The US government sent $1.92 billion in Bitcoin into new wallets, $963 million of which went directly to Coinbase. These assets were seized from the Silk Road, thus the US may lawfully sell them all.
Community members are afraid that President Biden is seeking to sell off the US supply ahead of Trump’s inauguration, jeopardizing his ambitions to establish a Bitcoin Reserve.
The US Bitcoin Reserve
According to data from on-chain intelligence platform Arkham, the US government transferred $1.92 billion in Bitcoin to new wallets on Monday, November 2. These assets were divided into two separate wallets, one of which sent $963 million in Bitcoin to Coinbase.
These bitcoins come from Silk Road seizures, which the US government may lawfully sell, raising concerns of a major dump:
BREAKING: US Government moves $10k #Bitcoin worth $963 million to Coinbase.
Is the government planning to sell #Bitcoin before Trump takes office? Outgoing administrations should not undermine the incoming President, as the people have already voted them out. pic.twitter.com/DtaQcNWXgv
— Carl ₿ MENGER ⚡️🇸🇻 (@CarlBMenger) December 2, 2024
Industry whispers suggest that President Joe Biden is using his lame-duck time to intentionally stymie President-elect Donald Trump. Trump made a campaign vow to establish a US Bitcoin Reserve, starting with the federal government’s significant holdings.
The United States is now one of the major BTC holders as a result of its ongoing crackdown on illicit enterprises and dark web criminal organizations. These assets might allow Trump construct a national Bitcoin reserve when he takes office in January without draining major sums from the economy.
Even though Trump won the election, crypto specialists believe Biden might utilize his remaining time in office to sell off much of the US Bitcoin supply. This would limit Trump’s ability to establish a reserve. Worryingly, Biden has employed similar technique in other policy areas, donating billions to Ukraine to prevent Trump from altering US policy.
Nonetheless, the cryptocurrency community does not appear unduly alarmed. Four months ago, the US government announced plans to sell $600 million in Bitcoin, and prices collapsed. However, BTC rebounded and started a bullish wave as institutional financing grew.
Similarly, since these transfers were initially revealed, the price of Bitcoin has fallen marginally. However, its value began to rise shortly thereafter. Long-term HODLers are still optimistic about Bitcoin’s positive potential, notwithstanding any liquidation rumors. This is seen in the behavior of public corporations, such as MicroStrategy and MARA, which have proceeded to buy additional BTC.
Regardless of these developments, Trump is likely to establish a Reserve with whatever Bitcoin remains in federal control. Also, Biden will have a difficult time selling everything before January. Furthermore, numerous corporate whales are ready to buy these assets themselves.
Chainlink (LINK) price eyes 42% growth to 3-year high
Despite inconsistent indications from its technical indicators, the price of Chainlink (LINK) has emerged as one of the top 20 cryptocurrencies’ greatest gainers in the previous 24 hours.
The BBTrend indicator, which had been favorable since November 25, has deteriorated dramatically. Despite these contradictory indications, the LINK price has the potential for a 42% increase to $30 if it breaks over present resistance levels.
Chainlink whales are not accumulating LINK
The huge drop in Chainlink (LINK) whale holdings over the last two weeks suggests a shift in attitude.
The number of wallets having 100,000 to 1,000,000 LINK fell from an annual high of 558 on November 19 to 533 today, indicating that major investors may be taking gains or shifting their holdings.
Tracking whale activity is critical because these huge holdings have tremendous impact over price movements and market sentiment. The drop from 558 to 533 wallets in this category reflects a distribution phase in which bigger holders are lowering their stakes.
This continuous fall in whale accumulation may indicate negative pressure on the LINK price in the immediate term.
LINK BBTrend is at its lowest level in weeks
The Chainlink BBTrend (Bollinger Bands Trend) indicator has dropped dramatically, falling from a high of 18.2 on November 26 to barely 0.44 today despite remaining positive since November 25.
The BBTrend uses price movement relative to Bollinger Bands to assess trend strength and probable reversals.
A probable move into negative BBTrend area might indicate a trend reversal and increasing selling pressure for LINK.
When the BBTrend goes negative, it often signals price movement below the middle Bollinger Band, implying bearish momentum that might lead to more downside volatility in LINK’s price.
LINK price prediction: A potential 42% new surge
LINK’s latest effort to exceed $22, a level not seen since 2022, signals considerable upward momentum.
If successful on its second effort, the cryptocurrency might reach $25 before progressing to $30, its greatest value since 2021 and a significant 42% increase from current levels.
In contrast, failing to sustain upward momentum might result in a downward correction.
In this situation, the LINK price may test initial support at $16.18, with a possible further decrease to $13.8 if this support level fails to hold.
South Korea retail crypto trading hits $18B, beating local stock market
South Korean retail traders were enthralled by “high momentum” coins like as XRP, DOGE, ENS, and HBAR in December 2 trading.
Retail trade volumes for crypto assets in South Korea have increased to $18 billion in the previous 24 hours, beating the country’s stock market by 22%, according to 10x Research.
In a Dec. 2 study, 10x Research founder Markus Thielen stated that retail crypto trading volumes hit their second-highest level of the year on Dec. 2, with South Korean traders in a frenzy over a series of “high momentum” alternative coins.
In South Korea, Ripple’s XRP coin traded for more than $6.3 billion on the day. Dogecoin (DOGE) ranked second at $1.6 billion, followed by Stellar (XLM) at $1.3 billion, Ethereum Name Service (ENS) at $900 million, and Hedera (HBAR) at $800 million.
“These high-momentum cryptocurrencies are being driven predominantly by retail traders, capitalizing on and reinforcing momentum-driven trends.”
XRP, ENS, and HBAR, which belong to a group of older tokens informally nicknamed “dino coins” by crypto natives, have all outperformed the rest of the crypto market, rising 90%, 73%, and 168%, respectively, in the previous week.
Thielen observed that Bitcoin’s financing rate — a sign of criminal activity — was “relatively mild” at 15% on a yearly basis.
When paired with a recent increase in cryptocurrency trading activity, Thielen believes this is a definite indicator that a “altseason” has begun.
“We are seeing one of the largest divergences recorded between a relatively mild Bitcoin funding rate at 15% annualized while retail trading volumes in Korea have ramped up to $18bn.”
“The action is clearly in the altcoin market and everybody needs to have a strategy to catch these waves but still remain disciplined,” he added.
Ripple’s XRP has been on a historic rise over the past month, rising from $0.50 to a new annual high of $2.80 on December 2, according to TradingView data.
The token’s remarkable rise has seen it surpass Solana and Tether in terms of market capitalization, making it the third-largest crypto asset by total value at the time of writing.
