Come every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track down every major news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and more – a week on Cointelegraph in one link.
Top stories this week
Robbing the poor and giving to the rich? Robinhood demands furious setback after trade restriction
The volatility seen in the stock markets this week has made Bitcoin’s recent price fluctuations seem tame. And that comes down to a dramatic alternation between a Reddit group called r / Wallstreetbets and the short-selling hedge funds that Reddit has embarked on in their own game.
Day Traders Help GameStop Shares boom of $ 17.25 on January 4 to highs of $ 483 this week – a 2 700% rise for a retailer struggling to survive in an online world. It inflicted billions of dollars on established investors who were trapped in the short press.
But Robinhood causes controversy when it restricts trade on GME shares, as well as other r / Wallstreetbets targets, including AMC Entertainment, BlackBerry and Nokia. The investment app, which has proven very popular among millennia, is accused of hindering average investors fighting back against hedge funds manipulating the market.
The SEC is now investigation Robinhood’s handling of GameStop trading, with Congress hears announcements in the practice of short sales.
All of this drama could sharpen crypto-assets sharper. Operations managers described the fiasco as a “clear indication of how broken and fundamental rig the traditional financial system is. ”
Bitcoin Rises in $ 5,000 Within Minutes – BTC Reaches $ 38,000 After Elon Musk’s ‘Dogecoin Treatment’
The GameStop saga can be linked to several of the other top stories this week. Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, was among those cheering on r / Wallstreetbets, and this week he presented a loud-mouthed note of crypto as an alternative.
The world’s richest man quietly added ‘#Bitcoin’ to his Twitter bio … with BTC more than $ 5,000 within minutes as a result. It helped turn the fortunes of the world’s largest cryptocurrency around, as it was dangerous to lose support at $ 30,000.
Unfortunately, the price increase was short-lived. In the 24 hours thereafter, BTC returned to $ 33 000 – departure $ 34 500 as an important resistance zone that must be broken if there is a chance to maintain a strong momentum.
Michael van de Poppe, analyst at Cointelegraph Markets, says the critical level to look at now is the $ 30,000 region. “If it can not maintain support (after numerous tests), I expect a drop towards $ 25,000 and the 21-week MA,” he wrote.
Dogecoin ranks among top 10 crypto assets for the first time since 2015
And another symptom of this week’s chaos has raised Dogecoin 900% in less than two days. The memo coin was well released and jumped from $ 0.0078 to $ 0.078, quadrupling its previous all-time high.
DOGE’s sudden parabola is attributed to an organized pump run by r / Wallstreetbets, and Robinhood also ends up immediate deposits suspended for crypto-purchases due to the ‘extraordinary market conditions’.
At some point, DOGE briefly surpassed Bitcoin in the daily trading volumes on Binance – with its market capitalization ahead of Litecoin, Bitcoin Cash and Stellar. Tweets about Dogecoin also rose by 1777%, with 89,991 posts about DOGE in just 24 hours.
Unfortunately, dog bite and traders licked their wounds after a brutal spill. Prices have dropped 45.82% in a single day, and leave much with the buyer’s remorse. On Twitter, RyanJK grabbed the mood by writing: “Do what you do best, and welcome people in crypto with a big slap in the face.”
Ripple claims to know why Ether is not a security, as XRP defense becomes desperate
Ripple Labs has submitted its response to the Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations that XRP is a security – and it looks like the company is prepared to lure the rest of the industry into its legal battle.
The firm has filed a request for freedom of information requiring information “on how the SEC determined the status of Ether as a non-security.”
Representatives of the SEC said that although Ether’s pre-sale could have been a security offering at the time, ETH is now sufficiently decentralized and qualifies as a commodity.
Ripple is throwing the kitchen away after attempts to ward off the SEC case, which caused the price of XRP to collapse, with many U.S. wallets withdrawing the sign. But oddly enough, the altcoin had something of a weekend boost, with prices rising 30%.
Coinbase Unveils Direct Stock List Plans
Coinbase has announced plans to pursue a direct listing of its Class A shares, instead of supplementing for an initial public offering.
This means that the largest crypto exchange will not offer new shares to investors, but rather sell existing shares to the public.
Some benefits of the format for those who own shares in the company may include the ability to sell without lock, which can create a direct billionaire.
When Coinbase first announced its intention to announce on December 17, figures from Messari suggested the exchange might be worthwhile $ 28 billion to the public.
Coinbase Pro has a history of interruptions and other issues during times of heavy traffic, and once again users suffered problems at some point this week.
As Ryan Broderick wrote on Twitter: “The GameStop effect has now completely improved the crypto market. There’s a big $ btc pump being run on Twitter today, and Coinbase – basically the Robinhood for entry-level crypto trading – has frozen USD purchases. Just tested it myself. ”
Winners and losers
At the end of the week, Bitcoin is up $ 34 293.71, Ether by $ 1,365.72 and XRP by $ 0.38. The total market capitalization is on $ 1,012,676,711,938.
Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies are the top three altcoin earners of the week Phantom, Dogecoin and Voyager Token. The top three altcoin losers of the week are Coin engine, Decentralized country and NXM.
Read the information for more information on crypto prices Cointelegraph Market Analysis.
The most memorable quotes
‘With the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday, we expect it [Bitcoin] selling pressure to continue in the short term, which provides good access opportunities for market participants. ”
Lennard Neo, Stack Funds head of research
“Has Doge ever been in a dollar?”
MSB chairman, parody Twitter account
‘At the moment, the reality of the institutional demand that would support a price of $ 35,000 or even a $ 30,000 price is just not. I do not think the investor base is currently large enough and deep enough to support this type of valuation. ”
Scott Minerd, Guggenheim CIO
“If you’re using a mobile crypto wallet on an iOS device, you need to update iOS as soon as possible!”
Pete Kim, Chief Engineer of Coinbase
‘If you do not like packages, then buy $ GME and $ AMC. If you do not like the bankers, buy #Bitcoin. ”
Cameron Winklevoss, Co-founder of Gemini
‘People have a maximum interest rate of $ 40,000 per #Bitcoin, but almost no interest at $ 30,000 per #Bitcoin. Interesting.”
Michaël van de Poppe, Cointelegraph Markets Analyst
“Gamestonk !!”
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla
‘Are cryptocurrencies here to stay? Digital innovation in payments – yes. Did we end up in what I would call the design, management and arrangements for a lasting digital currency? No, I do not think we are there yet. ”
Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England
‘If I were a regulator, I would be a little hyperventilating with the success of [Bitcoin] at the moment, and I would arm myself to deal with it. ”
Lloyd Blankfein, Senior Chairman of Goldman Sachs
Forecast of the week
Guggenheim says institutional demand is not enough to keep BTC above $ 30,000
Guggenheim’s Scott Minerd came out with another bleak price outlook for Bitcoin, saying there is not enough institutional demand to hold on to the asset. $ 30,000.
The chief investment officer told Bloomberg: ‘At the moment, the reality of the institutional demand that would support a price of $ 35,000 or even a $ 30,000 price is just not. I do not think the investor base is currently large enough and deep enough to support this type of valuation. ”
Minerd also believes that the downward pressure should go much further, explaining that it is “not uncommon to see pressure like this.”
On January 20, Minerd told CNBC that he expected prices to return to $ 20,000. The last time BTC fell more than half was in March 2020, when it dropped from just over $ 10,000 to just under $ 5,000 in just three weeks.
FUD of the week
Apple upgrades iOS to fix security issues with crypto wallet
Apple has released new security updates for its mobile operating system after the iPhone maker discovered vulnerabilities that could harm crypto wallets.
The security updates, released on Tuesday, cover iOS 14.4 and iPad 14.4. According to the vulnerabilities, hackers allegedly gained access to a remote target system, exposing the user’s crypto-wallet.
Pete Kim, Coinbase’s chief engineer, issued the warning: “If you’re using a mobile crypto wallet on an iOS device, you need to update iOS as soon as possible!”
Crypto-crime dropped by 57% in 2020, but DeFi hacks have increased, says CipherTrace
According to blockchain security firm CipherTrace, crime targeting the virtual currency sector has dropped by more than half in 2020.
Overall losses due to crypto theft, hacks and fraud fell 57% in 2020 to $ 1.9 billion, mainly due to improved security systems – but that was not all good news.
Last year, there was also an increase in crime related to decentralized finance, and most incidents were ‘carpet pulling’. This is where a sign is artificially created and inflated, with the creators and early investors pulling the plug on the pump and letting the latecomers out of their pockets.
CipherTrace report warns 50% of all crypto-hacks is linked to DeFi protocols, with 99% large fraud volume in the second half of 2020 due to carpet pulling.
BoE Governor: Today’s cryptocurrencies are destined to fail in the long run
The current generation of cryptocurrencies does not have the design and structure needed to ensure long-term survival, warned Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England.
He told a World Economic Forum panel: ‘Are cryptocurrencies here to stay? Digital innovation in payments – yes. Have we ended up in what I would call the design, management and arrangements for a lasting digital currency? No, I do not think we are there yet. ”
Bailey also indicated that the levels of privacy offered by cryptocurrencies are a source of concern among regulators.
Best Cointelegraph Features
Dare it for Bitcoin: has BTC expired to be a safe investment game?
Institutional investors have come to the cryptocurrency table, but does that mean Bitcoin has now become a safe investment?
DOGE price rise: the power of memes and social media on full display
Dogecoin, the main meme crypto, is being lured by yet another social media-driven hype.
Zombies not welcome: Original altcoins lose ground for DeFi newcomers
If DeFi takes over the cryptosphere, will the zombie projects remain dead after the big resale?