Crypto Industry News:

Russia is allegedly preparing a ban on the use of cryptocurrencies to pay for goods and services. The media report cites several sources allegedly familiar with the ongoing discussions at the central bank of the country, the financial supervision office and the Ministry of Finance, which support the ban.

Currently, cryptocurrencies can be used in e-commerce, and many Russian freelancers, including programmers, designers and copywriters, agree to receive salaries in Bitcoin or Ethereum, said Vladislav Antonov of Izvestia.

However, it can be seen that although they are not officially allowed, cryptocurrencies are often used to buy a range of goods and services; including tickets, computers and home appliances, apartment rentals or hotel reservations.

If the media sources are right, Russian regulators believe that a ban on the use of cryptocurrencies as payments is necessary because of their concerns about crime.

The report refers to the comments of Alexei Yakovlev, deputy head of the banking regulations department of the Ministry of Finance, who reportedly confirmed at a recent conference on crypto-economy: "We see no basis for using cryptocurrencies as a means of payment."

The central bank's press department has not officially confirmed the preparation of formal law, but stressed that private cryptocurrencies cannot be equated with fiduciary currency and cannot be considered a legitimate way of paying for purchases:

"If it is decided to ban cryptocurrencies as a means of payment at the legislative level, we consider it appropriate to support this position," we read.

Technical Market Overview:

The BTC/USD pair has retraced over 50% of the last wave up and made a local low at the level of $7,080 at the time of writing the analysis. It means that the three-wave upwards move was a counter-trend correction that ended up at the level of $7,809 in form of a Shooting Star candlestick pattern. Since then the bears are trying to take back the control over the market and are pushing the prices towards the next target, which is 61% Fibonacci retracement located at the level of $6,973.

Weekly Pivot Points:

WR3 - $9,343

WR2 - $8,576

WS3 - $7,989

Weekly Pivot - $7,181

WS1 - $6,590

WS2 - $5,869

WS3 - $5,242

Technical recommendations:

The best strategy in the current market conditions is to trade with the larger timeframe trend, which is still down. All the shorter timeframe moves are still being treated as a counter-trend correction inside of the uptrend. When the wave 2 corrective cycles are completed, the market might will ready for another impulsive wave up of a higher degree and uptrend continuation.