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Bulls have taken control of the price of Bitcoin as it continues to make gains to trade above $8,500 for the first time in April. Strong performances of major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum have led the valuation of the cryptocurrency market to surge to $365 billion.
Price is currently testing the mid-channel area of interest close to $8400 and a break higher could take it up to the top around $8600-8700. The 100 SMA is above the longer-term 200 SMA to signal that the path of least resistance is to the upside or that the uptrend is more likely to continue than to reverse.
Of the top ten coins, Ripple (XRP) is up the most, over 20% over a 24 period, trading at around $0.87 at the time of writing.
Fundstrat’s Tom Lee had tweeted a poll two days ago on April 18, the day after US tax day, asking his followers what they thought BTC’s price would be in July of this year. Lee had previously predicted that a massive crypto sell off before the April 17 tax day in America was what could have caused crypto’s slump since the new year.
Speaking of taxes, Bitcoin has gained some traction after the April 17 tax deadline but investors are worried that the rallies are not as strong as expected. There have been positive industry developments, though, such as acquisitions by Coinbase and the IMF’s push for an even-handed approach to Bitcoin regulation.
The next major target for the cryptocurrency market is the $400 billion mark and by surpassing that threshold, the cryptocurrency market would achieve a two-month high. At this juncture, it is safe to conclude that bitcoin has bottomed out at $6,000 and the market has begun a rapid recovery to its previous levels.
Top Stories from the Crypto World
1. Roger Ver offers Reddit $100,000 to appoint new moderator to /r/Bitcoin
Early cryptocurrency investor and ardent Bitcoin Cash supporter Roger Ver is known for using his social media presence to stir the pot, and he lived up to that reputation this week.
Ver, who owns Bitcoin.com and has signed on to the “Bitcoin Cash is Bitcoin” movement, offered to pay Reddit a bribe if the social media platform would appoint a moderator “who supports free speech” to the Bitcoin subreddit, which has long been one of the most popular Bitcoin forums.
“Dear @reddit, I heard that as of recently you were not a profitable company. I’ll pay you $100,000 USD if you simply appoint a moderator to /r/Bitcoin who supports free speech,” Ver wrote in a Wednesday tweet that included a link to an oft-shared blog post accusing the subreddit of censorship.
A good thing to know: Feud between /r/Bitcoin mods and Roger Ver has been going on much before the BCH fork. /r/Bitcoin has frequently been accused of censorship for its moderation of posts related to the years-long Bitcoin scaling debate, while /r/BTC – of which Ver is a moderator – has become the de facto subreddit for Bitcoin Cash.
2. Silicon Valley VCs ask US regulators to go easy on ICO regulations
A duo of heavy-hitting Silicon Valley venture capital firms has asked US regulators to take an industry-friendly approach to initial coin offering (ICO) regulations.
The Wall Street Journal reports that representatives from Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures met with high-ranking officials at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 28.
The VC firms, which were joined by lawyers from Cooley LLP, Perkins Coie LLP, and McDermott Will & Emery LLP, asked the agency’s Division of Corporation Finance to give them “formal assurance” that the SEC would not crack down on ICO tokens in which they have invested.
Andreessen Horowitz and Union Square Ventures have long been two of Silicon Valley’s most prolific cryptocurrency investors.
Andreessen, whose motto is “Software is Eating the World,” has invested in numerous ICOs, as well as industry businesses such as Coinbase and OpenBazaar. USV likewise holds numerous stakes in industry companies, including cryptocurrency hedge fund Polychain Capital and Filecoin creator Protocol Labs.
3. Altcoin valuations far ahead of accomplishments, says Vitalik Buterin
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has hit out at Blockchain platform Tron, among others, telling mainstream media April 18 it was an example of “projects that never had a soul.”
Speaking to the Financial Times along with comments which ranged from Ethereum’s success to his views of “the Establishment,” Buterin focused on the rapid rise of ERC20 standard tokens using his network’s blockchain.
“There’s projects that never had a soul, that are just like, ra-ra, price go up. Lambo, vrromm, buybuybuy now!” said Vitalik.