Hodler’s Digest, November 10 – 16 – Cointelegraph Magazine

The main news of the week

Bitcoin will not fall to $60K ‘a risk in the near term' – Michael Saylor

MicroStrategy founder and bitcoin bull Michael Saylor dismissed the possibility of bitcoin returning to $60,000 – a critical price level for most of 2024.

“I don't think it's going to $60,000, it's not going to $30,000, I think it's going to go higher,” Salor told CNBC on November 14. Bitcoin is trading at $87,790 according to CoinMarketCap.

He said that Donald Trump's victory “resolutely” settled the future of crypto and Bitcoin in the United States, adding that “I really don't see any threat on the immediate horizon.”

“I'm planning the $100,000 party,” Salor said. “I'm thinking it'll probably be New Year's Eve at my house, so I'll be surprised if we don't pass $100,000 by November or December.

The NY Attorney's Office suggests that it will push back on crypto cases

A prosecutor in the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNI) has suggested that authorities are devoting fewer resources to prosecuting cases involving cryptocurrency-related crimes.

Speaking at the law firm's 56th annual Securities Regulation Institute on Nov. 15, Scott Hartman said, “At least in the future, there won't be a lot of crypto coming out of SDNI.” Many of the criminal charges against senior executives, such as FTX's former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, were filed in 2011, said Hartman, who is the director of SDNY's Commodity and Commodity Fraud Task Force. It's a response to the crypto market crash seen in 2022.

“We brought a lot of big issues during the crypto winter,” Hartmann said. “There were a lot of important fraud issues to bring up there, but we know our regulatory partners are very proactive in this space.”

Bitcoin to hit ‘repeat all-time high' in next 2 quarters: VanEck

Bitcoin's record-breaking surge is expected to continue after the US election, and investment manager and funder VanEyck is targeting a price of $180,000 sometime next year.

“It's just getting started,” Matthew Siegel, VanEck's head of digital assets research, told CNBC's Squawk Box on Nov. 14.

“We're in blue sky territory right now, there's no technical resistance, and we think we'll make repeated highs over the next two quarters,” he added.

Bitcoin is up 30% since November 5th, pro-crypto Donald Trump is leading a broad crypto rally after his election as president. The current high was set on November 13th, reaching a new high of $93,490 on TradingView.

Bitcoin's rally in 2018 It has cooled slightly since November 15 and traded around $88,100.

The case against Elon Musk's Dogecoin investors has been dropped

A 2022 class-action lawsuit against Elon Musk and Tesla — alleging that the businessman manipulated the value of Dogecoin through media appearances and social media posts — was dismissed by the plaintiffs on November 14, 2024.

According to the legal statement, the plaintiffs have agreed to withdraw the appeal from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals and will not seek any relief from Musk and the automotive company after the judgment.

The investors' lawyers have also waived the right to appeal the case in any US court, and both sides have agreed to reject the other's request for sanctions over the lawsuit.

A motion to drop the class-action lawsuit still must be approved by U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein before the two-year trial is over.

Bitcoin ETF options pass ‘second hurdle' with CFTC approval

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has issued an announcement, “clearing the way” for bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) options. Analysts now speculate that the products could be listed soon.

“The ball is in the OCC's court now, and they're into it, so they'll be reviewing the details soon,” ETF analyst Eric Balchunas wrote in a Nov. 15 X post.

“Here. We. Go,” added EFF analyst James Seifert.

The CFTC's Nov. 16 statement announced the clearing and risk division's position that “the CFTC has no further role in clearing these options.”

“These ETF options are cleared and settled by Options Clearing Corporation, the sole issuer of all equity options,” he said.

Crypto executives are hopeful that it could have a significant impact on the price of Bitcoin.

Winners and losers

At the end of the week, Bitcoin (BTC) at $91,274, Ether (ETH) at $3,097 and XRP at $0.90. According to CoinMarketCap, the total market cap is $3.02 trillion.

Among the largest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers for the week were Peanut Squirrel (PNUT) with 1,826.99%, Pepe (PEPE) with 106.64% and Bonk (BONK) with 104.43%.

The top three altcoin losers of the week were Monero (XMR) at 14.37%, Aave (AAVE) at 9.03% and Celestia (TIA) at 7.56%. Be sure to read Cointelegraph's market analysis for more information on crypto prices.

The most memorable quotes

“For too long we've lived in a gaslight world, generously gassed by the SEC.”

