Originally created to support Bitcoin transactions, blockchain technology seems to split opinion: some see it as an exciting new science capable of delivering a massive boost to the effectiveness and profitability of all companies, while others dismiss it as merely another overhyped business tech solution.

In essence, blockchain is a digital ledger where transactions are recorded and distributed across networks of computer systems. It’s essentially a type of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) - a decentralised database that’s managed by multiple participants.

The underlying principle of blockchain is to provide a secure environment where encrypted business transactions between buyer and seller can happen without the need for third parties to intervene.

For example, blockchain technology supports transactions involving the digital crypto-currency, like Bitcoin, by providing a platform for creating and distributing a record of every Bitcoin transaction to thousands of computers linked to networks all over the world.

And, because the Bitcoin transactions and ledgers are encrypted, blockchain technology offers more security than the banking model. Furthermore, its instantaneous transmission via the internet eliminates the banks' two- to three-day clearing process and accompanying costs for transferring money from one account to another.

“Blockchain is a trustworthy digital ledger that nobody can change, but anybody in a system can update,” says Gavin Parnell, Director of Go Supply Chain.

He continues: “When an update is made, it is time-stamped and everybody in the system gets included in the update. Only one update can be made at a time, with each update to the ledger forming a ‘block’, and cumulative updates creating a chain of blocks – hence the term: ‘blockchain’.”

Individuals within the network keep copies of the blockchain on their personal computers and move on the information digitally by validating a transaction.

All the participants with a copy agree the state of the blockchain at any given time. It is this consensus and the use of cryptography (storing and transmitting data in a particular form so that only those for whom it is intended can read and process it) that ensures records can’t be counterfeited or altered - giving blockchain a high degree of security.

Of course, many of today's supply chains still operate without blockchain technology, so what value does it offer supply chain professionals?

While cloud-sharing of data has many benefits, blockchain’s more secure data-sharing has significant appeal. And, with more businesses hopping on the blockchain bandwagon, in theory supply chains will become more transparent and informed. The fact that blockchain facilitates the use of crypto-currencies is considered an added bonus too. 

Michael Henke of Germany’s Fraunhofer logistics institute, believes blockchain technology is particularly suited to supply chains.

He comments: “The conditions and problems in logistics supply chains, are similar to those of the finance and crypto industries. For example, many distributed entities exchange data among themselves along a supply chain. These data must be visible to everyone and yet securely stored. Many problems can be solved, such as for example, the problem of controlling the origin of goods and components of these products, piracy, and more.

“When goods are shipped, suppliers, consignees, hauliers, authorities and even financiers need to stay up to date and have the same level of information. That's exactly the strength of Blockchain . It works as a large, decentralized accounting.”

And according to Martin Barker, Finance Director of TGMatrix, who provide fully-automated, digital freight matching for shippers and carriers, blockchain has the potential to completely transform transport and supply chain practice and financing.

He comments: “Blockchain technology is gaining considerable interest due to it offering a secure, immutable and tamper-proof distributed ledger. Once a block of data has been recorded it is there in perpetuity, for all users to refer to. Information can be added but can’t be deleted retrospectively, and because the chain doesn’t reside on just one party’s systems, no single player ‘owns’ the chain.  Everybody in a transaction can trust the data, rather than having to ‘trust’ an individual or organisation.

“The effect is not unlike the ‘chain of evidence’ that the prosecution is required to establish in criminal court cases. Not surprisingly, blockchain is interesting supply chain players who need lasting certainty about the physical location and condition of goods, the existence and status of documentation – from proofs of delivery to customs papers and bills of lading – and to support payments and supply chain financing.”

While not everyone is a blockchain cheerleader, with a number of recent studies indicating that blockchain solutions can save industries billions, the technology and the improved transparency and security that it brings, is only likely to be more widely adopted across future supply chains.

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Within a couple of hours Wednesday, bitcoin prices skyrocketed to their highest levels in months, adding on to weeks of moderate gains amid a flurry of positive developments for the recently struggling market, with U.S. Bank and Bank of America among the latest legacy financial institutions embracing the space. 

Key Facts

Bitcoin’s price jumped 10% to more than $55,000 by 12:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, reaching its highest level in nearly five months and helping its market capitalization eclipse $1 trillion for the first time since May, according to crypto-data website CoinGecko. 

Though it’s still about 15% below an all-time price high in April, the world’s largest cryptocurrency far outpaced gains in the market on Wednesday, with ether, Cardano’s ada and binance coin climbing about 6%, 2% and 1% over the past 24 hours, respectively. 

In a Wednesday note, Freddie Evans, a sales trader at digital asset broker GlobalBlock, attributed part of the price momentum to U.S. Bank, the nation’s fifth-largest bank by assets, announcing on Tuesday it has launched a bitcoin custody service to help investment managers store private keys for bitcoin, bitcoin cash and litecoin.

In an interview with CNBC, Gunjan Kedia, the bank’s vice chair of wealth management, said clients are “getting very serious about the potential of cryptocurrency as a diversified asset class” and also doubled down on expectations for growing institutional adoption, adding: “I don’t believe there’s a single asset manager that isn’t thinking about it right now.”

Meanwhile, Matt Senter, the chief technology officer of bitcoin shopping app Lolli, said in an email that current economic conditions—marked by rising interest rates and global market uncertainty—are also fueling bitcoin's rise, adding the cryptocurrency (commonly viewed as a hedge against inflation) has become “increasingly resistant to turmoil in traditional markets.”

