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Home Journal Litecoins Upcoming Halving Unnoticed by Markets Can Bitcoins Plunge Ignite the Spark?

As the crypto landscape evolves, one event is causing a significant stir: Litecoins (LTC) halving, set to take place on August 10, 2023. This event, where mining rewards will drop from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC on block 2,140,000, is expected to influence Litecoins price, supply, and demand, potentially mirroring patterns seen in Bitcoins halvings.

Indeed, the halving could provoke a surge in mining activity before the event and an increased valuation of each existing LTC, due to the universally acknowledged slower production of coins post-halving. Such dynamics typically prompt price increases, often aligning with the crowds enthusiasm and awareness of the event. Current trends indicate a steady rise in on-chain transaction volume since May 8, likely due to increased investment activity in anticipation of the halving.

Open interest in Litecoin futures derivative contracts has also seen an impressive growth of 22% since the beginning of the year, exceeding $420 million, suggesting increasing market anticipation for the halving event.

However, Crypto analyst Michal van de Poppe points out that despite the upcoming halving, the markets are barely showing interest in LTC, although this could change if Bitcoin finds a low. At the time of writing, LTC is valued at $84.72, with a 10% decrease over the past week.

Turning our attention to Bitcoin, BTC is currently valued at $26,245, marking a 4.4% decrease over the last seven days. Despite this recent correction, van de Poppe maintains a positive outlook, characterizing it as a healthy correction in an upward trend. He suggests that if BTC bounces back to the $26,600 level, then traders may have already witnessed Bitcoins local low.

Regarding Litecoins price analysis, theres a strong resistance level at $93.8, with the current support level at $91.3. In recent hours, the price has faced rejection at the $92.8 level, resulting in a continuous downward drift. Despite a bullish sentiment as shown by the moving average indicator (MA) at $89, selling pressure has contributed to the downward movement, with a prevailing trend favoring the bears. However, the downtrend remains manageable, with no significant setbacks observed.

Historically, Bitcoin and Litecoin have often moved in tandem, given their similar foundational technologies. Litecoin, often referred to as the silver to Bitcoins gold, was created by Charlie Lee in 2011 as a lite version of Bitcoin. It offers faster transaction confirmation times and a different hashing algorithm. Significant events in Bitcoin, like halvings and price movements, often have ripple effects on Litecoin and the broader altcoin market. It will be interesting to observe how the upcoming Litecoin halving will impact both LTC and other cryptocurrencies.

In conclusion, while the upcoming Litecoin halving is creating buzz and possibly influencing Litecoins price, the markets are still closely watching Bitcoins price action. As these two influential cryptocurrencies navigate these events, its crucial for investors to stay informed and attentive to these market dynamics.

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Litecoin's Upcoming Halving Unnoticed by Markets - Can Bitcoin's ... - Captain Altcoin

(Kitco News) - Gold will "fail" as an asset as people realize that Bitcoin offers superior properties to the yellow metal. That is according to billionaire Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of MicroStrategy, a publicly traded company which holds 140,000 Bitcoin.

"[Bitcoin] is the digital synthetic successor to gold," Saylor told Michelle Makori, Lead Anchor and Editor-in-Chief at Kitco News. "Bitcoin is going to appreciate at a faster rate. Gold is going to fail. Eventually people will sell all their gold and buy Bitcoin."

MicroStrategy started purchasing Bitcoin in August 2020, which Saylor said has paid off, given the appreciation in Bitcoin's price since then.

"Bitcoin is up 140 percent," he observed. "The S&P Index is up maybe 25 percent, the NASDAQ is up in the teens or maybe less, gold is like a plus one percent, silver has been down and lost money, and bonds have lost even more."

A long time HODLER of Bitcoin, Saylor claimed that Bitcoin has succeeded as an inflation hedge and store of value. He first started investing in Bitcoin because of its limited supply cap and decentralized blockchain network, which make it cheaper to self-custody than other assets without counterparty risk.

"[Bitcoin] is faster, smarter, and stronger than gold, with all of the advantages of gold a bearer instrument with no counterparty risk that's a non-sovereign store of value," said Saylor. "[Gold] is expensive to hold, it's centralizing, people can steal it from you, and gold miners keep debasing it by making more gold."

