Tag: UNITY

  • Unity Wallet COO: three factors are affecting crypto market prices

    Unity Wallet COO: three factors are affecting crypto market prices

    • The Bybit hack has increased fears over centralized exchange security vulnerabilities
    • US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs are increasing market uncertainty
    • Trump’s crypto promises may have started as being great, but they could end up proving catastrophic

    Three things are contributing to the drop in crypto prices, which has seen Bitcoin fall 7.50% over 24 hours to $78,000, according to Unity Wallet’s COO.

    BTC price at $78,000. Source: CoinMarketCap

    It’s a significant drop from Bitcoin’s all-time high, which reached $109,000 in January ahead of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration.

    According to James Toledano, it feels like optimism around the crypto market post-election created a bubble and that the “reality post-inauguration is now setting in – and hard,” he said to CoinJournal.

    In Toledano’s view, the Bybit hack at the crypto exchange last Friday—which resulted in the theft of nearly $1.5 billion worth of Ethereum—is one of the contributing factors affecting crypto prices.

    Undermining investor confidence, it has led to panic withdrawals and a market-wide selloff across the board. While Bybit’s CEO, Ben Zhou, quickly responded to the hack, the situation has increased “fears about centralized exchange security vulnerabilities—which only solidifies the case for self-custodial services,” Toledano continued.

    Dom Harz, co-founder of BOB (“Build on Bitcoin”), a hybrid Layer-2, said to CoinJournal the theft at Bybit is a “stark reminder of the industry’s fundamental issues,” adding:

    “We’ve been hypnotized by price spikes, memecoin frenzies, and media spectacles, forgetting that crypto was meant to be a new financial system—one built on decentralized protocols that make finance accessible to everyone. Bybit just gave us a $1.5 billion reminder that we are nowhere near that reality.”

    Trump’s tariffs

    The continued market selloff follows Trump’s trade tariff announcement earlier this week.

    During his election campaign, the US president made promises regarding crypto, stating that America will be the “crypto capital of the planet.”

    Since entering the White House, he has appointed pro-crypto individuals to reshape government agencies, namely Paul Akins as the incoming chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

    Mark Uyeda is currently acting chair of the SEC.

    Trump also signed an executive order to establish a crypto working group to provide regulatory clarity. It’s also expected that the working group will look into the potential of a national crypto stockpile.

    Yet, despite these steps, Trump’s trade wars—which could soon hit the EU, the world’s largest trading bloc, with a 25% tariff—is increasing market uncertainty.

    According to Toledano, Trump’s tariffs are “harming the global economy” and that many in the crypto space feel let down by the US president.

    “The promise was great and the reality is potentially proving to be catastrophic,” he added. “It does make me wonder if Trump understands that financial verticals are interlinked and increasingly converging.”

    Biggest economic risk

    The third contributing factor affecting market prices—according to Toledano—are questions around the overall governance of the US.

    An article by Chatham House suggests that the biggest economic risk from Trump’s presidency is a loss of confidence in US governance. It reads that while Trump’s policies may seem mild in the short term, steps that undermine the US and its international allies could have lasting effects.

    “I rarely get spooked from the peaks and troughs that crypto presents but when I combine what’s happening with traditional equities volatility, I think there is cause for concern right now,” said Toledano.

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  • Unity COO: It’s “disingenuous” to say Trump’s win directly caused Bitcoin price rise

    Unity COO: It’s “disingenuous” to say Trump’s win directly caused Bitcoin price rise

    An image of a Bitcoin in front a background with arrows pointing up
    • Bitcoin reached a high of $75,317 in the early hours of this morning
    • In September, Bernstein analysts predicted Bitcoin to reach between $80,000 and $90,000 by the end of 2024 if Trump won
    • Unity’s COO said to CoinJournal said it was “disingenuous” to say Trump winning the US election was the sole reason Bitcoin’s price went up

    Bitcoin rose to a record high of over $75,000 early this morning as voting results signalled a Donald Trump win for the White House.

    Data from CoinMarketCap shows Bitcoin achieved a high of $75,317 around 6:25 this morning. Before the election results started coming in last night, Bitcoin was trading at around $69,000.

    However, as the evening progressed and into the early morning, Bitcoin continued an upward trajectory before reaching its new all-time high.

    Bitcoin’s last all-time high took place in March when it reached $73,000.

    Bitcoin’s all-time high of over $75,000. Source: Coinmarketcap

     

    Data from AP News shows Trump has taken 277 of the electoral results compared to Vice President and presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ 224.

    Will the price rise continue?

    While the new high comes amid the US election results, many will be wondering whether this upward movement will continue. In September, Bernstein analysts predicted that Bitcoin could reach between $80,000 and $90,000 by the end of 2024 if Trump won the presidential election.

    According to James Toldeano, COO of self-custody wallet Unity, people need to realize that data based on the 2012, 2016, and 2020 US elections doesn’t reveal consistent patterns for the crypto market concerning election results.

    “Some have looked at the 2020 election and seen the price rise from $13,760 prior to the election on November 1, to $19,698 following the election on December 1, and immediately asserted it was the election that drove the increase,” said Toldeano to Coinjournal.

    In reality, Toldeano added, several factors contributed to the price rise, including US stimulus payments, increasing interest from companies like MicroStrategy buying Bitcoin, and people seeing Bitcoin as a safe investment during the Covid pandemic.

    “While the election happened during this time, it’s disingenuous to say it directly caused the price increase,” he said.

    In the long-term, it won’t be the election that moves the crypto market, but “broader macroeconomic events, technological advancements, shifting market sentiment, and factors outside of the next President’s control,” Toldeano explained.

    Pro-crypto

    Former US President Donald Trump has come across as more crypto-friendly compared to Harris.

    Back in May, Trump promised that, if he was re-elected, he’d free Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road creator. Ulbricht has already served 11 years in prison. In August, Trump also promised to make America the “crypto capital of the planet.”

    In September, Trump became the first US president to use the Bitcoin network. He achieved this after sending a Bitcoin transaction at PubKey, a crypto-themed bar in New York ahead of his campaign rally in Long Island.

    On the flip side, Harris has been muted about her stance on crypto despite saying her administration would support a crypto regulatory framework if she became the next US president.

    “Incoming President Trump has the power to save crypto in the US where urgent change is needed,” said Jesper Johansen, CEO and founder of Northstake, an Ethereum staking marketplace, to Coinjournal.

    “First amongst the new administration’s priorities should be to define staking as an opportunity for US investors,” Johansen continued. “The question still lingers: is staking a commodity or a security?”

    Johansen said that $6 billion is sitting in Ethereum exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which aren’t being staked, meaning investors are missing out on economic opportunities. According to Johansen, this could be one of the reasons why the uptake of Ethereum ETFs hasn’t been as popular as Bitcoin ETFs.

    “Once these core issues have been solved, changes are needed within the SEC to ensure that crypto is viewed as a vehicle of innovation, rather than something to be feared,” he added.

    Ahead of the election, Trump said he’d remove Gary Gensler, chair of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC); however, it remains to be seen whether this will happen because the SEC is an independent federal agency.

    At the time of publishing, Bitcoin is trading at around $74,000.

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