Senter pointed out bitcoin’s outperformance among cryptocurrencies also follows growing threats of regulation around other digital assets—particularly so-called stablecoins, whose values are pegged to other assets, and tokens tied to the booming decentralized finance space.

Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market soared to meteoric highs during the pandemic in light of inflationary concerns and increased institutional adoption, but prices started crashing in April, when Tesla—one of bitcoin’s biggest corporate investors—disclosed it sold a large portion of its holdings and wouldn’t buy more until bitcoin mining consumed less energy. Markets have struggled to recover since then amid an intensifying regulatory crackdown in China, stemming in part from similar environmental concerns. The combined market value of the world’s cryptocurrencies—at about $2.4 trillion on Wednesday—is still roughly 10% below its peak of $2.6 trillion on May 12. 

Also fueling bullish sentiment, Bank of America on Monday launched cryptocurrency research coverage, calling the nascent market “too large to ignore” in a note to clients. Though they acknowledged bitcoin’s volatility is still high, the analysts said the cryptocurrency is showing signs of maturing that should enable it to become more commonplace in investment portfolios. “Current bitcoin price dynamics appear to be driven by mainstream ownership and increased institutional interest, which may accelerate as regulatory rules become clearer and investor protections are implemented,” the team said.

As Bitcoin Passes $55,000, CME Futures Data Even More Bullish (Forbes)

Crypto Markets Wipe Out $150 Billion In Value Within Hours Of China’s Latest ‘Bitcoin Ban’—What’s Next? (Forbes)

Crypto Flash Crash Wipes Out $400 Billion In Market Value On Bitcoin Day As El Salvador’s President ‘Buys The Dip’ (Forbes)

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The price of bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, surpassed $57,000 on Monday morning, extending its two-week rally. It's up over 30% in October, currently trading at around $57,442.

The rally is likely due to a couple of reasons, including hope that a bitcoin futures ETF could be approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission soon and excitement after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell clarified that he has no intention to ban bitcoin in the U.S., which seemed to "embolden" investors, Ned Davis Research told CNBC.

Other altcoins jumped as well this week, including meme-coin shiba inu, which aims to compete with dogecoin. Shiba inu still has a long way to go, though. It's currently ranked No. 16, while dogecoin is ranked No. 10.

Outside of price movement, here are five other key things that happened in crypto this past week.

1. NFT trading volume hit $10.7 billion last quarter

NFT, or nonfungible token, trading volume surged in the third quarter of 2021 to $10.67 billion, a report by analytics platform DappRadar found. That's a 704% increase from the previous quarter.

August, in particular, fueled this growth. It was a record-breaking month, according to DappRadar, with over $5.2 billion in trading volume. Though things cooled off slightly in September, it still accounted for over $4 billion in trading volume.

A current lucrative use for NFTs is in-game items, in which users can buy things like skins or accessories to be used in blockchain-based video games. In the third quarter of 2021 alone, in-game items generated $2.3 billion in trading volume, DappRadar found. This represents 22% of the total NFT trading volume.

2. U.S. Bank launches bitcoin custody service

On Tuesday, U.S. Bank, the fifth-largest retail bank in the nation, announced that its cryptocurrency custody service is available to fund managers, CNBC reported. Sub-custodian NYDIG will assist in the endeavor.

This service will help managers store private keys for bitcoin, bitcoin cash and litecoin. Private keys, or a string of letters and numbers similar to a password, are used to unlock access to a holder's cryptocurrency.

Support for other cryptocurrencies like ether is expected over time.

3. AMC accepts dogecoin as payment for gift cards

Also on Tuesday, AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron tweeted that AMC theaters will begin to accept dogecoin as payment for gift cards.

"As we work to accept online crypto payments, now you can buy @AMCTheatres digital gift cards (up to $200 per day) with dogecoin and other cryptocurrency using a BitPay wallet," Aron wrote. "Accepted on our website, mobile app and in theaters."

A few weeks prior, Aron announced that by the end of 2021, AMC will accept bitcoin, ether, litecoin and bitcoin cash for online payments.

4. Sen. Cynthia Lummis discloses a bitcoin purchase worth up to $100,000

Senator Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., bought bitcoin worth between $50,001 and $100,000 on Aug.16, according to a filing on Thursday. The purchase was disclosed outside of the 45-day reporting deadline set by the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act.

A spokesperson at Lummis' office told CNBC that the delay in disclosing was due to "a filing error."

"Once we realized it, we worked with the ethics committee to fix it," the spokesperson said. "It was an honest mistake, and the issue has been resolved without penalty."

Lummis has long been a supporter of bitcoin. In fact, the August purchase was made weeks after she and two other senators tried to amend the Senate's infrastructure bill to address its definition of who qualifies as a cryptocurrency broker. However, the amendment was ultimately rejected.

5. Biden administration weighs executive order on cryptocurrency regulation

The Biden administration is weighing an executive order that would direct federal agencies to study and offer recommendations on the crypto market, Bloomberg reported on Friday.

The order would clarify the responsibilities of different agencies, including the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department, the National Science Foundation and national security agencies.

While a draft of the potential order has been circulating among officials and regulators, no decision has been made to move forward, according to Bloomberg.

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Representations of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency are seen in this illustration picture taken June 7, 2021. REUTERS/Edgar Su/Illustration

NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - Bitcoin surged on Wednesday to its highest level in five months, as market sentiment continued to improve due in part to news a hedge fund controlled by billionaire investor George Soros trades bitcoin.

Investors also expect a seasonal rally in cryptocurrencies this quarter.

