News Updates August 02, 2022

1. Is a Retest of $20K Incoming For Bitcoin? (BTC Price Analysis) 

Bitcoin has typically experienced two phases in each cycle; a bull market in which the price surges and records a new all-time high, followed by a bear market when the price experiences a significant decline.

Technical Analysis The Weekly Chart

Historically, at the end of each bear market, after experiencing a +80% correction while Bitcoin tries to find a long-term bottom and commence its next bullish rally, the price has briefly touched the 200-week moving average.

Remarkably, during the recent significant shakeout, the price fell below this consequential moving average and retraced to the broken level at about $24K. If the pullback pattern holds up, it might be taken as validation for another leg down to the $16K level. On the contrary, if the cryptocurrency succeeds in breaching the moving average, a rebound toward the $27K resistance level will be highly anticipated.

The 4-Hour Chart
After experiencing a bearish expansion rally, the price has formed a well-known classic pattern called a flag. After testing the lower edge alongside the $19K support level, the price has finally initiated a short-term rally and attempted to break the upper boundary. However, BTC failed to overtake the flag’s upper threshold and is slightly plummeting.

Nevertheless, a clear double-top price action pattern(a notable reversal pattern) can be determined in Bitcoin’s 4-hour timeframe chart. Considering that, BTC seems likely to experience another shakeout to retest the $19K. If the $19K critical support level fails to hold the price, the next destination will be the $16K mark. On the other hand, there is a high prospect for the price to use the existent imbalance/market inefficiency at around $22K to begin its next major rally toward the $27K significant resistance.

Bitcoin Short Term Holder SOPR
Bitcoin has been bouncing from the $20K support area over the last few weeks after massive loss realizations by many different groups of market participants.

2. Robinhood's Crypto Division Fined $30M by New York Financial Regulator
The online broker said last year it expected the fine following a 2020 investigation.

The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) fined the crypto trading unit of Robinhood (HOOD) $30 million for alleged violations of anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulations. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the fine on Tuesday.
“As its business grew, Robinhood Crypto failed to invest the proper resources and attention to develop and maintain a culture of compliance – a failure that resulted in significant violations of the Department’s anti-money laundering and cybersecurity regulations,” said NYDFS Superintendent Adrienne A. Harris in a statement.
In addition to the fine, Robinhood will also be required to retain an independent consultant to evaluate its compliance with NYDFS regulations.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the fine against Robinhood is the NYDFS's first crypto enforcement action.
In a statement to CoinDesk, Robinhood's associate general counsel of litigation and regulatory enforcement, Cheryl Crumpton, wrote that "we are pleased the settlement in principle reached last year and previously disclosed in our public filings is now final. We have made significant progress building industry-leading legal, compliance, and cybersecurity programs, and will continue to prioritize this work to best serve our customers."
According to Robinhood's first-quarter results, crypto constituted about 25% of the company's transaction-based revenue.
Robinhood Crypto said last year that it expected to be fined $30 million by the New York regulator. A 2020 investigation “focused primarily on anti-money laundering and cybersecurity-related issues” and found the company to be in violation of numerous regulatory requirements, the firm said at the time.
In 2021, the trading firm was fined $70 million by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the largest fine ever issued by FINRA, for failing to protect customers.
Shares of Robinhood were down just over 1% in early trading Tuesday at $8.94.

3. European Central Bank bets on CBDCs over BTC for cross-border payments
ECB’s interest in identifying the best cross-border payment solution stems from the fact that it serves as the central bank of the 19 European Union countries which have adopted the euro. 

A recent study conducted by the European Central Bank (ECB) on identifying the ultimate cross-border payment medium crowned central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) as the winner against competitors, including banking, Bitcoin (BTC) and stablecoins, among others.

ECB’s interest in identifying the best cross-border payment solution stems from the fact that it serves as the central bank of the 19 European Union countries which have adopted the euro. The study, “Towards The Holy Grail of Cross-border Payments,” referred to Bitcoin as the most prominent unbacked crypto asset.

EBC’s opinion of Bitcoin as a bad cross-border payment system boils down to the settlement mechanism of the highly volatile asset, adding that:

“Since the settlement in the Bitcoin network occurs only around every ten minutes, valuation effects are already materializing at the moment of settlement, making Bitcoin payments actually more complicated.”

While the study highlighted Bitcoin’s inherent scaling and speed issues, it failed to consider the timely upgrades — Taproot and Lightning Network — that improve the network performance, concluding that “The underlying technology (and in particular its ‘proof-of-work’ layer) is inherently expensive and wasteful.”

On the other hand, the ECB recognized CBDCs as a better fit for cross-border payments owing to greater compatibility with forex exchange (FX) conversions. Two major advantages highlighted in this regard are the preservation of monetary sovereignty and the ease of instant payments via intermediaries such as central banks.

4. England and Wales Law Commissions Propose Recognizing Crypto as a New.

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IN BRIEF
The Law Commission published the consultation on reforming laws for the crypto asset class.
It suggests creating a new type of property for novel assets like crypto, which could help protect investors.
The United Kingdom has been ramping up its regulatory focus, with a stablecoin regulation bill emerging last week.
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The Trust Project is an international consortium of news organizations building standards of transparency.
 
 
The Law Commission of England and Wales put out a consultation paper that proposes creating a new form of property for conferring legal rights to cryptocurrencies et al. The commission believes that this will protect investors.

The Law Commission of England and Wales 

 
IN BRIEF
The Law Commission published the consultation on reforming laws for the crypto asset class.
It suggests creating a new type of property for novel assets like crypto, which could help protect investors.
The United Kingdom has been ramping up its regulatory focus, with a stablecoin regulation bill emerging last week.
PromoSpecial $LOCG Staking Program Earn Up to 188% AP
 
The Trust Project is an international consortium of news organizations building standards of transparency.
 
 
The Law Commission of England and Wales put out a consultation paper that proposes creating a new form of property for conferring legal rights to cryptocurrencies et al. The commission believes that this will protect investors.

The Law Commission of England and Wales published a consultation paper on the crypto market, talking about several aspects of the asset class. The paper is focused on reforming laws with respect to certain digital assets as objects of property rights. The Law Commission will accept comments and responses until Nov. 4, 2022.

Primarily, the consultation paper considers private law principles and private property laws for cryptocurrencies and NFTs. It says that digital assets and related technology “could create an internet of property.”

5. Pakistani Politician Imran Khan's Instagram Account Used to Promote Crypto Giveaway Scam.

Imran Khan, a former prime minister of Pakistan and current chairman of one of the largest political parties in the country, has confirmed that his Instagram account was compromised and hackers used it to promote a cryptocurrency giveaway scam.

Imran Khan’s Instagram Account Hacked, Used to Promote Crypto Scam
Imran Khan, a former Pakistani prime minister and current chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), one of the largest political parties in the country, reportedly confirmed that his Instagram account was hacked Monday.

He told Dawn publication that his account was soon recovered with the help of Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram. He explained that he himself monitors the account, which has 7.4 million followers, noting that the hackers posted a cryptocurrency link and a screenshot of a tweet from Tesla CEO Elon Musk to the account.

The cryptocurrency link posted on the politician’s account leads to a crypto giveaway site featuring Musk and his company Spacex. Scammers claim to be giving away bitcoin (BTC), ether (ETH), dogecoin (DOGE), and litecoin (LTC).