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New COVID Variant FUD Drives Bitcoin Down To $54k

The news of the latest COVID variant is invoking a fresh wave of FUD among investors, with Bitcoin crashing down to $54k, and markets across the board slipping into the red.

Bitcoin Plunges To $54k As News Of COVID Variant Emerges

Financial markets are moving into the red on Friday as news of a new COVID variant makes investors around the world worried.

According to a BBC report, this new variant was discovered in South Africa, and scientists have found it to be the most heavily mutated version so far.

Not much is clear about the variant’s properties yet, but what looks to be most worrying so far is that this version of COVID may be vaccine resistant due to the large number of mutations.

The Director of the Centre for Epidemic Response and Innovation in South Africa, Prof. Tulio de Oliveira, said “This variant did surprise us, it has a big jump on evolution [and] many more mutations that we expected.”

If it indeed turns out to have strong immunity to the vaccine, then vaccination efforts so far may become ineffective, and nations around the world may look at enforcing new lockdowns.

Because of these fresh COVID concerns, investors have started to de-risk their holdings. This sell off has taken Bitcoin down to $54k.

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Here is a chart that shows the trend in the price of BTC over the past day:

BTC’s price plummets down | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView

As the above graph shows, Bitcoin is currently down 8% in the day so far, but earlier it went down to as low as $53.5k.

Almost $200 million in BTC was liquidated in the past 12 hours alone as traders are looking to catch the bottom with leveraged longs.

BTC liquidation data over the past 24 hours | Source: coinglass
What Could Be Next For BTC’s Price?

Just yesterday, Bitcoin’s price finally started to show some recovery from the decline that followed its new all-time high as the crypto broke past $59k once again.

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The below chart highlights the trend in the price of the crypto over the past few days.

BTC’s price almost started on the path to recovery before this crash | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView

However, before this recovery could come to fruition, the news about the COVID variant arrived, and the price of the crypto once again crashed down.

At the moment, it’s unclear which direction Bitcoin might go in next. The coin may have already hit the bottom, but it’s possible that as more news about the variant surfaces, the coin may travel further down still.

Featured image from Unsplash.com, charts from TradingView.com

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Medical Firm In Mexico To Introduce COVID-19 Testing Through Blockchain

Blockchain technology remains the revolutionary aspect of cryptocurrency and the entire digital assets as a whole. It brought more innovations and popularity to the industry, which have attracted more users and developers.

The use of blockchain technology is erupting within several mainstreams and sectors of the global economy. Recently, this amazing technology has found a useful application in the medical field. A Mexican medical firm, MDS, has launched a coronavirus testing service that utilizes blockchain technology to confirm its results.

A local media report, iProUP news reported that MDS Mexico launched a digital result-profiled platform. This will enable its patients to access their results as updated in real-time. Furthermore, the physical delivery of the results comes with a QR code.

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This enables scanning for the verification of the results. Also, from MDS Mexico’s blockchain, it’s very easy to access the vaccination history of a patient.

Purpose For Blockchain Adoption

According to its report, MDS mentioned that adopting blockchain technology is a means of safeguarding all the results of its clinical tests.

Also, it will protect the personal data of patients as well prevent COVID test result falsification. The company explained that it commenced the certification of the SAR-CoV-2 detection tests via cryptographic signature and blockchain technology.

This move eliminates the possibility of getting falsified negative results. Thus, the QR Code, which remains unalterable, unique, and immutable, protects the information and is verifiable globally.

Moreover, the medical firm’s blockchain has uploaded testing results that contain a doctor’s cryptographic signature. This must be the doctor that verified the result of the test.

Before now, there have been other companies in Mexico using digitized covid test results. One of such moves is the April announcement from Mexico’s National Chamber of Commerce (CANACO) of a state-sponsored initiation.

According to CANACO, the initiative is a collaboration with Xertify, a private technology company, for the digitalization of vaccination passports.

For this initiative, there are some requirements from the beneficiary. These include their official means of identification and proof of the vaccination from the Ministry of Health.

Crypto market is at its all-time highs | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com

Also, a representative from the Xertify firm disclosed that his company is in charge of the vaccination receipt digitalization. He mentioned that this would help in its authentication in another language without falsification.

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Similarly, an Australian firm in August facilitated the use of a vaccine registry based on blockchain technology.

The company opted for such an introduction to cut down the proliferation of counterfeit coronavirus vaccination certificates floating online. Through the blockchain-based registry, there will be a stop to the involvement of fraudsters selling fake COVID-19 certificates.

Featured Image From Pexels and Chart From TradingView.com

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37% Of U.S. Investors Decline To Liquidate Cryptocurrency Assets in Bearish Situations

Recent research reveals that US cryptocurrency investors have an average allocation of $1,107 in digital assets. About 37% of the investors confessed non-liquidation of their crypto holdings even for important bills or other payments.

However, there’s this discovery that Elon Musk has a great influence on the crypto-related decisions of most respondents.