The world's largest cryptocurrency in terms of market value rose to $55,499.96, its highest since mid-May. It passed the $50,000 mark for the first time in four weeks on Tuesday amid, among other things, mounting institutional interest.

Bitcoin was last up 6.3% at $54,750.

According to reports on Wednesday, Soros Fund management confirmed at a Bloomberg summit that the fund is trading bitcoin. "We own some coins - not a lot," Dawn Fitzpatrick, the fund's chief executive, was quoted as saying.

There are seasonal factors as well.

"Bitcoin performs historically well in October, which almost makes the rising ... price now a self-fulfilling prophecy. I've been saying repeatedly since the summer that I expect a new all-time high in October," said Ruud Feltkamp, CEO of cloud-based automated crypto trading bot Cryptohopper.

"So what is the reason for this new pump? I think it's partly due to the market cycle we're in, where the emotional part plays a significant role."

Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) published on Monday its first research coverage focused on cryptocurrencies and other digital assets.

U.S. Bancorp (USB.N) announced it launched a cryptocurrency custody service for institutional investment managers who have private funds in the United States and Cayman Islands.

Smaller coins, which typically moves in line with bitcoin, were also up. Ether rose 2.2% to $3,594 and XRP was slightly up 0.2% at $1.0865.

Ben McMillan, chief investment officer at IDX Digital Assets, a factor-based crypto index strategy, noted that based on an analysis of on-chain data, he is seeing a steady rise in the number of new bitcoin addresses, after a huge drop-off in the first half of the year, as well as an increasing number of bitcoin moving off exchange.

Both factors - new addresses and bitcoin moving away from exchanges - are "structurally bullish indications."

That said, McMillan said while the structural bull case for bitcoin is strong, "there remain non-trivial downside risks in the near term."

Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Additional reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Susan Mathew in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Marguerita Choy

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Future of MoneyFuture of Money · October 21, 2021 · 9:38 PM UTCWalmart allowing some shoppers to buy bitcoin at Coinstar kiosks

Walmart Inc said on Thursday customers at some of its U.S. stores will be able to purchase bitcoin using ATM-like machines installed by Coinstar.

Future of MoneyBitcoin falls from peak, U.S. ETF support questionedFuture of MoneyBourse operator Cboe to buy digital asset exchange ErisXFuture of MoneyIn S.Korea, an army of retail investors flocks to YouTube for stock trading adviceFuture of MoneyBitcoin notches record high, day after U.S. ETF debut

Market Update

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly fell below $60,000 on Oct. 22 as a correction after all-time highs deepened concerns about the market's strength.

Trader eyes $56,000 minimum BTC buy-in

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting lows of $59,930 on Bitstamp, down another 6% on the day.

A rebound took the pair back above the $60,000 mark, but caution remained the name of the game as the week saw the price slide below $61,000.

"Was watching that $64K zone as a crucial level to break and the market has failed, so a corrective move is taking place," Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe summarized the situation.

"Overall; looking at $56–$59K as a good spot to buy Bitcoin."

The previous all-time high at $64,900 turned out to provide little by way of new support, instead becoming more of a repeat resistance zone as bulls had little luck securing their newly-won gains.

Optimism, as is customary, came only from those adopting a longer-term perspective. Among them was popular Twitter analyst TechDev, who stressed that 2021 was still conforming to historical bull market trends.

"Final BTC impulse has ALWAYS been five degrees steeper than the run-up to the mid-cycle peak," he noted alongside a comparative chart.

"Holding true so far. If it continues, and the $228K–$250K window is hit (two most historically reliable fib-based targets)... It would happen end of Jan. Will be interesting to watch."Ethereum tests traders' resolve

Bitcoin thus relinquished the limelight to altcoins on shorter timeframes, the top twenty cryptocurrencies by market cap being led by Solana (SOL), up 13% in 24 hours.

Related: Bulls fight to keep Ethereum price above $4K ahead of Friday’s $435M options expiry

Ether (ETH), fresh from a failed attempt to crack new all-time highs, dropped below $4,000 after a brief rebound.

Bitcoin's market cap share stood at 45.7%, reflecting the relative strength of alt markets toward the weekend.

The October "worst case scenario," as Cointelegraph previously reported, meanwhile demands a $63,000 monthly close for BTC/USD.

#Bitcoin #Cryptocurrencies #Altcoin #Ethereum #Bitcoin Price #Markets #Market Update #Ether Price Related News Blockchain Can Disrupt Higher Education Today, Global Labor Market Tomorrow This crypto game with strong economics heads for token launch, after seed funding closure with prominent industry leaders Australian Senators pushing for country to become the next crypto hub Privacy-focused altcoins soar after Bitcoin’s ETF news sparks a market-wide rally Price analysis 10/15: BTC, ETH, BNB, ADA, XRP, SOL, DOT, DOGE, LUNA, UNI Top 5 cryptocurrencies to watch this week: BTC, ETH, SOL, MATIC, FTM

Walmart shoppers can now buy bitcoin at Coinstar kiosks inside some of its stores across the country.

"Coinstar, in partnership with CoinMe, has launched a pilot that allows its customers to use cash to purchase Bitcoin," a Walmart spokesperson confirmed in an email to CBS MoneyWatch. "There are 200 Coinstar kiosks located inside Walmart stores across the United States that are part of this pilot."

The retailer, which operates more than 4,700 U.S. locations, did not elaborate further. 

The pact with Coinstar was first reported by Coindesk, which tried out the service. The kiosks charge a 4% fee for the bitcoin option and a 7% cash exchange fee, according to Coindesk.

