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Goldman Sachs and Citigroup Perform the First Equity Swap on Blockchain

During the launch event, the first live trade data between US giant banks Goldman Sachs and Citigroup were processed on Axoni blockchain. This is the first equity swap transaction on a blockchain built using tools designed for Ethereum.

The launch of the DLT is a multi-year initiative led by Axoni. The distributed ledger infrastructure allows both sides of an equity swap trade to be synchronized throughout the transaction lifecycle, thus communicating changes with each other in real-time.

Blockchain for equity swaps

Traditional equity swaps have to be continuously updated for multiple variables. These include different interest rates, end-of-day market prices, and corporate actions like stock splits and dividend payments.

Furthermore, disagreements happen regularly as each counterparty in trade operates and maintains its own records and books representing the initial trade terms and tracking changes throughout the trade lifecycle. Therefore, the necessary time to complete a transaction requires lots of hours and human resources. With active volumes running in millions per company, which the traditional infrastructure is incapable of handling, there are frequent data breakups between counterparties, thus causing increased operational costs for doing manual reconciliation of records against each other.

Axoni’s blockchain technology can offer the necessary instrument to resolve these time-consuming and costly issues.

Brian Steele, Global Head of Market Solutions at Goldman Sachs said, “Goldman Sachs continues embracing new technology solutions that deliver operational efficiencies and enhance our front-to-back client experience. We are happy to be working with innovative technology firms such as Axoni, and our industry partners to build post-trade solutions that synchronize data and automate business processes on a common infrastructure.”

Puneet Singhvi, Head of Financial Market Infrastructure, and Lead for Digital Assets, Blockchain, and DLT at Citi, mentioned, “This is an important milestone that reinforces our dedication to embracing technology to address real problems encountered by the industry. Using smart contracts, the platform will enable crucial efficiencies while addressing risks in post-trade processing of equity swaps.”

Established in 2013 and based in New York, Axoni specializes in distributed ledger infrastructure. The company has gained major backing from big firms for its work focused on distributed ledger technology. Both Goldman Sachs and Citi are Axoni investors. Wells Fargo, NEX Group, Franklin Templeton Investments, JP Morgan, and HSBC have also all invested in Axoni in the past few years.

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Goldman Sachs Invites Investors to Conference Call on Bitcoin, Gold and Crisis Markets

According to a recent investors’ invitation, Goldman Sachs is calling for a conference call event to further discuss inflation, gold, and Bitcoin. The investment bank seeks to hold a call with its top investors on the “US Economic Outlook & Implications of Current Policies for Inflation, Gold, And Bitcoin”.

Per the invitation, the event is scheduled to take place on May 27th. There are no specific details concerning the exact content and agenda of the conference. However, the report shows that the bank aims to discuss how the risk of monetary inflation and the current central bank policy could impact assets such as gold and Bitcoin.

Banks Learning to Love Cryptocurrency

When the cryptocurrency industry emerged in 2009, financial institutions and banks visualized Bitcoin as a mere technology used by criminals on the dark web. Four years ago, nearly every financier, banker, and bank either had never heard about Bitcoin or were laughing at it.

But the perception has changed in the last few years and several leading banking institutions now recognize the once worthless Bitcoin and its associated ecosystem and technology, as a significant force for payment in the future.

As banks around the world begin to like the concept of Central Bank Digital Currencies, the clash between the traditional banking system, blockchain, and cryptocurrencies has subdued. In this scenario, the biggest turnaround has been JPMorgan Chase, the US banking giant. Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan CEO, once called Bitcoin a “scam” only later for the bank to deploy its own crypto coin.

Now Goldman Sach, another Wall Street giant bank is also taking an interest in cryptocurrencies. The investment bank aims to host a conference call concerning inflation, gold, and Bitcoin.

This year has witnessed some significant events that shook the world economy, with Federal Reserve printing over $3 trillion. But multiple experts argue that such measures adopted by the U.S government could adversely impact rates of inflation in world economies. Other central banks across the globe are also taking similar measures.

But most hard money advocates feel that this is the right time for scarce assets such as gold and Bitcoin to thrive. For example, American billionaire hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and conservationist, Paul Tudor Jones, recently said that Bitcoin will be playing a crucial role as a hedge against worsening economic recession, which has led to rising unemployment rates.

