Bitcoin News

Bitcoin extended its drop below US$20,000 (RM89,758) on Monday (Aug 29), as part of a wider cryptocurrency-market retreat, amid concern about the US Federal Reserve’s rate-hike path.

On Monday, the largest token dropped as much as 2.3% to US$19.527. This is the fifth consecutive day of declines. It comes after US stocks plunged last Friday in response to Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole. On Monday, the wider crypto market fell with the MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 100 Index falling as high as 2.5%.

“Money is flowing from risky assets. Cici Lu, chief executive officer at Venn Link Partners, stated that Crypto followed Powell’s sharp adjustment to the US stock markets’. “Markets didn’t like his comments and bitcoin is resuming its role as a high beta asset.

Bitcoin was supported by the US$20,000 level when it reached its lowest point in recent months. However, bitcoin had been climbing higher in recent weeks. It had not been below US$20,000 from July 14th, and even surpassed US$25,000 in August before Saturday.

Uncertainty about Fed rate hikes’ path and impact on riskier assets has led to gyrations.

Many strategists have identified US$20,000 as the key point for Bitcoin, but levels of support could be lower.

Katie Stockton, Fairlead Strategies, sees long-term support around the US$18.300 to US$19.500 range. Mark Newton, Fundstrat strategist, has identified key areas within the US$19,000 area. He said that a “real area of significance” is around US$17,000. This would allow for a 100% alternative wave projection of the latest decline since mid-August.

Antoni Trenchev, cofounder and managing partner at Nexo, wrote a Sunday note that stated, “If bitcoin doesn’t hold US$20,000 then US$18900 comes into play prior to a date with June intraday low US$17,600,”. It doesn’t look very pretty if it’s close to that.

According to Coinglass data, the last two Fridays in crypto have been difficult. US$288 Million worth of longs were liquidated on the latest one. August 19 saw the largest liquidation of longs since June 13 at US$562 millions.

The second-largest crypto Ether fell as much as 4.1% to US$1,422.67 on Monday, continuing its decline of around US$2,000 a few weeks ago. It has been fluctuating ahead its highly-anticipated Merge upgrade which is due in mid September.

Analysts at Bitfinex stated that Ethereum’s drop in anticipation of the impending Merge was also noteworthy. Bearish sentiment seems to be spreading across all risk assets. “The volatility that has become so common in the digital token space shows no sign of abating.”

Craig Wright claims that he is the mythical creator of bitcoin for years. The Australian computer scientist, Craig Wright, attempted to defend the assertion that he was Satoshi Nakamoto. However, the legal battle resulted in a pyrrhic victory for him and a tarnished image on Monday.

After Wright sued a blogger, claiming that his claim to have been the mysterious Nakamoto was fraudulent, a London high court judge ruled Wright had presented ‘deliberately falsified evidence’ in a case of libel.

Justice Chamberlain wrote that Wright would only be able to recover nominal damages because he had presented a false case and provided deliberately false evidence up until the trial.

Wright sued Peter McCormack, a blogger, over a series tweets in 2019. There was also a YouTube video discussion in which McCormack claimed Wright was a fraud and that Satoshi is not Satoshi. McCormack had previously abandoned his defense of truth in his case and the judge did not address the issue of Nakamoto’s identity.

McCormack’s claims had’seriously damaged’ Wright’s reputation in the cryptocurrency industry. McCormack’s tweets led to Wright claiming that he was invited to speak at many conferences following the submission of academic papers for blind peer reviewing. However, ten invites were withdrawn. He was rumored to be available for appearances at events in France and Vietnam as well as the US, Canada, Portugal, and other countries.

McCormack presented evidence from academics disputing Wright’s claims. These were dropped from Wright’s case in May. Chamberlain stated in his judgment that Wright later admitted that some of his evidence was incorrect but that it was accidental.

The judge stated that Wright did not have any documentary evidence that he had accepted a paper at any of the conferences mentioned in his earlier libel claim. He also said that Wright never received an invitation to speak at any of these conferences, and that any such invitation was withdrawn.

Wright explained that he had abandoned this section of his case due to the damage to his reputation from the “disinvitations” was not in England or Wales. The judge then added, “The judge cannot withstand scrutiny.”

He concluded that Dr Wright’s original case regarding serious harm and the evidence supporting it were both maintained up until the trial.

McCormack’s lawyers argued that McCormack’s tweets were ‘flippantly lighthearted’ and were in response Calvin Ayre’s posts, a Canadian businessman who ‘goading other people into accusing Dr Wright fraud’. Chamberlain also stated that Wright had been accused of being a fraud by ‘numerous others’.

