Biggest Movers: DOGE Climbs Following Spacex News, XTZ Rebounds From Recent Losses

May 28, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Elon Musk Says Starlink Will Not Censor Russian News Sources Despite Government Requests

March 6, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Starlink Terminals Arrive in Ukraine as Elon Musk Makes Good on Promise

March 2, 2022 Bitcoin.com

Elon Musk Hears Kyiv’s Call, Activates Starlink Service in Ukraine

February 27, 2022 Bitcoin.com

‘Musk effect’ sees crypto named after SpaceX’s Starlink satellites gain over 140% in 3 days

November 15, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Altcoin

The supersonic price rally in the StarLink crypto market appeared as SpaceX launched 53 Starlink orbit satellites into space on Saturday.

In a bizarre event, a cryptocurrency with the same name as SpaceX’s satellite range Starlink jumped over 140% as Elon Musk’s space technology company launched 53 of them into the Earth’s lower orbit.

Watch Falcon 9 launch 53 Starlink satellites to orbit → https://t.co/bJFjLCzWdK https://t.co/dgHuF6SIZ4
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) November 13, 2021

Written as StarLink (STARL), the little-known crypto rallied 13.70% on Nov. 13 — the day of the satellite launch, another 69% a day after it, and by up to 27% on Nov. 15. The massive upside move brought STARL’s net returns on investment by a little over 140% in just less than three days, data from the OKEx exchange shows.

*STARL/USDT daily price chart. Source: TradingView*

STARL comes under the “Musk effect”

The name alone acted as a common denominator between StarLink the crypto and Starlink the SpaceX satellite wing. As a result, it appeared that traders merely pumped the crypto through coordinated efforts while attempting to cash in on SpaceX’s satellite launch event.

Some of the reasons include Musk’s influence on the crypto market as well as the rise of memecoins and “meme-stock” investing phenomenon as a whole.

It started with the billionaire investor tweeting in favor of Dogecoin (DOGE), a meme cryptocurrency, that pushed the token’s price to a record high of $0.76 in May 2021 following a 15,700%-plus year-to-date rally.

Musk’s decision to invest in Bitcoin (BTC) via his other company, Tesla, also led the flagship cryptocurrency up from around $39,000 in February 2021 to almost $65,000 in April 2021.

Meanwhile, his criticism of Bitcoin over its alarming carbon emissions was considered instrumental by many market analysts behind the notorious May 2021 crypto crash.

*BTC/USD daily price chart featuring Elon Musk's influence on Bitcoin market. Source: TradingView*

Additionally, Musk’s cryptic tweeting about his pet dog, a Japanese breed called Shiba Inu, helped fuel the price rally of its namesake token. Trading under the ticker SHIB, the cryptocurrency’s year-to-date returns by the end of October came out to be around 375%.

Most recently, another cryptocurrency named after Musk, namely Dogelon Mars, surged by more than 4,200% in October, underscoring how the “Musk effect” influenced crypto markets.

However, per its white paper, StarLink operates as a standalone crypto project, with no connection to SpaceX’s satellites.

It presents itself as a “decentralized metaverse project,” with STARL acting as its official default currency, helping users to purchase everything from services such as gaming to virtual real estate.

What’s next for StarLink the crypto?

The latest bout of STARL buying has pushed its price higher but has failed to generate adequate price momentum.

As shown in the chart below, STARL’s price has been forming higher highs through the ides of November, but its relative strength index (RSI) has been sloping downward, painting lower highs instead. That signals a classic bearish divergence due to a lack of follow-through upside momentum.

*STARL/USDT two-hour price chart. Source: TradingView*

As a result, STARL may undergo a price correction in the coming sessions as its ongoing parabolic support attempts to keep it from testing $0.00064 as an interim downside target.

Nevertheless, holding above the said price floor could have STARL bulls retest the token’s record high near $0.00087.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Look out below! Dogecoin risks further downside after a key support is tested

November 12, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Binance

Some analysts point to Binance's pause on DOGE withdrawals as the catalyst for the altcoin's pullback, but data suggests overheated derivatives markets may have been a factor.

Dogecoin (DOGE) is potentially at risk of losing critical support if the price falls from the ascending channel traded in for the last 53 days. Although technical analysis is not an exact science, a daily close below $0.26 will likely invalidate the current movement.

*DOGE/USD price at FTX. Source: TradingView*

Aside from the Bitcoin-driven headwinds, which are weighing on DOGE price, this week, the meme token underwent a software upgrade and users were requested to implement version 1.14.5. Two important security patches were involved: "Remote Code Execution in Dogecoin QT" (CVE-2021-3401) and "Sensitive Information Exposure on Unix platforms" (CVE-2019-15947).

