News Updates July 16, 2022

1. Bitcoin ready to attack key trendline, says data as BTC price holds $20K
The 200-week moving average could see another test from the bulls next, according to signals from exchange order book composition. Bitcoin (BTC) consolidated higher on July 16 after the Wall Street trading week finished with modest gains for United States equities. 

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD ranging between $20,500 and $21,000 into the weekend.

The pair thus preserved the majority of its comeback from the week's lows, these following shock U.S. inflation data and sparking weakness across risk assets.

Now, out-of-hours trading meant that the classic scenario of breakouts and fakeouts on thin liquidity could accompany Bitcoin into the weekly close.

Eyeing order book data from Binance, the largest global exchange by volume, showed key resistance clustered around the $22,000 mark should bulls attempt to nudge the market higher.

For monitoring resource Material Indicators, however, there was a distinct possibility that Bitcoin could even challenge its 200-week moving average (WMA), a key bear market trendline lost as support over a month ago.

2. Mining Firms Liquidate 400% More Bitcoin Than It Produced in June.

NEWS
Arcane Research shows that public miners sold nearly 400% of their Bitcoin (BTC) production in June.
Core Scientific dumped almost 10,000 BTC, having only 1,959 BTC left, while Northern Data cleared the entirety of its BTC and ETH.
The report claimed the massive sales were because mining firms couldn’t raise equity or debt for their upcoming infrastructure upgrades.
The latest research from blockchain analytics firm, Arcane, shows that public miners sold nearly 400% of their Bitcoin (BTC) production in June 2022. 

Although, from January to April this year, they only sold 20% to 40% of their production, keeping up with their hodl-at-any-cost strategy. The dynamics, however, changed as BTC fell from $40,000 to $30,000 in May.

In June, miners liquidated 14,600 bitcoin, over $300 million, representing nearly four times their total production of 3,900 BTC.

The report pointed to Core Scientific and Bitfarms as the mining firms with the largest liquidation share. Core Scientific dumped almost 10,000 bitcoin, having only 1,959 BTC left. Bitfarms sold 3,353 BTC. On the other hand, Northern Data cleared the entirety of its BTC and Ethereum (ETH) holdings in May and June.

Arcane Research said these massive sales would pay for upcoming infrastructure upgrades and machine 

deliveries. In 2021 miners were able to raise equity or debt to pay for mining expenses. Now, access to external capital has drastically weakened due to the increasing interest rates and less investor interest in Bitcoin.

Marathon and Hut 8 now hold the most bitcoin after not selling in May and June. Marathon has 10,055 BTC on its balance sheet, followed by Hut 8 with 7,405 BTC. Riot comes third with 6,654 BTC after selling somewhat more than average but not close to the same extent as Core Scientific and Bitfarms. 

3. Paraguayan Senate Passes Bill Regulating Crypto Mining and Trading
The text must now be approved or vetoed by the country’s executive branch.

Paraguay's Senate approved a bill regulating crypto mining and trading on Thursday.
In December, the country’s Senate had already approved the bill, but in May the Chamber of Deputies passed it with modifications. Therefore, it returned to the upper chamber.
 
Now approved by both chambers, the law must be submitted to the executive branch, which has the power to approve or veto it.

4. Crypto Is Not a Priority For Most Private Banks, FED Survey Concludes

Bitcoin prices have shown positive intend toward after the release of official US inflation data. However, the BTC miners have increased their outflow since the last month.

 *Bitcoin miners netflow vol reaches ATH* 

According to IT Tech, Bitcoin miners sent more than 14k BTC sent to exchange in one block. It highlighted that the transfer from miner wallet to exchange so it is not bullish news for the market. It added that they define mining pool wallets in their metrics as all participants in the pool including that individual miners.

However, one user noted that those Bitcoin did not reflect in the spot market or derivatives. Meanwhile, Glassnode mentioned that BTC Miners’ Netflow Volume on 7 days MA basis reached an all time high (ATH) of $1,779,953. Previous ATH was $1,700,940 recorded in the first week of January 2022.

Ki Young Ju, CEO of CryptoQuant mentioned that this outflow did not end on the exchange wallet. It is more likely to go to a custodial cold wallet. This can be used as the custodian service or some OTC deal. He concluded that It is neutral or bullish news.

 *BTC price up by 6% in last 24 hrs*

IT Tech also mentioned that additionally open interest is rising and the market can see a bigger soon. As per the report, there has been a drop recorded in the Bitcoin miner reserves over the past two weeks. However, this can be a big indicator of the falling trust in a price reversal.

Bitcoin prices have jumped by over 6% in the last 24 hours. BTC is trading at an average price of $20,953, at the press time. Its 24 hour trading volume is up by 2% to stand at $32.8 billion.