Goldman Sach’s conference call event seems to embrace a similar sentiment. But what is interesting is the fact that the event will be hosted by Sharmin Mossavar-Rahmani, Chief Investment Officer at Goldman Sachs. In 2018, Rahmani was a vocal Bitcoin critic who blasted Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as worthless. But it is yet to be seen whether her opinions have changed over the years.

Goldman Sachs seems now to pay attention to Bitcoin. Other Wall Street juggernauts are beginning to pay attention. Goldman Sachs’ current announcement comes a few days after JPMorgan, the largest investment bank on the globe, announced that it is opening accounts for two cryptocurrency exchanges namely Gemini and Coinbase. This is a significant milestone for the cryptocurrency industry as this paves the way for new possibilities for banks to work hand in hand with crypto-based firms.

It is interesting to see banks now attempt to fit blockchain and cryptocurrencies in their systems. Recognition and legitimacy have been granted to this space. However, it remains to be seen how things would unfold from here.

Goldman Sachs May Follow JP Morgan To Launch Own Cryptocurrency

In a recent interview, CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon, revealed that the US banking giant could follow the footsteps of its competitor JPMorgan Chase in launching its own crypto coin. Solomon further said that the bank has been performing extensive research on stablecoins and asset tokenization. In the interview, the Goldman CEO expressed his belief in the potential that cryptocurrency holds in enabling frictionless and quick cross-border payments. Just like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs believes that such currency will need to be backed by fiat currencies. Solomon acknowledged the reality that banks are keen on joining the cryptocurrency race. He said that banks must remain innovative, otherwise, they will disappear.

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Crypto-Spring in Bloom as Institutions and Billionaire "OG" Investors Mature Towards Bitcoin

The Bitcoin price hit its peak of around $20,000 at the end of 2017, but over the last two years it has been trading at around half that value. Along with Bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies that take their cue from the success of the pioneer crypto, have also not achieved anything close to their values at the end of the 2017 ICO rush.

With the sudden crash of Bitcoin from $20,000 in December 2018 to just $3000 in January 2018, many believed the crypto bubble had burst and mainstream and institutional investors became completely uninterested in the technology overnight. This freeze-out of cryptocurrencies as legitimate assets for investment and development became known as the ‘crypto-winter’.

But times are changing and according to Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit and early investor in Coinbase believes the crypto winter is thawing and asserts that we are on the cusp of a ‘crypto spring’.

Crypto-Winter Thawing

In an interview with Yahoo Finance, Ohanian said, “We really do see a crypto spring right now in terms of top-tier engineers, product developers, designers, building real solutions on top of the blockchain.” He added that these developments are, “the best signal of long-term value creation.”

Ohanian’s sentiment is matched by a recent report by renowned venture capital firm Andreesen Horowitz, which has forecasted a ‘fourth crypto cycle’ which would mean the end of the third crypto winter and kick-offed of a cycle of cryptocurrency prosperity.

Partners at Andreessen Horowitz, Chris Dixon, and Eddy Lazzarin wrote in the blog, “The 2017 cycle spawned dozens of exciting projects in a wide range of areas including payments, finance, games, infrastructure and web apps.”

Bitcoin had a resurgence in price last year, climbing to a peak of 12,000 for 2019. While the price did drop again amid heightened regulation discussion, it ultimately crashed in March 2020 along with the rest of the S&P 500 to $4000.

However, less than a few months later and Bitcoin is now approaching the $10,000 mark and Ohanian said that the projected trends they’ve “seen bear out are quite telling.” Ohanian also revealed that he has had a percentage of his wealth in crypto “for quite some time” and he believes it to be “a prudent hedge.”

Original Gangster of Investment

The coming crypto spring is following a wave of fresh support for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency among high profile investors like billionaire’s Paul Tudor Jones, Tim Draper, and Stan Druckermiller.

Ohanian stated, “It’s interesting to see OGs of Wall Street now getting into crypto and Bitcoin, it’s increasingly showing that it’s here to stay.”

Investment Banks Are In for Crypto-Spring

Along with well-known investors, institutional investment banks are also now assessing cryptocurrency and Bitcoin with a new level of maturity.

Per the invitation, the event is scheduled to take place on May 27^{th. There are no specific details concerning the exact content and agenda of the conference. However, the report shows that the bank aims to discuss how the risk of monetary inflation and the current central bank policy could impact assets such as gold and Bitcoin.}

In a recent interview, CEO of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon also revealed that Goldman Sach’s could follow the footsteps of its competitor JPMorgan Chase in launching its own crypto coin.

