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  • Ethereum price forecast: ETH bull case remains intact despite strategic profit-taking

    Ethereum price forecast: ETH bull case remains intact despite strategic profit-taking

    Ethereum Price

    • Ethereum price is at $3,640 amid some profit-taking deals.
    • Despite some whales selling, institutional interest remains high and demand is absorbing the dump.
    • Analysts say the ETH bull market remains intact.

    Ethereum has retreated slightly from its highs of $3,856 as it dips nearly 4% in the past 24 hours amid some profit-taking moves.

    But while the top altcoin changes hands at $3,640 at the time of writing, analysts maintain Ethereum is on a bullish course and that ETH still has room to explode.

    ETH sees strategic profit taking

    The $4,000 mark remains elusive for Ethereum in 2025, with the highs of $3,856 marking a key peak since the declines from $4,000 in December 2024.

    It means Ethereum price has lagged as Bitcoin climbed to multiple new highs.

    Selling pressure at current levels alludes to likely struggles in the short term, analysts at Glassnode have noted.

    The outlook is down to the Cost Basis Distribution Heatmap of Ethereum, which Glassnode analysts say shows buyers are cashing out gains.

    This strategic profit-taking is calculated towards securing profits after ETH posted strong upward moves these past weeks.

    Sellers have included whales. Lookonchain shared on X that one whale has sold 8,000 ETH for over $30 million.

    Ethereum price forecast: here’s why bull case remains intact

    Despite the profit-taking, Glassnode highlights a fascinating scenario with equilibrium emerging.

    Notably, data shows new demand is steadily absorbing the supply hitting the market, with selling pressure yet to overwhelm buyer interest.

    It’s a resilient market structure for ETH that suggests pullback action is likely to dissipate as bulls take control.

    While some whales sell, others have accumulated. Also, institutional holders like SharpLink Gaming have been aggressive.

    The company has acquired a massive chunk of ETH in recent weeks.

    Helping buyers is overall market sentiment that sees open interest in ETH futures soar to all-time highs. OI currently sits around $58 billion per Coinglass, which indicates interest is elevated.

    Ethereum is also sporting gains amid staking explosion, spot ETF inflows and regulatory developments. The ETH spot ETF inflows for Ethereum reached 588,000 ETH last week – higher than recent peak.

    Traders will eye potential corrections for buy opportunities, with consolidation in the near term allowing for a retest of key supply zone areas.

    On the flipside, sellers may be encouraged by weakening on-balance volume and extended cashing out.

    The $3,500 remains important and robust support may be around $3,000.

    Yet, the RSI on the daily chart is not overextended as it hovers just below the overbought territory.

    The MACD also still boasts a bullish case scenario. The $4,000 threshold is therefore one to watch.
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  • UK judge says there’s no “reasonable grounds” for success with Bitcoin landfill hard drive case

    UK judge says there’s no “reasonable grounds” for success with Bitcoin landfill hard drive case

    • Upon hearing the judge’s decision, Howells said “it’s the great British justice system striking again”
    • Howells lost his hard drive in 2013 when it was accidentally thrown away at the tip
    • He has been trying to engage with Newport City Council for 12 years to recover his hard drive, but says he’s been “largely ignored”

    James Howells has lost his case to recover a lost Bitcoin hard drive from a Welsh landfill that’s now worth around $740 million.

    Howells accidentally threw out his hard drive containing 8,000 Bitcoin in 2013 during a household clearout. At the time, he had two hard drives of the same size: one was blank while the other contained his Bitcoin.

    He mistakenly put the one containing the Bitcoin into a black bin bag, which his then-girlfriend took to the tip. At the time of his loss, his assets – that he mined in 2009 – were worth around $1.3 million.

    In October, Howells sued Newport City Council for $646 million in damages after being denied access to the landfill due to environmental concerns.

    Now, Judge Keyser KC, the Circuit Commercial Judge for Wales, has dismissed Howells’ case, stating that there are no “reasonable grounds” for succeeding at a full trial, reports the BBC.

    A 12-year battle

    Upon hearing the decision, Howells said he was “very upset,” adding “it’s the great British justice system striking again.”

    Over the past 12 years, Howells said he has been trying to engage with Newport City Council to recover his lost hard drive, but has been “largely ignored.”

    A court filing states Howells hard drive is located in Cell 2, Area 2 of the Docksway landfill. Yet, despite promises to safely excavate the Newport site and to modernize the landfill, the council have rejected Howells’ requests to dig due to “environmental concerns.”

    Howells’ lawyers claim that the council have “simply ignored” that 10% of Bitcoin could bring “a huge and desperately needed investment in the local community.”

    The judge’s decision comes as Bitcoin soared past $100,000 for the first time at the beginning of December, pushing to an all-time high of more than $108,000.

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  • Grayscale secures a big win against SEC in Bitcoin ETF case

    Grayscale secures a big win against SEC in Bitcoin ETF case

    grayscale win against sec in bitcoin etf case
    • U.S. court rules in favour of Grayscale in its lawsuit against SEC.
    • Today’s ruling paves the way for the first U.S. Bitcoin ETF.
    • Bitcoin and Ethereum jumped over 5.0% following the news.

    The U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit just ruled in favour of Grayscale in its long-running lawsuit against the Securities & Exchange Commission.

    First U.S. Bitcoin ETF is now expected soon

    SEC had blocked the asset manager’s effort to convert its flagship Grayscale Bitcoin Trust to an exchange-traded fund last year.

