News Updates October 02, 2022
1. Bitcoin Bullish Signal: Exchange Outflows Spike Up.
On-chain data shows the Bitcoin exchange outflows have spiked up recently, a sign that could prove to be bullish for the crypto’s price.
Bitcoin Exchange Netflow Has Observed Deep Red Values In Recent Days
As pointed out by an analyst in a CryptoQuant post, investors have withdrawn more than 60k BTC from exchanges recently.
The relevant indicator here is the “all exchanges netflow,” which measures the net amount of Bitcoin entering or exiting wallets of all centralized exchanges. The metric’s value is simply calculated by taking the difference between the inflows and the outflows.
When the value of this indicator is greater than zero, it means there are more inflows taking place in the market than outflows. Such a trend, when prolonged, can be bearish for the price of the crypto as it may be a sign of dumping from investors.
The Bitcoin all exchanges netflow has observed some negative spikes during the last three days.
These downward surges in the indicator’s value have amounted to more than 61k BTC leaving exchange wallets, the largest stack of withdrawals in months.
The crypto’s price has been struggling hard for many months now, so this kind of fresh demand could be constructive for the coin, and help it turn things around, at least temporarily.
BTC Price
At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price floats around $19.1k, up 1% in the last seven days. Over the past month, the crypto has lost 5% in value.
Below is a chart that shows the trend in the price of the coin over the last five days.
Bitcoin hasn’t seen much price activity at all recently as the value of the crypto has been painting a flat curve. One exception was the surge to $20k a couple of days back, but it wasn’t long before the spike died down and BTC returned to its trend of consolidation.
2. S&P Global Report Says EU and UK Are in a Recession, Putin Thinks the West Is Greedy.
Today’s blustery global economy has everyone on edge as inflation has wreaked havoc on the wallets of ordinary people and energy prices continue to soar worldwide. According to Credit Suisse, “the worst is yet to come,” as the global investment bank’s analysts believe the European Union (EU) and the U.K. are already dealing with a recession. S&P Global has a similar hypothesis as a report published by the Manhattan corporation explains that the U.K. is currently contending with a full-year recession.
Nord Stream Pipeline Rupture Heightens Tensions Between Russia and the West — Putin Claims the ‘End of Western Hegemony Is Inevitable’
The world’s economy looks even worse following the Nord Stream pipeline rupture as many people believe the conflict between the West and Russia has heightened a great deal. The United Nations details that the destruction might have been the largest methane release ever recorded in history. Furthermore, the Nord Stream pipeline issue means Europe will have a tougher time accessing natural gas this winter. The price of natural gas in the EU has skyrocketed to a lifetime high alongside a myriad of European energy sources.
Moreover, both sides are blaming each other for the Nord Stream pipeline rupture as Vladimir Putin declared the act an “unprecedented sabotage” and an “act of international terrorism.” Meanwhile, U.S. president Joe Biden said the Nord Stream leak was a “deliberate act of sabotage” as well, and he further noted that the Kremlin blaming the U.S. for the rupture was simply untrue. Putin also noted during a recent speech that “the end of Western hegemony is inevitable.” The speech translated by Konstantin Kisin on September 30 explains that Putin thinks the West is greedy and seeks to enslave nations like Russia.
Kisin’s translation further says that Putin remarked that the West leverages finance and technology to bring other nations to submission. The West collects a “hegemon’s tax,” according to the Russian president. “They do not want us to be free, they want Russians to be a mob of soulless slaves,” Putin told the attendees at the event.
There was a strong reaction from the attendees and one individual says:
We’ll beat them all, we’ll kill them all, we’ll plunder all their stuff. It’s going to be what we love to do.
3. Crypto Exchange Coinbase Temporarily Halts Payments and Withdrawals From US Bank Accounts
The exchange says the issue has been identified and it is working toward a solution.
Coinbase has temporarily halted transactions from U.S. customers, according to a status update made by the crypto exchange at 7:57 a.m. ET Sunday morning. The bug restricts U.S. bank accounts from making withdrawals, deposits or buys on the platform.
“We are currently unable to take payments or make withdrawals involving U.S. bank accounts,” Coinbase said in the statement. “Our team is aware of this issue and is working on getting everything back to normal as soon as possible.”
Coinbase released two subsequent updates that the issue was being investigated an hour after the first notice. At 8:23 a.m. ET, the exchange said the issue with transactions “has been identified and a fix is being implemented.”
Customers can still use debit cards or PayPal to buy crypto during the downtime, according to the statement.
Coinbase did not respond to CoinDesk’s request for comment by press time.
4. Bitcoin Price Is Sitting On A Gun Powder, Will It Explode?
The price action of Bitcoin (BTC) continues to toil with the emotions of traders and investors as it moves in an indecisive and uncertain fashion. Traders continue to speculate about what Bitcoin (BTC) holds for this new month of October. The price action and movements of Bitcoin (BTC) continue in its choppy, leaving most traders at loose ends due to an unstructured Bitcoin (BTC) price movement.
