Markets

The cryptocurrency industry’s influence on US elections is greater than ever, industry experts say

Published

11 months ago

18 May, 2024

The cryptocurrency industry's influence on US elections is greater than ever, industry experts say

The cryptocurrency industry is throwing its weight around in Washington in hopes of influencing the upcoming US elections, spending an unprecedented amount of money to elect cryptocurrency-friendly candidates and educate lawmakers, all in the hopes of finally getting a regulatory framework friendly for cryptocurrencies.

Crypto-focused political action committees (PACs) like Fairshake, which has raised around $85 million from a collection of crypto companies, senior executives and retail investors – have successfully determined the outcome of some major races, including spending $10 million to help crush the offer by crypto-critic Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.).

Fairshake has also poured money into two affiliated PACs: Defend American Jobs, which donates to Republican candidates, and Protect Progress, which donates to Democrats. Both donated to the winning campaigns. Over the past two months, Defend American Jobs has spent nearly $500,000 on media buys for Republican Indiana State Senator Mark Messmer, who won the Republican nomination for Indiana’s 8th District congressional seat this week.

Some of Protect Progress’ crypto-friendly Democratic candidates, including Shomari figureswho is running for a House seat in Alabama and Giulia Johnson in Texas, they won the primaries in part with the help of media buying.

“It’s at a level we haven’t seen in past election cycles,” said Kristin Smith, CEO of the cryptocurrency lobbying group Blockchain Association.

Industry experts say the industry’s economic power has even pushed some cryptocurrency skeptics, including Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, who is up for re-election this year, to take a more stance. open. careful attitude towards cryptocurrencies, lest they face well-funded opposition efforts from the industry.

“Previously he was not friendly with cryptocurrencies, but recently [Brown] has said he’s open to considering cryptocurrency legislation,” said Kyle Bligen, director of financial policy at the tech-focused House of Progress. “I think he’s aware of money coming in from outside industry groups that are looking of politicians who are open to reasonable choices, common sense policies on cryptocurrencies and are not just trying to prop up or support the traditional financial ecosystem without enabling innovation.”

While the industry’s past efforts to influence election results nationwide have been largely unsuccessful – and, in the case of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, criminal – The growing political influence of the cryptocurrency industry now seems to have more power.

“It’s a much more sophisticated operation,” Smith said. “I feel like I walk around Washington and people say ‘Oh, there’s Kristin, she works for that little blockchain industry thing.’ Now it’s like, ‘Oh wow, this is the powerful cryptocurrency industry and they’re here to influence Washington and they’re pulling out all the tools to do it.’

While the cryptocurrency industry has largely focused its lobbying efforts on congressional elections, the U.S. presidential election will also have a significant impact on cryptocurrency regulation.

According to at least one small survey commissioned by cryptocurrency investment firm Paradigm, voters hold cryptocurrencies they tend to prefer Donald Trump for president – although, according to other polls, the the percentage of voters who own cryptocurrencies is smallL. Polymarket bettors currently give Trump a slight edge to win (47% versus Biden’s 44%). But industry insiders are less sure about whether a Trump presidency would actually be better for cryptocurrencies.

While Trump’s stance on the cryptocurrency industry is changing, he is still significantly less pro-crypto than that of his former rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Vivek Ramaswamy, who promised to protect cryptocurrency developers and create a clear regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies that would see most tokens as commodities.

“Trump looks to Vivek on technology and digital asset policy,” said Lee Bratcher, founder and president of the Texas Blockchain Council. “He didn’t always do it, but when he saw how Vivek won over the Republican – and more centrist – voter [voters] than Trump can capture – he’s probably more interested in that [policy].”

Industry insiders were divided on whether a Biden re-election would be harmful to the cryptocurrency industry.

Smith said it would probably be “more of the same, unless [Securities and Exchange Commission Chair] Gary Gensler decides to step aside,” meaning continued regulatory uncertainty and aggressive enforcement actions. A better, more open-minded SEC chairman, he added, would be “extremely helpful.”

“It’s unfortunate because at the beginning of the Biden administration there was some interest in cryptocurrencies, then the industry imploded while they were doing all their reporting and as a result they are in a clearly negative position right now,” Smith said. “ON [Biden’s] look, the industry has had some not-so-great times and it’s understandable that regulators are concerned.”

Smith said that while the cryptocurrency industry has largely moved on from the cryptocurrency crash of 2022 – including the implosions of FTX, Terra/LUNA and Three Arrows Capital – regulators have a much longer memory.

“Having a new group of regulators would be helpful in restarting conversations,” Smith said.

Others, like Bligen, seemed more confident that pro-cryptocurrency legislation would pass after the election if Biden remains in power.

“I can’t say that if President Biden is re-elected it would be a loss for cryptocurrency advocates, because currently in this regime Democrats and Republicans are working together on a bipartisan basis to produce productive and responsible cryptocurrencies. [legislation]”Bligen said.

Efforts are underway in the current Congress to pass cryptocurrency legislation, including a bipartisan effort to regulate stablecoins.

These legislative efforts – which, in the past, have failed to find traction – still have significant hurdles to overcome before being passed, including multiple members of Congress getting involved with cryptocurrencies.

Bligen said there are still many members of Congress who don’t know much about cryptocurrency, and the things they do know about it “come from flashy headlines about cryptocurrency scams, people misrepresenting coins, people getting cheated out of their money, massive cryptocurrencies failing institutions – they look at it from a protectionist point of view,” he said.

“If you want to have more cryptocurrency-friendly people, every single office needs to have a basic understanding of what cryptocurrency is, why it matters to my constituents, and what the political landscape is that governs it. Everyone needs to know that.” , Bligen said. “If you don’t have this basic information, you will have members stumbling around, trying to understand what blockchain technology is… more concerted educational efforts are needed. We won’t just reach a more educated audience in 2025, we have to work.”

Bratcher added that, in addition to educational efforts, the industry may have to compromise on some issues – such as privacy – to make real progress with lawmakers.

“We are at an interesting crossroads when it comes to privacy,” Bratcher said, referring to the ongoing crackdown on bitcoin mixing services like Tornado Cash and Samourai Wallet.

“People in the digital asset industry want to prioritize privacy above all else. When we work with government – state, local and national, and even law enforcement – we don’t have the luxury of being able to make grandiose claims at the Regarding this, Bratcher added: “There will have to be a balance between privacy and issues related to money laundering and national security.”

“Tornado Cash is not a hill I’m willing to die on,” Bratcher said. “We could lose a war if we choose to die on Tornado Cash Hill.”

While the spotlight is on national elections, Bratcher and others — like Dennis Porter, CEO and co-founder of bitcoin mining advocacy group Satoshi Action Fund — are focusing their efforts on state politics.

Porter’s group helped introduce bills in 16 U.S. states that provide protections for bitcoin mining and self-custody. The most advanced bill is in Oklahoma, where it has passed both the state House and Senate, and is awaiting the signature of Governor Kevin Stitt (right).

“DC is fun and sexy. Tons of money is being spent, but so far we haven’t seen any big victories — all the big battles are happening at the state level,” Porter said.

Porter said the industry should continue to strengthen its presence in Washington, but said it won’t find the magic cure for all its ills on Capitol Hill.

“We will do this at the state level,” Porter said. “We will go state by state to advocate for pro-digital asset policy, using states as a laboratory for democracy, ultimately taking those good ideas and using them to influence policy at the federal level. Or at a minimum, creating a regulatory regime that protects people at the state level.”

Porter’s model for cryptocurrency regulation takes cues from the cannabis industry’s agenda, building momentum and support in states until the industry is powerful enough to shape federal regulations.

“We’re hitting home runs over and over and over again in Washington, but we’re still not strong enough,” Porter said. “I just think we’re further away from that than we think… The important thing to me is that we need to spend a lot more time at the state level, investing a lot more money, because the hundreds of millions of dollars spent in D.C., if spent at the state level, it would fundamentally reshape the political landscape and fundamentally change the dynamic of bitcoin and digital assets in America.”

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Markets

Bitcoin, Ethereum See Red as Markets Crash on Volatility

Published

9 months ago

1 August, 2024

Financial Block Staff

Bitcoin, Ethereum See Red as Markets Crash on Volatility

Bitcoin AND Etherealalong with the rest of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, appear to be in hibernation on Thursday morning.

At the time of writing, the Bitcoin Price is still below $65,000 and 2.2% lower than it was this time yesterday, according to CoinGecko data. Things are worse for the Ethereum Pricewhich is 3.7% lower than 24 hours ago at $3,185.22. The drop in ETH’s price is identical to that of Lido Staked Ethereum (stETH), a liquid staking token for Ethereum.

In recent days, falling prices have led to the liquidation of derivative contracts worth $225 million, according to Coin glassAnd about half of that, about $100 million, was liquidated in the last 12 hours.

When a trader is liquidated, it means that their position in the market has been forcibly closed by an exchange or brokerage due to a margin call or insufficient collateral. Margin is especially important when it comes to leveraged positions, which allow traders to control a multiple of their deposit, such as opening a $10,000 position with only $1,000 in their account.

Now that Bitcoin has been in the red for three days in a row, there is a chance that the world’s oldest and largest cryptocurrency could sink even further, BRN analyst Valentin Fournier said in a note shared with Decrypt.

“Bitcoin has closed in the red for three days in a row, with one-way trading showing limited resistance from bulls. Ethereum had a slightly positive Monday with strong resistance from bears who have won the last two days,” he wrote. “This momentum could take BTC to the $62,500 resistance or even the $58,000 territories.”

