January has seen heavy volatility in the crypto markets. The sentiment has been flipping from euphoria to depression and back again. However, the market is still in a bull market even if another correction occurs.
In that regard, it’s just a matter of time until a new all-time high is made for Ether, following Bitcoin’s footsteps.
Healthy correction for ETH
ETH/USD 1-week chart. Source: TradingView
Ether corrected to the first level of interest at the 0.35–0.382 Fibonacci level. Traders often use this Fibonacci level to anticipate corrections.
Frequently, corrections only occur at the 0.35–0.382 Fibonacci level or the 0.5 Fibonacci level.
This happened in ETH’s case, as the $850 to $925 area is confluent with a previous resistance point. This resistance point is found in 2018 during the multimonth rally from $350 to $900. This slight run-up became the final bounce before the market reversed south.
But now, the $900 region has flipped support, which means that more upside likely. As often stated, if an asset drops by 30% in an uptrend, it may be worth looking into.
Levels to watch after all-time high is broken
ETH/USD 1-day chart. Source: TradingView
If the correction has ended, continuation is likely to occur with a new impulse wave. In that regard, ETH/USD would be looking at new highs, which can also be determined using the Fibonacci extension tool.
Critical for continuation would be a breakout above the recent high at $1,350. Personally, I’d expect to see some more consolidation before continuation, but a new impulse wave is definitely on the table.
If such a continuation of the impulse wave occurs, the next targets are found at the recent all-time high of 2017 (around $1,420), but also at $1,600 to $1,650 and $2,050 to $2,100. The latter targets are constructed using the Fibonacci extension tool.
Sideways action is still more likely in the short term
ETH/USD 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView
Lower time frames are still showing a range-bound construction. It’s arguable that the momentum is very volatile, and the markets are fluctuating by double-digit percentage points on a daily basis.
However, the range-high resistance is found at $1,225 to $1,275, and that has to break to continue the bullish momentum.
If not, Ether will most likely see sideways action. In that regard, a retest of the $900 area is still on the table. In the previous week, the market sentiment turned to fear very fast. Thus, one rejection at the next major resistance and the market may see another correction.
The strength will come from ETH/BTC pair later in the year
ETH/BTC 3-day chart. Source: TradingView
Slowly but surely, altcoin-BTC pairs should catch up, but Bitcoin must stabilize for that to happen.
Currently, ETH/BTC is making higher lows and flipping previous resistance levels for support. This flip also happened with the 0.025 sats level and served as a signal for more upside. As the ETH/BTC chart shows, compression is building up, suggesting that a big move is brewing.
Most likely, it will take some time and should be expected later in 2021. But once the BTC pair starts to accelerate, Ether could reach as high as 0.056 to 0.08 sats. This would also mean new all-time highs in U.S. dollar terms, of course.
The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.
Ultra-rare alien CryptoPunk NFT sells for 605 ETH, or $750,000
Published
2 hours ago
on
January 23, 2021
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Amid a wild market-wide bullrun for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), an ultra-rare “alien” CryptoPunk has sold today for 605 Ether, worth over $750,000 at today’s prices.
CryptoPunks are widely considered to be the original NFT project, released even before Cryptokitties, the blockchain-based collectibles project that propelled NFTs to mainstream consciousness. CryptoPunks developers Larva Labs report that Punks have accounted for $26 million in lifetime sales on their native marketplace, and the average sale price for Punks over the past year has been $6,199.
Each Punk has unique attributes, such as background color, accessories, and even some ultra-rare features, such as an “alien” or “zombie” appearance. The Punk that sold today, #2890, is one of nine alien Punks in existence.
The bidding for the Punk was competitive throughout the last week, with DeFi megawallet-turn-Twitter personality 0x_b1 putting in a 500 ETH bid. The Punk was last sold in July of 2017 for 8 ETH, meaning the owner made a 75x return on their investment.
The new owners are a group of investors that include FlamingoDAO, a “NFT collective that supports and collects premium NFTS,” according to a Flamingo spokesperson. The official FlamingoDAO Twitter handle confirmed the purchase with a meme:
“It’s simple: Cryptopunks is a groundbreaking project; it pre-dated the ERC 721 standard and crypto kitties,” said the spokesperson on the investment thesis. “Aliens are the rarest form of Cryptopunk and we believe that the acquired Alien will be prized by collectors over time and mature into an iconic digital art piece.”
Crypto art collector @gmoneyNFT, who himself dropped 140 ETH on a Punk earlier in the month, thinks that the alien is a fine investment despite the sky-high valuation.
“I think it was a great purchase. As the world moves more digital, the digital “flex” will be more and more important. It’s how humans operate in the physical world. It won’t change in the digital realm,” he said.
Long-derided as a secondary usecase for blockchain, sales like today’s demonstrate that NFTs are just beginning to have their day in the sun. NBA Topshot, a collectible highlight project from Dapper Labs, has proven to be tremendously popular, and Axie Infinity’s native critters have been selling for remarkable prices as of late as well.
Some critics have called into the question the sky-high prices rare NFTs have been fetching, however, arguing that simple digital scarcity is a shaky foundation on which to justify a $750,000 sale. @gmoneyNFT dismisses these criticisms, saying that there are plenty of real-world analogues that make just as much — or as little — sense.
“Why would someone pay millions of dollars for an original Andy Warhol screen print when you can buy the same one online for $20? Why would someone buy a pair of yeezy’s for $300 when you can buy a fake from the same factory, made with the same materials for much less? Humans like to feel special. The provenance has value.”
