Bitcoin rose above the $50k resistance earlier today as the bulls made a small recovery. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization fell below the key level last week to post a multi month low of $42k. However, a subsequent short recovery has brought it back above the key level. Altcoins on the other hand posted some price recoveries of their own and the usual bullish suspects performed better than the rest. More on that later on.

In other news, the recent price frenzy below $50k hasn’t been a selling opportunity for all of the big holders aka whales. During this time, a long-term whale has increased its Bitcoin share and is now worth a massive 118,017 BTC overall, having added its reserves during the latest sell-off. More on that later on.

A recent survey shows that popular cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum and Dogecoin are among the popular gifts Americans will give to each other during the holiday season. However, interestingly, the NFT market is still not being viewed as a gift-worthy sector by Americans despite its recent meteoric rise. It seems like the digitized collectible world is still being seen only as a collectible at the moment.

Speaking of NFTs, while big institutions and collectors dominated the NFT market overall, a recent change in trend shows that when it comes to the number of NFT transactions, 80% of them come from retail investors. This shows us that retail investors are much more active in sale/purchase of the digital collectible scene and the big investors only look to make a foray and then take it off market. 

A recent survey shows that there is a considerable spike in the number of Australians owning cryptocurrencies. The Independent Reserve’s Cryptocurrency Index (IRCI) studied the responses of around 2,000 Australians and came to its own conclusion. According to it, the number of Australians who have owned crypto or currently own it has risen from 18.4% in 2020 to 28.8% in 2021. The move has coincided with the latest crypto bull run.

The much famed AI robot named Sophia is up for tokenization and introduction into the metaverse. She will be part of the collection of 100 Intelligent NFTs and will be offered through Binance. Sophia was developed back in 2016 by Hansen Robotics and gained wide praise for her conversational ability.

Recently retired Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is now moving to a more blockchain/crypto focused effort. His company named spiral has demoed a Bitcoin Lightning Network development kit. The kit supports Rust, C, Java, Swift and Kotlin languages. 

Bitcoin Rises Above $50k

Bitcoin rose above its menacing $50k resistance level and is now hovering around $51k at press time. The cryptocurrency had been stuck just below it for the last few days and it finally seems to have made a breakthrough, but it is not out of the woods just yet. 

The last 24 hours started with the cryptocurrency at around $49k. It traded sideways for a while before posting a convincing move above $50k at around 11 PM. It made the move and the index has remained above it ever since. During this time at around 4:45 PM in the evening, the cryptocurrency rose to as high as $52k in the process before receding back slightly to $51k at press time.

Going forward, while Bitcoin has made the bold move to go above $51k, there is still a long way to go before it can restart its bull run. The cryptocurrency has remained under pressure from the bears for the past 4 weeks or so and this pressure won’t just go away in an instant, especially considering the kind of inroads the bears made during this time. So, above $50k is a start but the bulls need to continue to push forward to salvage any kind of resurgence before the end of 2021.

The total market capitalization of Bitcoin was around $960 billion at press time and its share of the proceedings was 41.16%

Altcoins Post Mixed Gains

Other cryptocurrencies aka altcoins posted some mixed gains throughout the day. Some of the usual suspects like Polkadot (DOT, 10%), Terra (LUNA, 11%), Polygon (MATIC, 9%), Crypto.com Coin (CRO, 11%) and Chainlink (LINK, 11%) posted some strong gains overall.

In Other News…..

Whale Buys 2700 more Bitcoin in Recent Price Tank

According to on-chain analytics, a big Bitcoin investor aka whale has purchased more than 2700 BTC during the latest dip alone, taking his full tally to a whopping 118,017 BTC ($6 billion). This whale alone is the third largest holder of Bitcoin in the world and saw a good opportunity when the prices went below $50k. 

According to analytics, this whale sprung back into action after the price index couldn’t cross $69k last month and has been buying ever since. The whale has put almost $2.5 billion in money into this stash and it is worth more than $6 billion right now, showcasing a massive overall appreciation. 

Bitcoin is currently trading around $59k at press time. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization breathed a sigh of relief as the much bearish November ended. Altcoins on the other hand posted some mixed gains overall as December started. More on that later on.

In other news, popular Bitcoin custodial investment company Grayscale has questioned the decision making of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA. According to Grayscale, there is simply no basis to approve Bitcoin Futures Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) while denying the same to pure Bitcoin ETFs themselves. More on that later on.

President of Russia and strongman Vladimir Putin did some criticism of the crypto sector recently and stated that the sector poses high risks for everyone. He gave these comments during a recent session with lenta.ru, a Russian news channel. Putin made the usual anti-crypto comments as the governments around the world including the claim that it is not backed by anything and, the risks and volatility are both very high. In the past, the Russian government has allowed the crypto sector to grow in the country to bring more investment and job opportunities. But, now it seems like just every strongman Putin has realized that he simply cannot control the crypto sector and he may look at it as a threat from now on. Any move to counter the use of the cryptocurrency in Russian might have consequences for the local people who are leading the world in terms of crypto transactions.

Croatia’s largest superstore chain has announced that it will start accepting crypto. Konzum, the departmental store in question, will start to accept several top cryptos including Bitcoin, Ethereum, EOS, DAI, XRP, Bitcoin Cash, Stellar and stablecoins like USD Coin and USD Tether. The big store chain is partnering with Electrocoin to offer an exclusive payment system called PayCEK. This allows merchants to accept crypto directly without having to deal with any of its price volatility. Right now, only online crypto payment is available but the company is looking to introduce it in over 700 stores it currently operates.

Major American electronics retailer Newegg has announced that it is going to accept Shiba Inu (SHIBA) in its stores, but just for this holiday season. The outlet is already accepting Bitcoin and Dogecoin but is now looking to open up its records for a new meme coin. To make this happen, Newegg has partnered with a major crypto payments network called BitPay which is gaining traction in the states. 

The Chinese government is looking to track and regulate the new Metaverse concepts along with NFTs and other technology sides emerging from the blockchain sector. The Communist government is already wary about the emergence of a virtual new world which according to them could pose a danger to money laundering regulations.

Bitcoin Rises to $59k

Bitcoin rose to $59k just before press time and once again it spent most of the day languishing around uneasy price levels at $57k and $58k. 

The last 24 hours started with the cryptocurrency at around $57.1k. The cryptocurrency then spent the next 20 hours alternating around this value with some momentary upward spikes in between. However, at 2:20 PM, Bitcoin rose strongly to go above $59k and has largely stayed there since. This is unlike the price increases earlier on as they were momentary and the bears managed to pull the index down again. 

Going forward, Bitcoin is once again staring at the now difficult $60k resistance. No major challenge has been done to it ever since the cryptocurrency fell below it convincingly last month. If the bulls can conquer $60k, they are likely to kickstart the resumption of the long-term bull run. This is especially needed as the cryptocurrency’s November close was quite discouraging for the bulls. Now they need to spring into action and do it fast enough.

The total market capitalization of Bitcoin was around $1.105 trillion and its share of the proceedings were 41.72%.

Altcoins Post Mixed Price Increases

Other cryptocurrencies aka altcoins also posted some gains during the last 24 hours but in a mixed capacity. Major gainers included Solana (SOL, 8.5%), Terra (LUNA, 9%), Crypto.com Coin (CRO, 8%), Polygon (MATIC, 12%) and Algorand (ALGO, 10%). Shiba Inu (SHIBA, -3%) was the only major crypto in the negative.

In Other News…..

Grayscale Questions SEC Decision Making on ETFs

The operator of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has sent a letter to the Secretary of the SEC Vanessa Countryman. In this letter, Grayscale takes the position that the federal regulator’s move to allow Bitcoin Futures ETFs and disallow Bitcoin ETFs doesn’t make any sense. The regulator recently rejected the latest spot Bitcoin ETF while it has already approved three Futures ETFs including ones from Van Eck, Valkyrie and ProShares.