The latest release finalized a new minimum fee recommendation, following a previous version's reduction of relay and mining defaults. Additional changes included Berkley DB and OpenSSL updates and SLIP44 compatibility for the HD wallet deviation path.

Binance exchange faced issues after the upgrade

Even though users and developers did not experience any setbacks from the changes, Binance exchange unexpectedly suspended all Dogecoin network withdrawals on Nov. 11.

@michilumin, a Dogecoin core developer, explained that Binance had pending transactions due to insufficient fees for a couple of years. Despite recommendations by DOGE developers, the exchange failed to redirect those dormant transactions to their own wallets.

Yes, we're aware, with Binance. Situation is that Binance, when a dogecoin tx, even years ago, was insufficient fees; they just re-issued those transactions (Didn't do RBF or anything) , and assumed that the insufficient fee transactions would remain 'stuck' forever....
— Michi Lumin (@michilumin) November 11, 2021

As the 1.14.5 upgrade successfully lowered fees, those pending transactions were eventually approved, unbeknownst to Binance.

Curiously, in February, Binance founder CZ expressed concerns about Dogecoin being "centralized" and "abandoned."

Some pros/risks of #Doge.

Pros: Cool, fun, PR manager @elonmusk. Decentralized in the sense there are no "core team". It's abandoned.

Risks:
1 address holds 27% of all #DOGE.
Top 20 addresses holds more than 50%+ of all #DOGE
Kinda "centralized" in that sense.
"abandoned".
— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) February 4, 2021

Futures markets could have fueled DOGE's correction

Surely enough, the Binance withdrawal restriction news could have been behind the recent price weakness down to $0.25. Still, it's also possible that derivatives markets played an important part because Dogecoin's open interest was facing a key resistance.

*Dogecoin futures aggregate open interest. Source: CoinGlass*

Unlike volume data, futures contract open interest provides a better picture of investors' total risk exposure. Regardless of the trading activity, which can momentarily cede after strong price movements, open interest will remain high as long as players keep their positions afloat.

*DOGE/USD price on FTX, log scale. Source: TradingView*

Notice how the previous 4 attempts to break the $1 billion futures open interest mark resulted in substantial price corrections. Currently, the indicator stands at $850 million, so the imminent risk seems behind.

However, a 17% positive price move to $0.30 could potentially bring the DOGE derivatives metric back to the feared $1 billion open interest. There's also the possibility of traders re-opening their leverage positions and inflating the open interest regardless of the price change.

Therefore, the classical chicken and egg problem stands before us: was Binance's issue the leading cause for the recent crash below the 53-day ascending channel, or was it bound to happen due to excessive leverage positions?

Either way, DOGE traders should keep a close eye on that derivatives indicator to avoid further surprises.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Q2 Earnings Show Coinbase Raked in $2 Billion — Firm Forms Partnerships With Elon Musk, PNC Bank, Spacex

August 11, 2021 Bitcoin.com

Tesla reports record $1B income for Q2 despite $23M impairment loss on BTC

July 27, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Tesla reports record B income for Q2 despite M impairment loss on BTC

Bitcoin

Tesla’s latest earnings report showed that the firm conducted no digital asset purchases or sales in Q2, but reported an impairment loss of $23 million on its BTC holdings.

Electric vehicle and clean energy firm, Tesla, has reported $1.14 billion in net income for the second quarter.

The firm’s July 26 earnings report showed that total revenue grew by 98% year on year (YOY) for Q2, increasing from $6 billion in 2020 to $11.9 billion this year. Tesla attributed the bulk of its growth to a surge in demand for its electric vehicles, stating:

“In the second quarter of 2021, we broke new and notable records. We produced and delivered over 200,000 vehicles, achieved an operating margin of 11.0%, and exceeded $1B of GAAP net income for the first time in our history.”

The firm also generated quarterly profits of $1.02 per share.

The firm stated that total revenue was partially offset by growth in operating expenses and a Bitcoin-related impairment loss of $23 million.

As Tesla holds its Bitcoin as an “intangible asset,” accounting rules mandate that the firm must report an impairment loss when the asset’s price drops below its cost basis. However, Tesla is not required to report pricappreciations in the underlying asset until the position is realized through a sale.

The report also shows that Tesla didn’t buy or sell any digital assets in Q2. As such, Tesla’s sole crypto purchase remains its $1.5 billion BTC buy in Q1, with the firm having also cashing out $272 million during the same quarter.

Tesla’s $1.14 billion in net income was calculated using Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) — a collection of commonly accepted accounting rules used for financial reporting such as expense matching and revenue recognition.

Non-GAAP figures, which exclude irregular or non-cash expenses such as depreciation, one-time balance sheet adjustments, and acquisitions, estimate the firm took in $1.6 billion with a profit of $1.45 per share.

