Bitcoin (BTC) and BNB Soar as Kraken Becomes a U.S. Bank, is Falling Ethereum Fees Negative for ETH?
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Key Highlights:
- Kraken becomes a U.S. bank
- Ethereum transaction fees fall
- Binance Coin (BNB) rally to new 2020 highs
Bitcoin, Kraken, Ethereum, DeFi, Binance and BNB
News of Kraken becoming the first U.S. bank is a huge boost for Crypto as a whole and hints of a possible regulatory thaw.
Earlier, Cryptocurrency exchanges were viewed as systemic risks, centralized honeypots that were agents of money laundering and risky sinks where investors’ hard-earned money could be lost in a flash.
According to a CoinDesk report, the Wyoming Banking Board voted to accept the exchange’s application, issuing it with a special purpose depository institution (SPDI) charter.
As such, Kraken is the first SPDI bank in the Crypto-receptive state and the first de novo bank since 2006.
Preceding this release was a previous announcement–as Crypto-Current reported, of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), allowing U.S. national banks to custody digital assets.
Next month, the Division of Banking said it will release a guide regarding procedures and policies for handling Cryptocurrencies.
Ethereum Transaction Fees Falling
According to data from BitInfoCharts, the average transaction fees in Ethereum continue to fall. By Sep 16, users paid $5 on average, down from $14 of Sep 2.
The development is a reprieve for services and products in the non-DeFi space who had been pushed to the wall, as fees spiraled out of control.
Bitcoin
Despite the drop, the total network utilization rate remains at over 95 percent pointing to utility and the incessant scrabble for transaction inclusion in scarce blocks.
The high demand forced miners to raise the total block Gas limit to 12.5 million Gwei to accommodate everyone, especially DeFi yield farmers who resorted to paying high fees with the promise of better profits.
Binance Coin (BNB) Stellar Performance
Binance is training its eyes on DeFi and is keen on placing BNB at the center.
Following the activation of Liquid Swap and the Launchpool, the CEX coin is one of the top performers in the last week.
Despite falling back to seventh in the market cap leaderboard, BNB outperformed BTC and ETH, adding roughly eight percent.
Ethereum Price Analysis
Technically, the Ethereum price is bullish albeit flashes of weakness judging from candlestick arrangements. However, with supportive fundamentals, ETH bulls will likely snap back and sync with the June to Sep 2020 main trend.
From the daily chart, prices are consolidating within a tight $50 trade range with caps at $350 and $400. The resistance level is the middle BB—or the 20-day moving average, while immediate support is $350 and on the lower end $320.
For trend continuation, bulls have to completely reverse losses of Sep 4. That means a close above $400 will nullify bear attempts, setting the foundation of a possible re-test of $500.
Conversely, a sharp correction below $350 could see ETH bears take charge and drive prices back to $300, or worse $250 in the medium term.
Technical chart courtesy of TradingView
Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed are those of the author. This is not investment advice. Do your research.
Dalmas is a very active cryptocurrency content creator and highly regarded technical analyst. He’s passionate about blockchain technology and the futuristic potential of cryptocurrencies.