Solomon further said that the bank has been performing extensive research on stablecoins and asset tokenization. In the interview, the Goldman CEO expressed his belief in the potential that cryptocurrency holds in enabling frictionless and quick cross-border payments. Just like JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs believes that such currency will need to be backed by fiat currencies. Solomon acknowledged the reality that banks are keen on joining the cryptocurrency race. He said that banks must remain innovative, otherwise, they will disappear.

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Japanese Based Cryptocurrency Exchange BitFlyer Reports $6.9Million Loss in 2019

Tokyo based cryptocurrency exchange BitFlyer has reported a $6.9 million loss in profit for the company’s 2019 financial year. Japan is known to accommodate over 20 accredited cryptocurrency exchanges which are a testament to the importance of the country as a major hub for cryptocurrency and blockchain-related activities. The company recorded a decline in sales as well as a return on investment drawing from the firm’s business report.

The Emergence of BitFlyer

BitFlyer was founded in 2014 by a former Goldman Sachs trader Yuzo Kano. Yuzo Kano brought his wealth of experience from Goldman Sachs to establish the exchange in Japan which stood out as one of the more receptive countries in Asia for cryptocurrency-based activities. BitFlyer was started at the backdrop of Bitcoin’s sustained market value of $14,000.

The Company’s Trading Woes

The company suffered in its trading volume when Bitcoin lost its value towards the second half of 2019. This loss in trading volume compounded the regulatory stress the company started facing the Financial Services Agency in mid-2018. In its investigation, the financial services agency discovered that bitFlyer had a porous security and compliance system which can easily predispose it to hackers and as such unsafe for customer’s investment. In response to this, the company stopped accepting new customers to pay attention to improving their system and these reductions in the influx of new customers and the exit of those that needed better security for their funds led to the lower than expected sales as reported by the company.

Future Prospects

Every business has its downtime and bitFlyer is undergoing such as is peculiar to most successful businesses in play in the cryptosphere today. The company listed Ripple’s (XRP) and Basic Attention Token (BAT) from December 2019 to date. The resilience of the company to handle adversity is a laudable feat that will attract investors in the nearest future.

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Grayscale Investors Buying Bitcoin at Remarkable Rate Despite Goldman Sachs’ Skepticism

Since the Bitcoin halving event on May 12, Grayscale Investment, the world’s largest digital asset management company, has bought more Bitcoins on behalf of its institutional clients than the number of Bitcoins mined in the same period. The American-based digital asset manager continues accelerating its rate of Bitcoin acquisition, despite Goldman Sachs recently determining the cryptocurrency an asset unworthy of investment.

Kevin Rooke, an independent researcher and technology analyst, supplied data on Twitter showing that Grayscale acquired 18,910 coins to its Bitcoin Trust within a span of over two weeks since the block reward halving. Surprisingly, just about 12,300 bitcoins have been mined in the same period of time. This shows that Grayscale has purchased almost twice the number of Bitcoins mined since the recent halving event in May. Institutional demands for Bitcoin are skyrocketing. Thanks to the impact of halving.

Goldman Opinion Does Not Hold Water

Rooke’s comment on the statistics indicates that Grayscale‘s acquisition disregards Goldman Sachs professional opinion regarding Bitcoin. Rooke saw that since halving, the number of Bitcoins going into Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust have exceeded the amount of Bitcoin produced by miners by over 52%.

The increased institutional demand for Bitcoin among Grayscale investors comes as a time when Goldman Sachs shocked the world by saying that Bitcoin is not an asset class. The Wall Street giant made such comments during its recent conference client call event on May 27. The investment bank identified high volatility and the inability to generate cash flows as some of the main reasons why bitcoin is not an asset class. The bank, therefore, does not consider Bitcoin as a suitable investment choice for its clients.

Despite Goldman Sachs tainting Bitcoin’s reputation, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is seeing rising institutional demand for the top-ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization. A recent report showed that in the last 100 days before the block reward halving on May 12, the number of Bitcoins held in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) has risen by 60,762, thus indicating a rapid increase in Bitcoin holding.

The current institutional Bitcoin buying figures at Grayscale Bitcoin Trust are a continuation of the trends witnessed in 2019. In the previous year, Grayscale Bitcoin Trust saw a total investment inflow worth of $607 million, an amount that exceeds, by far, the figures generated in the last five years.

