Good Morning Crypto Enthusiasts!

Glad to have you back for another edition of the UseTheBitcoin.com newsletter.

1. Bitcoin Surges Past $46K as S&P 500 Hits Historic Milestone: Bitcoin's price surpasses $46,000 amid bullish sentiment and strong investor demand, coinciding with the S&P 500 index breaching the 5,000-point mark for the first time.

2. Genesis Global Capital Resolves NYAG Lawsuit: Genesis Global Capital settles with the New York Attorney General over investor fraud allegations, prioritizing repayment to affected customers and creditors.

3. Kraken Expands European Presence: Kraken secures a license from the Dutch Central Bank to offer services in the Netherlands, as part of its broader European expansion strategy.

4. EDX Markets Eyes Singapore Expansion: EDX Markets, backed by Wall Street giants, plans to establish a significant presence in Singapore to tap into the region's growing crypto derivatives market.

5. Optimism Tests Enhanced Incident Response System: Optimism, a Layer 2 network for Ethereum, will pause ETH withdrawals to test its upgraded incident response system, aimed at strengthening security and risk management.
   
   All this and more in today’s headlines!

📰 News Highlights:

Bitcoin Surges Past $46K as S&P 500 Hits Historic Milestone🚀📈 [Source][Source][Source]

Bitcoin's price rally continues as it surpasses the $46,000 mark, buoyed by a wave of bullish sentiment and robust demand from investors. The milestone comes amidst a historic achievement for U.S. stocks, with the S&P 500 index breaching the 5,000-point mark for the first time ever.

BTC's upward trajectory signals renewed strength in the cryptocurrency market, with sustained buying pressure propelling it toward January highs. Analysts attribute this rally to a combination of factors, including favorable inflows into Bitcoin ETFs and resilient demand from institutional investors.

As Bitcoin aims for higher price levels, market observers anticipate continued momentum in both stocks and crypto assets, driven by investor optimism and favorable market conditions. With supportive factors such as the BTC halving and the prospect of Ethereum ETFs on the horizon, the outlook remains positive for digital assets in the near term.

Genesis Global Capital Resolves NYAG Lawsuit🏦💼 [Source][Source][Source]

Genesis Global Capital, a prominent crypto lender, reaches a settlement with the New York Attorney General (NYAG) regarding allegations of investor fraud, signaling progress in resolving legal challenges.

The settlement, structured to prioritize repayment to Gemini Earn customers and other creditors, underscores the company's commitment to addressing regulatory concerns and restoring investor confidence.

While Genesis faces ongoing scrutiny and legal hurdles, including opposition from parent company Digital Currency Group (DCG) over its restructuring plan, the resolution of the NYAG lawsuit marks a significant step towards regulatory compliance and accountability in the crypto lending sector.

Kraken Expands European Presence📈 [Source][Source]

Kraken, a leading cryptocurrency exchange, secures a license from the Dutch Central Bank (DNB), enabling the platform to offer services in the Netherlands as part of its broader European expansion strategy. 

The move reflects Kraken's commitment to strengthening its presence in key European markets and tapping into the region's growing crypto adoption.

With licenses already obtained in Spain, Italy, and Ireland, Kraken's entry into the Dutch market further accelerates its European growth trajectory, positioning the exchange to cater to both retail and institutional clients seeking reliable and compliant crypto services.

EDX Markets Eyes Singapore Expansion💹 [Source]

EDX Markets, a Wall Street-backed crypto exchange, sets its sights on establishing a significant presence in Singapore as part of its global expansion strategy, aiming to tap into the region's burgeoning crypto derivatives market. 

The exchange, backed by industry giants like Fidelity Digital Assets and Citadel Securities, seeks to leverage Singapore's robust regulatory framework and strategic positioning as a global financial hub.

With plans to offer perpetual futures and expand its product offerings beyond traditional cryptocurrencies, EDX Markets aims to cater to institutional investors' demand for innovative financial products and enhanced liquidity.

💡 Feature of the Day: 

Optimism Tests Enhanced Incident Response System🛑🔐 [Source][Source]

Optimism, a Layer 2 network for Ethereum, will conduct a one-hour pause of ETH withdrawals on Feb. 15 to test its upgraded incident response system, aimed at enhancing security and risk management across its ecosystem. The pause, designed to assess the effectiveness of the new feature, highlights Optimism's commitment to strengthening its infrastructure and safeguarding user funds.

With the ability to pause ERC-20 tokens and NFTs on any Optimism-chain, the upgraded incident response system enables coordinated responses to security incidents, bolstering the resilience of the network against potential threats and vulnerabilities.

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🔍 Technical Analysis:

Crypto Price Prediction 09/02: BTC, ETH, TOTAL3, DYM, SOL, and MAVIA

In the past 12 hours in the crypto world, several noteworthy events have unfolded. Binance's Web3 Wallet now supports #ERC404 tokens, including $PANDORA, while Binance announced a new launchpool for $PIXEL, allowing players to exchange $BERRY for $PIXEL. Holders of $DYM and $TIA tokens can anticipate an airdrop of $PRYZM, and the DAO of ApeCoin has chosen to build ApeChain powered by Arbitrum. Orbs Network protocols will receive an airdrop of veLYNX tokens from Lynex, and Putin's statement in an interview suggests potential agreement between Russia and Ukraine, impacting market sentiment around $WAVES. In the pipeline, Ethereum's Dencun upgrade (EIP-4844) is slated for March 13, while trends like staking<>airdrop are catching investors' attention, especially with tokens like $TIA, $PYTH, and $DYM. Additionally, Aptos Labs and SuperVLabs are launching "Supervillain: Idle RPG" under the $APT token, Linear Finance is preparing for its 2.0 upgrade, and Polygon has launched the Type-1 zkEVM upgrade, aiming to lower costs for EVM chains becoming ZK Layer 2s. It's a dynamic crypto landscape filled with excitement and potential for those in the know.

