NEWS BULLETIN  — APRIL 2021

Latest News in the Cryptocurrency and Investment World

 

 

Bitcoin hit $60,000 in March but then hovered around the $55,000 mark until the last few weeks, ending the week at $57,000. Ethereum achieved a record $2,100 despite the industry wide complaints about high gas fees. PayPal announced that consumers can now use cryptocurrency as a medium of exchange — a development which contributed to the recent strength in the Bitcoin price. DeFi hit a record high in value locked, with nearly $50Bn tied up in various platforms.

NFT’s saw some serious action in February and March, with marketplace volumes growing by 29X in February, that compares to 10X in January. A record $69 million was paid at a Christie’s auction for an NFT which was only a month old shattering all previous records. Would you pay $69 million for this?

Read our article NFT Moonshots to find out more about the opportunities in this space.

The exchange Kraken has forecast that Bitcoin could reach upwards of $288,000. They point out that it is only 50% the value of gold. A similar theory to JP Morgan which predicts a price of $146,000 in the long term. Bloomberg only last week went as far as to suggest a future value of $400,000. Our advice is to be very sceptical of forecasts. The reality is no one really knows and many of these forecasts are made by people and organizations with a vested interest. Always do your own research and way up both sides.

Coinbase one of the leading exchanges has finally announced the date of its long awaited IPO, April 14. It was also on the receiving end of some bad publicity after an expose in the New York Times revealed abysmal customer service.

Read our article covering exchanges, their practices and fees. Crypto Exchanges — The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

A few developments here. The software security genius MacAfee was arrested in Spain under a US warrant. He is charged with conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering. This relates to promoting on his Twitter account the various ICOs and cryptos he was invested in without declaring his interest. This is significant because there are many pump groups doing the exact same thing but in a more organized way. These groups are bound to be targeted soon such as WallStreetBets Crypto Pumps and QuickPump Crypto Bot all operating on Discord. Be very wary of these pump groups.

The two founders of BitMEX, the derivative exchange, have finally negotiated their surrender. After 6 months on the lamb. BitMEX was charged with illegally operating a cryptocurrency derivatives platform and anti money laundering violations.

The co-founder of crypto project Centra Tech which defrauded investors out of $25 million was sentenced to 8 years. Centra Tech was a fraudulent ICO which was endorsed by celebrities including Floyd Mayweather.

We have all heard of the OneCoin scam by now. If you haven’t listened to the podcast, The Missing Crypto Queen, then listen to it here. This brilliant podcast provides a lowdown on not only how this massive fraud operated but also the playbook for other similar scams.

These scams are called multi level marketing schemes where investors are duped into buying an ‘education package’ which includes a few pdfs and a bunch of worthless ‘tokens’. OneCoin defrauded investors out of $4Bn some put the figure at closer to $15B. If you are contacted by any similar schemes let us know as these scams are still very much alive and well.

Listen to Podcast here

DeFi project Meerkat Finance claimed it was hacked and had $31million of crypto assets stolen just a day after launch. In 2020 there were 122 attacks where $3.8billion was stolen.

Uniswap is a great platform for buying and selling many of the smaller cryptos. But there is one big problem that is preventing mainstream adoption and deterring many, its fees. If you were investing $1,000 then paying $50 in fees to buy or sell isn’t a major problem, but with many investors only interested in waging $100 or so on long shots the current level of fees are astronomical, the cryptocurrency would have to increase in price by at least 110% to breakeven.

That doesn’t put everyone off but it does explain the sudden success of PancakeSwap where fees are substantially lower. PancakeSwap has only 200 odd tokens on its platform compared to Uniswap’s 1500 plus but this is only going to increase. Uniswap are introducing a version 3 later this year but in the meantime there are other options. And talking about PancakeSwap. Its cryptocurrency CAKE’s market value is $2.5Bn compared to Uniswap’s $16Bn. With comparable value locked CAKE looks an interesting investment opportunity in its own right.

