Author: Jayson Derrick

Crypto prices continue to rebound as Metacade’s presale nears the end

https://invezz.com/news/2023/03/15/crypto-prices-continue-to-rebound-as-metacades-presale-nears-the-end/

The past few days marked a difficult time for investors as not one but three notable banks collapsed under pressure, adding to an already tense investment environment. Investors have to now deal with fear of additional bank failures on top of inflation and employment concerns, questions over how the economy will react to potential new rate hikes, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and much more.

Yet at the same time, Bitcoin (BTC/USD) gained 15% to start the week and briefly traded above the key $25,000 resistance level on Tuesday. Looking over a seven-day, 30-day and 60-day period, it is clear that investors are currently favoring not only Bitcoin but the broader crypto market with reason to believe the momentum can sustain throughout the year.

This enthusiasm can and should trickle down the entire crypto sector and even positively impact presale projects, like Metacade.

Investors are ‘looking for alternative currencies’

We can still count on one hand the number of days since Silicon Valley Bank’s (NASDAQ: SIVB) collapse and subsequent panic that hasn’t eased despite a rebound in stock prices on Tuesday. The bank runs seen in recent days and possibility of further ones to come are yet more evidence of the broken nature of traditional finance and lack of investor confidence in the simple concept of a bank’s ability to keep customer funds secure and easily accessible.

Even notable billionaire investors that have been around for decades and experienced every type of scare are worried. Carl Icahn is one example of an investor sounding the alarm bells. He said on CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Tuesday that we “absolutely have a major problem in our economy” and rampant inflation is “the worst thing the economy can have.”

So, does this represent a watershed moment for crypto and perhaps smaller startups like Metacade?

Nigel Green is the CEO of deVere Group, a large independent financial advisory firm. He said in a statement obtained by Invezz that Bitcoin and crypto are “acting as a safe haven asset” as Wall Street is “crippled by a relentless agenda of interest rate rises.” He adds:

Investors are therefore looking for alternative currencies, such as cryptocurrencies. Moving forward, these will increasingly compete with traditional, fiat ones and this will help trigger the decreasing dominance of currently leading international currencies.

Presale crypto projects like Metacade are attractive

Play-to-earn crypto projects represents one of the many available options for seasoned cryptocurrency and every-day investors alike to diversify away from their fiat holdings. The concept is quite simple: crypto-based play-to-earn games enable gamers to earn money while playing games. This niche has a name; it is called game-fi.

Game-fi is a unique crypto-based offering that not only allows users to enjoy the benefits of cryptocurrency but also ensures that users have fun while at it. One of the projects at the forefront of pushing Game-fi to the masses is Metacade.

Metacade is a presale cryptocurrency project focused on bringing out the best of gaming and finance built on blockchain. Built as a Web3 community, Metacade creates an environment for gamers and crypto fanatics to collaborate and communicate with each other. Moreover, the platform has a native coin, $MCADE, that acts as a reason for community members to become more involved and help grow the ecosystem from within.

In an environment such as the one precipitated by the ongoing banking crisis, Metacade stands out as an asset that can hold weight in any investor’s portfolio, even if it is a small one. 

MCADE is a good opportunity for long-term growth

According to Metacade’s website, the current sixth presale stage is roughly 97% sold which shows the project continues to attract new investors willing to buy at a higher price. The current price of $0.017 represents a large jump from the beta round that attracted investors at $0.008. 

Once the sixth stage is complete, the price to buy Metacade is set to rise by 9% before rising to $0.02 in the final eighth stage that comes to a close at the end of March. The fact that the project is in the presale stage implies that any buyers today will be the first to cash in on expectations for a surge in value once Metacade graduates to a notable crypto exchange.

So, what makes Metacade a good opportunity? Simply put, the total market cap of all game-fi coins stands at just $11 billion, according to Coingecko. This pales in comparison to the traditional global gaming market that combines for $200 billion in revenue. As such, the size of the crypto game-fi industry has plenty of room for expansion over the years as crypto and blockchain projects gain in popularity.

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Does Silicon Valley Bank’s failure signal the second Great Financial Crisis?

https://invezz.com/news/2023/03/13/does-silicon-valley-banks-failure-signal-the-second-great-financial-crisis/

The US financial and banking system was rocked by the largest bank failure since the 2008 Great Financial Crisis which begs the question if we are on the brink of a new crisis. According to Brad McMillan, Chief Investment Officer for Commonwealth Financial Network, the answer is no.

