Bitcoin loses steam as smaller cryptocurrencies return up to 12% in a week identified as decisive by analysts

Despite macroeconomic uncertainties still hovering over investors, cryptocurrency traders continue to back a large portion of Bitcoin (BTC) gains in anticipation that 2023 will be a year of more moderate increases in inflation and interest rates in the US, and that the global recession will not be deep.

As of 7am, the cryptocurrency is trading down 1.1% over the past 24 hours at $22,645. Ethereum (ETH), on the other hand, fared worse this morning, losing 4.4% to $1,548 – the first time below $1,550 in a week – in a day of losses especially among altcoin calls, which withdraw more strong with some traders expecting a more severe Bitcoin correction decline.

Among the top cryptocurrencies on the market, the worst performers are Cardano (ADA), Dogecoin (DOGE), Polygon (MATIC), and Solana (SOL), all down more than 5%. In the broader market, the token of staking platform Lido is one of the most declining (10%), giving back almost half of last week’s gains.

A Bitcoin correction is widely expected by analysts after an increase that reached 40% in 2023. However, there is some doubt about the extent of the decline given the strength with which the digital asset has broken the resistances that were considered important .

Matt Weller, global head of research at Forex.com, said BTC’s recent rally resulted from market dynamics, including the liquidation of “a large short position.” Weller said he now sees “a small element of that FOMO (short for ‘fear of missing out’ from traders who thought they had everything this year to buy near the lows.”

“Now that we have started to see prices rise, we are starting to see many of these traders throw in the towel. [na estratégia de esperar por quedas maiores] and enter [com posições compradas] to ensure they don’t miss out on the big fund raise that we’re seeing now,” he said.

The opinion, however, is not consensual. According to analysts at the Bitfinex exchange, the loss of market strength today is a sign that trading has not yet returned strongly.

“Although the rally looks promising on paper, the reality is that there are still few traders in the markets,” Bitfinex analysts wrote in a note. “The recent rally was driven solely by improving sentiment, low funding rates and cascading cash sales. short sellers“.

Bitcoin’s loss of strength on Wednesday also comes after a session of mild declines in the Nasdaq and S&P 500 indices, reflecting the ups and downs of the US earnings season. According to experts, the next move in the S&P 500 will determine whether BTC retreats stronger or continues the upward move.

“What will tell if the bear market is really over is the movement that the S&P500 will make in the coming days,” comments Fernando Pereira, cryptoasset analyst at Bitget. “If the price remains above the downtrend line that has been setting the pace of the market throughout 2022, I still believe the worst is over. Extremely decisive week ”, he underlines.

At the same time, investors aware of internal woes in the cryptocurrency sector noted that JPMorgan analysts saw a resurgence of trading on the Coinbase exchange in January, while rivals saw volume declines. The company’s shares were among those that lost the most in 2022.

Genesis Global Capital, a crypto company that filed for bankruptcy in the USA last Friday, has revealed that it has a credit of 21 million dollars against a well-known figure in the sector, Roger Ver, sponsor of Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

Check out the performance of the main cryptocurrencies at 7:00:

Cryptocurrencies with the biggest gains in the last 24 hours:

Cryptocurrencies with the biggest losses in the last 24 hours:

Find out how cryptocurrency ETFs closed in the last trading session:

Binance has moved $346 million related to money laundering

Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, processed $345.8 million worth of Bitcoin transactions for cryptocurrency exchange Bitzlato, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing data from the research firm blockchain Chain analysis. .

According to Reuters, Binance processed 205,000 transactions on behalf of Bitzlato between May 2018 and last week, when Bizlato shut down after the US Justice Department charged it with money laundering. The founder was arrested.

About $90 million in Bitcoin transfers were made after August 2021, according to the report, when Binance said it would start requiring tougher customer background checks to fight financial crimes.

The stablecoin Cardano arrives next week

The Cardano network’s decentralized stablecoin Djed will launch next week, one of the developers behind the project said on Tuesday.

Djed will be indexed to the dollar backed by other tokens, with a requirement of more than 400% collateral to issue a unit to the user.

This overcollateralization mechanism would allow the value of Djed to remain stable during times of market stress, preventing the collapse of TerraUSD, Terra/Luna.

At launch, Djed is expected to be active in over 40 decentralized finance applications (dApps) running on Cardano.

Grayscale tries to score Bitcoin ETF again

The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has set a date to begin hearing oral arguments in the appeal of Grayscale Investment, which is appealing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) decision to deny conversion of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ( GBTC) in a fund. on the stock exchange (ETF).

Discussions will take place at 11:30 AM ET on March 7, earlier than Grayscale scheduled.

Grayscale CEO Michael Sonnenshein reiterated on CNBC on Tuesday that the company would consider filing a tender offer to buy back the fund’s shares if it runs out of options to convert the fund into an ETF.

The largest Bitcoin fund in the world, with approximately 630,000 BTC, GBTC is a trust that keeps the purchased assets in the wallet without the possibility of redemption. The product was created on the premise that it would become an ETF to give investors an exit option.

Due to the refusal to convert, the fund’s units are trading at a discount of around 30% to the market price of Bitcoin – however, the discount has already reached 50%.

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