Crypto

XRP has a good chance of hitting $1.50 in the fourth quarter of 2021 after painting a bullish crossover between its 20-day and 50-day exponential moving averages (EMA). The so-called Golden Cross has appeared multiple times on XRP charts in history. Its last occurrence was on Aug. 10, which followed up with a circa 80% price rally later, with XRP topping out seasonally at $1.43 before pulling back to the downside.  Similarly, a close of XRP’s 20-day EMA above 50-day EMA on Feb. 4, coincided with an approximately 400% price rally afterward. In doing so, XRP reached a year-to-date high of $1.98, further attesting that the latest Golden Cross could prompt a similar bullish response from traders. XRP/USD daily price chart featuring Golden Cross. Source: TradingView.com More cues for...

The year 2021 seems to be a big year for the blockchain world as several projects, such as nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and centralized decentralized finance exchanges (CeDeFis), are taking the central stage. Also at the forefront is Facebook’s Libra. Not too long ago, the media was rife with the news that the world’s largest social media network was developing plans for a global digital currency. Then, after a while, it looked like Facebook shelved plans for it. Disputes with regulators around the globe had a hand in delaying and redirecting Facebook’s plans a bit. Instead of backing out, Facebook decided to strategize and launch a “different” global digital currency later in 2021, after rebranding the project to Diem. Related: New name, old problems? Libra’s rebrand to Diem stil...

Bitcoin (BTC) returned to beat the week’s four-month highs on Oct. 8, climbing $2,000 in two hours. BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView BTC’s price beats Wednesday’s high Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting just over $56,150 on Bitstamp in a fresh show of bullish momentum. Wednesday’s dramatic uptick had topped out at $55,800, this remaining the level to beat as the pair then spent Thursday consolidating. I think we have another $BTC pump coming right away. A brutal one, if I must say. — Galaxy (@galaxyBTC) October 7, 2021 Amid anticipation of fresh upside from traders, talk beyond price action continued to focus on the likelihood of an exchange-traded fund (ETF) approval from United States regulator — and its implications...

Smart cities are steadily garnering attention worldwide as they become points of aspiration for many jurisdictions. There is a very clear relationship in these urban utopias between the citizens for whom they are built and the systems, networks and devices that enable their safe, secure and efficient operation. Most importantly, they will be built on entirely new financial technology infrastructure that supports the flow of micropayments over financial “plumbing,” in a similar way that other essential utilities (water, energy, data, etc.) flow over pipes, cables and fiber. The principal aim of a smart city is to optimize city functions and promote economic growth by leveraging cutting-edge technologies. Smart cities seek to increase operational efficiency, achieve sustainability goals such...

Bitmain, a Chinese manufacturer of cryptocurrency mining equipment, has been forced to stop its business in China from Oct. 11 following the crypto ban imposed by local authorities. In addition to China’s blanket ban on crypto operations, the company has attributed the move to stop shipping Bitcoin (BTC) and cryptocurrency mining rigs as a response to China’s carbon-neutral policies. According to Bitmain’s announcement: “From October 11, 2021, Antminer will stop shipping to mainland China. For customers in mainland China who have purchased long-term products, our staff will contact them to provide alternative solutions.” While the company has yet to reveal its plan to help existing customers in China, Bitmain will continue to supply Antminer crypto mining rigs to users across the world inc...

Esports, gaming and interactive media investment platform Bitkraft VC has established a $75-million token fund for investing in blockchain gaming and digital entertainment. The fund uses a “stage-agnostic” strategy, meaning that it will put money in companies and startups at any business development stage. Apart from equity investment, the token fund will also invest in cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFT). In order to provide regulated investment opportunities, Bitkraft received an investment advisor registration from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in June 2021. The new token fund is led by Piers Kicks, a founding partner in the investment arm of crypto research firm Delphi Digital. Kicks joined Bitkraft earlier this year to lead the company’s investmen...

