Thursday, 31 December 2020

Tyler Winklevoss Eyes ETH: Buying Ethereum Now Is Like Buying Bitcoin At 50% Discount

Tyler Winklevoss Eyes ETH: Buying Ethereum Now Is Like Buying Bitcoin At 50% Discount

Tyler Winklevoss, the co-founder, and CEO of the crypto exchange Gemini and one of the earliest BTC adopters believes that Ethereum’s price is a “steal” now. He noted that the second-largest cryptocurrency is still about 50% away from its all-time high.

Winklevoss: Buying ETH Now Is A Steal

Ethereum is among the best performers through this challenging year. Whether it was the DeFi craze or the long-anticipated ETH 2.0 launch, the asset has exploded by nearly 500% from $130 at the start of 2020 to the recently charted YTD high of $760.

Despite surging significantly more than BTC percentage-wise, ETH was unable to mimic bitcoin in registering a new all-time high. In fact, Ether is still a long way from its highest level, marked in January 2018 of $1,450 (according to CoinGecko data).

ETH’s price, being roughly 50% away from that level, has caught the attention of the early Facebook investor – Tyler Winklevoss. He classified the option to buy ETH at this level as a “steal” and compared it to purchasing BTC at $14,000 – slightly over 50% of bitcoin’s latest all-time high.

The price of ether $ETH right now is $735. This is 51% off of its all-time-high, which is like buying #Bitcoin at 14k. What a steal.

— Tyler Winklevoss (@tyler) December 31, 2020

Ethereum Whales Accumulate

And while Winklevoss might be expecting an additional price surge for ETH, it seems that Ethereum whales have been preparing for such a scenario with massive purchases.

The analytics company Santiment breached data that the number of ETH address holding at least 10,000 tokens has increased by 39 wallets in the past two months alone.


ETH Retail/Whale Hodlers. Source: Santiment

At the same time, Santiment said that retail investors had done the opposite. Addresses containing between 100 and 10,000 ETH tokens have been gradually decreasing since mid-November 2020. Furthermore, the number of relatively small wallets holding between one and 100 Ethers has plummeted before Christmas, as the graph above demonstrates (the purple line).

Google Trends, which is typically a good indicator of retail investors’ behavior, suggests that the term “buy Ethereum” has reached a yearly high this week following ETH’s YTD price record. Nevertheless, the interest from such investors is still far away from the 2017/2018 craze.


“Buy Ethereum” Google Searches 5-Year Back. Source: Google Trends

Featured Image Courtesy of Yahoo

Title: Tyler Winklevoss Eyes ETH: Buying Ethereum Now Is Like Buying Bitcoin At 50% Discount
Sourced From: cryptopotato.com/tyler-winklevoss-eyes-eth-buying-ethereum-now-is-like-buying-bitcoin-at-50-discount/
Published Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2020 09:30:49 +0000


Tyler Winklevoss Eyes ETH: Buying Ethereum Now Is Like Buying Bitcoin At 50% Discount

Bitcoin mining & staying green

Bitcoin mining & staying green

Given that Bitcoin is not tied to a bank or government, it has been able to increase massively in value. Just this month, bitcoin surpassed $20,000 solidifying a new all-time high.

Bitcoin has a cap of 21 million in circulation, so after that’s all been done and dusted, there’s no more left.

Following bitcoin’s rise to the mainstream in 2017 to highs of, the question was raised on whether the leading crypto was having an impact on the environment. 

Simply, the answer is yes.

Since then, bitcoin has been very volatile but despite this, the growth has been phenomenal, to say the least. But the environmental factor is very much still an issue. A large amount of energy is being used in order to power bitcoin and the miners that mine it.

Given that bitcoin it’s not tethered to a bank or government and is essentially just a line of computer code, it can be signed digitally from one owner to another. However, when it comes to the environment, the worry comes from the fact that bitcoin can exist without computers. As a result, electricity is being used massively in order to keep bitcoin going. With the value of bitcoin increasing too, this computer use will continue.

Not only is bitcoin mining an expensive hobby but it has a big impact on the environment and the world around us. Yes, the rewards can be lucrative but it will be interesting to see how bitcoin mining goes in the future, and if bitcoin can adapt to a greener world.

© 2020 CryptoDaily All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Title: Bitcoin mining & staying green
Sourced From: cryptodaily.co.uk/2020/12/bitcoin-mining-and-staying-green
Published Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2020 09:30:12 +0000


Bitcoin mining & staying green

Bitcoin Price Surpasses $29,000 To Record A New All-Time High

Bitcoin Price Surpasses $29,000 To Record A New All-Time High

The cryptocurrency market shows no signs of slowing down today. The total capitalization has added almost $4 billion in the past 24 hours, surging to levels not seen since January 2018. At the time of this writing, the total market cap sits just shy of $760 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin price continues to paint fresh all-time highs on a daily basis. Earlier today, CryptoPotato reported that the cryptocurrency has managed to break out once again and chart a new high at $28,600. However, it appears that there’s undoubtedly room for more.In the past few hours, BTC has gone on yet another leg up, painting a fresh all-time high surpassing $29K – the current ATH is set to $29,010 on Bitstamp.

