Bitcoin had risen to $82,000 the week before last, surged a week ago, and has been holding and rising over the past week, currently around $94,000.

With that rise, it broke above the 200-day moving average (orange line), and $100,000 is coming into view. Until a few weeks ago, it looked pessimistic and it seemed we would enter a recession...

…and that was the impression, but Bitcoin is now showing a very strong upward move.

Of course other currencies are rising as well, but in terms of strength at the bottom and the ascent, Bitcoin has a considerable presence.

There is constructive dialogue with China on U.S. tariff policy, and tariffs are being reduced. The market is rising at this kind of optimistic moment.

However, rather than rising after tariffs are resolved, personally I feel the timing of the Federal Reserve rate cuts is being watched more closely.

In May, Ethereum upgrades, Ripple XRP futures listing, and clearer U.S. cryptocurrency regulations. Even during price stagnation, market conditions are changing.

◯ Ethereum Upgrade Coming Next Week

Ethereum’s Pectra upgrade is scheduled for release next week

When the blocks increase, the capacity of rollups will double.

In batch transactions, token approvals will no longer be displayed.

We will also implement other UX improvements with the Smart Wallet.

Signing during trades or game sessions will be disabled.

Gasless transactions sponsored by the app.

Support for passkeys, etc.

Ethereum’s largest upgrade ever, featuring 11 EIPs - rip.eth

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Ethereum upgrades are finally coming next week. Normally, Ethereum tends to surge before an upgrade and drop after, but currently the price appears to be falling. Nevertheless, upgrades will include more significant changes than ever, such as gasless (fee-free) introduction.

◯ Coincheck X account hacked

[Apology and caution: Unauthorized login to X account (coincheckjp)]

Around 8:00 today we found that our X account (coincheckjp) has been accessed by a third party without authorization.

The suspicious tweets currently being circulated were not posted by us.

There may also be messages impersonating our company or direct messages containing suspicious URLs. Please never click on suspicious URLs, etc.

Additionally, unauthorized login appears to be limited to the X account (coincheckjp); there is no impact on our services, as reported.

———

Coincheck’s X account was hacked. The hacking tweet said, “Coincheck has partnered with Ledger’s wallet, please connect.” I wondered what that meant, and suspected they intended to make you enter Ledger’s private keys to steal assets.

If you access Coincheck’s account, sending cryptocurrency requires multiple verifications such as email authentication, so even a hacker would have a hard time stealing. Therefore, it might have been a plan to tweet false information about a partnership with a personal wallet to steal private keys.

◯ MicroStrategy buys Bitcoin.

MicroStrategy purchased 15,355 Bitcoins between April 21 and April 27 at an average price of $92,737 (worth about $1.42 billion).

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As always, they are buying. It would be educational to study MicroStrategy’s purchase timing on the chart.

◯ XRP futures listed on CME

The leading futures exchange CME formally announced that Ripple futures will launch on May 19.

This is a prelude to XRP’s ETF adoption, which is currently under application.

Bitcoin and Ethereum futures have risen, followed by ETF approval. For the next ETF applications, SOL and XRP seem to have the strongest potential.

Also, XRP’s stablecoin RLUSD is coming to the Ethereum chain, expanding its adoption in that area.

◯ Banks’ cryptocurrency services are undergoing changes

The U.S. Federal Reserve suspends the requirement for prior notice and reporting when U.S. banks offer crypto asset services.

As a result, U.S. private banks may enter the crypto business more easily, strengthening collaborations between banks and crypto-related companies, and potentially revitalizing the cryptoasset market through new entrants from traditional banking.

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(This article has been distributed since 2016)

Cryptocurrency Market Analysis [April 29]