Global markets are sliding, but bitcoin is holding its ground for the moment, so why
is it bucking the trend?
Welcome to The Daily Forkast March 15th 2022.
I'm Angie Lau.
Editor in chief of Forkast, covering all things blockchain.
Well, markets in general have been a sea of red since the conflict in Ukraine began.
But while that volatility initially hit bitcoin, its price has been pretty stable for the past
week.
We're going to take a look at why that might be plus a whole lot more coming up.
Let's get you up to speed from Asia to the world.
Join thousands of NFT traders who already start their day on CryptoSlam.
Well, could there be a new crypto hub emerging?
It's big news and a major announcement in the crypto industry.
The world's largest crypto exchange, Binance, has been granted a license to operate in Bahrain.
After tweeting the news, Binance CEO and founder Changpeng Zhao, or CZ, said the license is
a milestone in the company's journey to being licensed and regulated around the world.
Binance is now allowed to offer crypto trading, custodial and portfolio management services
in the oil rich kingdom.
It's something that Binance had hoped to seek in Singapore, but the firm withdrew its application
to the Monetary Authority of Singapore to operate a regulated crypto exchange in that
country last December.
Meanwhile, in Singapore, financial measures from the country's central bank targeting
designated Russian banks, entities and activities in Russia are now in place.
The move is in line with the growing sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
Now, the Monetary Authority of Singapore's notice says that the measures apply to all
financial institutions in Singapore, including banks, finance companies, insurers, among
others.
It added that digital payment token service providers are prohibited from facilitating
transactions that could aid the circumvention of the financial measures.
You can find those stories and a whole lot more at Forkast.News.
All right, over to the markets now, Bitcoin has been trading roughly flat over the past
few days, while equity markets have continued to fall.
But could we be in for more volatility ahead with China imposing citywide COVID lockdowns
and no sign of a resolution to the war in Ukraine?
Forkas's Carolyn Wright takes a look at the key factors driving the market action.
After peaking close to US$42,500 dollars last week, Bitcoin has been trading around the
US$39,000 mark since.
One expert told Forkast there are two reasons why it's been holding its own while wider
markets have sunk.
One is the explanations for a 25 basis point rate hike from this week's Fed meeting are
already priced in.
But I think for the better part, we're starting to see some safe haven flows into Bitcoin
and out of crude, out of gold, and they have been where a lot of money is being stored.
And now I think people are looking well, where can we actually put some money at an asset
class, which is more fairly priced?
Sycamore says that Bitcoin is trading in a bearish consolidation pattern and that it
would have to push above the US$46,000 mark to really make an upwards move out of the
range, rather than risk a break of support around the US$33,000 mark.
And for the markets overall at the moment, he's keeping a close watch on the situation
in Ukraine.
I don't think the peace talks are going to amount to anything.
In fact, more significant is the developments overnight, which we now know that Russia has
asked China for military aid, and that to me signifies that we have a bigger problem
potentially festering.
Denials have since been made about requests for military aid.
But Andrew Sullivan of Asian Market Sense told Forkast that if we see the US placing
sanctions on China as a result, that could hurt the country's economy.
Certainly, if it goes for sanctions on the banking system, that could put China under
an awful lot more pressure than we've seen to date.
And obviously, you know, it has tried like Russia has to to make sure that it's kind
of given itself a barrier by building up these foreign reserves.
But if you can freeze those foreign reserves, then that's very difficult to get around.
Sullivan says China's economy is already in for a rough road ahead, with millions being
locked down because of an upsurge in COVID cases, alongside an increase in unemployment
figures shown in today's economic data.
Sullivan agrees that investors are also hoping for more clarity on the situation in Ukraine,
and that could provoke a significant knee jerk reaction in markets.
In the meantime, he says President Biden's executive order requiring the U.S. government
to study cryptocurrencies has increased confidence in Bitcoin as a safe haven.
Because of that paper and its acceptance by more and more institutions and now by the
US government effectively, which would be the ultimate institution to have it being
recognized by, I think is giving investors a lot more confidence in holding Bitcoin than
their maybe even other assets.
For Forkast.
I'm Carolyn Wright in Hong Kong.
Moving on from Bitcoin to a look at how altcoins could be set to shape the future of the crypto
world, with Bitcoin's dominance fading from 70 percent at the beginning of 2021 to just
over 40 percent now, that's a clear sign that altcoins are gaining ground on the OG of the
cryptocurrency world.
Forkast's Monika Ghosh takes a look at which of them could take center stage this year.
While there is no imminent threat that Bitcoin will be talking to market leader, all points
are seeing a bright future as the crypto industry matures.
Some analysts even speculate that Ethereum, which has an 18.1 percent share of the total
cryptocurrency market capitalization, may eventually displace bitcoin for the top spot,
an event that is referred to as 'The Flippening.'
While some crypto investors are confident that investing in altcoins will yield huge
profits in the future.
Aside from Ethereum, analysts have highlighted Terra, Avalanche, Cosmos, Fantom, and CHZ
among the most interesting bitcoin alternatives.
Global Block analyst Markus Sotero said that Terra's Luna Coin's growth in the last six
months has been monumental.
There are currently lags behind Ethereum in terms of total value locked or TVL.
Meanwhile, Voyager CEO and co-founder Steve Albrecht described Avalanche as a cheaper
alternative to Ethereum, with an emphasis on ease of use and reliability.
Cosmos, on the other hand, has been praised by some analysts for its growth potential
in supporting an ecosystem of blockchains capable of interoperability and scaling with
each other.
Another altcoin to watch out for is Fantom.
Fantom's token rose from 1.7 US Cents to close the year at 2.25 US Cents.
However, its outlook has taken a knock after news that developers Anton Nell and Andre
Cronje planned to exit from the project.
And finally, CHZ, the token linked to the marketing platform Socios.com, is gaining
popularity amid wider uptake by sporting franchises.
The Socios platform has partnered with more than 120 major sports organizations, including
the US National Football League, the NBA and the European Football Association.
With so many promising altcoin options, are investors ready to take on these riskier assets?
Well, with uncertainty weighing on global markets, analysts caution that appetite is
down for the moment.
For Forkast, I'm Monika Ghosh.
I guess that's why they call them altcoins.
And that's The Daily Forkast from our vantage point right here in Asia.
For more visit Forkast.News.
I'm Editor in chief Angie Lau.
Until the next time.