News updates May 24, 2022
1. Bitcoin price returns to weekly lows under $29K as Nasdaq leads fresh US stocks dive
BTC price action remains at the mercy of equities performance at the Wall Street open. Bitcoin (BTC) fell on the May 24 Wall Street open as weakness in stocks saw sell-side pressure return.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it revisited its lowest levels of the past seven days.
At the time of writing, BTC/USD traded at around $28,800 amid volatility, having hit $28,614 on Bitstamp — a zone last seen on May 18.
The S&P 500 lost 2.4% on the open, while the Nasdaq 100 managed a 3.5% decline.
2. Analysis: BTC Can Drop to $24K If Bearish Sentiment Continues. Bitcoin’s rapid downtrend has halted, as the price has been consolidating in the $29K-$30K area over the last few days. The $28K-$30K bottom of the 2021 crash is currently acting as support and has held the price for a couple of weeks.
Currently, if the price breaks the $28K-$30K area to the downside, a deeper drop towards $24K and even towards the $20K level could be expected. On the other hand, if the price can rebound from this area, the $35K resistance level and the $40K supply zone could act as static obstacles, while the 50-day and 100-day moving averages would be dynamic resistance levels.
All in all, a downtrend continuation seems to be the more probable scenario. However, a short-term pullback can be expected before any further downside, as Bitcoin is massively oversold.
This chart consists of the 30-day exponential moving average of the Long-Term Holder SOPR and Bitcoin’s price. Historically, the LTH-SOPR shows values below one at the end of the bear market, usually when a capitulation event has occurred. Then, the big players also start to move their coins in a total loss which can be interpreted as selling pressure under fear and doubt (capitulation).
The Long-Term Holder SOPR (EMA 30) has dropped below 1, a bearish sign for the market, indicating that long-term holders could be losing faith and selling their assets. This has frequently triggered the final phase of the bear market. However, it should be mentioned that this stage could take a few frustrating months of choppy price action alongside multiple significant shakeouts.
3. India's Central Bank Head Claims Crypto Has No Underlying Value
Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, has reiterated that cryptocurrencies have no underlying value, according to a report by a local media outlet.
He is convinced that crypto could "seriously undermine" the country's financial system.
The central bank head pointed to the recent cryptocurrency correction to justify his cautious attitude toward cryptocurrencies.
Das has stressed that the central bank seems to be on the same page with the government when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
Central banks around the globe remain hawkish toward cryptocurrencies. Last week, Sweden's Riksbank concluded that Bitcoin was not money, while European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde opined that crypto was worthless.
*No regulatory certainty*
Last month, Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that finalizing the country's cryptocurrency regulation will take more time. She recognized the promising potential of blockchain, the technology that underpins cryptocurrencies. Sitharaman also mentioned that cryptocurrencies could be used for nefarious purposes, such as money laundering.
India's approach to regulating cryptocurrencies recently attracted praise from IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva.
There is still no consensus regarding how the industry should be regulated in India. In February, central banker T. Rabi Sankar said that imposing a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies would be "the most advisable" choice.
Last week, CoinSwitch CEO Ashish Singhal called for regulatory clarity in India. The former Amazon engineer claims that it would bring "certainty" and "peace."
Earlier this year, the government introduced a tax rate of 30% on cryptocurrency income. The move was extremely unpopular with the country's struggling cryptocurrency industry.
4. Crypto regulation high on the agenda for Australia’s new Prime Minister
Market observers believe that the new Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, should prioritize addressing climate change, the rising cost of living, and the regulation of cryptocurrencies as some of the most important policy concerns in his first 100 days in office.
Albanese assumes leadership at a time when families are suffering the effects of rising inflation. Caroline Bowler, chief executive officer of BTC Markets, told Bloomberg:
Meanwhile, Dave Bassanese, chief economist at BetaShares, disclosed that the government has to offer greater clarity on climate change policies in addition to tax and investment incentives “to promote Sydney as a leading Asian financial hub as a rival to Hong Kong.”
The government should focus more on decentralizing the economy and developing it to solve the challenges of housing affordability in big cities.
On May 12, the first cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in Australia started trading. Many observers of the sector believe this to be a key turning point for the market for digital assets in Australia, if not internationally.
