Alaric Pow Ian-Jun

Holders of cryptocurrencies have definitely seen better days, as popular tokens like $BTC and $ETH , amongst others, saw major price declines of almost 20% in a span of a couple of weeks. The FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) spreading like wildfire in the crypto space can be attributed to two key reasons.
ByBit's Massive Hack
Bybit — known as one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world — just suffered a massive hack of $1.5b worth in tokens. To understand the magnitude of this situation, this particular ByBit hack is now known to be the 'biggest digital heist in history', making previous hacks of cryptocurrency exchanges look minor. It is rumoured that the crypto heist was orchestrated by North Korean hackers — something that has happened before in the past. The fact that a hack of this severity is still possible in today's crypto space has instilled large amounts of fear among crypto investors, who have begun selling off their holdings in various tokens to convert them back to fiat. The security issue present in the crypto space has long been a concern among investors, and a hack of this severity certainly injects more bearish sentiment.
Falling Equity Markets
Cryptocurrencies are well-known to function as risk assets, exhibiting non-negligible levels of correlation with equity markets. With equity markets falling in the past few weeks after Trump's tariff announcements, we can see that the prices of established tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum have followed suit. Generally, in times of market uncertainty, investors tend to flock to safer investments — think bonds, REITs, time deposits, or even equities in less affected countries. The highly speculative nature of cryptocurrency token prices makes these tokens one of the first on the chopping block, with people rapidly divesting their cryptocurrency holdings to rotate into 'safe havens'.
What should you do?
Well, it depends on why you're holding cryptocurrencies in the first place. For traders, the tremendous increase in volume presents numerous profit opportunities. For long-term holders, it may be prudent to re-evaluate your asset allocation based on your respective risk appetites. Cryptocurrency prices have shown resilience in the past, even in tumultuous situations like these. However, much needs to be done to renew investor confidence in the cryptocurrency market.

#cryptocurrencynews

It's not a good day for $SOL holders, with the token bleeding about 10% in the span of a day. Here's a few possible reasons why the 'Ethereum killer' is losing steam.
Link to Scams
Previously lauded for its speed and scalability, Solana has recently been at the heart of numerous controversies involving fraud and rug pull scams. Projects involving $SHAR, $QUANT, $LIBRA and $MELANIA were launched on Solana, and most (if not all) of them have been largely criticised by investors and analysts for being deliberate rug pulls, with investors collectively losing millions of dollars. Multiple fraudulent occurrences on Solana have significantly heightened skepticism with regard to the platform, especially when investor trust is of paramount importance in the crypto space.
Diminishing Network Activity
It cannot be understated that Solana’s network activity is diminishing at an alarming pace. Previously standing at 18.5 million last November, the number of active addresses on Solana has dwindled to 8.4 million — a shocking 55% drop within months.
The severity of the situation is further highlighted when we analyse the transfer volume on the Solana network, which has fallen from $2 billion last November to just $26 million — a jaw-dropping slide of 99%.
The sheer magnitude of these numbers could be reflective of fundamental concerns with regard to the network itself.
Network Issues
In recent history, Solana has faced multiple network issues which have led to outages. In fact, it has come to a point where frequent users of the network are not surprised when transaction failures occur.
Since January 2022, the Solana network has experienced about 6 significant outages and around 15 partial or major outage days, with the most recent significant outage happening on February 6, 2024 — lasting almost 5 hours because of a bug that caused an infinite loop error and halted block production.
These issues, in addition to the above two factors, have caused Solana to lose a great amount of reliability amongst network users and investors.
Presence of Competitors
Apart from Ethereum, Solana faces competition from multiple players in the space, including but not limited to BNB Chain ($BNB ), Cardano ($ADA ), Avalanche ($AVAX) and Fantom ($FTM). In today's cryptocurrency landscape, processing transactions at high speeds and low fees is a feat that multiple networks are capable of. Solana needs to not just resolve issues surrounding the network's stability and credibility, but also find ways to remain competitive.
A Final Word
All in all, this is by no means a sell signal for the Solana token, nor is it meant to condemn the token or network. It's simply an article explaining plausible reasons behind the significant drop in the token's price. Whether the Solana network can pick up on its activity and credibility in the coming months remains to be seen. As a holder of Solana token (though a negligible amount), I sincerely do hope it can weather this storm. Yet, truth be told, the road ahead for Solana isn't going to be the smoothest.
#solana #CryptoTrends #InvestSmart

