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What are the chances of another crypto actually to overtake BTC?

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    underratedcrypto
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    When the famous Satoshi Nakamoto first designed his masterpiece, few could have imagined the almost $63,500 peak that sent investors into a frenzy. Even these days, the first-ever cryptocurrency’s price feels hard to believe and investors might pinch themselves now and then. Taking a seat alongside Bitcoin (BTC) on the roller coaster, altcoins like Litecoin (LTC), Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) joined the ride — and, more recently, DeFi giants Polkadot and Cardano.

    But for the long haul, looking into the crystal ball, it’s difficult to see the future of a coin shrouded in uncertainty. Ray Dalio raised fair points in his critique of Bitcoin, arguing that uncertainties regarding how governments will react to digital assets supplanting fiat currency in utilization are causes for potential concern down the road. He further argued that the Bitcoin blockchain will soon be outdated, and with no central governance to adapt it to emerging blockchain technology, a superior coin could overtake it.

    And that nails home the point: Bitcoin’s underlying blockchain protocols are very limiting to enable broader financial applications. It would be unfathomable to operate a massive DeFi ecosystem on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, given Bitcoin’s proof-of-work transaction consensus algorithm.

    Despite its limitations, it’s difficult to predict whether innovative advances in competing coins’ blockchains will be enough to overtake Bitcoin’s success. It all hinges on the utility factor: Will crypto stay a store of value, or will it become a viable alternative for exchanging value?

    Emerging blockchain technologies and DeFi’s success

    Since the dawn of Bitcoin just over a decade ago, the blockchain industry has given rise to hundreds of different projects, with each one aiming to forge a new coin into stardom. Many succeeded in the long term. Ether, the second closest coin in value to Bitcoin, continued hitting new all-time highs throughout April, validating not just the coin’s potential as a store of value asset but also Ethereum’s potential as a blockchain network.

    Related: Where does the future of DeFi belong: Ethereum or Bitcoin? Experts answer.

    Similar to Ethereum, several projects aimed to emulate the titan that Vitalik Buterin and his associates built, such as Cardano, EOS and, most recently, the hot Polkadot. Each project tries to build off the limitations of the other to varying degrees of success. Hype has been most of what’s been delivered to users, as only time will reveal the true validity of these projects.

    Regardless of the blockchain projects and their creative names, they’ve spurred on an ecosystem of collaborative development. Together, they’ve created decentralized apps, or DApps, that can bring the unbanked out of the doldrums of impoverishment, opportunity to the financially excluded and new investment avenues to the already-savvy.

    Related: It’s time to put the dukes down and work together for blockchain’s future

    The flourishing of coins and DApps serves up plenty of optimism to many outsiders looking in, offering hope that there is real potential to foster a booming decentralized finance ecosystem — or at least a hybrid of it combined with centralized markets. But it’s all thanks to belief in Bitcoin’s value, which is the fixation point of many investors.

    Bitcoin’s store of value is what’s really on the mind

    What drove the inquisitiveness of investors, developers and crypto enthusiasts alike was the appeal of Bitcoin as a store of value. Against fiat currencies, Bitcoin is deflationary; so, during periods like the COVID-19 pandemic, Bitcoin’s appeal turned white hot.

    While discussions about Ethereum, Polkadot and other blockchain platforms caught the attention of the DeFi world, many outsiders remained numb to them and fixated on the coin prices. And that’s why Bitcoin’s appeal stays as a store of value, mostly.

    Related: The butterfly effect: Why DeFi will force BTC to break its 21M supply ceiling

    Many ordinary retail investors and institutional investors don’t have a firm grasp on crypto’s inner workings. According to a Cardify survey, only 16.9% of crypto investors “fully understand” it, while just over 33% of them have limited or “zero knowledge.” Over 40% of crypto investors are newbies who are riding the hype wave. It’s arguable that the entry barriers to the DeFi world are quite high and literacy is rather hard to attain, but that’s a story for another time.

    Related: Institutional investors won’t take Bitcoin mainstream — You will

    Institutional investors remain wary of the volatility issues facing Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, with ongoing predictions of an imminent bubble — another signal that underlying blockchain technologies are less of a priority. And this is precisely why other coins will not overtake Bitcoin. So long as the mainstream fixation remains pinned to coin value and not underlying blockchain value, Bitcoin will stand atop the cryptocurrency podium. Whether investors can become more literate in the inner workings of the DeFi world will determine how much value investors will find in the underlying technologies of new and emerging coins.

    For now, Bitcoin is the king of the hill and will probably stay that way for a long time as the price continues to climb and mainstream investors hop on board.