First Edition is our daily newsletter, which you can sign up for every weekday at 7am BST.

Chamberlain stated that the tweets were ‘flippant’ in tone, but they came from a’respected expert in cryptocurrency podcasting’.

“They were unambiguous in their meaning.” Many people would have read them to have realized that there was a heated debate over whether Dr Wright was Satoshi. However, some may have been influenced reading Mr McCormack’s trenchantly stated contribution to the debate.

“The fact that he was willing and able to express his views so boldly in response to threats to libel proceedings is probably to have made those who had read them more likely to believe them, than less.”

However, the judge ruled that Wright’s pretrial case regarding the serious damage to his reputation was unconscionable and that he should not be awarded ‘any more than minimal damages’.

The judge requested that both the legal teams of each side submit arguments on the awarding of costs.

Chamberlain concluded that McCormack’s comments during the video discussion, including calling Wright a “liar” and a “moron”, were defamatory. However, the video and most of the tweets did’serious damage’ to Wright’s image.

Wright stated in a statement that he intended to appeal the adverse judgments. His evidence was clearly misunderstood. I will continue to pursue legal challenges until these baseless, harmful attacks intended to diminish my reputation cease.

The latest study by the cryptocurrency exchange Kucoin revealed that around three million Saudi Arabians are crypto investors, or have traded crypto in the past six months. According to the study, 17% of Saudi Arabia’s adults are ‘crypto-curious’ and will likely invest in cryptocurrency over the next six months.

According to the Into the Cryptoverse report of the crypto exchange, the study also examined how Saudi residents have reacted to crypto trading since the beginning of the ongoing crypto winter.

“In the first quarter 2022, 49% crypto investors hoped to increase their investment in cryptocurrency over the next six months.” According to the report, the bearish market that began in the second quarter 2022 was accompanied by a shift in investor sentiment towards more conservative strategies for holding cryptocurrencies.

According to the report, 31% of crypto-owners in the country indicated that they want to keep their crypto balance the same as before Q2. Investors with lower incomes, however, have had a tendency to liquidate a portion of their portfolios over the same time period.

The Future of Finance: Crypto

Kucoin reported that 76% of investors have less experience than one year. Around 49% of these investors only began crypto trading in the last six months. The report shows that Saudi Arabia has a high number of crypto novices.

According to 51% of Saudi crypto investors, they invest because they believe it is the future. Around 44% stated that cryptocurrencies offer higher long-term returns than other forms of investment.

Young investors below 30 are believed to make up at least a third. Men were the dominant gender group, with 63% of them being the most dominant (63%). The study found that 44% of male crypto investors would not miss the trend. However, it was more common for women to be focused on the real benefits of crypto.

According to the report, 84% of crypto investors use social media (especially YouTube and Twitter) as sources of information. Online communities are reportedly used by just over a third (35%), when searching for information about crypto-related topics.

Nearly half of crypto investors buy digital currencies with fiat money every month and then engage in spot trading. The report states that this involves trading, buying and selling on the current value of crypto currency. This is the only type of crypto trading that some scholars in the Arab World consider halal.

El Salvador bought yet another bitcoin dip, thereby accumulating in the cryptoasset after a market crash that led to sharp drops in its value.

President Nayib Bukele stated that 80 bitcoin were purchased by the country for $19,000 and are worth approximately $1.5 million. He wrote, tweet: “Thank you for selling low,” and included screenshots of transactions.

It purchased 500 bitcoin for an average of $30,744 each. This brought its total bitcoin holdings to 2,301 Bitcoins. That’s roughly $71.4 Million. According to Twitter updates by Bukele, El Salvador now has 2,381 bitcoin, worth $46.4 million.

El Salvador’s president has once again tried to “buy the dip”, this time because bearish sentiment from hawkish central bankers and a series major cryptocurrency firm collapses have caused prices to trade near their 2017 highs.

Bukele stated that he trades the country’s Bitcoin via his mobile phone. According to the Nayib Bukele Portfolio tracker website his first bitcoin purchases were made in September 2021 when bitcoin was trading for $52,000. He hasn’t displayed a penchant for market timing. On October 27, 2021 when bitcoin was trading at $60.345, 420 BTC was his second largest bitcoin purchase.

Market turmoil has caused El Salvador to delay the highly anticipated’volcanic bonds’, which were due to be issued by March 20, but have been delayed. The country’s $1 billion planned bond offering will be used to finance its ‘bitcoin-city’, a community located at the base the Conchagua volcanic.

Some industry commentators think the bottom is near. JPMorgan analysts stated in a note Wednesday that the deleveraging that caused the crypto crash may not continue and pointed to the strong venture capital funding of the industry as a positive sign.

