While the Stock Market Collapses, the BTC Price Rises by 7% above USD 20,000

Bitcoin recently exceeded USD 20,000 but still struggles to move away from its trading range between USD 18,000 and USD 25,000. The close correlation between cryptocurrencies and the US stock market has led investors to watch monetary policy.

Investors remain nervous as Bitcoin (BTC) ranges between USD 18,000 and USD 25,000. The crypto market has encountered many problems, which include the collapse of project collapses and bankruptcies.

The value of Bitcoin recently exceeded USD 20,000, reaching its highest level in more than a week. However, it still struggles to move away from its tight trading range.

According to data from CoinDesk, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization appreciated by more than 7%.

The Bitcoin rally boosted the crypto market, where Ether (ETH) rose by 7% to around USD 1,389.

However, it has been difficult for Bitcoin to find its direction, trading between USD 18,000 and USD 25,000 since mid-June. Before that, a crash caused the overall crypto market to lose nearly USD 2 trillion since its peak in November.

This market decline was due, in part, to the interest rate hikes by the central bank to control rampant inflation. Many bankruptcies and insolvency issues seeping into the cryptocurrency industry also contributed to it.

Cryptocurrency Investors Should Watch the Correlation between Cryptocurrencies and US Stocks

This year, the close correlation between cryptocurrencies and the US stock market has led investors to watch monetary policy. The S&P 500 and high-tech Nasdaq indexes are under the pressure of rising interest rates, which has expanded to other risky assets like Bitcoin.

Vijay Ayyar is the vice president of international and business development on the Luno cryptocurrency exchange. He thinks the recent 0.75 percentage point rate hike by the US Federal Reserve (Fed) was a significant event for the overall crypto market.

Ayyar stated that this was in line with market expectations as the price reflects much of that sentiment.

The recent Bitcoin rally occurred despite a collapse in US stocks in which the S&P 500 Index closed at a low. Since the price of stock futures rose, the correlation between them and cryptocurrencies might be weaker.

Meanwhile, investors closely watch the dollar index, tracking the US dollar against a basket of currencies, as it has risen by over 18%. Bitcoin moves contrariwise to the American fiat currency dollar, implying that the strength of the US dollar would harm it.

However, Ayyar said that the dollar index might be about to reach its peak, indicating a potential bottom for Bitcoin. Therefore, traders might also position themselves as this could have contributed to the rise of Bitcoin.

Investors should research Bitcoin or any other crypto asset before buying it to know its all-time high, behavior, and possible future price. That will help them find the most convenient investment opportunity to minimize the risk of losing money.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is trading at around USD 19,081 and has accumulated a 5.3% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 50 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 365.65 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar

A Cryptocurrency Analyst Predicts that Ether Will Outperform Bitcoin in the Short Term

Anonymous analyst Altcoin Sherpa predicted that Ether would outperform Bitcoin by providing his price targets for XRP, ALGO, and RSR. He said ETH might outperform BTC, as the value of the ETH/BTC pair was at 0.068 BTC.

The bulls recently outperformed the bears as overall crypto assets had accumulated significant gains. Bitcoin (BTC), the pioneering cryptocurrency, retested the USD 20,000 level again, driving the market higher.

Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around USD 18,940 and has accumulated a 6.3% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 50.39 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 362.94 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Meanwhile, Ether (ETH) is worth about USD 1,296 and has lost 65% of its value over the last 24 hours. With a daily trading volume of more than USD 17.72 billion, its market capitalization is roughly USD 156.08 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Altcoin Sherpa, a famous anonymous cryptocurrency analyst, and trader, predicted that Ether would outperform Bitcoin. He provided his price targets for the altcoins XRP, Algorand (ALGO), and Reserve Rights (RSR).

The analyst told his many Twitter followers that the ETH/BTC pair would rise from its levels near the 200-day moving average (MA). He said Ether has a good chance of outperforming Bitcoin, as the pair was at 0.068 BTC.

Analysis of the Price of XRP

Altcoin Sherpa seems bearish regarding XRP, the native token of the Ripple network. He sees a gap between the previous price and the current exponential moving average (EMA) as XRP tests the 200-day EMA.