Bitcoin Market Analysis

Bitcoin has displayed considerable strength, surging past local highs and settling around 46k, where it currently trades. This robust move suggests resilience, but caution is advised as this marks a potential reversal zone. The analyst notes that failure to maintain levels above 46k could prompt a retreat towards 45k, possibly dipping to around ±43.5k, viewed as buy-the-dip opportunities until bearish momentum intensifies. A breach below 43k may signal a deeper retracement, but shorting against the prevailing trend is cautioned until then. Observations on Binance/Bybit Open Interest & Delta indicate that a significant portion of revenge shorts have been squeezed out above $45K, while spot flows, particularly longs chasing price, add to the market dynamics. The analyst highlights decreasing perp discounts, hinting at potential premiums in the future, with a cautionary note that a rally accompanied by high perp premiums and spot selling could mark the local high of the current rally.

Ethereum Market Analysis

The highly anticipated Dencun Upgrade is set for March 13th, promising significant advancements for Ethereum. With a whopping 80K ETH burned in the past 30 days and a remarkable 27% growth in Total Value Locked (TVL), Ethereum's bullish case for 2024 looks promising. Notably, tokenholders have increased by 1.66% in the same period. The upcoming EIP4844 and developments like Farcaster's on-chain social media, ERC404 combining ERC20 and ERC721, and the potential ETH ETF backed by BlackRock, along with Wall Street's interest in yield, are all contributing to Ethereum's growth trajectory. Moreover, partnerships like ENS with GoDaddy and the launch of multiple Layer 2 solutions underscore Ethereum's expanding ecosystem and future potential.On the technical front, Ethereum (ETH) is currently experiencing significant underperformance compared to Bitcoin (BTC), evident in the bearish trend observed on the ETHBTC chart. Despite numerous catalysts for a potential bullish trend, ETH has consistently lagged behind BTC. This discrepancy suggests a potential pullback, aligning with the analyst's previous ETH strategy. The highlighted chart indicates that the support level could serve as a favorable buy area in line with the established plan for ETH.

Total Crypto Market Capitalization without BTC and ETH Market Analysis

TOTAL 3 has recently broken out of its trend line, potentially indicating a bullish trend for many altcoins. If this trend persists or if there's a successful retest of the trend line, flipping it into a support, there could be a mini altcoin season on the horizon just before the upcoming Bitcoin Halving scheduled for April. The question remains: will Crypto Twitter enthusiasts finally see the long-awaited mini altcoin season they've been eagerly anticipating for over six months, or will Bitcoin's outperformance persist? Only time will tell!

Altcoin Watchlist

DYM

Think of $DYM as a specialized settlement layer in the modular stack, akin to Celestia where the value was uncertain. Just as no one knew how to value a highly specialized DA layer, valuing something specialized on settlement is similarly challenging. It's helpful to view the modular stack as comprising three equally valuable layers: execution, settlement, and DA. If execution is valued at multiple billions with all the L2 tokens, and DA itself can be worth 3 billion, then why not value a specialized settlement layer above 1 billion? Some individuals, like Ansem on Crypto Twitter, advocate for the $DYM <> $TIA comparison, which could potentially become self-fulfilling. From a technical perspective, Dymension is mirroring the trajectory of Celestial, rising only upon its launch. This trend underscores the high speculative value attached to Dymension, reflecting the bullish sentiment among many investors and traders regarding its technology offerings.

SOL

Solana stands out among the altcoins this week, outperforming Bitcoin with a surge back above $102. Over the past 36 hours, the SOL/BTC pair has seen a positive uptick of 4.5%. What seemed like a concerning outage for traders on Monday turned out to be a local bottom, with the fuel of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) driving this rebound in price. Currently, the price is flirting with the yearly open, waiting for momentum to drive it further or to reclaim the yearly open. A key confirmation for further upside would be clearing the resistance around $106 with a subsequent high above that level. Today marks a real test of momentum in the analyst's opinion.

MAVIA

$MAVIA is currently exhibiting a promising trend, as it continuously retests previous highs and rebounds, suggesting a positive trajectory for bullish investors. With aspirations to become the leading crypto game in the market, Mavia's strategy revolves around seamlessly blending traditional gaming elements with reimagined web3 mechanics. Drawing inspiration from the success stories of renowned games like Clash of Clans, Mavia aims to capitalize on existing game development practices honed over decades, which have proven effective in captivating billions of players worldwide. Rather than starting from scratch, Mavia adopts a strategic approach by integrating the best features from traditional games into its platform while infusing them with unique elements, making it stand out in the crypto gaming landscape. Furthermore, Mavia's architecture is meticulously designed to facilitate mass adoption and streamline the onboarding process for millions of new users into the crypto space. This is achieved through innovative solutions such as account abstraction, ensuring frictionless transactions, and the implementation of Ruby—a token/NFT model that adheres to the standards set by major platforms like Google and Apple. By prioritizing user-friendly functionalities and compliance with widely recognized platforms, Mavia is well-positioned to attract a diverse audience and drive significant growth in the crypto gaming sector.

😂 Crypto Meme of the Day: 

And that’s it for this today.

With all of the recent hacks taking place, remember to protect your crypto assets with today’s sponsor Trezor hardware wallets.

Have a great weekend, see you all for Monday’s edition!

Jonathan Gibson
UseTheBitcoin.com