Consensus CEO Joseph Lubin

“I look forward to Elon and Vivek seeing changes to the federal bureaucracy to improve efficiency while simultaneously making life better for all Americans.”

Donald Trump, President of the United States

“We're in blue sky territory right now, there's no technical resistance, and we think we'll see repeated all-time highs over the next two quarters.”

Matthew Siegel, head of digital assets research at VanEck

“I think it's very smart for the United States to take bitcoin, maybe add a little bit to it, and show the world that we want to be a technology-first country. A digital asset-first country. I don't think it necessarily needs anything to back the dollar.”

Mike Novogratz, founder of Galaxy Digital

“For most of this cycle delay, Ethereum will start getting bids.”

Rachael Lucas, crypto analyst at BTC Markets

“We look forward to standing up for ourselves and our community and continuing to help everyday people understand important world events.”

Polymarket spokesperson

Forecast of the week

If the bulls hold a key level, Bitcoin's price could reach $100k by Thanksgiving.

Keith Allan, founder of trading resources Material Indicators, said that a return to the mid-$80,000s could ultimately be very dangerous for BTC price strength.

“A retest of support at $86k will be healthy for $BTC, and will give us some insight into whether this momentum can sustain at $100k or if progress is slowing down. Over 5 minutes,” he told X Followers.

Later, Alan suggested that Bitcoin could hit its final psychological target – $100,000 – right around Thanksgiving on November 28.

But to do so, he had to wait for the rising short-term trend line.

“If support fails on the line, the price will look for support in the $75k – $76k range,” he warned.

FUD of the week

The operator of the Helix mixer was sentenced to 3 years in prison for money laundering

In the year Larry Harmon was sentenced to three years in prison in 2020 after he was arrested for helping criminals cash in on the Helix cryptocurrency microcrypto mixer. The sentence is a sign of leniency for his help in the Bitcoin Fog mixer case, District of Columbia District Court Judge Berl Howell said.

Harmon faces up to 20 years in prison on the charges. On November 11, the government proposed a 75-month prison sentence. Harmon was fined $60 million in 2020 by the Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Harmon helped prosecutors in the case against Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlinov, who was sentenced to 12.5 years in prison on November 8. Harmon regretted the sentence. He also closed Helix two years before he was arrested, the judge said at sentencing. “He turned himself in before he was arrested in this case,” she said.

Harmon was ordered to seize approximately $311 million in cash and “more than $400 million worth of cryptocurrencies, real estate and financial assets.”

South Korea investigates Appbit for 600K KYC violations.

Major South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Appbit has been suspected of committing a major Know Your Customer (KYC) violation during a local license renewal.

South Korea's financial intelligence unit, the Financial Services Commission, has identified at least 500,000 to 600,000 KYC violations on the Appbit exchange, local news agency Maeil Business Newspaper reported on November 14.

The authority is said to have noticed a violation of customer verification while reviewing Upbit's business license renewal, which could affect the exchange's operations.

In South Korea, cryptocurrency exchanges or virtual asset service providers are required to establish strict KYC procedures.

Bitfinex hacker sentenced to 5 years in prison

In the year Ilya Lichtenstein, who stole billions of bitcoins from crypto exchange Bitfinex in 2016, has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Washington, D.C., District Court Judge Colleen Kolar-Kotelly sentenced Lichtenstein on Nov. 14 after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in August 2023. In addition to the prison term, Lichtenstein was sentenced to three years of supervised release.

Lichtenstein faced up to 20 years in prison, but prosecutors suggested he serve five years because he has no criminal record, provided “significant assistance” in other investigations, and accounted for only 25,111 Bitcoin of the 119,754 BTC he stole from Bitfinex. , a cryptocurrency currently valued at over $10.4 billion, is valued at around $87,500.

The best magazine stories of the week

The success of Off The Grid shows that ‘invisible' blockchain is the winning game

Off The Grid brings much-needed speed to Web3 games, but the secret to its success may be its invisible reliance on blockchain.

Legal issues surround the FBI's creation of fake crypto tokens.

Novel tokens launched by FBI and AI agents raise more questions. Our panel of crypto lawyers discuss what is legal and who is legally liable.

Crypto spy jailed for life in China, YouTube accused of $230M fraud: Asia Express

Chinese authorities arrested for selling secrets for crypto, WazirX fake account suspect, Korean YouTube finfluer caught cheating, and more.

Editorial staff

Cointelegraph magazine writers and reporters contributed to this article.