Author: Felipe Erazo

Cardano (ADA) Price Analysis: Buyers Reluctant To Give Up Around $0.92

Key Insights

  • ADA exchanges hands at around $0.92 amid selling pressure
  • There is a bearish crossover in place at the H1 chart
  • No major moves coming from an on-chain perspective in the short term

Cardano (ADA) keeps suffering from the broad bearish wave across the board, although a recovery is now taking place in the short term.

According to the H1 chart, the price is making a consolidation above the 50-hour simple moving average following a bearish impulsive move.

The price action is flashing an interest from the sellers around the $0.94 to resume the decline, but the price is now consolidated within a tight range. That said, bulls are preparing the ground for a run towards the 200-hours simple moving average around $0.98.

Such an area converges with a strong dynamic resistance offered at the same time by the psychological level of $1.00, which could be providing additional pressure for the crypto to keep plummeting across the board.

Fundamental Developments Around Cardano

Recent developments surrounding Cardano have been reported by FXEmpire, with the latest one coming from the Cardano Foundation. They announced the onboarding of Fernando Luis Vázquez Cao last week to its Board of Directors.

The Foundation aims to make the most of his immense experience and knowledge of the Asian financial service sector.

Even though Fernando is a part of the Cardano Foundation, he continues to serve his role in his current position. Thanks to the Foundation being a non-profit organization, Fernando did not drop his responsibilities as the Chief Executive Officer of SBI Digital Asset Holdings.

ADA Price Forecast: Picking Up Momentum Soon?

Coming back to the charts, once the price manages to pierce above the 200 SMA, eyes will be on the $1.04 level, followed by the $1.08 zone, strengthening the bullish case for the digital asset in the near term.

Cardano Price Action FXEmpire
ADA facing off a strong volume profile – Source: FXEMPIRE

However, on the downside, selling interest will increase once ADA breaks below the $0.90 level, which hovers around the 50 SMA to extend the decline towards the $0.82 level in a first degree, followed by $0.78.

Major UK Law Firm To Accept Crypto Payments for Legal Services

A major UK law firm announced that it would start accepting payments in cryptocurrencies for the legal services offered within the company.

Gunnercooke claimed that it became the first British legal firm to accept cryptos as a means of payments, thanks to the partnership with Coinpass, a UK-based crypto exchange.

The crypto company is known for having announced on November 2021 that it will support Dogecoin (DOGE), EOS, Tezos (XTZ), Uniswap (UNI), and Cardano (ADA).

Crypto Assets Accepted by Coinpass

In addition to these digital assets, Gunnercooke could accept payments in Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Litecoin (LTC), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Polkadot (DOT), Chainlink (LINK), and Stellar (XLM).

“We’re delighted to announce that we are now the first major UK law firm to accept payment in cryptoassets officially. We’ve partnered with Coinpass to make the exchanges and have now accepted our first payment from client Attestant,” Gunnercooke said in a tweet, where it disclosed the name of its first client in using the service.

Sling TV Becomes Crypto

More businesses in different sectors keep joining the crypto bandwagon amid a growing adoption. For example, as FXEmpire reported recently, crypto service provider BitPay has partnered with Sling TV to accept crypto payments. This allows users to pay for Sling TV services using cryptocurrency.

In the United States, there are over 2 million subscribers to Dish Network’s Sling TV service.

Since new subscribers must sign up for the service using American dollars, the crypto option would only be available to existing users. Users can use cryptocurrency for subsequent renewals.

Furthermore, crypto payments cannot be automated at the moment. As a result, they’ll have to repay every time the existing one expires manually.

On the other hand, prepayments can be made manually for one to six months, so users need not renew every month if they don’t want to.

Former Bored Ape Yacht Club Artist Launches All-Female Vampire NFTs

Under the Sneaky Vampire Syndicate (SVS) project, former Bored Ape Yacht Club artist Mig has released an all-female vampire NFT collection. In creating the new collection, Mig hopes to promote female inclusion and representation in the NFT community.

As of now, Mig’s first collection of 8,888 male vampires has generated over 21,600 ETH in trading volume on OpenSea.

This first set of collectibles was launched in September 2021, and after a successful deployment, the Sneaky Vampiresses came up to the light, according to the team behind the project.

“The Genesis SVS NFTs were a huge success, and we’ve not let our foot off the gas. From the very beginning, we built this around nurturing our community and creating the best possible environment. We believe the release of the Vampiresses will continue the growth of our ecosystem in the right direction,” Thomas Kekker, the Project Lead at SVS, commented on the announcement.

Empowering Women Artists in the NFT Sphere

For new and seasoned collectors alike, SVS is often seen as a safe and easy-to-understand project. In this sense, the new “Vampiress Syndicate” collection will appeal to both women and to those who are new to the NFT art world.

