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TA Highlight

The cryptocurrency market entered a correction phase this week, with prices of mainstream currencies, mainly BTC and ETH, entering a period of stagnation, with coin price movements confined to a narrower space.

BTC prices ranged from $38,546.38 to $42,000 this week, with an extremely narrow space of fluctuation. Although the coin price movement wasn't noteworthy, the market activity was not low, and BTC trading volume this week has remained high after April 19. The high trading volume and narrowly fluctuating prices hint at market participants' enthusiasm for the market and confidence in future price growth.

However, the high trading volume and low volatility formed a price/volume divergence pattern. The appearance of a price/volume divergence pattern usually indicates a reversal in the movement of the currency. From up to down or down to up again.

Since April, the BTC spot price has been in a state of continuous decline, and the 20-day spot price average has a clear downward state. At this time, the appearance of the price and volume divergence pattern may mean that the price is going to rise from its current level.

In terms of the BTC support and resistance situation, the BTC spot price has had a solid support zone since April, which is around $39,000. Whenever the BTC spot price broke through this support line, the price quickly rebounded.

Worth-mentioning is that the BTC spot price has been moving around $39,000 this week, which indicates that the long and short sides are in a fierce battle for that price line and that the short side has been unable to break through that support zone. The divergence between price and volatility also stems from this. And the battle that has been going on for a week may end with a victory for the bulls.

In terms of technical indicators, the low volatility this week has caused most of the technical indicators to remain in their original state or lose their meaning. The market is waiting for a breakout rather than a the obvious indication of a trend.

Crypto Alerts

Andre Cronje: The Crypto Industry Needs Regulation More Than Ever

Andre Cronje made his first appearance on social media since announcing his exit from the crypto industry on March 6, and wrote an article about his views on the current culture and ethos of the crypto industry.

Andre Cronje believes that the crypto ethos stems from exploration and curiosity about the world, which people practice and develop as a result, while the crypto culture is only about wealth and power, with the latter stifling the former. "I now believe that we need regulation more than ever and that we are entering a new era."

Tesla Has Not Bought or Sold Any Cryptocurrencies Since Q1 2021

On April 21, Tesla now has $1.26 billion in digital assets, virtually unchanged from its holdings at the end of the fourth quarter of 2021, according to its latest Q1 2022 earnings release.

The statement shows that Tesla has not bought or sold any cryptocurrencies since the first quarter of 2021 and that any changes in the value of the company's digital asset holdings have come from price fluctuations. In the third quarter of 2021, Tesla was required to report a $51 million impairment on its financial statement balance sheet due to the decline in BTC prices.

Tesla reported revenue of $18.76 billion for the first quarter of 2022, beating estimates of $17.8 billion. Automotive revenue was $16.86 billion, up 87 percent from a year ago.

Under the SEC's accounting rules for digital assets, companies must report an impairment if the price of a digital asset falls during a given quarter; if the price of a digital asset rises, it should not be reported as a gain on the balance sheet unless the underlying asset is sold.

Vitalik Buterin: My Influence on Ethereum is Declining

The co-founder of Ethereum said in an interview that he feels his influence on Ether is "declining" and that he has less influence today than he did six months ago. He also had to work hard to "convince them to move in a particular direction".

"If you read some of the "Ethereum Improvement Proposals - EIP" that I have personally promoted, some of them didn't even work. So for many of them, you have to work very hard to satisfy everyone's concerns. "

When asked what was the biggest plan he promoted that was never adopted, Vitalik cited EIP-4488 as an example, saying that "if I had more control over it, it would be in Ethereum today."

Tornado Cash has started intercepting addresses related to the Ronin theft

Tornado Cash, an Ethereum privacy trading platform, announced on its social media sites that it will block the list of sanctioned addresses created by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the U.S. Treasury Department's enforcement agency, through an oracle provided by Chainalysis, and that addresses on the list will not be able to access Tornado Cash.

Tornado Cash created more than a month ago a contract to block sanctioned addresses. The latest sanction list adds addresses related to the Ronin theft. The Tornado Cash team says that maintaining financial privacy is essential to preserving our freedom, but it should not come at the cost of a breach.

Research Reveals: The "setApprovalForAll" function in the EIP-721 standard is extremely risky

After Jay Chou's NFT was stolen, researchers Roman Zaikin, Dikla Barda and Oded Vanunu began investigating the EIP-721 standard, which is commonly used for NFTs. It turned out that fraudsters could lure users to click on a link to a malicious NFT and then take control of the victim's account through a function within the standard called "setApprovalForAll", which authorizes anyone to control the NFT and was originally designed to allow third parties such as Rarible and OpenSea to control the NFT on behalf of the user. It is designed to allow third parties such as Rarible and OpenSea to control NFT on behalf of the user.

Once the function is authorized, the attacker can transfer all NFTs in the victim's name to his or her account by using the transferFrom function on the contract. The function is dangerous by design, the researchers said, and users are not always aware of what permissions they are giving by signing transactions. Most of the time, victims think these are only routine transactions.

Market Updates

Indian Billionaire: The World Will Turn to Cryptocurrencies

On April 21, Indian billionaire entrepreneur Sunil Mittal said that the world will turn to cryptocurrency. In 2021, Sunil Mittal and his family ranked 213th in Forbes Global Rich List with $10.5 billion.