    Sharp decline for DOGE following Musk Saturday night live appearance

      By
      underratedcrypto
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      Elon Musk made his long-awaited appearance as host of Saturday Night Live. And it appears to have been anything but good for the price of dogecoin (DOGE) as it plummets from yesterday’s heights.

      May 8 was arguably the best day in the life of the meme-inspired altcoin DOGE. It hit the latest in a series of all-time highs, peaking at $0.73, and skirted above the $0.70 for a few hours afterwards. However, it struggled to recover after dipping from $0.71 to $0.67 in the space of five minutes.

      Several small climbs and falls ensued into small hours of May 9. Until around 06:29 CET, at which point data shows a sharp decline to $0.50. Plummeting severely from the $0.66 mark it had been at only 45 minutes earlier.

      This turn of events has been attributed to Tesla CEO Elon Musk hosting last night’s edition of Saturday Night Live. While the entrepreneur’s social media activity has, until now, done everything to drive up DOGE’s price, his mentioning the altcoin on the show sparked a sell-off instead.

      Musk quipped about DOGE, among other self-deprecating jokes, throughout his time on the comedy showcase. His mother, Maye Musk, joined him for the exchange about DOGE.

      However, it appears Elon Musk is more than aware of the volatility of DOGE. And, by extension, all cryptocurrency. Earlier this week, a video surfaced on YouTube, in which the tech mogul advised caution for all crypto investors. He said that it would be unwise for people to invest their life savings in crypto, and that it should all be “considered speculation at this point.”

      Robinhood crashes amid the DOGE sell-off

      With the highly unprecedented and unexpected dip in DOGE’s price following Musk’s SNL appearance, some exchange platforms received heavy traffic amid the resulting sell-off. Robinhood, one of the top platforms for trading in DOGE. Around the same time as the altcoin’s sharp price decline, they reported system issues on their twitter account.

      While the issues appeared to be resolved an hour later, Robinhood advised its users that they would continue to monitor the situation. They also apologized to any users who may have been affected.

      Reinforced by the app’s Chief Operating Officer Christine Brown, who stated Robinhood would reach out to any customers who the system downtime may have impacted.

      It is not the first time DOGE activity has crashed Robinhood. The app reported “intermittent issues” with trading after DOGE hit an earlier all-time high of $0.60 on May 4. However, reports indicate there is nothing to tie this crash to the rise in DOGE’s price at the time.

      However, DOGE was named the culprit of a major outage on Robinhood back in April. Amid one of Elon Musk’s tweet-motivated spikes in the altcoin’s price. The trading platform was out of action for a number of hours, citing “unprecedented demand” as the reason for the outage.

      Revolut wants to add dogecoin to crypto trading tool: sources

        By
        underratedcrypto
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        Revolut, the $5.5 billion London-based digital bank, is preparing to add dogecoin to the list of cryptocurrencies customers can trade on its app.

        People close to the situation told The Block that Revolut is hoping to launch decagon soon, although as of May 7 the startup was still running tests to ensure any update goes smoothly.

        One source even suggested that dogecoin could be added to the app ahead of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s appearance on Saturday Night Live this weekend. Analysts have suggested that the possibility of Musk mentioning the meme-token on the show has further inflated its price over the past week.

        The Block could not verify the exact timing of any dogecoin launch on Revolut. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment.

        Created as a joke in 2013, the price of dogecoin has soared in recent months after being hyped by billionaires Musk and Mark Cuban. According to CoinGecko, the cryptocurrency currently boasts a market capitalization of around $90 billion, up from just $7.5 billion in early April.

        Revolut, which is rumored to be seeking further investment at a $10 billion valuation, is a global leader in the burgeoning neobank sector. The startup began in 2015 as an app and card offering that allowed travelers to cheaply and easily convert currencies, but has since launched a multitude of products, including stock trading and crypto investment tools.

        On May 6, Revolut announced it would allow bitcoin withdrawals for the first time, after recently adding 11 new tokens to the crypto tool.

        The company is also attempting to win banking licenses in various markets globally, including the United Kingdom and the United States. It is already a licensed bank in Lithuania.

        Edward Cooper, Revolut’s head of crypto, told The Block in a recent interview that Revolut’s “end goal” is to allow users to access all their financial services through one super-app.

        “That means banking makes sense; it means commodities makes sense; crypto makes sense. We don’t think these things are mutually exclusive,” he said.