    But the ruling this morning paves the way for a Bitcoin ETF not just for Grayscale but also for others that have applied for one, including BlackRock and Fidelity. A Grayscale spokeswoman said today:

    [Ruling] is a monumental step forward for investors, Bitcoin ecosystem, and those who have been advocating for Bitcoin exposure through added protections of ETF wrapper.

    Bitcoin as well as Ethereum jumped more than 5.0% following the announcement on Tuesday.

    Why does a Bitcoin ETF attract all the hype?

    Note that a Spot Bitcoin ETF is a big deal as several experts are convinced that it would help boost institutional interest in the cryptocurrency and potentially unlock its next leg up.

    Shares of Coinbase Global – the listed custodian partner in a bunch of applications for such an exchange-traded fund are also up nearly 15% at writing. According to Dave Weisberger – the Chie Executive of CoinRoutes:

    It virtually guarantees they will approve BlackRock and Fidelity. Grayscale may need to refile, but they will almost certainty be approved as well.

    The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust currently manages assets worth about $16 billion. The aforementioned lawsuit against the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission started in June of 2022.

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  • CFTC wins a record $3.4B penalty payment in a Bitcoin-related fraud case

    CFTC wins a record $3.4B penalty payment in a Bitcoin-related fraud case

    • This is the largest fraud case involving Bitcoin that CFTC has cracked so far.
    • The case involved the CEO of Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited (MTI).
    • Half of the $3.4B will go toward providing restitution to victims of MTI’s fraudulent activities.

    A Texas court has ordered Johannes Steynberg, the CEO of Mirror Trading International Proprietary Limited (MTI) to pay a $3.4 billion penalty in connection with a large-scale fraud case involving Bitcoin.

    According to the CFTC allegations, Steynberg engaged in an international fraudulent multilevel marketing scheme (MLM) to ask for bitcoins from the public for an unregistered commodity pool operated by the South Africa-based company MTI.

    Steynberg who was controlling MTI and the company falsely claimed to trade off-exchange retail forex through a proprietary “bot” or software program between May 2018 and approximately March 2021.

    The final judgment read:

    “Either directly or indirectly, the defendants misappropriated all of the Bitcoin they accepted from pool participants.”

    According to the CFTC Steynberg, individually and as the principal and agent of MTI, accepted at least 29,421 bitcoins, valued at over $1.7 billion at the time. The bitcoin was obtained from at least 23,000 individuals in the US and other countries around the world. The individuals were tricked to participate in the commodity pool although MTI was not registered as a commodity pool operator (CPO), as required by the law.

    Steynberg arrest

    Steynberg was arrested in December 2021 and has been held in Brazil on an Interpol arrest warrant since then.

    Besides the recent charges against him by the CFTC, Steynberg is also permanently banned from registering with the CFTC or trading in any CFTC-regulated markets.

    Restituting MTI’s victims

    Half of the $3.4 billion penalty will go towards providing restitution to the victims of MTI’s fraudulent activities. The other half is a civil penalty, which is the highest civil penalty to be ordered in any CFTC case.

    The CFTC has however conceded that “orders requiring payment of funds to victims may not result in the recovery of any money lost because wrongdoers may not have sufficient funds or assets.”

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  • Crypto VC exec on bulls’ case

    Crypto VC exec on bulls’ case

    • Chris Burniske says Ethereum could outperform Bitcoin in March due to the Shanghai upgrade.
    • Burniske is a partner at crypto-focused VC Placeholder and formerly of ARK Invest (crypto division).
    • According to the investor, pullbacks are likely to remain “within current uptrend.”

    Chris Burniske, partner at venture capital firm Placeholder and former head of crypto ARK Invest, is bullish on crypto going into March.

    The investor believes the recent flip in sentiment has not resulted in deeper rot for major cryptocurrencies, despite the weakness seen across stocks amid investor anxiety over interest rates.

    In a tweet posted this weekend, Burniske said the outlook is mostly bullish as recent pullbacks have been largely mild.

    “From where I sit, I’m surprised crypto hasn’t pulled back more given weakness in equities and upward repricing in rates — bullish,” he noted.

    Ex-ARK Invest head of crypto shares Ethereum and Bitcoin price predictions

    Bitcoin and Ethereum have both retreated from year-to-date highs, from above $25k and $1.7k respectively. 

    As noted above, the leading digital assets by market capitalization have given up the recent gains amid continued jitters over US inflation data. Buy-side volume has also tanked on shifting sentiment around the regulatory environment in the United States returned sell-off pressure across the markets.  

    But while Bitcoin has retraced to support around $23,000 and Ethereum continues to hover around $1,600, the crypto bull says any further losses in the short term are likely to be “within the current uptrend.”

    “To those saying some version of “just wait,” sure we could pull back a bit more, but calls for new lows anytime soon are silly. Pullbacks are consolidation within the current uptrend, imo,” the investor added.

    In terms of price prediction for the top two coins, Burniske thinks Ethereum will outperform Bitcoin in March. According to him, ETH is likely to gain fresh momentum from the highly anticipated Shanghai upgrade, which is expected to drive staking flows. 

    The outlook is supported by on-chain data, which shows new value sent to the ETH 2.0 deposit contract continues to rise. 

    Crypto analytics firm Santiment recently shared a chart showing that the number of newly staked coins rose a 5-month high count earlier this week.

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