Summary:

• According to Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro his country has already raised as much as $735 million from its contentious crypto sale
• Iran changes its mind regarding Bitcoin, now it does not like the virtual currency
• Bangladesh is expected to tighten its grip on cryptocurrency usage

Bitcoin has remained in quite a narrow range of late hovering between $10900 and $10300. From a technical standpoint bears seem to be taking control on the market as the price broke below its short-term trend line and it was unable to breach the above-mentioned resistance thereafter. As a result, one may suspect that livelier moves might come in when the price breaks one of its key price levels.

Over the past several hours we did not get any crucial revelations which could influence Bitcoin but the interesting story may be found in Venezuela where the country has reportedly raised as much as $735 million in the first day of a sale for its controversial “petro” cryptocurrency. The number comes from president Nicolas Maduro and it has yet to be confirmed by any independent reports. Venezuelan president was cited by Reuters saying “we have taken a giant step into the 21st century”. Notice that the pre-sale of the country’s cryptocurrency began on Tuesday and it’s anticipated to last till the next month. Let us notice that according to the Venezuelan government its petro token will be backed by a single barrel of oil and tied to the market price from the previous day.

The Bitcoin price is falling in the morning bouncing off its crucial short-term resistance in the vicinity of $10900. Do notice that the level is also underpinned by a rising trend line making a breakout to the upside yet harder to achieve. That said, the ongoing move could take the price toward $10300 and a further scenario will depend on the price behaviour around this level. A possible slump below that line may increase the likelihood to see a deeper pullback even toward $9350. Source: xStation5

Iran flip-flops regarding Bitcoin party due to wild fluctuations

Several months ago Iran was really close to implement Bitcoin as a means to completely bypass sanctions imposed by the United States, however, it decided to change its mind substantially. According to the local media outlet the country claims it never recognized Bitcoin as an official currency denying at the same time that it was actively facilitating BTC-based transactions to bypass sanctions. Among reasons behind a change in Iranian attitude are wild price movements or pyramid scheme risks which jointly make the cryptocurrency unreliable and highly risky. What’s more, the Iranian central bank is not only stopping to support the cryptocurrency but it’s also actively looking to control and prevent virtual currencies in the country.

Bangladesh makes strides in attempting to enforce a ban on crypto trading

Bangladesh is one of the few countries which is nowadays trying to ban cryptocurrency trading and all kinds of usage. It has announced recently that some major state institutions will begin ramping up efforts aimed at cracking down on Bitcoin adoption among citizens. Despite stricter regulations in the country local media outlets inform that trading and usage of digital currencies remains “rampant” which could constitute a tough task for the authorities if they want to clamp down it once and for all.