The developments comes in a week that saw the first exchange-traded fund tied to bitcoin making its market debut and the cryptocurrency jumping to a record high above $66,000.

Coinstar — known for its machines that let people trade loose coins for cash — is partnering with digital currency exchange Coinme to have some of its kiosks offer bitcoin. Bellevue, Washington-based Coinstar in April launched 300 bitcoin-enabled machines at Winn-Dixie and other groceries across Florida. 

PayPal last year started a service to let customers buy, hold and sell cryptocurrency directly from their PayPal accounts. 

Still, even as cryptocurrencies make inroads with consumers and investors, crypto has its share of critics. 

China's government last month banned all transactions involving cryptocurrency, and a Bank of England official last week warned the lack of regulation of cryptocurrencies could lead to an economic crash. 

Walmart was last month targeted in a hoax in which a phony news release said the retailer would accept a cryptocurrency called Litecoin at its registers. 

I

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Bitcoin is one step closer to being readily available to the masses. If you have any doubts, check out your nearest Walmart. You might be able to buy Bitcoin there at a Coinstar kiosk.

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To be clear, Walmart itself is not offering customers a way to buy bitcoin—its partner Coinstar is. Coinstar is most known for offering kiosks that allow people to trade in their spare change for bills or gift cards. (It certainly was my go-to for my jars of coins when I was a kid). Now, Coinstar will allow people to use its kiosks to buy bitcoin through a collaboration with Coinme, a crypto wallet company that provides bitcoin ATMs.

Coinstar’s new service was first spotted and confirmed by CoinDesk on Thursday.

“Coinstar, in partnership with Coinme, has launched a pilot that allows its customers to use cash to purchase bitcoin,” a Walmart representative told CoinDesk. “There are 200 Coinstar kiosks located inside Walmart stores across the United States that are part of this pilot.”

Buying bitcoin appears to be relatively simple. On its website, which has a very long FAQ section, Coinstar explains that you first have to create a Coinme account. After that, you can head to your nearest Walmart with a participating Coinstar kiosk—only 200 kiosks at select Walmart stores are part of the pilot, so make sure to check that the one near you offers the service—and buy bitcoin with cash.

Curiously, you can only buy bitcoin with paper bills, not coins. It also won’t give you change, so make sure you have the exact amount you want to buy in cash. In addition, Coinstar only allows users to buy bitcoin, not sell bitcoin they already own for cash.

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Once you’ve completed your purchase, the Coinstar kiosk will give you a voucher with a code that you can redeem at Coinme. All purchases come with a 4% transaction fee, part of which goes to Walmart, and a 7% cash exchange fee. A Coinme account, which provides users with a complimentary crypto wallet, is required to obtain access to your bitcoin.

As far as data privacy goes, Coinstar does require customers to provide a valid phone number to use its kiosks but says it doesn’t store it or any other sensitive data of people who buy bitcoin. Coinme, meanwhile, carries out a Know Your Customer check to confirm users’ identities, which includes providing a non-expired driver’s license or state ID and confirming the user is older than 18 years old.

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Although Coinstar’s pilot is small at the moment, the company has big plans for cryptocurrency. It plans to offer the ability to buy bitcoin at more than 10,000 of its kiosks and allow the purchase of different cryptocurrencies by the end of the year.

The U.S. is now the number one destination for bitcoin miners, eclipsing China for the first time ever. While it was already trending in that direction, new data from Cambridge University released early Wednesday makes it official.

As of July, 35.4% of bitcoin's hashrate – an industry term used to describe the collective computing power of miners – is in the United States, according to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance. That's a 428% increase from September 2020.

America partly has China to thank for its newfound dominance in the mining industry.

Twelve months ago, China was the market leader in terms of hashrate – by a long shot. But Beijing's crypto crackdown in the spring took half the world's bitcoin miners offline practically overnight.

Miners started fleeing China en masse, heading to the cheapest energy sources on the planet in what was dubbed "the great mining migration." A whole lot of them ended up in America.

The newly-released Cambridge data zeroes out China's average monthly share of the global hashrate in July – a major reversal from September 2020, when China captured about 67% of the market.

"The whole narrative of China controls bitcoin is now completely destroyed," said Boaz Sobrado, a London-based fintech data analyst.

Heading to America

The U.S. ticks a lot of boxes for migrant bitcoin miners searching for a new home.

For one, states like Texas boast some of the world's lowest energy prices, which is a major incentive to miners who compete in a low-margin industry, where their only variable cost is typically energy.

The U.S. is also flush with renewable power sources.

Washington state is a mecca for hydropowered mining farms. New York produces more hydroelectric power than any other state east of the Rocky Mountains, and it counts its nuclear power plants toward its 100% carbon-free electricity goal. Meanwhile, Texas' share of renewables is growing over time, with 20% of its power coming from wind as of 2019. The Texas grid also continues to rapidly add more wind and solar power.

Miners across the country have also harnessed nuclear power. Some are latching their rigs to otherwise stranded energy, like natural gas going to waste in oil fields across Texas. This reduces greenhouse gas emissions and generates money for the gas providers and miners.

This shift toward zero-emission, clean energy sources has already begun to recast the narrative among skeptics that bitcoin is bad for the environment. 

"Mining is price sensitive, so as to seek out the lowest-cost power and the lowest-cost power tends to be renewable because if you're burning fossil fuels ... it has extraction, refinement and transport costs," Blockstream CEO Adam Back said. 

Besides lower electricity costs, some U.S. states like Texas also have crypto-friendly policymakers and an adequate supply of hosting infrastructure.