However, the anonymous cryptocurrency analyst stated the previous prediction would pull back if the price of Bitcoin rose.

XRP is currently trading at around USD 0.428069 and has accumulated a 2.15% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 2.61 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 21.35 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Analysis of the Price of Algorand

Algorand is the next altcoin attracting the attention of the anonymous trader, as it is also the rival of Ethereum. The strategist believes that the price of ALGO might have a bearish momentum and predicts USD 0.35 as the buy zone.

ALGO is trading at around USD 0.33 and has accumulated an 8.1% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 193.02 million, its market capitalization is about USD 2.34 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Analysis of the Price of the Reserve Rights Token

Altcoin Sherpa also discussed the Reserve Rights (RSR) token, which supports the stability of the stablecoin Reserve (RSV).

According to the analyst, the RSR price will rise by almost 30% from its trading area and may reach nearly USD 0.0099.

RSR is trading at around USD 0.008649 and has accumulated a 13.3% gain over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 157.82 million, its market capitalization is about USD 365.42 million, according to CoinGecko.

Despite the volatility in the price of cryptocurrencies, the predictions made by Altcoin Sherpa are likely to occur. It is only a matter of time before seeing where the price of Bitcoin and Ether will head next.

By Alexander Salazar

Renta 4, Onyze, and Allfunds Blockchain Launch Tokenized Fund in Spain

The three companies developed financial products with Blockchain technology for four months.

The Spanish companies, Renta 4, Onyze, and Allfunds Blockchain, managed to successfully close the first tokenized investment fund, based on Blockchain technology, with which they hope to generate changes in the financial ecosystem with transparency, traceability, automation, and liquidity optimization.

The CEO of Onyze, Ángel Luis Quesada, explained the following:

“Once again the role of the custodian as the cornerstone of any development based on blockchain technology is confirmed. We hope that this project will be a fundamental first step and a turning point in the history of the financial system in Spain; we couldn’t have had better partners.”

On Twitter, Onyze posted that: “We have successfully completed the first tokenization of an investment fund in Spain. It was 4 months of work with @Renta4 and All Funds in the first Sandbox in our country. The conclusions are unbeatable for investors. Do you agree?”

Funding the Launch: Sandbox

The companies managed to launch the fund after four months of joint work within the framework of the first Sandbox supervised by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) and the Bank of Spain. It is one of the first projects developed (of 18) under the figure of the Sandbox with controlled tests in innovative projects for the benefit of the Spanish financial system.

In this regard, Miguel Jaureguízar, director of Digital Development at Renta 4 Banco, pointed out that:

“Innovation is a constant in our approach to financial products and especially investment funds. With tokenization we have achieved a great advance in the development of more efficient, transparent, and sustainable funds. It is, without a doubt, the most relevant trend in the industry today.”

CNMV and Bank of Spain with Sandbox Results

The Spanish bank Renta 4 operates in the fund as distributor of the tokenized fund, it will assign a liquid value and the custody of tokens will be in charge of Onyze. For its part, Allfunds Blockchain provided the Blockchain network for the tokenization and operation of funds through smart contracts, according to Bolsamanía,

Meanwhile, the supervision of the CNMV will allow you to verify the advantages of the new Blockchain investment system. The three companies concluded that with the Sandbox they were able to verify that “profound changes” can be generated in the Spanish financial ecosystem with “beneficial disintermediation” for investors and even for the very operations of the funds.

Renta 4 pointed out the following:

“As recognized by the CNMV in its final assessment: with the new Securities Markets and Investment Services Law, the modification of the MiFID II Directive, and the application of the European regulation on the DLT pilot regime, it is expected that new developments based on this project, DLT technology in the field of funds and other investment instruments. All to provide benefits to investors, entities, and the supervisor itself.”

On Twitter, Renta 4 posted that: “Renta 4, Onyze and Allfunds Blockchain successfully close the first tokenized Spanish fund in history. The first tokenization of an investment fund carried out by #Renta4, @Onyze_official and #AllFundsBlockchain has ended successfully.”

By Audy Castaneda

Latin American FinTechs Maintain Financing Boom Despite Crisis

The FinTech sector seems not to be very affected by external shocks, this is true, especially in Latin America.

