Committee leaders consider the CFTC the ideal regulator for the crypto market, thanks to its knowledge and experience. Although Kwon said he was not at large and wanted to contact government agencies, the police of Singapore noted he was no longer there.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) constantly requires full capabilities to regulate the crypto market. Rostin Behnam, the chairman of the CFTC, said it would control cryptocurrencies if the proposed Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act became law.

Behnam believes that the current macroeconomic conditions could only worsen the impact of market volatility on retail clients. He pointed out that this situation underscores the need for regulatory clarity and market protection.

The CFTC Recognizes that Cryptocurrencies Are Commodity Assets

Considering its knowledge and experience, the CFTC might be the best to regulate the digital asset commodity market. A measure proposed by committee leaders to issue new rules for the cryptocurrency business places the agency at the center of federal oversight.

Behnam praised the proposal of the legislation for additional agency funding, which will allow the CFTC to oversee digital commodity assets. Courts, legislators, and regulators have recognized that cryptocurrencies fall into this category, although other investments have a less clear legal status.

He said digital commodity platforms must maintain adequate financial, operational, and managerial resources. In addition, he thinks they must segregate client funds and meet commission requirements for handling client assets.

Furthermore, Behnam talked about the additional resources provided by the funding mechanism in the DCCPA and the mandates for client education. He explained that they could allow the implementation of this new regime more quickly to ensure efforts reach all investor groups in the community.

Meanwhile, South Korean Prosecutors Believe Do Kwon Is on the Run

According to South Korean prosecutors, Do Kwon is on the run and refuses to participate in the investigation. They charged the founder of Terraform Labs with fraud after the collapse in May.

Kwon recently said on Twitter that he was not at large and wanted to contact government agencies. In addition, he stated that he and his team were fully collaborating as they were not hiding anything. A statement by the authorities of Singapore indicates that the developer was no longer on the island.

The prosecutors responded by saying that Kwon was at large and did not participate in the investigation. They pointed out they were tracking him down to capture him with the collaboration of local and international agencies.

Kwon Promises to Cooperate with the Investigation, but the Authorities Doubt Him

The Korean court ruled the arrest of Do Kwon abroad for the extreme losses caused in the crypto market in mid-2022. However, the police of Singapore explained that they were ready to help but that he was no longer living there.

Kwon stated that his departure was not an act of escape but a way to protect himself from legal dangers. Besides, the CEO of Terraform Labs explained that he was in the mood to work with the authorities.

The South Korean developer has previously confirmed that he would collaborate with the authorities to solve the Terra case. He reiterated that he was the only one responsible for the collapse and would deliver the information required.

By Alexander Salazar

Although the weekly RSI seems to have undergone a bullish divergence, a continued drop in the BTC price might invalidate it. Meanwhile, some factors, like the comments from Gary Gensler, may have caused ETH to fall after the Merge.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) recently pulled back from a long-term resistance line and formed a bearish candlestick pattern. It is now at risk of breaking below a long-term horizontal support zone.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) plans to discuss the best solution to the inflation problem. The group raised federal funds rates by 25 basis points (bps) in March, 50 bps in May, and 75 bps in June. Interest rates might rise by 75 bps (82%) or 100 bps (18%), raising the target level to 300-325 or 325-350.

Renowned political economist Benjamin J. Cohen talked about previous periods of high inflation and rate-hike cycles of the Fed. He said it shows evidence that it will not bottom out until it gets closer to its next round of rate cuts. However, he pointed out that some historical instances indicated that the SPX bottomed out when rate hikes ended.

In 2009 and 2020, interest rates dropped almost a year before the S&P500 bottomed out. Since the Fed still raises its interest rates, the current S&P 500 low might not have arrived yet.

Movement of the Price of Bitcoin after Its All-Time High

The value of BTC has fallen since it reached an all-time high of USD 69,000 in November 2021. The bearish movement has led to a local low of USD 17,622 in June 2022.

Despite an upward movement shortly after, it recently pulled back from the descending resistance line and formed a bearish candlestick pattern.

The weekly relative strength index (RSI) seems to have undergone a bullish divergence. However, a continued drop in the price might invalidate it as there is no confirmation yet.

The price of BTC might also break below the USD 19,000 horizontal support zone. A drop below that area could trigger a quick decline to new lows as that area coincides with yearly lows.

A close below that area would confirm a bearish outlook, but a break above the resistance line would invalidate it.

Bitcoin is trading at around USD 18,671 and has accumulated a 5.9% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 37.08 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 357.65 billion, according to CoinGecko.

Meanwhile, Ether Pulls Back below USD 1,300 after the Merge

The drop of Ether (ETH) below USD 1,300 might be more important news than the fall of Bitcoin. Many investors expected to benefit from a positive price movement shortly after the Merge.

A few factors may have caused the price of ETH to drop after the long-awaited Ethereum upgrade. For example, Gary Gensler, the chairman of the SEC, suggested that ETH might become a security after the transition to PoS.

According to Santiment, two wallets have processed more than 45% of Ether transactions, causing concerns about centralization. In addition, some analysts pointed out that research and development company Flashbots transmitted over 82% of the Ethereum block after the Merge.

Ether is trading at around USD 1,307 and has accumulated an 8.3% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 19.02 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 158.43 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar

Bitcoin hit its 2022 low, dipping below $19,000. ETH has fallen below $1,300.

Despite some positive developments earlier this month, the crypto market is experiencing moderate bleeding as Bitcoin (BTC) hits its 2022 low. Ethereum has also slumped sharply, even as it successfully made the switch to Proof -of-Stake.

It is worth remembering that BTC has been falling since reaching a high of $25,211 on August 15. On August 26, the downside move triggered a breakout of a rising parallel channel that had been in place since the June 18 low.

Following the crash, Bitcoin continued to fall and reached a low of $18,510 on September 7. The bottom was made slightly below the $19,000 support area, which was created by the June lows.

Bitcoin has dipped below $19,000 while Ethereum has dipped below $1,300. The crypto market capitalization has also fallen below $950 billion, a 6.4% plunge in the last 24 hours alone.

Not the positive showings investors wanted, especially after patiently enduring a “crypto winter” through 2022.

Bitcoin selling has intensified following the news that Russia shut down the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, halting gas to Europe and spooking markets, experts say.

It is difficult to say what has motivated the capital outflow, as there have been several potential incidents that may have influenced the price decline. The discussion has been particularly strong for Ethereum, which has had a historic month going through “The Merge”.

Ethereum Is Back Below $1,300 after The Merger

Ethereum’s crash below $1,300 is perhaps bigger news than Bitcoin’s crash. After all, many expected the asset to benefit from positive price movement following The Merger. However, that does not seem to be the case in the short term.

There are a few reasons that seem likely as to why the price of ETH fell. First, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler sparked a debate after suggesting that moving to a PoS model could make ETH a security.

There is no definitive statement on this, but the debate on this topic has been going on for a while.

There are also some concerns about centralization, as data from Santiment also showed that more than 45% of Ethereum transactions were processed by two wallets.

Analysts have also pointed out that flashbots have broadcast over 82% of the Ethereum Block Meltdown.

The Fed and Interest Rates

There is another major reason why analysts are bearish on the short-term outlook for the crypto market. This is the fact that the US Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates at its next meeting.

The Federal Reserve’s four-decade monetary policy of keeping interest rates high to fight inflation has prompted investors to sell riskier assets such as stocks and Bitcoin.

Rates are expected to rise another 75 basis points. The Federal Reserve has been interested in reducing inflation rates in the country, but the seriousness of raising interest rates has not been well received.

There has also been talking that a recession may be upon us sooner rather than later.

According to Bloomberg Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone, for the Fed to stop its aggressive interest rate hikes that herald a recession, markets, including cryptocurrencies, need to come down. “I don’t see what stops [a recession]… other than risky assets going down and going to a lower level.”

By Audy Castaneda

Some improvements related to the hard fork might not go live until September 27.

With Ethereum’s ‘Merge’ behind them, the cryptocurrency market now looks to Cardano. Blockchain developers have already announced that the Vasil hard fork will take place on September 22, and the process is already underway. However, some improvements related to the hard fork might not go live until September 27. This is due to a number of technical reasons, said Charles Hoskinson, the co-founder of Cardano.

This news, coupled with the markedly bearish sentiment of the crypto community, which has been carried away by a large profit-taking movement, unleashed after ‘The Fusion’, has led the ADA, the Cardano token, to lose the price of 0 .44 dollars and to extend its falls to 15% in the last seven days.

“Hard Fork” Update

A hard fork is when the participants of a Blockchain network introduce changes to the code that make it incompatible with the immediately previous version, forcing nodes to adopt the new rules or validate transactions on a different chain with the old rules.

Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson – who previously co-founded Ethereum – shared his thoughts on the Vasil hard fork date in a livestream on Friday morning.

“The amazing thing about this date is that it happens to fall on Bulgaria’s Independence Day,” Hoskinson said.

Hoskinson also reflected on the heavy workload required for the Vasil upgrade, saying that many contributors were “overwhelmed.”

“Probably the hardest upgrade we’ve ever had to do as an ecosystem.”

“It really showed that we need to build better processes and, you know, better foundations to launch things at this scale and magnitude,” he shared. “We pushed Vasil a bit to the limit.”

Cardano’s Vasil hard fork is named after its late Bulgarian community member Vasil St. Dabov, who was the Chief Blockchain Advisor at software R&D firm Quanterall before his passing in December 2021.

As for the hard fork upgrade, it will bring significant improvements using Cardano’s hard fork combinator approach.

The update will also improve the network by increasing performance, script efficiency, and reducing block transmission latency. The Cardano team said that the ecosystem is preparing for the tests. Meanwhile, last week, some major cryptocurrency exchanges were showing 55% hard fork readiness. The developers, therefore, rely on activating the hard fork at the expected time.

“Over 98% of the mainnet blocks are being created by the Vasil node (1.35.3). Major Cardano DApps have confirmed that they have tested and are ready,” they said.

The developers said that there would be no problems for ADA holders due to the hard fork. But there could be difficulties in withdrawing holdings when cryptocurrency exchanges go through the upgrade. “ADA holders using exchanges or wallets will not be negatively affected by the Vasil hard fork, and should not have any concerns about their holdings. However, certain delays or service interruptions are still possible while exchanges undergo integration work.”

By Audy Castaneda

Cryptocapital analysts pointed out that the “worst is yet to come” in the crypto market and that we still “have not reached” a new floor.

In the latest Cryptocapital program of Capital Radio, hosted by Sergio Fernández (@Sergio_fdez_7), crypto analysts agreed that, after the Merger, traditional investors will enter, since they seek to know the leaders’ past, present, and future results, and will eventually provide more exposure to Bitcoin, since “in the end, everything attracts BTC”.

Last week, Bitcoin has had a bearish behavior, going from 22,645 to 18,790 dollars, a drop of up to 6.5% in just 24 hours, according to CoinMaketCap. BeInCrypto’s latest analysis revealed that, for the third time, two major moving averages made a bearish intersection in BTC; however, the prediction approaches the price of the cryptocurrency at $41,100, which would be reached on August 14, 2023.

The panel of specialists of the Capital Radio crypto talk show on September 16 was made up of:

Baldomera Crypto (@BaldomeraCrypto).

WallStreet Rata (@WallStreetRata).

Maik_Crypto (@maikelsani).

Lloren (@llorenbtc).

Microondas (@MicroondasLGBT).

The Host’s Preliminary Thoughts

The Cryptocapital host of Capital Radio, Sergio Fernández (@Sergio_fdez_7) opened the debate like this:

“Many people waited for this moment. It is a historic event and how it will affect the market, perhaps not in the short term, but in the coming months. The Merge is a positive change. Pollution will be reduced more than 90%. Vitalik himself said that global pollution would fall 0.2% after The Fusion. There are people who say that ETH is good for Bitcoin, it will increase its differences and there are others who believe the opposite, that it will resemble BTC”.

After the Ethereum Meltdown, its price has only dropped and has had a more severe drop than Bitcoin, going from $1,739 to $1,298, which is equivalent to a 10.65% crash, according to CoinMarketCap. However, his update piqued the interest of Grayscale, who filed a distribution rights statement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission on Ethereum PoW tokens.

The Guests’ Opinions

In this regard, the Cryptocapital guest panel emphasized that Ethereum will have great growth in the medium term:

“People want to know how much Ethereum will go since they bought it at $4,000. Ethereum could reach $8,000 to $10,000 in one to four years, but it will come. It won’t give another project time to beat it in that time. In 4 or 5 years, ETH will be very strong. Things would have to go very bad to stay behind. Ethereum is behaving like a company. In the end, everything is attracted to Bitcoin and we will not see BTC at these levels again.”

According to the experts invited to Cryptocapital, the “crypto winter” or bear market is far from over, that is, “we have not yet reached the true ground”; however, BTC and ETH will survive, despite the fact that they are different: the first is the favorite cryptocurrency of companies, and traders; the second, the darling project of developers and with a growing community.

The Cryptocapital panel pointed out that Ethereum is far from achieving a capitalization close to that of Bitcoin, although they admitted that if BTC were to lose its position one day, Ethereum would take it or other projects that are born in the future and have “giant potential.”

Finally, the Cryptocapital host stated that the outlook is one of uncertainty, since each time the crypto market “is worse.”

By Audy Castaneda

Despite what has happened to LUNC, the community has led initiatives to help it come back to life. While LUNC was flying to the moon, a court ordered the arrest of Do Kwon for practices linked to the LUNA collapse.

In late August and early September, the price of Terra Luna Classic (LUNC) increased to USD 0.00053514. However, it subsequently dropped sharply until rising by 30% to around USD 0.00032 in 24 hours.

That reason and the rumors about the project seeking to come back to life led to conducting the following analysis. It is relevant to remember that Terra (LUNA) and the stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) collapsed in April and May.

The measure to maintain the stability of UST failed in different ways, driving its value to plummet and the overall crypto market to crash. However, the project still tries to survive by putting its token under the name of LUNC.

Over the last few weeks, the price of LUNC has increased by over 100% despite experiencing a bearish phase. The latest chart shows that it formed a falling wedge pattern, causing it to enter the bullish trend.

LUNC is trading below the 100- and 50-day exponential moving averages (EMAs) while trying to break above the 20-day EMA.

Terra Luna Classic Promises to Be the Rebirth of TerraClassicUSD

Despite what has happened to LUNC and the arrest warrant against Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, the community still believes in it.

Various community-led initiatives have boosted the price of LUNC over the last few days. The project is now trying to come back to life away from the Terraform Labs organization and its founder.

Some cryptocurrency exchanges have accompanied one of these initiatives by promoting a commission for burning LUNC. In addition, various staking projects have emerged to encourage the hoarding of LUNC tokens among investors.

According to the TerRarity.io platform, 3,967,138,030 LUNC units, equivalent to 0.0574% of the total supply, have burned.

Away from Terraform Labs and its developers, LUNC seeks to resurface with community efforts. Those efforts appear in a roadmap that aims to make TerraClassicUSD (USTC) what it once promised.

However, recovering its reputation is not the only complex challenge it has to face. It also needs to achieve functionality like that offered by Terra while being secure to prevent the story from happening again.

The Price of LUNC Rises as Do Kwon Goes to Prison

While the price of LUNC was flying to the moon, a South Korean court ordered the arrest of Do Kwon and other Terraform Labs members. They charged the former CEO with illegal practices linked to the collapse of LUNA.

However, since Kwon is in Singapore, nobody can arrest him due to bureaucratic problems between both countries. The South Korean prosecutors requested his extradition through Interpol and the revocation of his passport through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Meanwhile, LUNC is trading at around USD 0.0002975 and has accumulated a 3% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 542.43million, its market capitalization is about USD 2.06 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar