BTC Difficulty Hits New ATH, ETH Price Likely to Turn Positive Soon, SHIB Price Hints at Upcoming Move: Crypto News Digest by U.Today

Check out the top four news stories over the past day presented to you by U.Today.

Bitcoin difficulty hits all-time high as price remains below $40K

While the largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, does not seem to move upwards in order to surpass the $40,000 level, its other metrics demonstrate significant growth. According to data provided by BTC.com, Bitcoin difficulty has reached a new all-time high of 29.7 trillion, spiking more than 5% over the past two weeks. In addition to that, Bitcoin's hashrate increased to 220.49 EH/s, a new all-time high. This indicates that the network has reached its maximum resilience, making gaining control of the network extremely expensive for attackers.

At the moment, Bitcoin is trading at $38,966, as per CoinMarketCap.

Here's why Ethereum price likely to turn positive soon per Santiment

Data provided by Santiment analytics service demonstrates that Ethereum may see its price go up soon. The Santiment team gives three reasons for that. First, Ethereum's utility is increasing, with the number of unique addresses interacting on the Ethereum chain showing mild growth. This provides strong prerequisites for an ETH price surge. Second, Ethereum’s profitability remains high; almost 70% of ETH addresses are holding the asset in profit. Third, Ethereum is expecting its “Merge” upgrade to be launched this summer. Apart from becoming a greener crypto, this upgrade will reduce the circulating supply of the coin as a lot fewer Ethers will be minted via PoS.

Shiba Inu price chart hints at upcoming move, indicators reveal this

According to Shiba Inu’s daily charts, SHIB has been consolidating inside a triangle pattern, while the momentum indicators, especially the RSI, lie near the neutral mark of 50. This suggests that Shiba Inu may remain in a consolidation phase within the triangle for some time before a possible price breakout. Meanwhile, IntoTheBlock data shows that the Shiba Inu holder count has declined from 1,199,453 in mid-March to 1,139,916. Analysts point out that a price increase combined with a decrease in network interactions or a decrease in network users could signal something. The indication might be that coin holders are quite relaxed and are not shifting coins because they believe prices might rise. As a result, they "hodl" their assets, reducing their activity.

South Korean crypto exchange CEO arrested for spying for North Korea

Yonhap News Agency reports that a South Korean head of an unnamed cryptocurrency exchange has been indicted for spying for North Korea. Allegedly, the executive, whose last name is Lee, helped a North Korean spy to get access to sensitive military information in exchange for 700 million Korean won ($549,000). To do this, Lee bribed a military captain with 48 million won ($37,643) worth of crypto to obtain access to a confidential military network. Both of them have been charged with violating a South Korean security law, according to which South Koreans are prohibited to visit North Korea or meet with the citizens of the state without government approval.