18 May 2025, 16:58

Bitcoin Nears Golden Cross Weeks After 'Trapping Bears' as U.S. Debt Concerns Mount

Bitcoin's BTC price chart is echoing a bullish pattern that foreshadowed the late 2024 price surge from $70,000 to $100,000 amid mounting concerns over the sustainability of the U.S. debt. The leading cryptocurrency by market value appears on track to confirm a "golden cross" in the coming days, according to charting platform TradingView. The pattern occurs when the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) of prices crosses above the 200-day SMA to suggest that the short-term trend is outperforming the broader trend, with the potential to evolve into a major bull run. The moving average-based golden cross has a mixed record of predicting price trends. The impending one, however, is worth noting because it's about to occur weeks after its ominous-sounding opposite, the death cross, trapped bears on the wrong side of the market. A similar pattern unfolded from August through September 2024, setting the stage for a convincing move above $70,000 in early November. Prices eventually set a record high above $109K in January this year. The chart on the left shows that BTC bottomed out at around $50,000 in early August last year as the 50-day SMA moved below the 200-day SMA to confirm the death cross. In other words, the death cross was a bear trap, much like the one in early April this year. Prices turned higher in subsequent weeks, eventually beginning a new uptrend after the appearance of the golden cross in late October 2024. The bullish sequence is being repeated since early April, and prices could begin the next leg higher following the confirmation of the golden cross in the coming days. Past performance does not guarantee future results, and technical patterns do not always deliver as expected. That said, macro factors seem aligned with the bullish technical setup. Moody's amplifies U.S. debt concerns On Friday, credit rating agency Moody's downgraded the U.S. sovereign credit rating from the highest ”Aaa” to ”Aa1”, citing concerns over the increasing national debt, which has now reached $36 trillion. The bond market has been pricing fiscal concerns for some time. Last week, CoinDesk detailed how persistent elevated Treasury yields reflected expectations for continued fiscal splurge and sovereign risk premium, both bullish for bitcoin. Read: BTC Boom Likely as Bond Yields Surge

18 May 2025, 16:55

Moody’s Downgrades US Credit Score, Strips Final AAA Rating on Mounting Debt Concerns

Moody’s has joined the two other major rating agencies in determining that the US is no longer fit to hold a AAA credit score. On Friday, Moody’s downgraded America’s credit rating from AAA to AA1 while changing the country’s outlook from negative to stable. Moody’s attributes the downgrade to the United States’ soaring national debt and interest payment ratios that exceed those of other countries with the same credit rating. “As deficits and debt have grown, and interest rates have risen, interest payments on government debt have increased markedly. Without adjustments to taxation and spending, we expect budget flexibility to remain limited, with mandatory spending, including interest expense, projected to rise to around 78% of total spending by 2035 from about 73% in 2024. If the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is extended, which is our base case, it will add around $4 trillion to the federal fiscal primary (excluding interest payments) deficit over the next decade. As a result, we expect federal deficits to widen, reaching nearly 9% of GDP by 2035, up from 6.4% in 2024, driven mainly by increased interest payments on debt, rising entitlement spending, and relatively low revenue generation. We anticipate that the federal debt burden will rise to about 134% of GDP by 2035, compared to 98% in 2024.” Moody’s latest decision strips the United States of its final Triple-A credit rating. The downgrade follows earlier moves by other major agencies: in 2011, Standard & Poor’s (S&P) lowered the US’ rating from AAA to AA+ due to concerns over the government’s inability to address rising debt levels. And in 2023, Fitch followed suit, citing persistent budget deficits and political infighting as key drivers of its downgrade. Follow us on X , Facebook and Telegram Don't Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox Check Price Action Surf The Daily Hodl Mix Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing. Generated Image: Midjourney The post Moody’s Downgrades US Credit Score, Strips Final AAA Rating on Mounting Debt Concerns appeared first on The Daily Hodl .

18 May 2025, 15:04

Russian authorities detain Blum co-founder in criminal fraud case: report

The Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow initiated the arrest of a former Binance executive and co-founder of the Blum tap-to-earn app, Vladimir Smerkis, on fraud charges. According to Russian news site TASS, citing law enforcement agencies, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court granted an investigator’s request to detain Smerkis for alleged fraud. Details regarding the charges remain unclear. The agency’s interlocutor cited Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. News of the arrest comes one day after Blum posted on social media that Smerkis has stepped down from his role as CMO. You might also like: Base Chain transactions surge as DEX volume nears $400b milestone Smerkis “is no longer involved in the development of the project or in any co-founder capacity,” the company said on X. In a separate post, Blum thanked Smerkis “for his contribution to the project,” adding that day-to-day operations will continue as usual. What is Blum? Blum is a Telegram-based tap-to-earn (T2E) crypto mini-app that combines gamified earning with a hybrid decentralized exchange (DEX) platform. Launched by a team including former Binance executives, Blum aims to make crypto accessible and engaging for both newcomers and seasoned traders. Smerkis was previously in charge of the Binance CIS segment. Read more: Bitcoin stalls, but chart watchers eye $300,000 peak: Here’s when