Latin American FinTechs has received more than 300 million dollars in financing in the month of August alone, which demonstrates the strength and progress of the sector.

Despite the violent macroeconomic environment that persists in the financial and commercial sectors in almost all the world; The FinTech sector does not seem to be very affected, this is especially true in Latin America, where companies in the sector, and especially startups, have had a surprising degree of capital attraction so far this year.

According to information from the Latam Fintech Hub and Valora Analitik, Latin American FinTechs have received more than 300 million dollars in financing in August alone. Besides, the figure was distributed among 18 different companies.

The progress of startups and established companies in the FinTech sector is a remarkable phenomenon in Latin America. The event has been influential for several years now and has even been the subject of study by the Ibero-American Development Bank (IDB).

The IDB found that with 2,482 financial technology platforms, Latin America represents 23% of Fintechs worldwide. In addition, within this ecosystem, the countries that lead the way are Brazil, where 31% of this type of company is located, Mexico (21%), Colombia (11%), and Argentina (11%).

Latin America Fintech Market 2022

In this context and with the aim of bringing together the most important FinTechs in Ibero-America; The Colombia Fintech guild organized the fourth version of the Latam Fintech Market 2022, which took place on September 27 in Medellín. The capital of Antioquia was chosen for this contest in which the trends, challenges, and projections of the sector will be presented.

This event was attended by more than 15 commercial stands, 6 conferences, and 4 panels; all of them focused on Digital Credit, Open Banking, Global Fintech Trend, Disruptive Models, Digital Payments, and Fintech Unicorns.

Also; had a networking space such as the Fintech Party. Likewise; the Latam Fintech Market 2022 had a capacity for more than 850 attendees and more than 18 national and international speakers, as well as 450 attendees in the Fintech Talks space.

Latin America and the Fintech sector

Thanks to an exhaustive study carried out by the firm KoreFusion, it has been verified that around 1,047 FinTech companies in Latin America added capital for more than 8,092 million dollars in 2020 alone, the year of greatest impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This shows that the sector seems to be quite resilient, even in the face of external shocks such as Covid, or the current war between Russia and Ukraine.

Nowadays, companies are looking for new methods to keep the financial life of their respective businesses afloat. FinTech companies have had to overcome some obstacles, although this has not prevented them from moving forward and expanding.

On the other hand, FinTech companies still have to deal with the regulation of this type of technology in different countries.

Given this, the regulators of countries such as Chile, Colombia, and Paraguay have already set their sights on cryptocurrencies, Blockchains, and financial technology in general, with a view to building the most convenient regulation in this regard in their territories. Finally, Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina are positioned as leaders in the sector.

By Audy Castaneda

DeFi TVL Plummets, but UNI, MKR, and AAVE Rise

Sustained retail euphoria coupled with broader market optimism could help DeFi price growth in the short term.

With the global cryptocurrency market capitalization still below the $1 trillion mark, the once-glowing total value locked (TVL) of decentralized finance (DeFi) has also seen a considerable pullback.

Nonetheless, major DeFi tokens such as Uniswap (UNI), Aave (AAVE), and Maker (MKR) continued to post gains on a daily chart amid renewed bullish momentum.

With BTC’s social dominance on the rise, after Monday’s gains, the largest crypto market, including major DeFi assets, saw a surge in price.

A look at the top gainers on CoinMarketCap in the last 24 hours showed that UNI led the market gains with more than 15% daily gains. Apart from UNI, MKR and AAVE also posted high daily gains of 11% and 7.63%.

DeFi TVL is still stuck in the lower range

Despite major DeFi tokens gaining price momentum, there was no significant change in TVL across decentralized finance markets. In fact, the DeFi TVL lost more than 70% of the value in 2022 from January to September.

The TVL stood at $56.15 billion, a loss of more than 70% from the value recorded in December 2021 of $303.8 billion.

According to data released Monday by data aggregation and analytics platform CryptoRank, the TVL in DeFi has plunged 40% in the past 30 days, falling from $106 billion where it was a month ago, to $56 billion dollars.

That said, Maker DAO dominance stood at 13.23%, while Ethereum dominance in the DeFi space continued to grow as it accounted for 59% of all DeFi TVL.