Grayscale Announced the Launch of Its Diversified Crypto Investment System for Trading

November last year, Grayscale Investments launched its diversified crypto investment system for trading, an investment product made open to the public. Although high net-worth individuals and institutions are allowed to create registered accounts with Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust, the investment company has not restricted trade on secondary markets. As a result, several retail traders/investors take advantage of opening accounts with Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust to expose their retirement savings plans to Bitcoins.

Appetite for Bitcoin has increased especially from institutional investors. Institutions are now actively allocating huge amounts of funds to buy Bitcoin as a political and economic hedge. Grayscale is a US-based investment company that is capitalizing on this rise on demand as it offers the simplest custodial solution for investors. Since halving, Bitcoin miners have not been able to produce adequate coins to meet demands from Grayscale customers alone. That is why it is reported that Grayscale Bitcoin Trust is buying more Bitcoins for its customers.

Millennials and retail investors are still the largest demographic in cryptocurrency. But with an improved outlook from institutions, demand for Bitcoins is skyrocketing. This seems to fulfill the halving prophecy as experts believe that halving would have a positive effect on Bitcoin prices. However, it is worthy to take note that there are still skeptics across the board, including one of the largest financial institutions in the world – Goldman Sachs.

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Bitcoin’s Price Boom is Artificially Inflated, says Peter Schiff

Popular Bitcoin critic, Peter Schiff, once again has tainted Bitcoin negatively by describing its recent rally from $9,100 levels to hit $9,600 as a mere surge driven by market manipulation. He was responding to a comment tweeted by the CEO and co-founder of Gemini Exchange, Tyler Winklevoss, who posted that Bitcoin recorded a steller rally and has defied the doubt, uncertainty, and fear thrown by Goldman Sachs investment bank advising against investing in cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin.

Bath Salts to Bitcoin

Bitcoin has seen a strong recovery in the previous few days from lows of about $8.6k. At the time of publication, Bitcoin price sits comfortably above $9,600. But the most interesting thing is that such a rally normally faces public criticism as was recently pointed out by Goldman Sachs. Peter Schiff is also not convinced that Bitcoin price is authentic. He believes that mysterious Bitcoin whales are the ones who are influencing Bitcoin prices.

Schiff believes that whales are manipulating Bitcoin prices so that to downplay the impact of Goldman Sachs’s criticism. In his response, Schiff claimed that whales such as Winklevoss are intentionally manipulating the price of Bitcoin to downplay the significance of Goldman’s bad news. He then described Bitcoin as a pyramid scheme, which is running low on the supply of fools like Tyler Winklevoss who are pumping the price to keep rising.

Tyler Winklevoss then responded to Schiff by sarcastically saying that the supply of fools will not run out so long as individuals like Peter Schiff are around.

Though Tyler Winklevoss and Peter Schiff are at loggerhead with the claims of price manipulation, they both believe in two assets, which are stores of value: Bitcoin and gold respectively. The two gentlemen have on several occasions expressed their distrust in the actions taken by the Federal Reserve to continually print US dollars in an effort to offset the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. They both agree that the ongoing money printing amid the coronavirus pandemic will cause a paradigm shift in the global economy.

They, therefore, advised their followers to invest in store of values such as Bitcoin and gold because fiat money will devalue ultimately. Schiff recently advised investors to buy silver and gold as a hedge against the inflation that he sees caused by the monetary expansion. Last month, Winklevoss said that the action by the federal reserve to print more money has set the ground for the increase of Bitcoin prices.

In the current difficult environment, market experts know the significance of storing and growing wealth in hard assets like gold and Bitcoin, which are not correlated to the traditional stock markets, thus immune to inflation.

“I Knew Owning Bitcoin Was A Bad Idea”, Claims Peter Schiff

Peter Schiff is a gold advocate, renown economist, and widely known investment professional who has been a strong critic of Bitcoin for several years. In January 2020, he tweeted that he could not access his Bitcoin wallet because of his invalid password and thus lost all his Bitcoin. This was a proof for him that owning cryptocurrency was a bad idea. He emphasized that he did not forget the password, but the wallet did not recognize the correct one. However, many people believe that Schiff may have orchestrated the whole event to simply deter others from investing in Bitcoin.

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Goldman Sachs' Yuan Crash Forecast Could Affect Bitcoin Price, Bull Run Ahead?

