Week 32 | 8/8/22 - 8/13/22
By Matthew BrienenNews Flash
Monday 8.8.22: In a Monday announcement, the U.S. Treasury Department added the Tornado Cash website and a long list of Ethereum addresses to its Specially Designated Nationals list, banning American citizens from using the tool or transacting with these addresses. The announcement added that Lazarus Group, a North Korean state-sponsored hacking group, used Tornado Cash to launder over $96 million after it hacked Harmony Bridge in June.
Tuesday 8.9.22: Stablecoin provider Circle announced its intentions to fully support Ethereum’s shift to a proof-of-stake (PoS) chain following the highly-anticipated merge event slated for September 19. “We understand the responsibility we have for the Ethereum ecosystem and businesses, developers and end users that depend on USDC, and we intend to do the right thing,” read the announcement.
Thursday 8.11.22: BlackRock has launched a spot Bitcoin private trust to give its U.S.-based institutional clients direct exposure to the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. The $10 trillion asset manager said it’s also exploring “permissioned blockchains, stablecoins, cryptoassets, and tokenization.”
Friday 8.12.22: Indian authorities in particular haven’t warmed up to the industry yet. Prominent crypto platform Vauld seems to be swimming in troubled waters as the Enforcement Directorate [ED] of India had eyes on it. On Thursday, the ED went on to freeze a whopping $46.5 million worth of assets at Vauld.
Technical Recap
Bitcoin currently resides in a precarious position, butted up against some serious resistance. We can see this chart is illustrating a rising wedge structure, which is typically a corrective structure to the upside within a downtrend. Price came just sky off kissing the wick produced on May 12 @ ~$25.4k. The bullish scenario requires an invalidation of this structure to upside, in the realm of $24.8k. This area would be the next major level of resistance and could result in classic bearish continuation. Until the macro economic picture improves & moves towards quantitative easing (rate cuts & buying back mortgage backed securities), we have more bearishness in risk on assets afoot.
BTC/USD Daily Chart
Ethereum has breached back over major resistance, trading above $1,700. We are still in the "chop zone" and in danger of reversing lower; $1,700 must be maintained as key support to see bullish continuation.
ETH/USD 3-Day Chart
CryptoCharged Live Show Recaps
Didn't catch all the live streams last week? We've got you covered with highlights & links to the full episodes. Monday 8.8.22: Brian Decker provides a detailed overview of Polygon (MATIC), the importance of layer 2 chains, and the matchup between Polygon and Ethereum. Matthew Brienen examines the expansion of Crypto.com into South Korea and a summary of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Tuesday 8.9.22: Matthew offers in-depth technical analysis of stocks, precious metals, US oil, lumber futures, the US Dollar Currency Index, EURUSD, and cryptocurrencies. The team also discusses Biden's signing of the $280 billion Chips and Science Act and how it will impact crypto.
Wednesday 8.10.22: Dan Habib explains the Consumer Price Index for July 2022 as well as the macroeconomic outlook. Matthew discusses Ripple Labs interested in bankrupt crypto lender Celsius' assets, and SEC orders crypto startup to register ICO tokens or face a $31 million fine.
Thursday 8.11.22: Matthew presents a technical analysis of the markets as well as a look at Energy Web Token (EWT), which has seen a significant price increase. The team discusses the mixed narrative with Mark Cuban getting sued over Voyager promotion and Blackrock launching a BTC fund.
Friday 8.12.22: Analyst Brienen reveals an in-depth breakdown of what is happening in the SEC v. Ripple Labs case as well as the truth about illiquidity wicks.