Saylor spoke with Makori at the Bitcoin 2023 conference in Miami, Florida.

To find out Saylor's inflation outlook and why he thinks Bitcoin is the best inflation hedge, watch the video above.

"I'm a Bitcoin realist'

Saylor maintained that he is a "Bitcoin realist," and not a purist when it comes to how people choose to hold Bitcoin.

"If Bitcoin is going to be the solution for 8 billion people on the planet, then it's going to be inevitable that large institutions, churches and corporations and the like, are going to need an infrastructure of custodians and banks," he said. "There are all sorts of groups of people that can't reasonably be expected to self-custody."

He noted that a corporation which owns Bitcoin cannot have the CEO or Board of Directors self-custody the Bitcoin due to due diligence and regulation.

"If Apple is going to have Bitcoin, and Apple is a corporation, they're not going to give it to [Apple CEO] Tim Cook," Saylor remarked.

To find out what Saylor thinks will lead to more Bitcoin adoption, watch the video above.

Bank Failures are Political

March of 2023 saw the failure of the banks Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature. On May 1st, First Republic Bank also collapsed and was bought by JP Morgan. In total, these banks had over $500 billion in total assets.

Saylor said that whether or not more U.S. banks fail is a "political decision."

"It's the politicians that decide whether the banks collapse," he said. "They can choose to have them not collapse by backing them, or they can choose to take into receivership a bank, and then the creditors and the equity-holders are wiped out, and the depositors aren't."

In the case of Silvergate, Silicon Valley Bank, and Signature, the federal government and Federal Reserve bailed out depositors, while allowing the banks to fail.

Saylor is particularly concerned about jurisdictions outside of the U.S.

"Under no circumstances would I have my money in a weak bank, or in a bank in a weak country with a weak currency," he stated. "That's basically playing Russian roulette. In the U.S., I would probably have confidence in my deposits, but if I were an investor or creditor to a smaller bank, I wouldn't have confidence in my securities."

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

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Gold will 'fail' and be replaced by Bitcoin, bank collapses are a ... - Kitco NEWS

Meme coins are on the rise in unfamiliar places thanks to Ordinals, the project launched in January on the Bitcoin network. It started with an NFT-like effort to "inscribe" assets like artwork and profile pictures onto Bitcoins blockchain, but soon evolved to support BRC-20 tokens minted using the same protocol.

Now, thanks to the sensation surrounding Ordinal inscriptions and meme tokens on Bitcoinnot to mention the increasingly high network fees that resultedinscribers have brought the latest craze in blockchain to Litecoin and Dogecoin. And in the process, theyve sent daily transaction totals to the moon.

On Wednesday, the three largest proof-of-work blockchains by market capitalization collectively tallied over 2 million daily transactions: 579,260 on Bitcoin, 363,885 on Litecoin, and 1.126 million on Dogecoin alone, per data from BitInfoCharts. Each chain has also marked a respective all-time single-day peak for transactions so far in May.

How did we get here? Ordinals coming to Litecoin and Dogecoin was a natural progression, considering that Litecoin is a fork of Bitcoin and Dogecoin was based on code forked from Litecoin. They're all related, in a sense, and that's what has led to the migration of Ordinals tech from Bitcoin to the others.

Meanwhile, the BRC-20 and subsequent LTC-20 and DRC-20 standards were inspired by Ethereums ERC-20 tokens, allowing developers to create fungible tokens on the blockchains. It was a lighthearted experiment on Bitcoin... until the tokens caught on and nearly reached a collective $1 billion market cap.

Given that, it's no surprise to see the trend catch on elsewhere since. And Ordinals and the resulting meme token frenzy is already having a sizable impact on Litecoin and Dogecoin alike. Here's a look at how it happened.

In January, software engineer Casey Rodamor released the Ordinals protocol, which let users transfer and receive individual satoshisthat is, the smallest denomination of a Bitcoin (1/100,000,000 BTC). The key upgrade here is that they could include inscribed data like videos or images, instead of simply storing transaction data.

