Analysts at American investment bank JPMorgan Chase have delivered another skeptical statement on Bitcoin (BTC), arguing that its current price is much higher than its fair value. In a regular memo for investors, JPMorgan argued that cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are an “economic side show” and the poorest hedge against a decline in equity prices, Reuters reports Friday. The analysts said that the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin increases its correlation with cyclical assets, which makes it a less attractive asset for portfolio diversification: “Crypto assets continue to rank as the poorest hedge for major drawdowns in equities, with questionable diversification benefits …

New Ethereum-backed stablecoin RAI hopes to be the savior of the DeFi sector by providing a truly decentralized stablecoin alternative. Developed by blockchain startup Reflexer Labs, RAI is not pegged to any fiat currency and its monetary policy is managed by an on-chain, autonomous controller. It's a fork of Maker's DAI. RAI co-founder Ameen Soleimani explained: “RAI is an asset backed only by ETH, governance-minimized, and programmed to maintain its own price stability without needing to peg to an external price reference like the USD.” Soleimani believes that RAI, which he dubbed “A Money God,” has far greate potential than …

Bitcoin (BTC) has hit a new high above $51,300 in a continuation of its bullish advance that begun in October 2020. According to Bloomberg, the current run is different from the 2017 bull rally that topped out below $20,000 in terms of volatility. Indeed, data from Woobull Charts puts Bitcoin’s 60-day volatility at 14.25%, a significant decline from the over 32% recorded at the zenith of the 2017 bull run. However, in terms of realized volatility, Bitcoin’s price swings are still orders of magnitude higher than gold. Data from crypto analytics provider Skew puts Bitcoin’s current three-month realized volatility at …

Sandeep Biswas, managing director and CEO at Newcrest Mining, believes crypto investors should consider buying some gold to protect themselves against highly unstable prices of cryptos like Bitcoin (BTC). “If you’re into cryptos, you want to consider having some gold,” Biswas said on Bloomberg TV Thursday, stressing that gold is less volatile than crypto. The exec emphasized that gold is a different class of investment. “It’s a tangible asset: you can see it, you can touch it, you can feel it, you can mold it, you can make it into jewelry, whatever you want.” Biswas noted the scarce nature of …

With Bitcoin rallying from $30,000 to $42,000 and back again during January, BTC’s annualized volatility rose to levels last seen in April 2020, according to a new report from U.S. crypto exchange Kraken. January was a roller-coaster ride for Bitcoin, with BTC rallying 46% to a new high of $41,989 before retracing 32% to below $29,000. This resulted in the annualized volatility spiking to over 100% — which was last seen 10 months ago during the infamous ‘Black Thursday’ price plummet. In early-March 2020, Bitcoin’s price dove more than 40% in a matter of days from $9,000 to $5,200 — …

A DeFi protocol says it offers a fresh perspective on supply-elastic tokens, which have exploded in popularity across the decentralized finance sector. Benchmark Protocol’s goal is to create a bridge between traditional finance and the crypto markets — all while adopting and refining a proven rebase algorithm introduced by Ampleforth. The supply of MARK tokens is adjusted by tracking the movements of the CBOE volatility index (VIX) — also known as the “fear index” — in a smart and fast process. Whereas other supply-elastic tokens target a price of $1 by adjusting for U.S. inflation, Benchmark Protocol’s target price is …

The upcoming Chinese New Year holidays on Feb. 12 could have an indirect impact on Bitcoin's (BTC) price and drive sell-offs on the market, according to a recent analysis. Per a Thursday report by cryptocurrency investment firm Stack Funds, the ongoing selling pressure on Bitcoin's price is likely to continue in the short term due to Asian miners increasingly offloading their funds amid the upcoming week-long holiday. With more than 60% of global Bitcoin mining pools located in China, Stack Funds head of research Lennard Neo suggested that a lot of selling pressure is coming from Chinese miners. The researcher …

Just one week after asset manager Blackrock appeared to be preparing to invest in Bitcoin futures, CEO Larry Fink has some mixed messages on crypto. In an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Fink referred to Bitcoin (BTC) as a volatile asset within "a very small market." The CEO’s remarks continued, with fascination over the media coverage of Bitcoin, given that the “asset category is so small compared to other asset categories.” “[Bitcoin] could be another store of wealth, but right now it’s still untested,” said Fink. “It has huge volatility, moving in 5-6% increments with small dollar investments moving it.” …

Argentina's brittle economy — stricken by endemic problems that have only worsened amid the COVID-19 pandemic — has sparked rising unrest in the country's agricultural sector. Earlier this month, representatives of the bulk of national producers rejected President Alberto Fernandez’s government's decision to suspend all exports of corn as part of its efforts to stem inflation and exert downward pressure on domestic corn prices. The farmers' strike followed a similar wave of resistance in the oilseed and soy industries in December 2020. The rise in labor unrest poses a challenge for the stewards of the national economy, given that agriculture …

COTI, a blockchain-powered fintech startup, has launched a new cryptocurrency index enabling traders to profit from the market volatility. The new Crypto Volatility Index, or CVI, brings the traditional “market fear index” to the crypto market, allowing users to deposit and open positions with Tether (UDST). Gibraltar-based COTI explained that the new index allows traders to open CVI positions for high and low volatility. “Users who expect volatility to increase can open a CVI position. If correct, they can take profit by selling their position once the index has risen,” COTI wrote. In contrast, traders who expect volatility to remain …

It seems like every week we hear news of another DeFi project being hacked or exploited. The latest crop of victims includes such projects as Harvest Finance, Akropolis, Value DeFi, Origin and of course Compound. When exploits do occur, they usually involve manipulating the reference price like ETH/DAI on a data source, such as Curve, Kyber or Coinbase Pro. Sometimes, it’s a mistake, as in the SNX case where the Korean Won was quoted with the wrong decimal place. Related: Finance Redefined: You get hacked, they get hacked, everyone gets hacked As decentralized finance grows, the potential for exploits will …

In the midst of the crippling price dips earlier this week, cryptocurrency traders seemed beset on all sides by fear, uncertainty, and doubt. However, Dermot McGrath, head of research at blockchain investment firm Sino Global Capital, said the firm prefers taking a long term view. Shortly after a Thanksgiving Bitcoin dip to $16,200, news broke that the Chinese government had seized $4.2 billion in cryptocurrencies as part of the Plustoken Ponzi scheme court proceedings. Rumors swirled that those tokens were poised to be dumped on the open market, crashing prices further. However, Sino Global CEO Matthew Graham wrote on Twitter …