The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a set of policies for the emerging markets and developing economies to ensure financial stability amid global crypto adoption. The IMF believes in the potential of crypto assets as a tool for faster and cheaper cross-border payments, citing the dramatic increase in the value of the crypto markets despite the bearish trends from May 2021. The report attributes high returns, transaction costs and speed and reduced Anti-Money Laundering (AML) standards as the primary drivers for crypto adoption. To counter the resultant financial stability challenges as a result of increased trading of crypto assets, IMF …

On Oct. 1, the cryptocurrency market experienced a 9.5% pump that drove Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to their highest levels in 12 days. A variety of reasons have been attributed to the price move, including the United States consumer price index, exchanges' diminishing supply and a "cup and handle" bullish continuation chart formation. Traders are not likely to find an explanation for the sudden move, apart from investors regaining confidence after the Sept. 19 drop was attributed to contagion fears from China-based property developer Evergrande. The Ethereum network has been facing some criticism due to the $20 or higher …

Grayscale Investments, a New-York based crypto asset manager, now includes Solana’s SOL and Uniswap’s UNI tokens in its Grayscale Digital Large Cap Fund (GDLC) portfolio after rebalancing its basket of cryptocurrencies. The quarterly rebalancing of GDLC is done by selling existing components of the portfolio for cash and procuring well-performing crypto assets. Based on the adjustment, SOL and UNI make up 3.24% and 1.06% of the fund’s components, respectively, while Grayscale continues to cut down on Litecoin (LTC) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) holdings. After the previous quarterly rebalancing, Grayscale’s portfolio included 4.26% of Cardano’s ADA, making it the third-largest asset …

Airdrops have become the cryptocurrency ecosystem’s equivalent of stimulus checks over the past couple of years and further proof of this can be evidenced from popular protocols, like Uniswap and dYdX, that rewarded their early adopters with token drops that are now worth $30,000 to $2 million. The latest protocol to surprise its userbase with a wallet fattening airdrop was Axie Infinity (AXS), a blockchain-based battle game that has risen in prominence over the course of 2021 as users embrace its play-to-earn (P2E) gaming model. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since bounding off a low of …

In September the frenzy that propelled the nonfungible token (NFT) sector quieted down but a burst of fresh energy emerged as the layer-two sector heated after the successful launch of Ethereum (ETH) scaling solutions like Arbitrum and Optimism. Another project that has benefited from the sector's transition to layer-1 and layer-2 alternatives is OMG Network (OMG), a non-custodial layer-two protocol that utilizes an optimistic rollup scaling solution to improve Ethereum scalability. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $8.42 on July 20, the price of OMG has climbed 380% to reach a daily …

The month of September stayed true to its billing as a historically weak period for cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin (BTC) closed the month with a loss of about 7%. However, October may bring cheer to the bulls because Bitcoin has risen in six of the past eight years, falling only in 2014 and 2018. The bulls started the month on a positive note as bears scurried to close their short positions. Data shows that more than $270 million worth of short positions were liquidated within minutes. The enthusiasm for Bitcoin was shared by several altcoins that alsosurged higher on Oct. 1. Bitcoin …

Bullish sentiment returned to the cryptocurrency ecosystem on Oct. 1 after a 10% spike in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) lifted it above the $47,500 level and resulted in the liquidation of more than $270 million in short positions. The altcoin market quickly followed suit with a majority of the tokens in the top 200 registering double-digit gains for the day. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest gainers over the past 24 hours were Oasis Network’s ROSE token, Axie Infinity Shards (AXS) and Icon’s ICX token. The allure of privacy draws traders to Oasis Network …

Bitcoin (BTC) shot to nearly $48,000 during Oct. 1 as a classic “short squeeze” liquidated over $270 million of crypto positions in under an hour. “Goodbye bears” Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD hitting $47,800 on Bitstamp, jumping $3,000 in minutes. A familiar setup for traders, the upward volatility followed signs that a BTC price recovery was already on the way Thursday, particularly as the dollar struggled. 539 #BTC shorts liquidated in 1 minute sending #Bitcoin to 47k. Squeeeeeeeeezed pic.twitter.com/Uf2CzvndcC — Daniel Joe (@DanielJoe916) October 1, 2021 $270M liquidations in an hour say hi to uptober — …

Bitcoin (BTC) was keen to retain $44,000 on Oct. 1 as the monthly close sparked a late show of strength. BTC monthly close matches PlanB’s prediction Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView followed BTC/USD as it first returned to the $44,000 mark Thursday, then test lower levels before heading even higher. While still not tackling resistance at $45,000 and higher, Bitcoin did not disappoint with its end-of-month performance, this almost exactly matching predictions from stock-to-flow model creator PlanB for a second month running. Aug>47k✅ Sep>43k✅ Next targets: Oct>63k, Nov>98k, Dec>135k pic.twitter.com/C45nfQkQSC — PlanB (@100trillionUSD) October 1, 2021 With $63,000 …

Last week, China’s heavy-handed crackdown on crypto trading briefly sent shockwaves across the market as Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoin prices saw a sharp drop following the announcement, but as is the case with all things crypto-related, the market bounced back as resilient traders found other ways to participate in the market. Part of China’s goal in limiting citizens' ability to trade cryptocurrency seems focused on discouraging the use of cryptocurrencies and the growing decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem, but these maneuvers appear to be having the opposite effect, as the token price and protocol activity for projects like Uniswap and dYdX …

Crypto traders breathed a sigh of relief on Sept. 30 after media headlines reflected positive news regarding adoption and future regulation in the crypto sector. Early in the day, Visa announced that it has developed a layer-2-based blockchain interoperability hub that will support cryptocurrency payments and Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell stated that the regulator has no intention of banning cryptocurrencies. The rise in sentiment coincided with a positive day for the price action in Bitcoin, which is up 5.74% and trading near $44,000 at the time of writing. Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the biggest …

Ether (ETH) price has seen quite a bit of volatility lately and to the surprise of many traders, the $4,000 level continues to present considerable resistance. Currently, the price is respecting the upward channel, which started in August. But every time the support is tested, the risk of an aggressive correction increases. With that in mind, the $340 million options expiry on Oct. 1 will likely be dominated by neutral-to-bearish put options. Bulls placed larger bets for the expiry but it appears that they were too optimistic for Oct. 1, so their $215 million call (buy) options are getting closer …