In March, Ordinal inscriptions hit a new high after a pseudonymous creator named Domo launched the BRC-20short for "Bitcoin Request for Comment" implementation. BRC-20 allowed the creation of "fungible tokens" on the Bitcoin network, opening the door for anyone to create meme tokens on the original blockchain.

As newer tools and infrastructure have made Ordinals easier to inscribe and handle, the total number of inscriptions has soared, topping 8 million as of this writing. And with over 24,000 BRC-20 tokens minted to date, the total combined market cap is currently over $618 millionand previously neared $1 billion in total. Bitcoin transactions set a single-day record of 682,000 on May 1 amid the meme token frenzy.

Critics of Ordinal inscriptions point to the rising cost of transactions on these blockchains now that blocks are filled with JPEGs and meme tokens, with some going so far as to call it a potential attack vector and that Ordinals and meme tokens should be blocked on the network. However, proponents of Ordinals say that the higher cost help secure the network.

Following the Ordinals-fueled explosion in activity on the Bitcoin network, the inscription protocol made its way to the Litecoin network. Litecoin was launched in 2011 as a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain and was a prominent cryptocurrency for years, though it has been overshadowed at times by newer and buzzier coins.

Ordinals came to Litecoin in February after a challenge from pseudonymous Twitter user Indigo Nakamoto, who initially offered 5 LTC (around $500) to anyone who could port the Ordinals protocol to Litecoinand the prize pool quickly grew. Software engineer Anthony Guerrera launched Litecoin Ordinals after forking the Bitcoin code.

In May, the LTC-20 standard was introduced to Litecoin, bringing meme tokens to the network. Litecoin transactions surged after the addition of Ordinals, going from 100,684 transactions on May 1 to hit an all-time high of 584,836 transactions on May 10. Over 2.6 million Litecoin Ordinals have now been inscribed, according to the Litecoin Foundation.

That same month, meme token and digital artifacts using Ordinal inscriptions made their way to the original meme coin network, Dogecoin, by introducing the DRC-20 standard. Users began filling the blockchain by inscribing tokens into the smallest denomination of a Dogecoin, sometimes referred to as "shibes" or "koinu," after copying the Ordinals protocol to create Doginals.

Dogecoin saw an even heavier surge in activity than its contemporaries, at least in terms of daily transaction volume, which jumped from about 88,000 on Monday to over 1.1 million on Wednesday. Not everyone is convinced that the trend is strong enough to last, however.

Something like this cannot become a real feature because it has not had enough thought given to it, Dogecoin core developer Patrick LoddertoldDecrypt this week. Furthermore, he believes that the impact on the broader network will cool the hype, adding that sustained and growing pressure on Dogecoin will cause this to die off quickly."

Editor's note: This article was updated after publication to clarify the terms used to describe the smallest unit of a Dogecoin.

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Meme Tokens and NFTs Took Over BitcoinNow It's Happening on ... - Decrypt

Over the past few months, the likelihood of a recession in the United States economy has increased, coinciding with the Federal Reserves efforts to address the challenge of containing inflation.

Amid mounting concerns, Bloombergs senior commodity strategist, Mike McGlone, has asserted that all indicators suggest an inevitable recession is on the horizon.

According to McGlone, the economy is tilting towards a recession, pointing to factors such as the Federal Reserves tightening policies, underscored by the interest rate hikes, he said during an interview with Blockworks Macro on May 17.

We are tilting down towards a severe recession that hasnt even started, and all the indications are right now. <> Theres nothing I see on the radar up close that what can stop this downward trajectory at the moment, he said.

He pointed out that some indicators include potential earnings contraction, stagnant market performance, declining natural gas and copper prices, and historically low unemployment rates.

At the same time, despite expectations of a turnaround once the Federal Reserve implements monetary easing in response to its tight policies, the strategist predicts that such a reversal is unlikely based on historical patterns. Indeed, he projected a challenging future for most investment products, such as cryptocurrencies and equities.

Moreover, McGlone anticipates a challenging phase for altcoins, foreseeing a substantial correction as the stock market undergoes a downward trajectory.

The strategist also offered insight into Bitcoin (BTC), suggesting it is poised to establish a new bear market bottom amid this period of market turbulence. Interestingly, he anticipates a market downturn that will likely wipe out most cryptocurrencies.

