Experts say institutions drove Bitcoin’s rise to $19K and alt season is coming

Market analysts are attributing Bitcoin’s sudden surge above $19,000 to aggressive demand from financial institutions and leading companies in the United States.

Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            NOV 26, 2020

Analysts are pointing to demand from financial institutions and publicly listed companies as the primary forces behind Bitcoin’s (BTC) sudden retest of its all-time highs.

“The primary reason for the steady grind up in Bitcon has been the increased interest and aggressive buying activity from institutions,” said Nick Cote of gamified trading platform Hxro Labs. “A lot of investors are going through Grayscale.”

Rising institutional demand can be seen in heavy accumulation by Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, with the fund’s BTC holdings exceeding 500,000 earlier this month.

Cote also said that top American companies like Square and Microstrategy are “putting BTC on their books as a hedge against inflation and poor monetary policy management from the central banks.” He described this behavior as driving a “positive feedback loop” in the markets:

“There will be pullbacks of course, but as long as institutions believe in the narrative of Bitcoin being used as a store of value or hedge against inflation, it becomes a positive feedback loop.”

NEM head of trading Nicholas Pelecanos agreed, stating that Bitcoin’s fundamentals are now stronger than ever before, pointing to post-halving supply dynamics, a rise in institutional adoption, and a number of “publicly listed U.S. companies moving 10% of their balance sheet into the asset.”

Pelecanos is now looking to a rise in the altcoin markets, stating, “BTC is back at its all-time high levels, but what is worth noting is the valuation of the altcoins which are on average still 50% below their all-time highs.”

Despite his bullish outlook for alts, Pelecanos warned that many alternative cryptocurrencies have failed to attract meaningful adoption, stating:

“Some altcoins represent projects that are no longer functioning, yet other projects have seen tremendous development on both adoption and tech.”

Analysts have also pointed to bullish signals coming from the mining markets, with Glassnode chief technical officer Rafael Schultze-Kraft noting that miners have hoarded an additional 10,000 BTC since March.

Miners’ revenues also recently posted new year-to-date highs after reclaiming pre-halving levels, with daily revenue exceeding $20 million.

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Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Samuel Haig.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Bitcoin (BTC) is the Most Manipulated Asset Ever – Dr. Doom

John P. Njui   •   BITCOIN (BTC) NEWS • CRYPTOCURRENCY   •   NOVEMBER 26, 2020

Quick take:

• Professor Nouriel Roubini has classified Bitcoin as the most manipulated asset ever
• This is after BTC dropped hard from $19,400 to $16,300
• He explained that retail traders were hoodwinked by whales and ‘shafted as in 2018’
• Timothy Peterson agrees that Bitcoin is manipulated
• According to Professor Roubini, investing in Bitcoin is like taking your portfolio to a rigged casino

Bitcoin’s Dr. Doom, Professor Nouriel Roubini, has once again classified Bitcoin as being ‘the most manipulated asset ever’. His statements regarding Bitcoin were made after the King of Crypto fell from $19,400 to the $16,300 price area in less than 48 hours. According to Prof. Roubini, retail traders were once again lured into the market by manipulative whales in a situation similar to 2018.

13% down. Most manipulated asset ever. As I said the higher it goes the harder it will fall. FOMO-salivating retail suckers hoodwinked by manipulative whales will get shafted as in 2018!

Timothy Peterson, of Cane Island Alternative Advisors, put aside his differences with Professor Roubini, to agree that Bitcoin is indeed manipulated. His comments can be seen in the following Tweet. Mr. Peterson has published a paper on Bitcoin’s price manipulation which is available online for further study.

Bitcoin is Like Taking Your Portfolio to a Rigged Illegal Casino – Dr. Doom

Professor Nouriel Roubini went on to post a twelve-part Twitter thread in which he cautioned retail traders against being duped by manipulative Bitcoin whales.

Bitcoin has no role in institutional or retail investors portfolios. It is not a currency: not an unit of account, not a scalable means of payment & is a highly volatile store of value. It is heavily manipulated: look at the investigation of Bitfinex by US law enforcement.

Key to his argument is that Bitcoin is not a currency and that it is highly manipulated using Tether. Furthermore, Bitcoin is not an asset and has zero intrinsic value. He compared owning Bitcoin to taking your portfolio to a rigged illegal casino.

…Tether is used to manipulate the Bitcoin market. And look at the recent indictment of BitMex and his criminal CEO & gang. It has no intrinsic value, it is not backed by any asset, it is not legal tender, it cannot be used to pay taxes.

