News Updates November 04, 2022
1. Is Bitcoin bullish or nah? Here is what is really going on with BTC price
Data suggests BTC is finally carving out a bottom, but is it time to buy?
Since March 2022, traders and so-called analysts have been forecasting a policy change or pivot from the United States Federal Reserve.
Apparently, such a move would prove that the Fed’s only available option is to print into oblivion, further diminishing the value of the dollar and enshrining Bitcoin $21300 as the world’s future reserve asset and ultimate store of value.
Apparently.
Well, on Nov. 2, the Fed raised interest rates by the expected 0.75%, and equities and crypto rallied like they usually do.
But this time, there was a twist. Prior to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, there were a few unconfirmed leaks stating that the Fed and White House were considering a “policy pivot.”
According to comments issued by the FOMC and during Jerome Powell’s presser, Powell emphasized that the Fed is aware of and monitoring how policy is impacting markets and that the latency of interest rate hikes is being acknowledged and considered.
The Fed stated:
“In order to attain a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to 2 percent over time. In determining the pace of future increases in the target range, the Committee will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation, and economic and financial developments.”
2. Top Crypto Analyst Details One Catalyst Needed To Flip Bitcoin (BTC) Bullish Again.
A crypto strategist says Bitcoin (BTC) may remain stuck in a bearish market until the hawkish US Federal Reserve pivots.
In a new strategy session, Kevin Svenson tells his 70,000 YouTube subscribers that there appears to be a strong correlation between the S&P 500 stock market (SPX) and how Bitcoin’s price performs.
Whenever there’s stock market volatility, Bitcoin’s in a strict downtrend. Even when the stock market is unstable and it’s seeing higher highs, lower-lows Bitcoin does not find support on those bounces. It’s just in a strict downtrend. People are very hesitant to bullishly bet on Bitcoin when the stock market is volatile.
Even when the stock market is going up, Bitcoin just can’t catch that support. And here we are guys, once again, the stock market volatile, increasing bear speculation. And we’re just not finding support. Even on the bounces, when the S&P 500 is bouncing, Bitcoin is just not finding support.”
Since the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish stance has led to a bearish or volatile stock market, Svenson says it will take a fed pivot to turn Bitcoin bullish again.
“There’s going to have to be a pretty big catalyst to get this market to shift. And I think that the market is waiting for a true fed pivot. So it may only be until sometime next year when we really start to change the trend, where we really start to get bullish again.
3. Bitcoin Tops $21K, Shrugging Off Unexpectedly Strong US Jobs Report
Bitcoin topped $21,000 for the first time in nine days after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report in October showed that the labor market remains surprisingly robust even as the Federal Reserve pushes to cool down the economy.
The bitcoin (BTC) price rose as high as $21,287 in the past 24 hours, hitting the highest since Sept. 13. As of press time, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading around $20,790, up 2.5%.
The CoinDesk Market Index was up 3.7%. Ether (ETH) followed a similar trajectory, rising 5.6% to $1,620 as of press time.
Traditional markets also put up a strong performance Friday, with the Standard & Poor's 500 Index up 0.2%.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Federal Reserve hinted at the possibility of smaller interest rates in December and at future monetary-policy meetings to curb hot inflation. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell quickly warned at a press conference that officials were not even beginning to discuss a full pause to the rate hikes, as some economists and investors had begun to speculate.
“A downshift to a slower pace of tightening still seems in the cards for the Fed and that should provide some short-term support for cryptos,”
4. White House Is Not Preparing for Recession — Chief of Staff Says US Economy Is Strong.
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain says that the U.S. is not in a recession. “The economy is growing. It is strong,” he stressed. In addition, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said there are no meetings or anything happening in preparing for a recession.
White House Dismisses Recession Concerns
White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain, President Joe Biden’s top aide, shared his economic outlook in an interview with MSNBC Thursday. He said:
We are not in a recession … Unemployment claims remain at a historical low … The economy is growing. It is strong. It is creating jobs.
His statement echoes what Biden said last month, when he emphasized that the U.S. economy is “strong as hell.”
In addition, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a televised interview with the news outlet that the White House is not preparing for a recession, stating:
There are no meetings or anything happening like that in preparing for a recession because … look, what we’re seeing right now is a strong labor market.
5. SEC charges Trade Coin Club in alleged $295 million bitcoin Ponzi scheme.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a case against the operators of Trade Coin Club, which they allege to be a massive crypto Ponzi scheme.
The SEC's complaints outline a scheme that netted over 82,000 bitcoin from 2016 through 2018. By the commission's math, the total BTC intake was worth over $295 million at the time.
Trade Coin Club promised minimum daily returns of 0.35% to investors, based on the work of a trading bot conducting constant high-speed "microtransactions." Instead, "investor withdrawals were paid solely with investor deposits," according to the complaint.
Founder Douver Torres Braga and early members Joff Paradise, Keleionalani Akana Taylor and Jonathan Tetreault were named in the SEC's complaints as four promoters of the alleged pyramid scheme. The suit calls for them to return any profits from their ill-gotten gains.
6. Scam Artists Used Ethereum 2.0 Merge To Steal $1,200,000 in Crypto, According to Chainalysis.
Blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis says scam artists stole $1.2 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) during the project’s merge to proof-of-stake.
The firm notes in a new blog post that merge-related scams took in the haul shortly before, during and after the September 15th event.
The merge scams resembled other classic frauds, explains Chainalysis.
“Most Merge scams functioned similarly to the classic trust trade scam, in which the fraudster tells victims to send them some amount of cryptocurrency to receive more in return (typically double the victim’s initial payment), often impersonating celebrities to do so. In this case, scammers told victims they should send in cryptocurrency in order to “upgrade” to the new Ethereum blockchain and receive funds in return.”
7. Gala Games: $1B Hack Scare Tanks GALA Price By Nearly 30%
A single blockchain address minted over $1 billion worth of GALA tokens. Is Gala Games the next in line to join a billion-dollar-hack list? The team claims that it’s not.
Details are thin on the ground at the time of press, but there are growing narratives around a potential exploit in the Gala Games camp. Twitter was rife with users/analysts highlighting the news.
Once a pioneer in the play-to-earn space, Gala Games witnessed increased speculations of an alleged attack. Fears of a potential exploit worth billions of dollars surfaced as its native GALA token price plummeted.