Speaking at the virtual conference “The ₿ Word” on July 22 Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk quashed rumors that the firm may sell its holdings in the near future, also teasing that it may resume accepting BTC payments for its electric vehicles.

Musk also revealed for the first time that his aerospace firm SpaceX holds BTC, emphasizing that Tesla and SpaceX have no plans to sell:

“We’re not selling any Bitcoin, nor am I selling anything personally or nor is SpaceX selling any Bitcoin.”

Bitcoin, Ethereum Rise as Elon Musk Reveals Allocations

July 22, 2021 The Crypto Briefing

SpaceX owns Bitcoin, Elon Musk and Nic Carter believe BTC is becoming greener

July 22, 2021 Coin Telegraph

Bitcoin

Musk revealed that SpaceX owns Bitcoin and that Tesla may be close to accepting BTC payments again after looking into BTC’s sustainability.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has revealed for the first time that his firm SpaceX owns Bitcoin (BTC).

The company is yet to officially announce how much Bitcoin it has purchased, however Musk's other company Tesla purchased $1.5B of the cryptocurrency earlier this year which sparked a major Bitcoin price rally.

That rally came to an abrupt end after Tesla stopped taking Bitcoin payments due to environmental concerns, but speaking at "The ₿ Word" — a virtual Bitcoin (BTC) event — the erratic tech billionaire suggested Tesla was on the verge of accepting the cryptocurrency again following promising signs the percentage of renewable energy used for mining was increasing.

The changing narrative of Bitcoin going "green" may help reignite a rally, with Coin Metrics co-founder Nic Carter telling CNBC a few hours ago that BTC’s fundamentals are getting better in terms of sustainability.

Musk appeared alongside Ark Invest CEO Cathie Wood, and Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, and moderator Steve Lee from Square Crypto. Musk did not reveal any additional details about SpaceX's purchase apart from saying:

“I do own Bitcoin, Tesla owns Bitcoin, SpaceX owns Bitcoin, and I do personally own a bit of Ethereum and Dogecoin of course.”

He did add that: “We’re not selling any Bitcoin, nor am I selling anything personally or nor is SpaceX selling any Bitcoin.”

The statement confirms longstanding speculation the space infrastructure company was adding Bitcoin to its reserves. In mid-March, Anthony Scaramucci claimed in a Tweet that he believed Musk did not stop with just Tesla's purchase.

Elon Musk didn’t stop with Tesla. I understand that SpaceX owns #bitcoin on its balance sheet. @elonmusk owns over $5 billion in #bitcoin via Tesla, SpaceX, and personally. No living person has done more to protect the planet against climate change. (1/2)
— Anthony Scaramucci (@Scaramucci) March 19, 2021

During the event, Musk donned a BTC themed t-shirt and appeared to be relatively optimistic about the future of digital gold as he stated that he owns "much more Bitcoin than Ether or DOGE."

In case you were wondering, this is the shirt that @elonmusk is wearing. pic.twitter.com/SNd0a8LLjj
— The Wolf Of All Streets (@scottmelker) July 21, 2021

Musk stated that there “appears to be a positive trend” in renewable energy usage for BTC mining, citing the recent closure of coal-powered mining plants in China.

“I want to do a little more diligence to confirm that the percentage of renewable energy usage is most likely at or above 50% and that there is a trend towards increasing that number. If so, Tesla will resume accepting Bitcoin,” he said.

Nic Carter discusses mining on CNBC

Speaking about Musk’s latest comments with CNBC’s Fast Money on July 22, Carter said he was “glad” that Musk had began to evaluate the “ facts on the ground because they are very favorable.”

Carter echoed Musk’s sentiments on China-based BTC mining, noting that the “Chinese hash rate was very much influenced by energy produced by coal,” and that there had been a lack of transparency from “anonymous miners” in that region.

“The fundamentals are getting better in terms of the sustainability of Bitcoin,” Carter said. The Coinmetrics co-founder pointed to the fact miners in the U.S and Canada are more likely to use sustainable practices and are more willing to disclose information.

“A lot of that [mining in China] has been replaced by mining in Canada and the U.S., where miners are much more sustainably focused. We’re also seeing a lot more disclosure from miners, 32% of the hash rate joined a council, the Bitcoin Mining Council, and they produce quarterly disclosures now,” he said.

Carter referenced the Bitcoin Mining Council's (BMC) recent study which surveyed 32% of miners on the BTC.network. The poll produced an estimate of a 67% sustainable power mix in Q2.

It is unclear if Musk has factored in this survey as part of his due diligence, however, as it relied on self-reported data from a limited set of just three survey questions.

Carter conceded that the sustainability of BTC is not going to be fully verifiable until the world sees where the majority of miners set up shop following the exodus from China. However, in his own view, he stated that:

“I think Bitcoin is perfectly suitable for payments today, and of course the environmental costs are offset by its enormous utility”

spacex