Image Source: QoinQuora

Bitcoin is currently trading around $49k at press time. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization fell hard last week, reaching a multi-month low of around $42k in the process. However now, some recovery has been made and the index is approaching $50k, but is unable to overcome it at the moment. Altcoins on the other hand had a much better recovery overall. More on that later on. 

In other news, a recent survey by largest Bitcoin asset manager Grayscale shows that over 25% of US households are involved in the crypto sector and own Bitcoin. The survey had over 1,000 participants with ages ranging from 25-64. More on that later on.

In this week, virtual land has been all the rage in the metaverse-dominated Non Fungible Token (NFT) sales. This new rise of digital land has picked up pace ever since the concept of digital meteverses entered center stage with Facebook Inc. changing its name to Meta. According to nonfungible.com, over $300 million worth of NFTs have been sold during the past week and a quarter of those have been regarding virtual land. This rising trend has confused some users but it is now apparently clear that the metaverse is here to stay and might be a big part of our lives in the near future. 

The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) has once again targeted the Decentraized Finance (DeFi) sector and called it an illusion. In a recently published report, the BIS discussed in detail the emergence of the DeFi industry overall. As expected an overly centralized organization like the BIS could only ridicule and miss the point and it did exactly that. The organization claimed the DeFi sector was a decentralized illusion and a vulnerable option due to lack of security. While it is true that there have been security lapses, the same have been reported in banking systems around the world, resulting in loss of billions of dollars for the average fiat user. A total of $256 billion is now locked in DeFi contracts. Perhaps the BIS needs to understand it is a real deal and not just an internet phenomenon that will die down with time. 

A major Indian bank has recently inked a partnership with WazirX, the top cryptocurrency exchange to come out of the country according to the Economic Times. The move is despite recent fears that the government was putting forward a law to ban the private cryptocurrency sector entirely in the country.

Bitcoin Steady at $49k

Bitcoin is currently trading just above $49k. However, the bulls may not be confident of a move above $50k as the index has recovered to this level several times over the past few days but not once did it break it.

The last 24 hours started with Bitcoin at around $48.8k. The index rose to $49k and alternated around that valuation for several hours before it began to drop around 7:10 AM in the morning. The index first dropped to $48k and then further to as low as $47.3k at one point. This was to be the lowest valuation of the cryptocurrency during the last 24 hours. It soon recovered back to $48.5k and has largely stayed above it ever since. 

Going forward, the immediate next price resistance is at around $50k. While this is not a towering figure at all, the big drop to $42k last week has made bulls nervous and are they are being cautious going forwards. There is also news coming from on-chain analytics that some more big holders aka whales may be interested in selling more Bitcoin. That is also keeping the bulls grounded. Overall, the index may look to post a rise to $50k but only a clear move above can change the trend, which seems unlikely.

The total market capitalization of Bitcoin was around $930 billion and its share of the proceedings was 41.17%.

Altcoins Post Mixed Results 

Other cryptocurrencies aka altcoins were a mixed bag earlier today. Some like Terra (LUNA, -6.5%) posted losses while others like Avalanche (AVAX, 7%), Binance Coin (BNB, 3%) and Dogecoin (DOGE, 3%) had some gains. Overall, the market was much more subdued and didn’t post a lot of change.

In Other News…..

25% of US Households Own Bitcoin

According to a recent detailed survey by Grayscale Investments, 1 in 4 US households has an investment in the crypto sector. The survey showed that over 26% of the participants had some stake in Bitcoin. In addition to Bitcoin around 46% of them said that they also hold Ethereum along with the premier cryptocurrency. The survey’s participants were wide ranging demographically with ages between 25-64 with at least $10,000 in some assets and over $50,000 annual income. 

Around 50% of the participants also stated that they were in Bitcoin for the long-term. However, 77% of the overall number stated that they had purchased their Bitcoin during the last 12 months. Most of them invest in Bitcoin directly and don’t use a brokerage company or industry professionals. This is once again a good thing as the crypto sector empowers everyone to invest and not rely on third party funds or investors.

Bitcoin was in recovery mode earlier today as the index rose above $58k level to get to around weekly highs. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was under pressure from the bears for most of the last week but is now looking towards the $60k resistance. Altcoins also rose earlier today but the overall performance was quite mixed. More on that later on. 

In other news, amid the global spread of the new Omicron variant of the Coronavirus disease, markets took a big tumble before making some recovery on Monday. However, in the midst, a digital currency project sharing the new variant’s name Omicron has risen more than 1,000% in the last two days, possibly because of meme inventors and Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) dynamics. What is interesting is that the token Omicron (OMIC) was launched less than a month ago and has reaped big benefits as the name's relevance was spotted. The token rose from around $65 on Saturday to as high as $680 at one point earlier today before dipping back below $400 close to press time. 

Also, big US investor Microstrategy has purchased a massive 7,002 BTC during the recent price decrease. Michael Saylor, the CEO of the company announced this move on Twitter. More on that later on.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has officially announced that he will be stepping down from his role as the CEO of the social media giant. The billionaire CEO and co-founder of the popular microblogging website co-founded it back in 2006 by Dorsey and two other co-founders. There are many predictions floating around the internet on what Dorsey will like to do after stepping down as CEO. Some believe that he will dedicate his efforts towards the crypto space through his Square startup, which is a financial services company. Dorsey is a well-known pro-Bitcoin CEO and it appears as if he will pursue this different line of work in the near future. 

The Bitcoin transaction fees are down 50% from highs recorded back in April this year. The cryptocurrency network’s average fees are now less than $2 on average despite rising to $4.40 back 7 months ago. The cryptocurrency, however, is faring way better than Ethereum and many other digital currencies whose fees keep on rising with time with the latter trying hard but not able to control them till now. 

Binance has resumed Dogecoin withdrawals after a few issues forced it to halt them for as much as 17 days. The cryptocurrency exchange has a history of having issues especially when wallets undergo planned upgrades but according to them, the transactions have resumed now. 

Bitcoin Rises Above $58k

Bitcoin rose strongly earlier today to above $58k right before press time. The cryptocurrency, however, is still facing big hurdles in the immediate future and it needs to overcome them to resume the long-term bull run.

The last 24 hours started with the cryptocurrency at around $53.5k. It immediately began to rise from the very start. It went above $57k around midnight and has largely stayed there ever since. At 6 PM in the evening, Bitcoin began to rise once again and is now hovering above $58k. 

Going forward, the next obvious price resistance going forward is the $60k level. The cryptocurrency has stayed below for the large part of the last 2 weeks despite several attempts to overcome it. Now, this is the latest move to do it. Long-term stats are still very strong for the cryptocurrency but the bulls have to overcome $60k to have any chance of resumption of the bull run.

The total market capitalization of Bitcoin was around $1.109 trillion at press time and its share of the proceedings were 42.72%.

Altcoins Post Gains

Other cryptocurrencies aka altcoins posted recoveries of their own at the start of the day. Ethereum (ETH, 8%), Solana (SOL, 11.5%), Cardano (ADA, 10%), Polkadot (DOT, 10%), Dogecoin (DOGE, 10%), Avalanche (AVAX, 11%), Shiba Inu (SHIBA, 16%), Terra (LUNA, 8%), Litecoin (LTC, 10%) and Polygon (MATIC, 12%) all posted big gains.

In Other News…..

Microstrategy Purchase $414 million of more Bitcoin

Michael Saylor, the CEO of Microstrategy has announced that he has bought 7,002 more Bitcoin at an average price of $59k which comes out to be a massive $414 million. What is interesting is that Saylor purchased these coins more than a week ago when the index was around $59k. After that, BTC has largely trended downwards, apart from the sudden appreciation we saw earlier today. 

Microstrategy is now one of the biggest holders of BTC around with a total hoardings of 121,044 BTC or more than $7 billion in Bitcoin. The company’s average price is around $29,400 and thus it seems like it is growing nicely overall. The company is also looking to sell stocks to buy more Bitcoin which is risky but it is being compared to a kind of stock buyback that will keep increasing the worth of the leftover shares especially as Bitcoin reaches new highs in the near future.