Crypto Regulation and Proliferation in Africa
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40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Chart of the Week: Wall Street Has Claimed Bitcoin—Now What?
"Wall Street is coming for bitcoin." That phrase used to spark both hope and fear across crypto circles. Today, it's no longer a future threat or a bullish promise—it's just reality. The original premise of bitcoin (or crypto in general)—an asset that is censorship-resistant and doesn't answer to any traditional financial institution or government—is fading fast as Wall Street giants (as well as powerful political figures) continue to establish their strong foothold in the digital assets space. During the early years of the digital assets revolution, bitcoin was celebrated as uncorrelated and unapologetically anti-establishment. TradFi asset classes like S&P 500 would rise and fall—bitcoin didn't care. What bitcoin did care about were the flaws in the traditional financial system, which are still here to this day. A major example in BTC's history that's not-so-talked about anymore is the 2013 Cyprus banking crisis. The crisis, which occurred due to overexposure of banks to overleveraged local property companies and amid Europe's debt crisis, saw deposits above 100,000 euros get a substantial haircut. In fact, 47.5% of uninsured deposits were seized. Bitcoin's response was to move sharply upward to, for the first time in its history, cross the $1,000 threshold. After a prolonged bear market over the collapse of Mt. Gox, the idea of mass adoption grew, with Wall Street's entry into the sector seen as a stamp of validation for bitcoin as it meant more liquidity, mass adoption and price maturity. That changed everything. The price might have matured, as evidenced by waning volatility. But let's face it—bitcoin is now just another macro-driven risk asset. "Bitcoin, once celebrated for its low correlation to mainstream financial assets, has increasingly exhibited sensitivity to the same variables that drive equity markets over short time frames," said NYDIC Research in a report. In fact, the correlation is now hovering near the higher end of the historical range, according to NYDIG's calculations. "Bitcoin's correlation with U.S. equities remained elevated through the end of the quarter, closing at 0.48, a level near the higher end of its historical range." Simply put, when there is blood on the street (Wall Street that is), bitcoin bleeds too. When Wall Street sneezes, bitcoin catches a cold. Even bitcoin's 'digital gold' moniker is under pressure. NYDIG notes that bitcoin's correlation to physical gold and the U.S. dollar is near zero. So much for the 'hedge' argument—at least for now. So why the shift? The answer is simple: to Wall Street, bitcoin is just another risk asset, not digital gold, which is synonymous with "safe haven." Investors are repricing everything from central bank policy whiplash to geopolitical tension—digital assets included. "This persistent correlation strength with U.S. equities can largely be attributed to a series of macroeconomic and geopolitical developments, the tariff turmoil and the rising number of global conflicts, which significantly influenced investor sentiment and asset repricing across markets," said NYDIG. And like it or not, this is here to stay—at least for a short to medium-term. As long as central bank policy, macro, and war-linked red headlines hit the tape, bitcoin will likely move in tandem with equities. "The current correlation regime may persist as long as global risk sentiment, central bank policy, and geopolitical flashpoints remain dominant market narratives," NYDIG's report said. For the maxis and long-term holders, the original vision hasn't changed. Bitcoin's limited supply, borderless access, and decentralized nature remain untouched. Just don't expect them to impact price action just yet. For now, the market sees bitcoin as just another stock ticker. Just balance your trade strategies accordingly. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Got $1,000? 2 Cryptocurrencies to Buy and Hold for Decades
The crypto market is heating up again. Bitcoin remains the best "blue chip" token to buy. Ethereum should continue to lead the developer-oriented market. 10 stocks we like better than Bitcoin › Many cryptocurrencies skyrocketed during the buying frenzy for speculative investments in 2020 and 2021. That rally was fueled by near-zero interest rates, stimulus checks, social media buzz, and commission-free trading platforms. But in 2022 and 2023, many of those tokens crashed as interest rates rose and a new crypto winter began. Over the past year and a half, investors have gradually pivoted back toward cryptocurrencies as interest rates declined and President Donald Trump's crypto-friendly administration took the helm. So if you're still bullish on cryptocurrencies, it might be a great time to go shopping again. You shouldn't stake your life savings in cryptocurrencies, but it might be smart to set aside a modest $1,000 in a few tokens that could soar over the next few decades. I'd personally stick with the two largest cryptocurrencies -- Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) -- instead of the smaller and more speculative meme coins. Bitcoin, the world's most valuable cryptocurrency, still has plenty of upside potential for a few simple reasons. First, it's still mined with an energy-intensive proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism, which becomes more costly every four years with each "halving" that cuts its mining rewards in half. Its maximum supply is also capped at 21 million tokens. Nearly 19.9 million of those Bitcoins have already been mined, and the final token is expected to be mined in 2140. There isn't much room for long-term inflation in this model. Bitcoin's increasingly difficult mining process, scarcity, and deflationary nature make it more comparable to gold, silver, and other physical assets than many other cryptocurrencies. That makes it a potential hedge against inflation and the devaluation of fiat currencies. Bitcoin's first spot price exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which were approved in January 2024, made it easier for retail and institutional investors to invest in the coin without a crypto wallet. Big companies like MicroStrategy (NASDAQ: MSTR) continued to accumulate Bitcoin, the Trump administration recently established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, and inflation-wracked countries like El Salvador and Central African Republic even adopted Bitcoin as a national currency for a while. All of those developments supported the notion that Bitcoin was becoming "digital gold." So even though Bitcoin might seem pricey right now at roughly $110,000, it could have even more upside potential. Standard Chartered's analysts expect its price to climb to $500,000 by 2028, while Ark Invest's Cathie Wood sees it flying as high as $1.5 million by 2030. You should take those bullish estimates with a grain of salt, but Bitcoin could remain the best "blue chip" cryptocurrency to buy and hold for the next few decades. Ether, the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, is the world's second most valuable cryptocurrency. It was originally a PoW token that was mined like Bitcoin, but it transitioned to the more energy-efficient proof-of-stake (PoS) mechanism in "The Merge" in 2022. As a PoS token, Ether can no longer be mined. Instead, its investors "stake" their tokens on the blockchain to earn interest-like rewards. Ethereum's PoS blockchain also supports smart contracts, which can be used to develop decentralized apps (dApps) and other crypto assets. Its declining or rising network activity can either make it inflationary or deflationary, respectively, and it currently has a circulating supply of roughly 120.7 million tokens. Ether is usually valued by the growth of its developer ecosystem and its transaction speeds instead of the scarcity of its tokens. Its core Level-1 blockchain is slower than PoS blockchains like Cardano, but it's assisted by faster Level-2 protocols that process the transactions off-chain before returning them to the Level-1 layer. Ether's first spot price ETFs were also approved last year, but they only held the tokens in cold storage without passing on the staking rewards (about 3% to 5% annually) to their investors. That made the ETFs less appealing than Ether itself, but the next batch of ETFs might add those rewards. Ethereum's next upgrade, "The Verge," will further improve its security features and lower its hardware requirements so it can run on smaller devices like smartphones. It's also expected to reduce its Layer-2 fees with "danksharding" upgrades to clear more space for fresh data. At about $2,600, Ethereum still trades well below its all-time highs. But Cathie Wood predicts it could climb as high as $166,000 by 2032, and big institutional investors like BlackRock are still accumulating the token. Therefore, this developer-oriented token could still be a great investment for the next few decades. Before you buy stock in Bitcoin, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the for investors to buy now… and Bitcoin wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $699,558!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $976,677!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor's total average return is 1,060% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to 180% for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join . See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 30, 2025 Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool recommends Standard Chartered Plc. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. Got $1,000? 2 Cryptocurrencies to Buy and Hold for Decades was originally published by The Motley Fool
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Bitcoin's 'Mempool' Nearly Empty as Prices Trade Near Lifetime Highs
The Bitcoin blockchain lacks meaningful on-chain activity, even as its native token, bitcoin BTC, trades near a record per-unit price. That's according to mempool – a holding area for unconfirmed blockchain transactions waiting to be included in a block by miners. On Satuday, the mempool had just 5,000 odd transactions awaiting inclusion, with the tally rising to 15,000 at press time, still a far cry from 150,000 when BTC's price first rose above $100,000 in late 2024, according to data source Since March this year, the tally has oscillated between $3,000 and $30,000, indicating anaemic demand for the network despite BTC establishing a foothold above $100,000. "Bitcoin's mempool (queue of transactions waiting to be processed) is almost completely empty. The percentage of miner revenue coming from fees (instead of inflation) is down to a fraction of a percent," Joël Valenzuela, director of marketing and business development, said on X. "Simply put, almost all of Bitcoin's actual users have gone away. At all-time price highs, too!" Valenzuela added, calling the situation a major crisis where the network goes bankrupt or becomes "completely custodial asset run by governments and institutions." According to Joao Wedson, CEO and founder of crypto data analysis platform Alphractal, the idle mempool is a sign of missing retail participation in the market. "When Mempool transactions begin to rise again, it's a clear sign that retail is back — because the growing backlog reflects increased demand for using the network," Wedson said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