The state has a deregulated power grid with real-time spot pricing that lets customers choose between power providers, and crucially, its political leaders are pro-crypto. Those are dream conditions for miners who want a kind welcome and cheap energy sources.

"If you're looking to relocate hundreds of millions of dollars of miners out of China, you want to make sure you have geographic, political, and jurisdictional stability. You also want to make sure there are private property rights protections for the assets that you are relocating," said Darin Feinstein, co-founder of Core Scientific. 

Luck meets preparation

America's rise to the top is also a case of luck meeting preparation. The U.S. has been quietly boosting its hosting capacity for years.

Before bitcoin miners started coming to America, companies across the country made a gamble that eventually, if adequate infrastructure were in place, they would set up shop in the U.S. 

That gamble is paying off.

When bitcoin crashed in late 2017 and the wider market entered a multi-year crypto winter, there wasn't much demand for big bitcoin farms. U.S. mining operators saw their opening and jumped at the chance to deploy cheap money to build up the mining ecosystem in the States. 

"The large, publicly-traded miners were able to raise capital to go make big purchases," said Mike Colyer, CEO of digital currency company Foundry, which helped bring over $300 million of mining equipment into North America.

Feinstein says that in the last 18 months, there has been a serious growth of mining infrastructure in America. "We've noticed a massive uptick in mining operations looking to relocate to North America, mostly in the U.S.," continued Feinstein.

Companies like North American crypto mining operator Core Scientific kept building out hosting space all through the crypto winter to ensure the capacity to plug in new gear, according to Colyer. 

"A majority of the new equipment manufactured from May 2020 through December 2020 was shipped to the U.S. and Canada," he said.

Alex Brammer of Luxor Mining, a cryptocurrency pool built for advanced miners, points out that maturing capital markets and financial instruments around the mining industry also played a big role in the industry's quick ascent in the U.S. Brammer says many of these American operators were able to start rapidly expanding once they secured financing by leveraging a multi-year track record of profitability and existing capital as collateral.

Covid also played a role.

Though the global pandemic shut down large swaths of the economy, the ensuing stimulus payments proved a boon for U.S. mining companies.

"All the money printing during the pandemic meant that more capital needed to be deployed," explained bitcoin mining engineer Brandon Arvanaghi. 

"People were looking for places to park their cash. The appetite for large-scale investments had never been bigger. A lot of that likely found its way into bitcoin mining operations in places outside of China," continued Arvanaghi.

Then, there's Kazakhstan

Not all miners, however, are headed to renewable destinations.

Kazakhstan is just behind the U.S. in terms of its share of the global bitcoin mining market, with 18.1% of all crypto mining. It's home to coal mines that provide a cheap and abundant supply of energy — but also ample carbon dioxide emissions.

However, several mining experts tell CNBC they think that Kazakhstan, which neighbors China, is just a temporary stopover on a longer migration west.

Brammer sees large miners going there in the short-term with older-generation equipment. "But as older-generation machines reach the end of their service lives, those companies will likely deploy new machines into more stable and energy efficient and renewable jurisdictions," he said.

Also likely to put a damper on Kazakhstan's popularity is a law newly signed by the president that will introduce extra taxes for crypto miners starting in 2022.

"This will significantly change the incentives for people to deploy capital in Kazakhstan," said Brammer.

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The Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund bought $25 million worth of bitcoin and ether.

The fund, which serves 6,600 firefighters and survivors, has $5.5 billion in assets under management.

The fund's CIO said the purchase represents the belief in crypto's disruptive potential.

Houston firefighters' pension fund has gotten into crypto investing - in a big way.

The Houston Firefighters' Relief and Retirement Fund announced it purchased $25 million worth of bitcoin and ethereum with the help of NYDIG, aka New York Digital Investment Group.

The fund, which has $5.5 billion in assets under management, said the investment has been years in the making.

Ajit Singh, the fund's chief investment officer, said it expresses the belief in "the disruptive potential" of cryptocurrencies. "We are excited to take this first step forward into the world of digital assets."

The investment "represents a watershed moment for bitcoin and its place in public pensions," Nate Conrad, NYDIG's global head of asset management, said in the the press release.

Public pension funds oversee about $5.5 trillion worth of assets, the National Association of State Retirement Administrators found.

In its story, Bloomberg reported that the Houston firefighters' pension fund isn't the first to leap into digital assets, as two in Virginia bought some two years ago.

Houston's fund includes more than 6,600 active and retired firefighters and survivors of firefighters, according to its website.

Bitcoin has been on a rapid rally this week after regulators approved the first-ever bitcoin-linked exchange-traded fund. The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which trades under the ticker BITO, has already surpassed $1 billion in assets under management since it launched on the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, the fastest an ETF has ever done so.

Bitcoin, which hit an all-time high near $67,000 this week, fell 5.7% to $63,103.11 at 11:03 a.m. in New York, CoinMarketCap data show. Ethereum, the world's second largest cryptocurrency, traded slightly higher at $4,095.28.

Read the original article on Business Insider

With more than $30 billion worth of Ethereum out of circulation, it appears that prices may be about to experience a supply shock. Still, ETH has at least one barrier to overcome before it can hit new all-time highs. 

Ethereum Faces One Last Resistance

Ethereum looks like it may be primed for a breakout despite the significant gains recently incurred.

The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap has enjoyed bullish price action in the past 30 hours. It surged by more than 10%, going from a low of $3,470 to hit a high of $3,825. 

The sudden upward pressure has pushed Ethereum toward a critical resistance cluster. The Tom DeMark (TD) Sequential’s risk line, in unison with the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level at $3,806, is acting as an important obstacle that ETH must overcome to advance further. 

Ethereum’s daily chart reveals that a break of the TD setup’s risk line has typically led to significant bullish impulses. For instance, ETH surged by more than 17% on Sep. 1 after slicing through this hurdle. Similar price action took place on Aug. 4 as Ether gained over 25% in market value once it overcame this barrier.  

Given the lack of any resistance levels ahead of $3,806, it is reasonable to assume that a daily candlestick close above it could result in a breakout. Ethereum could then rise to retest the mid-May all-time high of $4,380, or even enter price discovery mode and target $6,000.  

Wise investors might now wait for a decisive close above the TD’s risk line before entering any bullish trades. Failing to break through this resistance level could instead lead to a considerable correction as the following critical levels of support are represented by the 61.8% or 50% Fibonacci retracement level. These demand zones sit at $3,356 and $3,040, respectively. 

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This article originally appeared in Valid Points, CoinDesk’s weekly newsletter breaking down Ethereum 2.0 and its sweeping impact on crypto markets. Subscribe to Valid Points here.

“You’re only as strong as your weakest link.” This adage is especially true when it comes to decentralization and even more important when you are potentially building a new base layer for the world economy.

Over the past several years, Ethereum has developed a strong track record for security while maintaining permissionless access to its platform and the applications built on top. As the network merges to Proof-of-Stake, it’s vital the network continues to mitigate any possible point of failure.

According to CypherPunks, “an Ethereum client is a software application that implements the Ethereum specification and communicates over the peer-to-peer network with other Ethereum clients.” Each node runs a client to host their implementation of the network and verify an accurate history of blocks and their transactions. The two most popular clients on Ethereum’s proof of work chain are Geth and Parity. We recently saw a Geth bug affecting over 54% of nodes, reaching high severity and causing those nodes to split from the network.

Ethereum’s developer teams and community have recently discussed the need for further client diversity on the Beacon Chain as Prysm accounts for nearly two-thirds of the current composition. Developers have made it clear that Prysm itself is not the issue, rather it is the high degree of concentrated composition among nodes running the single client. Developers are, therefore, advocating for validators to switch to minority clients to reach a distributed balance across the chain.

Any large client bug can create quite the headache for Ethereum stakeholders, but the bug is amplified if a large portion of the nodes are all experiencing the same issue, potentially tricking the chain into believing their bugged chain is correct. An issue like this happening with two-thirds of nodes could lead to a chain split, creating larger security risk for users and developers, slashing issues for validators and potentially needing a bailout from the overall network, which is inherently not a very decentralized solution.

While Prysm is not inherently more risky than other clients, punishments for a client bug on a majority client will be amplified and could lead to pretty significant validator penalties. Validator downtime is further punished during large outages, making majority client bugs a larger issue for individual stakers as well. Therefore, running a minority client will reduce slashing risk and it will become more important for the wider network as we move closer to the Merge, when the current network is transitioned into the Beacon Chain.

Welcome to another edition of Valid Points.

Pulse check

The following is an overview of network activity on the Ethereum 2.0 Beacon Chain over the past week. For more information about the metrics featured in this section, check out our 101 explainer on Eth 2.0 metrics.

Disclaimer: All profits made from CoinDesk’s Eth 2.0 staking venture will be donated to a charity of the company’s choosing once transfers are enabled on the network.

Validated takesThe dYdX community reconfirmed that its token’s utility is strictly governance and will not be used as a means to redistribute revenue. BACKGROUND: Equity and token owners seem to be at odds because the equity investors associated with dYdX have all future rights to profitability and growth. The move may be part of a deal with early investors or a strategic play to avoid further regulation.The founder of Yearn, Andre Cronje, released an open-source alternative to OpenSea in a move to disrupt the non-fungible token (NFT) trading markets. BACKGROUND: OpenSea is the largest NFT market by trading volume and takes a 2.5% fee from every sale on its platform. The crypto community believes OpenSea’s lack of a token, high fees and insider trading allegations makes the space ripe for innovation. Cronje released the code but does not plan on launching or operating the market himself.A Bitfinex-controlled wallet accidentally spent $23.7 million in gas fees during a transfer of $100,000 in USDT. BACKGROUND: The transfer was done by DiversiFi, a Bitfinex sister company that allows its users to access decentralized finance (DeFi) without spending gas fees. DiversiFi noted that no consumer funds were at risk and the miner had sent back a majority of the funds later in the day.SparkPool, the second-largest Ethereum mining pool, is suspending its services at the end of the month. BACKGROUND: China’s crackdown on crypto initially resulted in SparkPool’s decision to ban Chinese users, but after recent regulatory updates the pool has decided to shut down to users worldwide. The mining pool contributes nearly 22% of Ethereum’s processing power, or hashrate, and will continue to have wider effects on the network.Fireblock’s head of business development, Rob Salman, proposed to make Fireblocks the first whitelisted institution on Aave Arc. BACKGROUND: Aave Arc will be a decentralized lending platform with whitelisting capabilities in order to onboard institutional clients and retain regulatory compliance. As a financial services provider, Fireblocks would aid in whitelisting other compliant institutions and bringing additional capital and services to decentralized finance.Factoid of the weekOpen comms

Valid Points incorporates information and data about CoinDesk’s own Eth 2.0 validator in weekly analysis. All profits made from this staking venture will be donated to a charity of our choosing once transfers are enabled on the network. For a full overview of the project, check out our announcement post.

You can verify the activity of the CoinDesk Eth 2.0 validator in real time through our public validator key, which d323ddad0f574fdcc50eeefec34ed9d2039ecb.

Search for it on any Eth 2.0 block explorer site.

Subscribe to Valid Points, our weekly newsletter about Ethereum 2.0.

How to crypto

On Oct. 1, the cryptocurrency market experienced a 9.5% pump that drove Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to their highest levels in 12 days. A variety of reasons have been attributed to the price move, including the United States consumer price index, exchanges' diminishing supply and a "cup and handle" bullish continuation chart formation.

Traders are not likely to find an explanation for the sudden move, apart from investors regaining confidence after the Sept. 19 drop was attributed to contagion fears from China-based property developer Evergrande.

The Ethereum network has been facing some criticism due to the $20 or higher transaction costs caused by the nonfungible token (NFT) sales and decentralized finance (DeFi) activity. Cross-chain bridges connecting Ethereum to proof-of-stake (PoS) networks have been partially solving this issue, and Friday's Umbrella network oracle service launch shows just how fast interoperability is advancing.

It is also worth noting that China's announced even stricter rules last week had a positive impact on the volumes seen at Decentralized exchanges (DEX). Centralized crypto exchanges, including Huobi and Binance, announced service suspension for Chinese residents, and a significant outflow of coins followed this. At the same time, this increased movement on Uniswap and the decentralized derivatives exchange dYdX.

Even with all this volatility, there are still reasons for investors' year-end bullishness on Ether. At the same time, the limitations imposed by Ethereum layer-one scaling also caused some of its competitors to present significant gains over the past couple of months.

Notice how Ether's 58% positive performance in three months has been significantly below those emerging proof-of-stake (PoS) solutions that offer smart contract capabilities and interoperability.

For bullish traders who think Ether price will break to the upside but are unwilling to face the liquidation risks imposed by futures contracts, the "long condor with call options" strategy might yield more optimal results.

Let's take a closer look at the strategy.

Options are a safer bet for avoiding liquidations

Options markets provide more flexibility to develop custom strategies and there are two instruments available. The call option gives the buyer upside price protection, and the protective put option does the opposite. Traders can also sell the derivatives to create unlimited negative exposure, which is similar to a futures contract.

This long condor strategy has been set for the Dec. 31 expiry and uses a slightly bullish range. The same basic structure can also be applied for other periods or price ranges, although the contract quantities might need some adjustment.

Ether was trading at $3,300 when the pricing took place, but a similar result can be achieved starting from any price level.

The first trade requires buying 0.50 contracts of the $3,200 call options to create positive exposure above this price level. Then, to limit gains above $3,840, the trader needs to sell 0.42 ETH call option contracts. To further limit gains above $5,000, another 0.70 call option contracts should be sold.

To complete the strategy, the trader needs upside protection above $5,500 by buying 0.64 call option contracts if Ether price skyrockets.

The 1.65 to 1 risk-reward ratio is moderately bullish

The strategy might sound complicated to execute, but the margin required is only 0.0314 ETH, which is also the max loss. The potential net profit happens if Ether trades between $3,420 (up 3.6%) and $5,390 (up 63.3%).

Traders should remember that it is also possible to close the position ahead of the Dec. 31 expiry if there's enough liquidity. The max net gain occurs between $3,840 and $5,000 at 0.0513 ETH, which is 65% higher than the potential loss.

With over 90 days until the expiry date, this strategy gives the holder peace of mind because there is no liquidation risk like futures trading.

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.

#Cryptocurrencies #Altcoin #Ethereum #Markets #Cryptocurrency Exchange #Derivatives #Scalability #Market Analysis #Ethereum Options #Ether Price Related News Building Empires: Biggest Crypto Exchanges Push for Global Presence This crypto game with strong economics heads for token launch, after seed funding closure with prominent industry leaders Australian Senators pushing for country to become the next crypto hub Derivatives data favors Ethereum bulls even with this week's crash below $3K Signs of fear emerge as Ethereum price drops below $3,000 again Ethereum bears look to score on Friday’s $340M weekly ETH options expiry

Third generation blockchains were developed to rival Bitcoin and Ethereum. Cardano is the top-rated third-generation blockchain and has been dubbed an ETH killer. From its Byron development stage, Cardano has caught the eye of developers because of its robust roadmap and functional utilities.

The Ethereum blockchain, which has led the DeFi wave due to being the first to incorporate smart contracts, has over 3,500 DeFi solutions. However, due to scalability issues with the chain, developers are now switching to other chains, and with the launch of Alonzo, Cardano has set the stage to finally challenge Ethereum.

Smart contract functionality has been huge for Cardano, which was a people’s favourite. With speed, decentralization, global reach, and top-notch security, Cardano is set to rival Ethereum and become the hub of DeFi as ETH 2 faces delays.

The Alonzo era has already gotten underway, with about 100 dApps now deployed on Cardano, with many more pending. Q4 will see many amazing projects launched on Cardano, from decentralized exchanges and NFT solutions, to gaming and more.

The NFT boom took the world by storm last year and has come even further this year. CNFT will become Cardano’s NFT hub to rival other chains. Already being compared to OpenSea, CNFT, which launched in July 2021, will unite the Cardano ecosystem. The platform launched even before the Cardano upgrades, with assets being traded without smart contracts.

CNFT has over 170,000 assets on the platform, recording over $1,000,000 in sales. The CNFT platform is a growing decentralized ecosystem giving lots of power to users. Users can mint and trade NFTs while also investing in the platform.

