5 Things to Know in Crypto Today: BTC Holds Above 21DMA Near $23K as Investors Monitor Macro Risks

Key Points

• Cryptocurrency markets are in consolidation on Thursday ahead of key macro risks, after failing to track Wednesday’s US equity rally.
• Bitcoin was last trading close to $23,000 and above its 21DMA, having posted a sixth successive negative close on Wednesday.
• Solana developers are blaming the ecosystem’s recent wallet hack on the Solana-based Slope wallet.

Crypto Markets Consolidate Ahead of Key Macro Risks

Cryptocurrency markets are in a broadly consolidative mood on Thursday, as investors monitor upcoming macro risk events including an expected 50 bps rate hike from the Bank of England at 1100GMT and then more US data ahead of the release of the all-important US labor market report for July on Friday. Bitcoin posted a sixth successive session in the red on Wednesday, but only saw a modest decline and continues to trade near $23,000, above its 21-Day Moving Average around $22,600.

Technicians think its gradual uptrend since June lows remains intact. In terms of the major altcoins, the likes of ETH, ADA, SOL, DOT and DOGE are all broadly flat in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap, while BNB is an outperformer and was last up closer to 5.0%. Disappointingly for the bulls, crypto prices failed to track upside in the US stock market on Wednesday after strong US data and corporate earnings spurred optimism about the US economy.

Bitcoin May Behave More Like US Bonds or Gold, Says Bloomberg Analyst

According to Bloomberg Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone’s latest Crypto Outlook report, Bitcoin may soon start behaving more like US Treasury Bonds or Gold as opposed to stocks. “Plunging global growth supports the Federal Reserve’s shift to a ‘meeting by meeting’ bias in July, which may help pivot Bitcoin toward a directional tilt more like US Treasury bonds than stocks,” McGlone argued.

Referring to Bitcoin’s outperformance as an asset class since its inception over a decade ago, McGlone said that “we think more of the same is ahead, particularly as it may be transitioning toward global collateral”. The analyst added that it’s “abnormal for Bitcoin to hold much below its 200-week moving average”. At current levels, Bitcoin is trading just above its 200WMA near $28,000.

Institutional Traders Bullish on Bitcoin, See Fed Policy as Key Risk, Says Cumberland

According to a survey of institutional traders conducted by Chicago-based market-maker Cumberland, optimism about a potential Bitcoin rebound remains strong. “Even in the wake of a severe sell-off, the average respondent was still high-conviction bullish,” Cumberland commented, referring to the survey.

The median survey respondent saw Bitcoin prices potentially dipping as low as $16,000 this year, though also potentially bouncing to about $32,000. According to the survey, institutional traders view the path of Fed monetary policy tightening as the most important influence for Bitcoin in the medium term. “It’s very striking that the most common response for both positive and negative catalysts is movement by the Fed,” Cumberland noted.

Solana Wallet Exploit Likely Linked to Slope Wallet, Developers Say

Developers of the Solana blockchain said on Wednesday that the Solana-based Slope wallet is the source of an ongoing exploit that has seen more than 9,000 Solana wallets drained of millions of dollars’ worth of digital assets. “This does not appear to be a bug with Solana core code, but in software used by several software wallets popular among users of the network,” said a Twitter account run by the Solana foundation.

This does not appear to be a bug with Solana core code, but in software used by several software wallets popular among users of the network.

Updates will be posted to https://t.co/ivyoIbdCDP as they become available. 2/2

— Solana Status (@SolanaStatus) August 3, 2022

Over $2B Lost in 13 Separate Crypto Bridge Hacks This Year

In a report released this week, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis estimates that $2 billion in crypto assets has been stolen from bridges in 13 separate exploits this year. “Attacks on cross-chain bridges account for 69% of total funds stolen so far this year,” it added.

A bridge is a software usually consisting of smart contracts that enable tokens to be transferred from one network to another. The report follows the hack of the Nomad bridge this week, which resulted in the loss of the protocol’s entire collateral of $190 million.