The crypto is holding its ground

Market overview

The crypto market cap is at $2.32 trillion, roughly the same as a week ago. This can certainly be considered a victory, given the Nasdaq-100’s fall of around 5% over the past week. Although the cryptocurrency market remains below its 50- and 200-day moving averages, it is finding support on dips to the lows seen since early February, demonstrating horizontal stabilisation following the slump, whilst equities are forming a downtrend.

Bitcoin started Monday by dipping below $65K, but after a brief trigger of stop-loss orders, it reversed and rose, exceeding $67.3K at the time of writing. The leading cryptocurrency has been performing quite confidently over the past month, although it has failed to attract capital flows seeking safe havens.

Ethereum has returned above $2,000, continuing to find support on dips below the key psychological level. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation needs a positive catalyst to spark risk appetite. At present, this is hampered by the shift in expectations regarding monetary policy from easing to an imminent rate hike.

News background

Bitcoin is showing signs of vulnerability and could fall as low as $49K, according to Factor CEO Peter Brandt. He says that BTC’s current price action aligns with classic technical analysis patterns.

Bitcoin is weathering the Iran crisis better than major precious metals such as gold and silver, notes JPMorgan. Meanwhile, CryptoQuant highlights a decline in on-chain activity, which is necessary for a sustainable recovery.

According to the FT, Tether has hired KPMG to audit its financial statements. Another firm from the ‘Big Four’ — PwC — will prepare the internal systems of the USDT stablecoin issuer for an independent audit. These steps are intended to emphasise that USDT is fully collateralised and managed using world-class risk management methods.

Ripple has announced the implementation of artificial intelligence to enhance the security of the XRP Ledger as part of preparations for the next phase of network scaling. Ripple has stated that it is moving from a reactive security model to a proactive approach.