My base case is [the S&P 500 index] is going to 3,000, Bitcoins going to go down, I dont know how far. It might make a new low. <> Cryptos will go down real hard. Were going to purge some of these 24,000 cryptos. Get rid of some. Theyre just silly. But Bitcoin, Ethereum will come out ahead, he added.

McGlone asserts that despite a stock market crash, Bitcoins performance is unlikely to surpass that of other assets.

If we dont go down the stock market, I dont fully expect Bitcoin to outperform in that case. So theres kind of a win-win, he said.

In the meantime, Bitcoin continues to trade below $27,000 after failing to build momentum above $30,000. By press time, the maiden cryptocurrency was trading at $26,894.

Disclaimer:The content on this site should not be considered investment advice. Investing is speculative. When investing, your capital is at risk.

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'Severe recession' unavoidable, finance expert warns, shares ... - Finbold - Finance in Bold

Secretary Hillary Clinton defended her friend and former colleague Senator Dianne Feinstein, whose advanced age and failing health have prompted calls for her to resign from the Senate, saying that Feinsteins resignation would not be worth the tradeoff when it comes to judicial appointments.

In a wide-ranging interview Monday at the Chicago Humanities Festival, I asked the former Secretary of State why so many of her fellow Democrats were staying in office well into their 80s, even as the party has strengthened its bench of young talent. I specifically asked about Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who refused to retire under a Democratic president and whose death at age 87 in September 2020 gave President Donald Trump a third Supreme Court appointment, and Feinstein, age 89, whose absence from the Senate for months has prompted questions about her fitness to serve. Clinton said she had a very negative response to my question.

Let me say a word about my friend and longtime colleague Dianne Feinstein, she continued. First of all, she has suffered greatly from the bout of shingles and encephalitis that she endured. Here is the dilemma for her: she got reelected, the people of California voted for her again, not very long ago. That was the voters decision to vote for her, and she has been a remarkable and very effective leader.

Heres the dilemma: the Republicans will not agree to add someone else to the Judiciary Committee if she retires, she continued, referencing Feinsteins powerful committee membership. (When Feinstein was absent from the Senate for nearly three months this year recovering from health issues, it created a logjam on the narrowly divided Judiciary Committee, since Democrats were unable to confirm President Joe Bidens judicial nominees without Republican support.) I want you to think about how crummy that is. I dont know in her heart about whether she really would or wouldnt, but right now, she cant. Because if were going to get judges confirmed, which is one of the most important continuing obligations that we have, then we cannot afford to have her seat vacant.

If Republicans were to say and do the decent thing and say, well this woman was gravely ill, she had just lost her husband to cancer of course we will let you fill this position if she retires. But they wont say that, she continued. So what are we supposed to do? All these people pushing her to retire: fine, we get no more judges? I dont think thats a good tradeoff.

Read More: Why Dianne Feinstein Shouldnt Quit

When I asked her again about the broader question of whether Democrats have allowed their leadership to get too old, she pushed back. I do not believe in broad questions about age, Clinton, age 75, said, adding that she also didnt believe in term limits. If you dont want to vote for somebody, dont vote for them. But dont impose some artificial check on the voters. I dont buy this whole debate. And frankly, a lot of the people pushing it, I dont understand what their real agenda is, because part of it is a bank shot against Joe Biden. And I think Joe Biden has done a very good job.

The comments came shortly after Clinton appeared at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in Washington D.C., where she was asked about the moment Biden, age 80, almost fell during the G-7 summit in Japan. There, she acknowledged his age could be an issue in the election. Well, I mean, its a concern for anyone. And weve had presidents whove fallen before who are a lot younger, and people didnt go into heart palpitations, Clinton responded. But his age is an issue. And people have every right to consider it.

At the Chicago Humanities Festival, Clinton did not mince words when she spoke about former President Donald Trump, age 76, currently running for president again in 2024. You have to think of him not as a former president or even as a presidential candidate so much as a cult leader, she said. He has a hold on a significant portion of the Republican Party.

He will most likely be the Republican nominee again, she continued. And be defeated by Joe Biden again.

More Must-Reads From TIME

Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com.

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Hillary Clinton Says Dianne Feinstein Shouldn't Resign - TIME