Blockworks was informed by Chris Terry, a board member and vice-president at SmartFi lending platform, that he believes there is a ‘weak’ bottom to bitcoin. He said that he believes we may be seeing a bottom in the $20K area.

“If bitcoin had fallen to the low teens at $12-14K, it would make me feel more positive about it. That would have been a bottom I could trust. ‘

Wave Financial co-founder Les Borsai echoed this sentiment. He stated that most of the potential sellers had already sold and so you will be left with long-term owners and many interested buyers.

El Salvador’s president has indicated that he wants his country to keep its bitcoin purchases. Alejandro Zelaya , Finance Minister, dismissed concerns that bitcoin’s fall in value could have an impact on the country’s fiscal well-being. He said the risk was ‘extremely low’.

The nation’s total BTC portfolio has fallen to $60 million, or 57%.

Interview with Bloomberg: Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz stated that Bitcoin and Ethereum would need to regain their bullish narratives over time.

Novogratz predicts that global macro-hedge funds will buy Bitcoin once the U.S. Federal Reserve stops raising interest rates.

“The Fed will not stop flinching… I think you’ll see many traditional macro funds who’ve had an amazing year, buying Bitcoin. He said that we would add to our position at this point.

Novogratz believes the recent cryptocurrency crash was caused by leveraged players like Three Arrows Capital, a major crypto hedge fund. Three Arrows Capital has apparently failed to meet margin demands.

According to the crypto mogul, the current crisis is similar to the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management, a now-defunct hedge-fund. After experiencing significant success, LTCM lost $4.6 billion within a matter of months because of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. It was one of the largest hedge fund failures in history, and it was eventually liquidated in 2000.

Novogratz predicts bankruptcy proceedings in many businesses.

Galaxy Digital boss is quick to compare the price performance for cryptocurrencies with Zoom Meeting, a videotelephony program. He is certain that neither Zoom nor crypto will disappear despite massive losses.

Novogratz stated, “You will rebuild an base in price, but you will rebuild your story.”

Novogratz claims that the U.S. is headed into recession and that a soft landing is not possible.

He believes that the relationship between stocks and cryptocurrencies could end on a move-forward basis.

In an interview with’s this Week, Ben Bernanke, the former Federal Reserve Chair, criticized crypto, stating that they were not intended to replace fiat money.

According to Bernanke, we are’seeing the downside’ of crypto right now, despite its success as a speculative investment.

He said that Bitcoin could be used to buy groceries if fiat money was no longer available. “Nobody buys groceries using Bitcoin because it is too costly and too difficult to do so.

Bernanke stated that Bitcoin can be used to fill cavities, comparing it to gold. To runsomware is the underlying value of Bitcoin.

Former central bank chair highlighted the increasing risk of state crackdowns.

These comments aside, Bernanke, who was the Fed’s chair, saw crypto’s potential almost ten years ago.

Bernanke stated that crypto “may hold long-term potential, especially if the innovations promote faster, more secure, and more efficient payments systems.”

Bitcoin: Gold or tech stocks?

One of the most common narratives about Bitcoin, as pushed hard by so called Bitcoin maximalists is that the top cryptocurrency offers a store-of-value, similar to digital gold.

Some of Bitcoin’s most prominent advocates have held this view at one time or another, such as, and Bitcoin HODLingMicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor.

Reporting from Arcane Researchlast months shows that Bitcoin’s 30-day correlation with the NASDAQhas risen to its highest level since summer 2020. However, the cryptocurrency’s relationship with gold is close to an all-time low.

If crypto developers cannot find and promote crypto-filled cavities, then the maxis will have other arguments to win us over.

Serena Williams , tennis star , prefers EthereumETH/USD to BitcoinBTC/USD.

What happened: In a recent interview, Williams was asked whether he would choose ETH, BTC or another cryptocurrency.

“I believe there’s something else on the Horizon, there are a few I know that’re on the horizon. Williams stated that Bitcoin has experienced an incredible boom and continues to do amazing things.

“I am in love with Ethereum personally. It’s easier to access, which is what I like.

This week, the 23-time Grand Slam champion spoke at the Bitcoin 2022 conference held in Miami. She argued for Bitcoin’s leadership role in the future of cryptocurrency.

She stated that there is a lot going on in the cryptocurrency world and that she believes it all revolves around Bitcoin.

Williams has joined Block Inc’sSQ cash App and stated that she hopes to increase accessto Bitcoin for women and people of colour.

Price Action According to Benzinga Pro data, Bitcoin traded at $42,462, an increase of 0.47% over the previous 24 hours. Ethereum traded at $3,210, an increase of 0.57% in the same time period.