SundaeSwap

A platform’s decentralization exchange can reshape and gather traction around its chain. SundaeSwap is a decentralized exchange on the Cardano blockchain, and is now amongst the most sought-after projects on the platform.

Already being compared to Uniswap and Pancakeswap, the first and second-largest DEX’s based on Ethereum and BSC respectively, Sundaeswap is expected to become a force to be reckoned with among DEX’s.

The platform allows peer-to-peer transactions for crypto assets with a user-friendly system. Users can trade, stake, lend and borrow their assets on the platform.

Ardana

Ardana is an on-chain-backed stable coin on Cardano. The utilities of Ardana involve minting, transfers, staking, lending, etc. In addition, Dana users can store cryptocurrencies in a wallet compatible with Ardana and harness the possibilities of DanaSwap, a decentralized exchange for stablecoin pools.

A user can easily take a DUSD loan by putting up collateral in ADA. As with other DeFi loan protocols, the collateral is more than the loan, making it impossible to fall below the benchmark. The Dana token is the native token of the platform and can be staked by users to earn ADA.

OccamFi

OccamFi is a unique protocol because it embraces a cross-section of DeFi solutions. It enhances the lending, borrowing, and funding of new DeFi projects on the Cardano blockchain. Occam Razor is the launchpad of the platform, which will bring decentralized financing to the dApps on Cardano.

OccamFi provides many ways in which projects can kick off, with the community at the centre of these developments. This means that projects launching via Occam Razor have an advantage in the market because they already have a community rallying around them. OccamFi plans to launch a DEX in the future, adding even more value to the ecosystem.

On The Flipside

The Future of Cardano

Cardano is a third-generation blockchain that is finally living up to its ETH killer moniker thanks to its Alonzo upgrade. Currently, ADA sits as the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, hitting the $3 mark after the launch of Alonzo.

The launch of smart contracts, and the rollout of dApps, will lead to a massive price boost for ADA, with bulls even setting their sights on $5 as ADA receives more adoption. It is quite possible that, next year, Cardano will become a DeFi hub with leading protocols in NFTs, stablecoins, and DEX’s, among others.

Why You Should Care?

The utilities of the new dApps on the Cardano network are innovative, encouraging community participation. Should these dApps gain enough traction, the value of the blockchain will soar and the Cardano blockchain is already scalable, so it can handle the increasing transactions.

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Market Analysis

Bids for Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), could rise to $13,000 in the next two months if history repeats itself.

Ether saw a fractal indicator from 2017, consisting of at least four technical patterns that were instrumental in pushing ETH price up by over 7,000%. The same set of bullish indicators have flashed once again in 2021 as Ether trades above $3,350 after rallying over 360% year-to-date.

The 2017 Ether fractal, explained

In detail, the four technical indicators are the relative strength index (RSI), stochastic RSI, bullish hammer and a Fibonacci retracement level. It started with the bullish hammer’s occurrence on Ether’s monthly chart in December 2017, followed by a 7,000% price rally over the next six months.

The hammer-led massive upside move pushed Ether’s monthly RSI to over 94, an extremely overbought zone. As a result, the cryptocurrency started consolidating sideways to neutralize its excessively bullish sentiments, and thus, the RSI started correcting lower.

In parallel, Ether’s monthly stochastic RSI indicator, which compares its closing price with the price range over a given period, also started correcting lower after identifying the cryptocurrency as overbought (a reading above 80 is considered excessively bought and below 20 is considered excessively sold).

Later, in November 2017, the stochastic RSI flipped bullish, with its %K line (the blue one) — which compares an asset’s lowest low and highest high to define a price range — crossing above the %D line (the saffron line) — which is a moving average of %K. Meanwhile, the stochastic RSI reading was above 20 at the time of flip, which boosted Ether’s bullish continuation hopes.

Later, Ether surged by another 500%, closing above $1,200 in January 2018. It coincided with the RSI, forming a double top, as shown in the chart above. The entire bottom-to-top took place inside an ascending channel range, with its 23.6% Fibonacci retracement level serving as a support/resistance level.

The 2021 fractal repeat so far

Ether is almost mirroring the moves from the 2017 fractal as it heads into the final quarter of 2021, albeit without order.

In detail, the Ethereum token rallied by 3,400% to over $4,300, 16 months after painting a bullish stochastic RSI cross (when its a %K line surged above the %D line). Meanwhile, the huge upside move — again — pushed Ether's monthly RSI into its overbought zone.

A consolidation period followed that saw Ether making a bullish hammer in July 2021, suggesting sellers had formed a price bottom. 

Jaydee_757, the pseudonymous analyst who first spotted the Ether fractal, highlighted the hammer’s potential to send Ether price flying, with a primary upside target sitting near the 2.618 Fib line (at around $13,000).

Related: 3 factors that can send Ethereum price to 100% gains in Q4

The bullish analogy also took cues from a potential stochastic RSI bullish cross and a double top RSI, waiting to appear on Ether’s monthly chart in the next “few months,” similar to the one that coincided with the 500% price rally in 2018, as mentioned above.

#Ethereum #Analysis #Markets #Market Capitalization #CoinMarketCap #Market Analysis #Altcoin Watch #Ethereum Price Related News Blockchain to Disrupt Music Industry and Make It Change Tune Cryptocurrency mining company achieves major growth by reinvesting profits into diverse solutions Bitcoin entering final stage of major bull trend, crypto analyst says Ethereum risks drop below $3.2K as ETH price faces heavy resistance Shiba Inu rebounds 40% despite major selling by SHIB whales Polygon can hit $3.50 in Q4 as MATIC’s 20% weekly rally triggers bull flag setup