News updates March 24, 2022

1. Bitcoin Revisits Breakout Zone, Can Bulls Make It?

Bitcoin started a fresh increase above the $42,500 resistance against the US Dollar. BTC may soon attempt an upside break above the $43,500 resistance zone.

* Bitcoin remained supported near $42,000 and started a fresh increase.

* The price is trading above $42,500 and the 100 hourly simple moving average.

* There is a major bullish trend line forming with support near $42,300 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair (data feed from Kraken).

* The pair could accelerate higher if there is a clear move above the $43,300 resistance zone.

Bitcoin Price Eyes Upside Break;

Bitcoin price found support near the $42,000 zone after a downside correction. BTC formed a base and started a fresh increase above the $42,500 resistance zone.

There was a clear move above the $42,800 level and the price settled above the 100 hourly simple moving average. The price even spike above the $43,000 level and formed a high near $43,288. It is now consolidating near the $43,000 level.

There was a move below the 23.6% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $41,811 swing low to $43,288 high. Besides, there is a major bullish trend line forming with support near $42,300 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.

On the upside, the price is facing resistance near the $43,300 level. The next major resistance could be near the $43,500 zone. A successful break and close above the $43,500 level might start another steady increase.

In the stated case, the price might rise towards the $44,200 level. Any more gains could send the price towards the $45,000 level in the near term.

Dips Limited in BTC?
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If bitcoin fails to clear the $43,500 resistance zone, it could correct further lower. An immediate support on the downside is near the $42,500 zone.

The next major support is seen near the trend line and $42,300. It is near the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the recent wave from the $41,811 swing low to $43,288 high. The main support is still near the $42,000 zone. A downside break below the $42,000 support zone could start a drop towards the $40,500 level.

2. Thailand bans Bitcoin and crypto payments:

Cryptocurrency payments will be banned in Thailand starting April 1, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Wednesday. 

Thailand eases crypto tax burden until 2023 to promote industry:

* The SEC said price volatility, lack of customer safeguards, money laundering and cyber theft risks drove the decision to ban cryptocurrencies for payments. 

* While consumers will no longer be allowed to use cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services from April 1, businesses have 30 days from the date to phase out crypto payments. 

* Crypto businesses will not be permitted to promote or advertise crypto payments.

* The cryptocurrency industry has recently taken a positive stance towards the Southeast Asian nation after the SEC backtracked its plans for a 15% tax on crypto assets following public backlash. 

• In 2021, Thailand banned trading of memecoins, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and social tokens.

3. South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate to issue own cryptocurrency:

South Korean megacorporation SK Group’s information technology-investment arm, SK Square, is preparing to launch a cryptocurrency this year to build a blockchain-based virtual economy that would link its group of information and communications technology (ICT) businesses.

* SK Square established a new task force to bring a blockchain-based economy to its Ifland metaverse, online commerce and other services, according to local reports.

* The company will become the first subsidiary among the top 10 South Korean conglomerates to develop a native crypto token. 

* SK Group is South Korea’s second-largest conglomerate in terms of the total amount of assets at about US$226 billion.

* Last year, SK Square became the second-largest shareholder of the local crypto exchange Korbit, owning 35% of its shares.

* SK Telecom, SK Group’s telecommunications company, operates the Ifland metaverse which has a user base of more than 4.5 million people. 

• South Korea’s crypto market had a market capitalization of about US$45.2 billion at the end of 2021, according to the country’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU).

4. Crypto Industry is Still in its Early Days as per Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao:

* The market for NFTs is worth several billion dollars.

* With Ethereum as a pioneer, the crypto-ecosystem has developed and flourished.

Digital assets are today supported by a thriving financial infrastructure, unlike in the early days of crypto. As a result, one benefit to cryptocurrency holders is that there are now many more ways to make money from their assets.

Passive investors may now earn from staking or lending by finding a variety of authorized, safe trading platforms. DeFi’s interest-earning liquidity and lending pools appeal to individuals willing to take on a bit more risk. For example, there is a greater interest rate if you keep your money in a digital currency rather than a bank account. In addition, NFTs enable the tokenization of any asset, conventional or exotic, in a regulated digital securities market. 

In its infancy, crypto may be categorized as a money trend. Bitcoin was created as a peer-to-peer electronic currency outside government monetary control. The aim is to emphasize an open, decentralized, and permissionless form of money.

Radical Transformation
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Today’s environment shows just how much things have changed. There will be a multi-billion dollar decentralized finance market by 2022. The market for NFTs is worth several billion dollars. With Ethereum as a pioneer, the crypto-ecosystem has developed and flourished around decentralized apps and an increasingly particular set of interconnected use cases.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao recently tweeted about how he feels he made a late entry into crypto, but the industry is still in its early days.

In other words, the rise of crypto is no longer just about money; it’s a technological and tech application movement that has broadened the scope of what it means to speak about crypto. Decentralization, open systems, individual inclusion, and empowerment are still important concepts, but now they’re taking on a new, far broader perspective.

5. The Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act Allows US to Monitor Remittances from El Salvador:

A bill called the Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act introduced by three US Senators back in February 2022 has been passed out by the senate committee that would allow the US to monitor remittances to El Salvador and many other country’s affairs.

As Crypto Economy discussed earlier, the Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act was introduced by US Senators Jim Risch, Bob Menendez, and Bill Cassidy on February 16, 2022. The ACES Act is a bipartisan legislation to mitigate potential risks to the U.S. financial system imposed by the El Salvador Bitcoin law.

According to a press release by the United States Senate Committee On Foreign Relations on Wednesday, March 23rd, the bill has now been passed by the committee and the full US Senate will now vote on the bill.

The Accountability for Cryptocurrency in El Salvador (ACES) Act
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The ACES Act is a piece of legislation that requires a State Department report on El Salvador’s adoption of Bitcoin and “a plan to mitigate potential risks to the U.S. financial system.”

According to the text of the Act, the report should include “a description of the process followed by the Government of El Salvador to develop and enact the Bitcoin Law, an assessment of El Salvador regulatory framework to effectively mitigate the financial integrity, cyber security risks, and its compliance with FATF regarding virtual assets transactions.

Following the report, the ACES legislation requires from the Secretary of State and other relevant Federal departments to submit to Congress “a plan to mitigate any potential risk to the United States financial system posed by the adoption of a cryptocurrency as legal tender” in El Salvador and any other country that uses United States Dollar as the national currency.

6. Germany: 44% Will Invest in Crypto and Join ‘The Future of Finance’...

KuCoin, a crypto exchange, has released a report, called Into The Cryptoverse 2022, Germany edition. The survey explores cryptocurrency adoption rates in Germany and what the locals think of the decentralized theme.

6% of the German population 18 to 60 own crypto or have traded crypto in the past six months, 44% of Germans are motivated to invest in crypto and 69% of crypto investors are men.

7. Proposal for crypto tax policy in India will go to parliament on March 24

A tax proposal on crypto from India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman may be closer to becoming law as the country’s lower house of parliament is scheduled to consider the legislation on Thursday.

According to a Wednesday publication, Sitharaman will be introducing appropriation and finance bills for 2022 to the Lok Sabha — the lower house of parliament — on Thursday. The Finance Bill includes an amendment to the country’s income tax laws identifying “virtual digital assets” — including cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens — as taxable investments.