulating for some time now, and the dwindling price hasn’t scared them.

The “Bitcoin miner reserve” is an indicator that measures the total amount of coins present in wallets of all miners.

When the value of this indicator observes a decrease, it means the supply held by miners is going down. Such a trend may be a sign that miners are dumping right now as they usually withdraw coins from their reserve for selling them on an exchange. And therefore, this can be bearish for the price of the coin.

On the other hand, an uptrend in the indicator, when prolonged, can prove to be bullish for the value of Bitcoin as it may show miners are accumulating at the moment.

Related Reading | Quant Explains Similarities Between Current And Summer 2020 Bitcoin Markets

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Bitcoin miner reserve over the past couple of years:

Looks like the value of the metric has been trending sideways in recent months | Source: CryptoQuant

As you can see in the above graph, the Bitcoin miner reserve was at a very high value before the start of the 2021 bull run, but as soon as it kicked off a lot of miners harvested profits.

Following the crash in May of the same year, miners held on for a while, but it wasn’t too long until they the metric saw a plunge as they dumped.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Perfectly Follows Market Cycle Comparison, What Comes Next For Crypto?

Active miners have running costs like electricity so in times of low profitability, they have to sell their coins to pay off these bills.

These holders started accumulating again in July as a new rally kicked off. This time, however, they didn’t sell off when the ATH was hit and a crash occurred.

Though, miners have also not been adding further to their Bitcoin reserves in recent months either. But nonetheless, they have held strong through the seemingly endless sideways movement the price of the crypto has shown lately.

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price floats around $38.4k, down 1% in the past week. Over the last month, the crypto has lost 17% in value.

The below chart shows the trend in the price of the coin over the last five days.

The value of the crypto seems to have slid down over the last few days | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView Featured image from Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com, CryptoQuant.com

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Why Terra’s Anchor Protocol Changed Earn Rate To 18% APY

Anchor Protocol, one of the most popular platforms in the Terra ecosystem, rolled out a change in its Earn Rate. The latter will begin to operate in a semi-dynamic fashion rather than the previously fixed 20% annual percentage yield (APY).

Related Reading | Terra Price Continues Moving North; How Soon Will It Cross $100? 

With a massive shift in the protocol’s reward mechanism, the new models aim at making Anchor “more sustainable”. As a result, users started earning an 18% APY as of yesterday, May 1. The earn rate will be modified each month for the foreseeable future.

The team behind this Terra project said the following via their official Twitter account:

The Anchor Earn rate adjusts dynamically by up to 1.5% each month based on if the yield reserve appreciated or depreciated. The floor is 15% APY & the ceiling is 20% APY.

The changes in Anchor’s earn rate are triggered by the protocol’s yield reserve. A .25% modification in this element will be followed by an adjustment in the Earn Rate.

This shift in the Terra protocol was approved, via Proposition 20, on March 24 this year. At the time, Anchor Protocol said:

The addition of a semi-dynamic Earn rate will contribute to the long-term sustainability of Anchor & will benefit users of the protocol by enabling yield reserve growth while continuing to provide an attractive yield on UST.

As seen below, the total borrowed versus total deposits on Anchor shows significant divergence. This is why the yield reserves on the protocol trend to the downside, especially in times of bearish price action on larger cryptocurrencies.

Source: Anchor Protocol

Some of the users believe that this trend could trigger a deppeging event for UST which could jeopardize the entire Terra ecosystem. The introduction of a semi-dynamic rate is the first step to avoiding this possibility.

Terra Is Not The Most Attractive Venue For Stablecoin Yield?

Some users believe that the new earn rate might not be enough and have been suggesting the implementation of investment strategies that can contribute to the yield reserves. Another part of the community seems focused on increasing the borrowing rate at Anchor.

However, as the chart above shows, deposits on the Terra protocol have been trending to the upside at a fast pace. In the meantime, the number of borrows has been moving sideways with a slight uptick in recent months.

Over the same period, other network launched their own stablecoins with alternatives to Anchor. NEAR and TRON stand out because of the hype and the APY that they are offering to their users.

TRON seems to have the largest incentives as it provides depositors with a 30% APY. Like Terra users with Anchor, many wonder if those rewards will be sustainable.

Related Reading | Terra Users Heads Up, Why NEAR May Launch Native Stablecoin With A 20% APR

At the time of writing, Terra (LUNA) trades at $83 with a 6% profit in 24-hours.

LUNA is on an upward trend on the daily chart. Source: LUNAUSDT Tradingview

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Billionaire Ricardo Salinas Fires Back At Warren Buffett’s Bitcoin Slander

Bitcoin is not topping the list of the favorite investments of some big names in the financial sector. One of those is billionaire Warren Buffett who has not been shy to voice his displeasure with the digital asset. This time around, Buffett has once again made known his hatred for the digital asset by saying that he would not buy all of the BTC in the world for $25. This has drawn the ire of investors in the space, one of which is Mexico’s third-richest man, Ricardo Salinas Pliego.

Warren Buffett Disses Bitcoin

Billionaire and legendary investor Warren Buffett recently made some remarks about bitcoin. The most popular of these have been the fact that he said that if he were offered all the bitcoins that exist for a measly $25, he still wouldn’t take the deal.

The Berkshire Hathaway head said this at the annual shareholder meeting where he once more reiterated his disdain for cryptocurrencies. He explained that bitcoin had nothing to offer, making it an unproductive asset with no tangible production. 

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He compared the digital asset to other stores of value which include land and apartments. Both of these, the billionaire admitted he would jump at a chance to put money into them. However, he wouldn’t do the same for bitcoin because it doesn’t produce anything and he would “have to sell it back to you one way or another.”

Despite the popularity of the digital asset over the years, the billionaire is still not convinced of its valuability. He pointed to the fact that he can’t tell for sure where the asset will be in the next five or 10 years but remains completely sure of the fact it does not produce anything. 

“It’s got a magic to it and people have attached magics to lots of things,” Buffett noted.

Salinas Fires Back

Buffett’s comments about bitcoin have no doubt stirred up criticism from the bitcoin community. They came out en masse to support and fire back at Buffett after the video made the rounds on social media. Bitcoin supporter and Mexican billionaire Ricardo Salinas Pliego also took time out to rebuke Buffett’s comment.

BTC holding the $36,000-$38,000 support level | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Salinas noted that Buffett was old and immune to change. Also adding that he was obviously commenting that he has no understanding of whatsoever. 

It's sad to see him rambling on about a suubject he clearly does not understand. That's why the future ALLWAYS belong to the young and not the OLD. https://t.co/2L5Lc8zHjE

— Ricardo Salinas Pliego (@RicardoBSalinas) May 1, 2022

Related Reading | Bitcoin Halving Model Suggests $24,000 Bottom Before Year’s End

The billionaire has not been the only one to fire back. Others have pointed out that Buffett continues to have holdings in crypto-friendly bank Nubank, as well as SBI Holdings and Bank of America which own more than 10% of Ripple and a Ripple partner respectively. 

BTC continues to maintain a good position on the charts. It is currently trading at $38,690 at the time of this writing.

Featured image from Bitcoin News, chart from TradingView.com

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Rarestone Capital’s Jared Polites on the State of Blockchain Marketing in 2022

Jared Polites is a partner at Rarestone Capital, an active Web3 fund with a marketing arm (Rarestone Labs). Since 2020, Rarestone has been at the forefront of investing in and marketing DeFi protocols, NFT drops, and Web3 infrastructure plays. As the industry is ever-changing, we wanted to catch up with Jared to see what has changed since the last cycle and how projects can best position themselves for success when thinking about marketing.

What are some tips you can offer to projects building out a marketing plan?

Polites: Similar to traditional tech user acquisition, projects need to build an effective communications strategy that discusses what value they are providing and how it directly impacts their users and communities. First, the key is to be consistent. Going “stealth” is a wild card strategy that can be used early on to gain momentum, but should not be the focus as a roadmap progresses. Over-communicate vs. under-communicate is my advice. Especially since attention spans are decreasing and community members will take their interest elsewhere if they don’t know exactly what is happening and when.

Second, make sure to have at least one marketer on your team. It sounds simple, but we find numerous dev-heavy teams that neglect marketing until the very last minute. In these situations, it is completely fine to outsource to agencies, but you need to have a point of contact internally to help coordinate and review each activity. Even someone junior is fine. A common misconception is that a good enough product will market itself, but the industry is becoming more crowded and moves at warp speed – you have to stand out from the crowd.