Despite showing some fake movement of a bounce ahead of the monthly close, the price has found some rejection around $19,500 as the price struggles to break above.
The price of BTC retraced to a region of $18,700 but swiftly bounced from this region as price rallied to $19,300 but was faced with resistance to breaking above. BTC’s price needs to break and hold above $20,500 before it can resume bullish sentiment as the price trades at a key level.
On the daily timeframe, the price of BTC remains below key resistance as it attempts to break above higher levels, with the price being rejected on several occasions.
The price of BTC has shown strength, rallying from a low of $18,700, with the price attempting to break above the $20,500 daily price range but facing rejection as the price trades between $18,800-$19,500.
The price of BTC trades at $19,100 below the 50 and 200 Exponential Moving Average (EMA). The prices of $20,400 and $27,000 correspond to the prices at 50 and 200 EMA for BTC on the daily timeframe.
A break and close above $20,500 could see the price of BTC assume some bullish sentiment in October as many traders and investors anticipate a green October, which could spell a rally to a region of $24,000 or higher.
Daily resistance for the BTC price – $20,500.
Daily support for the BTC price – $18,100.
5. Crypto exchange volumes grew 16% in September after a 3-month lull.
September's trading volumes saw the first notable increase since May of this year, The Block’s Data Dashboard shows.
September’s exchange trading volume jumped to $733 billion, or a 16% month-over-month increase.
The Block's Legitimate Volume Index reported volumes of $629 billion for June, $633 billion for July and $630 billion for August.
6. Ex-CEO Mashinsky withdrew $10 million before Celsius bankruptcy.
Celsius Network founder and ex-CEO Alex Mashinsky withdrew $10 million before the company froze customer withdrawals and ultimately declared bankruptcy, the Financial Times reports.
Citing people familiar with the matter, the FT reported that Mashinsky withdrew the $10 million in May. Withdrawals were frozen on June 12 due to customer concerns about the crypto bear market and the crypto lender’s financial stability.
Mashinksy and his family had $44 million worth of crypto assets frozen in the crypto lender following his withdrawal, a spokesperson told FT. Mashinksy resigned as CEO on Sept. 27, 2022.
“In mid to late May 2022, Mr Mashinsky withdrew a percentage of cryptocurrency in his account, much of which was used to pay state and federal taxes. In the nine months leading up to that withdrawal, he consistently deposited cryptocurrency in amounts that totalled what he withdrew in May,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.
Mashinsky co-founded Celsius in 2017, and the firm reached a $3 billion valuation by the end of 2021. The firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 18 and has been embroiled in legal proceedings since.
The Vermont Department of Financial Regulation even alleged that the firm ran a Ponzi-like scheme and that client funds were not safe – despite the firm assuring users that they were.
7. SEC Approach Is ‘Threatening the Entire Ecosystem’: Former CFTC Commissioner
Brian Quintenz said a better path would be possible “if the SEC was serious.”
Brian Quintenz said he understands why the crypto industry isn’t happy with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)—but doesn’t see regulation itself as the problem.
The former CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) commissioner said the regulatory environment for crypto is cumbersome in its current form, and in an interview at Mainnet 2022, he told Decrypt why some are looking towards the CFTC for a different approach.
“I think what the crypto ecosystem wants is rules that fit its technology, that are fit for purpose, that allow for the innovation to actually reach its full potential,” Quintenz said. “You’re not getting that out of the SEC.”
During his tenure at the CFTC, he oversaw the listing of Bitcoin futures contracts in the U.S. and the creation of tokenized commodities, among other crypto-specific developments, according to a statement he published at the end of his term.
Quintenz now works as an advisory partner on the crypto team at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. “They reached out to me after I left the agency because they knew that policy, regulation, legislation was going to be a major focus of the crypto ecosystem and how to protect it,” he said.
According to Quintenz, some regulatory agencies have taken an approach to crypto that’s been more resistant to change, rather than paving the way for new technology to become adopted. “If the SEC was serious, it could do things that allowed for a kind of securities-like regulatory structure to exist, without threatening the entire ecosystem," he said.
He said labeling cryptocurrencies as securities raises some issues in terms of how entities could comply with existing rules, “imposing obligations on parties that have no way to meet those obligations.”
8. Music NFTs a powerful tool to transform an audience into a community
Music artists have the opportunity to develop tighter relations with their fans through the use of NFTs.
officer of Limewire, a Music NFT marketplace that was originally a free software peer-to-peer file sharing music-based platform, told Cointelegraph:
“The music and creator industry is certainly on the verge of a step change, moving from a Web2 model focused on content consumption to a Web3 model focused on content ownership. Artists are just beginning to find their way to best utilize Web3 to interact with their audience.”
