Crypto Industry News:
Estimates of Triple A, a Singaporean cryptocurrency provider and aggregator, show that 0.9 million people, or roughly 2.4% of Morocco's total population, currently own crypto. This puts the country in a leading position in North Africa.
Unfortunately for cryptocurrency enthusiasts, there have been no changes to digital asset regulations in recent years. According to Morocco's Foreign Exchange Office, it will not support a "hidden payment system that is not backed by any financial institution." Although the law went into effect in 2017, the ban did not delay adoption, and the data show that Moroccan cryptocurrency enthusiasts continue to bypass the ruling.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian pound is gaining on the Moroccan dirham for BTC transactions. Trading BTC and cryptocurrencies in Egypt remains illegal, but even if a small percentage of its population engages in "illegal" activities, these figures will change.
To strengthen Morocco's orange future, Harmattan Energy intends to build one of the largest wind farms in Africa. The goal of the giant 900 MW wind farm in Dakhla in the Sahara region is to 'power blockchain technology'. As crypto mining and trading are currently banned, the group cannot speak openly about cryptocurrency mining.
Nevertheless, in the 2018 call for tenders, selling at least 20% of your electricity production to the Moroccan government may be a viable solution. The first results of Harmattan are expected at the end of the first quarter of this year.
Technical Market Outlook
The BTC/USD pair has bounced from the key long-term technical support located at the level of $39,555 and is currently testing the upper channel line around the level of $43,000. The intraday technical resistance is seen at the level of $43,534, but the key short-term technical resistance is located at the level of $45,367 and $45,669, so the bulls have a quite a long road to make in order to resume the up move. Despite the recent complex and time consuming corrective decline in form of ABCxABCxABC pattern, the larger time frame trend remains up and only a clear and sustained breakout below the wave C low at $40,000 would change the outlook to bearish again.
Weekly Pivot Points:
WR3 - $52,467
WR2 - $50,030
WR1 - $45,792
Weekly Pivot - $43,016
WS1 - $38,361
WS2 - $36,105
WS3 - $31,712
Trading Outlook:
The ABCxABCxABC complex corrective cycle is still in progress and is much more complex and time-consuming than anticipated. According to the long-term charts the bulls are still in control of the Bitcoin market and the next long term target for Bitcoin is seen at the level of $70,000. This scenario is valid as long as the level of $39,474 is clearly broken on the daily time frame chart (daily candle close below $39,000 would be considered as a long-term trend change due to the lower low placement).
