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South Korea’s second largest city, Busan, partners with FTX for a local exchange

The city of Busan, the second largest city in South Korea, commonly known as the ‘Blockchain’ city of South Korea, has partnered with major cryptocurrency exchange FTX to build a local exchange. Furthermore, the association also aims to promote the development of blockchain in the city.

Pursuant to the agreement according to a statement issued by the Busan Metropolitan City on Aug. 30, FTX will assist in the creation of a local cryptocurrency exchange duped by the Busan Digital Asset Exchange. The Bahamian cryptocurrency exchange led by Sam Bankman-Fried will also support the city of Busan in promoting the growth of the local blockchain industry.

Busan City Cryptocurrency Exchange

The city of Busan will leverage FTX’s technology and infrastructure to build its own cryptocurrency exchange and promote blockchain-specific education at local universities and projects within the city’s ‘Special Blockchain Free Zone’ established in 2019.

FTX, through its Investment Division CEO Amy Woo, said that it will establish a Korean branch of FTX in the city of Busan within the next 12 months to help make Busan a digital financial hub in Asia.

In addition to signing an agreement with FTX, Busan also partnered with Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by turnover, on August 1. Binance has signed a memorandum of understanding to provide the city with infrastructure and technology support for its blockchain development effort.

Both FTX and Binance are expected to establish a presence in South Korea in the next 12 months.

Since Busan was designated as the Blockchain City of South Korea in 2019, several projects have already been launched. These projects include a proprietary blockchain-based identification system, a blockchain-powered driver’s license platform, and cryptocurrency support for various services.

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Goldman Sachs urges investors to buy commodities now; expect stocks to suffer as inflation remains high

Global investment bank Goldman Sachs has urged investors to buy commodities now and worry about a recession later. The company’s analysts see commodities as “the best asset class to own later in the cycle, where demand remains above supply.” Meanwhile, “stocks may take a hit as inflation remains high and the Fed is more likely to surprise on the aggressive side,” Goldman noted.

Goldman Sachs Recommendation: Buy Commodities Now

Global investment bank Goldman Sachs has recommended that investors buy commodities. In a note titled “Buy Commodities Now, Worry About Recession Later,” published on Monday, Goldman wrote: “Our economists view the risk of a recession outside of Europe in the next 12 months as relatively low.” Company analysts including Sabine Schels, Jeffrey Currie and Damien Courvalin explained:

With oil a commodity of last resort in an era of severe energy shortages, we believe the downturn in the entire oil complex offers an attractive entry point for long-term investment.

In the US, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said last week: “We are taking strong and swift action to moderate demand to better align with supply and keep inflation expectations anchored. We will continue this way until we are sure the job is done.”

Furthermore, European Central Bank (ECB) board member Isabel Schnabel noted on Saturday that central banks around the world are at risk of losing public confidence and must now act forcefully to combat inflation, including if you drag your savings into a recession.

“From a cross-asset perspective, equities may suffer as inflation remains elevated and the Fed is more likely to surprise on the aggressive side,” Goldman analysts further noted, explaining:

Commodities, on the other hand, are the best asset class to own later in the cycle, where demand remains above supply.

The final phase of the cycle normally implies an increase in inflationary pressures and an economy that exceeds the maximum rate of economic growth.

Goldman Sachs also warned: “We recognize that the macroeconomic environment remains challenging and the US dollar could rise further in the near term.”

Currie, who heads commodity research at Goldman Sachs, believes recessions are a natural part of a prolonged commodity supercycle. He told Reuters in November last year: “We expect a structural bull market in commodities, very similar to what we saw in the 2000s or 1970s.”

The analyst told CNBC in June that we are at the start of a commodity supercycle. “This is the first round of a commodity super cycle, it’s not just oil and gas, it’s metals, it’s mining, it’s agriculture, because the sector has suffered from over a decade of underinvestment,” he said.

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Ukraine Blocks Cryptocurrency Wallet Used to Raise Funds for Russian Forces

Ukraine’s law enforcement and counterintelligence agency managed to seize funds in a cryptocurrency wallet used to finance the Russian military campaign in the country. Kyiv officials say the money raised through the wallet was spent on military equipment for pro-Russian separatist forces in the east.

Ukraine Seizes Cryptocurrency Donations Funding Russian Invasion

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has for the first time implemented a mechanism to curb fundraising through cryptocurrencies for troops fighting on the Russian side in the ongoing hostilities in the country. The conflict turned into a full-scale war when the Russian army crossed the border into Ukraine in late February in what Moscow calls a “special military operation” in support of the pro-Russian breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

In a press release on Tuesday, the SBU announced that a cryptocurrency wallet operated by a citizen of the Russian Federation and used to sponsor Russia’s military effort in Ukraine was blocked. The man, who volunteered, has been raising money for the needs of the Russian forces since the invasion began.

The wallet had accumulated digital coins worth 800,000 hryvnia (nearly $22,000 at current exchange rates) by the time it was blocked, the SBU said, adding that the funds had already been seized. Experts are now working to trace related transactions and transfer custody to Ukraine. The agency did not specify how it seized the wallet, but did reveal that it enlisted the help of foreign cryptocurrency companies.

Ukrainian investigators were able to establish that the owner of the wallet dedicated a significant part of the donated cryptocurrency to the purchase of military supplies for separatist fighters of the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. Representatives of the National Police of Ukraine and the Public Ministry also participated in the operation.

