When Bitcoin Cost Just $0.05 in 2014
Pete Rizzo, who writes about the history of Bitcoin in the newsletter Bitcoin History, posted an intriguing piece about Bitcoin on Twitter. Rizzo mentioned that back in 2014, Bitcoin was priced at a mere $0.05 per coin, a value that looks absurd when you think about it from today's viewpoint.

This low figure for Bitcoin in its early stages highlights its worth and the enormous opportunities available to early investors. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance for people to build generational wealth, and those who grabbed this opportunity have been benefiting from it ever since.

To put things in context, if you spent $100 on Bitcoin when you have just $0.05, you would have ended up with 2,000 Bitcoins. Since then, the value of Bitcoin has surged by over 125 times.
The current price of around $57,000, the 2,000 Bitcoins you'd have from spending $100 are now worth $114 million. This shows that Bitcoin has outperformed every single stock since its launch and has proven itself to be a superior asset class compared to traditional gold.

More Value is on the Horizon for BTC
The $114 million return from a $100 investment in Bitcoin 14 years ago comes as it's currently facing challenges. There are high expectations that the price of Bitcoin will eventually exceed $100,000 as the cryptocurrency market enters a new upswing. Under such circumstances, the $100 you spent back then would have grown to $200 million.

Looking ahead, there's potential for Bitcoin to appreciate even further. Other notable figures like Michael Saylor from MicroStrategy and Cathie Wood from ARK Invest think Bitcoin could climb as high as $1,000 per coin. In that scenario, the 2,000 Bitcoins would be valued at $2 billion.

Bitcoin’s impressive growth over these years has cemented its title as 'digital gold.' It is currently seen as the best option for storing wealth against the rapidly increasing inflation that is affecting much of the globe.

On August 5, the cryptocurrency market's losses reflect a severe sell-off that has already led to over $1 billion in withdrawals.
Yen-based carry trades are impacting global market sentiment negatively.
On Aug. 5, the combined value of all crypto assets fell by as much as 15.80% to its lowest point in six months, hitting $1.694 trillion. Bitcoin was the biggest loser.
which together hold more than 70% of the crypto market's share.
The main reason for these drops is the diminishing attractiveness of yen-dollar carry trades.

In a typical carry trade, investors borrow in a currency with low interest rates (like the yen) and exchange them for a currency with high interest rates (like the US dollar), using the money to invest in stocks, bonds, and other assets. The ideal situation is when the difference in interest rates leads to profit.
This approach has been successful for investors because of Japan's near-zero interest rate policy compared to the US's higher rates.

However, on July 31, the Bank of Japan (BOJ) raised its interest rate to 0.25%, sparking fears of more increases among traders. On the other hand, the US Federal Reserve is expected to begin reducing interest rates in September due to increasing unemployment and slower economic growth.
Related: Is Warren Buffett right? 5 key points to consider in Bitcoin this week

The crypto market has seen a surge in losses, with over $1 billion in withdrawals in the last 24 hours, with $919.54 million coming from long positions. At the same time, the crypto futures market's open interest (OI) has fallen by about 15%.
The large sell-offs in long positions indicate that many traders were overly optimistic and heavily leveraged.
When the market turns against these positions, it triggers a domino effect of sell-offs, making the decline worse as stop-losses and margin calls are triggered.
Meanwhile, the drop in OI suggests fewer active futures contracts, showing that traders are winding down their positions and moving away from the market. The funding rates of many top cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Solana, have also gone negative at the same time.
As of Aug. 5, the crypto market has entered a breakdown phase, with expectations of further declines to $1.596 trillion. This lower target has acted as support during the December 2023-February 2024 period.

Following a short-lived surge close to $70,000, fueled by the positive outlook following former U.S. President Donald Trump's recent speech and his candidacy, Bitcoin (BTC) has since fallen back below $65,000, while artificial intelligence (AI) models are showing signs of caution.

This decline began after reports emerged that the U.S. government had moved nearly 30,000 BTC, valued at about $2.02 billion at the time, from the cryptocurrency accounts linked to the Department of Justice's takedown of the Silk Road, as detailed by Arkham Intelligence.

Surprisingly, this development occurred just days after Trump expressed his willingness to reduce the sentence of the founder of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, and to retain all Bitcoin held by the U.S. government, including any future acquisitions, should he win the election, during his speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference last weekend.

Based on this situation, the sophisticated AI algorithm used by the crypto analysis firm PricePredictions is projecting a negative outlook for Bitcoin's future, setting its price on August 31, 2024, at $61,782.51, according to the data collected on August 1.

Indeed, if the AI's prediction, which relies on technical analysis (TA) indicators such as average true range (ATR), Bollinger Bands (BB), moving average convergence divergence (MACD), and others, materializes, it would signify a drop of 4.02% from the current Bitcoin price.