Looking ahead, Fournier said BRN’s strategy will be to “reduce exposure to Bitcoin and Ethereum and find a better entry point after the dip.”

This is despite Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s comments yesterday on interest rates being widely regarded as accommodating and indicative of FOMC rate cuts in September.

Singapore-based cryptocurrency trading firm QCP Capital said the rally in stocks, which sent the S&P 500 up 1.6% from Wednesday’s close, was not felt in cryptocurrency markets.

“Cryptocurrencies have seen a broad sell-off overnight and into this morning,” the firm wrote in a trading note. “The market remains poised as traders pay close attention to daily ETH ETF outflows and further supply pressure from Mt Gox and the US government.”

Meanwhile, the other top-ranking coins are showing mixed performance.

Solana (SOL) is down 7.2% since yesterday to $169.13. Things are even worse for its most popular meme coins. In the past 24 hours, the most popular meme coins Dogwifhat (WIF) are down 12% and BONK (BONK) is down 9%, according to CoinGecko data.

Their dog-themed competitor, Ethereum OG Dogecoin (DOGE), the only meme coin in Coingecko’s top 10, is down nearly 4% since yesterday and is currently trading at $0.1205.

XRP (XRP) dropped to $0.608, which is 7% lower than it was at this time yesterday.

Binance’s BNB Coin (BNB) has kept pace with BTC and is currently trading at $571, down 2.4% from yesterday. Toncoin (TON), the native token of The Open Network, is down just 0.4% over the past day.

This leaves the stablecoins USDC (USDC) and Tether (USDT), both of which are stable as they maintain their 1:1 ratio with the US dollar.

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Markets

XRP Market Activity Drops During Ripple-SEC Talks: Price Steady

Published

9 months ago

1 August, 2024

Financial Block Staff

Ripple (XRP) Market Witnesses Calm During SEC-Ripple Meeting

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will hold another closed-door meeting with Ripple on Thursday, as the market hopes for a possible resolution to the legal battle between the two entities.

However, the cryptocurrency market remains relatively bearish, with the price and trading volume of XRP down in the last 24 hours.

Ripple holders take no risk

At press time, XRP is trading at $0.60. The altcoin’s price has dropped 6% over the past 24 hours. During that time, trading volume was $27 million, down 27%.

The SEC met before with the digital payment company on July 25. While the outcome of that meeting remains unknown, the Sunshine Act Notice for Thursday’s meeting includes one additional topic of discussion from the July 25 closed meeting: the instituting and resolving injunctive relief. That has market participants speculating whether a settlement is imminent.

In an exclusive interview with BeinCrypto, Ryan Lee, Lead Analyst at Bitget Research, noted that:

“This meeting will discuss possible resolution options for the Ripple Lawsuit. The founder of Ripple Labs said that a legal settlement could be announced soon. If an official settlement plan is released, it could positively impact XRP’s price movement.”

However, an assessment of XRP’s price movements on a 4-hour chart shows a spike in bearish bias as the market awaits the outcome of this crucial meeting. Its Moving Average Convergence/Divergence (MACD) indicator readings show that its MACD line (blue) has crossed below its signal line (orange).

XRP 4 Hours Analysis. Source: Trading View

Traders use this indicator to gauge price trends, momentum, and potential buying and selling opportunities in the market. When an asset’s MACD is set this way, it is a bearish signal that suggests selling activity is outweighing buying momentum.

Additionally, the altcoin relative strength index (RSI), at 46.08, is currently below its neutral 50 line and in a downtrend. This indicator measures overbought and oversold market conditions for an asset.

To know more: How to Buy XRP and Everything You Need to Know

xrp rsi XRP 4 Hours Analysis. Source: Trading View

At 43.83 at the time of writing, XRP’s RSI suggests a growing preference among the market participants for tok in distribution.

XRP Price Prediction: Derivatives Traders Exit Market

The XRP derivatives market has also seen a decline in trading activity over the past 24 hours. According to Coinglass, derivatives trading volume has plummeted 18% and open interest has dropped 10% during that period.

Open interest refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts, such as options or futurethat have not yet been resolved. When it drops, traders close their positions without opening new ones. This is a bearish signal that reflects a lack of confidence in any potential positive price movement.

According to Lee, the outcome of the meeting with the SEC “would have a significant impact on the price movement of the token.” If the outcome is favorable, the price of the token could rise towards $0.75 in August.

To know more: Ripple (XRP) Price Prediction 2024/2025/2030

XRP Price Prediction XRP 4 Hours Analysis. Source: Trading View

On the other hand, if no favorable resolutions are reached, the price could plummet to $0.50.