18 May 2025, 15:00

Don’t believe the noise: There can never be too many L2s

Opinion by: Igor Mandrigin, co-founder and CTPO of Gateway.fm Every couple of weeks, it seems another layer 2 rolls out, much to the chagrin of some Web3 industry commentators who are concerned about fragmentation. A recent Gemini Institutional Insights report actually noted how a new Ethereum L2 solution is launched approximately every 19 days. In response to the seemingly endless conveyor belt of new zkEVMs and optimistic rollups coming to market, the chorus of criticism continues to grow louder: “This is definitely the saturation point, no more chains are needed.” Some of the most outspoken critics of L2s argue that L2s are redundant, but this is narrow thinking. In many ways, the idea that creating new L2s should be slowed down is like arguing that there were too many websites in 1998. The proliferation of L2s is not causing the Web3 space to become overly bloated or fragmented at all. The number of chains today isn’t too many. It’s laughably few, and right now is the early innings of a multi-decade explosion in specialized, modular blockchain infrastructure. The rise of L2s is far from a passing fad While some contend that this L2 surge we’ve been experiencing is merely a temporary frenzy led by DeFi degenerates, it’s really an enterprise-grade infrastructure expansion, as banks (including Deutsche Bank ), game studios (gaming activity on some L2 blockchains rose by over 20,000% in February 2025), logistics networks and global manufacturers get on board. Industries like banking and logistics, which are typically risk-averse, don’t make major tech pivots lightly. They do so because they have to, and in many cases, public blockchains do not meet their needs. Returning to their inherent risk-averse DNA, large enterprises and institutions in these sectors generally won’t want to build on shared, general-purpose L1s. Instead, they’ll want to deploy their own chains where they can enjoy custom performance, predictable costs, jurisdictional compliance and granular-level privacy. This focus on proprietary networks isn’t solely a Web3 thing. Let’s think about it. Did Facebook, Netflix and JPMorgan co-host on GeoCities? Of course not, so why would Web3 be any different? Shared L1s and monolithic architectures might have worked for early token experiments and composable DeFi primitives. Still, realistically, they can’t support real-world businesses’ complexity, regulatory burden or contractual requirements. The growing viability of L2s Thanks to modular stacks, rollup-as-a-service platforms and breakthrough zero-knowledge proof technology, spinning up a dedicated chain is becoming increasingly viable and accessible to a wide range of enterprises across the industry spectrum. As the infrastructure improves, the cost of launching and maintaining specialized chains will also reduce, so a substantial rise in the number of L2s can be expected as time goes on. Recent: Devs introduce Ethereum R1 layer-2 scaling solution Some onlookers will argue that this future will be convoluted for users forced to hop between chains while voicing concerns about liquidity fragmentation and the dispersal of tradable assets across multiple platforms. These are short-sighted concerns. We’re building toward seamless interoperability through shared settlement layers, trust-minimized bridges and unified account abstraction. Ultimately, the end-user won’t care whether they’re on rollup #4,318 or chain #9,072; they’ll just transact with ease and be happy with that. In the same way that cloud computing unlocked hyper scale by abstracting the hardware layer, modular blockchains are unlocking hyperscale for value transfer, asset issuance and programmable trust. Irrespective of what the doubters say, specialized L2s won’t cannibalize each other. They’ll serve different verticals, jurisdictions and use cases. There is no reason why an L2 for high-frequency trading can’t easily coexist with an L2 for national land registries. We’re not drowning in chains — we’re barely ankle-deep in the grand scheme of things. Anyone seriously betting on consolidation or some magical “winner-take-all” chain is just betting against scale and sovereignty. The real bet is hundreds of L2s and thousands of use cases as part of one modular, scalable future. Opinion by: Igor Mandrigin, co-founder and CTPO of Gateway.fm. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

18 May 2025, 14:31

Dogecoin Price: ETF Momentum and Institutional Demand Set To Send DOGE Past $1, But Can It Beat $0.07 RTX?