[Bitcoin is] Not scalable means of payments. It’s toxic for the environment as POS hogs enormous amounts of energy & pollutes the earth

Bitcoin is not an asset as it has ZERO intrinsic value…So it is a pure speculative manipulated “asset” & bubble with no fundamental value. It is not even an hedge against risk off episodes: every time stocks go down, bitcoin falls much more.

Investing in BTC is equivalent to take your portfolio to a rigged illegal casino & gamble; at least in legit Las Vegas casinos odds aren’t stacked against you as those gambling markets aren’t manipulated the way BTC is. Instead BTC is manipulated heavily by Tether & whales.

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Original article posted on the EthereumWorldNews.com site, by John P. Njui.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

Peter Schiff Believes Wealthy Investors And Institutions Won’t Buy Bitcoin When Inflation Finally Kicks In

By Brenda Ngari – November 25, 2020

The past couple of months have been remarkable for the bitcoin markets. The number one cryptocurrency which was trading at $3,800 just the other day, breached $19,000 for the first time since the 2017 bull market.

Despite the extraordinary performance, gold bug Peter Schiff continues to criticize the OG cryptocurrency. This time, the Euro Pacific Capital chief claimed that large investors and institutional clients will not turn to bitcoin once they start worrying about the next big inflation wave.

Institutions Will Choose Gold Over Bitcoin: Peter Schiff

According to Peter Schiff, big-money investors and institutions are still not worried about inflation. This is manifested by the low bond yields. But when they begin to fret, they will purchase gold, not the flagship cryptocurrency.

The crypto-hater goes on to state that bitcoin only attracts small speculators and a handful of asset managers who are taking advantage of the speculators.

He said:

“Large investors and institutions are still not worried about inflation, as evidenced by low bond yields. When they finally start to worry, they will buy #gold, not #Bitcoin. The main buyers of Bitcoin are small speculators and a few fund managers who are taking advantage of them.”

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’d know that Schiff is a serial bitcoin naysayer. He uses every chance he gets to taint bitcoin’s image while calling attention to his precious commodity gold. With his latest tweet, he is sending the message that institutional investors and other large investors don’t view bitcoin as an inflationary hedge.

This is, however, not the case. While gold has long been the first choice as a hedge against inflation, the yellow metal is slowly losing its luster in a digital world. More importantly, bitcoin has totally crushed gold this year in terms of YTD gains. While gold has gained only 24% since the beginning of the year, bitcoin is enjoying blockbuster 172% gains.

Unfortunately for Schiff, Millenials like his son Spencer are increasingly preferring the top cryptocurrency instead.

Peter Schiff’s Son Dismisses His Dad’s Advice And Accumulates BTC

Even though Peter Schiff has over 30 years of investment experience, his son, Spencer Schiff, is not having any of his father’s advice about bitcoin. In early September, Schiff revealed that Spencer had purchased even more bitcoin against his advice. At the time, bitcoin was experiencing a correction around the $10,000 level and it appears that Spencer saw this as a good opportunity to add to his holdings.

Peter Schiff asked the Twitter community whether they would opt for financial advice from a 58-year old veteran like himself or an 18-year college freshman who has never even held a single job. An overwhelming majority of the respondents chose Spencer, not his dad.

Gold pundits like Schiff are often skeptical about bitcoin because the cryptocurrency threatens to take market share away from the yellow alloy, not to mention the coveted title as the preferred store of value. Since bitcoin is only getting started, I fully expect Schiff to find new angles to try to tear down the benchmark cryptocurrency in the near future.

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DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Brenda Ngari and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

US intelligence is looking at Chinese CBDC as a national security threat

The Director of National Intelligence wants to have the SEC’s leader briefed on the dangers of the U.S. falling behind in crypto.

Image courtesy of CoinTelegraph

            NOV 25, 2020

The United States national security apparatus is warning other agencies about China’s upcoming digital currency.

On Wednesday, news outlet the Washington Examiner reported on a letter that National Intelligence Director John Ratcliffe had sent Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton earlier in the month.

According to the report, Ratcliffe offered to have staff brief Clayton on the security issues that derive from China’s dominance in crypto mining as well as the country’s progress in digitizing the yuan. Ratcliffe’s letter also apparently pushed Clayton to ensure that U.S. crypto firms remain competitive.

Cointelegraph has reported extensively on the race for a central bank digital currency, or CBDC. Among major economies, China seems to be closest to launch.

