Crypto News: We bring you a roundup of what’s been happening in crypto this week. A renowned analyst says Bitcoin (BTC) upside is imminent, with the only potential damper being the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s rejection of BlackRock’s Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund. At the same time, the crypto community celebrated the supposed premature exit of SEC chair Gary Gensler.
Also making headlines this week is Bank of America’s heavy leaning into the debt market and Vietnamese authorities sounding caution on the Pi network’s growing complexity.
Renowned Crypto Analyst Leans Toward Upside, Says BTC Retreat to $25000 Unlikely
On Thursday, crypto analyst Josh Rager predicted that Bitcoin would unlikely retreat to $25,000 in the short term. He said that speculation of a pullback back to $24,000 were doing the rounds but that such predictions were overthought.
Still, one scenario could still cause pain if the US Securities and Exchange Commission rejects BlackRock’s application to launch a spot BTC exchange-traded fund.
According to the analyst, Bitcoin could fall below $30,000, but he leans toward an upside first and expects the SEC to approve the ETF. BTC has been unable to break through the $31,000 resistance level since June 21.
Crypto and BTC’s Hopes SEC Chair Gary Gensler Resigned Dashed
Speaking of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), hopes of chairman Gary Gensler resigning were dashed after early reports were found to be fake.
Over the past weekend, several smaller crypto news outlets cited internal sources who claimed SEC chair Gensler had stepped down. The SEC boss has cracked down on several prominent companies for allegedly violating US securities laws and has repeatedly dismissed calls for new rules to govern the industry.
After SEC public relations confirmed the story was fake, about $15 billion reentered the crypto market.
Its market cap is currently 1.17 trillion, according to market data aggregator CoinMarketCap.
Bank of America Sitting on Debt Time-Bomb
Staying in the US, industry-leading commentary from the Kobeissi Letter suggests Bank of America may be a ticking time bomb.
While the US Federal Reserve claims the banking crisis is over, the news source says BofA’s $100 billion investment in the US bond market is a liquidity crisis waiting to happen.
“Bank of America claims it’s not an issue as they don’t plan to sell. Sound familiar? That’s because it is. Both Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic collapsed for this reason.”
Additionally, the bank bought $670 billion worth of bonds with pandemic-era deposits when yields were low and prices were high. Any significant bank run scenario could see BofA sell these bonds at steep losses, similar to Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year.
Read here about the US banking crisis of 2023.
BofA also has the highest paper losses amongst the largest major US banks, which Kobeissi hopes the bank never realizes.
This year, the Fed’s $107 billion propping up of smaller lenders has also seen smaller banks drowning in debt.
Memes Surge as Anticipation Grows for New Wall Street Token
Memecoin PEPE rose 17% on Monday, accompanied by 36% in gains for its derivative PEPE 2.0. Market data revealed that PEPE volumes on the day rose to $182 million, up 103% from the previous day. The number of wallet addresses holding PEPE also increased on the day.
Wall Street Memes has also raised $12 million in presales in just over a month. Investors relish the coin’s listing on centralized exchanges soon.
Vietnam Police Raise Alarm About Pi Network
Vietnamese officials this week cited concern the Pi Network had grown “exceedingly complex and unmanageable.”
Launched in 2019 in India and Vietnam and growing in popularity during the 2021 bull market, Pi allows people to mine Pi tokens using mobile phones.
Authorities in the Southeast Asian nation warn that several influencers have lured supporters through multi-level marketing schemes.
Additionally, the blockchain seems to have no other utility than to exchange Pi tokens. No exchanges list the coin either, and cryptocurrency is not legal tender in Vietnam.
This Week’s NFT News: Azuki Elementals Drove Markets South
In NFT news this week, investors openly admitted low liquidity and no plans to buy despite low token prices.
Azuki’s Elementals mint on June 27, a would-be catalyst for a market upturn, instead drove prices to historic lows. After the team raked in $37 million, the collection’s price dropped to a floor of 5.8 ETH in seven days.
Sales volumes on Ethereum have been on a downtrend in the last week, while Solana’s new SMB Barrel Raffle sales rose.
This week, the collection beat Ethereum’s blue-chip collection, Bored Ape Yacht Club. Sales of SMB Barrel Raffle rose 176% to $21.7 million in the last seven days, while BAYC did just over $18.1 million.
Top 5 Altcoin Performers This Week While BTC Struggles to Break $31,000
This week’s top gainers were MKR and XEC, which shave broken out from crucial diagonal resistance levels. However, they have yet to clear their main horizontal resistance area.
On July 5, MKR reached a yearly high of $1,080, while XEC struggled to overcome selling pressure and stayed below $0.000041.
FXS has broken out from a 144-day descending resistance line but has yet to accelerate its rate of increase.
FLOW and BIT are faltering at key resistance levels, and their failure to break out does not bode well for future trends. BIT claimed the 0.618 retracement level on June 27 and is currently exchanging hands at around $0.4609. In the meantime, FLOW is trading between $0.50 and $0.75.
5 Worst Performing Cryptos This Week
Considering bearish behavior, Yuga Labs’ DAO governance token APE fell to a new all-time low of $1.83 on July 5. FTM and XLM pivoted lower since bouncing off key horizontal resistance areas. The trends for both tokens remain bearish.
Despite showing bullish signs, SNX and CFX have not confirmed any upside trend reversals. They have fallen 10.9% and 11.5%, respectively, this week.
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