Shiba Inu (SHIB) has emerged as one of the best investments heading into the fourth and final quarter of 2021, with its price rising by over 390% in the first week of October. Nonetheless, the spin-off meme cryptocurrency now risks wiping most of those gains in the coming sessions. Yuriy Bishko, a Ukraine-based market analyst, discussed the potential bearish scenario based on Shiba Inu’s recent price trends, which appear eerily similar to those recorded in the Dogecoin (DOGE) market earlier this year. For instance, SHIB’s October price rally followed five months of consolidation inside a $0.00000398-wide price range. Similarly, DOGE’s sideways trend in Feb-April 2021, wherein its bids bounced between $0.0471 and $0.0630, served as a basis for a 500%-plus price rally in la...

Whether it’s baseball players or shiny Pokemon cards, collectibles have been a cultural mainstay in human behavior since the Renaissance. Memorabilia from famous films or items of clothing worn by a celebrity can be auctioned and sold for eye-watering amounts. Take the prototype Batmobile from the 1960s Batman TV show, it was sold for $4.2 million. With collectibles, the concept itself is simple: An item has value based on its scarcity. The less of it there is, the more it’s worth. It is this concept that is the driving principle behind the explosive growth of nonfungible tokens (NFTs). Largely bought and sold on the Ethereum blockchain, NFTs are essentially collectibles that have been digitized. Whether it’s the insanely popular and limited CryptoPunk avatars or Jack Dorsey’s first-...

Coming every Saturday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber raises $260M Indian crypto exchange CoinSwitch Kuber closed a $260 million Series C funding round this week at a valuation of $1.91 billion, adding itself to the prestigious unicorn club. The funding round was led by Coinbase Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz, the latter of which has emerged as a leading crypto venture capital firm. Following the $1.91 billion valuation, CoinSwitch Kuber is said to be India’s most valued crypto firm. Speaking of funding, Sky Mavis, the de...

Twitter, which has seen its user base steadily grow to surpass 185 million users last year, is experimenting with NFTs to allow users to display their collections as their profile pictures. According to Mada Aflak, a senior software engineer at Twitter, the microblogging platform is working on new functionality that will let users import their NFT collections from their wallets on the blockchain. The feature would display a verified checkmark based on the blockchain the NFT has been minted on. As promised, here is the first experiment. Feedbacks and ideas are welcome 🙂 https://t.co/TDyhibCXfG pic.twitter.com/2ifru9T2Pa — Mada Aflak (@af_mada) September 29, 2021 Twitter’s verified NFTs may be an answer to a problem that has been plaguing crypto Twitter. After NFTs exploded earlier this year...

Experienced analysts and media outlets including Cointelegraph recently highlighted some indicators suggesting that the Bitcoin (BTC) price rally could be overextended. Those bearish views include one from Bollinger bands creator John Bollinger, suggesting traders use a trailing stop, as signs of a “top” were building up. However, it is worth noting that Bollinger Bands and the Fear and Greed indicator are backward-looking metrics. Therefore, those will usually flash overbought levels whenever there’s a 30% weekly rally, such as the most recent one. As crypto analyst TechDev_52 correctly questioned, there’s no way to know whether we’re entering a large potential correction or a rally continuation. Now you know why they call it a bear “trap”. It’s damn convincing. How do you know the “trap”...

The run-up in the price of Shiba Inu (SHIB) so far in October pushed the SHIB token to become the 20th largest digital asset by market capitalization. Shiba Inu’s circulating market valuation jumped to $11.08 billion earlier this week and is currently above $10 billion, putting it in the top-20 by market cap for the first time. As a result, the Dogecoin-inspired meme cryptocurrency became more valuable than popular blockchain projects like Stellar (XLM), Polygon (MATIC), and Tron (TRX). SHIB market cap versus price. Source: Messari The growth in Shiba Inu’s valuation came on the heels of a tweet published by Elon Musk. On Oct 4, the Tesla CEO posted the picture of his pet dog—a Shiba Inu breed—with the caption “Floki Frunkpuppy.” SHIB jumped by more than 40% an hour...