Cryptocurrencies are moving in a sideways trend ahead of the upcoming Federal Reserve decision, which will be announced at 8 p.m. Wall Street's upward opening slightly improved sentiment in the digital asset market:
- Increases in risky assets ahead of the potential conference may indicate oversold levels and the exhaustion of supply strength;
- It is worth bearing in mind that the timing of Jerome Powell's speech is likely to result in elevated market volatility; investors will likely have to wait to identify its actual translation into asset valuations;
- Nasdaq is following in the footsteps of BlackRock and intends to offer cryptocurrency custody services to institutions by expanding its offering to include Ethereum. The new Nasdaq Digital Assets unit will hire 40 new employees; its services will include Ethereum and Bitcoin. It will be headed by a former broker at the Gemini cryptocurrency exchange, Ira Auerbach. Nasdaq intends to create competition for the Coinbase platform in this way, and to meet the growing interest in cryptocurrencies from institutional clients. Nasdaq vice president and head of markets in North America, Tal Cohen indicated that within the confines of the trust, Nasdaq could offer execution and liquidity services and scale further operations without ruling out opening its own cryptocurrency exchange. The CEO assured that all the company's moves are in line with current regulations, which are taking on clearer colors;
- Colorado has become the first U.S. state to accept payment of taxes in cryptocurrencies. It owes this position to Governor Jared Polis. The transactions will be processed by PayPal. Payments will be accepted in Bitcoin, BitcoinCash, Litecoin and Ethereum. This possibility will not be available to businesses. The governor, who has been involved in the blockchain industry in the past, intends to make Colorado a leader in 'financial revolutions' and is accepting donations from his own election campaign in cryptocurrencies. He has also created a collection of NFT tokens for the occasion;
- The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC for short) has been filing lawsuits for many years, usually over the failure of investors and project developers to register cryptocurrency as a security, as well as high-profile sign-ups for cryptocurrency debuts known as ICOs (the equivalent of a stock market IPO). During the trial of cryptocurrency influencer Ian Balin with the SEC, the U.S. regulator indicated in the 69 point of the lawsuit that it had the right to sue Balin because most of the transactions were made on U.S. soil, and essentially the entire Ethereum network is under the jurisdiction of the U.S. government;
- The SEC argued the decision on the grounds that U.S. addresses from the U.S. are the largest participants enabling Ethereum Proof of Stake (validators) transaction processing. In fact, about 66% of validators operate in the US, followed by Germany from where 19% of network operators operate. The data was confirmed by Etherscan;
- According to University of Kentucky law professor Brian Fyre, the claim of U.S. jurisdictional right to the entire Ethereum network is unprecedented but very convenient and in line with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's line of communication, which has clearly taken a restrictive stance on cryptocurrencies. This probably means that the SEC, from the legal side, intends to unify the business that investors do on the Ethereum network with doing it on a US stock exchange. Of all the cryptocurrencies, Ethereum is most responsible for NFT transactions and the processing of smart contracts;
- The court's final verdict in the case may set a precedent and weigh in the way of further regulation of the industry (as in the case of Ripple).
Ethereum chart, D1 interval. The cryptocurrency is moving in a downtrend, but supply has slowed down between the 61.8 and 71.6 retracement levels according to Fibonacci, eventually stopping at the 61.8 retracement. It's hard not to get the impression of a time of 'suspension' for the price, which will have to determine which way it is heading. If it goes south, the first support may be the levels of $1200, but very dynamic declines may herald the approach to the June minima. However, if the ETH price rises, the first important resistances are between $1590 and $1750, where the previous price reactions of July and August this year took place. Source: xStation5
