Global investors and crypto traders are becoming wary of what the future holds for crypto under a Joe Biden Presidency.

This is because the person expected to lead the  U.S Treasury, Janet Yellen referred to crypto as of  “particular concern” when it comes to terrorist financing and money laundering.

• The incoming finance leader believes that most cryptos are used for illicit financing.
• She raised such bias during her Senate confirmation hearing yesterday.

Responding to a question from a U.S senator on how to tackle threats relating to terrorist financing, she elaborated on the role digital assets played as regards such channels.

“We need to make sure that our methods for dealing with these matters — with terrorist financing — change along with changing technology […] Cryptocurrencies are a particular concern. I think many are used at least in a transaction sense mainly for illicit financing and I think we really need to examine ways in which we can curtail their use and make sure that anti-money laundering doesn’t occur through those channels,” Yellen said.

What you should know: At press time, the crypto market was down by 2.69% with a total market value of $1.01 trillion, trading at $35,200 with a daily trading volume of $57.5 billion. Bitcoin is down 4.04% for the day.

Also, according to a recent survey conducted by one of Europe’s biggest banks, several market experts anticipate that the flagship crypto asset, Bitcoin, and a leading tech company have their prices highly inflated.

More than half of the market experts that took part in the survey disclosed that the most popular crypto could lose about 50% of its present value ad thus more likely to drop to the $18k range over the next year.

Deutsche Bank’s strategist, Jim Reid pointed out that Bitcoin was giving signs of a market bubble. He said:

“When asked specifically about the 12-month fate of bitcoin and Tesla—a stock emblematic of a potential tech bubble—a majority of readers think that they are more likely to halve than double from these levels with Tesla more vulnerable according to readers.”

The world’s utility crypto is fired up on all cylinders on the basis it just ascended past its 2 years high.

At the time of drafting this report, Ethereum traded at $1,415 with a daily trading volume of $35.3 billion. Ethereum is up 13.95% for the day.

What you should know: Ethereum is a cryptocurrency designed for decentralized applications and deployment of smart contracts, which are created and operated without any fraud, interruption, control or interference from a third party.

• Ethereum 2.0 is an upgrade to the Ethereum network that helps in improving the network’s scalability.
  Through the implementation of several, efficiency, enhancements, scalability, and speed the Ethereum network becomes better without compromising its decentralization and security.

What this means: Key reasons attributed to the remarkable rise of Ethereum include the rise of many #DeFi projects running on the #Ethereum network as seen in 2020, #Ethereum flipped Bitcoin in terms of network fees.

• Users spent almost $600M in fees on the Ethereum network last year – 83% more than on Bitcoin.

In 2020, #Ethereum flipped #Bitcoin in terms of network fees.

Users spent almost $600M in fees on the Ethereum network last year – 83% more than on Bitcoin.

Data: @glassnode pic.twitter.com/SMSHbkFHuC

— Rafael Schultze-Kraft (@n3ocortex) January 9, 2021

The number of investors owning at least 1,000 BTC is growing at a record pace. Data retrieved from Glassnode show that the number of addresses holding at least 1000 BTC has skyrocketed lately.

• The growth from January to December last year: 6.7%
• The growth from December until today: 7.2%

READ: Investor moves $1 billion for $7 fee on Ethereum Blockchain

Institutional buying?🏦

The number of addresses holding at least 1000 BTC has skyrocketed lately.

The growth from January to December last year: 6.7%
The growth from December until today: 7.2%

Read more in our weekly report tomorrow: https://t.co/xlQH8LeQyH

Data: @glassnode pic.twitter.com/Gkn6dxH5Cd

— Arcane Research (@ArcaneResearch) January 18, 2021

On the chart pattern, the number of addresses owning such amount of cryptos was about 2,450.

READ: Unknown Ethereum Whale transfers a whopping 89,874 ETH

What this means

Large crypto entities could be envisaging a strong medium to long-term Bitcoin price trend, and are choosing to hold on to BTC in expectation of a bull market.

• Much of the recent increase can be attributed to wealthy entities withdrawing their BTC from the exchange. Apparently, this is not new wealth – rather, it represents a change in the way Bitcoin whales are choosing to hold their coins.
• At the time of drafting this report, Bitcoin traded at $36,534.77 with a daily trading volume of $53.2 Billion. Bitcoin is up 4.20% for the day.

READ: 77% of BTC investors are in a state of profit

In addition, another key point helping Bitcoin prices to remain supported between the $34,000-$37,000 price levels in recent days, is that a significant amount of long-term investors in Bitcoin are not nervous amid the prevailing volatility in play as revealed by Glassnode.

Bitcoin reserve risk is still very low. This means that there is high confidence in long-term HODLers relative to the current price. In red, the price is high and the confidence is low. Yes, a $37k Bitcoin is…cheap.

READ: Crypto entity moves $511 million worth of Bitcoin for a $41 fee

#Bitcoin reserve risk is still very low. This means that there is high confidence of long-term HODLers relative to the current price.

In the red, the price is high and the confidence is low. Yes, a $37k #Bitcoin is…cheap.

Source: @glassnode pic.twitter.com/uE2jW62aGx

— Jared Hornmatter (@jaredhornmatter) January 18, 2021

Bottom Line

Nairametrics is of the opinion that the increased buying pressures by such crypto investors are significantly responsible for Bitcoin staying supported above $35,000.