SVS has commissioned eight female artists to create eight Sneaky Vampiress NFTs to be featured in the collection. The project noted that women artists within the space would be able to gain the recognition they deserve.

The pre-sale spots for the Sneaky Vampiresses have been allocated to 8,888 of the 12,345 Sneaky Vampires.

The rest of the slots are reserved for large, female-led communities and the public mint. Coin minting is set to begin at 4 pm ET on February 22nd.

Robin Williams’ NFTs

In other NFT-related news, Zak Williams, the son of the late actor Robin Williams, and artist Jesus Martinez collaborated and minted the NFTs on Martinez’s SuperRare profile.

The sale proceeds will go to Bring Change to Mind (BC2M), co-founded by actress Glenn Close. The charity’s mission is “To end the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness.”

US DoJ Appoints New Crypto Team Director, Announces FBI Crypto Unit

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) announced on Thursday that it had tapped Eun Young Choi to become the first Director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET).

At the same time, the US DoJ confirmed that the FBI launched its Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit, a specialized team of cryptocurrency experts “dedicated to providing analysis, support, and training across the FBI, as well as innovating its cryptocurrency tools to stay ahead of future threats.”

Choi’s Background

According to the DoJ, Choi has nearly a decade of experience within the department, as she served as Senior Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General of the DoJ.

Kenneth A. Polite Jr., Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, commented on the announcement:

“With the rapid innovation of digital assets and distributed ledger technologies, we have seen a rise in their illicit use by criminals who exploit them to fuel cyberattacks and ransomware and extortion schemes; traffic in narcotics, hacking tools and illicit contraband online; commit thefts and scams, and launder the proceeds of their crimes.”

NCET Role in Crypto-Related Investigations

It’s expected that the NCET works with Criminal Division’s Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section and Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section, together with the FBI and its brand-new Virtual Asset Exploitation Unit.

Through NCET, the department will identify, investigate, support, and pursue cases involving the criminal use of digital assets, focusing on exchanges of virtual currencies, mixing and tumbling services, and infrastructure providers that enable the misuse of cryptocurrency other technologies for illegal purposes.

“The NCET will set strategic priorities regarding digital asset technologies, identify areas for increased investigative and prosecutorial focus, and lead the department’s efforts to coordinate with domestic and international law enforcement partners, regulatory agencies, and private industry to combat the criminal use of digital assets,” the DoJ stated.

Israeli Court Says Bank Is Allowed To Refuse Bitcoin-Related Deposits

A judge from the Tel Aviv District Court has ruled that Union Bank is allowed to refuse to deposit funds of a customer whose origins come from Bitcoin (BTC).

According to Calcalist, the customer filed a lawsuit against the bank institution, arguing that such refusal was “unreasonable.”

Case Background

The case happened in 2014 when the person made some Bitcoin purchases from the bank account.

In 2017, the crypto holder started to trade such digital assets by selling them and splitting them into many transfers less than NIS 50,000 ($15,530). The bank noted that such a maneuver was allegedly made to hide the transfers, raising the red flags from Union Bank.

However, the customer claimed that the number of deposits was due to the way he sold the cryptocurrencies rather than hiding them from the radar, and it was performed at a random pace.

Not Random Transfers At All…

Judge Limor Bibi commented:

“In this case, I believe that the applicant’s conduct led to a crisis of confidence in his relationship with the bank, which may justify the bank’s refusal to provide the service to the applicant (…) As for these transfers, I did not find to accept the applicant’s testimony that only randomly, resulting from the trading volume, a transfer of a total amount of NIS 450,000 was split without less than 14 transfers, all of which is the amount of less than NIS 50,000, and I believe that this is a deliberate split, which, as claimed by the bank, is intended to thwart the bank’s ability to monitor activity and discern it in the current means at its disposal.”

Israeli banks are known for their strict policies on handling risks related to crypto operations. As FXEmpire reported recently, Hapoalim Bank, a leading Israeli bank, filed to dismiss Esther Freeman’s claims after rejecting the $320K profit she made from holding Bitcoin since 2013.

Crypto-Related Apps Popularity Skyrockets After the Super Bowl Game

The Super Bowl’s extravaganza happened on Sunday, with Los Angeles Rams becoming the new Vince Lombardi’s trophy champions. Still, one of the headliners in the press were the crypto-related advertisements.

Coinbase, FTX, Crypto.com, eToro, and Bud Light took the chance of featuring their crypto’s portfolio of services.

However, the first two companies mentioned above were the ones with a significant surge in their apps’ popularity, according to The Block Research’s data.

