US Department of Justice investigates GameStop affair

The US Department of Justice is now giving the developments around GameStop, Robinhood and Reddit a criminal law dimension.

The “Department of Justice” (DoJ) is now also taking on the wild developments on the financial markets in recent weeks

As the Wall Street Journal reports , citing internal sources , the fraud department, i.e. the department for fraud and market manipulation, of the US Department of Justice, together with the prosecutor of San Francisco, is initiating an investigation into the trading platform Robinhood and the social network Bitcoin Pro, which are im The focus of the affair over the shares of the video game retailer GameStop were.

American regulators are already looking into the allegations of possible market manipulation, the US Securities and Exchange Commission had a corresponding statement a few days ago issued , in which it announced its own investigation.

Since the GameStop affair, in which small investors encouraged themselves to jointly buy GME shares on the Reddit social network, has now expanded to include cryptocurrencies and other securities and is still being carried out in some cases, the SEC itself now has the trade of the SpectraScience stock stopped as it was the next “target” of retail investors.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the supervisory authority for derivatives trading, also wants to examine whether the Reddit traders may have influenced the silver market in a targeted manner after trading in some stocks was suspended.

In contrast to the CFTC and SEC authorities, however, the Ministry of Justice’s investigations are criminally relevant, which means that the “perpetrators” may even face imprisonment

American politics is also dealing with the affair, which is why the directors of the trading platform Robinhood, the asset management company Melvin Capital and the hedge fund Citadel, all of whom played a major role in the events, will have to testify to a parliamentary committee next Thursday .

Les ours reprennent l’action sur les prix de la BTC pour la première fois depuis octobre

La CTB est indéniablement dans un marché haussier comme en témoigne son rallye parabolique depuis le début de l’année. Toutefois, même les marchés haussiers peuvent connaître des périodes de baisse à court terme alors que la tendance à la hausse se poursuit.

Ce scénario s’est produit sur le marché de la CTB ces derniers temps, l’action sur les prix devenant baissière au cours de la semaine dernière, ce qui a entraîné un net recul. Lors d’une récente vente, la BTC a réduit son prix de 13 000 $ par rapport à son récent pic, les ours ayant repris le dessus sur la tendance à court terme de bitcoin.

La clôture quotidienne de vendredi a laissé derrière elle une bougie extrêmement baissière qui a indiqué une nouvelle correction avant que la hausse de la BTC ne reprenne. L’indice directionnel moyen du graphique ci-dessous confirme que les ours ont repris le contrôle du prix de la BTC pour la première fois depuis octobre de l’année dernière.

Depuis lors, le FOMO a perdu le contrôle, propulsant la paire BTCUSD à la hausse jusqu’à ce qu’elle atteigne de nouveaux sommets ce mois-ci.

Le récent repli pourrait bien être ce dont le marché a besoin pour relancer l’intérêt des acheteurs, confirmer la résistance en tant que soutien et pousser le prix Bitcoin Machine à la hausse.

L’éther connaît une forte hausse après un fort recul

Le prix de l’ETH suit souvent de près les mouvements des principales devises cryptographiques du monde, et il l’a encore fait lors de la dernière vente de bitcoin. La paire ETHUSD s’est repliée d’environ 30 % lorsque la BTC a commencé à inverser sa tendance à la hausse, passant des récents sommets de 1 450 $ à des creux de 1 040 $.

Depuis lors, les taureaux ont bien réagi à la pression de vente autour de ses plus hauts historiques qui se sont transformés en capitulation vendredi. Au cours des deux ou trois dernières séances, le prix de l’ETH a affiché une forte reprise en forme de V qui l’a fait gagner plus de 20 % par rapport à ses récents creux.

Au moment de la rédaction de cet article, l’ETH se négocie à 1 243 $, ce qui représente une reprise décente qui a vu le top altcoin continuer à surperformer le bitcoin.

La forte reprise suggère que les investisseurs sont plus enclins à acheter les baisses éventuelles. L’analyste Livercoin prévoit que le rebond de l’ETH contre sa paire BTC pourrait indiquer un „véritable rallye“ pour la deuxième plus grande cryptocouronne dans les prochains jours.

