The ethereum price has risen to $1,216.65, marking a 12% increase from lows recorded on Thursday, when the FTX collapse caused a major market selloff. Its current price also represents a 2% rise in the past 24 hours, although the second-biggest cryptocurrency has fallen by 20% in the last 14 days as its ongoing upgrades struggle to counteract ongoing pessimism.
Despite the negativity of the past few months, ETH holders have plenty of reason to be optimistic. Ethereum remains the biggest layer-one blockchain in terms of total value locked in, while the positive effects of its shift to proof-of-stake have only really just begun to make themselves felt, with ETH recently becoming deflationary.
Ethereum Price Prediction – ETH Bounces 12% From Recent Lows, How High Can it Go?
ETH’s indicators remain indecisive. Its relative strength index (purple) has risen to 40 in the past few days, up from just below 30, yet it has hovered around this level for the past week, so it’s hard to say where it could go.
ETH’s 30-day moving average (red) also remains below its 200-day average (blue), suggesting that the coin remains in a downswing. That said, the fact that both indicators are low suggests ETH is due a rebound rally sooner or later.
Of course, with the market still reeling from the FTX bankruptcy, this may be later rather than sooner. This is largely because the collapse of the second-biggest exchange in the world is still likely to have contagion effects, with crypto-based lender BlockFi reportedly preparing for bankruptcy after it paused activities and admitted “significant exposure” to FTX.
With other exchanges suffering apparent runs on withdrawals, it remains highly possible that further dominoes could fall in the coming days and weeks. This would imply further market losses, something which certainly wouldn’t spare ETH and its price.
That said, the industry is well aware of the risk of contagion, with certain players taking steps to head off such a possibility. For instance, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao recently announced the creation of an industry recovery fund, which would serve to help platforms facing liquidity crises.
ETH has also become deflationary since September’s Merge, with fewer new coins being issued and more coins being burned. This only improves the bullish case for its more distant future, with it due a big rise once the market and global economy turns a corner.
According to a variety of experts, a long-term goal for ETH is a price of around $5,154 by 2025. In the shorter term, holders may hope that it regains levels it had seen earlier this year, with the coin close to $2,000 as recently as August.
Presale Coins May Rally Sooner
While ETH may need to wait until next year for a significant rally, newer coins offer more potential for gains in the shorter term.
This is particularly the case with newly launched coins that have their presales and then list, with initial exchange listings often providing early investors with big, above-average gains.
While these two coins have finished their respective presales, the three tokens below are currently holding their own sales. Each of them has strong fundamentals, giving early investors the opportunity to make some substantial returns.
Dash 2 Trade (D2T)
Based on the Ethereum blockchain, Dash 2 Trade is a trading intelligence platform where investors can access real-time analytics and social trading data, helping them to make more informed decisions. Due to launch in Q1 2023, the sale for its native D2T token has already raised more than $6.4 million, while it has also announced listings on BitMart and LBANK Exchange for early next year.
Another Ethereum-based platform, RobotEra (TARO) is a Sandbox-like Metaverse that will enable gamers to play as robots and participate in the creation of its virtual world. Its alpha is due to drop by the first quarter of 2023, with its ecosystem enabling users to create their own NFT-based land, buildings, and other in-game items.
Investors can participate in its TARO presale by visiting its website, where 1 TARO is now going for 0.020 USDT (it can be bought using either USDT or ETH). This price will increase to $0.025 in the second stage of its presale, which is due to begin soon.
Calvaria (RIA) is a play-to-earn video game in which players can collect, battle with and trade NFT-based cards. Under development for around a year, its alpha is due early in 2023. What sets it apart from other blockchain-based games is that users will be able to play it without having to hold any crypto, something that could make it more accessible to a wider pool of users.
In addition, its native token RIA can be used to purchase in-game items and for staking, giving it a strong use case within its ecosystem. The presale for the token has raised just over $1.8 million and is currently in its fourth stage, during which 40 RIA can be had for 1 USDT.
The market is currently in a news-driven environment where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agenda rather than fundamentals.
Bitfinex analysts have warned crypto investors to be cautious as bitcoin’s (BTC) recovery over the weekend is not a sign that its correction is over; the asset could witness more bloodshed in the near term.
In the latest Bitfinex Alpha report, experts deemed the market’s reaction this week critical, especially as supply alleviated over the weekend could return when traditional markets open.
“No Man’s Land”
Since Saturday, bitcoin has risen almost 10% from $57,600 to $63,000, closing last week in the green. The asset has surged above the 125-day range low of $60,200, which it broke through earlier this month after news of the German government’s massive BTC selling hit the market.
Market sentiment began to improve after reports that wallets linked to the German government were almost empty. However, the positive sentiment may not be sustained for long as the BTC the German authorities moved to trading desks and exchanges are yet to be sold.
While the supply from Germany appears to have been factored into bitcoin’s market price, Bitfinex analysts believe the end of selling pressure depends on how the involved trading desks execute their trades in the coming days.
Although the shift in sentiment underscores the market’s capacity to integrate new information and adjust expectations quickly, analysts think the market’s reaction over the first two trading days of the week cannot be overlooked for two reasons.
First, the low support level in the $60,200 range has now become a potential resistance line. Second, trading patterns over the past three months suggest that weekends are usually favorable for markets, especially on Saturdays when supply pressure seems to subside.
“We are now in no man’s land until we get clear resolution above or below this level,” the analysts said.
A News-Driven Environment
Besides the potential resistance level and three-month weekend trading pattern, the market is currently in a news-driven environment, where the prices of cryptocurrencies have been determined by news agendas rather than fundamentals.
Since selling pressure concerns are not yet completely obsolete due to upcoming Mt Gox creditor distributions, Bitfinex analysts expect such headlines to continue to have some impact on price movements. As such, the analysts urged investors to exercise caution in their trading strategies.
BlackRock’s IBIT led with $117.25 million in inflows on July 15, also being the most traded Bitcoin ETF.
The US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a daily net inflow of $301 million on July 15th. This extended their winning streak to seven consecutive days amidst a broader market recovery.
None of the ETFs recorded outflows for the day.
Bitcoin ETFs Rake in $16.11B in Net Inflows Since Jan
According to the data compiled by SoSoValue, BlackRock’s IBIT, the top spot Bitcoin ETF by net asset value, recorded the largest net inflows of the day at $117.25 million. IBIT was also the most actively traded Bitcoin ETF on Monday, with a volume of $1.24 billion. Ark Invest and 21Shares’ ARKB came in close behind with net inflows of $117.19 million.
Fidelity’s FBTC experienced net inflows of $36.15 million on Monday, while Bitwise’s BITB saw $15.24 million in inflows. VanEck’s HODL, Invesco and Galaxy Digital’s BTCO, and Franklin Templeton’s EZBC funds also recorded net inflows. Meanwhile, Grayscale’s GBTC and other ETFs, such as Valkyrie’s BRRR, WisdomTree’s BTCW, and Hashdex’s DEFI, registered no flows for the day.
A total of $2.26 billion was traded on Monday. The trading volume for these ETFs was less than in March when it exceeded $8 billion on some days. Meanwhile, these funds have collectively attracted $16.11 billion in net inflow since their January launch.
What’s Next For Bitcoin?
Earlier this month, bitcoin’s price decline was mainly due to fears of massive selling pressure from Mt. Gox and the German government’s BTC sales.
But the assassination attempt on pro-crypto former US President and presumptive Republican candidate Donald Trump at Saturday’s rally seemed to spark a recovery in the world’s largest digital asset, and experts are bullish on the asset’s price trajectory going forward. Bitcoin surged more than 9% over the past week and was currently trading slightly below $64,000.
Veteran trader Peter Brandt discussed bitcoin’s price outlook, suggesting a potential major rally. He referred to a pattern he terms “Hump->Slump->Bump->Dump->Pump” and highlighted that the July 5 double top attempt was a bear trap, confirmed by the July 13 close. He sees a likely continued upward trend but warned that a close below $56,000 would negate this bullish view.
“Bitcoin $BTC could be unfolding its often-repeated Hump…Slump…Bump…Dump…Pump chart construction. Jul 5 attempt at the double top was a bear trap, confirmed by Jul 13 close. Most likely scenario now is that bears are trapped. Close below $56k negates this interpretation”
PeckShield alert reveals LI.FI’s protocol vulnerability is similar to a March 2022 attack, with the same bug recurring.
The decentralized finance (DeFi) platform LI.FI protocol has suffered an exploit amounting to over $8 million.
Cyvers Alerts reported detecting suspicious transactions within the LI.FI cross-chain transaction aggregator.
LI.FI Issues Warning After $8 Million Exploit
LI.FI confirmed the breach in a statement on July 16 via X: “Please do not interact with any http://LI.FI powered applications for now! We’re investigating a potential exploit.” The team clarified that users who did not set infinite approval are not at risk, emphasizing that only those who manually set infinite approvals seem to be affected.
According to Cyvers Alerts, more than $8 million in user funds have been stolen, with the majority being stablecoins. According to on-chain data, the hacker’s wallet holds 1,715 Ether (ETH) valued at $5.8 million and USDC, USDT, and DAI stablecoins.
Cyvers Alerts advised users to revoke relevant authorizations immediately, noting that the attacker is actively converting USDC and USDT into ETH.
Crypto security firm Decurity provided insights into the exploit, stating that it involves the LI.FI bridge. “The root cause is a possibility of an arbitrary call with user-controlled data via depositToGasZipERC20() in GasZipFacet, which was deployed 5 days ago,” Decurity explained on X.
“In general, the risks behind routers, cross-chain swaps, etc. are about token approvals. Raw native assets like (unwrapped) ETH are safe from these kinds of hacks b/c they don’t have approvals as an option. Most users & wallets also no longer do “infinite approvals” which gives a smart contract total control on removing any amount of their tokens. It’s important to understand which tokens you’re approving to which contracts.
This dashboard looks for all transactions of a user that intersects Lifi. Not all of these transactions indicate risk- but you can see how, broadly, integrations & layers of tech (like how Metamask bridge uses Lifi on BSC) can complicate how users do or don’t put their assets at risk. Revoke Cash is the most well known approval manager app.
But it’s also good security practice to simply rotate your address. New addresses start with 0 approvals, so starting fresh by moving your tokens to a fresh address is another good security practice.” – commented Carlos Mercado, Data Scientist at Flipside Crypto.
Recent Exploit Mirrors March 2022 Attack
Further analysis by PeckShield alert revealed that the vulnerability is similar to a previous attack on LI.FI’s protocol that occurred on March 20, 2022. That incident saw a bad actor exploit LI.FI’s smart contract, specifically the swapping feature, before bridging.
The attacker manipulated the system to call token contracts directly within their contract’s context, making users who had given infinite approval vulnerable. This exploit resulted in the theft of approximately 205 ETH from 29 wallets, affecting tokens such as USDC, MATIC, RPL, GNO, USDT, MVI, AUDIO, AAVE, JRT, and DAI.
“The bug is basically the same. Are we learning anything from the past lesson(s)?” PeckShield Alert said in a July 16 X post.
Following the 2022 incident, LI.FI disabled all swap methods in its smart contract and worked on developing a fix to prevent future vulnerabilities. However, the recurrence of a similar exploit raises concerns about the platform’s security measures and whether adequate steps were taken to address the vulnerabilities identified in the previous breach.
LI.FI is a liquidity aggregation protocol that allows users to trade across various blockchains, venues, and bridges.
