Our experts named the reasons for the large “queue” of transactions in BTC network. And described the ways to solve this problem, as well as its impact on the price of the leading digital asset.

At the beginning of May, the daily number of transactions in Bitcoin network renewed its historical maximum at 685 thousand. This happened amid a surge of activity associated with the issue of bitcoin-NFT or Ordinals.

The ability to issue tokens on the Bitcoin network appeared in late January. And since then more than 4.69 million of them were created. More than 789 BTC ($21.9 million) were spent as commissions.

As of May 8, there are still more than 455,000 transactions waiting to be confirmed in the first cryptocurrency blockchain. Which is a record high. Experts told what the formation of such a queue could lead to.

Reasons and solutions

Queuing is a fairly typical situation for PoW blockchains. And many factors can affect it, but the main reason is always associated with a sharp increase in interest in intra-network transfers.

Our experts say that the problem develops further very quickly. As the queue generates an even bigger queue, similar to the traffic jams that form from traffic jams when people try to avoid them. In blockchains, users start to raise fees. And all new transactions get stuck, while old ones may stay in the mempool (transaction queue, mempool) for weeks until the load is reduced.

There is no direct solution to this situation, says our expert. In general, the “scalability problem” is the main reason to criticize the consensus mechanism Proof-of-Work (PoW), on which Bitcoin works. But our expert noted that there are local ways around this problem. For example, such as “replace-by-fee” or “child-pays-for-parent” mechanisms.

“Replace-by-fee” allows you to directly change the amount of commission in a transaction already sent to the waiting list. But very few wallets support this feature. And to enable it, it should have been provided for in advance: the transaction should have been sent with the parameter enabled. Which allows you to replace the commission already after the transaction has been sent.

The “child-pays-for-parent” function implies sending a new transaction from a wallet. To which the change from the previous transaction with the knowingly overrated commission must come. This is such that it would be profitable for miners to process two transactions at once.

The problem of scalability is partially solved by the use of L2 solutions. For example, there is a Lightning Network superstructure for Bitcoin, which does not load the main blockchain. The widespread implementation of this technology will help prevent queues in the future.

Impact on Bitcoin price

The current significant queue in the BTC network is unlikely to affect the value of the asset in the moment. But it does create a number of questions for what is happening around the Bitcoin blockchain.

If before the BTC network seemed to market participants something fundamental, stable, which is very difficult to change. And, as a consequence, difficult to deteriorate in its parameters. After the emergence of projects like Ordinals, Bitcoin no longer seems to be a cryptocurrency ” constant.

The fact that thousands of enthusiasts in the Bitcoin network can now create NFT using the experimental script BRC-20. This expands the capabilities of the project, but creates no additional value for BTC. Our expert noted that the Bitcoin blockchain has never been known for scaling as it is. And in times of stress and strong movements of the cryptocurrency market, transactions in the network, compared to other blockchains, were very slow at all.

Now, against the backdrop of a growing number of transactions. And at the moment the number of transactions “in the queue” exceeded 400 thousand, the network’s fees have also increased, which adds to the negativity.

Thus, over time, the perception of Bitcoin as the first asset of the market may shift towards other projects. Which will offer reliable, fast and profitable transactions. Thus, the events of today may lead to a decrease in interest and capitalization of BTC in the long run.

However, there is no clear competitor at the moment. Therefore, market participants will continue to use Bitcoin. Current price movements are unlikely to be affected by these processes. But in the long term, such an “evolution” of the Bitcoin network raises questions.

Crypto-Upvotes experts analyzed the situation with Bitcoin on crypto market and told how it can change in the short term

From December 5 to 11, the pair BTC/USDT traded in the price range of $16.7 ths – $17.4 ths. In the first half of the week Bitcoin was under pressure, in the second it got out in a small plus. Because Bitcoin got back in touch with the stock and currency markets. It was influenced by the dynamics of stock indices and the dollar index.

On Monday, December 5, investors were spooked by better-than-expected data from the U.S. service sector. The statistics changed market sentiment of the market participants. Because they are still afraid of the Fed’s continued tight policy to curb inflation. As a result, the S&P500 index was unable to break through the trend line on the daily and weekly section. The downward correction intensified amid closing long positions in technology sector stocks. The dollar index recovered to 105.79 points. BTC/USDT pair returned to the level of $16.8 ths.

