Bitcoin price on a knife-edge, as the Death Cross looms

Bitcoin has rebounded by 13% over the past 72 hours

• Following China's decision to restrict crypto activities within its borders, BTCs global hashing power has dipped quite substantially.
• Experts believe that if Bitcoin is able to break the AU $51.5k barrier, it can quite easily test the AU $60k threshold in the coming few weeks.
• Some attendees of the recently concluded Bitcoin 2021 conference have tested positive for COVID-19

After dipping to a relative low of around AU $31.5k a couple of days back, Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalization seems to once again be on a path of upward ascent, as is highlighted by the fact that since yesterday the digital asset has continued to hover around the AU $49k threshold. At press time, BTC is trading at AU $47,300.

To make sense of what's going on with Bitcoin and what the future may have in store for the flagship digital currency, Finder reached out to Marie Tatibouet, chief marketing officer for cryptocurrency exchange Gate.io. She highlighted that as things stand, the price action of Bitcoin is stuck under three crucial resistance barriers – the 20-day SMA, AU $48,000 and AU $50,000. She added:

"The AU $48,000 barrier, in particular, is especially strong, since previously, over a million addresses had purchased 450,000 BTC. So, what does this mean? The buyers currently don't have the momentum required to break past these resistance barriers, and will likely fall to the AU $38,000 psychological level. However, if by some luck, the buyers do manage to push BTC above AU $51,500, Whalemap tells us that there is a lack of strong resistance barriers between AU $51,000 and AU $60,000."

In layman's terms, Tatibouet is fairly confident that if Bitcoin is able to move past the all important AU $40k threshold in the coming few days, then a move to AU $46k may be inevitable.

On the other hand, if Bitcoin fails to move back up, then it may fall victim to a Death Cross. A Death Cross is when the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average and is considered extremely bearish. Two Death Crosses from 2018 and 2019 led to extended losses of 70% and 47% respectively.

How to buy Bitcoin

Bitcoin's popularity waning in China?

Since making its intentions to restrict cryptocurrency use within its borders extremely clear, the Chinese government has continued with its crackdown efforts quite vehemently. In this regard, Baidu, the Chinese equivalent of the Google search engine, has started blocking out any searches related to terms such as Binance, Huobu, OKEx.

As per a number of reports currently doing the rounds online, more than a dozen WeChat accounts — China's most popular social media app — have been suspended for violating the new laws and guidelines that have been introduced in relation to the crypto sector. Not only that, just a couple of days ago, the local Xinjiang government issued a public notice prohibiting individuals from running any "virtual currency mining enterprises."

The report unequivocally states that starting on June 9 2PM, it will be illegal to facilitate any mining activities within the region. As a direct result of the move, Bitcoin's global hashing power took a dip, with Chinese-backed Antpool's hashrate sliding by a whopping 30% overnight.

Bitcoin 2021 marred by Covid positive test results

Following the conclusion of last week's highly touted Bitcon 2021 conference in Miami, it was revealed that some of the attendees who were a part of the proceedings tested positive for Covid-19 after they got back home. As was to be expected, the news resulted in a lot of negative media coverage for the crypto industry, with some outlets referring to the conference as a "super spreader" event.

It is estimated that around 12,000 odd individuals were a part of Bitcoin 2021— including Miami mayor and long term crypto proponent Francis Suarez. Given the fact that attendees did not have to carry a proof of vaccination or wear a mask mandatorily, it stands to reason that more negative publicity may be incoming.

Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing