Crypto Market Overview July 20th | Dex-Trade

Bitcoin at 5-Week High: Does This Mean the End of the Bear Market?

Since the beginning of the week, the flagship of the cryptocurrency market has been showing consistent growth, which gives the price movement of the coin the necessary strength to overcome resistance levels. In fact, now Bitcoin is at its five-week price high and is trading at $23,551. According to reputable crypto analysts wolf and Jibon, then Bitcoin will rise to a new bearish phase. At the same time, market expert Crypto Tony believes that the growth of the flagship is associated with a fall in the US dollar index (DXY), that is, it may be less dependent on the internal factors of the cryptocurrency market. It is worth considering that the most popular scenarios for the growth of Bitcoin are now associated with models that predict the flagship will reach the position of $40,000. According to experts, this price will be reached before the next bearish phase creates a new macroeconomic bottom. Although now it’s more about whether BTC can overcome the resistance at $24,000. The current price spike in crypto gold was made possible by the breakout of important trend lines. The key one was the 200-week moving average (WMA), which was crossed at $22,800. The breakout data was confirmed by network analytics firm Glassnode. Apparently, the bulls, after all, found a foothold.

 

FBI Seizes $500,000 from North Korean Hackers

The US Justice Department has confiscated and returned about $500,000 in fiat and cryptocurrencies from a hacker group linked to the North Korean government. Last year, a North Korean cybercriminal gang threatened to take down the servers of a Kansas hospital unless they received a ransom in digital money. After delays in negotiations, the hackers threatened to double the amount of the ransom, after which the hospital management decided to pay. However, the official statement from the Ministry of Justice did not indicate whether a crypto transaction was carried out. In May of this year, the FBI issued a warrant to confiscate funds from ransomware and other money laundering attacks that took place through China. The total amount of these transactions, according to the Department of Justice, was approximately $500,000. The arrest was made before the extortionists could cash out the stolen funds. Last year alone, North Korean government-sponsored cybercriminals were able to steal about $400 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Much of this money was stolen through phishing attacks. In April, the US government issued a cybersecurity alert outlining North Korea's criminal behavior in the crypto space.

 

Crypto Exchange Zipmex Suspends Withdrawals Due to 'Volatile Market Conditions'

Cryptocurrency exchange from Southeast Asia, Zipmex, has published an official announcement that it’s suspending withdrawals from user accounts until further notice due to the volatile situation in the digital asset market. "Due to a combination of circumstances beyond our control including volatile market conditions, and the resulting financial difficulties of our key business partners, to maintain the integrity of our platform, we would be pausing withdrawals until further notice." — company tweeted. These actions were taken after widespread turmoil and a sharp decline in trading volume in the cryptocurrency markets, as a number of companies struggled to weather the fall in the prices of ETH and BTC. Within weeks, a number of other marketplaces have also suspended withdrawals in a similar manner. For example, at the end of June, cryptocurrency exchange CoinFLEX announced that it was freezing all withdrawals due to “extreme market conditions and continued uncertainty involving a counterparty.” As for Zipmex, the company is no stranger to difficult business decisions. So in June, the crypto giant Coinbase considered the possibility of acquiring a crypto exchange, but later the trading platform limited itself to strategic investments. At the same time, Zipmex was wooing investors, trying to raise about $40 million at a $400 million valuation. Apparently, this investment was also not enough to retain users.