On Tuesday, December 6, Bitcoin rate consolidated at $17 ths. On December 7, the pair BTC/USDT fell to the trend line of $16.7 ths on the background of risk aversion. Since Thursday, December 8, the situation in the markets has changed. Bitcoin gained 2.30% against the dollar to $17.2 thousand. The dollar index reversed downward and the S&P500 index recovered to 3,974 points. That was the end of the index’s rise, as well as Bitcoin’s strengthening.

On Friday, December 9, the S&P500 index fell 0.73% to 3934.39 points. The sell-off in risky assets resumed after the release of disappointing U.S. producer price data for November. Prices rose more than forecasted. The PPI index in November rose by 7.4% on an annualized basis and by 0.3% versus October. The average forecast was for a 7.2% growth for the former index and a 0.2% growth for the latter.

Investors fear again

Fears of tighter monetary policy from the Fed and a possible recession came to the fore. U.S. stock futures changed from rising to falling, while Treasury yields jumped.

The statistics are rocking the markets ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s December 14 meeting. High volatility is needed for option sellers. To sell them at a high premium. Investors are expecting Wednesday’s rate hike of 50 basis points, to 4.5% per year. According to the latest CME FedWatch Tool, there is a 78.2% chance of a 50bp rate hike.

There is still uncertainty in the crypto market. The decline in the BTC/USDT pair on Friday was subdued. The level of $17.35K has not been passed, and the buyers can still pass it till Wednesday. The price pattern at 4H (time range on the chart) is favorable for an upward move.

Support is at the level of $16.9 ths, key – at $16.5 ths. We expect the denouement after the speech of the head of the US Federal Reserve Jerome Powell at the press conference, which will be held after the announcement of the rates decision.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts have analyzed situation on cryptocurrency market. And told how Bitcoin price can change in the next few days

Last week, from November 14 to 20, trading on the crypto market was relatively quiet. Increased volatility was observed on the first day of the week. Bitcoin/USDt jumped from $15.8 th. to $17.1 th. (+8.69%). Growth in quotations was caused by the head of Binance, Changpeng Zhao. He said he will launch a fund to rebuild the industry and help promising companies. He did so to reduce the negative impact from collapse of crypto exchange FTX.

After updating the weekly high price stabilized in the range of $16 thousand – $17 thousand Investors are in no hurry to buy Bitcoin because they took a wait-and-see attitude. Because of fears of the next wave of sales on the background of new bankruptcies of companies related to the collapsed exchange FTX.

For ten days, market is in the phase of rest after a recent collapse. Bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P500 Index has turned negative at 0.62. Crypto market has stopped reacting to the dynamics of dollar and stock indices. Investors are busy transferring tokens from centralized exchanges to cold wallets. They are doing this to protect their cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin price is at $16,000 waiting for a new batch of news about crypto industry. As buyers have failed to quickly get the price back above $18,500. A level of $12k is still flashing green for sellers below, signaling a lack of resistance. Because of a collapse in FTX, events could begin to unfold in a worst case scenario for Bitcoin and crypto investors. Buyers need to consolidate above $18.5k. Without consolidation, bearish sentiment will not be offset.

There is a threat of new bankruptcies, and continued collapse of crypto market

So far, the ratio of long and short positions on futures market does not have any bias. Therefore, we do not expect a sharp change in the situation in the next few days.

On-chain parameters also speak in favor of absence of preconditions for fall. There is also growing interest in cold wallets, amid outflow of capital from CEX exchanges because of scandal with FTX.

Most likely scenario is a continuation of current levels. Accordingly, expected range of BTC price is about $16-17 thousand.

Among stability risks, there is a threat of new bankruptcies followed by an avalanche of liquidations. There are no guarantees that it will not happen this week. But the probability is not high either. And statements of major players about creation of crypto-business support funds to prevent exactly such chain reactions in the market. Should add optimism and confidence in protection of crypto industry from collapse.

Of important – it is worth to highlight protocol of November meeting of the US Federal Reserve, which will be published on November 23. Bitcoin is detached from risky assets, so it may ignore investors’ reaction to the publication of these protocols.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts told us what dynamics to expect from Bitcoin and digital currency market in short term

On November 14, Bitcoin exchange rate is about $16.5 thousand. During the last week, it fell by more than 20%. Our experts have analyzed this situation on crypto market and told what kind of dynamics to expect in next week.

Any negative news will bring down crypto market

The second week of November reversed all the achievements of buyers since mid-September. The collapse of the crypto market occurred due to the fiasco of negotiations between the head of Binance Changpeng Zhao and the head of FTX Sam Bankman-Fried.

