During the UK session, Bitcoin has once again surpassed the $17,000 mark and is maintaining a bullish outlook. However, the European Central Bank (ECB) has taken a strong stance against Bitcoin, as demonstrated by a blog article titled “Bitcoin’s Last Stand” by Ulrich Bindseil, director general of the ECB, and analyst Jürgen Schaff.
According to Ulrich Bindseil, Bitcoin was created around 15 years ago to supplement or replace the current monetary system. However, Bindseil and others have claimed that Bitcoin is not a suitable investment or payment method, and that its market capitalization, which exceeded $1 trillion last year, is based purely on speculation.
Additionally, central bank officials have noted that Bitcoin has repeatedly attracted new investors and has been subject to manipulation by individual exchanges or stablecoin providers, but these strategies do not provide stability.
The ECB officials’ comments on Bitcoin come at a time when the crypto sector is experiencing one of its worst slumps in recent memory due to the collapse of FTX. As the ECB supervises eurozone banks and controls EU financial regulations, its statements on the subject carry significant weight.
The ECB’s latest blog post, even if it contains inaccurate claims, demonstrates the institution’s commitment to criticizing Bitcoin and blockchain technology in general. The price of BTC/USD fell after the blog post was published.
Kraken Fires Over 1,000 Employees as Crypto Winter Casualties Rise
Kraken, a cryptocurrency exchange, is laying off nearly 1,100 employees, or 30% of its workforce, in order to “adapt to current market conditions,” according to a blog post by the company’s co-founder and CEO, Jesse Powell. This news comes as the crypto industry continues to suffer from the effects of the ongoing “crypto winter.”
Powell attributed the company’s slower growth to “macroeconomic and geopolitical factors.” He explained that the recent market downturn has reduced trade volumes, sign-ups, and customer demand for the company’s services.
Unchained Capital and Coinbase are among the companies that have also made significant staff reductions. The sector is still dealing with the aftermath of the collapse of FTX, which has caused the price of the largest cryptocurrency, BTC/USD, to fall to a two-year low.
Bitcoin’s Miner Protection Plan
Compass Mining, a company that offers bitcoin mining equipment and hosting services to retail users, has announced the launch of its first protection plan to help customers secure their mining machines. The “Compass Mining Protection Plan” is the first protection product specifically designed for ASIC Bitcoin miners.
Compass Mining has launched its first protection plan for bitcoin mining machines, called the “Compass Mining Protection Plan.” The plan is currently available to customers through partner sites in Texas, South Carolina, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, and the company plans to expand it to more sites after completing the initial distribution to its core clients.
Compass Mining was the first company to offer direct purchasing and hosting packages in the Bitcoin mining industry, and it is now developing a full suite of protection products that will be available to clients for each ASIC hosted at a legitimate Compass Mining facility partner.
Mining with ASICs is a viable way to get started in the Bitcoin mining industry. However, no device was available to protect Bitcoin miners from natural disasters, hosting incidents, or equipment theft.
For a small fee, Compass Mining’s protection plan protects miners from unexpected events. As a result, the value of BTC/USD may rise with a result of this protection plan.
Bitcoin Price
The current Bitcoin price is $17,058, with a 24-hour trading volume of $21 billion. The BTC/USD pair has dropped over 0.50% in the last 24 hours. Additionally, its value has increased by around 3% in the past week.
The BTC/USD pair has been unable to break through the $17,250 level, and the appearance of doji and spinning top candles suggest a potential bearish correction. If the price falls below $16,950, it could prompt further selling until the $16,750 level is reached. This move would represent a 23.6% Fibonacci retracement from the recent high.
Bitcoin Price Chart – Source: Tradingview
If Bitcoin falls further, it could target the $16,600 level, which represents a 50% Fibonacci extension, and a break below this level could expose the cryptocurrency to a move down to the $16,450 level, which is a 61.8% Fibonacci extension.
On the other hand, a bullish breakout above the $17,250 level could lead to a move up to $17,650 and $18,100.
3 Coins with 20X Potential
Despite the market downturn, these coins have performed exceptionally well, attracting the attention of crypto whales.
Dash 2 Trade (D2T)
Running on the Ethereum blockchain, Dash 2 Trade is a trading intelligence platform that offers investors real-time analytics and social trading data, helping them make more informed trading decisions. It will go live in early 2023, with its D2T token being used to pay for the monthly subscription fees to its platform (there are two subscription tiers).
Dash 2 Trade’s presale has already raised more than $7.7 million and is due to enter its fourth and final stage once it reaches $8,757,000. It has also announced listings on BitMart and LBANK Exchange for early next year, giving early investors a good opportunity to make some decent returns.
Also using Ethereum to host its token, RobotEra (TARO) is a Sandbox-style Metaverse that will enable gamers to play as robots and participate in the creation of its virtual world. This includes NFT-based land, buildings, and other in-game items, with the game also planning to let players link up with other metaverses and create an interoperable multi-verse.
1 TARO is currently selling for 0.020 USDT (it can be bought using either USDT or ETH), although this price will rise to $0.025 in the second stage of its presale.
Another Ethereum-based platform, IMPT is a carbon-credit marketplace that will reward consumers for shopping with eco-friendly merchants. These rewards will arrive in the form of its IMPT token, which can be used to buy NFT-based carbon offsets that can be traded or retired.
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.