Cash App Popularity Overshadowed

For example, Coinbase’s app skyrocketed from 186th place to second on Apple’s App Store. Its minute-long ad featured a single and bouncing QR code that gathered popularity even in social media due to its particularity.

Even so, Coinbase’s popularity surpassed Cash App’s one in the category of “Investment.”

As FXEmpire reported today, using the throwback to the famous DVD logo, Coinbase had over 100 million people anticipating for the QR code to hit the corner.

After bouncing around for 59 seconds, it finally did hit at the 1-minute mark post which Coinbase logo appeared with the landing page of the QR code. The landing page was a giveaway/contest that managed to rack in 20 million visits in the span of just 1 minute.

Super Bowl Ad’s Cost

This year Super Bowl ads cost about $7 million for every 30 seconds, which is a 25% increase compared to the $5.6 million of 2019.

Blockfolio – owned by FTX – and eToro also saw a significant surge in the rankings during the American Football game, which took place in the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California.

The Block Research noted that all the data was based in the US App Store.

It is worth adding that crypto ads are now the targets of regulators worldwide. Watchdogs tend to state that many crypto-related ads don’t point out the risks attached to the asset class.

For example, Singapore, Spain, and Britain have initiated several crypto ads regulations in their bid to control what kind of advertisements their citizens are exposed to.

BBC Cancels Documentary About Alleged Millionaire Crypto Trader

The famous UK broadcaster BBC has decided to pull off a documentary and an article about a self-proclaimed millionaire crypto trader following scam accusations.

According to The Daily Mail, Hanad Hassan, a 20-years old Birmingham resident, turned his GBP 37 into GBP 6 million worth in cryptocurrencies after running a successful career as a trader in a single year.

The documentary “We Are England: Birmingham’s Self-Made Crypto-Millionaire” talked about Hassan dedicating his life to charity projects while at the same time having a luxurious life. In addition, Hassan claimed to have set up charity-focused crypto, which, in fact, was shut down suddenly in October last year.

Details About “Orfano”

The article is no longer active on the BBC website, which was also promoting the documentary that talked about the life of Hassan, who had earned an alleged net worth of GBP 5.9 million. He was reportedly born in Somalia.

The bogus crypto set up by Hassan was dubbed Orfano, and it was launched in April. The idea behind the crypto was to allocate three percent of the money invested into the scheme to charity projects. In fact, Orfano got endorsements from celebrities like Akon and Amir Khan.

But things suddenly changed as well. “We “all lost our f****** money because of your scam,” commented one alleged investor in social media in the wake of the documentary. But, of course, it was not the only comment crossing the wires calling Orfano a scam.

Website Remains Operative

As of press time, Orfano’s website remains operative, although its Twitter account has been inactive since October when the scheme promoted the token’s presale.

A Twitter account claiming to be Hassan reacted to the scam’s claims:

“No, I myself didn’t make any money out of it… the relaunch was to try and bring some hype back to the charity and be able to donate more, the holders still had the investments and then sold their investment as liquidity was still there.”

US Politician Claims Puerto Rico Is a “Haven” for Crypto Speculators

A US lawmaker has blamed Puerto Rico for being a “haven” for rich crypto speculators traveling from the mainland to establish their operations on the island.

According to Nydia Velazquez, a representative from Brooklyn, Puerto Rico is being used by these kinds of crypto speculators as a “tax shelter” and asked a US Treasury Department Official during a hearing of the House Financial Services Committee if Congress could help Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to hunt them.

Velazquez, who represents New York’s 7th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives and is the House Small Business Committee Chair, didn’t provide further details on why the island can be considered a haven for crypto speculators.

Current Regulatory Talks on Crypto Taxes

At the start of the month, digital assets and tax were hot topics. There is an increase in talk as the current tax year comes to an end. Market participants will want more clarity as tax year ends.

Despite varied approaches to taxation, the prospect of a global crypto regulatory framework remains high. Should jurisdictional variations in tax codes provide tax arbitrage opportunities, this could become all the more important.

Legislators have made distinctions between crypto protocols as tax codes diverge geographically.

Stablecoins Regulation

A hearing on stablecoins was held by the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs late last year.

At the hearing, the focus was on how they work, how they are used, and what their risks are. Stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC) came under scrutiny from lawmakers, who asked some tough questions to stablecoiners.

Government crypto market scrutiny is increasing worldwide, which coincides with an increase in activity. Digital assets and crypto mining have also been a focus for the governments of the UK, India, the EU, and China.

The Treasury Department highlighted concerns about money laundering and the NFT market just last week. U.S. authorities were alerted to an increase in illegal activity during a period of soaring trading volumes.

US DOJ Seizes $3.6 Billion Worth in Bitcoin Linked to 2016 Bitfinex Hack

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched what seems to be the largest financial seizure ever related to cryptocurrencies.

