Bitcoin is looking bearish as the year begins to wind down as Ether makes headway.

Cryptocurrency update

Bitcoin enters bear market, says goodbye to $100,000

At the start of the year there was talk that Bitcoin would hit $100,000 by January 2022. Well, as things stand, that’s look ever more unlikely. This week’s the week the bears have their picnic.

Bitcoin has been trending down since last Friday when lows hit $53,474. While it has made around $3,000 since then, currently trading at $56,660, but it looks like BTC is fully in bear mode.

The likes of Cathie Wood and other big-name investors have long claimed that Bitcoin has the potential to hit $100,000. I don’t think this is a pipe dream. Sooner or later, the world’s most popular crypto will probably hit that level. It just won’t happen in 2021.

According to research from AMB Crypto, over 10,000 Bitcoin tokens were sold on December 2^nd – valued at a cool $575 million – as fear, uncertainty and doubt ramps up in the crypto space.

It seems Omicron-variant doubt is creeping into cryptocurrency traders’ minds. It’s been the same on equities markets, despite the scientific community’s belief that this new COVID strain is no more deadly than others.

Other tokens aren’t fairing quite so bad. Ethereum, for example, could be poised for a spectacular breakout.

ETH reached a new all-time on November 10^th at $4,878 and is currently trading at $4,612. The $5,000 level is getting closer and closer. What’s more, at $557bn, Ethereum now represents 20% of the whole crypto economy. For context, Bitcoin used to represent over 50%, but has now slide below the 40% mark.

Ethereum is up 668% across the year.

If any token is poised to end 2021 on a high note, it’s Ethereum. Bitcoin still has a lot of work to do before it crosses the $100,000 barrier. It’s yet to cross $70,000. Q4 is traditionally a strong time for the token, so it probably has some legs left in it just yet, but the rise to $100,000 will be a marathon, not a sprint, in this writer’s opinion.

Facebook unbans crypto advertising

In what’s probably very good news for the whole crypto sector, Facebook has unbanned digital token advertising on its social media platform.

This is likely one of the steps the social media giant, now operating under the parent company Meta, is taking to create the metaverse.

What is the metaverse? Well, the tech buzzword de jour very basically means creating a digital/physical ecosystem where users work, socialise and play using augmented and virtual reality technologies.

The crypto industry will now be able to harness Facebook’s formidable advertising power to reach an audience of around 3 billion globally.

Crypto adverts were banned by Facebook in 2018 as part of a general crackdown on “misleading or deceptive promotional practices”. Whether or not you believe Facebook is capable of adequately fighting such practices is a different matter entirely.

In a statement regarding its decision, Facebook said: “We’re doing this because the cryptocurrency landscape has continued to mature and stabilise in recent years and has seen more government regulations that are setting clearer rules for their industry.

“This change will help make our policy more equitable and transparent and allow for a greater number of advertisers, including small businesses, to use our tools and grow their business.”

Meta and Facebook clearly sees digital finance, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as part of its general pivot to the metaverse.

Last month, Morgan Stanley said the metaverse represents an $8 trillion investing and trading opportunity. Its development could help spur on mainstream acceptance of digital currencies, as well as help strengthen prices.

Jack Dorsey goes all in on crypto

After stepping down as Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey is turning all his effort towards his payment platform Block.

Previously called Square, Block’s name change indicates a significant interest in crypto and decentralised finance for the former Twitter bod.

Some believe this rebranding exercise signals a wholesale shift from standard online payment platform to full-on blockchain and crypto company.

Dorsey has long been a crypto evangelist. For the past five years, he’s shown significant interest in its development. In one of his last acts as Twitter CEO, he gave the greenlight for platform accepting “tips” paid in Bitcoin for tweets its users feel are deserving of more than a simple like and retweet.

Dorsey was also one of the driving forces behind the Bitcoin Lightning Network, and supported Bitcoin developers directly through a unit called Square Crypto. Square was also one of the first digital payment systems to integrate crypto functionality.

This appears to be part of the growing acceptance of DeFi and cryptocurrencies in general amongst the mainstream. What long-term effects this will have on token price action remains to be seen, but it appears Jack Dorsey is the next major tech head to fully embrace digital tokens.