From Bitcoin prediction inception to new ATM support for XRP, here’s a look at some of the stories breaking in the world of crypto.
Bitcoin
With about four and a half months to go until Bitcoin’s next halving, predictions on whether the event will impact the price of BTC are getting extremely meta.
Crypto analyst Jacob Canfield posted a viral prediction on the halving, which will slash the amount of BTC miners earn for powering the network in half, further slowing the supply of new Bitcoin entering the market.
According to Canfield’s tongue-in-cheek argument, the halving is so well-known, priced in and predictable that it’s actually no longer priced in at all.
Adaptive Capital analyst Willy Woo is offering an interpretation of Canfield’s hypothesis. He says it’s naive to think market prices are always a perfect reflection of all available information.
“Translation: While the public believe in efficient market theory and that markets perfectly price in all available information. Market traders know the price chart is a war of strategy and fuckery designed to make the most money for the best players.”
As for his current take on BTC’s trajectory, Canfield says he thinks Bitcoin will likely dip lower in January.
“Longing $6700-6800 in January will be a good deal. I was hoping for $5500, but not sure we get there. Not sure we see much lower for a while after that. Will revise if the context of the market changes, but that’s what I’m seeing so far.”
Meanwhile, Woo recently said he thinks Bitcoin’s on-chain metrics indicate a long-term bull run is on the horizon.
Ethereum
A new Ethereum hard fork is upon us.
The Muir Glacier upgrade will delay implementation of Ethereum’s so-called difficulty bomb for more than a year. The move is designed to ensure miners are incentivized to stay on board as the platform switches to its new proof-of-stake consensus model.
The latest stats on Ethernodes indicate about 66% of node operators are currently prepared for the update, which is set to happen on January 2nd.
Ripple and XRP
The crypto ATM company General Bytes says XRP is now supported on its network of 3,000 machines.
The company says ATM operators now have the option to decide whether they want their machine to support the digital asset.
“Owners can now enable XRP as it is backported to all machines sold to date. Of course, an ATM operator needs to enable it as they are the ones who own the machines, wallets, etc.”
The news comes a month after Ripple’s fundraising and development arm Xpring invested $1.5 million in Coinme, a crypto ATM company based in Seattle.
Featured Image: Shutterstock/Clari Massimiliano