According to The Washington Post, the authorities seized $3.6 billion worth of digital assets linked to a hack on the crypto exchange Bitfinex made in 2016.

As a result, Ilya Lichtenstein, 34, and his wife, Heather Morgan, 31, were arrested and charged with conspiring to launder money. In fact, 119,754 Bitcoin (BTC) were stolen in the hacking incident, where the threat actors deployed a series of 2,000 unauthorized transactions.

Arrested People Claim to Have Spent Just a Portion of the Stolen BTC

However, feds only managed to recover around 94,000 BTC from the heist.

“Cryptocurrency is not a safe haven for criminals. (…) Thanks to the meticulous work of law enforcement, the department once again showed how it can and will follow the money, no matter the form it takes,” Lisa O. Monaco, Deputy Attorney General, commented on the operation.

Per the profile of the people of interest involved in the investigation, Lichtenstein claims to be an “angel investor” and holds both US and Russian citizenship. Also, authorities said that the couple had said that both spent just a small fraction of the money.

“We have been cooperating extensively with the DOJ since its investigation began and will continue to do so,” Bitfinex highlighted in a statement in the wake of the announcement. In addition, the exchange announced that it would follow “appropriate legal processes” to try to recover the stolen Bitcoin.

Stolen Funds Moved Early This Month

Part of stolen Bitcoin from the 2016 Bitfinex hack were recently transferred to an anonymous wallet, as FXEmpire reported.

In a series of Tweets from Whale Alert, it was known that the transfers started with fewer amounts, with the first transfer worth one BTC of stolen funds transferred. However, the next transfer of 10,000 BTC, equivalent to $383,540,711, was soon sent to an unknown wallet.

NFT Market Made Over $16 Billion in Sales Despite Crypto Bloodbath

The NFT market seems to have recorded nice numbers over January despite the crypto meltdown witnessed over the last few weeks.

According to DappRadar, a global decentralized applications store, the NFT sphere made around $16 billion in trades during that month.

LooksRare, a newcomer in the industry, accounted for $10.7 billion of the total NFT trading volume in January, doubling other NFT marketplaces together, as OpenSea just caught $4.7 billion. However, LooksRare’s performance can be attributed to its token reward program’s incentivization.

2021 Bullish Momentum Alive

Still, just 35,000 traders handled transactions through such a platform, which is a very low number compared to the major NFT marketplace OpenSea, with over half a million.

“The past couple of months have been rather bleak for anyone holding crypto, but the blockchain industry’s performance is a bright light at the end of the tunnel. The numbers we’re seeing this month demonstrate stability and growing maturity for the space, which will eventually counteract the negative market sentiment,” Modesta Masoit, Head of Finance and Research at DappRadar, pointed out.

Overall, the NFT industry keeps its bullish momentum alive from 2021 – a year where it witnessed over $25 billion in sales against the previous four years combined.

Blockchain Gaming Keeps Booming

On other fronts, blockchain gaming’s usage keeps gathering steam, as in the last quarter of 2021, 52% of the nearly 2.5 million unique active wallets connecting to dApps in January interact with games, the January 2022 Dapp Industry Report highlighted.

In an announcement made, GameStop highlighted its partnership with Immutable X. With this partnership, GameStop plans on drawing developers towards its upcoming NFT marketplace.

With this partnership, Immutable X, which is the first layer 2 for NFTs on Ethereum, will also act as a layer 2 partner and platform for GameStop.

Gamestop aims at banking on this exactly as the upcoming marketplace from Gamestop is aimed at including ‘billions’ of low-cost in-game items that can also be traded.

Botswana Passes Bill to Regulate Crypto and Digital Tokens Trading

Another African country joined the crypto regulation’s bandwagon, and this time is Botswana, which passed a bill to regulate digital assets trading.

According to Bloomberg, cryptos and digital tokens will be regulated as part of their efforts to bolster their policies on anti-money laundering (AML).

The report noted that “The Virtual Assets Bill” was approved unanimously by Botswana’s lawmakers. The need to regulate the crypto sphere arose because the industry cannot be left unregulated in the country and could hurt the nation’s efforts in tackling financial crimes.

New Licenses Required

The new rules seek that any company that offers cryptocurrencies services or anything related to digital tokens should obtain a license from the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority.

Peggy Serame, Botswana Finance Minister, confirmed the news, as the nation has been preparing the ground to increase its financial supervision amid scrutiny that led Botswana to be included in the Financial Action Task Force’s list.

However, the country was later removed amid the increased rulings on combating money laundering.

That said, the bill should go through the presidential signature to be formalized and approved by the authorities.

