Cryptocurrency News Update: BTC/USD may drop to $6,000, Kraken knows why

Here's what you need to know on Monday

Markets:

BTC/USD has settled above $9700 amid calm trading during early Asian hours. The first digital coin has stayed mostly unchanged both on a day-to-day basis and since the beginning of Monday. Now it is trading within the short-term bullish bias amid expanding volatility.

At the time of writing, ETH/USD is changing hands at $243.54. The price has barely changed in Asia as the market activiy has been subdued both on the weekend and on Monday. Now ETH is moving within a short-term bullish trend. The volatility is low.

XRP/USD is changing hands at $0.2030. The coin has been locked in a tight range since the previous week.  From the short-term perspective, XRP/USD is trading within a bearish trend amid low volatility.

Among the 100 most important cryptocurrencies, Divi  (DIVI) $0.0539 (+13.38%),Maker (MKR) $540.20 (+12.6%), WAX (WAXP) $0.0786 (+8.8%). The day's losers are Celsius (CEL) $0.2418 (-4.6%), ),Verge (XVG) $0.0050 (-3.9%), Electroneum (ETN) $0.0076 (-3.0%).

Chart of the day:
BTC/USD, 30-min chart

Market

The cryptocurrency exchange Kraken outlined a scenario, in which BTC/USD may drop to $6,000.

Bitcoin has been trying to surpass $10,000 for the past five weeks. If the bulls fail to break through resistance,  a correction could send bitcoin down towards the support of the multi-year pennant pattern at roughly $6,200.

The experts pointed to the "Pennant" formation, which is often interpreted as continuation model. The Pennant dates back to December 2017, and Bitcoin has been trying to move outside the formation since the last week of March. While all the previous attempts failed, the first cryptocurrency still holds the ground.  

If BTC/USD clears the resistance created by $10,500, the market will enter a new bullish cycle; otherwise, we will see a retest of support at $6200.

Bitcoin’s average transaction fees dropped to  just $1.083, which is the lowest level since April 28, according to data from Bitinfocharts. Notably, at the end of May the average Bitcoin transaction cost was registered at $6.647, the highest average fee in almost two years. As a result, Bitcoin transaction fee decreased by nearly 84% in a bout three weeks .

Industry

A crypto-friendly web-browser Brave 's crypto friendly browser was pulled into a big scandal as users found built-in referral links leading to the sites of several bitcoin exchanges and wallets.

An author of a popular podcast about cryptocurrencies Yannick Ekl aka cryptonator1337 discovered the feature in the source code of the browser. He noticed that when user enters binance.us  into the URL field, they are automatically given a referral link to this exchange.

Okay it's not a "redirect", but an autofill. Just with binance you get autofilled a reflink like it seems, he explained.

Brave CEO Brendan Eich was forced to react to the criticism by saying that the redirect was a "mistake". He promised to remover the problem. 

Charles Hoskinson, the CEO of IOHK and the creator of Cardano, believes that the cryptocurrency supporters should get ready for an increasing political pressure. In this environment it is vital to remember that the industry's primary aims are to create a financial system outside the governmental control and change the fundamental nature of money.

Speaking in ask-me-anything session on YouTube, Hoskinson said: 

Crypto is a political movement. Crypto is as political as it gets, always. Never forget that. We’re going to reinvent the concept of money and take it out of the government’s hands and control it ourselves. What are the actual [consequences] of these systems getting adopted? You start realizing that everything has to change: trade changes, property rights change, business change, the business structure changes, laws change.

Regulation

The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase will to supply the U.S. authorities with the software to trace blochchain transactions, The Block reports. According to the documents seen by the media outlet, Office for Drug Enforcement (DEA) and the U.S. Tax Administration (IRS) were interested in buying licenses to use Coinbase Analytics software that was previously known as Neutrino.

From IRS document:

As law enforcement techniques evolve and other cryptocurrencies gain acceptance, criminals are using other types of cryptocurrencies, not just Bitcoin to facilitate their crimes. In addition to the Bitcoin Blockchain, Coinbase Analytics (fka Neutrino) allows for the analysis and tracking of cryptocurrency flows across multiple blockchains that criminals are currently using. Coinbase Analytics also provides some enhanced law enforcement sensitive capabilities that are not currently found in other tools on the market. This action will result in a Firm Fix Priced purchase order, Period of Performance: One base year from date of award with one 12-month option.