Dear Teroxx Community,
This week we saw a market in digital assets that saw only minor price changes.
Weekly overview
As usual, we are also providing detailed videos for those who want to delve deeper into the subject.
Digital Asset News
The Ethereum (ETH) merge, which primarily ensured that the associated blockchain network switched to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus process, is already having a positive effect on block creation.
The merge was probably the most hotly anticipated upgrade for Ethereum ever, which is why the hype in the run-up was correspondingly high. The switch from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to PoS brings with it a number of changes and improvements that are now slowly making themselves felt.
This improvement became apparent relatively quickly, as the number of Blocks Created Daily (EBC) shot up by almost 18% on 15 September – the date on which the Ethereum merge was completed. This corresponded to an increase from 6,000 blocks to 7,100 blocks per day.
The right to data protection and privacy is firmly anchored in the legal traditions of many countries. In the US, for example, it is enshrined in the Fourth Amendment and in the European Union it is covered in Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
And now the next field is looming where the EU could set the global standard for regulation with a directive.
This concerns the case of Tornado Cash – a blockchain project specifically designed to obfuscate financial transactions and thus provide more data protection, but which was predominantly abused by criminal actors and therefore banned by the authorities – which shows why regulation in the area of decentralised financial services (DeFi) is so urgently needed.
Much like the rising tide of user data in the 1980s, the adoption of digital assets and the DeFi industry is inevitable. Regulation will therefore be essential to foster innovation, protect investors and enable large-scale global trading of digital assets.
Meanwhile, the expected end of the 2022 bear market divides opinion on how to translate historical data to the current situation.
For example, Luke Martin, host of the STACKS podcast, points out that it has now been 322 days since Bitcoin’s record high last year.
However, after the previous record high in 2017, the Bitcoin price was even in a bear market for 364 days, which could suggest that the end of the current dry spell is no longer too far away.
“The timing of the cycle is optimal,” as Charles Edwards of crypto asset management firm Capriole supports this reading.
Critics such as the analyst tedtalksmacro counter that the macroeconomic situation is currently much more dramatic than in 2018. Indeed, the US Federal Reserve has not yet announced an imminent end to continuous interest rate hikes, which should continue to put pressure on the stock market and the crypto market. The short-term price theme and development is therefore likely to continue to be driven by the US central bank.
Technical term of the week
Quarter 4: The last quarter of the year is often a positive one for the global financial markets. Thus, one often sees “year-end rallies” that drive prices upwards. This year, however, one has to be very cautious with such statements due to the multiple crises and tends to focus on short-term conditions.
Digital Asset Markt
Last week there were market movements that did not bring any significant changes at the turn of the quarter.
Driven by low volume and few daily and price-driving news, the trading week was relatively quiet in terms of price. At the end of the quarter, Bitcoin was unable to break through the $20,000 mark and continues to hover in a narrow price range between ~$19,000 and $20,000. Due to the “strong” dollar, most market participants are behaving more defensively and are waiting for interest rate decisions as well as the latest inflation figures from the US before making large investments.
Bullish outlook: Positive global markets could see a small short rally to ~$21,000 – $22,000.
Bearish outlook: With negative world markets, $17,500 could again be the next price target.