Since Bretton Woods in 1944, the U.S. has enjoyed a privileged status as the issuer of the world’s reserve currency, the U.S. dollar. To this day, almost all international trade is settled in dollars, though that is changing for countries like Russia and China, which are subject to extensive U.S. sanctions.

The dollar’s special status affords the Federal Reserve extra flexibility in printing more dollars without running into hyperinflation, as there is huge demand beyond U.S. shores. It is also this special status that allows U.S. sanctions to be such useful instruments of international influence.

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A successful digital yuan could challenge the status of the dollar in international trade. The flip side, however, is that many see a digital yuan as a tool of surveillance for the Chinese Communist Party. While that might reduce demand, the upgraded access to information may be another factor that Ratcliffe is worried about.

Original article posted on the CoinTelegraph.com site, by Kollen Post.

Article re-posted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

DAiM Rolls Out 401(k) Plans With Bitcoin For Any Sized Business

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 11/24/2020 9:24 AM ET

Digital Asset Investment Management (DAiM) has rolled out the first ERISA-compliant employer-sponsored 401(k) retirement plans that support Bitcoin (BTC). Employers of any size can adopt these plans for the benefit of their employees.

DAiM is the first licensed Registered Investment Advisor for Bitcoin and digital assets. It was approved by the State of California in June 2018 and is responsible for selecting, managing, monitoring, and benchmarking the investment offerings.

DAiM will serve as the advisor and fiduciary to help companies create a 401(k) Plan with access to Bitcoin that offers several recommended model portfolios of varying risk to traditional assets and allocation of up to 10 percent to Bitcoin. The employee also has an option to allocate more to Bitcoin.

The company executed the very first employer-sponsored 401(k) plan in October 2019 and is now launching scalable 401(k) plans that provide record keeping and administrative services.

All the invested Bitcoin will be held securely in Institutional Cold Storage Custody with Gemini Trust, DAiM's partner for its primary Investment Advisory services. As and when an employee leaves a particular company, their Bitcoin will be able to transfer with them.

DAiM said it can work with companies of any size, to either switch plans from their current provider or by implementing a first time employer-sponsored 401(k) plan with key tax credits.

However, DAiM noted that companies which are interested in offering an employer-sponsored 401(k) plan with Bitcoin for 2021, the plans need to be put in place by mid-December of this year.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe

PayPal CEO Dan Schulman Reveals Bullish Stance On Bitcoin

By Erie Maxwell – November 1, 2020

In a recent interview with CNBC, Dan Schulman, CEO of PayPal has stated that “Early next year, we’re going to allow cryptocurrencies to be a funding source for any transaction happening on all 28 million of our merchants.”

One of the main criticisms about PayPal and the support for cryptocurrencies is that it will most likely not allow external deposits or withdrawals of crypto. However, the platform would be required to back its database with actual holdings. The only caveat is that PayPal would be moving the crypto within.

Either way, the integration of cryptocurrencies with PayPal will drive the market to new highs in the near future. It will also help with the scalability of blockchain which is still an issue for many cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin.

BTCUSDT Chart By TradingView (Click image for larger view)

The flagship cryptocurrency is currently trading at $18,349 after hitting a peak of $18,965 on November 21. Despite several mini crashes, Bitcoin has recovered strongly and aims to hit $19,000 in the short-term.

PayPal could be the initial spark of a new colossal bull rally

It’s clear that Dan Schulman thinks Bitcoin is a valuable asset, and he actually owns some coins as well. Schulman stated that the value of cryptocurrencies comes from trust and the issues with fiat money. The CEO believes most people simply don’t want to handle cash anymore, something that is happening in the financial world as well. 

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One of the main things that PayPal looked for when debating whether to support cryptocurrencies or not was their utility in the real world. Allowing customers to use cryptos as a funding source is a significant booster to the utility of digital assets.

When a customer buys Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency through PayPal and wants to make a transaction with a merchant, the platform will automatically calculate how much of that cryptocurrency the user needs to pay -avoiding any potential volatility issues.

PayPal is one of the largest online payment systems in the world founded by Elon Musk and others. The support of Bitcoin and other digital assets will most certainly benefit the entire cryptocurrency market in the long-term.

DISCLAIMER

The views expressed in the article are wholly those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, ZyCrypto. This article is not meant to give financial advice. Please carry out your own research before investing in any of the various cryptocurrencies available.

The original article written by Erie Maxwell and posted on ZyCrypto.com.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe