• Bitcoin has seen some mixed price action as of late, with bulls and bears largely reaching an impasse as the crypto consolidates
• Following its recent plunge to below $29,000, the crypto has been seeing some sideways trading that has made it incredibly unclear as to where it will trend next
• One analyst noted that Bitcoin is showing few signs of clear strength or weakness, which likely means that it is bound to see some sideways trading
• This comes as one major altcoin begins showing immense signs of strength – especially against its BTC trading pair
• Analysts are closely watching Ethereum, as it is currently on the cusp of breaking out

Bitcoin has been tempering the rest of the market’s bullishness as of late, with buyers and sellers both struggling to take a firm hold of the trend.

While BTC consolidates in the lower-$30,000 region, many altcoins are beginning to flash subtle signs of strength.

One such example is Ethereum, which has largely been tracking Bitcoin’s price action as of late. However, this trend has started shifting into ETH’s favor, as the crypto is holding up well compared to BTC and flashing a bullish technical pattern on its ETH/BTC chart.

Bitcoin Consolidates Following Recent Volatility

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading down just over 2% at its current price of $32,170. This is around the price at which it has been trading ever since its price plunged below $29,000 a few days ago.

After tapping lows of $28,800, the crypto rallied to highs of $34,000 before sliding lower and stabilizing around its current price.

This has caused the entire market to see only tempered growth, with a few altcoins rallying while many stagnate.

Analyst: ETH’s Strength Against BTC Suggests Massive Upside is Imminent

Bitcoin’s consolidation may be beneficial to the aggregated altcoin market, as one analyst is now noting that Ethereum could be poised to explode higher thanks to strength against its Bitcoin trading pair.

This could allow the aggregated altcoin market to rally higher independent of BTC.

“In my previous post I said that BTC looks like it’s going to go sideways. Meanwhile $ETH/BTC looks like this… This chart kind makes me wanna go all in. In fact a lot of alts look amazing vs BTC.”

Image Courtesy of Byzantine General. Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.

The coming few days should shine a light on how altcoins like Ethereum will trend against Bitcoin, as any massive BTC rally or plunge could hinder its smaller counterparts’ momentum.

Featured image from Unsplash.
Charts from TradingView.

As blackouts and police raids roil the upstart Iranian Bitcoin mining industry, a match between a permissionless currency and a country throttled by inflation that once seemed like a perfect fit is now being called into question. 

As Cointelegraph has previously reported, Iran joins Pakistan as a cryptocurrency superpower in the Middle East, owing in part due to cheap, heavily subsidized electricity prices, as well as a boost in activity following an approval of Bitcoin mining as an “industrial activity” for power plants in 2020. It’s been estimated that there are well over 1000 legal entities currently engaged in mining activities.

However, the short history of cryptocurrency mining in the country has not always been a rosy one. Authorities have moved to shut down at least a thousand illegal farms in recent months, and Bitcoin spot prices have been mispriced at time relative to the rest of the world due to high demand as investors flee the rapidly inflating rial.

Now, another source of friction has emerged as the country is plunged into frequent power blackouts in large population centers.

On January 16th, multiple outlets reported that Iran suffered blackouts throughout most of the country. Social media reports have indicated that power has been spotty both before and after the outage on the 16th, however, with multiple cities experiencing blackouts all through the past two weeks.

Authorities have been quick to blame Bitcoin mining for the outages and have publicized police raids on illegal mining operations, but some experts think the government is simply searching for excuses for a long-decaying power grid.

In an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday, former deputy head of Iran’s Department of Environment Kaveh Madani said that Bitcoin was an “easy victim,” and that “decades” of administrative mismanagement are a more likely root cause.

Moreover, while retail mining may currently be acting as a scapegoat for the government, it’s clear that authorities aren’t entirely turning their backs on cryptocurrency. As recently as last month Bitcoin was used to facilitate import payments from Venezuela.

While the relationship may be rocky at the moment, this certainly doesn’t appear to be the end of Bitcoin in Iran.