Changpeng Zhao caused a liquidity crisis at the FTX exchange on Monday with his announcement that he would sell FTT tokens. As it turned out, most of the assets of FTX-affiliated company Alameda ($14.6 billion) were FTT tokens.

The Binance CEO wiped out a huge competitor in a matter of days. There is an opinion that he intentionally made public statements about selling FTT. The collapse in crypto market was partly localized by U.S. statistics on Thursday. Slowing inflation in the U.S. collapsed the dollar and boosted demand for risky assets. Traders sold off the U.S. currency on expectations of a slowdown in the U.S. Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hike cycle. The BTC/USDt pair jumped 16% to $18,200.

Although Dollar Index continued to fall on Friday, cryptocurrency halted its rise. Sam Benkman-Fried undermined confidence in the crypto industry. Investors fear the collapse of other cryptocurrencies that have had liquidity problems because of FTX. We just don’t know about it yet. Alameda may be “dumping” its portfolio on the market to take advantage of a price rebound.

The inflation report temporarily diverted investors’ attention away from FTX problems. Although situation in market remains tense. After a collapse and rebound, Bitcoin/USDt is trading at $16,400 in the range of $15,600-$18,200. Shock has passed, but buyer activity is very low. Without new negative news, the continuation of the correction above $18.5k remains. In such conditions, it will be a feat for the buyers. According to our experts, the risks of Bitcoin decline to $12,000 are over 70%. The market is low-liquid, so any bad news on the collapse of some other exchange with its token will collapse crypto market within a day.

Prospects for Bitcoin to rise to $20,000 in coming week

Unfortunately, our experts do not see prerequisites for Bitcoin recovery even up to $20K. All that positive impulse, which the market got after the data about growth of consumption prices in the USA. But crisis around FTX, which is still in its acute phase and just started to develop, didn’t let BTC grow and it fell below $17K again.

This week market will wait for developments around FTX. And the details of the debts of Alameda and FTX. As well as possible solutions to the problem of repayment of debts to clients. Regulators will definitely take action, because many companies related to the American market, Galaxy Digital and Circle, have been affected.

It’s not yet completely clear how catastrophic the collapse of Alameda would be for those companies that Sam Bankman-Fried was actively rescuing in recent months. Rumors have surfaced about Alameda’s liabilities of up to $50 billion. This could be a real counterpart to a collapse of Lehman Brothers for crypto market.

Our forecast for BTC this week is that it might fall to $14-15K and it will hardly go lower because, judging by Order Book, there are huge buy orders. So even if Bitcoin falls below that level, it will be bought back immediately.

Bitcoin fell below $18 ths, other cryptocurrencies were also affected. Our Crypto-Upvotes experts pointed out reasons for market decline. And also told about its short-term prospects

In the evening of November 8 Bitcoin rate momentarily fell to a two-year low of $ 17.1 ths. As of November 9, Bitcoin cryptocurrency is trading at $ 17.2 ths, it has fallen in price by 10% over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin price decline accelerated as the rate of cryptocurrency exchange token FTX (FTT) plummeted almost six-fold, from $19 to $3. Altcoin now trades at $4+ and shows a daily decline of 74%.

The FTT token collapse and the overall situation around the FTX crypto exchange caused the entire crypto market to fall. First, the FTX exchange lost liquidity and its own token price collapsed. And then Binance announced about buying this exchange.

Possible FTX and Binance deal attracted attention from regulators. As well as other reasons that helped Bitcoin collapse

FTX and Binance deal attracted regulators, raising antitrust concerns. Regulators have the power to block major mergers. If they fear it will limit market choice. And there are strict laws against anticompetitive behavior.

Among other factors in a declining market is the tension between China and Taiwan. Because China is a pretty big player in the crypto market. Taiwan makes chips for mining. So this factor is important and pressures cryptocurrency prices down.

Another reason, our expert called the U.S. Congress elections. At the moment, Republicans are expected to win the elections to House of Representatives.

Cryptocurrency market sympathizes, first of all, with the Democratic Party. At least by the volume of investments in their election campaign. Foreign representatives of the cryptoindustry are betting exactly on Democrats.

In addition, all these problems of crypto-industry coincided with the growth of stock indices and weakening of USD.

Crypto market at an early stage of formation of the “bottom” ?

