Hello as always, and welcome to today's edition of Overbit Insights.
In last week's edition of Overbit Insights, we were covering the first American launch of a futures-based Bitcoin ETF, simultaneously reporting on BTC and Ethereum approaching their all-time highs. Now, just a week later, some are questioning the sustainability of this move up, wondering if the ETF launch was a 'sell the news" type of event as many are in markets.
Last week, as Bitcoin was closing near and above its previous all-time high, reports indicated that sellers shifted huge sums of BTC to major exchange Binance. Now, Bitcoin is gearing up for a critical weekly support test above the last all-time high at $60,000.
Experts remain positive on longer timeframes, but the current weekly candle is coming to an intriguing end as it currently stands, printing a doji-like candle that is often linked to market reversals.
Reports seem some investors did expect short-term bearishness from the ETF launch, likening it to the Coinbase IPO, which coincided with Bitcoin topping at a new all-time high of over $65,000 just a few days later. For example, Dan Morehead, CEO and co-chief investment officer at Pantera Capital, wrote in a newsletter earlier in October that "He might want to take some chips off the table" ahead of the Bitcoin ETF launch.
As a result, Bizniz and many other experts are concerned about the so-called "Buy the rumor, sell the news" correction due to the current ProShares Bitcoin ETF. Analyst Lark Davis stated that he "wouldn't be shocked" if the Bitcoin price drops following the introduction of the ProShares ETF, much as it did follow the debut of the CME Bitcoin Futures.
Nevertheless, for any short-term volatility, it seems many experts anticipate the Bitcoin ETF's strong start will result in much more modest downward swings in the spot BTC market. Only time will tell on this front, though.
Closing out this week's edition of Overbit Insights, we take a look at Israel as the latest country to experiment with a central bank digital currency.
As of yet, no country has issued a digital currency through its own central bank, known as a CBDC, though many are publicly experimenting and even testing the concept. According to "Globes" The Bank of Israel is also at that level. Most interestingly, they are using the Ethereum system for their CBDC experiments.
"We did a trial with Ethereum technology, not because we think that that's necessarily the technology we'll use, but because it was a technology that was available for us to get our hands dirty with, in order to understand its advantages and disadvantages," said Yoav Soffer, CBDC project manager at the Bank of Israel.
Further details indicate that teams from the Bank of Israel's IT division set up a trial environment based on the Ethereum blockchain as part of the pilot program. The bank created a token representing digital shekels, and wallets were created for project team members to move "imaginary digital shekels" within the bank. It is not a real-money situation but rather a test set. The Ethereum is utilised on a closed network that is not connected to the Ethereum network as a whole or to the cryptographic currency ether.
Nonetheless, the bank is still a long way from deciding on the technology that will be used to issue the digital shekel, assuming it happens at all.
"It's rather challenging to run a project like this. In general, projects at the Bank of Israel have start and finish dates. You know when they will end and what you need to achieve along the way. We don't know when this project will end, with all that that implies," Soffer said at last week's conference.
Suffice to say, the Bank of Israel, like most worldwide, is still very much in the exploratory phase for bank-issued digital currency. Nevertheless, we will continue to keep you updated on the latest happenings in this sector and elsewhere!
Thanks as always for reading Overbit Insight!