? Crypto Enters E-Commerce | This Week in Crypto – Aug 28, 2023

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Pantera Capital predicts a price for Bitcoin, Binance’s traditional finance partners head for the exits, and are North Korean hackers cashing out millions in stolen crypto? These stories and more, this week in crypto.

Bitcoin’s Most Oversold Level Since Covid Crash

After falling by over 10%, technical indicators show Bitcoin as being extremely oversold as investors preferred increased bond yields over risk-on assets. Bitcoin’s relative strength index, or RSI, dropped below 30, its lowest level since the Covid crash in March 2020. A reading below 30 implies that the price has dropped too quickly relative to its recent average.

Pantera Capital Revealed BTC Price Prediction

Hedge fund manager Pantera Capital predicts Bitcoin to reach $35,000 before next year’s halving event, and eventually rally to $148,000 in 2025 – if history were to repeat itself. In a letter to investors, Pantera mapped out its prediction based on the length and gains of prior pre and post halving rallies, and that after the recent 15-month span of year-over-year negative returns, the longest in Bitcoin’s history, the letter states

“Our view is that we’ve seen enough – there’s just so long markets can be down.”

Binance Is Cutting Ties with TradFi Partners

Binance.US is now using payment startup, MoonPay, a fiat-crypto payment gateway, to facilitate dollar payments solutions. Customers of the exchange had been unable to deposit or withdraw dollars for over a month, as Binance struggled to find willing banking partners. Meanwhile Mastercard is ending four Binance crypto card programs in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bahrain in the later part of September.

First NFT Insider-Trading Case at OpenSea

A former Head of Product at OpenSea received a three month prison sentence for making tens of thousands of dollars through insider trading. Nathaniel Chastain was a product manager who handpicked NFTs to be featured on the homepage which lifted the prices while also trading those NFTs, for a profit of nearly $57,000. Prosecutors sought a 2-year term, but the judge reduced it due to the modesty of the gains.

Thailand Threatens to Shut Down Facebook Over Crypto Scams

The Thai government threatened Meta with the shutdown of Facebook over crypto scams. Thailand’s digital minister said he would seek a court order if no action is taken by the platform against such scams, which allegedly duped over 200,000 people in the country. Popular tactics used by the scammers included crypto fraud ads with celebrity images and investment promises.

Shopify Merchants to Accept USDC Payments

Shopify will soon allow merchants to accept USDC using Solana Pay. In as much as Shopify accounts for 10% of US e-commerce, or $444Bn, this move could reshape the sector, fueling crypto payments and stablecoin adoption. The company’s Web3 expansion includes blockchain commerce tools and features to help merchants build tokengating applications.

Cayman Islands Golden Visas with BTC Loans

Ledn, a financial services firm, is enabling crypto users to secure golden visas by investing in  real estate in the Cayman Islands. Ledn lets Bitcoin holders use BTC as collateral for island real estate investments through its partnership with local real estate agency, Parallel. Think you’d like the island life? $2.4M in real estate investments offers permanent residency in the Caymans.

North Korean Hackers Ready to Cash Out Crypto

The FBI believes that North Korean hackers are preparing to cash out millions of dollars in crypto that they stole through a series of high-profile attacks. The FBI tracked bitcoin worth more than $40 million stolen by the Lazarus Group to six Bitcoin addresses and have asked crypto organizations to examine related blockchain data.

That’s what’s happened this week in crypto, see you next week.