The Bull

China’s Inner Mongolia region will suspend Bitcoin mining before the end of April, according to the government’s new energy saving plan.

Inner Mongolia to End Mining

China is currently the most active country for Bitcoin mining, controlling 65% of Bitcoin’s hashrate. Inner Mongolia is a particularly active Bitcoin mining hotspot because of its inexpensive energy.

Market conditions have also promoted mining within China more generally. In recent months, Inner Mongolia and other hotspots have seen heightened enthusiasm for crypto mining following Bitcoin’s upward price trajectory. Mining has become harder but more profitable than ever as a result of the price rise.

However, that growth will be mitigated by the impending ban, which is intended to help China meet its energy-saving targets and reach carbon neutrality by 2060. Bitcoin mining is known for its high energy consumption, and Inner Mongolia and other areas use coal power, which is damaging to the environment.

Trading Remains Strong

Apart from mining, Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are currently a gray area in China. The country banned ICOs in 2017, restricted exchange access in 2019, and clamped down on OTC platforms in 2020.

Though cryptocurrency trading is technically illegal in China, Chinese crypto companies have found ways to bypass government regulation, and the country still dominates the crypto market. Large Chinese exchanges that were once based on the mainland have moved elsewhere to avoid regulation.

Additionally, investors in China can use stablecoins like Tether to move large amounts of money out of the country without relying on banks. The result is a robust stablecoin market in China.

Is the Ban Good News?

Inner Mongolia’s impending mining crackdown is a decision that could frighten investors, reminiscent of China’s crackdown in 2017. Nevertheless, the restrictions may have some positive effects.

First, the energy-intensive nature of Bitcoin mining has been a much-discussed topic and favorite argument of BTC detractors. Restrictions could encourage the mining industry to turn to green energy sources rather than fossil fuels, which could in turn could help Bitcoin’s image.

Second, the centralization of mining power in the hands of a single country could pose a threat to Bitcoin. The new restrictions could dilute China’s stronghold on Bitcoin mining and the industry at large.

Disclosure: The authors hold BTC, ETH, and other cryptocurrencies at the time of writing.

Since its creation in 2009, Bitcoin has taken the investing community on a wild ride. We’ve experienced both the euphoria of bull runs and the despair of bear markets. Although it has certainly been a wild ride to get where we are now, it finally feels like Bitcoin is getting the attention and recognition it […]

The post The Elon Effect – Companies Now Racing for a Piece of the Bitcoin Pie appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Dogecoin has entered the spotlight once again as developers have released a new protocol upgrade. However, DOGE sits beneath a supply barrier that may prevent prices from rising. 

Preparing Dogecoin for Mass Adoption

The developers behind Dogecoin have realized that the cryptocurrency’s design must be further refined to live up to the bullish momentum it has seen since the beginning of the year. As such, a new version of the Dogecoin client Core has been released, offering critical performance improvements. 

According lead Dogecoin maintainer Ross Nicoll the upgrade is intended to keep the protocol operational and ready for the underlying token to be used as a form of payment. “People say it’s a joke coin, but we’re very careful to take care of the code,” he told Coindesk. “When it took off, there was a resurgence in attention and we want to keep the currency operational.”

Dogecoin Core 1.14.3 improves client synchronization speed, significantly reducing the time it takes for a node to upload blocks. The update also reduces default mempool caching time from 336 hours to 24 hours, aiming for no transaction to exist in the mempool “for more than a couple of minutes.”

DOGE Faces Stiff Resistance

While recent developments around Dogecoin have generated buzz in the cryptocurrency community, market participants do not seem interested in DOGE at the current price levels. 

The number of new daily addresses on joining the network plummeted by 50% over the past three weeks. Roughly 34,700 new Dogecoin addresses were created today, compared to the 69,000 new addresses that were created on Feb. 8.

The network’s ongoing contraction can be considered a pessimistic signal as it shows a decrease in user adoption over time. Network growth is often regarded as one of the most accurate price predictors; when a network shrinks for a prolonged period, prices tend to tumble.

IntoTheBlock’s “In/Out of the Money Around Price” (IOMAP) model reveals that in the event of a correction, Dogecoin could retrace towards $0.0365 as there isn’t any significant support level below it.

Based on this on-chain metric, the only demand barrier that may impede this cryptocurrency from a steep correction sits around $0.0475. Here, more than 43,600 addresses had previously purchased over 1.45 million DOGE.

This critical demand barrier may keep falling prices at bay since holders within this range will likely do anything to prevent seeing their investments go “Out of the Money.” But if Dogecoin slices through this support wall, then a downswing to $0.0365 seems imminent. 