After talks of regulators in Australia leaving crypto firms in limbo, it now appears the government will move further with its plans for a significant overhaul of payment system reforms that will also target digital currencies.
Notably, Finbold reported in March that planned regulations would mainly focus on crypto taxation, investor protection, and digital banks and exchanges regulation.
5. Woman Gets 5-year Jail Term After Stealing USD 87K Worth of Crypto in Dating App Scam
A South Korean woman who met a man on a smartphone chat app, drugged him, and stole USD 87,000 in crypto from his phone has been sentenced to five years in prison.
Per Newsis, the Suwon District Court heard how a 20-year-old woman (named by the court as A) met a man via an app and then arranged to meet him on June 10, 2021. In the early hours of June 11, the duo went to a “love motel” in Gyeonggi Province. The man, who is in his 40s and was named by the court as B, had told A about the scale of his crypto holdings during their conversation on the chat app platform.
But the court heard that A then proceeded to lace B’s drink with sleeping pills, before using his phone to transfer tokens from a smartphone-based crypto wallet to her own wallet.
EDaily reported that the smartphone in question was protected with a fingerprint sensor – but that A was able to press B’s finger against the sensor to unlock the device while he was unconscious.
When B regained consciousness, he confronted A, who then proceeded to threaten him with telling B’s family about the “sordid” nature of their encounter.
B proceeded to report the incident to the police – but A attempted to confuse the police officers who questioned her by claiming that B had in fact raped her, and had given her the crypto in an attempt to silence her.
The court and presiding judge Hwang In-seong found A guilty of robbery, threatening behavior, and injury, as well as violations of the Drug Management Act. She was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
The judge stated that the sentence was justified due to the fact that the amount of crypto holdings stolen was high, and that A had attempted to sow the seeds of confusion in the ensuing police investigation.
6. One Of The Largest Real Estate Developers In Brazil Now Accepts Bitcoin
Brazilian real estate developer, Gafisa, is now accepting bitcoin as payment for real estate transactions.
In order to bring bitcoin to its customers, Gafisa partnered with a cryptocurrency gateway provider known as Foxbit.
Bitcoin improves real estate transactions by allowing quick and final settlement of transactions, low fees and removing intermediaries.
7. IMF Managing Director Says Cryptocurrency Must Not Be Abandoned After Terra’s Collapse.
Following the collapse of Terra ecosystem tokens in the past few weeks that resulted in great losses, many feared that the resultant effect could be a widespread capitulation.
In what may come as a shock to many, a top financial regulator with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has urged cryptocurrency community members not to desert the market based on the Terra incident.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, as reported by Bloomberg, Kristalina Georgieva, IMF’s Managing Director, has pleaded with the crypto community not to completely shun investments in the sector.
Georgieva acknowledged that global regulators have not lived up to expectations in protecting cryptocurrency investors, as they were supposed to offer “guardrails” in the form of regulation while educating people about the associated risks with cryptocurrencies.
“I would beg you not to pull out of the importance of this (crypto) world, It offers us all faster service, much lower costs, and more inclusion, but only if we separate apples from oranges and bananas, it’s the responsibility of regulators across the globe to put up guardrails and offer education to protect investors.”
8. Enforcement and adoption: What do UK’s recent regulatory aims for crypto mean?
British regulators intend to amplify the enforcement of crypto and make stablecoins a payment method.
In April, the United Kingdom’s Economic and Finance Ministry, also known as Her Majesty’s Treasury, announced its intention to put the United Kingdom at the forefront of technology by bringing stablecoins under the country’s payments regulation — a bold move that looks especially intriguing in contrast to the recent shock, caused by TerraUSD’s (UST) depegging.
Later, in May, during the annual Queen’s Speech, Prince Charles informed the Parliament about two bills that will support “the safe adoption of cryptocurrencies” and “create powers to more quickly and easily seize and recover crypto assets.”
Taken together, these initiatives give an impression of the nation’s growing interest in digital assets, which comes as no surprise, given the inevitable competition for innovation with the European Union.
The last few months were busy for crypto in Great Britain. Besides some important precedents being set such as the High Court’s decision to recognize nonfungible tokens (NFTs) as property or the listing of Grayscale’s first European ETF on the London Stock Exchange, we witnessed some major announcements by regulators.
