It has been another interesting week for Bitcoin as the cryptocurrency dropped down more than 11% from the $11,000 range it neared last week, only to start recovering again at the start of this week and head towards $11,000 again. As market signals indicate, buyers still dominate the markets while trading volume is on a slow but steady increase.
According to reports, one reason for the recent price rally was the acquisition of cryptocurrency exchange Poloniex by Circle – a peer-to-peer payments service provider that originally started as a Bitcoin alternative to PayPal before taking a different road. The Circle company has now bought off Poloniex, which once was one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges online, for a sum of $400 million, as reported by Tech Crunch.
Reportedly, the acquisition is part of Circle’s plan to add a new product called Circle Invest on top of its Circle Pay and Circle Trade products. Circle Invest is to be a user-friendly app that could be used to buy cryptocurrencies and Circle is also adding a protocol called Centre that would make various wallets like PayPal, Circle Pay, and AliPay interoperable, thus making it easier for cryptocurrency buyers from Poloniex to transition between the products.
Market Remains Bullish
During the past week since our last update, there has been an in increase in selling pressure that brought the price down to a week’s low of $9,432.40 on Sunday afternoon. But a return of buyers on the scene has slowly pushed the price upwards, reaching a high point of $11,031.80 this early morning.
The price swings were driven by changes in trading volume, which declined after last week’s price push from a $10 billion mark to reaching approximately $5.7 billion during the lowest points. Since then, however, the volume has been gradually increasing and is currently sitting at $7.45 billion, while the market cap is at $185 billion.
Our technical analysis shows that 1-hour price charts are pro-buy, with 7 out of 12 oscillators and 8 out of 12 indicators sending a buying signal. However, the difference between the SMA 100 and SMA 200 has begun to narrow down while short-term signals indicate that sellers are picking up steam. For now, the price seems to be consolidating and waiting for a stronger pressure on either side. If buyers don’t keep pushing, we might see a drop below $10K in the following days.
Self-proclaimed Bitcoin Inventor Sued for $5 Billion
In other interesting news, self-proclaimed Bitcoin inventor Craig Wright who was once pinned as the man behind the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto is being sued for allegedly devising a plan to steal $5 billion in cryptocurrency from a former associate and business partner.
According to CNBC, a lawsuit was filed in the District Court for the Southern District of Florida that alleges Wright has devised a scheme to deceive Dave Kleimen – a computer forensic expert and once a business partner of the Australian entrepreneur – out of billions worth of Bitcoin and IP (intellectual property) rights to several technologies related to blockchain.
Kleiman reportedly partnered with Wright to mine Bitcoins and develop and research software – a venture that, according to the filing, earned them 1.1 million Bitcoins. Kleiman passed away in 2013 from an MRSA infection after being bound to a wheelchair due to a traffic accident on his motorcycle. The suit was filed by his brother who claims Kleiman is entitled to $5 billion worth of Bitcoin and various IP rights. Thus far, Wright has given no official comment on the lawsuit.