Buyers could not take advantage of the moment to pass the level of $22.5 ths. While USD is under pressure, and stock indices are set to rise. Buyers have a chance to return Bitcoin price to $20 ths. Now we need to wait for volatility to decrease. And exchanges FTX and Binance clarified the situation and their further actions, said our expert.

Our expert added that the current situation, which now presses the crypto market, could be a culmination of decline. Because the current situation in crypto industry may be the initial stage of forming a “bottom”. Because for many market participants such prices are of interest to increase buying volume or to enter this market.

Now there should be a set of factors that will be able to raise the price up. Therefore now the L-shaped recovery, rather than a sharp reversal of a bearish trend is more probable. If the situation with China and Taiwan does not worsen. It is unlikely that anything else can hurt the market more than it already has.

This is largest increase in Bitcoin mining complexity since May 2021. Cryptocurrency mining complexity rises as computing power grows

On Oct. 10, the Bitcoin mining difficulty increased 13.55%. This was the biggest increase since May 2021, when complexity jumped 21.5%. Usually the figure increases or decreases within 10% every two weeks. The previous record was set on September 14, when the complexity reached 32.05T (difficulty target).

Explanation
Network complexity determines amount of computing power required to find a new block in the bitcoin blockchain. This parameter changes every 2016 blocks, or about once every two weeks. This is necessary to maintain block time of about 10 minutes.

According to BTC.com, complexity is now 35.61 T at 259.52 EH/s, which has also become a high figure. This increase in numbers suggests that the number of miners is increasing and the competition among them is growing.

At the same time, given the current price of Bitcoin, the profitability of mining is close to zero. According to our experts, at a price of $20,000 per Bitcoin, profitability of mining companies is already close to the cost of production (about $15,000-17,000). And in some cases it goes into negative values.

Our Crypto-Upvotes experts have analyzed situation with Bitcoin on crypto market and told how it can change in next month.

Situation on cryptocurrency market completely depends on dynamics of American stock indices. Which collapsed after the speech of head of the Federal Reserve J. Powell at a conference in Jackson Hole. Over last 30 days, the correlation between Bitcoin and the S&P500 index is 0.77. Accordingly, if the U.S. stock market crashes. Then all risky assets, including cryptocurrency, will also collapse.

Fed is set to take control of inflation and is ready to aggressively raise rates to the detriment of the economy. Fed interest rate futures are pointing to a 75 basis point hike with a probability above 70%.

Since the Jackson Hole symposium, the technical picture for bitcoin has deteriorated. Sellers have broken down trend line from the low of $17,600 (June 18, 2022). They are restrained by support of $18-19 ths. below it the nearest target is near $12.5 ths.

Bitcoin technical analysis shows that situation has worsened

Investors’ attention is now riveted on US non-farm payrolls (NFP) data for August. According to the forecast, they are expected to show an increase in the number of employed people by 300 ths. compared to growth of 528 ths. in July. A strong jobs report will bolster expectations for the Fed to continue its aggressive 75 basis point rate hike. A sharp rate hike is a rally in the dollar and a decline in Bitcoin.

There was also another negative factor which had a negative impact on all risky assets in Asia. Chinese authorities imposed quarantine in Chengdu because of the COVID-19 outbreak. In the past two weeks in Chengdu about 600 patients with COVID-19 and about 300 asymptomatic carriers of coronavirus were identified. 21 million residents will remain in their homes. Businesses will close. Asian markets were followed by declines in European markets. As a result, futures on the S&P500 went down and pulled the pair BTC/USDt.

Also US dollar draws strength from the weakening of the single currency. Because of the energy crisis in Europe, gas prices are rising in Asia and the U.S.. This in turn leads to unwinding inflation in the world. Gas prices in the U.S. and Asia are rising after those in Europe. And the U.S. Fed is fighting inflation by raising rates. Since the euro accounts for about 57% of the dollar index.

Key event in September will be the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting. Investors fear a recession from a tightening of monetary policy by the U.S. Federal Reserve. A collapse in indices will trigger a fall in cryptocurrencies. Because buyers failed to pass the $25,500 level in mid-August, sellers continue to control market. The more the indexes fall, the more bitcoin will fall.

In next year, cryptocurrency market will be turbulent

So far, the situation for the technology sector and cryptocurrencies, which are strongly correlated with IT stocks, is alarming. Jerome Powell recent statements about the possible next key rate hike. And remaining inflation risks gave a signal to investors that the market will be turbulent in the next year. It is worth to be patient or to exit from high-risk assets in order to keep capital.