Russian “volunteer” active on social media

The Russian activist has been actively seeking financial assistance on social media platforms since the beginning of the latest phase of the conflict. To promote his efforts, he regularly creates and publishes photo and video content, distributes publications published by partners and reports on the use of the funds raised, the SBU detailed without revealing the identity of the Russian.

A report by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis last month revealed that 54 pro-Russian groups have collectively received more than $2.2 million in cryptocurrency. These organizations, which operate in Donetsk and Luhansk, received most of the donated amounts in bitcoin (BTC) and ether (ETH), but also in other cryptocurrencies.

Ukraine itself has relied on cryptocurrency donations, with the Kyiv government and volunteer groups raising digital money to fund defense efforts. Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov recently announced on Twitter that $54 million in cryptocurrency funds raised through the Aid for Ukraine initiative were spent to purchase armor, medicine, night visions, and even vehicles for the Ukrainian military.

The Ukrainian people have also received purely humanitarian aid from the crypto community and industry. European cryptocurrency exchange Whitebit, which has Ukrainian roots, has offered to support Ukrainian refugees through its representative offices abroad, and the world’s largest forex trading platform Binance has issued a card. of cryptocurrencies special for Ukrainians forced to leave their homes.

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The most profitable buy signal in Bitcoin has just been activated

The latest trend in Bitcoin’s “hash tape” indicator has just formed a pattern that has historically been a buy signal for the cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin hash tape buy signal deactivates when miner capitulation comes to an end

As one analyst explained on Twitter, the capitulation phase of BTC miners appears to have ended today after 71 days.

Before trying to understand what the “hash tape” indicator does, it’s best to first take a look at the “hash rate” metric.

Hashrate is a measure of the total amount of computing power connected to the Bitcoin blockchain by miners. During bear markets, the income of some miners drops so much that running their trades becomes unprofitable for them. At such times, your only option is to take your machines offline, which records a downward trend in hashrate.

In previous bear markets, troughs often occurred during these periods of miner capitulations, where large numbers of miners quickly go offline due to low income.

One indicator to identify these periods of miner capitulation is hash tapes. Conceived by the aforementioned analyst Charles Edwards, this metric uses two different moving averages of the hashrate, the 30-day MA and the 60-day MA, to observe changes in miner behavior.

Here is a chart that shows the trend of Bitcoin hash tapes in recent years:

The 30-day SMA hashrate appears to have surpassed the 60-day SMA version | Source: Charles Edwards on Twitter

As you can see in the chart above, the capitulation periods of Bitcoin miners are marked with the hash ribbon indicator.

Whenever the 30-day MA version of the hashrate drops below the 60-day MA line, miners are assumed to be starting a capitulation phase.

A break above the 60-day MA by the 30-day MA, on the other hand, implies an end to the capitulation of these chain validators.

When this type of capitulation occurs that ends in the crossing of hash tapes, a buy signal is triggered for the cryptocurrency.

But even among these buy signals, there are some that are especially profitable. These signals are formed after miner capitulations that occur more than 2 years after any halving event.

Today, hash tapes once again painted the historic pattern of the buy signal as the miner’s latest capitulation series came to an end after 71 days. It has also been over 2 years since the last halving, which following the previous trend would suggest that this is one of those rare “most profitable” buy signals for Bitcoin.

BTC price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin price hovers around $21,300, down 13% from last week.

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Investor Sentiment Drops as Cryptocurrency Market Loses $100 Billion

The cryptocurrency market has now faced another challenge. In the last day, bitcoin prices fell by around $2,000, causing the cryptocurrency market to lose a significant amount of value. As it stands now, the value of the cryptocurrency market has fallen over $100 billion and is now perilously close to falling below $1 trillion once again. This affected market sentiment, causing more fear in the market.

The market turns into fear

The cryptocurrency market was seeing some recovery in anticipation of the Ethereum meltdown. But as the excitement faded, the market began to see a drastic price correction. Bitcoin reached $25,000 at its peak in this latest recovery cycle. However, he has since lost most of those gains.

With that, cryptocurrency market sentiment picked up for a while after Bitcoin started its rally. At its highest point, the Fear & Greed index has a score of 42, the highest point in four months. That put him closer to greed than ever, but the market had other ideas.

Bitcoin price fell back below $22,000 and with it, market confidence plummeted. He finished Thursday with a low score of 30, putting him back in fear territory. The pullback is reflected in the cryptocurrency market, falling from $1.1 trillion to around $1 trillion at the time of writing.

As fear has returned to the market, investors are becoming more cautious when it comes to investing in the cryptocurrency market. Perpetrating traders have shown market fatigue over the past week, causing bitcoin funding rates to drop below neutral. Now the rest of the market is following suit.

Recovery in the cryptocurrency market?

With the market just starting to pull back, the correction is likely not over. These corrections are to be expected when the market grows so much in such a short time. This helps prices adjust to values ​​that reflect the current state of the market.

This means that the bitcoin price may still experience some drops. For now, the bottom is speculated to settle at a price of $17,600, so the bears will want to test support at this point. The historical movement also supports the movements, as it has done with previous bear markets.

Also, the weekend is here, and it is a period known for low liquidity. This means that Bitcoin is likely to continue its downtrend over the weekend. If the price of Bitcoin drops below $21,000, the cryptocurrency market will drop below $1 trillion.