Le prix de l’ETH devrait augmenter malgré la vente capitulative

L’éther a effacé la plupart des gains réalisés lorsque les taureaux ont poussé les prix à des sommets de 1 450 $. L’intense pression de vente autour de ce pic ne s’est pas encore atténuée, ce qui a conduit l’ETH à montrer quelques signes de faiblesse malgré sa tentative de redressement.

Cela dit, l’analyste TeddyClep reste optimiste quant au fait qu’Ethereum semble toujours bien placé pour une tendance à la hausse d’un point de vue macroéconomique.

„Ethereum : il reste de loin l’altcoin le plus attrayant en termes de structure des prix. – Au-dessus du nuage – Il vient d’être testé au plus haut niveau de tous les temps – Rejet mais toujours au-dessus du creux précédent“, a-t-il tweeté.

Bank for International Settlements via Central Banks: CBDCs possible in 3 years

Many countries are making progress in their CBDC research, the Bank for International Settlements reports.

Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are now entering „advanced stages“ as countries around the world seek to capitalize on blockchain technology, according to a report by the Bank for International Settlements

In its latest survey on the development of CBDCs, the BIS shows that central banks, representing roughly one fifth of the world’s population, will be launching a generalized Bitcoin Rush scam in the next three years.

The 23-page document is based on initial consultations with more than 60 monetary authorities that took place in late 2020.

The survey shows that 86 percent of central banks around the world are actively researching CBDCs. The majority are unlikely to be issuing digital currency in the foreseeable future, but a sizable minority is making progress in this regard.

Around 60 percent of central banks are experimenting with digital currencies. 14 percent are driving development and running pilot programs.

„All over the world, interest in CBDCs continues to be shaped by local conditions,“ say the authors Codruta Boar and Andreas Wherli. „In emerging and developing countries, where central banks have relatively stronger motivations, the goals of CBDCs are financial inclusion and payment efficiency.“

The US central bank is also actively researching CBDCs. The US Federal Reserve’s economists research what is known as the „intrinsic value“ of the digital dollar and have published several research reports on the subject.

The BIS authors conclude:

„Most central banks are now investigating a possible introduction of CBDCs in some way. Overall, the survey shows a continuous transition from purely conceptual research to experiments and pilot projects. But despite these developments, widespread introduction of CBDCs still seems a long way off.“

Commenting on the report, BIS Director General Agustin Carstens said that CBDCs „can serve as a basis for well-functioning payment transactions“ but only if they are accompanied by „good law enforcement“. Anonymous tokens „just don’t work,“ he said.

Carsten explained that unrelated CBDCs would create money laundering concerns, undermine efforts to promote financial inclusion and contribute to cross-border instability.

He further stated:

„If properly designed and widely accepted, CBDCs could become a complementary means of payment targeting specific use cases and market failures. They could act as a catalyst for further innovation and competition in payments, finance and commerce as a whole.“
The BIS, which is known as the „bank of the central banks“, promotes currency and financial stability as well as international cooperation between central banks worldwide. The bank was founded in 1930 and is headquartered in the Swiss city of Basel. Over the decades, its mandate has expanded to include emergency funding for troubled governments.

As Cointelegraph reported last week, the BIS is currently working on a CBDC settlement platform . The first experiments are to begin this year.

Tezos (XTZ) wakes up with a bang. Where is it heading?

The price of Tezos (XTZ) is jumping strongly to the upside. Want to know what’s coming next, I invite you to check out this post.

Although we have seen a slight cooling of the crypto market due to Bitcoin’s performance, there are some cryptocurrencies that continue to jump higher. Such is the case with Tezos, also known as XTZ, which has just woken up bullishly.

At the time of this writing XTZ is trading at $3,189, accumulating a gain of 9.06% in the last 24 hours.

In this post he conducted an analysis of this crypto to find out what comes next.

Bitcoin retreats, but that doesn’t seem to worry the crypto whales.
In the medium term, Tezos (XTZ) still has good ground to cover.
From the weekly chart we see a major candle developing, with strong bullish strength and marking the start of the resumption of the medium-term trend.

