"In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable." — Robert Arnott
1-Min Market Update
Bitcoin
BTC has met strong resistance at the $24-25k zone, dampening any hopes of a breakdown.
The key support levels are now $19k, $16k, and $12k. It looks likely that Bitcoin will continue trading in the expanded range of $19k to $24k.
Ethereum
ETH (blue) has continued to outperform BTC (orange) over the past month.
This is likely due to the positive news surrounding The Merge.
Technically, ETH also looks to be in a more favorable position.
The key test will be whether Ethereum can monthly close above the $1300-1500 zone and claim it as support. As we can see on the ETH monthly chart:
Macro / Stocks
Last week, I wrote about the risk of Russia throttling Europe’s gas supplies further through the false pretence of maintenance. It looks like that came to pass sooner than expected, with Gazprom cutting supply to 20% of total capacity.
Oil prices rose slightly, after having fallen significantly since last month. It seems likely that Europe will have to burn more oil this winter to keep the lights on. Gas prices also increased.
Morgan Stanley says it’s too early to expect the central bank to stop tightening, which suggests stocks have further to fall
Walmart plunged in late trading in the US after it made another surprise cut to its profit outlook.
Snap Stock also fell off a cliff after another disappointing quarter. The stock is now down almost 90% from its peak last year. Advertising budgets are often first hit during economic slowdowns, so the drop could be a canary in the coal mine, signaling an upcoming recession.
Top News Past Week
Tesla Sold 75% Of Its Bitcoin (BTC), And Blackrock Losses $1.7 Trillion in 6 Months
Tesla's second quarter of 2022 ended with a drop in profit after the company struggled to meet demand due to a shutdown of its Shanghai factory, as well as production challenges that occurred with new plans. The company also sold 75% of its holdings in the Bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency, which led to a slide in the price of the cryptocurrency.
Furthermore, the New York-based BlackRock investment firm has lost $1.7 trillion of its client’s assets in the first half of 2022. During the company’s earnings call, Chairman and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink said: “2022 ranks as the worst start in 50 years for both stocks and bonds.”.
Paraguayan Senate Approves Crypto Bill, President Vladimir Putin Signs Law Outlawing Crypto in Russia, Singapore Broadens Crypto Regulations, and Ireland Greenlights Gemini
The Paraguayan Senate has approved a bill that aims to regulate cryptocurrencies as well as their operations within the country.
The bill ended up getting approved with some suggested changes which have established clear definitions as well as tax exemptions for companies within the cryptocurrency and crypto mining sectors.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a bill that makes cryptocurrency payments illegal in Russia, which will essentially put a blow on the $940 billion asset class in the world's 11th largest economy. Under this new law, which the Russian Assembly approved on July 8, cryptocurrencies, as well as digital securities, will no longer be accepted as "monetary surrogates" and, as such, cannot be used as a means of payment.
Furthermore, Singapore will broaden cryptocurrency regulations to cover more activities, which means that they will join a push on a global scale to essentially lessen the risks after a series of business failures had an impact on the industry.
The Central Bank of Ireland also granted regulatory approval to the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini. They will be able to offer digital asset services in the local market/ Furthermore, the company also became the first to be registered as a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) in the country.
Skybridge Has Announced a Suspension of Withdrawals From a Crypto-Exposed Fund
Skybridge has frozen crypto investors' funds. However, founder Anthony Scaramucci claims that the suspension is only temporary and is a measure with no fear of liquidation. Withdrawals have been suspended from its Legion Strategies fund, which is one of the firm's funds with exposure to crypto. Scaramucci also mentioned Bitcoin (BTC) as well as FTX stock as examples of the fund's crypto exposure.
“Our board made the decision to temporarily suspend until we can raise capital inside the fund,” said Scaramucci.
Vitalik Buterin Claims Ethereum Will Be 55% Complete After "The Merge" and Updated the Roadmap With a Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge
The co-founder of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin, shared new thoughts on Thursday surrounding how he foresees the blockchain network’s evolution. At the Ethereum Community Conference (EthCC) in Paris, Buterin said how he considers Ethereum to be 40% complete and that this number can go up to becoming 55% after "The Merge" is completed. He also said how he considers Bitcoin to be 80% complete.
Alongside "The Merge," Ethereum will undergo a Surge, Verge, Purge, and Splurge upgrade as part of its ongoing development roadmap. Buterin claims that Ethereum will, at some point in the future, be able to process 100,000 transactions-per-second (TPS) following the completion of these five key phases.
Ripple Founder’s “Tacostand” Wallet Empties After Eight-Year Selloff
The former founder of Ripple Labs, known as Jed McCaleb, has ended the eight-year dump of his holdings of the XRP cryptocurrency, where only 46.7 XRP is left sitting in the famed "Tacostand" wallet worth around $16.
According to data from the blockchain explorer known as XRP Scan, the former Ripple founder executed his last outgoing transaction of the XRP cryptocurrency, where he transferred 1.1 million XRP, worth $394,742.18, at 6:31 am UTC on Sunday.
A few hours later, the account listed an "ACCOUNT DELETE" transaction, meaning that it would no longer exist on the XRP Ledger. This marked an end to a 9 billion XRP selloff initiated by the founder after leaving Ripple Labs to become the co-founder of Stellar (XLM) in 2014.
Thanks for reading,
James