Tackling Crypto Scams with Regulation

As cryptocurrencies continue to gain wider adoption, the risks have also increased as many people fall prey to cryptocurrency scams; regulators are looking for ways to protect people against this risk in Africa.

Thus, the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) in South Africa is planning a regulatory framework to protect more members of society from the hazards of crypto investments.

As FXEmpire reported early in January, the framework will mostly regulate crypto trading. However, the new rules were not formulated alone by the FSCA as they worked with other regulators such as the Financial Surveillance Board and the Prudential Authority.

The country’s need to regulate its crypto trading laws has become more urgent following two major crypto scams that led to the disappearance of billions of dollars in investment, both happening within the country.

Astra Protocol Launches Compliance Hub in The Sandbox Metaverse

Astra Protocol, a legal and compliance layer, has announced today that it had set up a compliance hub in The Sandbox virtual world.

The press release shared with FXEmpire notes that such a branch will give metaverse users some decentralized compliance layers such as Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) capabilities.

Web3 and Compliance

Jez Ali, the founder of Astra Protocol, commented about the deployment of its first Compliance Hub:

“We are delighted to announce the Astra Protocol’s entry into the metaverse with our first plot in The Sandbox. The future of metaverse development will be a long-lasting and innovative mission which has already shown incredible growth and is an exciting area of Web3. By deploying the first Compliance Hub in the metaverse, we can support this growth by adding a layer of protection for users across the world.”

According to the firm, The Sandbox was tapped for the purpose because it has some “of the most desirable and exciting locations” in the metaverse.

“It is where most users are flocking to for new immersive experiences and ways of interacting with one another. With only 166,464 individual plots of land available, there is enormous competition for The Sandbox locations,” Astra stated in the announcement.

The Decentralized Legal Network (DLN) created by Astra covers around 195 countries to meet compliance requirements in several jurisdictions.

$50M Metaverse Accelerator Launching

Recently, the Ethereum-based Sandbox NFT and metaverse project has launched a $50 million accelerator program in partnership with Animoca Brands and Brinc.

According to an announcement, the incentive will invest as much as $250,000 into around 100 projects over the next three years. Leading metaverse and NFT game investor Animoca Brands and global venture firm Brinc will also be playing a part.

Top-performing projects will receive additional investments of as much as $150,000 in SAND and LAND token grants. The Sandbox Metaverse Accelerator Program is scheduled to start in Q2, 2022.

NFT Market Dynamics Unveil Worrying Signals for the Crypto Sphere

The so-strong NFT market could have entered a dangerous territory for the cryptocurrency market, according to the former head of the crypto-related investment fund Ark Invest.

Chris Burniske pointed out that both NFT and digital asset markets have been showing opposite signals that suggest that more bearish waves could be hitting the crypto sphere in the near term.

In fact, Burniske stated that such divergence could be backed by the strong rise in the NFT adoption.

LTC and BTC Cycles

“One could also say NFTs are at the furthest end of risk, the most illiquid, and so the last to pump with the euphoric gasps of a dying bull,” the former head of Ark Invest commented via Twitter. He considered the current state of the prices based on January 2022 NFT’s volumes.

Burniske also quoted the euphoric gasps that Litecoin (LTC) posted in 2013 when its buying volumes skyrocketed, at the same time when Bitcoin (BTC) plummeted across the board.

He further added in a Twitter thread: “In 2017, BTC peaked in December, while $ETH peaked about a month later in January 2018. In 2021, we had BTC and ETH peaking, before alternative layer-1s, before NFTs… in Jan 2022?”

To conclude, the former Ark Invest’s leader said that if Bitcoin can prove bottom soon at the current stage, and there are no macroeconomic tussles that could hit heavily the price action that leads “to sell everything markets, we may be alright.”

NFT Volumes Nowadays

Recent data showed recently that NFT transactions in January were $6.89 billion as of writing. This means there’s a likelihood that it could cross the $7 billion mark before the end of the day.

As FXEmpire reported recently, OpenSea remains the dominant force in the market, accounting for $4.21 billion of the total trades. But a worthy competition appears in the mold of LooksRare, which has $2.2 billion worth of transactions. Other notable performers include Solana-based Magic Eden, with $314.1 million.

A New Trend Emerging? Belgian Politician To Receive His Salary in Bitcoin

A new trend seems to have emerged amongst politicians worldwide, as crypto adoption keeps skyrocketing within that sphere.

Christophe De Beukelaer, a member of the Belgium Parliament and member of the Humanist Democratic Centre (cdH) party, announced that he will receive his salary in Bitcoin (BTC).

