Bitcoin Above $40K as XRP Hits 5-Week High

Everything you need to make sense of the crypto markets and beyond

By the CoinDesk Markets Team

Edited by Lawrence Lewitinn, Managing Editor, Global Capital Markets

July 28, 2021

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Bitcoin (BTC)

+6.8% $40,170

Ether (ETH)

+2.3% $2,302

(Price data as of July 28 @11:00 UTC)

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Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. Here's what's happening this morning:

Ripple's xRapid cross-border payment service allows customers to transfer funds using XRP, making transactions faster and cheaper.

Lower support near $36K could stabilize a pullback.

And check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and me at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Today the show will feature guests:

– Lawrence Lewitinn

Biggest Movers

These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:

Gainers:

XRP (XRP): +14.7%

Losers:

Aave (AAVE): -0.7%

The CoinDesk 20 are 20 digital assets filtered from the larger universe of thousands of cryptocurrencies and constitute roughly 99% of the market by volume at eight of the largest and most trustworthy exchanges.

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Market Moves

by Omkar Godbole

XRP Cheers Ripple’s Japan-Philippines Corridor as Bitcoin Breaks Above $40K Ahead of Fed

XRP, a cryptocurrency used by Ripple in its payments network, rallied to a five-week high on Wednesday after the company said it is targeting the $1.8 billion Filipino Remittance Corridor.

The cryptocurrency changed hands at $0.74 during the European hours, hitting the highest level since June 21 and representing a 13% gain on the day, according to CoinDesk 20 data.

Buyers stepped in around $0.65 after Ripple announced that Japan’s money-transfer provider SBI Remit, Philippines mobile-payments service Coins.ph and crypto exchange SBI VC Trade have teamed up to carry remittance payments from Japan to the Philippines using Ripple’s on-demand liquidity (ODL) service.

XRP prices, June 28 - July 28, 2021 (Source: CoinDesk)

Filipinos based in Japan send almost $2 billion to their home country every year. According to Ripple, it’s a costly affair because Japan has one of the highest remittance costs in the world. “It’s almost twice as much as the average of all the G-8 countries,” Ripple noted.

ODL uses Ripple’s xRapid cross-border payment service and allows customers to transfer funds using XRP, making transactions relatively faster and cheaper.

“This is Ripple’s first On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) service implementation in Japan, setting the stage to drive more adoption of crypto-enabled services in the region,” Ripple said. “By leveraging the digital asset XRP to eliminate pre-funding, the two companies can also free up capital and accelerate the expansion of their own payments businesses.”

The news comes on the heels of a long-standing battle between Ripple and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that weighed heavily on XRP at the end of the last year.

In December, the SEC filed a case against Ripple for raising $1.3 billion by selling XRP in unregistered securities offerings. XRP fell by 67% to $0.21 in December before rallying to $1.9 in April this year amid the broader market bull frenzy. However, when bitcoin (BTC) took a big hit in May, that also punctured the bull run in XRP and other coins. XRP recently hit lows near $0.50.

Bitcoin is trading above $40,000 at press time, up 1.72% on the day. Sentiment has recently flipped in favor of the bulls, and some investors have been snapping up calls, or bullish bets, in anticipation of continued upside. Stronger gains could be in the offing as the Federal Reserve (Fed) is unlikely to bolster concerns of early unwinding, or tapering, of its stimulus program later today.

“Policymakers will likely continue to warn over the recent move higher in U.S. inflation, which last month jumped to fresh multiyear highs,” Matt Ryan, a senior market analyst at Ebury, said. “The committee will, however, also probably highlight the downside risks to growth posed by the latest wave of virus infection triggered by the aggressive spread of the delta variant.”

Ryan doesn’t foresee a formal announcement on QE tapering until the September meeting, when fresh macroeconomic and interest rate projections will be released. Bitcoin will likely face selling pressure if the Fed’s monetary policy statement drops hints of an early taper.

FLASHBACK: BTC/USD prices, October, 2020 (Source: CoinDesk)

Read the original story here:

XRP Cheers Ripple’s Japan-Philippines Corridor as Bitcoin Breaks Above $40K Ahead of Fed

The CoinDesk DeFi Index (DFX), benchmarking the investable DeFi sector, is now available for investors watching decentralized finance, the first true "sector" in cryptocurrencies.

It is the latest index by CoinDesk Indexes, the market standard for crypto assets since 2014. The DFX provides a market-cap-weighted benchmark for a representative basket of DeFi-sector cryptocurrencies, composed of assets suitable for long-term holding.

Find out more at coindesk.com/indexes/dfx, or email indexes@coindesk.com.

Technician's Take

by Damanick Dantes, CMT

Bitcoin Returns Near $40K Resistance; Support at $36K

Bitcoin (BTC) buyers defended support during Asia hours as the short-term uptrend persists. The cryptocurrency is near $40,000 resistance at press time and is up about 6% over the past 24 hours.

The previous attempt at $40,000 on Monday triggered overbought readings, which preceded a near 10% pullback. However, buyers have been active at lower support around $34,000-$36,000.

Bitcoin four-hour price chart shows short-term support and resistance levels with RSI (Source: TradingView)

The relative strength index (RSI) is overbought on the four-hour chart, which could trigger some profit taking.

Bitcoin is roughly 20% above the 100-period moving average on the four-hour chart. The most recent above average extension was seen in mid-June as buyers failed to break above $40,000 resistance.

Downside momentum has slowed considerably over the past month as bitcoin continued to hold $30,000 support. The current rally could encourage further buying once oversold signals appear on the weekly chart.

Read the original story here:

Bitcoin Returns Near $40K Resistance; Support at $36K

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BOLO

Be on the look out for some of these upcoming events:

FOMC Meeting two-day meeting (July 27-28)

Press conference at 18:30 UTC (2:30 p.m. ET) with Chair Jerome Powell

The cryptocurrency movement has never been so sprawling, reaching every corner of the planet.

Crypto State by CoinDesk aims to connect with local communities to explore this movement of financial disruption and how it trickles down to every corner of the globe, from DeFi investment opportunities to alternative ways to transact and store wealth.

We're making virtual stops with audiences in Nigeria, the Middle East and Southeast Asia this year. Register for the Crypto State virtual tour.

ICYMI

In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

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"First Mover" dives into the discussion around USDT stablecoin issuer Tether as investors demand more transparency. "The Case For People's Quantitative Easing" author Frances Coppola and Jordan Belfort, aka "The Wolf of Wall Street," join the conversation about scams, risks, and market manipulation. Plus, bitcoin price's soft landing after Amazon denies report that it's planning to accept bitcoin as payment by the end of the year.

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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.

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