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WTI Oil Prices Volatile Ahead of Potential Talks

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WTI Oil Prices Volatile Ahead of Potential Talks

As the XTI/USD chart shows, the price of a barrel rose above $65 yesterday, reacting to the risk of talks between Iran and the United States on the nuclear deal breaking down. These negotiations could begin on Friday.

According to Axios, Arab world leaders have urged Donald Trump not to follow through on his threats to withdraw from the talks and shift towards military action after demands put forward by Iran. This news prompted a pullback in prices below $64.

The news backdrop is further complicated by conflicting reports regarding India’s refusal to purchase Russian oil, alongside other global factors. All of this is contributing to heightened volatility in the oil market, a trend also confirmed by the ATR indicator.

Technical Analysis of XTI/USD

On 14 January, we:

→ analysed swings in WTI crude prices to identify a breakout from a descending channel (shown in red) and outline an upward trajectory (shown in blue);
→ noted that the breakout level (around $58.35) was acting as support;
→ suggested that the market was vulnerable to a corrective move.

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Indeed, on the same day (as indicated by the blue arrow), the price formed a bearish impulse towards this support, where the market found some balance.

However, geopolitical developments since the second half of January have supported higher prices, providing grounds to draw a broad ascending channel (shown in purple). In this context:

→ its lower boundary is acting as support, with the long lower wick on the 3 February candle confirming aggressive buying interest;
→ the $65 level appears to be a key resistance. Broad price swings formed there on 29–30 January — a sign of “smart money” activity — after which prices declined. Yesterday, the market again reversed sharply from this level.

It is therefore reasonable to assume that this resistance will pose a significant hurdle for bulls if they attempt to keep prices within the ascending purple channel. At the same time, the further direction of WTI oil price movements will most likely be determined by developments surrounding Friday’s Iran–US nuclear talks in Oman.

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This article represents the opinion of the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand only. It is not to be construed as an offer, solicitation, or recommendation with respect to products and services provided by the Companies operating under the FXOpen brand, nor is it to be considered financial advice.

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Crypto World

U.S. Treasury to loop in crypto sector on hacker warnings shared with traditional firms

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U.S. Treasury to loop in crypto sector on hacker warnings shared with traditional firms

The U.S. Department of the Treasury is opening its cybersecurity information sharing to crypto businesses to help them ward off attacks as the industry becomes an increasingly important arm of the financial system, according to a Thursday statement.

Eligible crypto firms and organizations — a status not yet clearly defined in the announcement — can sign on for the same service enjoyed by traditional financial institutions. The Treasury’s Office of Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection will include them on “timely, actionable cybersecurity information,” and encouraged interested companies to reach out to that office if they’re interested in the free service.

The move responds to an earlier recommendation from the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, which issued a report last year that included several information-sharing ideas on cyber-attack dangers.

“By extending access to the same high-quality cybersecurity information used by traditional financial institutions, Treasury is helping promote a more secure and responsible digital asset ecosystem,” said Luke Pettit, assistant secretary for financial institutions, in a statement.

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The digital assets sector has been plagued since its earliest days by malicious hacks. Hardly a month goes by without a noteworthy cyber assault draining significant funds or data from crypto operations. North Korean-linked hackers stole over $280 million from decentralized platform Drift last week. Just this week, recent incidents spurred the Solana Foundation to pursue new security measures to prevent exploits.

Billions of dollars in assets are stolen each year, often by hacker groups sponsored by nations such as North Korea. Digital security has remained one of the points of concern for U.S. lawmakers weighing legislation that would bring the crypto sector into the regulated financial system.

Read More: U.S. DOJ Pursues North Korea’s Illicit Money Machine, Seizes More Crypto

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TON Gets Catchain 2.0 Consensus Upgrade, Block Times Slashed to 400MS

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Telegram, TON

The Open Network (TON), an independent layer-1 blockchain that has integrations with the Telegram messaging application, said it has slashed block times to 400 milliseconds with the release of its Catchain 2.0 consensus upgrade.

Payment transactions now settle in about 1 second, while trades settle in “real time,” and decentralized applications will now operate at speeds comparable to traditional apps, according to TON’s announcement on Thursday.

Faster block times produce more validator rewards, as the number of blocks added to the chain increases. TON’s annual inflation is projected to increase six-fold, to 3.6% from about 0.6% following the update, TON said. Inflation represents the continuing minting and burning of Toncoin within its ecosystem.

Telegram, TON
Source: Pavel Durov

“More blocks mean more validator rewards, which create stronger staking incentives and bring more TON into the network,” according to TON’s announcement.

The update builds on TON’s Catchain consensus algorithm, first proposed in 2020, and brings near-instant settlement to the blockchain network integrated into an application with more than 1 billion users worldwide.

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TON was trading up 2.3% to $1.28 at last look on Thursday, data from CoinMarketCap showed. Volume was $130.1 million, up more than 35%. The token’s market cap was $3.17 billion.

Telegram, TON
TON’s transactions per second (TPS), spike following the release of the Catchain 2.0 consensus upgrade. Source: TON Explorer

Related: Dynamic adds embedded wallet infrastructure to TON for Telegram apps

Telegram provides users with a lifeline to communicate and send crypto worldwide

Pavel Durov, the co-founder of Telegram, said that despite government bans in Iran and Russia, significant numbers of people in both countries still use the application.

Telegram bans have backfired, as users circumvent national firewalls and state-imposed online restrictions by using virtual private networks (VPNs), which mask IP addresses, allowing users to bypass banned content online.

“The government hoped for mass adoption of its surveillance messaging apps, but got mass adoption of VPNs instead,” Durov said.

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Telegram, TON
Source: Pavel Durov

The integration with TON enables Telegram users to send crypto payments directly within the messaging application to other users, including businesses.

In February, the in-app crypto wallet in Telegram introduced self-custodial vaults that allow users to earn yield on Bitcoin (BTC), Tether’s USDt stablecoin (USDT) and Ether (ETH). 

Earlier this month, the wallet launched perpetual futures trading for users directly in the Telegram application.

The integration was launched with perpetual decentralized exchange Lighter, and supports perpetual futures trading across multiple asset classes, including crypto, equities, commodities, precious metals and energy.

Magazine: As Ethereum phishing gets harder, drainers move to TON and Bitcoin

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