The BTC/USD pair is currently trading sideways, with a narrow range of $16,750 to $16,900 on December 8. However, Bitcoin’s price prediction remains bearish due to a breakdown of an upward trendline.
This year, Bitcoin has dropped 75% from its previous high of $69,000. The cause of these losses could be attributed to various factors, such as the collapse of FTX and increasing selling pressure from whales reducing their inflow volumes.
Additionally, miner capitulation risk continues to be a concern for traders looking to enter long positions.
According to ClimateTech Vice Chair Daniel Batten, nearly 29 mining companies account for 16.48% of the entire Bitcoin network and use 90%-100% renewable energy.
On the positive side, PayPal, a major financial services provider, plans to launch cryptocurrency services in Luxembourg, which may help to expand the use of cryptocurrencies in the European Union.
This news was regarded as one of the most important factors that could assist BTC prices in limiting further losses.
Miner Capitulation Poses a Serious Risk In the Bitcoin Price
Bitcoin’s downtrend could be linked to the increased risk of miner capitulation, which continues to frighten traders attempting to open long positions, putting pressure on the price of BTC.
Miners are selling their Bitcoin holdings due to tight budgets, according to on-chain analytics. The result is visible in the declining share values of mining companies.
The value of NASDAQ-listed cryptocurrency mining firms such as Marathon Digital, Core Scientific, Riot Blockchain, Hut 8 Mining, HIVE Blockchain Technologies, and many others have fallen by 46%, 20%, and 38% in a month over the last six months, respectively, with no signs of respite.
This month saw a decrease in mining activity, resulting in a decrease in hashrate and mining difficulty. The mining industry is under pressure due to low coin values, rising energy costs, and heavy debt loads.
As a result of financial hardship and declining stock values, companies will eventually go bankrupt, with Bitcoin being dumped as a last resort. It is also worth noting that miners’ BTC reserves have decreased by 13K BTC. According to Glassnode, it is currently at a 14-month low of 1,818,280.032 BTC.
CZ Confirms Zero Outstanding Loans By the Exchange
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao stated that the exchange has no outstanding loans and urged anyone to verify this claim. Binance issued a Bitcoin proof of reserves earlier on November 25 to show that its on-chain reserves of 582,485.9302 BTC were 1% greater than total client deposits of 575,742 BTC.
Bitcoin Price
Bitcoin’s current price is $16,844, and the 24-hour trading volume is $17 billion. The BTC price is mostly unchanged today, having gained only 0.20% since yesterday.
If Bitcoin prices stay below $16,900, a significant technical resistance level, more losses will likely come. On the 4-hour timeframe, the $16,900 level acted as support and was extended by an upward trendline; however, the presence of Doji candles indicates that a downtrend may be forming.
When looking at the downside, $16,500 is the next level of support for Bitcoin. If this level is breached, the price of BTC could fall even further to $16,000 or $15,450.
Bitcoin Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
If Bitcoin cannot sustain its recent selling trend and instead displays a bullish break above $17,000, then a healthy rally to at least $17,350 is to be expected. If the bullish trend continues, Bitcoin’s price may reach $17,650 or $18,000.
Massive Upside Potential Coins
Despite the bearish price action, the coins below are going from strength to strength, catching the attention of crypto whales.
Dash 2 Trade (D2T)
Those interested in investing in a promising crypto trading platform start-up should look no further than Dash 2 Trade. The up-and-coming analytics and social trading platform hopes to take the crypto trading space by storm with its host of unique features.
These include trading signals, social sentiment and on-chain indicators, a pre-sale token scoring system, a token listing alert system and a strategy back-testing tool. Dash 2 Trade’s ecosystem will be powered by the D2T token, which users will need to buy and hold in order to access the platform’s features.
Dash 2 Trade is currently conducting a token pre-sale at highly discounted rates. D2T token sales recently surpassed $9.055 million. The sale has now entered its fourth and final phase and sales are still going strong, with $400K coming in in the last 24 hours. The pre-sale dashboard is going to be released soon, with the development team currently running ahead of schedule. Tokens are currently selling for $0.0533 each, which observers are calling highly discounted.
Dash 2 Trade was recently listed as one of the presale tokens of 2022 by CoinCodex.
The IMPT presale has now raised more than $15 million as early investors rush to purchase the altcoin before it is listed on exchanges in seven days. The sale is scheduled to end in less than four days, followed by confirmed listings on Uniswap, LBANK Exchange, and Changelly Pro.
Since these listings have already been confirmed, the IMPT sale has gained momentum in its final stages.
At the same time, the Ethereum-based carbon credit marketplace’s fundamentals place it in a strong position to secure long-term growth, with the platform already proving popular with ESG-focused cryptocurrency investors.n
IMPT tokens are currently selling for $0.023 each.
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.
