What Bitcoin and Crypto Investors Should Watch for in the Week of August 14 – 18?

• The week of August 7th started with the popular altcoin project Alchemy Pay announcing its updated roadmap.
• On August 10th, the SEC filed a petition to appeal the Ripple (XRP) decision by the court. The community is closely watching how the court will react to this request.
• The SEC announced a decision regarding ARK Invest’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF. While it was scheduled for August 13th on the SEC calendar, COINOTAG reported that the decision would be announced on August 11th due to it falling on a Sunday.

Bitcoin and the crypto market had a somewhat eventful week, but the Bitcoin price remains stagnant. What can investors expect in the coming week?

What Happened in the Week of August 7 – 11?

The week of August 7th started with the popular altcoin project Alchemy Pay announcing its updated roadmap. Two notable goals on this roadmap are the launch of digital banking services and a crypto card in the third quarter of 2023.

The most significant news on Monday came in the afternoon; PayPal announced that it would launch an ERC20 standard stablecoin on the Ethereum network. This move created a significant buzz in the industry. This stablecoin, named PayPal USD (PYUSD), received criticism from some politicians in the United States, but the crypto industry showed its support for PayPal. Altcoin exchange Huobi announced that it would be the first crypto exchange to list PYUSD and that no transaction fees would be charged permanently.

On August 8th, Binance became the first fully licensed crypto exchange in El Salvador. Previously, Binance had encountered regulatory issues in Europe and the U.S. and faced challenges in obtaining licenses. The license obtained in El Salvador further boosted positive sentiment for the exchange, following its previous license acquisition in Dubai.

The Bitcoin price crossed the critical $30,000 level on August 9th, but it couldn’t hold above this price and continued its downward trend. In the early hours of August 9th, Aptos Labs and Microsoft announced a partnership. On the same day, Coinbase officially launched the Base network to the public.

On August 10th, the SEC filed a petition to appeal the Ripple (XRP) decision by the court. The community is closely watching how the court will react to this request. Additionally, on August 10th, U.S. inflation reports were released. Annual inflation in the U.S. was realized at 3.2%, while expectations were at 3.3% and the previous figure was 3.0%.

On the last day of the week, August 11th, the SEC announced a decision regarding ARK Invest’s application for a spot Bitcoin ETF. While it was scheduled for August 13th on the SEC calendar, COINOTAG reported that the decision would be announced on August 11th due to it falling on a Sunday. The SEC decided to defer ARK Invest’s application and granted a 21-day comment period.

What’s Coming Up Next Week?

Next week is expected to be relatively calm in terms of economic developments. The most critical day is Wednesday. On August 16th, Wednesday, the minutes of the FED meeting will be released. The statements from this meeting could be decisive for Bitcoin and could lead to increased volatility.

Weekly Economic Calendar⚡️#US #FOMC #FED #Bitcoin #BTC $BTC $SAND $UNI $APE $ROSE pic.twitter.com/0bnL9y70zR

— CO NEWS (@coinotagen) August 13, 2023

In addition to economic developments, token unlocking events are also important developments for investors to watch. On Monday, The Sandbox’s token, SAND, will undergo a token unlocking event, and the value of the unlocked tokens is over $120 million. The significance of these token unlocking events lies in the possibility of creating selling pressure on the tokens being released into the market. Therefore, investors should also keep an eye on these dates.