It's also important to mention that crypto trading expert Ali Martinez highlighted that leading traders on Binance, one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, were taking advantage of the market's downturn, with nearly 70% of them betting on Bitcoin's recovery, as he shared his insights on August 1.

🟢🛑 ETH Price Update! 🤔🕵
Present Value: $2,911.45
Price Resistance: $3,000.00
Price Support: $2,871.52
Long Position: Invest above $3,000.00 once a clear upward trend is established.
- 🎯 Goals: $3,070.00, $3,130.00, $3,197.00
- 🚨 Risk Level: $2,871.52
Short Position: Invest below $2,871.52 once a clear downward trend is confirmed.
- 🎯 Goals: $2,820.00, $2,770.00, $2,709.00
- 🚨 Risk Level: $3,000.00
The ETH/USDT exchange is at a pivotal point! Keep an eye out for a significant move above the resistance to capitalize on the bullish momentum or a sharp decline below the support to seize the bearish opportunity.
Traders, stay alert!
❤ Your generous contributions enable us to offer premium investment guidance.

Ethereum (ETH)
In the face of global stock market volatility, the crypto market has also seen its share of ups and downs, with Ethereum unable to break free from its downward spiral, ending the week with a 3% decline. Despite efforts by investors to lift it, the price failed to claw back to its earlier support of $3,300, setting a new barrier.

Now trading at $2,800, Ethereum might just challenge this level with a bearish market. The crypto landscape as a whole has turned sour, as indicated by the general loss across various assets during this update.

Looking forward, the market continues to show negative signs, as the MACD and RSI charts suggest. Buyers currently dominate the market, making it unlikely to see a resurgence until the price surpasses its key support.

(ADA)
This week, ADA took a hit of 6%, following a pullback by investors. It was unable to reverse its decline and settled around 37 cents, briefly spiking at this level but falling back into bear market territory.

To avoid further seller pressure, ADA needs to act swiftly to dodge losses at its key support. Failing to do so, the anticipated price target could be 31 cents, which could suggest a prolonged weakness, hitting a low mark in 2024.

Looking ahead, ADA is in a precarious situation, and its fate depends on whether the wider market can halt its current downward trend. Without this, the path for a positive price movement seems uncertain.
Binance Coin is one of the rare success stories among alternative coins, breaking new record highs this year. This is notable given the challenging times many other coins have encountered in their quest to attain new milestones.

The price ended the week down by 1%, marking a phase of consolidation following a strong rally in June. As long as the price remains above $500, investors still hold the advantage. The market's resistance is at $700.
Looking ahead, BNB finds itself in a more favorable light should the market show signs of a recovery in later parts of the year. Should investors manage to surpass the current resistance, the next significant target could be $1,000.
SHIB sustained its downturn this week, ending with a loss of 7%, bringing it closer to the key support at $0.000014. This level was last tested in early July.

The outlook suggests that at the key support, there will be a push from buyers to reverse the downward trend. The next goal will be the key resistance at $0.000018. Until then, the market's direction remains uncertain.

Meme coins such as SHIB have faced a turbulent period since the initial market excitement in late March. There's optimism that the market might revive later this year, sparking renewed interest in these meme coins.

Bitcoin has made a strong comeback this year, gaining momentum as former President Donald Trump has pushed cryptocurrency into the spotlight with an innovative strategy for the upcoming U.S. presidential race.

The value of bitcoin has skyrocketed, reaching its highest point in recent times, surpassing $70,000 per coin and igniting a flurry of optimistic forecasts for its future, though it has experienced a downturn this week, dropping below $65,000 following the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain interest rates.

Meanwhile, with Elon Musk making a surprising announcement about his stance on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, billionaire investor Mark Cuban has expressed his approval of a California initiative to convert 42 million car titles into digital records using blockchain technology, describing it as a significant advancement and a major development for the cryptocurrency industry.

Odaily reports that Rekt Capital, a secretive cryptocurrency trader, has shared on the X platform their prediction that Bitcoin's value will increase in September. Rekt Capital clarified that while Bitcoin did not manage to break through the reaccumulation range 100 days after its value was halved in April, achieving this was considered improbable. There are traders who think Bitcoin is more probable to reach $100,000 by 2025 instead of 2024, as some forecasts suggest.

BlockBeats reports that on July 31, information from BTC.com showed that the level of difficulty for mining Bitcoin saw a rise at block height 854,784 (17:13:32). This increase in difficulty pushed the mining target to 90.67 T, setting a record for the highest point yet. At present, the typical hash rate throughout the network over the last week is 635.70 EH/s.