In fact, the politician commented that the paycheck of EUR 5,500 will be converted to the world’s largest crypto by market capitalization through Bit4You, a Belgian crypto exchange. “I am the first in Europe, but not in the world, who wants to put a spotlight on cryptocurrencies with such a move,” De Beukelaer claimed.

Putting Crypto Industry in the Belgian Spotlight

He put Eric Adams, the newly-elected New York Mayor, as an example of a politician outside Europe to receive his salary in Bitcoin. The US mayor has been receiving his bi-weekly paycheck in both BTC and Ether (ETH).

With such a maneuver, the Belgian MP wants to show the Europeans and Belgians his confidence towards the cryptocurrency industry and called to strengthen measures that favor the sphere and its development across the region.

He added that he wants political actors from Belgium to “stimulate an in-depth reflection on our monetary system” by endorsing cryptos.

Miami Mayor and His Bitcoin Advocacy

Last year, Francis Suarez, the current mayor of Miami and a well-known Bitcoin advocate, made the headlines across the crypto sphere after announcing that he’s set to receive his paychecks in the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

According to the US government public records, Miami Mayor’s annual salary is $97,000. In other posts, Mayor Suarez said that he prefers to rely on apps like Bitwage or Strike to convert his fiat into crypto rather than having the local government do it so.

At the same time, he keeps pushing to make Miami a “crypto hub” by attempting to issue crypto-friendly laws, which he had branded as the “most progressive crypto laws” in the country.

Mettalex To Launch Price Data Feeds for Commodities Through DeFi

Mettalex, a decentralized commodities derivatives exchange, has announced that it had signed a data-licensing agreement with S&P Global Platts to facilitate price data feeds for commodities within the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem.

According to the press release shared with FXEmpire.com, the platform will provide industrial-grade price data feeds for commodities like Gold, hinting at the possibility that a wide range of commodity assets will “eventually become tradable on-chain.”

With the incorporation of Platts benchmark data, Mettalex could allow its participant to quote long and short-position prices for commodities such as Uranium, Lithium, Zinc, Aluminum, Copper, Cobalt, and more.

Commodities Prices Volatility on the Air

The announcement also comes in the midst of another Covid pandemic wave that is hitting the world and boosting the current price action across raw materials and commodities.

Moreover, the supply-chain disruptions also helped to shake the commodities’ prices.

“We believe that a wide range of commodity assets will eventually become tradable on-chain. Mettalex’s mission is to advance this process by enabling the market to manage risk, particularly in new niche commodities markets, and democratizing access to the raw materials asset class. We are thrilled to have one of the leaders in the price benchmarks space, S&P Global Platts, to help us in this endeavor,” Humayun Sheikh, Mettalex’s Founder and CEO, commented on the matter.

S&P Global Platts in the Financial Markets

S&P Global Platts coverage includes oil and gas, power, petrochemicals, metals, agriculture, and shipping. As of press time, both firms haven’t hinted at future announcements related to DeFi.

Recently, as FXEmpire reported, the 1inch Network, a DeFi aggregator, made the announcement of expanding its aggregation and limit order protocols to Avalanche, in a recent blog post from the firm.

The DEX aggregator in efforts to grow multi-chain presence and interoperability has finally deployed its contracts on Avalanche and Gnosis Chain.

Shiba Inu Halts the Decline As ETH Whale Buys $12M Worth of SHIB

As Shiba Inu’s prices (SHIB) keep plummeting across the board, new on-chain metrics reveal an increased interest for one of the most popular memecoins in the sphere.

According to WhaleStats, an ETH whale bought 606,352,106,247 SHIB tokens worth over $12 million. The transaction took place after 2,413 block confirmations.

Saving the SHIB Army’s Day…

The purchase happened in the midst of a strong sell-off seen across the crypto markets, with altcoins suffering the most due to the bloodbath. Yet, in some way, the on-chain maneuver witnessed across the ETH whale implied that the demand appeared to save the day for the SHIB Army.

In fact, Shiba Inu’s prices have been too weak in the last few days because it managed to plunge below the $0.000020 threshold, and now it exchanges hands around that neighborhood.

Buyers seem to be reluctant to give up against the sellers, and a bottom had been formed around $0.000019 in order to extend further the rally. If SHIB cracks above the $0.000023 level, eyes will be on the 200-hrs simple moving average at around $0.000025.

However, as the risk is skewed to the downside, SHIB should break below the $0.000018 level to open the doors and allow further losses for the memecoin towards the $0.000016 level in a first degree, followed by the $0.000014 zone as the next tough nut to crack.

Confirmation for a Full Recovery

From the broad picture, Shiba Inu is losing over 9% of its value as of press time due to the heavy sell-offs seen across the board. However, the on-chain activity around the memecoin had also spiked significantly, whose maneuvers suggest that whales aim to recover the bullish pace at any time soon.

