Crypto climbs out of the pit

Market picture 

Bitcoin is adding 1.2% over the past 24 hours to $16.7K by the start of trading on Thursday. Ethereum is rising more briskly, gaining 4.3% to $1200. Crypto market capitalisation rose 2% to $837B, rebounding from the latest setback at the start of this week.

On the short-term charts, Bitcoin has formed an inverted head-and-shoulders pattern, suggesting an upside potential growth to $17.8K, as suggested by classic targets for this figure. In turn, this would be a move out of consolidation in almost two weeks, which could further boost buyers' optimism.

Taking a step back to the larger timeframes, however, strength remains on the bears’ side as the former cryptocurrency trades below previous consolidation levels at $18.0K.

News background 

According to Coinbase research, many investors are increasing the number of coins in their wallets despite the decline in the crypto market. Over the past year, 62% of institutional investors surveyed have increased their investments.

According to a Harvard University study, central banks in sanctioned countries could use bitcoin, on par with gold, to hedge risks. Diversifying central bank reserves could eventually boost the value of cryptocurrency and gold.

Elizabeth Warren, a US Senate Banking Committee member, also called for stronger regulation of the cryptocurrency industry in her article for The Wall Street Journal. She said the Sam Bankman-Fried empire incident is a "wake-up call" for the authorities.

New York state authorities have imposed a two-year ban on the non-environmental mining of cryptocurrencies on the Proof-of-Work (PoW) algorithm.