‘Not the start’ of a financial crisis

McMillan wrote in a post recent bank failures, most notably SVB Financial Group (NASDAQ: SIVB), is “something to keep an eye on”, but is “not the start” of a new financial crisis. The difference this time around the government stepped in “early and stepped in hard.” Granted, market volatility and some pain ahead is likely inevitable, the main takeaway is the government is “willing and able” to support the financial industry.

Unlike in 2008, the government is getting ahead of the problem rather than trying to clean up afterward. That is a very positive sign.

Expect a recession, crypto at risk

Banks as a whole are likely to cut back on their lending activity and risk until they “get their houses in order,” he wrote. This will by default slow economic expansion and pull the markets down. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing as this was the type of activity the Federal Reserve was hoping for in the first place.

Nevertheless, the odds of a recession are now “much more likely” with a “short term” timeline to be expected.

Meanwhile, the bank collapses mostly impacted the crypto and tech space and these sectors are now “even more at risk” than the economy as a whole, McMillan continued. While there will be other bank stocks that would attract attention and are willing to fill the void, one of the biggest enablers of the tech boom “is now gone.”

Expect a bumpy ride, but it’s a ride we will eventually be able to get off of. This story is not over yet, and we don’t fully know how it will end. We do know, however, that we will make it through.

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Signature Bank collapse means crypto will ‘be forced’ to move to Wall Street: pro

https://invezz.com/news/2023/03/13/signature-bank-collapse-means-crypto-will-be-forced-to-move-to-wall-street-pro/

Signature Bank’s sudden collapse over the weekend represents a ‘blow for crypto,’ Truflation CEO Stefan Rust said in a statement obtained by Invezz. According to Rust who runs the independent inflation data aggregator project, the crypto industry is now “scrambling” for new banking partners to handle on and off-ramps.

BTC price is rallying hard: ‘not out of the woods’

Bitcoin (BTC/USD) price rallied around 10% to kick off Monday’s trading session as investors are breathing a sigh of relief the finance and banking system avoided a major catastrophe. However, the latest Signature Bank news along with Silvergate’s problems imply the main Fiat banking partner of choice for the crypto industry is gone.

According to Rust, crypto will now “be forced” to move their business to Wall Street-esque banks, like JP Morgan, Barclays, and other banks designated “systemically important.” Rust writes:

With regulators like the US SEC making life ever harder for cryptocurrency firms, this may not be simple or even possible for many.

Fed decision shouldn’t matter for crypto

Rust notes that European and US equity markets are trading in the red Monday morning ahead of Tuesday’s inflation reading. The Fed indicated that January’s CPI reading means it is more likely to lift rates by 50 basis points next week. If February’s data adds additional concerns to the market, investors will be incrementally worried. Rust, a critic of CPI data that you can read about in a prior Invezz interview, writes:

Of course, none of this should matter for crypto – an asset class founded as a direct response to the last banking crisis. One possible good news story to come out of this would be a decoupling from the main markets like we saw in 2020. With the main fiat on and off ramps shut down, this could be the moment that we see some separation.

No bailouts in crypto

The concept of bailouts or bail-ins in the crypto industry does not exist. The price of one BTC is always one BTC and 1 ETH will always equal 1 ETH. This represents the value of their utility and purchasing power “remains equal for the services you need” on the respective networks.

This is the global decentralized model of finance – ready and waiting to go.

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On-chain data shows bullish growth for game-fi universe

https://invezz.com/news/2023/03/09/on-chain-data-shows-bullish-growth-for-game-fi-universe/

According to DappRadar’s most recent Games Report, on-chain gaming activity rebounded from a “tough” 2022 in early 2023. Leading the charge in momentum are the usual incumbents in the game-fi sector, most notably Gala Games (GALA/USD), Axie Infinity (AXS/USD), Decentraland (MANA/USD), Floki Inu (FLOKI/USD), among many others.

Leading the charge is Floki which is up 380%, followed by Wemix at 322% as the game-fi universe is showing bullish signs of growth, at least according to a notable industry analysis report.

