Around lunchtime, of course, we look at the live Bitcoin price and the prices of the top 25 crypto. Plus an update on Ethereum (ETH), war threat, UBER CEO on crypto and fraud alert.
Normally we start Monday with the crypto price forecast. However, we see that Bitcoin and crypto react more on fundamental factors than on technical indicators. Therefore, also this week 2x a day (around lunch time and after the close of the US markets) a crypto and Bitcoin update.
We start of course with the live Bitcoin price and the prices of the top 25 crypto.
Live Bitcoin price and prices top 25 crypto drop
At the time of writing, the live Bitcoin price is quoting EUR 37,250.62 ($42,555.67). This is 0.75% lower than yesterday around this time and also lower than during Friday’s crypto lunch.
The prices of the top 25 crypto are also falling. We see only declining prices except for a few stable coins and Shiba Inu (SHIB), which is up 1.39%. The biggest loss of the day so far is for Ripple (XRP), which loses 5.80%.
This concludes a negative week for Bitcoin and top 25 crypto currencies. Despite the rally early last week, Fed minutes and fears of war in Ukraine pushed prices into the minus. Bitcoin lost 1.60%% over the past week and is now losing 3.08% in 30 days. The most positive result of the week was for Ripple (XRP), which posted +15.07%. The biggest gain over 30 days was for Crypto.comCoin (CRO), which posted + 5.55%. The biggest loser of the week was Near (NEAR), with -24.76%. This also made this crypto the biggest loser over 30 days at -49.72%. On the site of Tradeincrypto.com you can analyze all the results and live crypto prices 24 hours a day.
What does the threat of war with Russia mean for Bitcoin and crypto?
We saw last week that Joe Biden’s announcement that Russia may invade the Ukraine within week sent the crypto market into a minor slump for the weekend. To use a cliché, the world is holding its breath. Of course, the question is what the impact on Bitcoin and other crypto may be if Russia does indeed invade Ukraine.
In this analysis, we see that Bitcoin and crypto prices are initially expected to fall as investors look for less risky investments. If it comes to an armed conflict, Russian banks in Ukraine are expected to close and Russia will be hit with a trade boycott. Also, investors will then try to get their assets and, for example, gold out of the country. In that case, Bitcoin and Altcoins could rise sharply as this would be the easiest way to get large amounts of value out of the country without difficult transportation and keep the money flowing.
The question we ask here is to what extent European traders notice this positive impact. After all, European exchanges are subject to a Know Your Customer Policy (KYC policy). Sanctions against Russia are likely to prevent trading with Russian account holders.
When will Uber get into crypto?
We explained last week that mass adoption is good for the crypto industry. So if a major player like UBER gets into crypto it should be a bullish sign. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, UBER CEO Dara Khosrowshahi elaborated on this. You can watch the entire interview below.
As we see in the interview, the UBER top executive makes 2 demands:
Transaction costs must be reduced;
The impact on the environment must be changed.
It seems a matter of time before this is met by the crypto market. The top executive is therefore considering investing in crypto as a company, he explained to CNBC last year. This is therefore a bullish sign for the market, although the Bitcoin price is not yet responding to it.
Hacker can make unlimited Ethereum (ETH), but doesn’t do it
Hackers scour blockchain protocols for errors. Sometimes to take advantage of them as a malicious party and sometimes to reap the reward for reporting errors (called the bug bounty). The latter category includes software engineer Jay Freeman, who is best known for the “alternative App Store” Cydia.
In the Otimism protocol, which provides layer-2 functionality (settlement of transactions outside the block-chain) for processing Ethereum (ETH) transactions, he found a way to use Ethereum without limitation. The story is a bit technical to break down here, but on his website Freeman explains it exactly. So although he could create unlimited ‘duplicate’ ETH he decided to report his invention and collect the $2 million reward.
Incidentally, a similar case happened with Bitcoin in 2010. Then the hacker did not opt for a bounty, but created as much as 184 billion Bitcoin. Since the currency was still in its infancy at the time, a soft fork was used to solve this and return it to its market capitalization of 21 million coins.
New crypto fraud via NFTs discovered
This weekend, in a special, we were already focusing on the various forms of fraud involving Bitcoin and other crypto. Now we can add a new way of cryptocurrency fraud. Namely, researchers discovered that NFTs are being abused in games. This works as follows:
When gamers play, they are offered an NFT in the game containing, for example, a special skin or weapon. What they don’t know is that they have also programmed a virus into the token. When the unsuspecting player accepts the NFT, the virus becomes active and starts looking for the cryptowallet in order to empty it. Another option is to secretly mine crypto by taking advantage of the computer capacity and energy (and thus power costs) of the hapless received. So in gaming, too, be careful.
Investing but not in crypto?
Of course, the tensions surrounding Ukraine have an impact not only on the price of Bitcoin and crypto, but also on other investments. Are you curious about what to expect in the coming week for the price of stocks, gold, oil, FOREX and other common investments? We look ahead in our weekly price forecast on MANNERS.co.uk.
Want to stay informed about the latest price developments?
You can always follow the developments yourself with our WANT crypto analyses or the background articles and previews on the crypto market and Bitcoin. Of course, you can also follow the live quotes 24 hours a day if you want to stay informed in real time. Are you interested in other investments besides crypto? Then our weekly Monday morning price forecast might be a reading tip. “Please note: We never give financial advice, so our contributions can’t be interpreted that way either. Always do your own research and decide on rational grounds if, when, what and how much you want to invest in.”
