Largest difficulty drop since July 2021 — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

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Largest difficulty drop since July 2021 — 5 things to know in Bitcoin this week

Bitcoin (BTC) is off to a better start than most this week as bulls avoid serious losses into the weekly close.Still heavily tied to declining stock m

Bitcoin (BTC) is off to a better start than most this week as bulls avoid serious losses into the weekly close.

Still heavily tied to declining stock markets, the largest cryptocurrency is nonetheless defending $30,000 on May 23 and eyeing the top of its post-LUNA trading range.

While there are no signs of an impending miracle price recovery, some are hoping that upside will feature before any form of reversion to a downtrend.

Macro conditions remain tenuous — and the week of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Annual Meeting is due to add fuel to the fire surrounding tolerance of Bitcoin.

Add to that the largest downward difficulty adjustment since last July and it becomes clearer that Bitcoin is battling for strength on multiple fronts.

What could happen in the coming days? Cointelegraph presents several factors to keep in mind when it comes to BTC price action.

BTC price “nuke” still on the table

In a refreshing contrast to recent weeks, Bitcoin managed to show strength following the weekly close into May 23.

Despite still sealing a record eighth weekly red candle in a row, the lack of breakdown allowed BTC/USD to instead retain $30,000.

For Cointelegraph contributor Michaël van de Poppe, the trend was already in evidence ove the weekend.

Given the overall picture with stocks correlation and monetary tightening forcing them down, not everyone was confident in upside continuation on Bitcoin.

“My preferred Bitcoin scenario is a nuke straight to $22k before big bounce close to $40k,” popular Twitter trader Nebraskan Gooner told followers on the day.

“This would provide the best opportunity for bear market bounce and catch a lot of people off guard. Good to monitor all scenarios especially with everyone being so confident of a bounce.”

That perspective chimes with existing demands for Bitcoin to beat its previous bottom of $23,800 set on the back of the Terra LUNA meltdown.

Late last week, Filbfilb, co-founder of trading suite Decentrader and long-time market commentator, said that it was time to accept that the largest cryptocurrency was in a bear market.

“Should we lose the current support at $28,670 then the final support before new lows sits at $26,512,” he added at the time, identifying support and resistance levels which have yet to see a retest.

“To the upside, should price break through the daily resistance then the lower boundary of the Log Growth channel is at $34,270.”

In the meantime, regardless of the strength of $30,000 this week, there should be relief before any potential series reversal, popular Twitter account IncomeSharks argued.

At the time of writing, BTC/USD circled $30,500, data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed.

Showdown as WEF plans to “change” Bitcoin

The first in-person Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum since the start of the Coronavirus pandemic is the macro trigger of the week.

As the economic elite gathers in Davos, Switzerland, from May 22 through May 26, markets are gearing up for potential volatility on the back of their forthcoming remarks.

For Bitcoiners, the event tends to be a stressful one as the industry attempts to gauge sentiment among traditional finance heavyweights.

This year is likely no different — just one month ago, the WEF released a video arguing that Bitcoin should change its Proof-of-Work algorithm to Proof-of-Stake for environmental purposes.

An accompanying campaign, “Change the Code,” from Ripple co-founder and Executive Chairman Chris Larsen and Greenpeace USA, is attempting to gain mainstream support for the swap.

The implosion of stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) this month further dragged crypto into the crosshairs of the financial establishment. Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, claimed that all cryptocurrencies are “worth nothing” and therefore — perhaps paradoxically — require…

cointelegraph.com