What has changed since 2017 in how projects should market themselves?

Polites: Communities, users, and even speculators are more sophisticated and to an extent, unforgiving. Short-term focused tactics that were often seen in the last cycle are now quickly exposed if detrimental to a project. For example, there is a recent trend that is questioning the long-term impact of staking. Often seen as a necessary early-stage strategy that helps reward engaged long-term users (and makes for a strong community announcement), industry players are now questioning the sustainability of staking. Is staking just a ploy to maintain a positive price trajectory and reduce sell pressure, or is it really about the community?

These are the questions and dilemmas that projects need to question when building a well-rounded marketing strategy.

What are some common pitfalls you see with how companies market themselves?

Polites: Many are not long-term focused. Make sure your marketing strategy aligns with your long-term vision and roadmap. For example, I see founders get caught up with flashy marketing campaigns that are detrimental to a project’s long-term token health. With generous emissions, interest spikes early on and then wanes as community members move on to the next shiny object. During this process, you need to evaluate what risk a marketing campaign must hold and why. Without this knowledge, all it would take is one bad market downturn to eliminate all momentum and possibly create a situation that is impossible to recover from.

 

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Analysts Predict ApeCoin To Hit $50 By End Of 2025 – And $100 By 2030

As Bitcoin and Ethereum price remain bearish for the longest time now; barely hitting above $40,000 for BTC and not going over $3,000 for ETH, ApeCoin, on the other hand, is on fever-pitch with price prediction of up to $100 by 2030. 

And to think, the coin is just warming up.

Both Bitcoin and Ethreum have been struggling and are down by 20% since April. Meanwhile, it’s all rainbows and sunshine recently for ApeCoin, a coin connected to the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection that is now dubbed as a $7-billion coin.

Suggested Reading | This Low-Cap DEX Altcoin Balloons 47% In The Face Of Crypto Market Stagnation

Price Predictions

Now, cryptocurrency titans and experts recently announced a price prediction for ApeCoin as it skyrockets to 50% in a week’s time following its NFT sale.

Dimitrio Salampasis, a FinTech speaker and lecturer at Swinburne University of Technology, is very optimistic and bullish with ApeCoin. His current prediction is $45. However, he says ApeCoin will be worth $10 come 2030.

The ongoing rush or hype with NFTs greatly impact the coin’s performace. Salampasis feels that crypto is overhyped at some point and it would gradually lose its value over time when the hype dies down.

However, Salampasis believes that now is the best time to sell ApeCoin. However, some of his co-panelists think that it’s time to HODL APE. Still, a few percent say now is definitely the time to buy.

Finder Co-Founder Fred Schebesta gave his forecast as well. He said APE could be valued at $20 by end of 2022, go higher at $50 by end of 2025, and finally shoot up to $100 by 2030.

BTC total market cap at $738.16 billion on the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com What’s APE?

ApeCoin is an Ethereum-based token of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) NFT by Yuga Labs. They have over 10,000 unique digital bored ape art collections.

ApeCoin DAO is also managed by the Ape Foundation. Investors who buy the Bored Ape NFTs are also eligible to claim APE tokens at zero costs.

More so, investors can also resell them or even use them in their own product branding. ApeCoin has been soaring lately because unlike other cryptos, it has expanded to other markets like tapping on NFT and the metaverse.

The possibilities and potential of crypto, NFT, and the blockchain in general are so limitless that it’s impossible to make a general forecast or prediction yet.

APE – Shaking Grounds In The Metaverse

APE is the token of the future. It is specifically engineered to support community-led activities in the APE ecosystem. It’s a decentralized protocol that will ultimately define a thriving culture in the metaverse.

Doubters in the panelists say that APE’s surge is only based on hype while there are crypto gurus who believe that it is in for the long haul. 

Yuga Labs is now primed to be the blue chip in the NFT category especially after purchasing CryptoPunks.

With their ecosystem and community, ApeCoin is bound to shake grounds in the metaverse.

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Featured image from The VR Soldier, chart from TradingView.com

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