SHIB FXEmpire
Source: FXEMPIRE

To confirm a full recovery of the prices, SHIB should consolidate above the $0.000030 level to target the $0.000035 zone in a first degree and eventually consolidate the memecoin in the bullish steam for the short and mid-term.

Top 3 Cryptos to Hold Over 2022

A new year has arrived, and the cryptocurrency market remains unstoppable in terms of volatility, given that assets like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) keep showing wild swings across the board.

With a new 365-days period in place for the life of every investor or a new one who wants to join the crypto bandwagon, questions start to arise on whether one should allocate the funds to gather profits from such volatility.

However, the most critical factor to consider when dealing with digital assets is the concept of “HODLing” or holding a crypto investment. There are a plethora of instruments to invest in, and the major cryptos by market capitalization keep catching the attention.

Bitcoin? ADA? Bitcoin Cash? Litecoin? Let’s dig into the trending coins to watch for 2022 and why they could be a must to pay attention to when trading, or most importantly, HOLD.

Cardano (ADA): A Disappointment That Could Turn Into a Profitable Opportunity

The cryptocurrency backed by the Cardano Foundation managed to hit last year the $3 neighborhood, but then it started to plummet significantly to move back into the unconscious territory around $1.25.

Crypto holders were absolutely disappointed because most of them saw ADA as a long-term opportunity to hold the digital asset and profit from such a steady rise.

However, the fear-fueled increased the shorts in Cardano coin, which is why it consolidated back below the 200-day simple moving average.

From a fundamental point of view, Cardano blockchain had several upgrades to its network, including a hard fork deployed at mid-year.

AFX FXEmpire
Source: FXEMPIRE

Still, the technical perspective puts the $1.10 level as a tough nut to crack to the downside, as the demand surged across the board with buyers so interested in capping any sellers’ attempt to take ADA below the $1.00 threshold.

Now, the decline seems to be another opportunity to “buy the dips” for ADA, and the technicals are starting to align to the upside, with the RSI indicator at the daily chart heading northwards.

Litecoin (LTC): The Calm Before the Storm?

LTC was hit last year by fake news that temporarily bolstered its price action with wild swings that, in the end, take it to a nowhere zone. Fake endorsements from Walmart or related helped the price recover in minutes from lows that Litecoin hasn’t managed to cover at all.

As of press time, LTC is exchanging hands at around $144.75 and looks forward to keeping untouched the support area of $120. From a technical point of view, the cryptocurrency wants to consolidate above the $200 zone and could aim to hit the highs again from November 2021.

LTC FXEmpire
Source: FXEMPIRE

If that scenario materializes, a golden crossover with the 50 and the 200 SMAs could happen at the daily chart, fueling the bullish price action and eventually taking the crypto to new highs, rising towards the $380 in a first degree, followed by the highs of May 2021 at around $413.91.

The RSI indicator supports the bullish scenario, as the slope points to the upside and stays in the positive territory.

Bitcoin (BTC): There Is Not Much To Say – Charts Talk By Themselves

2021 was a rollercoaster year for the world’s biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, as China and coronavirus’ vowes made the headlines and led the price action across the sphere. Now, as the BTC exchanges hands around the $43,000 zone, investors are looking to buy the dips again.

In fact, Bitcoin is hovering around another significant bottom it made between September and October last year in the midst of the renewed crackdown launched by the Chinese government.

BTC FXEmpire
Source: FXEMPIRE

If there is a buying resurgence at the current stage, the eyes will be on the critical threshold of $70,000 to refresh all-time highs.

Conclusion

With an interesting year to come in terms of NFT, metaverse, and altcoins adoption, the biggest cryptos by market capitalization could gather steam and eventually become favored by the mainstream interest among the ones who get in touch with the crypto sphere.

Of course, digital assets like Bitcoin and ADA are just the doors for the people to join the bandwagon of a broad offering of cryptos.

Cryptos Waking Up From Stagnation Phase As BTC Trades Above $42K

The bullish mood dominates the scene across the board in the cryptocurrency market, as the odds favor the buyers in the world’s largest digital asset by market cap, Bitcoin (BTC).

The crypto is now exchanging hands at around $42,858, following a strong daily surge of over 2.5%.

Bitcoin FXEmpire
Source: FXEMPIRE

Ether (ETH) is also walking the same steps of BTC in terms of tone, as it trades above $3,244 after soaring by over 5% during Tuesday, taking the crypto to the highs in the RSI indicator at the H1 chart.

In fact, such an oscillator is signaling overbought conditions from a broad perspective.

