Author: BTCLFGTEAM

  • STX price shoots up 31%

    STX price shoots up 31%

    • Stacks blockchain was designed to bring smart contracts and dApps to Bitcoin.
    • Stacks is providing a way to transfer assets to and from Bitcoin using smart contracts.
    • Its releases today advance its aim of making Bitcoin a more programmable smart contract hub.

    The price of STX, the native token of the Stacks blockchain, has risen by more than 143% over the past week besides today’s surge of 31.73% at press time. The reason for today’s Stacks price surge is mainly because of two major whitepaper releases by the Stacks blockchain as it continues with its goal of making the Bitcoin blockchain a more programmable smart contract hub.

    Stacks’ is a Layer-1 blockchain solution that aims works on bringing smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps) functionality to the Bitcoin blockchain. Bitcoin by design is a proof-of-work (PoW) blockchain with no in-built smart contracts capabilities.

    The two Stacks whitepapers

    The first whitepaper release is titled “sBTC whitepaper” while the second whitepaper release is titled “stacks whitepaper.”

    The sBTC whitepaper introduces a newly proposed asset referred to as sBTC that will act as a trustless two-way Bitcoin peg to allow for the swift transfer of assets to and from the Bitcoin blockchain. In essence, the sBTC will allow Bitcoin to become a more secure Web3 hub by enabling trustless writing to Bitcoin and the movement of Bitcoin in and out of Bitcoin layers. The transactions will be secured using 100% of Bitcoin hash power.

    The sBTC complements Stacks 2.0 which introduced “read” access to the Bitcoin protocol.

    The stacks whitepaper (Nakamoto Release) adds important capabilities to the Stacks protocol to enhance its power as a Bitcoin layer. The whitepaper introduces a number of changes that are to be made to the Stacks protocol in order to enable the trustless functionality of the newly proposed sBTC asset.

    While the release of the two whitepapers is a major milestone for Stacks, it is also a major boost for the Bitcoin economy. sBTC will introduce a new era of Bitcoin applications, which will in turn unlock $300B+ within the Bitcoin ecosystem in latent capital for Web3 and also accelerate the growth of the Bitcoin economy.

    Source link

  • Smartest man in the room has a warning about Bitcoin prices

    Smartest man in the room has a warning about Bitcoin prices

    • Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson is seen as one of the best analysts in Wall Street.

    • He warned that the S&P 500 is ripe for another 21% crash.

    • If this view is valid, we could see BTC prices crash as well.

    Bitcoin price dipped to about $24,000 as a somber mood engulfed the stocks and cryptocurrency industry. After rising to a high of $25,373 during the weekend, the BTC/USD price has struggled to retest it this week. And now, one of the best sell-side analysts in Wall Street, has issued a blistering warning about the market.

    Morgan Stanley’s Wilson warning

    In a note on Tuesday, Mike Wilson, the Chief Equity Strategist at Morgan Stanley, warned that the S&P 500 could crash by another 21%. If this happens, it means that the index could crash from the current $4,000 to about $3,140. 

    Wilson noted two main things that could push the S&P 500 index much lower in the near term. First, there is a reset of expectations about the Federal Reserve. The argument is that investors were expecting the Fed will start pivoting soon. 

    However, the reality is that recent data point to more hikes this year. Inflation remains stubbornly high while the unemployment rate has fallen to a multi-decade low of 3.4%.

    Second, corporate earnings have been a bit weak. Companies like Goldman Sachs and Home Depot published relatively weak financial results. According to FactSet, S&P 500 constituent companies have had a blended growth of -4.7% in the quarter, the worst since 2020. 

    Further, with the bond yield being highly inverted, there is a likelihood that the US will go through a major recession. Stocks tend to underperform in such a period. Mike Wilson is not the only analyst worried about stocks. In a widely-read report, Jeremy Grantham warned that the S&P 500 could crash to about $3,200.

    Implications for Bitcoin prices

    Mike Wilson did not mention Bitcoin prices in his note. He did not also mention cryptocurrencies in general. However, if his warning materializes, the fact is that it will have serious implications for BTC and other cryptocurrencies.

    In the past few months, Bitcoin and stocks have had a close correlation. A close look at the data shows that BTC and S&P 500 have a correlation coefficient of 0.91. A correlation of 1 or close to 1 is usually a sign that the two assets are closely correlated. 

    Therefore, if the S&P 500 crashes by 20%, there is a high possibility that Bitcoin price will drop further than that. As such, while it is too early to predict whether Mike Wilson will be right, it makes sense to start taking profits.