After an all time high in 2020, Tezos started a major correction, but finally the current behaviour tells us that this period is over.

With lows failing to break through support on the weekly chart, the bears started to show signs of exhaustion, now buyers have regained control, and a new all-time high could come in the near future.

The previous ATH is at $4.48, and according to the scenario seen today, that price record should soon be broken.
Weekly chart of the Tezos price. Source: ProBit.
Peter McCormack Responds to Peter Schiff on Twitter
XTZ leaves short-term rejection, but Immediate Bitcoin scam could still continue higher.
The short-term trend is clearer, with continued higher lows and higher highs.

After getting demand near the $2.3 level, the bulls quickly started a momentum that in 2 days has already managed to create a new yearly high.

The developing candle is leaving a slight bullish rejection, and although this could be telling us of a possible correction on the way, it is not yet the most likely.

Tezos (XTZ) should complete a larger impulse in the coming hours, effectively breaking the immediate resistance zone, otherwise current gains would not be too relevant.

At the moment the odds are on the bullish side. The short term momentum may be just beginning.

If we talk about targets, the daily candlestick chart shows an immediate resistance at $3.44 and the next one at $3.85.

But if we take into account that the current behaviour is signifying the resumption of the medium term trend, the real target is a strong break through the area around the previous all time high of $4.85.

Bitcoin, the “mother of all financial bubbles”? Bank of America is not going dead hand!

Old school – For Michael Hartnett, director of strategy for the Bank of America, the Bitcoin bullrun we live in would outperform all other financial bubbles and be “ the mother of financial bubbles ”.

But, if you are an avid reader of the Journal du Coin, you know that the mother of financial bubbles took place in 1720

The sudden rise in the price of Bitcoin since mid-December is impressive , even shocking , but this speculative euphoria hardly outclasses historic bubbles, such as dot com or subprime . The crypto-asset market does not yet have sufficient capitalization to compete with events of this magnitude.

Hartnett points to the increasingly speculative behavior of crypto investors and warns of the bursting of the “ bitcoin bubble ”. For the strategist, bitcoin’s performance – up 1000% since 2019 – portends a bubble of unprecedented magnitude , which would relegate the bubbles of the past to the rank of minor events.

Bitcoin: bubble or asset undervaluation?

Of course, it is still possible to draw a parallel between the rise in the price of Bitcoin and previous explosions in the prices of other assets. Current market conditions are unique and the rise exceptional . The rise in gold in the late 1970s, the rise of web businesses in the 1990s, and soaring house prices in the mid-2000s all resulted in huge corrections after underperforming three digits.

However, the reality is more nuanced , even if Bitcoin has just corrected by almost 20% today. I think we are seeing a revaluation of all of the area that was clearly undervalued in the eyes of the market. This is not to say that Bitcoin’s new ATH represents the fair value of the asset, but only the price in 2020 was too low compared to this theoretical fair value of the asset.

At Bitcoin, nothing fundamentally changed between 2019 and 2020 , yet institutions have been buying bitcoins for several months and this long before the price hike. The pandemic has been a catalyst for change and made many players realize the value proposition of cryptoassets .

Bitcoin price reached a new all-time high of $37,800

On the morning of January 7, the rate of the first cryptocurrency at 8:39 MSK rose to $37,800 (Bitstamp exchange), setting a new high.

 

Source: TradingView.

The $35,000 level bitcoin broke through about a day ago.

„The market looks absolutely amazing. It brings joy every day,“ wrote trader and market analyst Michael van de Poppet.

Legendary trader Peter Brandt believes that the price is in the middle of a parabolic movement.

„Bitcoin is redefining the notion of overbought,“ he noted.

At the time of writing, quotes have rolled back from record highs. The aggregate capitalization of the cryptocurrency market exceeds $1 trillion with a bitcoin dominance index of 67.6% (according to CoinGecko).

Alex Krueger believes that the magnitude of market corrections should sharply decrease as institutional participation in bitcoin increases.

„Learn, bitcoin will likely never trade below $20,000 again,“ he said.

