The year 2021 ended on a mixed note for the cryptocurrency market. With a Bitcoin bullrun whose current apathy divides on the objectives to be considered for 2022. This enters the camp of “bears” determined to see it fall below at least $ 30,000 to buy back en masse. And that of the “bulls” convinced that everything is yet to come, with an ATH still to be discovered in the coming months above $ 150,000. And at the heart of it all is a President of El Salvador who mixes New Year’s greetings with market forecasts. While the NFTs sector suffers from the lack of decentralization of Openea amid general indifference.
The recent transition to 2022 will not have been made without its share of symbolic ups and downs for the cryptocurrency market. A sort of accelerated digest of what to expect for this new year. This of course and first of all about Bitcoin, a real yardstick for the evolution of this sector. And whose recent disappointing results do not fail to liven up debates on social networks. On the one hand, disaster scenario enthusiasts crying out for collapse. And on the other, the fervent defenders of an unfinished bullrun. Choose your side!
Because Bitcoin is on the decline. Even if he tries at the beginning of the year to maintain somehow the support of $ 46,000 against fierce sellers. With this added pressure of having to confirm the psychological trend of the coming months in the coming days. And an annual closing price of around $ 46,000 which only shows a small 50% increase over this period, from the $ 29,000 at the end of December 2019. A result that could seem satisfactory, if it did not occur in the midst of a bullrun supposed to see its price explode upward.
Invalidation of the Stock to Flow index?
A price level whose consequences are measured beyond the simple percentage of its annual return. Because the current price of Bitcoin has just invalidated for good a Stock to Flow index which had always been very precise until then. But whose calculation of the amount of BTC available divided by the number produced would cause it to exceed $ 100,000 at the December close. And even if this is not the first time that this disparaged tool has suffered from some deviations, in this case it is a real abyss. Because with its current price of $ 47,000, Bitcoin misses this fateful step by more than $ 53,000, or a small 110%.
The opportunity for the detractors of this index, taken from the precious metals market, to openly criticize its relevance. This while its creator PlanB blocks anyone wishing to do so on their Twitter account. While announcing that the “floor model failed” version and will no longer be used. But without throwing in the towel too soon. Especially in the face of a Bitcoin market known for its ability to have fun with the tools that try to predict its movements.
“The S2F model is at the same critical point as when I wrote the S2F article in March 2019. In my opinion, it is still useful. In fact, it is in critical situations that the S2F model is most useful. “
Would it still be possible tohope for a Bitcoin over $ 100,000 in 2022 ? This despite the ongoing invalidation of the Stock to Flow model. Apparently it is enough to ask the new preacher in the field, the President of Salvador Nayib Bukele.
Bukele announces his forecast for Bitcoin
Because if there is a historical fact validated for Bitcoin in 2021, it is its adoption as official currency by El Salvador. A step of symbolic importance, carried by a president Nayib Bukele entered at the same time in the order of the maximalists. With a country that has become the first in history to redeem market declines with hundreds of additional BTCs. And a representative at the head of the government who is embarking on the perilous exercise of predicting the objectives to be expected for 2022. And the third will undoubtedly surprise more than one…
Ridiculous? Visionary? It is in any case on Twitter and in a very Bitcoi analystn that Nayid Bukele delivered his visions for the new year. With in the first place, a BTC at $ 100,000 quite simply. No need to worry about a hypothetical invalidation of S2F! Then, two other countries for which the BTC will become the official national currency. Undoubtedly on the side of those in the process of development. Then, Nayid Bukele asserts that Bitcoin will be a major electoral issue in the next American elections.
And finally, he goes into commercial mode to sell his Bitcoin City and its associated “Volcano Bonds”. With this little extra very Giveaway Twitter to announce a “huge surprise” at the next edition of the Bitcoin Conference in 2022. The stage is set…
MicroStrategy loots Bitcoin stocks
A Bitcoin fever that does not seem to affect only the President of El Salvador. Because at the same time, it is a real hold-up that the company MicroStrategy is engaged in. This follows the purchase of 1914 new BTC, when its price fell back below $ 50,000. A transaction valued at $ 94.2 million, for an average unit price of $ 49,229. And a total in Bitcoin invested over the long term (hold) for the moment is equivalent to 124,391 BTC, or just over $ 3.75 billion. And over 0.65% of its currently available quantity of around 18.9 million units.
A great operation for the company MicroStrategy, proud to display this balance with an estimated average purchase price of just over $ 30,000 per BTC. But a real raid initiated in August 2020 and whose limit does not seem to be reached yet. With its CEO Mickael Saylor whose Bitcoin fever is expressed in the form of a traditionalist-type maximalism with an immobilist tendency. This is in order to secure this investment for at least several decades. But whose frantic accumulation inevitably raises the question of the principle of decentralization of Bitcoin. Because what would be the meaning if it were to belong to only a few large companies and whales?
Bored Apes hacked on Opensea
A question of decentralization at the center of the last key event of this transition to the year 2022. This time with a phishing operation in which the victim is a major collector of Bored Apes Yacht Club. This collection of monkeys with multiple and random rarities, whose floor price has just exceeded that of historical CryptoPunks at the end of last year. With the last symbolic purchase, copy # 9055 dressed in the effigy of Eminem, and purchased by the latter for the sum of $ 452,000. This in order to be able to put him in a profile picture on his Twitter account …
But the news is elsewhere. Because beyond this fever of NFTs which will certainly characterize the year 2021, the problem concerns (again) here the Opensea platform. The undisputed marketplace leader for the sale of these non-fungible tokens. But also the symbol of too much centralization in a sector with decentralized historical and ideological ambitions. With the recent “hack” of the account of a New York art gallery in possession of 16 copies of this series (monkeys and mutants combined). All for a total estimated amount of $ 2.30 million. And lost as a result of a simple phishing operation.
A situation in which the crypto community has shown an obvious lack of interest, vis-à-vis the victim’s calls for help. But with an Opensea platform able to freeze these NFTs, in order to make them impossible to buy or sell. This without allowing the gallery to recover them in the end. And once again this question of the responsibility of each one, in a sector where each error is paid by its inevitability.
News very representative of the current situation of the cryptocurrency market. With a bull market whose hesitations are blowing up historical prediction tools. While at the same time, a President of the Republic invites himself into the field, in order to deliver his forecasts for Bitcoin in 2022. All this against a background of companies and institutional structures in the process of squinting about its limited available quantity. At the risk of calling into question the principle of decentralization, which is the only real security in this sector, in the face of the control ambitions of the regulatory bodies. Welcome to 2022!