BTC/USD, source: TradingViewWith this, the cryptocurrency has also managed to gain about $3,000 since yesterday’s lows – below $26,000 and completes almost 50% ROI in just two weeks since breaking the previous ATH recorded in December 2017 ($19,660).It’s also interesting to note that the second-biggest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ethereum, is also on the move. Earlier today, we reported that it’s likely that ETH’s sideways movement from the past couple of days might end up with a wild move and it appears that one is already in the making.ETH’s price reached $758 on Binance – a level that we haven’t seen since May 2018. The world’s second-largest cryptocurrency is now sitting on a market cap of around $85 billion.Title: Bitcoin Price Surpasses $29,000 To Record A New All-Time High
Sourced From: cryptopotato.com/bitcoin-price-surpasses-29000-to-record-a-new-all-time-high/
Published Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2020 09:31:13 +0000


Bitcoin Price Surpasses $29,000 To Record A New All-Time High

Wednesday, 30 December 2020

4 reasons why Ethereum options traders expect ETH price to reach $880

4 reasons why Ethereum options traders expect ETH price to reach $880

Ether (ETH) price has gained 88% since November, astonishing even the most bullish investors as the top altcoin secured a 2020 high at $750.

Aside from the upcoming CME ETH futures launch scheduled for Feb. 8, the phenomenal growth of the total value locked (TVL) in Decentralized Finance protocols also played a major part.


Total Value Locked, USD. Source: DeFi Pulse

As the above data indicates, investors are even more confident that Eth2 has been a success, despite the real potential of delays and implementation hurdles.

Another possible bullish factor in the background is the recent 2 year low in ETH miner balances. This certainly eases potential sell pressure and opens room for further bullish continuation.

Over the past three months, the open interest on Ether options grew by 150% to a total of $880 million. This incredible build-up occurred as the cryptocurrency broke the $700 resistance, and reached its highest price since May 2018.


Ether options open interest. Source: Crytorank.io

The put-call ratio flipped bullish

By measuring whether more activity is going through call (buy) options or put (sell) options, one can gauge the overall market sentiment. Generally speaking, call options are used for bullish strategies, whereas put options for neutral to bearish ones.


Ether options open interest put/call ratio. Source: Cryptorank.io

Despite the recent price rally, the put/call ratio has gone down considerably. This move indicates that the more bullish call options have been dominating volumes. One should expect precisely the opposite whenever traders lock in profits or prepare for a potential downside.

That’s a striking contrast to the 0.94 level two weeks ago, which indicated that put options were well balanced with the neutral to bullish call options.

Options data shows traders expect another 20% hike to $880

The odds of the current option trades are calculated according to the Black & Scholes model. Deribit exchange presents this information as ‘delta’. In short, these are the percent-based odds for each strike.


Ether Jan. 29 call options delta. Source: Deribit

According to the above data, the $880 strike for Jan. 25 has a 34% chance of occurring, while the most traded $960 strike holds a 25% odd according to the options pricing model.

Take notice that the statistical model tends to be overly conservative, as even the $720 strike holds a mere 59% odd.

The March expiry is also extremely bullish

With 86 days left until March 2021 expiry, the odds of Ether price topping $880 is even more likely.


Ether Sept. 25 call options delta. Source: Deribit

The same $880 strike now has a 49% odd according to the Black & Scholes pricing model, whereas the staggering $1,120 expiry holds 33%.

As shown above, the options for March 2021 are trading a relevant amount of volume and cost $114 apiece. This data is indisputable evidence of traders’ bullish sentiment.

Futures market data reflects bullish sentiment

An even better way to gauge professional investors sentiment toward the market is to analyze the futures markets premium. This is measured by the difference between longer-term future contracts and the current Ether (ETH) spot price.


Mar. 2021 Ether futures premium. Source: Digital Assets Data

The chart above shows that the indicator peaked at 5.8% on Dec. 19 and it reached the same level again on Dec. 28 as Ether price made a multi-year high. A sustained futures premium above 3.5% reflects optimism, although it is far from excessive.

The current 4.3% rate is equal to an 18% annualized premium and is significantly higher than the levels seen in previous months. This shows that despite reaching a swing high at $750 levels, professional traders remain confident in Ether’s future potential.

It might be too soon to determine whether the derivatives market will reduce its optimism, but for the moment, bulls seem to be fully in control.