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Noticias de Bitcoin en directo Noticias de Bitcoin en directo

Garrick Hileman: Un tope de mercado de 1 billón de dólares está en el futuro de Bitcoin

Bitcoin sigue creciendo y creciendo, y sin final a la vista, muchos analistas se han convertido en grandes fans durante las últimas semanas y meses. Algunos incluso afirman que el activo va a alcanzar nuevas cotas que mucha gente nunca pensó que fuera posible. Uno de estos individuos es Garrick Hileman, el jefe de investigación de Blockchain.com.

Garrick Hileman está convencido de que la destreza de Bitcoin

En el momento de escribir este artículo, la capitalización del mercado de Bitcoin se sitúa en torno a los 440.000 millones de dólares, aunque Hileman está convencido de que la capitalización del mercado de 1 billón de dólares es el futuro de Bitcoin. Dice que bitcoin ha ganado aproximadamente un 12% sólo en las últimas 48 horas, y que la moneda está a punto de llegar a la cima de la escala financiera y de demostrar que es el activo definitivo.

En una entrevista reciente, comenta:

Mi expectativa es que el bitcoin se convierta en un activo de un trillón de dólares tan pronto como el año que viene.

He aquí una pequeña comparación: la actual capitalización del mercado del oro es de aproximadamente 10 billones de dólares, lo que lo hace considerablemente más grande que el bitcoin a pesar del aumento del precio de la cripto moneda. Sin embargo, si el bitcoin alcanzara una capitalización de mercado de 1 billón de dólares, sería una décima parte del tamaño de la actual arena de oro. No está mal considerando que el oro ha existido por cientos de años mientras que bitcoin sólo ha existido por 12.

Además, Blockchain.com dice que la creación de nuevas carteras ha aumentado cerca de un 40% este año. Por lo tanto, cerca de 17 millones de billeteras se han establecido desde el pasado diciembre.

Hileman confía tanto en las perspectivas de bitcoin que cree que las monedas fiduciarias, incluido el dólar estadounidense, se digitalizarán en los próximos cinco años. Menciona:

En este momento, la Reserva Federal todavía se está tomando su tiempo porque la Reserva Federal está feliz con la forma en que el mundo es.

Además, afirma que hasta 100 millones de personas en todo el mundo poseen hoy en día cripto moneda, y que gran parte del reciente repunte está siendo impulsado en gran medida por los actores institucionales, que ahora ocupan un lugar más importante en la arena de la criptografía.

En 2017, cuando bitcoin experimentó su primer gran rally, la moneda fue objeto de muchos elogios y apoyo por parte de los minoristas, lo que fue agradable pero no condujo al impulso duradero que necesitaba. La moneda alcanzó los 19.000 dólares o más en diciembre de ese año, pero no pudo mantener su posición y cayó en el rango de los 3.000 dólares aproximadamente 11 meses después.
Las instituciones siguen impulsando la agenda de la BTC

Esta vez, sin embargo, estamos viendo a grandes compañías como Square y MicroStrategy invertir cientos de millones de dólares en la principal moneda digital del mundo por capitalización de mercado. Estos negocios ahora ven a bitcoin como un almacén de valor y confían en que la moneda puede proteger la riqueza contra graves turbulencias económicas como la inflación.

Si bitcoin llegara a alcanzar una capitalización de mercado de 1 billón de dólares, una unidad tendría que estar cotizando a unos 54.000 dólares, lo que significa que el precio requeriría un aumento adicional de aproximadamente el 130 por ciento.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is good, but Bitcoin is king: is it true?

Bitcoin is breaking all-time high after all-time high, while Decentralized Finance (DeFi) underperformed this week.

Still, there were two DeFi projects that eclipsed even Bitcoin.

The crypto market is looking back on a historic week, and investors in the DeFi sector also set new records. Bitcoin wasn’t the only one to hit a new all-time high. The Total Value Locked indicator, which tracks the total capital locked up in DeFi protocols, has reached a new record high.
DeFi Pulse DeFi Pulse: Total capital locked in DeFi.

Currently, DeFi protocols manage close to $16 billion which is roughly equivalent to the current market capitalization of companies such as PUMA, LG Electronics or the major Italian bank UniCredit. Even though some Decentralized Finance token prices saw huge price increases this week, the DeFi Pulse Index (DPI) failed to outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum.
TokensetsTokensets.com

Still, as of press time, the „ETF token“ DPI was up 15.13 percent over the past seven days.

