Author: Renee Fowler

Global crypto market market capitalization has increased by 2.97% in the past day to $1.68 trillion. Bitcoin is the most traded crypto by trading volume and m-capitalization. Bitcoin was quoted at $41,607.

Ripple, Tether and Cardano were also among the cryptos that traded in the green with gains of between 0.05-1.6%. Filecoin was the strongest, while Chainlink and Ethereum Classic were lower.

After a major software update on Thursday, Ether crypto saw some traction. On an intra-day basis, the cryptocurrency saw a surge of more than 4 percent. Ethereum was last trading at $2868. The Ethereum Improvement Proposal 1559, also known as the adjustment, will see the reform of how transactions are processed on the Ethereum network. The upgrade will primarily result in stabilization of transaction fees. It will also reduce Ether crypto supply, making it more valuable.

Mudrex, a global algorithm-based crypto trading system on positive momentum in cryptos, Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder said that ‘Ethereum rallied and traded volumes exceeding Bitcoin speaks to the positive momentum within the largest Altcoin. The crypto community was pleased with Ethereum’s most recent upgrade. He added that trade volumes had increased dramatically.

Digital tokens such as Terra, Uniswap and Polkadot are up to 20% on a weekly basis.

MicroStrategy, a publicly traded business intelligence company, has pledged to add Bitcoin to its corporate balance sheet which already contains 105,000 BTC and is valued at approximately $4 billion.

MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor stated that he was pleased with the implementation of his digital asset strategy. We were able to increase our digital holdings by raising capital. They now total more than 105,000 bitcoins. We plan to continue investing additional capital in our digital asset strategy.

Speaking during a live video call with investors Thursday, CEO Michael Saylor and CFO Phong Li struck a defiant tone at a time when the mainstream press has taken aim at the firm for its focus on accumulating Bitcoin amid its recent market downturn.

Saylor, however, did not seem to be fazed by the criticism. He stated: “Our macro strategy was to acquire and hold Bitcoin. We will help to explain Bitcoin to regulators, the public, and the media.

“We believe that acquiring Bitcoin right now is a smart move. He said that he feels like there is an opportunity to grab as much of the land as possible right now.

Saylor stated that he was pleased with the investment, and described an improving economic climate for Bitcoin in spite of negative news catalysts which have apparently deterred retail investors.

“The China exodus was a great thing for Bitcoin. Saylor stated that the result was a global decentralization in mining. “Long-term, the Westernization Bitcoin is good for Bitcoin and the U.S. dollar as well as Western technology.

Saylor was still available for questions during the question-and answer portion of the event. Saylor was asked if the company would be open to investing in crypto assets such as Ethereum.

Saylor responded, “Our strategy is to concentrate on Bitcoin. It’s possible to plug Bitcoin into the digital economy, and it makes everything more efficient. Bitcoin is the solution to everything.

Simply holding Bitcoin is the best and most risk-free investment strategy.

Phong Li, for his part, supported Saylor’s assertions that the investment has ‘generated substantial wealth for shareholders’ while noting that the company still needs to deploy its Bitcoin strategy.

Saylor stated that Bitcoin was the most popular financial asset ever created, and is growing at an accelerating rate.
“If you go back twelve months, it’s difficult to find any publicly traded companies that have Bitcoin on their balance sheets. You now have more than a dozen companies that have billions in Bitcoin on their balance sheets.

Saylor spoke out about the future of MicroStragey and stated that “Going forward, you can expect us to purchase additional bitcoin.”

A new survey of crypto experts found 

that Bitcoin will replace fiat currency in 2050. Surprisingly, 54% of panelists believe that hyperbitcoinization (when Bitcoin takes over global finance) will occur by 2050.

According to the Finder survey, which was conducted by 42 cryptocurrency experts, 29% believe it will happen in 2035, and 20% in 2040.

However, 44% of panelists do not expect hyperbitcoinization ever to occur.

The majority of panelists (61%) believe Bitcoin is undervalued. On average, the panel predicts Bitcoin will end 2021 at $66,284, 28% more than its December 2020 end-of-2020 prediction and 30% less than its April end-of-2021 prediction.

Martin Frohler from Morpher, CEO, is the most bullish of the panel about Bitcoin. He predicts that prices will rise by $160,000 at the end of the year and believes increased adoption will drive prices up.

Frohler stated in a statement that Bitcoin will rise to six figures if it is adopted by institutions and corporations, and paired with loose monetary policies and high asset inflation.

In the next halving cycle, there will be an increase in adoption of Bitcoin by developing countries as a legal tender. By 2030, Bitcoin will have overtaken gold as a global reserve currency.

Thomson Reuters futurist Joseph Raczynski and Arcane Crypto analyst Vetle Leunde give their end-of-year predictions at $75,000 and $120,000 respectively. They attribute their predictions to the move towards institutionalization of Bitcoin.

Lunde stated in the statement that ‘We are in the middle of the institutionalization Bitcoin. “More funds are entering the space, the country that adopted Bitcoin as legal tender has several exchange-listed companies owning Bitcoin. This trend is expected to continue.

However, some experts are extremely bearish. John Hawkins, a senior lecturer at the University of Canberra, has a $20,000 end-of-year forecast and believes that Bitcoin adoption by countries will have a negative effect on its price.

“I assume El Salvador adopts it as legal tender. This puts a floor for a time. They may also remove the legal tender status if the price drops a lot.

According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin fell below $30,000 mark this morning. It stands at $29,700. This is 5.1% less than the previous 24 hours.

According to analyst William Clemente, Bitcoin , on-chain activity has ceased but the on-chain indicators remain overwhelmingly positive.

Clemente highlighted several metrics that don’t support a bearish view of Bitcoin in the most recent edition of Anthony Pompliano weekly newsletters.

Every day, 50,000 new Bitcoin entities are created

BTC’s price action has been disappointing, and there are many bearish views on Bitcoin. Even its most well-known price models have been criticized.

Clemente claims that the on-chain data proves that the situation is far more bearish than it appears.

He summarized that “The growth of new users has reached new all-time highs with over 50,000 entities joining the chain each day,”

These new entities could be putting pressure upon exchange reserves. In fact, exchange wallets have been emptying for almost 18,000 BTC in the last week.

The newsletter stated that although retail has been buying large for several weeks, they finally saw the increase in whales.

“17 new whales were born on the blockchain this week. Meanwhile, the total holdings of whales increased by 65,429 BTC.

Cointelegraph reported that whales are in the news this week for other reasons. A large buildup of short positions on Bitfinex caused a price drop which saw BTC/USD lose $33,000 support.

Clemente, however, views current activity more broadly as an “uptick in positive Whale Activity.”

Slow block times are not to be ignored

There is also reason to be optimistic about the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust’s (GBTC), which is seeing a declining premium despite the impending unlocking event.

The hash rate has not also returned to challenge the recent lows at 83 exahashes/second (EH/s), so we are left with transaction numbers to worry about.

Clemente stated that ‘Overall on-chain activity has died, as shown by the volume of Bitcoin transactions.

However, there’s a caveat.

He stated that if he had to make a bear case or challenge my opinion, this would be one of the charts he would use. However, some of this drawdown could be due to people using Bitcoin less due to slower block times.