While there is always the possibility of a correction in Ether price, it is unlikely to be strong enough to cause havoc as the market is not showing any signs of excessive optimism.

author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph. Every investment and trading move involves risk. You should conduct your own research when making a decision.

Title: 4 reasons why Ethereum options traders expect ETH price to reach $880
Sourced From: cointelegraph.com/news/4-reasons-why-ethereum-options-traders-expect-eth-price-to-reach-880
Published Date: Thu, 31 Dec 2020 00:14:46 +0000


4 reasons why Ethereum options traders expect ETH price to reach $880

Bitcoin, stablecoins and DeFi: 2020’s top-performing crypto assets

Bitcoin, stablecoins and DeFi: 2020’s top-performing crypto assets

Bitcoin (BTC) has had a stellar 2020, but how are other top crypto assets faring? Let’s take a look at how some of the top cryptocurrencies by market capitalization performed this . 

Bitcoin

First, Bitcoin has seen a massive gain since Jan. 1, as its price soared from $7,195 to as high as $28,422.

Within 12 months, the price of Bitcoin rose by 290%, outperforming all major stock indices and most stocks, apart from a select few including Tesla (TSLA).

The main catalysts behind Bitcoin’s rally have been the increase in institutional demand, favorable financial conditions as a result of central bank liquidity injections, and the decline of the U.S. dollar.


BTC/USD monthly chart (Coinbase). Source: TradingView.com

The combination of the three macro factors fueled Bitcoin’s momentum in October. Eventually, as major institution-focused platforms including CME and Grayscale saw a large spike in volume and inflows, accelerating Bitcoin’s rally.

Ethereum

Ether (ETH) price performed strongly throughout 2020, despite its recent stagnant phase against Bitcoin.

The Ether price started 2020 at $128 across major exchanges and at its peak on Dec. 30, ETH achieved $748.

The primary driver of Ether’s rally throughout November was the release of Eth2. After reaching a threshold of over 400,000 ETH in deposits, Eth2 commenced.

Eth2 is a major network upgrade for Ethereum as it scales the blockchain exponentially over time. Without Eth2, Ethereum is able to process under 20 transactions per second. With Eth2, this figure increases to potentially thousands of transactions per second.

Old school altcoins

In year-to-date performance, most of the old school altcoins (the one’s from 2017 and earlier), including XRP, Cadano (ADA), and Stellar (XLM), lagged behind Bitcoin pr.

Out of the original altcoins, XRP initially performed particularly well in November as Bitcoin rallied towards its all-time high.

XRP began the year at $0.1923 and surged to as high as $0.9210, demonstrating a four-fold increase in about 11 months. However, as BTC surged past $20,000, altcoins took a hit, causing XRP to drop to $0.52. After the SEC’s lawsuit against Ripple, XRP dropped further, declining to as low as $0.17.

Smart contract protocols

Polkadot, Chainlink, EOS, and Tezos have also rallied since the beginning of the year. The four smart contract-related cryptocurrencies each saw considerable catalysts for short-term rallies when BTC rallied towards $20,000.


Bitcoin weekly chart versus Chainlink, Polkadot, EOS, and Tezos. Source: TradingView.com

For instance, Chainlink benefited from the explosive growth of the decentralized finance (DeFi) space. Chainlink is an oracle-focued blockchain network and the objective of an oracle is to feed data to DeFi protocols.

As such, as the total value locked in DeFi reached $16 billion, Chainlink rallied and so did many other DeFi-linked tokens.

Despite various respective catalysts, Polkadot, EOS, Tezos, and Chainlink lagged behind Bitcoin in year-to-date gains. The main reason behind the muted price action was Bitcoin’s meteoric rally post-$20,000, which caused altcoins to pull back.

Specialized tokens, such as Wrapped Bitcoin, USDC, and Tether also saw significant growth in terms of market cap. These tokens are mainly utilized on DeFi protocols and the rapid increase in user activity made each token endemic to the DeFi ecosystem.

Tether has just surpassed a $20B market capitalization! 

This fantastic milestone is another confirmation for Tether maintaining its number one spot as the most liquid, stable and trusted currency! pic.twitter.com/sorWjzChIo

— Tether (@Tether_to) December 18, 2020

Tether, in particular, saw a rapid increase in market capitalization in the fourth quarter of 2020. As Cointelegraph reported, Tether, the most used stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market, surpassed $20 billion in valuation.

Title: Bitcoin, stablecoins and DeFi: 2020’s top-performing crypto assets
Sourced From: cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-stablecoins-and-defi-2020-s-top-performing-crypto-assets
Published Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2020 20:27:21 +0000


Bitcoin, stablecoins and DeFi: 2020’s top-performing crypto assets

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