Bitcoin has an undeniably positive future – we just need to wait and keep our cool
The week in review
with Jason Deane
It’s been one of those weeks – yet again – where another round of lacklustre, low volume trading completely belies what’s going on under the hood.
Sometimes things just don’t translate well to the markets, are perceived as unimportant at or simply missed by those who trade. But there’s always a story worth finding if you look for it.
Two years ago this week, the Bitcoin law came into effect in El Salvador. I was lucky enough to be presented to the Assembleia Legislativa in San Salvador on a recent trip to the country where I was able to observe, first hand, the voting and proposal process. Being in that room as a Bitcoiner, understanding the historical significance it now has, gave me goose bumps.
But two years on, it’s widely known that you can still only pay using Bitcoin in isolated places around the country, mostly around the capital and El Zonte beach. In fact, on my second visit, it felt like there were slightly fewer places to pay with Bitcoin than there were the first time round. So, the story is that it failed?
That depends on how you interpret it. You can say that since not everyone is using it, it has failed. Or you can view the fact that El Salvador’s debt, tourism and trading figures have improved drastically as being an important part of that story. What about this week’s announcement that Bitcoin will now be taught in all schools in the country? How does that affect your long term view of the prospects of Bitcoin? What about the fact that the country has provided a template and ‘proof-of-work’ for other nations to follow? And they are.
What about the state sponsored mining that now exists in the country? Also the first to do so – officially anyway – but now followed by Bhutan, Laos, Iran, Venezuela, Uruguay, not to mention Oman’s $1.1bn mining announcement this week. It’ll also be a factor of why we’re seeing consistent hash rate all time highs across the network, not to mention more and more proof of the benefits Bitcoin Mining brings to both the environment and grid stability.
Meanwhile, the richest continue to increase their Bitcoin holdings and Mexico’s richest man, Ricardo Salinas, was just the latest to confirm this yesterday, but at the other end of the scale, entities with less than 10 BTC also continue to climb relentlessly. We also now know that a US ETF is all but certain in the next 12 months. Or less, probably.
So, here’s where it gets interesting. Since we know that almost every indicator on the demand side continues to rise AND we know categorically that supply metrics are constantly falling – how does that match with the story we’re seeing in the markets?
Put simply, sometimes sentiments, feelings and confidence can outweigh maths, data and hard facts. That is, emotion over evidence. Sometimes you just gotta wait it out and keep cool.
I’ll leave that for you to ponder over the weekend. Speaking of which, if you fancy a full on day of Bitcoin flavoured motor racing, the Bitcoin Racing team will be making its penultimate appearance for the season at Donington on Sunday. It’s a long day with qualifying in the morning and two races later, so plenty of action to watch, details here.
Don’t forget that BitcoinHODLers, a UK based Bitcoin Telegram group designed for industry enthusiasts of all levels, is giving away three sets of VIP tickets, worth £5000, over the next couple of weeks for the upcoming Zebu conference in October. Find out how to join and enter here – it’s free!
Yesterday’s Crypto AM Daily
In the Markets
The Bitcoin Economy
*Data can be found at https://terminal.bytetree.com/
🌅Total crypto market cap
🔵 $1.05 trillion
🔺 1.19%
What Bitcoin did yesterday
🔺 Daily high $26,415
🔻 Daily low $26,195
Bitcoin market capitalisation
🟠 BTC $510.662 billion
🟡 Gold $12.855 trillion
💳 Visa $514 billion
Bitcoin volume
🪣 Total spot trading volume $12.412 billion
🔺 3.45%
SP500
🔻 0.32%
FTSE/JSE Top 40
🔺 0.3%
Fear and Greed Index
Bitcoin’s market dominance
📊 49.46
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
💪 47
Values of 70 or above indicate that an asset is becoming overbought and may be primed for a trend reversal or experience a correction in price, while 30 or below indicates an oversold or undervalued condition.
📣 What they said yesterday
Whether you’re a Bitcoin expert or a total newbie – or even somewhere in between – you can now join the new HODLers Telegram community to learn more… or share your insights with others!
Our goal is simple: to provide a safe place where people can ask any question they want about Bitcoin, even if they think it’s a daft one! Learning Bitcoin takes time and we generally have the same questions when we first encounter it, so we know from our own experience having somewhere to ask a real person a specific question can be of great value!
There’s also access to great learning resources and, to cap it all off, we run monthly competitions to win great prizes such as tickets for events, VIP passes, exclusive access to talks and webinars or even just some Sats to add to your stack, all courtesy of our partners!
Even better, the whole thing is completely FREE!
So, if you’re a beginner, or know someone who is, take our fun five question multiple choice quiz and join the group today. Of course, if you’re an expert, you’re also welcome to join and help others who are looking to understand Bitcoin as an asset and the industry as a whole.
T’s and C’s: Open to UK residents only. All ages are welcome in the community, but you need to be over 18 to enter competitions. No purchase required.
All feedback on Crypto AM Daily in association with Luno is welcome via email to [email protected] 🙏🏻
Crypto AM: Editor’s picks
FCA’s new crypto advertising rules met with mixed industry response
ChatGPT urges crypto conference panel not to become over-reliant on AI
Mt. Gox customers will have to wait until November to recover lost Bitcoin funds
Sam Bankman-Fried: A tissue of lies soaked with fake tears?
Three-in-four wealth managers are gearing up for more cryptocurrency exposure
Crypto.com granted FCA licence to operate in UK
Q&A with Duncan Coutts, Principal Technical Architect at IO Global
Jamie Bartlett – on the trail of the missing ‘Cryptoqueen’
MPs are falling silent over potential of cryptocurrency
Erica’s ‘Crypto Wars’ handed honours in Business Book Awards
Crypto AM: Features
Crypto AM: Founders Series
Crypto AM: Industry Voices
Crypto AM: Contributors
Crypto AM: In Conversation with James Bowater
Crypto AM: Tomorrow’s Money with Gavin S Brown
Crypto AM: Mixing in the Metaverse with Dr Chris Kacher
Crypto AM: Visions of the Future, Past & Present with Alex Lightman
Crypto AM: Tiptoe through the Crypto with Monty Munford
Crypto AM: Taking a Byte out of Digital Assets with Jonny Fry
Crypto on the catwalk
Crypto AM: Events
Cautionary Notes
It’s definitely tempting to get swept up in the excitement, but please heed these words of caution: Do your own research, only invest what you can afford, and make good decisions. The indicators contained in this article will hopefully help in this. Remember though, the content of this article is for information purposes only and is not investment advice or any form of recommendation or invitation. CityAM, Crypto AM and Luno always advise you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.