    Source link

  • Bitcoin’s break to $25k was fueled by massive liquidations

    Bitcoin’s break to $25k was fueled by massive liquidations

    • Bitcoin price broke above $22,500 to new highs above $25,000 amid the hunt for short stops and liquidations.
    • The move to $25k resulted from short liquidations of over $155 million.
    • While price could retreat to $24k, Bitfinex analysts say recent price movements could be indicative of a bottom.

    Bitcoin price rose above $25k briefly before slipping back under the key psychological and technical area. 

    According to analysts at crypto exchange Bitfinex, the retreat to this week’s lows comes after a 10% upswing and a green weekly candle. However, the benchmark crypto did not hit a crucial daily candle close at that zone.

    Even then, it is likely the price movement is another major step towards “the latter stages of a gruesome bear market,” the analysts noted in a report.

    BTC spike to $25k fueled by massive liquidations

    Bitfinex analysts also suggest that Bitcoin’s breakout from the $22,500 price level to highs above $25,000 was fueled by the massive liquidations recorded over the past few days.

    Commenting on BTC price outlook and what could lie awake in coming weeks, they said in a statement shared with CoinJournal.

    Over the past two weeks, the BTC price has been hunting both over-leveraged long positions, as well as liquidating over-eager shorts of over $155 million. It reached an eight-month high of $25,000 in the process. Another sharp but short-lived pullback caught out some short-term bullish speculators off-guard who were betting on a push to the upper $25,000-$26,000s on Thursday, February 16th, as evidenced by a spike in long position liquidations on that day. Profit-taking in the wake of the recent rally and a stop-run on those who had gotten overly aggressive chasing the upside might well send Bitcoin back below $24,000 in the week ahead.”

    On what happens next, the analysts say price action as has played out recently has historically, resulted in ranged price movement. This is due to the action that has seen both longs and shorts have been simultaneously wiped off.

    The most probable move going forward is to scale out of positions partially and wait for the range to form without a strong directional bias,” they explained.

    In a tweeted prediction for Bitcoin price, YouTuber and crypto analyst Sheldon The Sniper says Bitcoin could go to $28k or revisit support at $21k. He shared the outlook above as BTC price continued to hover around $25,683 at 2:15 pm ET on Tuesday.



    Source link

  • Bitcoin “shrimp” addresses hit 43.2 million

    Bitcoin “shrimp” addresses hit 43.2 million

    • Bitcoin “shrimp” wallets, which hold 1 bitcoin recently surged to 43.2 million.
    • Bitcoin addresses with 0.01 BTC or less have also hit an all-time high of 32.6 billion.
    • Data also shows bitcoin wallets in profit have reached 70% after recent price gains.

    Bitcoin price recently reached an eight month high when it rallied to highs above $25,000 last week.

    Despite this, the latest market data from asset manager CoinShares shows Bitcoin investment products saw outflows of $25 million, about 78% of the $32 million that exited amid negative sentiment. But a new report shared by crypto exchange Bitfinex indicates that Bitcoin still saw massive growth in terms of the address count with one BTC or lower.

    Bitcoin “shrimp” addresses hit 43.2 million

    According to data shared in the Bitfinex Alpha report published Monday, 20 February 2023, Bitcoin addresses with less than one bitcoin, or “shrimps”, recently jumped to 43.2 million – the highest the count has hit in the flagship cryptocurrency’s history.

    No doubt this has been greatly helped by the massive growth in addresses with 0.01 BTC or less. Per the Bitfinex report, and from on-chain data by analytics platform Glassnode, the number of wallets with balances of 0.01 BTC or under recently hit 32.6 million.

    Overall, wallet addresses with non-zero balances are at an all-time high, which Bitfinex researchers say is indicative of “an influx of new investors.” 

    As CoinJournal recently covered, shrimps actually increased their buying even as prices fell after the FTX collapse. And it is this increase in the number of non-zero wallets that could have fueled Bitcoin’s recent upside momentum, the Bitfinex team noted in their report.

    Is it the start of a new Bitcoin bull market?

    Bitcoin has been largely upwards in January and February, with nearly 50% in overall gains year-to-date as of 21 February. In fact, as Glassnode data shows, the number of Bitcoin wallets in profit (7-day moving average) has also just hit a 10-month high.

    While analysts warn of a potential pullback amid profit booking across crypto, the sentiment is still mostly bullish for BTC in the short term. And the recent growth in shrimp wallet addresses aligns with historical market trends in a bear market.

    In this case, bull markets have traditionally been highlighted by wealth distribution, with the entry of new short term holders a metric that helps signal the shift in market direction.

    However, as Bitfinex analysts noted in their report, the latest data is only a “snapshot of the current situation.” In short, it is hard to predict where the market goes next at any one given time.



    Source link