Cryptocurrency update: BTC breaks $43,000 level

Bitcoin made strides this weekend before settling over $43,000, yet the upcoming US Infrastructure Bill may put the brakes on further momentum.

Cryptocurrency update

Bitcoin makes weekend gains but could face further derailment

Bitcoin’s torrid month could be over as prices shot above $45,000 on the weekend.

The token reached a 3-month high on Saturday, reaching $45,300. Things have cooled a little since then, with BTC dropping back to $43,788 at the time of writing.

This is good news for Bitcoin traders. The token has struggled to keep a hold of gains over the past 3 months, sinking as low as $29,000 on some weeks. Could we be about to see a major breakout for the world’s most popular cryptocurrency?

According to Datamish research, the weekend’s price action was guided by a short squeeze when 126 BTC positions were liquidated on Friday. Bullish traders are helping keep the coin afloat, as it pushes towards the $45,000 200-moving day average.

It’s interesting because last week concerns over tax provisions within the proposed US infrastructure bill had caused a bit of market uncertainty. However, institutional activity from the likes of Grayscale is picking up again. That’s put more confidence back into the BTC market.

Amendments to the bill put forward by Democratic senators would exclude crypto miners involved in transaction validation on distributed ledgers, as well as firms selling private key hardware or software wallets, from tax reporting provisions.

It seems these proposals were enough to instil upward momentum back into Bitcoin.

But as ever there’s a twist in the tale: it’s been announced that the version of the Infrastructure Bill that will be voted on in the US Senate tomorrow will be the original bill without these key amendments. BTC Bulls are not happy with Biden right now.

We’ll have to see how the market reacts to the vote’s outcome tomorrow to gauge price action, but the BTC breakout could now be in jeopardy.

Brazilian BTC ETF promises a greener future

Much has been made of crypto mining’s environmental impact this year. Tesla u-turned on its pledge to accept Bitcoin as payment after citing environmental concerns earlier in the year, for example.

A new ETF launched in Brazil promises carbon neutrality in the hopes of inspiring industry-wide change.

BITH11 from alternative investment fund Hashdex Asset Management is claiming to be Brazil’s first green crypto ETF.

Carbon credits are the keys to the fund’s eco-friendly credentials. To offset the carbon produced in the mining process, Hashdex says it plans to spend big on carbon credits through a partnership with Germany’s Crypto Carbon Ratings Institute (CCRI).

The CCRI will produce annual reports estimating the level of energy consumed and the amount of carbon generated through the ETF’s Bitcoin mining activities. 0.15% of the ETF’s liquid assets will be pumped into carbon credit acquisitions, as well as investment in green technologies, every year, according to Hashdex.

This is not the first Bitcoin fund Hasdex has launched this year. Its first, HASH11, was launched on the B3 Brazilian Stock Exchange earlier in the year and has so far gained 33% since going live.

Dogecoin to soar by the end of the year?

Dogecoin, the novelty token-turned serious asset, could rally massively by the end of the year, according to industry observers polled by price comparison website Finder.

The coin’s “pump and dump” cycle could help inspire price action across 2021 after Dogecoin recently found a $0.20 floor. The industry now believes Dogecoin will end the year at $0.42 – a 60% rise against current prices.

Don’t get too excited, however. Of the 42 industry insiders surveyed by Finder, 80% of them agreed Dogecoin is in a bubble. And bubbles almost always burst. While the majority of respondents posit strong price action this year, 55% think it will collapse in 2021 too. 42% say it will happen next year, while only 3% forecast a bursting dogecoin-shaped bubble in 2023.

“Dogecoin seems largely dependent on Elon Musk’s erratic tweets,” said John Hawkins, senior lecturer at the University of Canberra. When surveyed, Hawkins predicted dogecoin will be worth 15 cents by the end of 2021 and will be completely worthless by 2030.