We often see various price targets for Bitcoin — be it $10k, $100k, $500k and even $1m per token! Now that we've broken the $100k mark, what do most analysts believe to be the next milestone for Bitcoin? In this article, I use Fibonacci retracements on Bitcoin's past halving cycles to explain why analysts believe that $170k may be a valid price target for the token.
The Bitcoin Halving
Every 4 years, the Bitcoin Halving occurs — a prescheduled event where the reward for mining and verifying new blocks is reduced by 50% and miners earn only half the number of $BTC per mined block. Scheduled to take place every 210,000 blocks, Bitcoin halvings continue until the network has produced the maximum total supply of 21 million BTC.
Halving Cycles and Fibonacci Retracement Levels
Now, many analysts observed a consistent trend from the first three halving cycles — during the cycles of 2012, 2016 and 2020, Bitcoin typically topped near the 3.618, 2.272, and 1.618 Fibonacci levels, and experts believe that the current cycle will be no exception. Assuming a "low" case where Bitcoin tops at the 1.618 Fibonacci level for the current halving cycle (which commenced on April 20, 2024), the token still has quite some upside to go — all the way till about $170k per coin, to be exact. In addition, based on past cycles, it can take anywhere from 8 to 11 months from the most recent halving for Bitcoin to reach its cycle peak. This means we have till September 2025 to see if Bitcoin can sustain this impressive trend.
Why You Shouldn't Rush In Just Yet
Now, don't rush in just yet. This article itself does not guarantee that Bitcoin will reach $170k during the current halving cycle. It's imperative to note that there have only been three full halving cycles so far, so the accuracy of any statistical analysis done can be dubious. In addition, what's true in the past is not necessarily true in the future. As such, it's always important to understand your risk tolerance before placing any funds in cryptocurrency tokens.
Valuation Conundrum
I would also like to remind readers that this analysis is purely based on technicals. Saying that Bitcoin can reach $170k per coin based on technical analysis is completely different from saying that Bitcoin's true worth is $170k per coin — the former can be observed using tools, patterns and statistics, but the latter is almost impossible to justify due to the speculative nature of cryptocurrency token prices in general, with no reliable way to determine their intrinsic values.
A Final Word
Cryptocurrency investments are often a double-edged sword — with close to unrivalled upside potential but also a significantly higher probability of losing a substantial amount of funds. Risk management is of utmost importance when it comes to the crypto market. From determining how much to allocate to crypto or crypto-related assets, to observing various technical indicators for the relevant tokens, to determining an appropriate take-profit and stop-loss, trading cryptocurrency tokens is not a straightforward process. As such, do not let the $170k price target entice you to a point where you forget to do your own due diligence. Nobody really knows where Bitcoin prices will be in the next few months, but we can do our best to make educated guesses.
#bitcoin #crypto

On his first day back in office, President Donald Trump appointed Republican SEC Commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
A Crypto Advocate
Uyeda is known for his pro-crypto stance, as he constantly challenges the SEC for their previously anti-crypto practices — one of which being the SEC’s staff accounting bulletin, SAB 121, which restricts banks from offering digital asset custody. Uyeda has also consistently questioned SEC's multiple legal actions against crypto entities, and is now in prime position to make a difference. Under this new leadership, here's what most experts are expecting in the near future.
Approval of Crypto ETFs
The focus is now on potential ETFs for $LTC , $SOL , $DOGE and XRP. 21Shares, Bitwise and Grayscale, among other big players, have filed to launch various crypto ETFs, and experts believe that a Litecoin ETF currently looks the most likely, with the rest following closely behind. In particular, the case for a XRP ETF may need to be investigated further, as there still exists an ongoing lawsuit against them. That being said, the future looks bright for crypto ETFs, with Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs already being approved and listed last year.
Value of Crypto ETFs
Crypto ETFs, in general, provide a safer way of investing in tokens for less-informed investors who may not know how to set up a secure wallet. Millions have been lost to crypto exchange hacks, and a lot of these lost funds were held in exchange wallets — which are typically less secure. The introduction of more crypto ETFs gives investors more options and is also a positive development for cryptocurrencies in general.
#DOGE #xrpetf #Litecoin