        Asked whether regulators such as the Bank of England–which will ultimately decide whether to award Revolut a banking license in the United Kingdom–might be perturbed by that blend of products, Cooper said that “the fact that Revolut has regulated products can actually help us to a certain extent, because when we go to talk to regulators and explain to them what our product’s going to be, they already have a good idea of our controls and systems that we have in place.”

        BTC/ETH/LTC/XRP Analysis – 9 May

        By
        underratedcrypto
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        Bitcoin closed bullish today, and it is heading towards the $60,000 key level. Above it, Bitcoin will move towards $68,000. The intraday chart will be volatile as we are in the weekend. ETH/BTC blew through the resistance target, which pushed Ethereum higher. If it breaks above 0.0700 BTC, it could push Ethereum towards $6,300-$6,500 with a parabolic move. LTC/BTC will find support soon, which will start another push in Litecoin. $450 is the next target. XRPBTC is waiting to get a strong breakout.

        Crypto gambling with Stellar, now on 1xBit

          By
          underratedcrypto
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          0

          Stellar is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies, serving as the main crypto choice of many users because of its security, low costs, and reliability.

          Developed by the Stellar Development Foundation, XLM is now over six years old, and its adoption quickly grew over the years, especially among small and medium businesses.

          And now, 1xBit further pushes the adoption of Stellar by integrating it into their website for users to gamble and play casino games with it.

          Why is Stellar so popular among crypto users?

          Stellar has several strong points that it brings to the crypto market, but perhaps the most important is its transactional power.

          Developed as an open-source and decentralized protocol for crypto to fiat transactions, Stellar empowers its users to make cross-border transactions using any currency pair. This serves as an amazing opportunity for companies to finally ditch traditional banking systems and replace them with cryptocurrency. The small fees and high speed for transactions paired with more security make it a great alternative, especially for small businesses.

          In the past few months, crypto adoption increased massively. And this can also be observed in Stellar’s 24h trading volume, which surpasses 1 billion USD every day, as well as in its increasing price.

          And together with 1xBit’s integration of Stellar, users can now play countless casino games and bet on many sports using the popular cryptocurrency.

          1xBit – The Leading Crypto Gambling Platform

          It’s no secret that 1xBit has been one leader of the crypto gambling industry. The website provides its users with over 100 games, 5,000 slots, and multiple sports, e-sports, and betting opportunities.

          But the website doesn’t stick just to traditional betting on sports, hockey, or basketball. Through 1xBit, you can bet on boat races, air hockey, chess, and even darts. Moreso, some of its e-sports betting opportunities include CS:GO, Dota 2, Rocket League, League of Legends, and StarCraft.

          And last but not least, you can even bet on politics, the weather, and even TV shows.

          And Stellar is just one in a long list of cryptocurrencies accepted by 1xBit. The website accepts over 25 unique assets, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dash, Monero, and Litecoin. And with the multi-currency user accounts, you’re not tied to one cryptocurrency. You can switch between them.

          Besides accessibility, 1xBit also focuses on security and data anonymity. Signing up requires minimum effort and information – just click on the “register” button and type in your email address. The website will autogenerate a username and a password that you can use to log in and play your favorite games.

          And speaking of games, besides what we previously mentioned, 1xBit also provides live dealers on several games, including Poker, Blackjack, Roulette, and Baccarat. All of this to provide a unique gambling experience and make everything as exciting as possible.

          Goldman Sachs announces a new cryptocurrency team

            By
            underratedcrypto
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            Goldman Sachs, the global investment banking giant, has revealed the formation of a new crypto dedicated team in their latest employee memo. The crypto team exists within the firm’s global currencies and emerging markets trading division. The employee memo issued on Thursday marks the first official acknowledgment of the giant about their dedicated, crypto-focused division. The official memo read,

            I am pleased to announce the formation of the firm’s cryptocurrency trading team, which will be our centralized desk for managing cryptocurrency risk for our clients. The Crypto trading team will be a part of Global Currencies and Emerging Markets (GCEM), reporting to me, within the firm’s Digital Assets effort led by Mathew McDermott.

            The newly created cryptocurrency desk has traded two Bitcoin-linked derivatives until now as the announcement follows a new Bitcoin product launch by the banking giant for its wealthy clients. The two derivative products include Bitcoin NDFS and CME Bitcoin Futures.

            Goldman Sachs Dip Their Toes in Digital Assets After Months of Speculation

            This year many baking giants and former Wall Street critics of Bitcoin have come around to join the crypto revolution and started offering direct or indirect exposure to the top cryptocurrency. Goldman Sachs is no different as it declared Bitcoin as a highly speculative asset to qualify as an asset class last year, only to put it at the top of best-performing assets this year.

            Goldman Sachs had earlier announced that they would offer Bitcoin-based investment vehicles for their wealthy clients and now have become among the very few institutions to recognize the creation of a crypto division in their organization. Apart from Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley have also added Bitcoin exposure for their institutional clients despite keeping a safe distance until late last year.

            Miners from the Marathon have censored Bitcoin transactions; Here’s what that means.

            By
            underratedcrypto
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            Despite Marathon’s efforts, transactions from a dark web market still made it into the block.

            Marathon Digital Holdings’ (MARA) new mining pool has mined a bitcoin (BTC, -0.38%) block that is “fully compliant with U.S. regulations,” meaning the company has excluded transactions from entities it believes are sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Treasury or have been involved in dark web activity.

            The Marathon OFAC pool, which was first announced in late March, “refrains from processing transactions from those listed on the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN)” to stay “compliant with U.S. regulatory standards,” according to the company.

            Marathon said it is addressing a concern among “many large funds and corporations” that have” asked about purchasing bitcoin” by marketing its mind bitcoin as OFAC-compliant. Marathon spokesperson Jason Assad confirmed that the firm’s first OFAC pool block censored some transactions, but didn’t specify which ones.

            “By excluding transactions between nefarious actors, we can provide investors and regulators with the peace of mind that the bitcoin we produce is ‘clean’, ethical and compliant with regulatory standards,” Marathon said in a statement.

            It should be noted that Marathon is mining “compliant” blocks of its own volition and that nothing in the current U.S. regulatory or legal code explicitly mandates that practice for miners.

            The company uses DMG’s Wallet score blockchain surveillance software to filter transactions, Assad told CoinDesk. The blacklist is “based on information provided by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and Office of Foreign Assets Control, databases of OFAC restricted cryptocurrency addresses, as well as other sources including the dark web,” he said.

            Iran, which is included on OFAC’s sanctions list, is a hotbed of bitcoin adoption, partly in response to the pressures sanctions place on its citizens. (Notably but unrelated, Iran’s government just said that only bitcoin produced in Iran is legal to trade.)

            What are ‘clean’ bitcoins?

            The practice of censoring transactions, sanctioned or otherwise (put another way, excluding them from blocks because of the sender’s presumed identity), is a subject of heated debate within the Bitcoin community. Satoshi Nakamoto designed Bitcoin mining to facilitate permissionless and censorship resistant transfers of value, but initiatives like Marathon’s undermine that feature for no reason, critics say.

            “It is totally against the Bitcoin ethos as they are trying to make it a permissioned protocol instead of open for all,” said Ben Jarman, a Bitcoin Core and Suredbits developer.

            He also said Marathon’s approach makes little sense. “They are mining blocks that will not have the highest fee transactions, but (are) still on top of blocks with transactions they deem ‘bad,’ giving them more security,” he said.

            Others also questioned the practicality of making a compliance claim.

            Indeed, despite Marathon’s surveillance, transactions from a Russian dark web market, Hydra, were still processed in the “clean” block.

            Further, shortly after Marathon blazoned the “clean” block on social media, bitcoiners from Iran and around the world began to send bitcoin to the address that received the Marathon “clean” block reward. The gesture was meant to display how easy it is to undermine Marathon’s initiative (and thus demonstrate how futile the chase is for “clean” coins).

            Miners speaking to CoinDesk from other pools declined to go on the record about Marathon and its compliance push, but the sentiment was generally negative. One miner laughed at the notion, while another called it a manufactured issue.

            The economics of a ‘compliant’ bitcoin block

            Marathon began directing its hashrate, or computer processing power, to the OFAC pool on May 1 and mined its first block on May 5, Bitcoin block 682170. That block’s transaction fee reward, 0.05 BTC (worth less than $3,000 at the time) is substantially less than the fees collected in the blocks before or after it (both of which were 0.31 BTC or ~$17,800). Block 682172 included 0.48 BTC for nearly $28,000.

            BitMEX Research’s diagnosis notes that the block “contained 0.00330944 BTC less transaction fees than expected.” The block excluded a number of transactions that BitMEX’s own hypothetical template would have included, which “could indicate censorship,” the post said.

            Interestingly, it also included many transactions that BitMEX’s model excluded because their fees were too low to be considered a priority. That could indicate “out-of-band payments” for the fee, BitMEX says, which are under-the-table payments that are not included in the payer’s transaction.

            If Marathon is not receiving out-of-band fees, then so far its “compliant” blocks are netting significantly less in transaction fees. That portion of the block reward has become increasingly important for miner profits as bitcoin’s block subsidy has dwindled to its current rate of 6.25 BTC per block and demand for bitcoin has grown.

            Marathon’s block occurred only a minute after the one before, which could explain the block’s lower fee reward and transaction count. Marathon, however, still used it to censor transactions that, for other miners, would have gone through.

            Trader vs Analyst

            By
            underratedcrypto
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            0
            68788951 - bitcoin trader concept. trading bitcoin cryptocurrency conceptual finance illustration.

            There are many good analysts that do are not profitable in the market. The reason is that analyst and trader/portfolio manager are two different job roles. The reason being that they require two separate sets of skills. Being a good technical analyst boils down to experience and knowledge. Whereas being a good trader is related to strong psychology and having a trader’s mindset.

            Being an analyst requires a certain level of intellect, numeracy, and mathematical skills. In crypto, fundamental analysts must go through many data from white papers (add here what Amish wrote for fundamental analysis). Technical analysts must be able to distinguish support/resistance levels on a price chart, spot emerging patterns that can give a certain trade a winning edge.

            Being a trader, however, requires a powerful personality, confidence, composure and patience. With little to no confidence, an individual cannot let a certain trade breath and take its time towards targets because they’ll become busy doubting themselves. Similarly, with little confidence, a running, losing trade would be difficult to close because that would shake their confidence about their analysis and their ability to be “right”.

            Traders have to disassociate making money from being right being right. Losses are inevitable, and great traders understand it, as trading is a probabilities game. In the long run, if the odds are in one’s favor (i.e. risk: reward ratio) that trader will become profitable, knowing that losses will occur.

            “It’s not whether you’re right or wrong, but how much money you make when you’re right and how much you lose when you’re wrong.” -George Soros-

            Mindset for crypto

            By
            underratedcrypto
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            0

            The cryptocurrency market is still in its infancy, and one must keep this in mind when approaching it. Investing in a young market has its advantages, the most desired one being high ROIs. As uncertainty and volatility remain key aspects of this market, one must not over-expose themself or over-invest. Any unfavorable regulatory decision can pose as a significant setback and take time before further progress towards adoption.

            Many people claim to be invested in crypto “for the tech” and are very little versed in the actual underlying technology. As a result, any bearish moves puts them in a state of panic. Ultimately, any investor’s primary focus is capital appreciation, and in this space, the odds of the latter are immensely put in favour of the one who delves deeply into research. Research ranges from fundamentals to technicals and everything in between. We remember that blockchain and cryptocurrencies remain a new field, hence additional problems and solutions are found daily, we remain in discovery mode. As a result, learning doesn’t stop.

            Access to cryptocurrency trading is easier than any other market, for that reason many amateur traders prefer it. Without proper guidance and knowledge, new market participants are prone to basic “retail traders” errors. Although this market is new, the basics of financial markets still apply. Therefore, one’s research mustn’t be limited to blockchain tech and subjects revolving around cryptocurrencies. All markets share similar traits, and many were successful traders before cryptocurrencies surfaced. Learning from those who succeeded before us is a step in the right direction.

            Technical Analysis

            By
            underratedcrypto
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            0

            Technical analysis is a tool used by traders and investors to determine the probability of a certain price action scenario based on trends and patterns. The basics of this discipline boil down to supply and demand.

            Technical analysts determine supply and demand levels from which price could react as well as patterns showing strength/exhaustion of buying or selling pressure. These are then used to build a plausible price projection with specific invalidation points of the scenario in order to take a position in the market and drive capital appreciation.

            In order to understand how these patterns form, it is necessary to have a clear image of what price charts represent. A price chart is the representation of every past action of all market participants. Price charts represent the supply and demand of a certain asset. With the acquisition of enough data, technical analysts believe they can determine which prices are considered being a “bargain” and what prices are “expensive”.

            Technical analysis mainly employs three different philosophies:

            • The first one being that price discounts everything; meaning that whatever news event or other fundamental information is already expressed by the price.
            • Unlike the Efficient Market Hypothesis, it assumes that past prices and movements can help determine future prices.
            • Price action is always moving in a trend, which can be different on different timeframes.

            There are many schools, that fall under the “Technical Analysis” category, that utilise a variety of different tools or a combination of them. Most analysts consider that the most complex one is “Elliott Wave Theory”, it was developed by Ralph Nelson Elliott in the 1930s. Which relates investor psychology to price action and considers every move to either be an impulse or a retracement.

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            underratedcrypto - 0
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