While Bitcoin is up more than 20 percent this week, top DeFi names like YFI, UNI and AAVE are up only five to 10 percent. But that may likely be mostly because these tokens already saw huge price increases in late November and early December. Decentralized Finance was one of the first sectors to recover from price lows in the altcoin market in early November.

SushiSwap eclipses bitcoin

Two DeFi tokens actually outperformed Bitcoin. SushiSwap (SUSHI) was among the big winners in December. In the last seven days alone, the price rose by 25.1 percent and on a monthly basis, SUSHI gained 100.2 percent. What was the reason for that?

Yearn.Finance is merging with SushiSwap. The partnership allows the teams behind the two projects to realize synergies. Together, they are working on the major project Deriswap – an all-in-one platform for lending, token exchange and derivatives trading.
In addition, SUSHI announced the release of its „BentoBox.“ This will allow traders to open short and long positions on SushiSwap’s decentralized exchange.
Last but not least, co-founder 0xMaki hinted this week that SushiSwap will soon be available on Polkadot. Polkadot is currently one of the fastest growing smart contract platforms.

All this news seems to have boosted the DeFi token in recent weeks.

An old friend reports back

Another decentralized finance winner in the last week is Bancor Network (BNT). Bancor is a decentralized exchange (DEX) that existed before the term DeFi was established. The project has been around since 2017, so it can be considered an old hand of the DeFi space. BNT rose over 40 percent last week and is trading at $1.41 at press time.

Like UniSwap and SushiSwap, Bancor is a decentralized exchange. But the project takes a different approach and wants to have solved the problem of Impermanent Loss (IL) with a new method.

In doing so, Bancor does not solely rely on the market price but uses price oracles to reduce arbitrage trading that leads to IL. It also uses a new token model to minimize the loss caused by IL. Head of Growth at Bancor Network, Nate Hindman, explains how the system works in more detail in a blog post.

DeFi tokens benefit from Coinbase listing

Just yesterday, Coinbase announced that it plans to go public in the United States. In addition, the crypto company listed several DeFi tokens this week, which included BNT. In addition to BNT, Synthetix (SNX) and Aaave (AAVE) were added to Coinbase Pro and are now tradable. As a result of the listing, all three DeFi tokens saw price increases.

The listing of the tokens can be considered a great success for the DeFi sector. Coinbase is known for its high regulatory standards compared to many other crypto exchanges and provides more legitimacy to the emerging Ethereum sector.

Even though Bitcoin outperformed much of the DeFi sector this week, the DeFi market is one to keep an eye on.

CAUTION: Don’t forget your Bitcoins when filing your taxes!

Tax optimization tips that every Bitcoiner should definitely know about

To avoid the rude awakening when filing taxes in 2021, it is important to realize losses now, secure liquidity, control tax liabilities preemptively and take a scrutinizing look at the portfolio.

La condena de un ex-empleado de Microsoft prueba que Bitcoin no puede ocultar comportamientos criminales, dice el IRS

El Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS) dice que la condena de un ex ingeniero de Microsoft que intentó usar Bitcoin para ocultar actividades nefastas muestra que los activos criptográficos no pueden ocultar el comportamiento criminal.

El juez de distrito estadounidense James L. Robart

El juez de distrito estadounidense James L. Robart condenó el lunes a Volodymyr Kvashuk, un ciudadano ucraniano residente en Renton, Washington, a nueve años de prisión.

Los fiscales dicen que Kvashuk robó millones de dólares en tarjetas de regalo en línea y otras formas de valor almacenado en moneda (CSV) mientras probaba la plataforma de ventas al por menor en línea de Microsoft entre 2016 y 2018.

Los investigadores dicen que intentó hacer parecer que sus compañeros de trabajo estaban detrás del robo y utilizó un servicio de mezcla de Bitcoin en un esfuerzo por tratar de codificar y ocultar la fuente de los fondos antes de enviarlos finalmente a su cuenta bancaria. De acuerdo con el IRS, Kvashuk presentó formularios falsos de declaración de impuestos alegando que había recibido el BTC como regalo.