Goldman Sachs is expecting the Chinese yuan to fall to its lowest since 2008 in the coming months due to the existing US-China trade war, and now the US potential sanctions on China over its feud over Hong Kong.

US President Donald Trump has announced earlier that he will be looking to end preferential treatment for Hong Kong in terms of trade and visa-free travel, due to the new security law for Hong Kong approved by Beijing.

The yuan has been forecasted by Goldman Sachs to fall to 7.25 per dollar during the next three months before recovering to 7.15 per dollar over six months, then to 7 per dollar in the next year. As the firm sees the yuan falling to its 2008 low, the potential for Bitcoin to experience an explosive price rally has been raised.

“Disputes between the two countries now cover a range of issues that are unlikely to be resolved soon,” wrote Goldman strategists, including Zach Pandl. Due the tolerance from the Chinese central bank on gradual currency depreciation, the strategists added, “As result, we expect ongoing capital outflow pressures to weigh on the exchange rate and are revising our dollar-yuan forecasts higher.”

Bitcoin comes in for people who are looking to bypass China’s strict capital control over sending money offshore. China has previously banned Bitcoin trading as well as trading of other cryptocurrencies, although the development of blockchain has been widely praised in the country.

As a recession is widely expected for China as well as the rest of the globe, Bitcoin could become a safe-haven asset for most, and Bitcoin would be expected to run a bullish track in the coming months.

China passes civil code allowing inheritance of crypto

At the Thirteenth National People’s Congress held in Beijing China, the parliament passed a new civil code that protects the civil rights of inheritance, marriage, property, personality, and contract infringement.

According to Lixin Yang, a professor at Renmin University of China, the civil code states that “When a natural person dies, the legacy is the personal legal property left by she/he.”

Personal legal property in this case also means “internet property” including virtual currencies. Chinese citizens will be able to leave their cryptocurrency and virtual assets to their heirs, coming into effect on January 1, 2021.

Chinese government to consider cross-border stablecoin for Hong Kong

Chinese officials are to consider a cross-border Asian stablecoin in Hong Kong, to facilitate a cross-border payment network between three Asian countries, and four currencies – China, Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. The world’s second-largest economy is aiming to build Hong Kong into an international financial center in the digital economy era.

Neil Shen, also known as Shen Nanpeng, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and managing partner of Sequoia Capital China will submit five proposals to the two sessions this year. One of the proposals includes the innovation and technology development of the Greater Bay Area, which he has submitted consecutively in the past three years.

In Shen’s proposals, he suggested a Hong Kong-based cross border stablecoin, as a foundation for a cross-border settlement network between China, Japan, and South Korea as well as the special administrative region.

Goldman Sachs Explores Development of its Own Digital Token

Leading global investment bank Goldman Sachs is exploring avenues of development to potentially create its own cryptocurrency.

As reported by CNBC on August 6, the bank has appointed Mathew McDermott as the worldwide head of digital assets to spearhead the realization of this dream.

Blockchain holds the future of financial markets

McDermott brings to the table a wide array of experience in the financial markets, and he sees blockchain technology as a backbone of the future monetary system.

He noted:

“In the next five to 10 years, you could see a financial system where all assets and liabilities are native to a blockchain, with all transactions natively happening on chain.”

Blockchain could help streamline distinctive processes in the digital financial markets ecosystem like securitization, debt issuances, and loan origination.

Goldman Sachs has been a notable trendsetter in the blockchain/crypto space as proponents have been following its footsteps. Therefore, it seeks to go a notch higher by launching its own digital token.

McDermott stipulated:

“We are exploring the commercial viability of creating our own fiat digital token, but it’s early days.”

He also aired his radical vision for financial markets as a future where the globe’s monetary assets will reside on blockchain-powered electronic ledgers.

Harnessing distributed ledger technology

McDermott asserted that the financial sector necessitated notable revamping. For instance, repurchases agreements or the repo market, which entails a dealer selling government securities to investors, had to go digital using technological innovations like blockchain as this would prompt standardization.

He acknowledged:

“In securities finance and repo, if you look at those markets, they’re ripe for standardization. There’s a lot of legacy processes in the vast movement of collateral that makes them very cost-inefficient, so by leveraging distributed ledger technology, you can standardize processes to manage collateral across the system, and you have a much more efficient settlement process given the real-time settlement.”

Recent research by JP Morgan shows that younger investors are inclined towards Bitcoin, whereas the older ones support gold.

