{"id":553,"date":"2024-02-10T11:00:17","date_gmt":"2024-02-10T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/?p=553"},"modified":"2024-02-10T07:59:57","modified_gmt":"2024-02-10T07:59:57","slug":"biweekly-headlines-2024-feb-w1-w2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/10\/biweekly-headlines-2024-feb-w1-w2\/","title":{"rendered":"Biweekly Headlines 2024 Feb W1 \u2013 W2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cAs blockchain technology advances, there is a decentralized alternative for every centralized option.\u201d  <\/em><\/strong>– Nick Johnson<\/strong>, founder and lead developer of Ethereum Name Service<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Biweekly News Roundup<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Bitcoin Market Movements<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Bitcoin’s recovery from a breakdown below $42,000: Starting its first full week of February, BTC rebounded from below $42K, surpassing $44,000 on February 7 for the first time since January 12, which was just after the debut of spot ETFs. Subsequently, BTC soared past $47K, marking one of the best days for spot Bitcoin ETFs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Historical performance around the Chinese New Year: BTC rallied every time in the last 9 years by 11% on average around the Chinese New Year festivity, says 10X’s Markus Thielen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Predictions by Markus Thielen for Bitcoin’s 2024 price target: Unveiling his 2024 price target, Thielen expects bitcoin to rally about 65% from current levels to hit $70K by the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Ethereum and Other Cryptocurrencies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Ethereum surpassing $2,400: Ethereum’s gain took it above $2,400 for the first time in two weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Overall increase in crypto trading pace: Crypto trading hits the busiest pace since June 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Accumulation of Bitcoin by crypto whales: Crypto whales, or large investors, have accumulated $3B worth of BTC this month. The amount of bitcoin held in wallets owning over 1,000 BTC has increased by roughly 76,000 BTC to nearly 7.8M BTC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Macroeconomic Influences and Predictions<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Impact of the macro environment and monetary tailwinds: The macro environment, monetary tailwinds, U.S. election cycle and increasing TradFi demand all point to higher prices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Historical gains of Bitcoin in election years: Specifically, bitcoin gained 152% in 2012, 121% in 2016 and 302% in 2020, or an average of 192%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. U.S. Stock Market and Economic Outlook<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Advances in U.S. stock markets: Continuing advances for U.S. stock markets also likely supported risk assets like crypto, with S&P 500 closing at a record high, the Dows was just a few ticks from it all-time high, and Nasdaq continued to close in on its record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Federal Reserve Chair’s warning on U.S. fiscal sustainability: Fed Chair Jerome Powell is warning the United States is on an unsustainable fiscal path, with debt currently outpacing growth in the broader economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Bitcoin ETFs and Institutional Investments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Funds amassed by Bitcoin ETFs since their debut: Bitcoin ETFs have amassed $7.7B in funds since debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Performance of specific Bitcoin ETFs like IBTC and FBTC: BlackRock-managed IBTC and Fidelity Investments’ FBTC emerging as two prominent leaders among the newly issued spot Bitcoin ETFs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Significant trading volumes in Bitcoin ETFs: BlackRock\u2019s IBIT fund is leading the spot Bitcoin ETF pack as Feb. 7 tops a billion dollars in trading volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. Global Regulatory Developments and Crypto Investments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Hong Kong’s first spot Bitcoin ETF application: Hong Kong SFC received the application for the first spot Bitcoin ETF which is expected to launch after Feb. 10.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Thailand’s SEC introducing crypto-friendly rules: Thailand’s SEC, breaking new ground in 2024, introduces crypto-friendly rules that allow retail investors to invest without limits in digital tokens backed by real estate or infrastructure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Spain’s trial of Euro-backed stablecoins: Euro-backed stablecoin trials begin in Spain. Every EURM is backed on 1:1 par by euro and stored at Spanish banks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7. Long-Term Price Predictions and Comparisons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Anthony Scaramucci’s prediction for Bitcoin: Skybridge Capital founder and managing partner Anthony Scaramucci predicts Bitcoin to hit at least $170K after the halving in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Comparisons to the market capitalization of gold: As for his long-term price target, Anthony Scaramucci sees BTC could easily reach half of the market capitalization of gold, which would bring the price of one coin up to roughly $400,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Standard Chartered’s expectations for Ethereum: The British bank Standard Chartered expects that Ether could hit $4,000 with likely Spot ETH ETF approval in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8. Crypto Integration in Traditional Finance and Payment Systems<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Visa’s initiatives in cryptocurrency: Enabling crypto withdrawals on debit cards in 145 countries, Visa has been actively exploring the use cases of cryptocurrency in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Partnership with Circle for USDC support: In 2020, Visa made a major move into crypto, by partnering with Circle to support the USDC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf Expansion of USDC payments on the Solana blockchain: In September 2023, Visa rolled out support for USDC payments settled on the Solana blockchain as it continued to expand the support of the stablecoin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

9. Corporate Crypto Strategies and Investments<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf FTX’s decision to sell a stake in Anthropic: FTX seeks to sell an 8% stake in Anthropic for the sake of its shareholders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u25cf El Salvador’s ongoing commitment to Bitcoin under President Nayib Bukele: El Salvador’s Bitcoin-friendly president Nayib Bukele is on his way to another five-year term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feb. 10, 2024<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAs blockchain technology advances, there is a decentralized alternative for every centralized option.\u201d  – Nick Johnson, founder and lead developer of Ethereum Name Service Biweekly News Roundup 1. Bitcoin Market Movements \u25cf Bitcoin’s recovery from a breakdown below $42,000: Starting its first full week of February, BTC rebounded from below $42K, surpassing $44,000 on February […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[8,17,28,53,179],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":560,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553\/revisions\/560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wagecan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}