The number of wallets holding between 100 and 10,000 BTC, or so-called whales, is on the rise, according to Santiment data. The analytics firm found that, despite the token's declines in recent days, the rate of accumulation of the largest cryptocurrency has increased.
Given the correlation that exists between the price of BTC and the number of whale addresses, this could be a positive signal for bulls. The reported number of such wallets now stands at 15,847 – a level close to the numbers last seen in June.
On the Conotoxia MT5 platform, both BTC and ETH are losing around 1.3% today, at 12:00 GMT+3. Bitcoin is testing a likely support level of $19910. Ethereum's declines appear to be less regular. This may be related to higher volatility, possibly related to the upcoming Merge. ETH may be near a possible support level of $1530.
California is close to licensing crypto companies and posing restrictions on stablecoins
California State Governor Gavin Newsom is expected to sign into law the recently passed 'Digital Financial Assets Law', which will require exchanges and other crypto firms operating within the state to be properly licensed.
The California law appears to be similar to New York's BitLicense, introduced in 2015. That document required companies to obtain a licence from the State Department of Financial Services to serve customers residing in New York State. Holders of such a licence include Ripple Labs (XRP), Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD) and PayPal (PYPL),
California's new law is expected to take effect in January 2025. In addition to the licensing requirement, the new regulation bans stablecoins that are not issued by banks or licensed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation from 2028.
Another clause in part of the bill requires stablecoin issuers that hold assets as reserves to have an amount "not less than the aggregate amount of all of its outstanding stablecoins issued or sold in the United States,". This is to be done under GAAP accounting standards.
The introduction of the 'Digital Financial Assets Law' may be linked to the wave of fraud that the crypto meltdown of the past year has revealed.
Rafał Tworkowski, Junior Market Analyst, Conotoxia Ltd. (Conotoxia investment service)
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