Crypto Highlights Week #50 – Meta’s crypto wallet Novi launches on WhatsApp

Crypto Highlights: A likely Bitcoin double top, Bitcoin hash rate at ATH, WhatsApp launches Novi wallet, SaTT partners Adthink: these and more in this weeks’ Crypto Highlights.

Top Headlines Of The Week

• Despite the sinking crypto market, a rare CryptoPunk just sold at a record $10.2 million.
• Barely 6 months after the blatant Bitcoin mining ban in China, the Bitcoin hash rate has returned to an all-time high.
• As Bitcoin erases its 3 months gains, Trader who called the 2017 Bitcoin price crash raises concerns over ‘double top’.

Top Stories Of The Week

A rare CryptoPunk has sold at a record $10.2 million

On the Larva Lab’s native CryptoPunk marketplace, someone paid 2,500 ETH for a rare CryptoPunk, which was valued more than $10.2 million at the time of publication. #4156 was the number of the Punk that was sold. It’s a rare Ape Punk, with only 24 of them in a collection of 10,000.

This isn’t the most expensive CryptoPunk ever sold, to be sure. The most valuable Punk was sold for almost $11.8 million at a Sotheby’s auction in June of this year. It is, however, the most costly CryptoPunk to be traded on the Larva Labs’ native CryptoPunk marketplace, which existed before some of the more prominent non-fungible token (NFT) platforms such as OpenSea.

Another notable aspect of this transaction is that it took place at all, considering many owners of rare CryptoPunks are adamant against selling their prized NFT. Someone put 2,500 ETH on the rare CryptoPunk #6046 in October of this year, making it the most expensive sale at the time at $9.5 million if the Punk owner had accepted. The owner, however, rejected, claiming that the rare punk was too attached to his own personal identity and brand, therefore he turned down the millions.

Two more weeks left to go for the crypto highlights to end the year on a high!

Bitcoin hash rate returns to all-time high levels

Following the Chinese government’s assault on the crypto mining industry, the Bitcoin network’s worldwide hash rate plummeted to as low as 84 exahashes per second (EH/s) at the start of June. The worldwide hash rate has climbed by 108 percent since June, according to Blockchain.com, with the Bitcoin network functioning at a rolling seven-day average of 175 EH/s as of Wednesday.

The result is around 3% lower than the top levels of 180 EH/s seen in May at the end of the last bull cycle. It is a widely held opinion that hash rate trends correlate with the price of Bitcoin (BTC), implying that despite the current market’s negative views, there may be some positive price movement on the horizon.

The accuracy of the global hash rate ATH is difficult to ascertain, however, because several popular platforms have different assessments of the Bitcoin network’s history and present performance. According to BitInfoCharts, the ATH peaked at 197 EH/s in May before decreasing to 68 EH/s in June. Bitcoin’s hash rate was 191 EH/s on Wednesday, according to the platform, while YCharts put it at 186 EH/s.

Prior to the embargo, China-based Bitcoin miners were responsible for 70% of the worldwide hash rate. Since then, the picture has evolved considerably, with the United States accounting for 42 percent of Bitcoin’s hash rate, according to estimates from the University of Cambridge’s Bitcoin Electricity Consumption index.

Mainstream Adoption Of The Week

Meta’s crypto wallet Novi launches on WhatsApp

According to a tweet from Novi’s CEO Stephane Kasriel, the crypto wallet owned by social media behemoth Meta has unveiled the ability to pay and receive money over WhatsApp.

According to Kasriel, this connection with WhatsApp comes six weeks after the business launched a prototype for the crypto wallet. It will not interfere with WhatsApp’s privacy features. Initially, the service will only be offered to a small number of consumers in the United States.

“We’re still very early in the Novi pilot journey, so we made the decision to test this new entry point in one country to start and will look to extend it once we’ve heard from people what they think of this new experience,” said Kasriel. 

The launch comes after regulatory hurdles forced Meta’s crypto subsidiary to choose a different path after plans for Novi’s intended currency Diem were thwarted. In October, it joined with Paxos, a stablecoin provider.In India, the company previously launched WhatsApp Pay, a non-crypto service that failed to take off due to competition from Google and local player Phone-Pe.

This Week’s Market Sentiment

Trader who called 2017 Bitcoin price crash raises concerns over ‘double top’

After plunging almost 30% from its record high of $69,000, Bitcoin (BTC) might be building a so-called “double top” pattern, according to Peter Brandt, an experienced trader who accurately predicted the crypto market peak in December 2017.

Having a second attempt, the CEO of Factor LLC remembered Bitcoin’s inability to continue its price climb over its previous all-time high of $65,000. Meanwhile, he drew a so-called neckline at $30,000 as an immediate support level for the BTC price, warning of potential falls below this important level.

Traditional chartists consider the construction of two successive peaks, each leading to a significant market pullback to the downside, to be a sign of bearish reversal. In a double top situation, the downward target is around the same depth as the pattern’s creation height.

However, the double top downward objective seems a bit unreasonable in this case, since confirmation of the pattern would imply an almost $35,000 drop in Bitcoin price. In a perfect world, BTC’s price would be at risk of plunging below $0, a situation that is exceedingly implausible.

Should the price break bearishly below the $30,000 neckline, Bitcoin’s ultimate downside objective might be the 200-week exponential moving average (200-week EMA; the orange wave in the chart below), which is now roughly 50% below current prices, near $23,500.

The upward-pointing arrows in the chart above indicate how the 200-week EMA has been useful in identifying bear market bottoms. Brandt, on the other hand, reminded:

“A chart pattern is NOT NOT NOT a chart pattern until it is completed and confirmed. Until that time it is only of passing interest to me.”

Exclusive From SaTT

Atayen (SaTT), delivers its first NFT ”Agency Early Adopter” to Adthink its new partner of choice

To kick off this month of festivities, SaTT is honored to announce a partnership with Adthink. Founded in 2001, the company has quickly established itself in the digital marketing market. Thanks to its trading desk and its affiliation platform used by more than 500 clients, Adthink achieved a turnover of 10.24 million euros in 2020. A success that is also visible in the studies of the famous audit and consulting firm PwC, which in 2018 included Adthink in the “Top 100 Digital”, a top highlighting the best companies in the digital sector.

Finally, as if that wasn’t enough, Adthink is also listed on the Euronext market, the main stock exchange in the Eurozone.

“Adthink and its performance-oriented approach to digital marketing fit perfectly with the spirit of SaTT. We are proud to deliver to Adthink our first NFT Agency Early Adopter and look forward to making Ad Pools available to their clients”, Gauthier Bros, CEO of Atayen (SaTT)

While this partnership will undoubtedly bring us a new customer base, it also signals recognition of the seriousness of the solutions we are developing at Atayen for the SaTT ecosystem. This partnership is only the beginning of the new features we are announcing to conquer the ever-growing influence market, which will represent 20 billion dollars by 2022! 

This Week’s Crypto Meme

We hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of crypto highlights. For a peek at our last edition of crypto highlights & blockchain news, click here.