Crypto Market Forecast: 20th April
It was a strong week in crypto markets with most large-cap asset enjoying healthy price gains. The top asset on Brave New Coin’s market cap table, Bitcoin (BTC), ends the week up ~6%. The second and third cryptos on the market cap table, Ethereum (ETH) and Ripple (XRP), end the week up ~18% and down 5% respectively.
The total crypto market rose ~4%, driven by strong gains across a number of smart contracts and staked blockchain platforms. Along with Ethereum (ETH), Tezos (XTZ), Cardano (ADA), and Maker (MKR) rose ~21%, ~12%, and ~12% respectively.
Dollar stablecoins, like Dai (DAI) on Ethereum, have seen a surge in activity in recent weeks. There has been a recent uptick in market demand for alternatives to the US dollar, which continues to face issues around money supply and continuous printing. The digital accessibility stable coins offer has seen many internet users turn to them as short term alternatives to fiat.
Also last week, the controversial Facebook backed Libra Cryptocurrency project announced long-awaited new plans to move forward with development. The currency project has shifted focus significantly from the radical, far-reaching, decentralized strategies outlined in its original whitepaper.
The new Libra will work within a much-controlled system due to a sharp backlash from regulators. The new Libra 2.0 will have built-in compliance with multiple single Libra currency coins being issued over time (Libra-USD, Libra-Euro, etc). There has been some discussion around Libra’s apparent simplification and concession.
In the meantime, Ethereum’s strong price and fundamental performance in recent weeks may overshadow a weekend exploit to the de-fi protocol dForce over the weekend, according to DeFi pulse. A Defi lending service that uses Dforce, Lendf.me, reported the attack to local Chinese media.
It is being speculated that the attack was caused by imBTC, an Ethereum token pegged to BTC. It is believed that the attacker was able to seize the entire $25 million attached to the exploit.
This week in Crypto
Dash investment foundation Q1 2020 investment call
The investment arm of the Dash (DASH) community fund releases details of its Q1 2020 financials on April 21st. The Foundation was set up to protect community funds earmarked for network development, and attempts to increase their value by “outperforming the annual risk-adjusted of Dash in USD dollars.” The foundation has previously announced plans to invest in gold bars, alongside USD and gold backed stablecoins. The price of DASH rose by ~8%.
With the majority of assets on Brave New Coin’s market cap table trading in the green, Binance-coin (BNB) was one of the week’s big gainers. Binance has had a string of positive developments over the last week including its 11th quarterly token burn, the recent achievement of a new quarterly trading volume record and the launch of a new smart contract blockchain.
Bitcoin bulls have had a solid 7 days, and there is a further upside on the horizon with a bullish chart pattern forming, the cup and handle, on the 4h BTC/USD chart. Brave New Coin Analyst Josh Olszewicz adds that there is a “once in a quarter” or, “once a year” trading opportunity approaching too, as the digital asset crosses above the Ichimoku cloud for the first time in 5 weeks.
OhNoCrypto
via https://www.ohnocrypto.com
Aditya Das, Khareem Sudlow