The space is certainly large enough for many players to carve out a meaningful market share. Investors should consider a diversified portfolio of several projects, including incumbent companies and newcomers like Metacade that are looking to inject a new degree of freshness.

Game-fi is positioned to grow

Per DappRadar, on-chain data points to a 1.31% rise in gaming activity in January. As a whole, there were 858,621 daily Unique Active Wallets (dUAW) and this made up nearly 50% of all dapp activity.

These figures remain relatively small compared to the overall gaming industry that attracts 2.69 billion consumers worldwide. In fact, gaming revenue estimates of $170 billion in 2022 is five times larger than global movie box office sales. Some estimates point to a global gaming industry worth $470 billion by 2030.

So this begs the question, what role will the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry play in gaming growth outlook through the end of the decade.

We have indeed seen innovation, progress, and investments in blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies that show the industry is playing hard to compete against traditional video games. Several notable events in 2023 alone include:

  • Gala Games’ acquisition of Ember Entertainment that will see Ember’s games integrated into Gala’s layer 1 blockchain.
  • Square Enix’s NFT game launch.
  • Courtside Ventures’ new $100 million fund that focuses in part on gaming.
  • Metacade raises around $9.3 million in five presale rounds.

Metacade looks to stand out

Metacade stands out from many of its other gaming peers as it offers a bit of everything for everyone. Notably, it is a game-fi project where players can partake in play-to-earn games as it evolves to a fully-fledged DAO in 2024. This will give the community a say in the project’s governance using its native MCADE token. Gamers will be able to accumulate tokens for completing tasks, playing against others in player-vs-player sessions, writing reviews, and partaking in events.

Based on Metacade’s successful presale rounds,we can see that investor enthusiasm for new projects is not only real, but it is growing. As it stands now, the sixth presale round prices the MCADE token at $0.017, representing a notable spike from its beta round when the coin was valued at $0.008.

Investors looking to participate in Metacade’s next round should do so ahead of expectations for the price to continue rising as the presale process comes to an end. It is widely expected for the coin to then list on some of the top crypto exchanges, including Bitmart and Uniswap and this is typically a catalyst for upside potential.

Metacade understands investor needs: ‘revenue streams from day one’

Balancing user experience with investor concerns isn’t an easy task as the two often conflict. What is good for investors isn’t always good for users, and what’s good for users isn’t always good for investors.

Metacade CEO Russell Bennet appears to have found a balance where it can address both stakeholders. Speaking on the Invezz podcast with Dan Ashmore, Bennet acknowledged many mistakes of the past, including rushing sub-par games to the market to keep up with the fast pace of the broader crypto industry.

This time around Bennet says he is leading the company as a “community driven platform” over a two to three year period He says:

It allows our Metacaders to come in and do really what they want to do, which is the whole social aspect of it is very much based on the arcade. That’s the brand and us positioning ourselves to support other projects is better than trying to compete with a like-for-like game. 

Bennet further explains the token’s ultimate success wouldn’t “work necessarily without really strong plans on revenue streams.” He said Metacade is focused on ensuring the coin keeps its utility and this is where rival game-fi projects didn’t succeed in getting to market as they failed to understand revenue is a “fundamental part” of balancing the token economics.

He also said in the podcast:

I come from a business background so revenue streams from day one are the most important thing.

Conclusion: Metacade and entire game-fi industry looks promising

The crypto industry has had its ups and downs in recent years which means investors need to be selective, patient, and play the space for the long-term. This requires picking a subsector of the crypto universe that has shown recent signs of momentum and then researching if these trends are sustainable.

The game-fi sector is one that will likely grow over the coming years. Even if it shows growth rates similar to the traditional old-school gaming industry, investors should still be able to come out ahead.

What’s required is investors to do their proper homework and evaluate the potential for old players and newcomers, like Metacade. In Metacade’s case, the project appeals to gamers and the CEO’s background and experience makes it clear a reasonable rate of return for investors is also part of its roadmap.

The post On-chain data shows bullish growth for game-fi universe appeared first on Invezz.

The Crypto App launches premium Pro and Pro+ services

https://invezz.com/news/2023/02/21/the-crypto-app-launches-premium-pro-and-pro-services/

The Crypto App, a utility-focused mobile app that offers an all-in-one solution for cryptocurrency traders, investors and enthusiasts, has partnered leading crypto intelligence platforms to launch two premium services for the market.