Wen? Now! BadgerDAO’s synthetic rebasing Bitcoin, DIGG, goes live
Published
1 day ago
on
January 22, 2021
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After weeks of anticipation and a closely-watched series of preparatory steps, BadgerDAO’s synthetic rebasing Bitcoin, DIGG, is now live and claimable for qualified addresses on Ethereum mainnet.
The release will be eagerly welcomed by a perhaps-overzealous community, one which has been lighting up Twitter with “wen DIGG” for weeks. For all the memes and excitement, however, there’s some serious technical heft behind both the distribution and the maintenance of the newest Bitcoin asset on Ethereum.
Ultimately, however, now that DIGG is in the wild market forces are what will determine the long-term success of the synthetic Bitcoin asset — success that might not be assured.
Fair, flat launch
According to core BadgerDAO contributor and distribution architect Jon Tompkins, the amount of claimable DIGG for each eligible account was determined using a formula centered on an Ethereum address’ activity in the BadgerDAO app. Factors such as total native platform Badger tokens earned, the Badger earned to Badger staked ratio, and total stake days were taken into consideration.
In order to prevent an overallocation to deep-pocketed “whales,” however, the DAO approved an application of a 1.75 root to smooth the distribution between addresses. As Tompkins wrote in the original DIGG distribution proposal, this root means that, while in a linear distribution the top 100 addresses would have been eligible to receive over 70% of DIGG, they instead will be able to claim just 33%.
Tompkins said that of the 600 DIGG tokens currently available the top address will receive 8.75 DIGG, while the average of the 8517 eligible addresses will be able to claim .07 of a token.
The goal of this distribution was to allow the project to “reward the little guys that are strong badger supporters but not fully disadvantage the whales,” said Tompkins.
Keeping a peg
Now that the token is live, the rebase games begin.
Algorithmic stablecoins have been a hot topic in DeFi circles over the past few months as one of the most popular trading vehicles. The assets, which are primarily meant to track the price of the US dollar, have “rebasing” features that dynamically expand or contract the total supply of the asset based on preset parameters such as price or time.
So far, however, they’ve proven to be far more effective at enriching users who know how to play the rebase parameters than they’ve been at creating truly stable assets.
DIGG will be possibly the first-ever synthetic rebasing Bitcoin, and certainly the first to feature this distribution method. Out of the gate users will be able to stake their DIGG in a yield-bearing vault, use it to provide liquidity to DIGG/WBTC Sushiswap and Uniswap pairs, hold the core asset in anticipation of a positive rebase, or sell the tokens on the open market.
While there has been speculation as to how DIGG will perform and what the best strategies might be, it’s ultimately unclear to what degree the asset will be able to hew to its intended peg given BTC’s volatility and DIGG’s unique launch.
In a previous interview with Cointelegraph, BadgerDAO founder Chris Spadafora expressed hope that additional forthcoming stabilization mechanisms will be able to help DIGG better track BTC, however.
“What we want to do with our vault system is really at large-scale be the… let’s call it the ‘buy-and-sell’ dictators. So through automated strategies we’re able to buy when the time is right and sell when the time is right to optimize return for the users,” he said.
Forthcoming vaults designed to programmatically play the rebase games are designed to do just that, but given the uncharted game-theoretical landscape it’s impossible to say if the vaults will be sufficient to stabilize DIGG — or what happens after vault incentives dry up.
In the end, after weeks of anticipation, instead of “Wen DIGG?” BadgerDAO participants lining up to take a spin at the latest rebase casino now must ask themselves, “What’s next?”
Russian opposition leader Navalny immortalized in NFT artwork
Published
2 days ago
on
January 22, 2021
By
Russian political opposition leader Alexey Navalny is the latest subject to be tackled by the burgeoning non-fungible token art world. An animation inspired by the recently-arrested Kremlin critic was minted into an NFT and released on the SuperRare platform on Jan. 21.
The 1/1 artwork, simply called “Navalny,” is the first piece that pseudonymous artist @brickspacer111 has minted on the platform.
The 3D rendered piece starts with a close up of Navalny’s hand making the “V for Victory” sign. As the camera pulls back we see that he stands in front of a huge bust of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The view continues to widen, showing that Navalny stands on top of a pile of books and filing cabinets, holding the scales of justice, while police with riot gear and truncheons try to reach him and blue and red flashing lights illuminate the scene.
The names of Putin’s alleged inner circle then flash onto the bust’s cheeks, while allusions to the reported “aqua disco” at the palace allegedly being built for the Russian president appear on its forehead.
Navalny recently returned to Russia from Germany, where he had been recovering from an assassination attempt. Investigators discovered that the pro-Bitcoin politician had been poisoned with a nerve agent, Novichok, while touring Siberia in August 2020.
The Russian authorities arrested him as he arrived at the airport for violating the probation terms of a previous embezzlement charge, which Navalny says is politically motivated.
Following his arrest, Navalny was tried in a closed hearing at a police station in Moscow, a practice which he criticized in a video as highly irregular and flouting the laws of the Russian Federation.
Since being arrested, Navalny’s team has released a documentary film containing allegations about a so-called “Putin’s Palace.” The film claims that this $1 billion palace complex being built on the Black Sea coast belongs to Putin and has been paid for “with the largest bribe in history.”
The film received over 20 million views in the first day of its release on YouTube.
Subtitled with Navalny’s quote: “You should fear nothing except your own fear”, the “Navalny” NFT is open to offers from 0.5 Ether (ETH).