Dogecoin is hot right now, driven by ETF hype, speculative activity, and fresh institutional demand. However, it’s not the only coin on the move; Remittix is ripping through its presale and recently smashed a $15 million milestone. Breakouts look to be on the cards for both tokens. But will DOGE outpace RTX this year, or will it be the other way around? Let’s find out. Dogecoin ETF rumors push DOGE towards $1 Dogecoin is doing what Dogecoin does best: making noise, stirring up markets, and forcing people to take it seriously all over again. It started with the SEC this month. They formally acknowledged the spot ETF application from 21Shares, kicking off a 240-day countdown that ends in January 2026. Prediction markets now put the probability of a DOGE ETF in 2025 at 66%. Institutions are paying attention too. The same day the SEC’s acknowledgment was announced, futures open interest jumped 70% to $1.65 billion. Meanwhile, funds like 21Shares and Bitwise are pushing for physically backed ETFs with low fees and serious liquidity. Meanwhile, the Dogecoin Foundation is continuing to build. Dogebox , its relatively new infrastructure project, aims to onboard one million small businesses by helping them self-host DOGE payments. As for DeFi moves, DogeOS just raised $6.9 million to expand Dogecoin’s on-chain utility. Source: CoinGecko Things are certainly looking up for DOGE and its investors. Dogecoin’s price is up over 25% in the past two weeks at $0.22 right now , with short-to-medium-term targets set for December 2024’s highs of $0.46. However, if a DOGE ETF is approved, the Dogecoin price could enter a parabolic run and break all the way through $1. Remittix steps up as DOGE’s quiet rival Dogecoin might be about to 4x this year, but can it beat Remittix’s potential? Remittix is coming after the $194 trillion cross-border payments market and doing it with crypto at its core. The idea’s simple: Let users convert over 40 different cryptocurrencies into fiat, andsend that money straight to any bank account in the world, all without middlemen or hidden fees. Just pay a flat fee and the recipient gets exactly what’s sent without ever knowing it originated from crypto. That simplicity is the hook. Remittix lets people move money globally using crypto, whether it’s freelancers getting paid, users sending money back home, or international firms looking for fast settlements. Remittix is business-ready too. The Remittix Pay API makes it easy to accept crypto payments and settle in any of 30+ fiat currencies. Merchant accounts give full control over how funds are cashed out in an easy-to-use dashboard, with over 50 crypto pairs making it flexible for different markets and users. Even better, Remittix is just getting started. The project’s smart contract has been audited by SolidProof, passed without issue, and its presale is now active. It’s raised over $15 million so far, currently priced at $0.0757, plus has a $250k giveaway running . If DOGE’s institutional adoption and recognition by regulators is any sign, crypto isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Its role in global payments is only growing, and Remittix has a huge market to sink its teeth into. At a rock-bottom $0.0757, it’s easy to imagine a 10x, maybe even 50x, this year. DOGE vs RTX: The race is on Dogecoin’s prospective 4x+ gains look compelling, but Remittix’s real-world utility and presale traction point to something much greater brewing under the surface. The current presale stage has less than 10% of tokens left before prices rise to $0.0781; consider loading up before they sell out. Discover the future of PayFi with Remittix by checking out their presale here: Website: https://remittix.io/ Socials: https://linktr.ee/remittix Disclaimer: This is a sponsored press release and is for informational purposes only. It does not reflect the views of Crypto Daily, nor is it intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, or financial advice.

18 May 2025, 14:30

China Dumps $18,900,000,000 in Treasuries as US Government Faces Major Dilemma: Macro Analyst Luke Gromen

China sold off billions of dollars worth of US Treasuries between February and March, according to recent government data. Data from the Treasury Department shows that China’s US Treasury (UST) holdings dropped $18.9 billion in one month, while most other countries increased their holdings. The data also shows that the UK has overtaken China and is now the second-biggest foreign holder of USTs in the world. Japan remains the biggest holder of USTs in the world, currently holding $1.13 trillion, down from $1.16 trillion a year prior. Macro investor Luke Gromen warns that the countries buying more USTs won’t be able to simultaneously buy more American-manufactured goods, further hurting America’s trade deficit that President Trump has promised to address. Says Gromen, “Foreign UST holdings rose $133 billion Mar vs. Feb. UK, Caymans, and Canada were $86 billion of that $133 billion; China sold $19 billion. UK surpassed China as the 2nd biggest US foreign creditor for 1st time ever in March. Cayman Islands (pop. ~73,000) is now the fourth biggest US foreign creditor at $455 billion… How are they going to buy both USTs and more goods from America going forward?” Analysts reportedly told Reuters that Chinese holdings of USTs have been in a downward trajectory since 2018, even though foreign holdings of Treasuries surged to an all-time high of $9.05 trillion in March. Follow us on X , Facebook and Telegram Don't Miss a Beat – Subscribe to get email alerts delivered directly to your inbox Check Price Action Surf The Daily Hodl Mix Disclaimer: Opinions expressed at The Daily Hodl are not investment advice. Investors should do their due diligence before making any high-risk investments in Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or digital assets. Please be advised that your transfers and trades are at your own risk, and any losses you may incur are your responsibility. The Daily Hodl does not recommend the buying or selling of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets, nor is The Daily Hodl an investment advisor. Please note that The Daily Hodl participates in affiliate marketing. Generated Image: Midjourney The post China Dumps $18,900,000,000 in Treasuries as US Government Faces Major Dilemma: Macro Analyst Luke Gromen appeared first on The Daily Hodl .