The new services, per the announcement, are a result of major partnerships between the leading utility app and industry leaders IntoTheBlock, TradingView and Messari.

The collaboration with these companies allows the app to offer unmatched tools and content, with users now able to leverage these resources toward making informed trading and investment decisions, The Crypto App parent company TrustSwap said in a press release.

The Crypto App unveils Pro/Pro+ versions

The Crypto App, with over 4.1 million downloads across Google Play and iOS App Stores, offers both free and paid features, and is looking to add to its best-in-class premium services through the Pro and Pro+ launch.

While the app’s portfolio manager and real-time alerts features are free to use on its Basic tier, higher and maximum levels of functionality for both features are unlocked and now available in the Pro and Pro+ subscription services.

The partnership with crypto research, intelligence and market data providers IntoTheBlock, TradingView and Messari means the app now offers not just a toolkit that helps users monitor investments and expand their knowledge of the market, but also offers high-quality fundamental and technical analysis data critical to trading and investing success in the crypto space.

For instance, subscribing to the Pro and Pro+ services will unlock access to features such as token metrics, market metrics and advanced charts with technical indicators like Bollinger Bands, MACD and RSI. And to help traders stay ahead of emerging opportunities , the Pro+ version will offer access to professional research from crypto intelligence leader Messari, with expert analysis and in-depth coverage of the market.

“We’ve brought together the most reputable intelligence and data sources in the space, and combined it with our own internal innovation, to deliver a robust bundle that offers what every crypto enthusiast, trader and investor is looking for: trusted information…and an edge,” Niklas Jabs, Head of The Crypto App, said in a statement.

The Crypto App still offers a free version

Per today’s announcement, the new Pro and Pro+ versions replace the app’s older offering of Pro. 

The launch means customers with previous lifetime access to the old Pro service will now automatically access a new Premium tier, which will only be accessible to this group. The Premium tier members will enjoy all previously paid-for features and new ones at no extra fee, and can also upgrade to the new Pro and Pro+ whenever they want.

The Crypto App will still also offer a free, ad-supported Basic version. But as for the cost of the new premium versions, Pro will cost $8.99 per month and the Pro+ version will cost $14.99 per month.

Users can check out the app by signing up for the week-long free trial offer available for both Pro and Pro+ by downloading the app either from the Google Play Store at https://get.thecrypto.app/invezz-android or from Apple’s iOS App Store at https://get.thecrypto.app/invezz-ios.

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Bitcoin price analysis: BTC faces difficult resistance level ahead

https://invezz.com/news/2023/02/15/bitcoin-price-analysis-btc-faces-difficult-resistance-level-ahead/

Bitcoin (BTC/USD) price picked up notable momentum on Wednesday as the digital currency hit a new 2023 high. Granted, 2023 is a mere 6 weeks old and the current bull run looks pretty insignificant on the one-year chart.

BTC/USD chart by TradingView

But I’m not here to ruin the party, rather just trying to gather information to make an informed decision on where Bitcoin is heading next.

First, let’s discuss where we are right now. BTC broke above the $24,000 mark as part of one of the strongest daily gains in months. Invezz reported on Bitcoin’s strong momentum earlier today and as is often the case in the crypto space, an article can become irrelevant and antiquated within hours.

That said, don’t break out the champagne – just yet.

This is what concerns me the most. The 200 day moving average is one of my go-to and top indicators. So long as Bitcoin trades south of the 200 day MA, bears are still in control. A break above and all bets are off the table.

But we have to get there first, and it won’t be easy.

The 200 day MA also roughly coincides with key resistance levels and last summer’s highs when Bitcoin looked poised to stage a rebound only to be met with intense selling pressure.

Many traders and analysts on Twitter seem to hold a similar view, and for good reason. Call it perhaps cautious optimism. Just five days ago, the net unrealised profit of all Bitcoins in circulation was a mere $2,500.

Meanwhile, the US dollar index and Bitcoin are both higher on Wednesday. Has this ever happened before? I don’t think so and this could be problematic. The DXY measures the strength of the US dollar versus other assets.

When investors are shifting from other assets into the greenback, the DXY index moves higher. There is a typical inverse correlation between DXY and Bitcoin but such is not the case right now. I don’t like uncertainty.

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