UNI, MKR, and AAVE Gain Ground

Despite the market slump, DeFi tokens often manage to turn a profit when sentiment turns positive. Also at press time, UNI topped the earners’ list on CMC with 17% daily and 21.32% weekly gains.

The recent price reversal shot UNI price above the key resistance level at the $6 mark. The token will see a higher price rejection candle at the $6.6 resistance, where over 47 million UNI are held by 15.9 thousand addresses.

The Global In and Out of Money indicator explained that, after the resistance of $6.6, the next key supply barrier would be at the $9.6 mark, where more than 60 million UNI tokens are held by more than 30 thousand addresses.

AAVE, on the other hand, gained 7.63% on the daily chart as its 24-hour trading volumes surged 17% to $115 million.

For AAVE, once the token reverses the losses recorded in mid-September, the next key resistance would be at the $94 mark.

Lastly, MKR saw a massive surge of over 11% in the last 24 hours, making a parabolic recovery from September’s losses.

In particular, Global In and Out of Money for MKR presented strong resistance at the $942 supply barrier, where over 430,000 MKR tokens are held by around 8,200 addresses.

Furthermore, a steady 26% increase in the new seven-day address change highlighted a more vibrant ecosystem for the DeFi token, as new entities continued to flock to MKR.

Sustained retail euphoria, coupled with larger market optimism, could help DeFi token price growth in the short term, as UNI, MKR and AAVE continue to post gains.

By Audy Castaneda

The Chinese Authorities Stop Criminals Who Launder USD 5.6 Billion with Crypto Assets

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The criminal group bought cryptocurrencies with funds coming from fraudulent activities, which they then converted into US dollars. In March, the authorities blocked an online platform that caused many investors to lose nearly USD 16 million.

Police officers from Hengyang, in the Chinese province of Hunan, stopped a gang that allegedly laundered 40 billion yuan (CNY), equivalent to USD 5.6 billion.

Over the last few months, the authorities have arrested many people in order to wind up similar schemes in the Asian country.

The Criminals Buy Cryptocurrencies with Funds Coming from Fraudulent Activities 

According to local news, the police arrested 93 suspected criminals in Hengyang for laundering about USD 5.6 billion with crypto assets. They raided ten premises, confiscated more than 100 pieces of electronic equipment, and froze around USD 42 million.

The alleged criminal group reportedly used illegal funds to buy crypto assets and converted them into US dollars. The authorities said the money came mainly from fraudulent activities like gambling and telecommunications schemes.

Over the years, the Chinese government has maintained that it does not support the crypto industry. It has imposed such strict measures against cryptocurrencies that those businesses cannot flourish in the territory. In September 2021, the situation reached its most adverse level as the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) banned operations with those assets.

The people living in the most populated nation remain interested in crypto assets despite the tight restrictions. The blockchain data analytics company Chainalysis recently estimated that China is among the top 10 global leading cryptocurrency adopters.

The Authorities Have Worked on Similar Money Laundering Cases Involving Cryptocurrencies

In June 2021, the Chinese police arrested 1,100 suspects for laundering funds for fraudulent activities on the telecommunications network with cryptocurrencies. In addition, the authorities stopped 170 criminal organizations allegedly linked to the regime.

Six months ago, the Shanghai Public Security Bureau and the Yangpu Public Security Bureau investigated pyramid schemes that used cryptocurrencies. That led the authorities to block an online platform that caused many investors to lose nearly USD 16 million while active.

The police highlighted it was the first cryptocurrency pyramid scheme they had winded up in Shanghai.

The officers warned that citizens should avoid fallings victim to pyramid schemes, which they must consciously resist. The Shanghai Public Security Economic Investigation Department will take further measures against economic crimes risking citizens’ legitimate rights and interests. They said their objective was to protect consumers’ legitimate rights and interests.

Cryptocurrencies have become increasingly relevant in the economic system worldwide, which Chinese criminal groups know well. They take advantage of the growing interest from people in those assets to launder millions of illicit funds. Therefore, investors should avoid participating in activities that promise to make them wealthy quickly.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) is trading at around USD 18,924 and has accumulated a 6.5% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 49.60 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 362.64 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar