Look no further: these are the Best Options to Store your Bitcoins

Audy Castañeda
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Look no further: these are the Best Options to Store your Bitcoins

In the face of continuous cyber-attacks on exchanges and cryptocurrency holders, it is necessary to safeguard your digital assets.

Unlike an old physical wallet, which stores bills and coins, a cryptographic wallet safeguards the access keys required to prove ownership of the crypto assets, as well as their access to them in the Blockchain.

Crypto wallets can take the form of external hardware or software devices running on a mobile device or computer.

Its main function is to keep the cryptography of the owner safe, in addition to allowing transactions to be carried out. Additionally, they offer more control over the digital currency than you would get with a standard account at a crypto exchange or brokerage.

Bitcoin Custody Wallets: A Good Idea?

Some brokerages and payment services like Robinhood, PayPal, Venmo, and Cash App allow you to easily buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies without a cryptocurrency wallet.

Such services store the digital currency in their own “custodial” wallets, meaning trust is placed in the company to secure, protect, and maintain the crypto. Ultimately, they are in control and the owner will need to trust them to act on their behalf.

Best practices for holding cryptocurrencies include purchasing a hardware wallet for offline storage. The next best thing is a “non-custodial” wallet or software application.

Best Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Wallets

Coinbase: the best for beginners. The company makes it easy to exchange popular cryptocurrencies, from Bitcoin to Dogecoin, and has its own Visa-backed debit card that integrates with Apple Pay and Google. The interface is intuitive and the wallet is fully integrated with the company’s exchange. It has no custody.

Trezor: the best security features. Trezor’s software is open source, which provides some additional protection, at least in theory. It is designed to run natively on the PC desktop, providing greater security than a web-based application. Trezor wallets support more than 1,600 coins and tokens. However, it does not have Bluetooth support, which could be an attack vector for hackers to exploit.

Ledger Nano X: a good balance between accessibility and security. It is Ledger’s second-generation cold storage wallet. The easy-to-learn and easy-to-use built-in Ledger Live platform support over 1,800 coins and tokens, including Bitcoin and Ether. It is important to remember that Ledger suffered a data breach in July 2020, which resulted in the theft of some customers’ personal data, but not their crypto assets. It is therefore recommended to be careful online, especially when it comes to trading crypto assets.

Exodus: best for desktop users. It is a hot wallet, which means that it is a software wallet that is connected to the Internet. However, it is non-custodial, meaning that only the user has access to their private key, a 12-word passphrase that protects access to crypto assets.

Mycelium: the best for mobile users. It has a simple interface, through which Bitcoin, Ether, and ERC-20 tokens, like Tether USD, USD coin, and Binance USD can be sent and received, but not the hundreds of coins that have been developed in recent years. It is non-custodial and is the only hot storage on this list that is open source. However, its support options are limited.

In summary, it is worth emphasizing the need to do your own research before making any decisions. Examining the pros and cons, and consulting with experts and other users, seem to be the most sensible moves.

By Audy Castaneda

An Analysis Indicates Short-Term Bitcoin Holders Hold Less than 9% of Circulating Coins

Alexander Salazar
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An Analysis Indicates Short-Term Bitcoin Holders Hold Less than 9% of Circulating Coins

During the peaks of the market cycle, long-term holders distribute all of their tokens to short-term holders. If those buying Bitcoin in November stayed, they would gradually end the hoarding phase and begin the next bullish market.

Bitcoin (BTC) on-chain indicators relating to the lifetime of current holders allow determining similarities with previous market cycles.

It is possible to know the amount of circulating Bitcoin moving in a specific period through the HODL Wave indicator. It introduces a slight adjustment, using the realized price instead of the market price, to provide more accurate data.

If the one-to-two-year HODL Wave band is 15% wide, 15% of the circulating BTC has moved between one and two years.

The bands between one day and one month widen considerably during the peaks of a market cycle. That happens because long-term holders have distributed all their coins to short-term holders.

Despite occurring at 2013, 2017, and 2021 market cycle highs, this was not as pronounced as those of May or November 2021.

Short-Term Holders Only Hold 9% of the Circulating Bitcoin

Following the all-time high in November, the most relevant development is the rise in the one-to-two-year bands. That has occurred due to the decrease in the shorter-term bands between one week and 12 months.

The range of one to two years has increased considerably since November, while the short-term bands have decreased significantly.

By removing bands under one month old, the percentage of 91% is in line with the lows of previous market cycles. In other words, short-term holders only hold 9% of the circulating tokens.

Past Market Cycles Allow Predicting the Future of the Bitcoin Price

The one-to-two-year band has historically been nearly 35% when the price has reached the absolute minimum. While the band was at 33% when it bottomed out in 2015, it peaked at 48% after being at 30% in 2018.

Since the band is currently at 37% and keeps increasing, the price may be in a hoarding phase after reaching the bottom.

At the end of the hoarding phase, the one-to-two-year band decreases again. Meanwhile, the two-to-three-year range begins to increase.

If those investors stayed after the increase since November, they would gradually move into the two-to-three-year within four months.

If that happens, it might indicate the end of the hoarding phase and the beginning of the next bullish market. Many traders would be happy with that event since they would have the opportunity to make profits.

Bitcoin is increasingly relevant in the economic system, which analysts have reiterated on several occasions. Since the crypto asset has historically proved able to recover from the worst crises, this would be an opportunity to do it again.

Bitcoin is trading at around USD 22,978 and has accumulated a 2.8% loss over the last week. While its daily trading volume is above USD 13.62 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 439.23 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar

Coinbase Receives another Class Action Lawsuit for “False Statements”

Audy Castañeda
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Coinbase Receives another Class Action Lawsuit for “False Statements”

Bragar Eagel & Squire, PC has launched a new class action lawsuit against Coinbase Global Inc., alleging that the defendants made materially false and misleading statements.

Coinbase experiences another class action lawsuit while trying to get a reprieve from the Supreme Court

New lawsuits have been racked up against US exchange Coinbase shortly after an ongoing investigation by the securities regulator was revealed.

According to Bragar Eagel & Squire, PC, a shareholder rights law firm, a new class action lawsuit has hit Coinbase Global Inc. in the United States District Court of New Jersey on behalf of holders who bought or acquired Coinbase securities between April 14, 2021, and July 26, 2022.

Exchange Accused of Making “False and Misleading” Statements

The firm has opened the plea for investors until October 3, 2022, stating: “The lawsuit alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding business policies, company operations, and compliance.

The lawsuit centers around the time Coinbase disclosed that its customers will be treated as unsecured creditors in bankruptcy proceedings in the platform’s Q1 2022 report.

While shares fell at the market open the following day, Coinbase CEO defendant Brian Armstrong admitted that it was a delayed disclosure shortly after in May.

Additionally, Bloomberg’s report that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is investigating Coinbase for allowing Americans to trade unregistered securities further weakened the price of common shares in the upcoming open market, burning the pockets of shareholders.

Meanwhile, according to a recent statement, Pomerantz LLP has also launched a class action lawsuit against Coinbase and some of its officials, based on the presumption that Coinbase allowed Americans to trade digital assets that Coinbase knew or recklessly disregarded should have been registered as securities with the SEC.

To such allegations, last May Coinbase’s Chief Executive Officer, Defendant Brian Armstrong, stated: “We should have updated our retail terms sooner, and we didn’t communicate proactively when this risk disclosure was added. My deepest apologies, and a good learning moment for us as we make future changes.”

New Legal Problems after Approaching SC

The new legal issue comes a day after Coinbase Global petitioned the US Supreme Court to halt the litigation, while it files appeals to have the cases filed arbitrated out of court.

The platform had also called for an emergency intervention on the submissions, saying it would suffer “irreparable harm” if the lawsuits were allowed to continue.

Legal troubles mount as Senator Cynthia Lummis’ office confirmed that Coinbase is among 40 platforms being investigated. While that is happening, Coinbase is about to release its Q2 earnings after announcing a massive partnership with BlackRock. While the deal had a positive impact on COIN’s share price, the regulatory uproar may continue to spark the Nasdaq listing.

On the other hand, Zacks Equity Research predicts that Coinbase will post “a year-over-year decline in earnings due to lower revenues” for the quarter ending June 2022.

Zacks estimates that revenue will be close to 877.32 million dollars, 60.6% less than in the same quarter of the previous year. Since listing, Coinbase is down more than 60% and Ark Investment Management dumped more than 1.41 million shares of three of its funds last week.

By Audy Castaneda

While ETH Prepares for an Imminent Recovery, ADA and XRP Remain Bearish in the Long Term

Alexander Salazar
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While ETH Prepares for an Imminent Recovery, ADA and XRP Remain Bearish in the Long Term

Selling pressure might lead to a 6% to 8% drop, allowing the Ether bulls to drive the price closer to USD 2,000. The value of ADA might fall below USD 0.4 in the short term, while XRP might rise close to USD 0.5.

The price of Ether (ETH) is entering relevant resistance zones, attempting to close this week above USD 1,800. Since traders have decided to hoard, the value of ETH might break above USD 2,000. According to data from Glassnode, addresses with over 100 coins reached a 15-month high of 45,168.

An increase in buying pressure has pushed the Ether price higher by more than 8%, breaking through daily highs near USD 1750. The ETH bulls might face significant selling pressure soon, indicating an imminent drop of 6% to 8%. Therefore, the bulls could have an opportunity to enter and push the price nearer USD 2,000.

The Cardano (ADA) Price Is Bullish in the Short Term

Even though the price of Cardano is struggling to reach USD 0.4, uncertainty seems to favor the bears. Since ADA started recovering from the lows of June, it has been increasingly low levels.

After the latest cash inflow resulting in a 6% rise, investors may expect a rally beyond USD 0.5 before reaching USD 0.68.

However, the price of ADA might drop below USD 0.4 from around USD 0.5, favoring the bears. It is bullish in the short term but continues within a descending triangle.

The Price of Ripple (XRP) Remains Bearish in the Long Term

Following the recent recovery of the price wave, XRP bulls have regained dominance, not letting the bears break free. In the short term, there seems to be growing buying pressure on the platform, which may break through the USD 0.4 hurdle. Although the situation is getting over, the value of XRP should be in the middle of it next weekend.

Despite attempting to break out of the USD 0.38 resistance recently, the crypto asset dropped significantly due to a lack of momentum. If the tide favors the Bitcoin bulls, the price of XRP might rise above USD 0.4, possibly close to USD 0.5 in late August.

The Dominance of Bitcoin May Suffer a Setback in September

Cryptocurrency analyst Benjamin Cowen recently said that the dominance of Bitcoin has plummeted from 73% in 2021 to 41%. He believes that the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, could increase the prominence of BTC after the Merge.

Cowen considers that the long-awaited Merge event moving from PoW to PoS may act as a sell-the-news event. That would lead many traders to shift their funds to the cryptocurrency created by Satoshi Nakamoto.

According to the expert, the dominance of Bitcoin will start a reversal in September thanks to the Ethereum Merge. Cowen thinks that many investors will modify some of their portfolios after that event, which could undergo further delays.

By Alexander Salazar

NFT in Argentina: Market Grows after the Appearance of a Heavy Player

Audy Castañeda
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NFT in Argentina: Market Grows after the Appearance of a Heavy Player

More and more startups are leaning on NFTs, despite the hostile context that the cryptoactive universe is going through. What are the startups that bet on tokens in Argentina?

Despite the extreme volatility in the cryptocurrency market, there’s a crypto-boom going on across the globe. Argentina’s economy is prime breeding ground for the crypto-world, as it is among the five Latin American countries in adoption of crypto assets.

Within this universe, there is another sector that has emerged timidly, although a few days ago it received a significant boost. It’s about the Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFT’s. Also affected by the crash that took cryptocurrencies to historically low values, and still, in discovery phase, there are different ventures in Argentina that bet on this beta within the crypto and Blockchain world.

This week, Lemon decided to participate in this market that, with variations, already had different players in the country: Enigma.art ─founded by the sons of Martín Migoya─ and Blockchain Art Gallery (BAG), with the support of Elsztain and Ripio.

Lemon’s Adventure

With 1.3 million users, Lemon is one of the main digital wallets in Argentina, and unlike most of its competitors, offers the cryptocurrency trading service in the country. Last Tuesday he announced his foray into NFTs, a journey that is starting different exchanges in the world, realizing that it is not an opportunity that they can ignore.

According to the Argentine startup, it is one of the largest collections in the world. It will not yet be enabled as a marketplace, but which will give each of its users their own “Lemmy NFT”, a unique avatar.

“This is the next step that Lemon is going to take to promote a more decentralized future”, explained Marcelo Cavazzoli, Lemon CEO.

At launch, Lemon distributed NFTs to 10% of its users, benefiting more than 30,000 followers, who “revealed their first NFT within 6 hours of release, making it one of the fastest growing collections of NFTs growth in owners of the world”, communicated the startup, which this Monday will continue with its campaign towards the rest of its ten thousands of users.

Emerging market

“Argentina is a fairly incipient market. There are players, including Carnaval, who are looking for our place in the market. It is an industry so new that we are beginning to explore what would be the best way to adapt to what the market is asking for”, said to Bloomberg Line Matías Albaca, COO of Carnaval.

Albaca adds that NFTs in the country “appeared as a new form of investment and gained a lot of market in a short time.” However, one number stands out: “Within Latin America, Argentina is in the top 3 of those most interested in the word NFT, head to head with Venezuela and Chile, above Brazil”.

Finally, Bruno Savoca, who participated in Enigma.art, claimed that, “the interest and perception we have in Argentina of Blockchain and cryptocurrencies, in the NFT world, is that not only the asset matters but also the access it gives you”. And he cites as an example the project that they carried out with Quilmes Rock, selling tickets in NFT mode. “Not just something you want to show but something that enables you to different things,” he said about this experience.

By Audy Castaneda

The ED Raids the Facilities of the Director of WazirX and Freezes His Bank Accounts

Alexander Salazar
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The ED Raids the Facilities of the Director of WazirX and Freezes His Bank Accounts

After the director refused to cooperate, the ED raided his facilities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. The agency stated that WazirX helped 16 FinTech companies accused of laundering illicit money with cryptocurrencies.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) recently blocked the bank account of one of the directors of the Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX.

The agency had reportedly frozen bank assets worth Rs 64.67 crore (over USD 8 million) before conducting a raid in the city of Hyderabad.

The ED Investigates Binance-Backed Exchange WazirX

Pankaj Chaudhary, the Indian Finance Minister, confirmed that the Enforcement Directorate was investigating Binance-backed cryptocurrency exchange WazirX. He stated that it had allegedly laundered Rs 2,790 crore, equivalent to over USD 350 million.

The agency accused the director of WazirX of helping fast lending app companies buy and transfer cryptocurrencies used to launder money.

According to local media, the ED said it conducted the raids on Sameer Mhatre, the co-founder and CTO. Despite adding that they had remote access to the WazirX database, they gave no transaction details.

The raid occurred on the facilities of the director under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after he allegedly refused to cooperate.

The ED investigates the platform regarding two cases under the Foreign Exchange Management Act of 1999 (FEMA). In one case, there are proofs that the exchange allows foreign users to exchange one cryptocurrency for another and use transfers from other platforms. They also investigate covert transactions that take place between Binance and WazirX.

The ED Accuses WazirX of Helping Illicit Lending Apps Launder Money

According to the ED, the lending app firms were using the cryptocurrency route to take money out of India when they began the crackdown. They said they found evidence of cryptocurrency-related transfers, leading them to freeze over Rs 100 crore worth of WazirX crypto assets.

The agency stated that WazirX allegedly helped 16 FinTech companies accused of using the cryptocurrency channel to launder illicit money.

The ED pointed out that WazirX actively assisted those companies, encouraging obscurity and having lax anti-money laundering (AML) regulations. Therefore, they froze crypto assets amounting to Rs 64.67 crore on the platform under the 2002 PMLA.

There are rumors that the detective agency is tracking Indian NBFCs and illicit fast lending app FinTech partners. The ED found that they violated RBI regulations to extort excessive interest rates and misuse user information.

The agency said several FinTech companies backed by Chinese funds could not obtain a license from RBI to conduct lending activities. Therefore, they devised the MoU path with the defunct NBFC to accompany their authorization.

Transparency Still Lacks in the Transactions between Binance and WazirX

The ED is reportedly investigating previous statements from the exchange and its co-founder. They stated that its CEO Nischal Shetty had said WazirX controls all crypto transactions and has only one IP and preferential treatment with Binance.

While they carry out further investigations, there are expectations of a statement from the exchange. They expect to find evidence that might lead them to solve the case in the short term.

The CEO of WazirX, Nischal Shetty, recently commented on Twitter that decentralization solves the problem caused by the monopoly of centralized institutions.

By Alexander Salazar

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