News Updates February 03, 2023
1. $20K Bitcoin may return, says analyst as US unemployment hits 54-year low
Bitcoin (BTC) fell prior to the Feb. 3 Wall Street open as fresh United States economic data came in “hot hot hot.”
Think again over U.S. recession
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it erased gains from earlier in the day to center on $23,000 support.
The pair reacted negatively to U.S. unemployment data for January, which beat expectations so considerably that overall jobless figures fell to their lowest since 1969.
Non-farm payrolls (NFP) data likewise outperformed, while average hourly earnings conformed to forecast 0.3% growth.
“HUGE beat in NFP,” popular analytics account Tedtalksmacro responded on Twitter.
Returning to predictions from the day prior, Tedtalksmacro eyed a potential opportunity to increase Bitcoin exposure given the latest comedown, which it said could take BTC/USD all the way to $20,000.
“An opportunity to reload on this news, potentially,” a further tweet added.
Bitcoin’s cold feet comes from the implication that a stronger-than-forecast labor market allows the Federal Reserve to maintain tighter, less liquid monetary conditions for a longer period of time.
“US economy sliding into a recession? Well, think again. At least not in the near term,” economist and analyst Jan Wuestenfeld continued.
$25,000 Bitcoin now crowded trade
As Cointelegraph reported, the Fed raised interest rates by 0.25% this week, in line with almost all expectations, while Chair Jerome Powell caused excitement by using the term “disinflation” in accompanying comments.
BTC/USD thus spiked above $24,000 for the second time in as many days, with market participants still hopeful of a trip to $25,000 before a more significant retracement.
“BTC has had a clean breakout above its macro downtrend line a backtest,” investment research resource Game of Trades stated.
“The next big resistance to clear is the $25k region.”
2. Top Reason Why Bitcoin (BTC) Just Reclaimed $24,000
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, has managed to touch the pivotal $24,000 level once again.
Earlier today, the bellwether coin peaked at $24,258 on the Bitstamp exchange before giving up some gains.
Bitcoin’s latest price uptick coincided with a big U.S. stock rally. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index, which is tightly correlated with Bitcoin, is up nearly 3%.
Shares of social giant Meta soared more than 20% despite the fact that the company recorded an earnings miss. However, cost cuts and the company’s $40 billion buyback managed to overshadow the underwhelming report.
As reported by U.Today, the largest cryptocurrency experienced little volatility after the Federal Reserve hiked the benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage point, which was in line with the market’s expectations.
However, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has signaled that the central bank would continue hiking interest rates in order to tame inflation, meaning that a much-coveted dovish pivot will not happen anytime soon.
Bitbank’s Yuya Hasegawa told CNBC that Bitcoin’s current rally appears to be in a precarious position since bulls are struggling to print a daily close above the make-it-or-break-it $24,000 level.
Hence, it might seem like the largest cryptocurrency is already losing its momentum after recording stellar gains in January.
The largest cryptocurrency is up more than 40% this year, which is a significant relief rally following a string of losses in 2022.
That said, the largest cryptocurrency is still down more than 65% from its record high.
3. UK Bank Nationwide Has Restricted Card Payments to Binance
Nationwide said it has taken this decision due to "media coverage" and "regulatory uncertainty."
U.K. bank Nationwide Building Society has restricted card payments made by users to cryptocurrency exchange Binance.
Card payments to Binance are being declined by the U.K. bank "until further notice," according to a page on its website, adding that customers can still withdraw funds on Binance through their Nationwide account.
While the website didn't say when the policy was instigated, a tweet dating from 2021 indicates the decision was made that July. Earlier in the same month, shortly after the U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) warned that Binance was not allowed to conduct any regulated activity in the country, the lender said it was assessing its policies on crypto transactions.
Nationwide said it took the decision due to "media coverage" and "regulatory uncertainty." The bank is also concerned about "the rising number of scams," according to a post on its Twitter page.
4. Binance-WazirX Dispute Rages as the Indian Crypto Exchange Is Told to Move Funds Out of Binance
The solution ostensibly ends worries about what would happen to customer funds if Binance and WazirX end their collaboration.
Binance has invited Zanmai Labs, the entity operating Indian crypto exchange WazirX, to work out arrangements to withdraw any remaining assets held in Binance wallets, according to a blog post on Friday.
The solution ostensibly ends worries about what would happen to customer funds if Binance and WazirX end their collaboration, but seems to have further escalated the fight between the two crypto exchanges.
"As an exception, we have invited Zanmai to work out arrangements with us to withdraw any remaining assets in the relevant accounts after [Feb. 3]. However, the responsibility ultimately lies with the Zanmai team to make the withdrawals expeditiously," Binance said.
In a tweet on Friday at 14:58 UTC, WazirX said it had begun the process of transferring assets to multi-sig wallets, and that it expects the process to be completed "within the next few hours."
5. MetaMask rolls out updates to privacy settings for new and existing users.
Ethereum wallet provider MetaMask introduced new security and privacy functions for new and existing users, while making it easier for them to change their RPC providers.
MetaMask has introduced a range of features that the project says will give users more control over their data, according to an announcement on Feb. 2. These features include the ability to toggle on or off particular settings that control the transfer of user data to third-party services. These services help users to avoid falling victim to phishing attacks and they also help to decode incoming transactions.
It also made it easier to switch RPC (remote procedure call) providers. RPC providers offer nodes that allow apps like MetaMask to connect to blockchains, enabling such apps to broadcast user transactions to supported network. Users now have a more convenient way to set their preferred RPC provider rather than using Infura, the default one on MetaMask.
To do so, MetaMask said new users can go to “set advanced privacy settings” to change their RPC provider. Existing users can find this option under “settings,” the announcement added.
This update comes after ConsenSys came under some scrutiny for collecting MetaMask user data via Infura. ConsenSys is an Ethereum software company that owns both MetaMask and Infura. This admission threw up privacy concerns from crypto participants.
ConsenSys clarified that it did not collect user data if they used other RPC providers. Users have been able to set alternative RPC endpoints on their MetaMask before this current update.