In our view, Bitcoin will continue to trade between $18K and $21K in September. We believe BTC will not even make it to $25K during September.

Forbes conducted a study of Bitcoin transactions. It showed that estimates of platforms that are considered reputable do not reflect real picture of BTC trading volume.

More than half of the trades on exchanges with BTC are fake. According to a study conducted by Forbes. The reasons are so-called “wash trading” and poor monitoring of exchanges.

Wash trading is when a trader repeatedly buys and sells the same asset over a short period of time. Thus trying to mislead other market participants about price or liquidity of asset. The purpose of these operations is to inflate trading volume and create the appearance of growing popularity of the asset. The Forbes article notes that wash trading also benefits exchanges.

The study found that BTC trading volumes calculated by platforms considered reputable do not reflect the real picture. Resources such as CoinMarketCap, CoinGecko, Nomics and Messari give completely different estimates of daily Bitcoin trading. Forbes estimated the total daily trading volume of bitcoin on June 14 at $128 billion. This is half as much as the $262 billion volume reported by these platforms.

The most problematic in terms of counterfeit volumes are platforms. Which report big numbers but operate with little or no regulatory oversight. These are the likes of Binance, MEXC Global and Bybit. In total, less-regulated exchanges account for about $89 billion in real trading volume, according to the study. Whereas according to these platforms, the index was at $217 billion.

Opinion

Our experts are not surprised that volumes of BTC and other popular cryptocurrencies can be fake. Because we see large volumes on many non-popular exchanges. But in fact many of them don’t have big amount of users for those volumes which they show. So it’s not surprising that even big platforms like Binance use fake volumes.

But we believe that in the near future many exchanges will no longer be able to do this. Because many countries are restricting and starting to strictly regulate all major CEX exchanges.

Resorts in Soneva hotel chain can now be paid for in Bitcoin or Ethereum, review by our experts Crypto-Upvotes

Resort chain Soneva hotels in Thailand and the Maldives are now accepting payments in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Cryptocurrency payment provider TripleA and payment platform Pomelo Pay are helping to make payments.

The cryptocurrency payment option will be available at Soneva Fushi hotels. As well as Soneva Jani and Soneva in Aqua in Maldives. And in Soneva Kiri in Thailand. Also for Bitcoin and Ethereum it is now possible to buy real estate in the Maldives at Soneva Villa Ownership.

The resort network can directly book rooms. And pay with cryptocurrency through a secure link. In addition, you can use a QR code to pay in cryptocurrency. Soneva adds that while any payments made using Bitcoin or Ethereum are 100 per cent non-refundable, credits can apply in line with its flexible cancellation policy.

“At Soneva, we have always endeavoured to be a pioneer in the hospitality industry, hence accepting cryptocurrencies as a payment method is another example of enabling our international guests to easily make payments from anywhere in the world,” said Bruce Bromley, chief financial officer, and deputy CEO of Soneva.

Our experts told us what prevents Bitcoin from rising in price. And what the prospects are for it to return to its maximums as it was in fall 2021

In November 2021, 12 years after its appearance, Bitcoin reached a price high of about $69,000. On January 1, 2022, the cryptocurrency was trading at $46,200. In June, its price fell to $17,600, renewing its low from December 2020.

Proponents and critics of cryptocurrencies make various predictions about the direction in which Bitcoin will go next. And what levels it may reach.

Optimistic prognosis

A return to the historical high around $69,000 is hardly possible on the horizon of the next 12 months.

Our experts believe that the fundamental factors for Bitcoin growth. Growth in the cost of money in USA and Europe (an increase in key rates) is necessary. Despite the existing name of BTC “digital gold”, it has not yet become a protective asset. But nothing prevents BTC from becoming such in the future.

With the current volatility of Bitcoin, its price can change by $20,000 in half a year. And if volatility does not increase, the approach to the historical highs will not happen earlier than in a year.

Pessimistic prognosis

Bitcoin follows the rate of U.S. stock exchanges. And this has been observed for a long time. For example, during the growth of indices, the price of bitcoin also grows. And during the fall – it goes down. The downtrend on the U.S. stock market is for a long time. Because the dynamics of inflation in the U.S. promises a further increase in Fed rates. And accordingly, a decrease in the quotations of the technology sector.

Our expert says that according to different estimates, recovery of stock indices in USA. Which have lost more than 10% since the beginning of the year, will take at least three years. That means the same recovery period to record levels can be predicted for Bitcoin. Most likely, the coin will reach above $60,000 only in 2025.