Crypto Industry News:

Senior Bank of Russia officials spoke out against the issue of private stablecoins linked to the Russian ruble.

Sergei Shvetsov, Russia's first deputy chairman of the central bank, said the bank intends to ban private companies from offering stablecoins backed by the domestic fiat currency.

Russian cryptocurrency developers will only be able to use the digital ruble of the Bank of Russia, Shvetsov said. According to a report by the local news agency, Prime said this approach is in line with the "uniqueness of means of payment philosophy".

Shvetsov referred to the Chinese digital Yuan laws that criminalize the issuance of Yuan-backed stablecoins by third parties:

"China has imposed a blanket ban on any Yuan-linked stablecoin. I think we are not far from that. The bank will stop anything that is positioned as tender. We assume that the ruble is the currency of the Russian Federation," he says.

Olga Skorobogatova, another first vice president of the Bank of Russia, noted the technical difficulties associated with the issuance of the digital ruble:

"So far, no regulator has figured out how, for example, to restore the rubles in case of losing a smartphone, but precisely because [...] technologies are developing, we ourselves understand that this problem can be solved in a second stage. [...] Technologically, this problem will be had to be resolved, "she said.

The Bank of Russia officially released its plan for the digital ruble in October 2020. According to the bank, the digital ruble should become an additional form of money alongside cash.

Technical Market Outlook:

The ETH/USD pair has hit the level of $635.46 before it was capped and reversed towards the level of $561.91. Since then the market is trading inside of a narrow consolidation zone located between the levels of $578.09 - $600. The momentum is still strong and positive, so the up trend might be still continued. The level of $548.16 will now act as temporary technical support for the price. The nearest technical resistance is seen at the level of $600 and $620.52. The is no indication of the up trend reversal on the higher time frames like weekly and monthly.

Weekly Pivot Points:

WR3 - $771.53

WR2 - $696.42

WR1 - $633.11

Weekly Pivot - $557.97

WS1 - $496.01

WS2 - $420.20

WS3 - $358.90

Trading Recommendations:

The up trend on the Ethereum continues and the next long term target for ETH/USD is seen at the level of $700, so any correction or local pull-back should be used to open the buy orders. Moreover, the bulls has hit the 38% Fibonacci retracement located at the level of $587.53 on the weekly time frame chart, but the current up trend is still valid. This scenario is valid as long as the level of $360 is broken.