Sunil Mittal, as the owner of India's largest cell phone operator, publicly expressed his friendly attitude towards cryptocurrency, which is believed to attract more users to join the crypto wave.

Australian Retail Giant OTR to Accept Cryptocurrency at 170 Locations

Convenience store and gas station giant On The Run (OTR) will soon be accepting cryptocurrency payments at 170 of its locations in South Australia and Victoria.

Germany Replaces Singapore as "Most Crypto-Friendly Country" in Q1 2022

A research report released earlier this week states that the five most crypto-friendly countries in the world in the first quarter of 2022 are Germany, Singapore, the United States, Australia and Switzerland.

Germany has a positive stance on cryptocurrency trading and investment. It moved up three spots to the top of the list from 2021. The country also has the largest number of bitcoin nodes outside of the U.S., but has a smaller population and GDP, indicating a greater commitment to the crypto industry.

The report explains that while Singapore ranked first in the fourth quarter of 2021 and remains a crypto and blockchain powerhouse, it fell to second as the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issued strict guidelines that virtual asset service providers (VASPs) should not be allowed to advertise their services outside of their own websites, thereby limiting the use of bitcoin ATMs.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy: Amazon may support the sale of NFT

On April 18, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in an interview with CNBC that it does not hold any tokens such as bitcoin or NFT, but he is optimistic about the future of cryptocurrency and NFT.

In addition, Andy Jassy said there are no plans to use cryptocurrency as a payment method in Amazon's retail business for the time being, but he expressed his interest and satisfaction with NFT and said that in the future, Amazon may support the sale of NFT.

"I think the NFT market has really taken off and will continue to grow significantly," said the CEO of Amazon.

Global Headlines

Central Bank of Russia: Russia May Have Taken Too Tough a Stance on Digital Assets

Russia's central bank may have taken too tough a stance on digital assets and should reconsider, Governor Elvira Nabiullina said at a meeting to announce her re-election on Thursday.

"We need to look at whether we are too tight in this area, and we need to untie the digital financial asset program," adding that "digital financial assets are expected to be another avenue to attract funding."

Nabiullina said the Russian central bank is working to make digital financial assets effective as part of the government's response to Western sanctions and to sustain the economy.

She stressed that Russia's crypto-related law, the Digital Financial Assets Act, passed more than a year ago, has not helped the country gain much access to projects. Nabiullina also stressed that the government should primarily encourage the development of digital asset projects issued by "responsible persons" as opposed to private cryptocurrencies where there are no responsible parties.

Nabiullina also addressed the issue of CBDC, saying that the Russian central bank is expected to carry out the first digital ruble settlement in 2023.

The news comes after the Russian government submitted to the parliament a draft law regulating the taxation of crypto, which would put a limit on the average resident of cryptocurrency purchase of up to $7,000 per year. In addition, the Russian Federal Tax Service has proposed legislation to allow companies in the country to pay for import and export operations in cryptocurrencies.

Iran to Increase Penalties for Illegal Cryptocurrency Mining

Recently, the Iranian government will pass new regulations to increase penalties for using subsidized electricity for illegal cryptocurrency mining.

According to the new regulations, the increased penalties include increasing fines by at least three times to a maximum of five times, imprisonment for violators, and revocation of their business licenses in case of repeated violations.

Mohammad Khodadadi Bohlouli, an official at the Ministry of Electricity and Power, said it is prohibited to use any subsidized electricity used for domestic, industrial, agricultural and commercial customers to mine cryptocurrencies. Misuse of subsidized electricity to mine cryptocurrencies reduces the quality of electricity supply to the national grid and damages people's appliances, such as TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, etc.

Australia's First bitcoin ETF to be Listed on the CBOE Next Week

Australia's first bitcoin ETF will be listed on the CBOE next week in the first test of the massive demand for cryptocurrency from Australian retail investors. There is speculation that $1 billion will flow into the country's first bitcoin ETF.

ASX Clear, the powerful clearing house at the center of Australia's equity capital markets, currently has four market participants willing to meet the strict margin requirements (42%) needed to settle risk for this highly volatile asset.

ASX Chief Risk Officer Hamish Treleaven will issue a notice to market participants on Wednesday, giving ASX Clear seven days' notice of regulatory approval. This will provide time for brokers, clearers, clearing participants, market makers and investors to prepare for the new product. This means that the Cosmos Asset Management bitcoin ETF, currently ASX Clear's only bitcoin ETF, will begin trading on the CBOE on April 27.

Belarus Establishes Legal Procedures to Seize Illegal Cryptocurrencies

On April 21, the Belarusian Ministry of Justice has established legal procedures to seize cryptocurrency funds as part of enforcement procedures, according to an announcement by Forklog, citing the Belarusian Ministry of Justice. The measure is aimed at implementing President Alexander Lukashenko's decree regarding the country's crypto industry. The decree, signed by Lukashenko in February, ordered the creation of a special registry for addresses of crypto wallets used for illegal purposes.

The Justice Ministry detailed that authorities conducting criminal proceedings will account for confiscated cryptocurrency funds. Its document dated April 14 also includes the confiscation of digital assets as part of the confiscation of the debtor's property in order to regulates their valuation. The Belarusian government has three months to take the necessary steps to implement Lukashenko's latest crypto-related order, after which it will enter into effect.

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Author: Byron. B & Charles. F & Peter. L (Gate.io Researchers)

* The article only represents the researcher’s views and does not constitute any investment advice.

* Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all other cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.