A survey of 1,000 US crypto investors by GamblersPick, a betting platform, displayed a shocking revelation. 37% of these holders won’t dispose of their assets irrespective of the circumstance. Furthermore, 51% confirmed that luxury purchases wouldn’t be too enticing for them to opt for cash out.

Also, the survey took a critical examination of the different generations of crypto investors. It reveals that the Baby boomer and Generation Z groups have the largest and the least investment in cryptocurrency, respectively.

In addition, the male forks have more interest in digital investment than women, with an average of $1,940 worth of cryptocurrencies. On the other hand, the statistics for the female is at a median value of $1,375 worth of digital assets.

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From its survey, GamblersPick discovered an increase in the demand for digital assets among US investors. This recent surge in demand even prompts people to borrow cash from family and friends to invest. It reflects in the results of the use of credit cards in purchasing cryptocurrencies by every fourth respondent.

The investors revealed that they plan to increase their cryptocurrency investments by adding an average of  $1,645 within 12 months. The statistics have men on the lead again with the proposal of increasing with $1,988 while women plan for $1,100.

What Influences Decisions Of Cryptocurrency Investors?

Furthermore, the research reveals the reason behind the recent increase in interest in crypto investments. Most of the respondents, amounting to about 75%, confirmed their confidence in a future surge in the value of digital assets. Moreover, while 24% see cryptocurrency as a means of gaining great returns, 32% use it to diversify their portfolio.

The cryptocurrency market is back on track after a bearish pullback | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com

Additionally, about 21% of the participants used cryptocurrency as a hedge over inflation that emanates from the swindle in the economic condition. The recent COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the massive national currency print-out, are contributory factors.

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Also, online forums and social media have a prominent influence on cryptocurrency-related decisions and moves on U.S. investors. Among them is Reddit that topped the list having about 34% influential power.

Others include Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook, with their influences rated as 26%, 23%, and 16%, respectively. When it comes to influences from individuals, a man stands out among others. His influence is even greater than those from the mentioned companies above.

He is Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, a popular electrical car company. 35% of the research respondents confessed that their choices in digital assets are based on Musk’s statements, opinions, and tweets.

Other influencers are Warren Buffett ranking second and Snoop Dogg, the rap star, ranking third. They have an influential rating of 9% and 7%, respectively.

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from TradingView.com

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Do COVID-19 Cases Work As A Bitcoin Trading Signal?

Bitcoin trading signals can come from anywhere. It could range from just looking at charts to looking at how people react towards the purchase of certain assets. With the pandemic sending most of the world into lockdown, COVID-19 has now made its way into being a trading signal. The movement of the market in line with the rise and fall of COVID-19 cases has shown some interesting correlations when both charts are compared.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt had a huge impact on every single financial market. Bitcoin has not been left out of this. The lockdowns of 2020 had markets apprehensive of impending crashes coming. And for a while, it was right. Market prices crashed as the world tried to figure out its way out of the pandemic. But once countries began to find their footing, the markets recovered in a way no one had anticipated.

But a more interesting point is the price of bitcoin rallying according to flare-ups in COVID-19 cases. The times where there have been the most COVID-19 cases have also seen the price of BTC rise in tandem with it. An example of this is when Bitcoin hit a new all-time high of $64K in May. During this same time period, the world had recorded the highest number of COVID-19 cases ever since the pandemic first broke out.

BTC price went up as COVID-19 cases rose | Source: Twitter

As the number of cases began to die down, so did the price of BTC begin its downtrend. This lasted for a couple of months following May when COVID-19 cases had begun to decline. The price of BTC hit its lowest point in a two-month period following COVID-19 cases hitting a low point in June.

Bitcoin Keeps Climbing With COVID-19 Cases

While Bitcoin price remained low for most of June and July, August has seen a bull rally that has sent the price of the digital asset skyrocketing again. This is attributed to mounting buy sentiment in the market. Although a comparison with the chart of COVID-19 cases shows conspicuous similarities in both charts. Number of COVID-19 cases had also begun to climb at this point. A new strain had emerged in India that had ravaged the country. This was the reason why Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin had sent over $1 billion in donations to an Indian COVID relief fund.

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Presently, the price of BTC is up, notwithstanding the dip, maintaining the same movement patterns as COVID-19 cases worldwide. An important factor tying the two would be the stimulus checks being given to citizens. When countries went into lockdown due to the pandemic, countries had resorted to paying citizens who could not work to keep them afloat.

Once these checks landed, it gave people more disposable income as a lot of things like the rent was put on hold in many jurisdictions. A lot of individuals getting these checks had used them to invest in financial markets like stocks and bitcoin. This contributed to the increase in the price of the digital asset.

COVID-19 is still raging on in some countries. Some are set to go into lockdown again after coming out of the previous ones due to an increase in cases. If the pattern holds, then this wave of COVID-19 cases will see the price of bitcoin going higher again.

Featured image from The Economic Times, charts from Twitter and TradingView.com