Disclaimer

In line with the Trust Project guidelines, this price analysis article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. BeInCrypto strives to provide accurate and unbiased reporting, but market conditions are subject to change without notice. Always conduct your own research and consult a professional before making any financial decisions. Please note that our Terms and conditions, Privacy PolicyAND Disclaimers They have been updated.

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Markets

Bitcoin’s Dominance Hits Three-Year High, But Analysts Say Altcoins Are Ready to Rebound

Published

9 months ago

1 August, 2024

Financial Block Staff

Bitcoin's Dominance Hits Three-Year High, But Analysts Say Altcoins Are Ready to Rebound

Bitcoin is now the dominant force in the cryptocurrency market, surpassing 53% of the total cryptocurrency market, a stronger share than it has been in the past three years.

Bitcoin’s market cap now stands at $1.27 trillion, second according to CoinGecko data. In contrast, the total cryptocurrency market cap is $2.43 trillion, with Ethereum occupying 15.9% of the market, worth $389 billion.

Bitcoin’s rise to dominance this year is unusual, as altcoins typically do better than Bitcoin in a bull market. While meme coins made a strong comeback during Bitcoin’s rally to all-time highs earlier this year, the so-called “wealth effect” It has not been appreciated as much by mid-range coins, such as Ethereum and Cardano.

“ETF flows fundamentally alter market dynamics,” he wrote Meltem Demirors, former chief strategy officer at CoinShares, tweeted Wednesday: “BTC gains no longer translate to alts and the longer tail of crypto.”

Bitcoin’s takeover has continued even as the market cap of Tether (USDT) continues to grow, the world’s largest stablecoin and the third-largest cryptocurrency after BTC and ETH. Stablecoins are backed by fiat currencies and are excluded from some measures of Bitcoin dominance due to fundamentally different value models.

The surge continued to pace even after the launch of Ethereum spot ETFs last week, which ironically culminated in a news sell-off event, and net outflows from new investment products since they were launched. This went against the predictions of K33 Search so far, which predicted that ETFs would catalyze ETH’s growth over the next five months.

Despite the poorer performance of the alts, there is reason to believe that they are ready to bounce back very soon.

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju said Tuesday that whales are “preparing for the next altcoin rally,” as limit buy orders for assets other than BTC and ETH are on the rise.

The executive shared a chart showing how the “cumulative difference between purchase volume and sales volume” has increased in recent months.

“The indicator measures the difference between buy and sell orders over a year,” CryptoQuant told Decrypt. A buy/sell order is a pre-set request to buy or sell a cryptocurrency if it hits a certain price level, which creates resistance and support levels.

“If the trend is up, it means that more people are placing buy orders, showing strong interest in buying,” CryptoQuant said.

By Ryan-Ozawa.

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Markets

XRP and SOL Retrace as BTC Price Drops to 2-Week Lows (Market Watch)

Published

9 months ago

1 August, 2024

Financial Block Staff

Bitcoin Returns Toward $60K, XRP Defy Negative Sentiment (Market Watch)

After Monday’s crash, in which BTC fell by several thousand dollars, the scenario has repeated itself once again in the last 12 hours, with the asset falling to a 2-week low of $63,300.

Alt coins followed suit, with most of the market in the red today. SOL and XRP lead the way from the higher cap alts.

BTC Drops To $63.3K

After a violent Thursday last week, when BTC crashed to $63,400, the asset went on the offensive over the weekend and surged above $69,000 on Saturday, as the community prepared for Donald Trump’s appearance at the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville.

His speech was followed by more volatility before the cryptocurrency settled around $67,500 on Sunday. Monday started off rather optimistically for the bulls as bitcoin hit a 7-week high of $70,000.

However, he failed to maintain his run and conquer that level decisively. On the contrary, he was rejected bad and dropped to $66,400 by the end of Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday were less eventful as BTC remained still around $66,500.

The last 12 hours or so have brought another crash. Bears have pushed the leading digital asset down hard, which has fallen to a 2-week low of $63,300 (on Bitstamp), leaving over $200 million in liquidations.

Despite the current rebound to $64,500, BTC’s market cap has fallen to $1.270 trillion, but its dominance over alts is recovering and has reached 52.6%.

Bitcoin/Price/Chart 01.08.2024. Source: TradingView

The Alts are back in red

Ripple’s native token has been at the forefront of the market challenge in recent days as pumped up to a multi-month high of over $0.66. However, its run was also interrupted and XPR fell by more than 6% in the last day to $0.6.

The other big loser among the larger-cap alternatives is SOL, which has lost 8% of its value and is now struggling to get below $170.

The rest of this altcoin cohort is also in the red, with ETH, DOGE, BNB, AVAX, ADA, SHIB, and LINK all seeing drops between 2 and 5%.

The total cryptocurrency market cap lost another $70 billion overnight, falling below $2.4 trillion today on CG.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: QuantifyCrypto SPECIAL OFFER (sponsored)
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