Decentral Block Post

Bitcoin (BTC) starts a new week fresh from a new multi-week low amid a return of highly nervous sentiment.

After dipping below $21,000 over the weekend, the largest cryptocurrency is consolidating around 10% lower than a week ago, and the fear across crypto markets is clearly visible.

As some call for new lows and others warns of a difficult few months ahead, there is plenty for bulls to contend with on both long and short timeframes

The United States Federal Reserve’s annual Jackson Hole symposium is due this week, while September is already due to form something of a showdown when it comes to inflation and associated macro price triggers.

That could mean fresh volatility across risk assets both during and prior, something weary investors will no doubt not welcome after last week's escapades on BTC/USD.

The average transaction fees on the Bitcoin (BTC) blockchain fell below $1 for the first time in over two years, further strengthening its use case as a viable mainstream financial system.

High transaction fees over blockchain networks work against the users, especially when making low-value transactions. For example, transaction fees over Ethereum (ETH) blockchain skyrocketed several times during the nonfungible token (NFT) hype, inducing stress on general users.

While the Bitcoin ecosystem has also endured its fair share of high transaction fees in the past, timely upgrades — including the Lightning Network and Taproot — guarantee faster and cheaper transactions over time. As of Aug. 22, the average Bitcoin transaction fees fell down to $0.825, a number last seen on June 13, 2020.

In addition to timely upgrades, the drop in transaction fees can be attributed to multiple factors, including falling market prices and lower mining difficulty. However, the difficulty of mining a new BTC block sees a steady recovery as miners gain access to cheaper hardware while recovering from the prolonged chip shortage.

As seen above, August also marked the end of the three-month-long downfall of network difficulty — recovering back to 28.351 trillion from its freefall. Thanks to consistent community efforts, the Bitcoin network continues to display telltale signs of a healthy financial system.

Cybersecurity analyst Serpent has revealed his picks for the most dastardly crypto and non-fungible token (NFT) scams currently active on Twitter.

The analyst, who has 253,400 followers on Twitter, is the founder of artificial intelligence and community-powered crypto threat mitigation system, Sentinel.

In a 19-part thread posted on Aug. 21, Serpent outlined how scammers target inexperienced crypto users through the use of copycat websites, URLs, accounts, hacked verified accounts, fake projects, fake airdrops, and plenty of malware.

One of the more worrisome strategies comes amid a recent spate of crypto phishing scams and protocol hacks. Serpent explains that the “Crypto Recovery Scam” is used by bad actors to trick those who have recently lost funds to a widespread hack, stating:

“Simply put, they attempt to target people who have already been scammed, and claim they can recover the funds.”

The S&P 500 ended its four-week-long recovery last week after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting hinted that the central bank’s rate hikes will continue until inflation is under control. Members of the Fed said there was no evidence that inflation pressures appear be easing.

Another dampener was the statement by St. Louis Fed president James Bullard who said that he would support a 75 basis point rate hike in September’s Fed policy meeting. This reduced hopes that the era of aggressive rate hikes may be over.

Weakening sentiment pulled the S&P 500 lower by 1.29% for the week. Continuing its close correlation with the S&P 500, Bitcoin (BTC) also witnessed a sharp decline on Aug. 19 and is likely to end the week with steep losses.

Will bulls use the dips to accumulate at lower levels? If they do, let’s study the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that may attract buyers because of their bullish setups.

BTC/USDT

Bitcoin slipped below the 20-day exponential moving average ($22,864) on Aug. 17 and then below the 50-day simple moving average ($22,318) on Aug. 19. The bulls are attempting to arrest the decline at the support line of the ascending channel.

The S&P 500 ended its four-week-long recovery last week after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting hinted that the central bank’s rate hikes will continue until inflation is under control. Members of the Fed said there was no evidence that inflation pressures appear be easing.

Another dampener was the statement by St. Louis Fed president James Bullard who said that he would support a 75 basis point rate hike in September’s Fed policy meeting. This reduced hopes that the era of aggressive rate hikes may be over.

Weakening sentiment pulled the S&P 500 lower by 1.29% for the week. Continuing its close correlation with the S&P 500, Bitcoin (BTC) also witnessed a sharp decline on Aug. 19 and is likely to end the week with steep losses.

Will bulls use the dips to accumulate at lower levels? If they do, let’s study the charts of the top-5 cryptocurrencies that may attract buyers because of their bullish setups.

BTC/USDT

Bitcoin slipped below the 20-day exponential moving average ($22,864) on Aug. 17 and then below the 50-day simple moving average ($22,318) on Aug. 19. The bulls are attempting to arrest the decline at the support line of the ascending channel.