Bitcoin is presently trading at $42,759 after China’s latest crypto ban triggered selling to lows of $40,683 on Friday. The majority of cryptocurrencies led by Bitcoin are down on a 7-day basis except for selected tokens such as Tezos (XTZ, +10.10%), Celo (CELO, +31.94%), Celer Network (CELR, +41.54%) which remained up at the time of post.
The outlook for Bitcoin price remains mixed in the aftermath of Friday’s drop. Some analysts think that further downside risks may be in store for Bitcoin price with $36,000-$38,000 the cut-off point for bulls Ulrik K. Lykke, executive director at crypto hedge fund ARK36 believes that the China FUD will soon be forgotten like in afore times, stating ”the markets react with a price drop, each time the effect is smaller and more short-lived”.
It should be recalled that since 2009, China and Hong Kong have “banned” or otherwise caused FUD in the crypto space on 19 separate occasions and counting.
Trading across the market remains flat as Bitcoin price remains pinned beneath the $45,600 barrier. However, let’s take a look at:
Harmony (ONE)
Harmony is a proof-of-stake blockchain that uses sharding to run superfast blocks with rapid finality. The blockchain went live in 2019, and it launched staking in 2020.
Early in September, the Layer 1 blockchain Harmony unveiled a $300M ecosystem fund to back startups working on applications and protocols. Stating: ”we are announcing our $300 million ecosystem fund to accelerate 10,000 builders. The harmony protocol ecosystem has been growing exponentially, and we aim to fund 10,000 more crypto founders, builders and creatives”.
Harmony (ONE) remains one of the day’s top gainers, trading at $0.159 as of press time.
Ravencoin (RVN)
Ravencoin was discovered in 2018 and is a Bitcoin code fork that allows anyone the ability to issue digital assets and tokens. Ravencoin issues tokens that represent more assets from the real world, including virtual goods, shares of stock, rewards, gold, and lots of others from one party to a different one.
Regarding this, Ravencoin announced an important milestone, stating ”30,358 digital assets have been created using the Ravencoin protocol so far”. Ravencoin remains one of the day’s top gainers, trading at $0.104 as of press time.
Analysts expect volatility to remain elevated given the regulatory headwinds while foreseeing a bullish end in sight to the recent FUD. Michael Saylor, CEO of MicroStrategy, states “Nothing has created more wealth in the past decade than technologies banned in China”.
Craig Erlam, senior markets analyst, Oanda states:
“China’s opposition to cryptocurrencies is nothing new, but the latest clarification would suggest those involved are at risk of prosecution. China’s actions haven’t held back crypto’s rise too much in the past, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it bounce back once more.”
History notes that when the original “ban” announcement in September 2017 sent Bitcoin tumbling, the lead asset not only recovered to its original levels within weeks but went ahead to set a new all-time high of $20,000 less than three months later.
Along the lines of historical context also, crypto influencer Lark Davis noted that the final quarter of both 2013 and 2017 saw rallies of more than 300% as past bull cycles bloomed, and he speculated on how a possible approval of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund in the U.S. could again send prices flying in the fourth quarter of 2021.
United States dollar strength is indeed clearly noticeable, with the U.S. dollar currency index (DXY) nearing 94 on Sept. 24 in a classic headwind for Bitcoin. Should the status quo begin to change, the impetus for BTC to perform much more strongly is therefore clearly in place.
As Bitcoin traders lie in wait for an October rebirth, Altcoins likewise are expected to join in the party as they follow Bitcoin’s lead in the crypto markets.
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