Despite its stalled rally, Bitcoin looks “fantastic”, with US$60,000 forming a new base of support, an Aussie technical analyst says.

“Look, you can’t go up in a vertical line with a rocket underneath it forever,” Think Markets analyst Carl Capolingua told Ausbiz TV this morning.

“I mean, it’s just doing what normal, mature assets do — you know, assets that are part of a real asset class.”

Capolingua said $US60,000 is now a “big handle” providing support for Bitcoin, just like $40,000 was in September and October and $30,000 earlier in the year.

But while Capolingua rated BTC as a buy, he said there was no rush. “I don’t think it’s going to go ballistic anytime soon. But watch out of the end of the year,” with punters possibly buying in as the stock market goes quiet over the holidays.

Ethereum also looks “very, very strong as well,” Capolingua said.

Around lunchtime (Sydney time), BTC was trading for US$64,600, down 0.2 per cent, while Ethereum was changing hands for US$4,700, up 2.0 per cent.

He named NEAR Protocol,  the No. 36 crypto, as a “roughie” to look into.

“Super fast, 100,000 transactions per second is what they’re aiming for,” he told Ausbiz anchor Annette Beacher. “It’s sharded — Annette, I know you’re always looking for a sharded layer one protocol, so, so important. And super cheap execution fees as well.”

US crypto PAC launches

The crypto industry is aiming to flex its muscles in the United States with a new political action committee (PAC) to defend digital assets.

The American Blockchain PAC is aiming to raise US$300 million to support crypto-friendly Congressional candidates with targeted campaign ad rollouts, as well as combatting “regressive taxation” of crypto assets.

President Joe Biden plans on Monday to sign a US$1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that has a couple of crypto-unfriendly provisions.

“As federal officials seek policy methodologies to navigate how public blockchain platforms and innovators should be regulated, the American Blockchain PAC will serve as a critical source of knowledge and information for donors and decision-makers on issues impacting this ecosystem,” said American Blockchain PAC Founder Todd White.

“The American Blockchain PAC will work tirelessly to ensure the United States continues to be an environment that proudly fosters innovation and offsets an exodus of 21st-century talent.”

Binance Labs’ latest incubation program

Binance Group’s venture capital arm has announced “season three” of its incubation program to support promising projects in the blockchain industry.

Binance Labs will support the projects for eight weeks through mentoring and value-add services such as public relations, marketing and fundraising advice. At the end of the incubation period, Binance Labs will host a demo day where the projects will get introduced to a broad audience of industry experts and potential investors.

The nine projects being supported are Block Ape Scissors, a play-to-earn game; yield optimisation platform Tranching Protocol;  NFT game GAT Network; wallet provider Wombat; decentralised oracle Bird.Money; smart token building platform Mint Club; bridge Raydius; copy trading platform Copycat Finance; and Singapore-based blockchain gaming studio XII Braves (SkyArk Studio).

“All of these incubation projects have strengths in what Labs has been looking into. We are excited to support them at an early stage and contribute to the future of the industry through mentorship,” said Ken Li, investment director at Binance Labs.

Past Binance Labs successes include Polygon, Perpetual Protocol, Injective Protocol, SafePal, Cere Network, and Dune Analytics.

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