Powell, Again, The Headliner

Coming back to Bitcoin, the king cryptocurrency is gathering steam in the midst of a renewed interest of bids at the current stage, as the digital asset is looking to crack the stagnation phase it had been trapped in since last week.

The fundamental catalyst comes again from the US Federal Reserve, specifically from its chairman, Jerome Powell, who saw his tenure at the central bank renewed for another four years.

The Fed’s chairman said that the country would likely remain in a low-interest environment, but at least under a three-hike rates regime, as most FOMC members expect. Such comment helped push the US dollar lower and renewed the buying interest across the crypto sphere, even for the altcoins.

LTC Heads Toward the 200 SMA

Moving onto other assets, Litecoin (LTC) is catching some breath above the 50-hr simple moving average and quotes around $131.40 after surging above 3% during Tuesday.

Litecoin FXEmpire
Source: FXEMPIRE

Also, the price is on the verge of hitting the 200-hr simple moving average anytime soon. The RSI indicator is treading the overbought waters.

The risk to the downside will increase once the crypto breaks below $128, which could open the doors for LTC to plummet towards $124 in a first degree, followed by the $120 psychological level.

Team Vitality Inks Partnership With Tezos Ecosystem

Global eSports organization Team Vitality joined forces with Tezos to become the blockchain’s main technical partner. The alliance will help Team Vitality leverage Tezos blockchain for the next three years.

The organization will have its players and stars using the Tezos brand throughout the tournaments and collaborating with the blockchain ecosystem on educating fans as part of the gaming experience.

“This is truly a game-changing partnership for Vitality, which feels appropriate given 2022 is set to be the biggest year in our history. The opportunities Tezos can bring to strengthen the relationship between us and our fans is incredibly exciting, and we’re immensely proud to have Tezos join us on this journey,” Nicolas Maurer, CEO of Team Vitality, commented in the announcement.

Tezos and eSports

The partnership implies another blockchain step in its inception into the eSports industry, specifically for the Tezos ecosystem.

“(…) The decision from Team Vitality to choose the energy-efficient Tezos blockchain as a technical partner is another signal to the established and growing gaming vertical that low gas fees, forkless upgradability, and ease-of-use are the key factors driving the next wave of adoption for blockchain technologies. I’m thrilled to see Team Vitality join the Tezos community,” Mason Edwards, Chief of Staff of Tezos Foundation, stated.

Gaming Set to Make Fireworks Within the Blockchain Industry Soon

As FXEmpire reported last year, gaming is expected to be one of the biggest use cases for cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, while NFTs remains a burgeoning market segment.

MaticVerse is positioned right at the intersection of both of these trends, and its “NFT play-to-earn GameFi token” is starting to reflect that demand.

The MaticVerse ecosystem comprises the MVERSE token, an NFT marketplace, and a game. The project launched its BabyVengers game in early November, which the MaticVerse website describes as “a player VS environment battle card game.”

Crypto Meltdown Remains Alive With ETH As the Biggest Loser of the Day

The crypto bloodbath keeps underway across the biggest digital assets by market capitalization, with Ether (ETH) becoming one of the major losers across the sphere.

The US Federal Reserve (FED) and its recently released minutes are attributed as the main catalysts behind the buying interest around the US dollar. In fact, the US central bank hinted at a faster timetable to start hiking the interest rates this year.

Ether Under Heavy Selling Pressure

ETH is exchanging hands at around $3,386, approximately down -4% on the day as of press time. The price managed to pierce below the $3,650 level, which was a critical support zone established at the end of last year.

Ethereum FXEmpire

On the other hand, Bitcoin (BTC) entered a rangebound stage around $42,900, still -1.21% down on the day following a strong decline from the highs at $47,076. Now, the world’s biggest crypto by market cap keeps a critical support at the $42,800 level, fueling the interest in the buyers, although it’s limited.

Next on the line is Litecoin (LTC), which remains capped by the psychological zone of $135 after it plummetted from the highs around $150, and its daily change stands at $134.87.

In the crypto assets that trade against BTC, Ether plunged over 5% following the FOMC’s minutes. “There’s a real risk now, I believe, that inflation may be more persistent and…the risk of higher inflation becoming entrenched has increased,” Jerome Powell, Fed’s Chairman, noted in the statement.

Altcoins Sphere In Bears’ Eyes

In the altcoins sphere, Chainlink (LINK) loses bullish ground after dropping -4.92% on the day to quote at around $23.98.

LINK FXEmpire

From a technical point of view, the cryptocurrency attempts to consolidate below the 50-period simple moving average at the H4 chart. Then, it tries to reach the 200-period simple moving average, fueled by a negative RSI indicator in the same timeframe.

Moreover, Cardano (ADA) wants to recover above $1.24 following a strong fall from $1.34, where it found dynamic resistance.