El agente especial a cargo de la investigación criminal del Servicio

El agente especial a cargo de la investigación criminal del Servicio de Impuestos Internos (IRS-CI), Ryan L. Korner, dice que la acusación demuestra que Bitcoin no es una herramienta efectiva para los ciminales.

„En pocas palabras, la sentencia de hoy demuestra que no se puede robar dinero a través de Internet y pensar que Bitcoin va a ocultar sus conductas delictivas. Nuestro complejo equipo de expertos en cibercrímenes con la ayuda de la Unidad de Crímenes Cibernéticos del IRS-CI le perseguirá y le hará responsable de sus actos.“

El IRS llama a la exitosa persecución el primer caso Bitcoin de la nación que tiene un componente fiscal. A Kvashuk se le ordenó pagar 8.344.586 dólares en concepto de restitución y puede ser deportado tras su condena en prisión.

Rysslands centralbank vill begränsa mängden kryptokvalificerade investerare kan köpa årligen

Ryssland har vid olika tidpunkter varit fientligt, osäkert eller inkonsekvent med sin ståndpunkt om kryptovalutor. I början av augusti hävdades rapporter att den ryska ledaren Vladimir Putin hade undertecknat en lag som legaliserade digitala tillgångar som Bitcoin Trader.

Under de senaste veckorna har dock förslag gjorts som verkar vara inriktade på att begränsa användningen av kryptovalutor i landet

Nu vill Rysslands centralbank, Bank of Russia, sätta ett tak på antalet digitala tillgångar som icke-professionella investerare kan köpa på ett år. Enligt förslaget som publicerades av Rysslands Bank den 13 oktober får okvalificerade investerare i detaljhandeln inte köpa digitala tillgångar värda mer än 600 000 ryska rubel (cirka 7 800 dollar) per år. Kvalificerade investerare – till exempel de som har en examen i ekonomi och har en nettovärde på över 6 miljoner rubel (eller $ 74 500) – förväntas dock inte uppfylla denna gräns.

Den nya gränsen gäller särskilt inte bara digitala finansiella tillgångar utan även andra digitala rättigheter. Denna nya begränsning träder i kraft den 1 januari 2021 tillsammans med utfärdandet av Rysslands första kryptocentrerade lag. Under tiden accepterar landets centralbank förslag från allmänheten angående förslaget från 13 oktober till 27 oktober.

Rysslands komplicerade förhållande till Bitcoin

Det är ingen hemlighet att Ryssland har haft en stenig relation med bitcoin. Medan vissa analytiker tror att landet – som är en av världens viktigaste kryptomarknader – kommer att vara bland de första som implementerar ett fullständigt regelverk för kryptovalutor, är det inte fallet än. I själva verket verkar det som om den ryska regeringen är inriktad på att begränsa kryptovalutahandel och investeringar i regionen.

Förutom det nya förslaget att begränsa hur mycket investerare i kryptovaluta kan samla på ett år, har Ryssland otvetydigt förbjudit peer-to-peer (P2P) kryptobörs LocalBitcoins.

I synnerhet har landets tillsynsmyndighet för telekom och internet, Roskomnadzor, blockerat åtkomst till LocalBitcoins-portalen på grund av att plattformen sprider förbjuden information relaterad till köp av digitala tillgångar som bitcoin. Ryska handlare kan bara komma åt LocalBitcoins med verktyg som VPN som döljer deras faktiska plats.

Centralbanker runt om i världen tittar på CBDC och utvärderar om det vore klokt att lansera digitala versioner av sina egna nationella fiatvalutor. Kina och Bahamas ligger utan tvekan framför andra nationer i sina planer för hemodlade digitala valutor. Ryssland är fortfarande i ett tidigt skede av att fastställa huruvida en digital bankuppbackad digital valuta skulle vara ovärderlig för nationen. Rysslands Bank släppte nyligen en ny rapport om potentiellt utfärdande av en digital rubel. Uppgifterna om när den digitala rubeln kommer att lanseras är dock i stort sett okända.