Goldman Sachs Continues Expanding Digital Assets Team, Now Looking For New VP

Goldman Sachs is looking for a new Vice President (VP) for its Digital Assets team and help define and execute the investment firm’s global blockchain strategy. The successful candidate will join Goldman Sachs’ Global Markets Division in London.

Investment giant Goldman Sachs has created a job listing to hire a new VP for its Digital Assets team in London to work within its Global Markets Division.

According to the job posting on the Goldman Sachs website, the investment giant is looking for a VP to work within its existing Digital Assets team. The role will be focused on helping to “define and execute” the investment firm’s blockchain and DLT efforts, and the candidate must be able to identify new avenues of value pertaining to DLT and digital assets.

Goldman Sachs Digital Assets Team Keeps Expanding

After telling investors that Bitcoin was not worthy of investment back in May 2020, the leading global investment bank Goldman Sachs is now exploring avenues of development to potentially create its own cryptocurrency.

As reported by Blockchain.News, Goldman Sachs appointed Mathew McDermott as the worldwide head of digital assets to spearhead the realization of this dream on Aug 6.

McDermott brings to the table a wide array of experience in the financial markets, and he sees blockchain technology as a backbone of the future monetary system.

He noted:

“In the next five to 10 years, you could see a financial system where all assets and liabilities are native to a blockchain, with all transactions natively happening on chain.”

Blockchain could help streamline distinctive processes in the digital financial markets ecosystem like securitization, debt issuances, and loan origination.

McDermott stipulated:

“We are exploring the commercial viability of creating our own fiat digital token, but it’s early days.”

Could Stock Market Turbulence and US Elections Send Bitcoin Crashing Down?

Bitcoin’s price has plunged from highs of more than $11K to lows of $10,400 in recent days, and analysts have looked at US stock markets to explain the cryptocurrency’s price dip.

Bitcoin has been trading alongside traditional markets for weeks, according to US stock analysts. Though the cryptocurrency has recorded significant bull runs this year, with an impressive surge past the $12,000 level in August, it has failed to break its resistance level of $11K lately.

Bitcoin volatility makes it less attractive to investors

Analysts have directed their attention towards stock markets to explain the consolidation around the $10K level of Bitcoin.

With the global economy at a downtrend due to COVID-19 and the US dollar depreciating, indications seem to be that investors will adopt Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies more as a hedge. BTC has in recent months been continuously touted as a safe-haven asset by many Bitcoin whales, such as the Winklevoss twins and even traditional institutions like Microstrategy.

However, market experts have revealed that due to Bitcoin’s volatility, some investors have been more hesitant in adopting Bitcoin and storing their assets with the “digital gold” cryptocurrency, going against the “safe-haven narrative” advocated by Winklevoss.

In addition, with the US elections approaching, analysts at investment banking giant Goldman Sachs have predicted that high volatility would be observed on markets, with “price swings that will stay elevated until early 2021.” They added that the volatility will likely occur after the November US presidential election, rather than before. Goldman Sachs strategists said:

“The level of implied volatility sends a clear message: The election matters for equities and the outcome is highly uncertain.”

Instability of traditional markets impacts BTC

Market analysts have also suggested that it may be a couple of years before Bitcoin completely decouples from traditional markets. Therefore, if stock markets are to experience high volatility, it may translate to similar movements for Bitcoin, which may not be a selling point for new investors.

It has been observed in the past that when traditional stock markets were bearish, Bitcoin was never able to rally and record groundbreaking price runs. Rather, BTC has been surging in tandem with stock markets for a while.

Therefore, given the recent turbulence and instability of stocks and equities, Bitcoin’s failure to break past its resistance level of $11K may be explained by its rally alongside unstable traditional markets.

Will Bitcoin fall to $9000? DeFi saves the day

A crypto economist, Alex Kruger, even predicted that Bitcoin would potentially fall to the $9000 level given that global economic uncertainty will remain a reality for a while. He said:

“Crypto traders best be careful with risk, as BTC could be pushed to the $9Ks in this chop (45 days to go) and hell would then break loose.”

Bitcoin is currently trading sideways at around $10,400 on the market. Though it has been bearish for a while, what has been considered a win for the cryptocurrency industry is the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector.

DeFi has been gaining significant momentum, with high rates of yield farming recorded by investors. Also, over $9 billion cryptocurrencies in total are locked into the DeFi industry at the time of writing, with leading unicorn giant Uniswap releasing its own token, UNI.