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Analysts warn Bitcoin will crash to $60,000

As it turned out by December 27, the trade-off for Bitcoin’s ( BTC ) 61% climb in November from about $67,000 to above $108,000 was an almost complete lack of a ‘Santa Claus’ rally ahead and during Christmas, which resulted in the coin changing hands at $96,273 at press time. BTC 6-month price chart. Source: FInbold Indeed, BTC performance in the last 7 to 10 days has been so lackluster that numerous cryptocurrency and on-chain analysts have started forecasting a significant plunge for the digital asset, even if many of them still see a longer-term rally. Analysts forecast Bitcoin flash crash as BTC rejects breakout above $100,000 A major trigger for the bearish prediction has been Bitcoin’s recent inability to find a stable footing above $95,000. The world’s premier cryptocurrency has spent much of the last week trading roughly in the range between $92,000 and $99,000 though most of the trading has been closer to the lower bound. Such a trend prompted Tone Vays, a derivatives trader and financial educator, for example, to forecast that, unless BTC manages to stably reclaim levels above $95,000, it could face a correction to $73,000. Peter Brandt, otherwise a staunch believer in Bitcoin’s strength, proved even more pessimistic as he hinted at a possibility the cryptocurrency’s next move could take it down toward $70,000. Hey trolls — this is not a prediction. Just always pointing out possibilities, not probabilities, not certainties. No screen shot is necessary $BTCA right angled broadening triangle could project back into the 70s and a test of the parabolic modality pic.twitter.com/n5sy6DxAMb — Peter Brandt (@PeterLBrandt) December 20, 2024 Brandt, however, reaffirmed his long-term optimism in the comments beneath the X post as he confirmed he still foresees an eventual rally above $130,000. Mark Newton, a director, and strategist at Fundstrat, similarly forecasted a retracement down to $60,000, though, again, the Wall Street analyst and advisory firm maintains a bullish 2025 price target for Bitcoin as the famous Tom Lee set it as high as $250,000 . Benjamin Cowen, the founder and CEO of ITC, mirrored the downturn prediction as he speculated BTC might mirror Invesco QQQ Trust and, thus, experience a flash crash to $60,000. Finally, Ali Martinez, the on-chain expert who compiled the other analyst forecasts for Bitcoin’s next move, opined that a significant short-term downturn is possible as the cryptocurrency is trading below ‘its most significant’ support zone at $97,300 and there are no logical stops between the support level $93,806 and $70,000. Bitcoin likely to set new records in 2025 despite December headwinds Despite the gloomy musings, the long-term picture remains generally optimistic for Bitcoin. Along with the aforementioned Peter Brandt – who believes in a long-term rally above $130,000 – and Tom Lee – who forecasted a climb to $250,000 in 2025 – the personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki estimated a surge to $350,000 and the digital assets lobbyist Perianne Boring opened up a possibility for a Bitcoin rocketing above $800,000 . Martinez himself, despite concurring that there is an imminent danger of a deep pullback, previously predicted that the most likely outcome of the current cryptocurrency market cycle is a BTC climb to approximately $220,000 before the next bear phase for digital assets. Featured image via Shutterstock The post Analysts warn Bitcoin will crash to $60,000 appeared first on Finbold . Finbold

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Animoca Brands’ Exec Explains How His X Account Was Hacked Despite 2FA

Blockchain gaming giant Animoca Brands revealed that co-founder and chair Yat Siu’s X account was hacked, promoting a fraudulent token on Solana’s Pump.fun platform. The attackers impersonated Animoca and falsely announced the launch of a token. Blockchain investigator ZachXBT attributed the hack to a phishing scam that has recently targeted over 15 crypto-focused X accounts, ultimately stealing almost $500,000. Fraudulent ‘MOCA’ Token Siu’s hacked account shared a link to a fake token called Animoca Brands (MOCA) on the Pump.fun platform, which bore the same name as both the company and its Mocaverse NFT collection. This fraudulent MOCA token was then traced back to the same address behind other fraudulent tokens, ZachXBT confirmed . After being promoted on Siu’s account, the token briefly reached a peak value of almost $37,000, only to crash moments later to a market cap of just $5,735, as per data compiled by Birdeye. Currently, there are only 33 holders of the token. ZachXBT had previously uncovered this sophisticated phishing scheme wherein phishing emails disguised as urgent messages from the X team often cited fabricated copyright issues and tricked victims into resetting their account credentials. The scheme leveraged the credibility of crypto-related accounts with large audiences. A majority of those had more than 200,000 followers. Affected accounts included Kick, Cursor, The Arena, Brett, and Alex Blania. The first attack was on November 26, involving RuneMine, and the most recent occurred on December 24, affecting Kick, just before Siu’s. 2FA “Not Enough” to Secure Accounts Siu explained that the hacker somehow obtained his password and used the account recovery page to bypass 2FA by submitting a request with a non-registered email address. He tested this process and noted a significant security gap: while the system triggered a login notification to the wrong email, the actual, registered email received no alerts regarding critical actions like a 2FA change request. He said that this lack of notification could have prevented the hack. Siu also added that the hacker submitted a government-issued ID to bypass further security checks, a tactic he suspects was facilitated by phishing. He urged X to implement stronger notifications, particularly for sensitive changes like 2FA modifications, and recommended better verification measures to protect accounts. Siu also warned that 2FA alone is not enough to secure an account and advised maintaining strong password hygiene, as attackers can bypass 2FA once they have access to the password. The post Animoca Brands’ Exec Explains How His X Account Was Hacked Despite 2FA appeared first on CryptoPotato . Finbold