Billy Endres, cryptocurrency expert at Finder, said that the majority of the crypto market remains in a well-defined multi-month trend.
Also – in terms of high cap trading pairs – is Ripple, which he said has dominated the rest of the market, gaining over 20% in the past two weeks.
Ripple vs SEC
In 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit against Ripple Labs Inc. and two of its executives, charging that they raised over $1.3 billion through an unregistered ongoing securities offering.
“XRP’s price action followed progress in the long-running lawsuit with the SEC, which may finally be drawing to a close,” Endres said. “Both parties filed motions asking for a judgment to be entered without going to trial on whether or not Ripple should be considered a security.”
It is one of the first cryptos to break out of its long-term range and is currently trading around the $0.50 resistance level, he added, “a clear target for traders to take profits.”
“The rest of the market seems largely unaffected by the Ripple vs SEC lawsuit and XRP’s price response,” Endres said. “However, Bitcoin is showing positive signs of a recovery and a potential range, currently holding above $20,000. Bitcoin currency reserves are at annual lows, with approximately 2.25 million BTC held on exchanges.”
He said this shows that investors are comfortable holding Bitcoin and are choosing to delist their coins from exchanges.
“If exchange outflows continue, the market could experience a shortage of BTC supply, pushing prices to the upside,” he said. “This lack of tradable BTC could be the deciding factor that drives it out of the trading range, ultimately triggering a bull run.”
“Saves customers from themselves”
David Lesperance, managing partner of immigration and tax advisor Lesperance & Associates, noted that a recent Reuters report “put the crypto world of unsecured lending under a microscope.”
“One of the most interesting revelations in the report is that despite the crypto-rash caused by unsecured lending, many people are still doing it, and that industry insiders are actually seeing the level of this type of activity increasing,” he said.
Lesperance said this is another area where Crypto lenders are not yet required by regulators to hold capital or liquidity buffers like traditional lenders.
“This means that when there is a downturn in the crypto market, lenders are exposed when a lack of collateral in a lending situation forces the lender – and the lending customers – to absorb large losses,” he said. “Of course, these losses are greatly compounded by leverage, which all too often wipes out any customer deposits.”
Lesperance said this is yet another case of the crypto world mistakenly believing that the normal “risk of return” rules do not apply.
“This misconception quickly disappears when a margin call is made in a slowdown in growth or even decline,” he said. “Yet another area that will see regulators rush in to save retail crypto customers from themselves.”
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