Whether it's $TRUMP , $DOGE , $SHIB , or something else, meme coins have gained massive traction over the years, serving as an avenue of massive profit, but also massive losses. In this short article, I serve the cold hard truth about these tokens — with zero sugarcoating.
Don't Mix Up Trading with Gambling
Meme coins are meant to be traded for short term profits. The price action on such coins can be extremely violent, leading to multiple opportunities for profit which can be signalled by various technical indicators. However, simply deciding to buy some meme coins because you watched a YouTube video or a friend told you to is not the same as trading. Trading is a difficult process of
1) verifying indicators,
2) deciding on a time to enter the trade,
3) setting an appropriate take-profit (TP) & stop-loss (SL),
4) rinsing and repeating the above consistently.
Buying meme coins "for the memes" has statistically proven to be one of the worst things you can do for your finances. There are multiple sources of information online which educate you on trading strategies and also provide up-to-date news on certain meme coins so you can strike while the iron is hot. Leverage this information to make better-informed trading decisions, instead of gambling your capital away.
There Are No Fundamentals
We need to remember why we bought these coins in the first place, and fundamentals will never be one of the reasons. Meme coins are called meme coins for a reason — they gain traction over things that are trending, much like memes themselves. As such, sentiment can drive the price of these coins greatly in either direction. However, the said coins have close to zero underlying fundamentals, and you can look this up easily on your own — so if you're thinking of holding a meme coin for decades for it to 100x your capital, please do think again. We need to call a spade a spade, and the truth is that while meme coins have massive profit potential, they are fundamentally worthless (or at least most of them are).
All That Glitter Is Not Gold
Yes, pre-sales of meme coins before their official launch on an exchange can give you the first hand advantage, and even provide you with additional air-dropped tokens. Yes, some meme coins claim to provide massive interest for staking their coins. Yes, some developers promise to burn X% of the supply to make sure you earn money. However, the above scenarios, while possible, are not always as they seem. In reality, many coins that promise such benefits end up failing in one way or another, and the biggest losers are the ones who bought into these stories. Do extensive research, especially for the lesser-known coins (which may potentially be meme coins), and protect yourself from falling into such traps.
The Conclusion
All in all, meme coins can be a great way to make money, but it can go south on you very easily as well. Take note of the above, and best of luck in all your trading endeavours!