Meanwhile, Anthony Pompliano in his report highlighted that with the increased inflation, Bitcoin price is on a downward trend. He added that it can be true that it is not a good hedge against CPI.

5. Woman charged in $4.5 billion Bitfinex case cleared to seek new job: Bloomberg 

Heather Morgan, who was charged along with her husband in February of conspiring to launder $4.5 billion worth of bitcoin stolen from the Bitfinex crypto exchange, was granted permission by a judge to seek new employment while her case proceeds, Bloomberg reported today. 

A judge on Friday granted Morgan’s request to “engage in legitimate employment and receive income of greater than $10,000 per month,” Bloomberg said. 

Morgan and her husband Ilya Lichtenstein were arrested in New York and charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States, and face as many as 25 years in prison if convicted. They were subsequently granted bail. The Justice Department seized $3.6 billion worth of bitcoin tied to the 2016 hack of Bitfinex.

The value of bitcoin has fallen more than 50% since February.

6. Over $150 Million Liquidated as ETH Price Skyrockets to a Monthly High. 

Ethereum skyrocketed to a monthly high in a massive hourly candle, leaving over $150 million liquidated.
The price of ETH has exploded in the past couple of hours, reaching an intraday high at around $1420. This happens a day after developers confirmed that the ETH 2.0 merge is on track to happen in September.

According to data from Coinglass, the past four hours saw over $150 million in liquidated ETH positions.
The largest single liquidation order happened on FTX, and it carried a face value of $2.81 million.
Needless to say, the majority of the liquidated positions were short.
This happened on the back of ETH exploding by 7% in a single hourly candle, charting a high of $1422 on Binance.

The volume on that candle has been over $300 million.
The last time ETH was trading at these prices was back on June 13th, meaning that the cryptocurrency charted a monthly high.
Ethereum is up over 10% in the past 24 hours and a whopping 40% in the past 48 hours.
It’s worth noting that the increase comes a day after developers confirmed that the ETH 2.0 merge is on track to happen in September.

7. How Much Does It Cost to Mine 1 Bitcoin?
JPMorgan strategists may have just called Bitcoin’s bottom price. Others suggest there’s still more pain ahead.

In a recent report seen by Decrypt, investment bank JPMorgan estimates that the production cost to mine one Bitcoin has dropped from $24,000 at the start of June to just $13,000.

Bitcoin’s production cost is an estimate of the average cost for mining one Bitcoin per day. This cost depends primarily on the electricity costs incurred by miners for running their machines, but there are other variables.

According to the New York-based bank, Bitcoin’s bottom could very well be a lowly $13,000, marking a 45% drop from today’s prices.

“While clearly helping miners’ profitability and potentially reducing pressures on miners to sell Bitcoin holdings to raise liquidity or for deleveraging, the decline in the production cost might be perceived as negative for the Bitcoin price outlook going forward,”

8. 7 Bitcoin and Crypto Custodians Facilitating Institutional Digital Asset Adoption. 

Crypto custodians are one of the important pieces to the puzzle for mass institutional adoption of bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptoassets. They enable investors to store their digital assets with regulated third-party custody providers. 

Read on to discover a list of some of the leading crypto custody providers. 

What is a crypto custodian?
A crypto custodian is a financial services company that stores digital assets on behalf of investors. 

Institutional investors are typically required to store their securities and assets with qualified custodians, which is why the introduction of crypto custody providers has been a game-changer for the institutionalization of bitcoin. 

Professional and institutional investors generally prefer not to manage their own private keys to reduce the risk of loss of funds due to theft, operational errors, or technical mishaps.  

Popular crypto custody providers
Now, let’s take a look at several leading crypto custody providers you could use to store your digital assets. 

Anchorage
Anchorage is a full-service financial platform and infrastructure provider for the digital asset space. Founded in 2017, Anchorage provides institutions with access to a range of crypto services, including crypto custody, trading, financing, staking, and governance services. 

Bakkt
Heavily-backed crypto platform Bakkt also offers crypto custodian services protected by insurance. 

Bakkt protects its customers' assets through an insurance cover to the tune of USD 125,000,000. This is an additional security measure of the Bakkt Warehouse, which deploys online storage and air-gapped offline digital asset storage. The company regularly rebalances between warm and cold storage to reduce risks associated with warm storage. 

BitGo
BitGo, founded in 2013, is a regulated Trust company that acts as a cryptocurrency custodian for individuals and institutions. The company manages up to 100 digital currencies and tokens as a certified custodian, with their customers having access to cold storage systems and configurable multi-user accounts.

Coinbase Custody
Coinbase is one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world and this San Francisco-based company also operates a crypto custody service called Coinbase Custody. 

Fidelity Digital Assets
Fidelity Digital Assets (FDAS) was started as a part of Fidelity Investment’s Blockchain Incubator. Fidelity Investments is known to be one of the world’s largest financial services providers. 

As a crypto custodian, FDAS started operating in 2018 to offer custody and trade execution services. Their main target customers include institutions, hedge funds, market intermediaries, and family offices. 

Gemini Custody
Gemini Custody is a New York Trust Company founded in 2019 by crypto exchange Gemini. It’s a Qualified Custodian chartered by the New York State Department of Financial Services. 
Cryptonews Exclusives 7 Bitcoin and Crypto Custodians Facilitating Institutional Digital Asset Adoption

7 Bitcoin and Crypto Custodians Facilitating Institutional Digital Asset Adoption
 
 Source: Adobe/Christopher Boswell
 

Crypto custodians are one of the important pieces to the puzzle for mass institutional adoption of bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptoassets. They enable investors to store their digital assets with regulated third-party custody providers. 

Read on to discover a list of some of the leading crypto custody providers. 

What is a crypto custodian?
A crypto custodian is a financial services company that stores digital assets on behalf of investors. 

Institutional investors are typically required to store their securities and assets with qualified custodians, which is why the introduction of crypto custody providers has been a game-changer for the institutionalization of bitcoin. 

Professional and institutional investors generally prefer not to manage their own private keys to reduce the risk of loss of funds due to theft, operational errors, or technical mishaps.  

Popular crypto custody providers
Now, let’s take a look at several leading crypto custody providers you could use to store your digital assets. 

Anchorage
Anchorage is a full-service financial platform and infrastructure provider for the digital asset space. Founded in 2017, Anchorage provides institutions with access to a range of crypto services, including crypto custody, trading, financing, staking, and governance services. 

 
As the first federally chartered crypto bank in the United States, Anchorage is forming a bridge between the more traditional banking system and the emerging digital asset space. 

For their crypto custody customers, an added layer of security comes through insurance that protects the digital assets all through their custodial life cycle. 

Bakkt
Heavily-backed crypto platform Bakkt also offers crypto custodian services protected by insurance. 

Bakkt protects its customers' assets through an insurance cover to the tune of USD 125,000,000. This is an additional security measure of the Bakkt Warehouse, which deploys online storage and air-gapped offline digital asset storage. The company regularly rebalances between warm and cold storage to reduce risks associated with warm storage. 

Bakkt also has a mobile app that allows users to spend BTC on everyday goods and services. The firm also partnered with Mastercard to increase the access and usage of cryptocurrencies in the financial space, which holds great potential in bringing in more users to the crypto world.

BitGo
BitGo, founded in 2013, is a regulated Trust company that acts as a cryptocurrency custodian for individuals and institutions. The company manages up to 100 digital currencies and tokens as a certified custodian, with their customers having access to cold storage systems and configurable multi-user accounts. 

Additionally, BitGo carries out regular audits by third-party auditors. 

In March 2021, BitGo received the NY Trust Charter from the New York State Department of Financial Services, which allows them to serve clients within the New York regulatory charter. 

Coinbase Custody
Coinbase is one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world and this San Francisco-based company also operates a crypto custody service called Coinbase Custody. 

In order for Coinbase Custody to be independent of Coinbase, it operates as a standalone, independently-capitalized business. It’s recognized as a fiduciary under the New York State Banking Law. The company segregates and holds its clients’ digital assets and boasts military-grade cold wallets that offer a high level of protection for crypto investors. Further, the company has an insurance cover and undergoes regular financial and security auditing by external firms.

Fidelity Digital Assets
Fidelity Digital Assets (FDAS) was started as a part of Fidelity Investment’s Blockchain Incubator. Fidelity Investments is known to be one of the world’s largest financial services providers. 

As a crypto custodian, FDAS started operating in 2018 to offer custody and trade execution services. Their main target customers include institutions, hedge funds, market intermediaries, and family offices. 

FDAS has a New York Trust Charter and has been granted registration with the UK Financial Conduct Authority to provide digital asset custody and trade execution business in the UK. 

Gemini Custody
Gemini Custody is a New York Trust Company founded in 2019 by crypto exchange Gemini. It’s a Qualified Custodian chartered by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

For their customers’ digital assets’ security, Gemini secured USD 200m in cold storage insurance coverage, something they say is the largest insurance coverage purchased by any crypto custodian in the world. Their customer’s crypto is segregated using unique cryptocurrency addresses which are independently verifiable and auditable. 

Kingdom Trust
Kingdom Trust Custodial Services was founded in 2017 and offers custodial options and solutions for individual and institutional clients. The company has a long history as a reputable financial custodian and is regulated by the South Dakota Banking Division.

Kingdom Trust offers three ways of managing and securing customers’ crypto: customers holding their own private keys using a digital tool provided by the company, having their crypto and digital assets in cold storage through a partnership with Fidelity Digital Assets, and lending or staking digital assets via Kingdom custodial accounts.