According to a report published by Bloomberg Binance is being investigated by Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over concerns it allowed American’s to buy and sell derivatives. Binance is not registered with the CFT. CZ the founder of Binance denies there is an investigation or that his company has done anything wrong.

Join our new Telegram Channel here and share your ideas and warnings with our lively community.

Let’s start with what is Cardano. It is a proof of stake blockchain platform led by an ambitious and accomplished team. And that vision has led to its current position as the fifth ranked cryptocurrency with a market cap of $38Bn. However that valuation is based entirely on potential. While touted as an Ethereum competitor Cardano doesn’t as yet have any smart contract functionality. Its $38Bn valuation assumes that in 5 to 10 years time Cardano will be one of the leaders in the blockchain space. This is a big bet especially with the regular influx of new blockchain entrants to an already crowded space.

If you are on the Cardano bandwagon it would be sensible to cash in some of your profit because no sane person can tell you that Cardano’s cryptocurrency is cheap and still maintain a straight face.

Tune in every Monday to hear our latest moonshots for the week. Every week we will discuss three cryptocurrencies which we think have potential.

Listen to our most recent episode here and subscribe so you get to hear the latest hot selections ahead of the crowd.

Listen to Moonshot Monday here

Take a look at our latest Moonshot Portfolio Selection here. February saw an increase of 100%. Read the updates to the projects we included from last month’s selection, the removals and the additions and the coins under review.

View Moonshot Portfolio Selection

The pre-sale is an area of the crypto world definitely worth exploring if you are looking at ways at getting involved in promising projects early. A pre-sale is a sale of tokens prior to an ICO. An ICO by comparison is a sale of tokens to the mass market. A pre sale is usually restricted to friends, family, supporters and wealthy investors. The advantage of buying in a pre-sale is that you are usually offered tokens at a discount to the target ICO price. It is worth investigating this market however bear in mind the potential regulatory problems of offering tokens at a discount when a project is selling tokens to US citizens. Take at look at a few pre-sale opportunities here.

Imagine investing $100 and seeing it grow to $65,000 in 30 days…

That is what happened if you made an investment in Hoge Finance where the price has increased by an amazing 65,000% in 30 days. HOGE and another similar project Safemoon have to be the most pumped cryptocurrencies in the market. HOGE has been billed as the next Dogecoin. Some say it has further to go, we can’t comment on that, although what we would say is that if you were in at the beginning of this ride it would be sensible to take a profit now.

Finally…

Today sees the launch of a new service which we are super excited about. Called Inside Track, leading experts in the world of cryptocurrency provide short presentations on both their projects and the state of the cryptocurrency market, what the future is likely to look like and of course what they believe is the next big thing.

Some of the topics covered include:

  • Projects to look out for
  • Bitcoin — its future and price prediction
  • Ethereum and likely challengers
  • NFTs — what this market is likely to look like going forward
  • Centralized exchanges vs Decentralized exchanges
  • The next big thing in cryptocurrency

This is a unique service. We plan to build a knowledge database featuring emerging and existing influencers in the crypto space. These people are leading lights in cryptocurrency heading projects that are making waves and pioneering change.

It is important when forming our own opinion we listen to the experts in order to form a more rounded view. Inside Track is a free resource aimed at anyone interested in cryptocurrency and wanting to understand about the market in general and some of the live projects leading the way in this rapidly changing market.

Listen to the current line up of Inside Track podcasts here and keep an ear out for future podcasts as we add them.

  • We do not own any of the cryptocurrencies which we discuss.
  • Our publications do not represent financial advice.
  • Discussion of a particular cryptocurrency does not constitute a recommendation to buy.
  • Always do your own research.
  • Seek independent financial advice.
  • Only invest what you can afford to lose.
  • Remember cryptocurrencies and in particular smaller cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile. You could lose 100% of your investment.

Not Financial Advice

This article does not constitute financial advice or a recommendation to buy in any way. Always do your own research and never invest more than you can afford to lose. Investing in cryptocurrencies is high risk, and you could lose 100% of your investment. The article should be treated as supplementary information to add to your existing knowledge.