Conversely, the IOMAP cohorts show that it will be difficult for bulls to invalidate the short-term bearish outlook. Dogecoin currently sits underneath a massive resistance barrier as over 35,000 addresses bought nearly 9 billion DOGE between $0.0529 and $0.0542.

While the odds favor the bears, only a daily candlestick close above the $0.0536 hurdle could jeopardize the pessimistic scenario and lead to an upswing to $0.0668.

Disclosure: At the time of writing, this author held Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Top trader and crypto strategist Michaël van de Poppe is mapping out the key levels to watch for Bitcoin this month. In a new video, Van de Poppe tells his 35,800 YouTube subscribers that Bitcoin (BTC) may have hit a local low and is poised to ignite a bounce above $50,000. “Now we get into […]

The post Bitcoin Bottom Hit or More Pain Incoming? Top Crypto Analyst Traces BTC Path Through March appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Hedge fund heavyweight Cathie Wood of ARK Invest says U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen doesn’t understand cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin. In a new video, Wood addresses Janet Yellen’s recent assertion that Bitcoin is “extremely” energy inefficient and a hub for illicit transactions. “Janet Yellen… has gone out of her way to telegraph how speculative Bitcoin is […]

The post Cathie Wood Says Janet Yellen Doesn’t Understand Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin Far More Energy Efficient Than Gold appeared first on The Daily Hodl.

Singapore-based crypto derivatives exchange Phemex has introduced leveraged trading for Dogecoin and Aave.

New Perpetual Contracts on Phemex

Phemex has listed new perpetual contracts for Dogecoin (DOGE) and Aave (AAVE) against USD. Perpetual contracts act like future contracts but with no expiration date or settlement.

The two pairs, DOGE/USD and AAVE/USD, can be traded with leverage up to 20x starting today.

Dogecoin and Aave landed on Phemex’s radar as a result of their large popularity among traders.  As per CoinGecko, Aave and Dogecoin have trading volumes that are each upwards of $1.5 billion.

The leading meme coin–Dogecoin–found a new surge in demand after Reddit’s most influential trading community, WallStreetBets, and Tesla CEO Elon Musk displayed their support for the project.

To keep up with the exploding demand, the Dogecoin team has also released a new core update Dogecoin Core 1.14.3, with performance improvements.

As for Aave, the project allows anyone to take loans and earn interest on their crypto deposits in a non-custodial manner. Aave is currently one of the leading open-source DeFi projects, with about $4.9 billion locked in the protocol.

Disclosure: Phemex is a sponsor of Crypto Briefing. This story was written independently of that relationship.

The Director of Fidelity’s Global Macro Jurrien Timmer says that Bitcoin has evolved as a form of digital gold. 

Fidelity Endorses Bitcoin

Timmer wrote a report titled, “Understanding Bitcoin,” weighing the pros and cons of investing in Bitcoin. He believes Bitcoin may make “one component of the bond side of a 60/40 stock/bond portfolio.”

The 60-to-40 ratio allocation in stocks and bonds, respectively, is a general rule followed by many asset managers.  

Ever since the COVID-19 induced crash last September, the bond yields have slowed and despite the recent surge, there is little hope for better yields in the future. Currently, there is $18 trillion of negative-yielding debt floating around the world. Timmer sees Bitcoin and gold as alternatives to the bonds in a low yield environment.

Bitcoin: In my view, bitcoin has evolved to the point that it could be treated as a form of digital gold…a possible counterweight to future monetary inflation. My current take on the cryptocurrency, here: https://t.co/Ud6GrBpIp2

— Jurrien Timmer (@TimmerFidelity) March 1, 2021

Comparing the $160 trillion in stock markets and the $11 trillion-dollar valuation of gold’s market capitalization, Fidelity’s asset manager predicted a continued uptrend in Bitcoin.

Moreover, he also found on-chain demand based on Metcalfe’s Law in the increasing number of addresses and reduced supply after each halving event citing the Stock-to-flow model. In conclusion, Timmer found that the “bitcoin growth curve may still be in its early, exponential phase”

According to him, Bitcoin will become scarcer than gold, becoming a “more convex form of gold.” Still, the road won’t be straight up and investors may feel “dismaying at times” as well.

Fidelity Investments has a digital assets wing that provides custodial services to institutions and also allows trading of crypto shares on its brokerage platform.

Disclosure: The author held Bitcoin at the time of press. 

Digital asset manager Grayscale is considering adding 23 different altcoins to their holdings to offer as investment products. In a new press release, the crypto behemoth says it wants to meet growing investor demand for digital assets by diversifying and expanding its product offerings. The company says they’re exploring adding support for the following digital […]

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