#memecoin🚀🚀🚀 #InvestSmart #CryptocurrencyWealth

$BTC has seen a tremendous run, especially considering that it was flirting with the $15k level not too long ago. Today, the world-renowned token trades at close to $100k per coin.
From the outside, investing in Bitcoin seems to be a sure-win strategy to achieve financial freedom. However, as informed investors, we should always weigh the costs and benefits before deciding on:
1) Whether or not to buy $BTC
2) How much to buy
In this article, I'll go over some push factors, which push investors to buy Bitcoin, and pull factors, which pull investors away from the token).
The Pushes
We will first go over the significant push factors which make $BTC an attractive place to park your funds.
Store of Value
Ever since Nixon suspended the gold standard, the value of the dollar has seen tumultuous turns, and most would agree that the purchasing power of our money is often not in our control. In addition, we expect gradual inflation for the economy in the long run. As such, to preserve their purchasing power, we often see investors flocking to other tangible assets which hold their value and have potential avenues for appreciation — think gold, silver, and more recently, Bitcoin. The common trait among these options is their scarcity. Precious metals are a naturally occurring phenomenon, and certain cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin have a fixed supply. Holding such assets instead of cash, which is "printed out of thin air", does seem like a sound solution.
Historical Performance
Few investment instruments come close to Bitcoin in terms of historical performance — in fact, the token, which has achieved over 50% in annualised returns over the past 10 years, has completely crushed the returns of popular indices like the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq. When one looks at the price history of Bitcoin, it's difficult to decide against investing in the token, especially when it is so easy to purchase it now through a cryptocurrency exchange. When one considers opportunity costs, a rapidly appreciating digital asset like Bitcoin becomes significantly more attractive due to its historically ultra-high rate of return.
Adoption of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain
Cryptocurrency has come a long way since the days where Bitcoin was used as an alternative payment method for pizza. Apart from increased adoption from countries like El Salvador (which made Bitcoin legal tender), we also see massive developments in blockchain technology — most recently the tokenisation of real estate investment. This strengthens the case for allocating a proportion of one's investment portfolio to cryptocurrency or cryptocurrency-linked assets. In addition, if central banks and sovereign governments around the world start adding Bitcoin to their balance sheets (which is possible, though not confirmed, in the near future), then this further strengthens the case that Bitcoin is here to stay in the long run.
Profit Opportunity
With the significant price swings in Bitcoin, many opportunities for profit are born — especially on days where technical indicators like the Relative Strength Index (RSI), moving average convergence/divergence (MACD), stochastic oscillators and trading volumes point in the right directions. While this article is not meant to be a trading guide of any sort, the truth remains that with the right expertise, the profit opportunities presented by Bitcoin are endless. In addition, the sheer magnitude of price action makes trading Bitcoin, amongst other tokens, potentially more attractive than doing the same with stocks.
The Pulls
We will now discuss certain pull factors which may discourage investors from buying Bitcoin.
Valuation Concerns
One key concern with regard to Bitcoin is its fundamental valuation. Whether Bitcoin is considered cheap or expensive is largely explained by chart patterns and technical indicators, as opposed to tangible underlying factors. Buying a Bitcoin at $100k per coin right now could be a bargain, a rip-off, or just right — but nobody really knows. While intrinsic valuation of other traditional assets like stocks, bonds and real estate can be calculated fairly easily, this is not as straightforward for Bitcoin, or for any other cryptocurrency for that matter. Time will tell if the Bitcoin narrative plays out in the way that most Bitcoin supporters imagine — but till then, the fundamental valuation of Bitcoin remains largely speculative.
Volatility
Increased volatility present in cryptocurrency tokens like Bitcoin makes them less attractive to risk-averse investors, especially if they need access to the invested funds in the near future. Cryptocurrency tokens can see swings of over 20% within a 24-hour period, and this happens more often that most think. In comparison, we often need to see unexpected events like disastrous earnings reports, negative geopolitical developments and severe external factors like pandemics, amongst other things, to see equivalent moves in stocks and funds (at least for the commonly-known ones). As such, a large investment in Bitcoin may not suit everyone's risk profile, especially if the funds are meant for purposes which emphasise security over returns (for example, saving up for a wedding or planning for retirement).
Next Big Player
With the introduction of the proof-of-stake system, Bitcoin's traditional proof-of-work model faces intense competition from other tokens — most notably Ethereum. The general consensus is that while proof-of-work can be more secure than proof-of-stake, its cost and energy efficiency pales in comparison. Proof-of-stake is also considered to be more adaptable, with easier integration of smart contracts and greater network diversity. As such, even if one agrees that investing in cryptocurrency is a sound choice, Bitcoin may not be the first choice due to potentially significant opportunity costs, especially if the proof-of-work model is rendered obsolete in the future due to its high energy usage and low flexibility.
The Bottom Line
Ultimately, there is no right or wrong when it comes to buying Bitcoin. It all boils down to your risk tolerance and investment purpose. Some buy it to hold for the long term (or as the investing community would like to say, "diamond hands"), some trade it for profit during periods of heightened speculation, and some simply decide that the risk is too large and turn towards blue chip stocks and index funds instead. The most important thing is not buying Bitcoin, but knowing why you bought it.

#BTC #InvestSmart #CryptocurrencyWealth #BTCvsInflation