Cryptocurrency News Roundup for Sept 22, 2020

As always, Bitcoin’s 5% slide back to $10,400 is believed to be the underlying factor fueling this marketwide slump. Worse even for the bulls, the alpha-crypto could fall even further when a platter of futures expire later this week. The closure of the CME gap could easily send prices back into the mid-$9,000s. The DeFi space, in particular, took the brunt of this slump. Even top-ranking DeFi tokens such as LEND, CRV, UNI, SUSHI, BAL, UMA, KAVA, REN, SNX, SWRV, and YFI have lost double digits over the past 24 hours. Expectedly, the peril of these top DeFi tokens appears to have been to the delight of a number of Bitcoin maximalists on Crypto Twitter. BeInCrypto has more on that. Meanwhile, in other big news and market updates from the day:

Bitcoin Gets Knocked Back After Fib Rejection [Analysis]

The Bitcoin price reached a local high of $11,183 on Sept 19. The high was very close to the 0.618 Fib level of the previous increase. The price was rejected shortly afterward and created a bearish engulfing candlestick on Sept 22. The fact that the price has yet to reach the descending resistance line drawn from the two most recent lower-highs makes it possible that the movement is still a correction in response to the prior decrease. Technical indicators are undecided.

• Bitcoin was rejected by an important Fib level.
• There is support between $10,115-$10,355.
• Technical indicators are undecided.

Read the Full Analysis

CIA Decides to Get Cozy With Blockchain R&D

The CIA announced CIA Labs on Sept. 21, stating that the new department is a member of the Federal Laboratory Consortium. Through CIA Labs, officers will be able to work with experts in a variety of fields. Among them is “distributed ledger/blockchain-enabled technologies.” It’s not immediately clear from the press release exactly how the CIA’s interest in blockchain technology will manifest. However, the agency states that CIA Labs will research, develop, test, and engineer new solutions to challenges, while also improving existing solutions. Read the Full Article

NFT Sales Heat Up

While decentralized finance (DeFi) has grabbed most of the recent headlines, the non-fungible token (NFT) market has quietly picked up steam over the summer. According to a Sept 16 report from crypto asset data website Messari, Rarible, an NFT marketplace, has passed $5 million in sales so far this month—more than quadrupling sales numbers from August. The report also noted that $1.5 million of this new volume came on a single day, on Sept. 14. Read the Full Article

Altcoin Analysis: Tron (TRX)

• The TRX price has been decreasing since it reached a high of $0.049 on Sept. 3.
• The decrease was initially very sharp, but the price has been falling at a gradual rate over the past two weeks.
• TRX is following a long-term ascending support line.
• Short-term technical indicators are gradually turning bullish.
• The price is nearing the end of an A-B-C correction.

Read the Full Analysis

Altcoin Analysis: Orchid Protocol (OXT)

• The OXT price has been decreasing since Aug 16 after reaching a high of $0.849. The losses continued until the price reached a low of $0.257 on Sept 18.
• While OXT initially bounced at the $0.26 support area, the increase stopped once the price reached the previous support at $0.42.
• Orchid Protocol gained 70% after a Binance listing announcement on Sept 21.
• The price has retreated back to its pre-breakout level.
• A decrease below the Sept 18 low of $0.257 would invalidate a bullish wave count.

Read the Full Analysis

Crypto.com Blocks Withdrawals After Alleging Users Attempted Illegitimate Trades

Writing on his Twitter account, Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek revealed that the platform’s risk systems blocked certain users from making withdrawals after they took advantage of a service outage to manipulate the Ethereum price. Apparently, the problem began overnight on Sept 21 when an unknown database bug led to a service outage. Some users, he said, tried to take advantage of the situation by manipulating the ETH/USDT price and rapidly selling to other coins in order to lock in massive gains. Read the Full Article

Regulator Gives Banks Green Light to Hold Stablecoin Issuer Reserve Deposits

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which is an independent bureau of the Department of the Treasury, in a letter of interpretation has given national banks and federal savings associations its blessing to hold deposits that serve as reserves for stablecoin issuers. As a result, stablecoin issuers shouldn’t have to look over their shoulder worrying that a bank will suddenly shutter an account holding the reserves that back the stablecoin. Read the Full Article