FX.co ★ Technical Analysis of BTC/USD for August 18, 2020

Crypto Industry News:

Lancium LLC, a cloud computing company based in the United States, has filed a lawsuit against Bitcoin mining company, Layer1, for patent infringement in the Western District Court of Texas.

According to the lawsuit filed, the energy use model used by Layer1 to mine Bitcoin infringes a patent from Lancium LLC filed in March 2020.

Lancium LLC founders Michael McNamara and Raymond Cline reportedly filed a patent after formulating a method to help data centers shut down or start up based on the cost of electricity in near real time.

The company says its data center energy management system allows data centers to be more flexible in terms of energy consumption and to more efficiently handle computing workloads, including Bitcoin mining. Layer1 allegedly used exactly the same method to handle Bitcoin mining operations, calling it "its proprietary demand-response software."

Lancium claims that Layer1 has infringed US patent laws by infringing many parts of the Lancium LLC patent "by producing, using, offering to sell, selling, and / or importing compromised systems and methods for adjusting the energy consumption used in or at least by Bitcoin Layer1 mining facilities."

The company argued in its statement that Layer1's alleged misconduct had caused "irreparable damage" to Lancium LLC. Although the value of the compensation will be determined at trial, the company stated that the amount "cannot be less than a reasonable license fee". Lancium also asked the court to publish a permanent injunction that could prevent Layer1 or its employees from continuing to infringe the company's patent.

Technical Market Outlook:

The BTC/USD pair has finally made a rally above the $12,035 swing high and made a new one at the level of $12,429. The up trend is continued and the bulls are in control of the market. The next target is seen at the level of $13 000. The nearest technical support is now located between the levels of $12,035 - $12,004. Please notice the increase in the momentum that supports the short and mid term bullish outlook for Bitcoin.

Weekly Pivot Points:

WR3 - $13,201

WR2 - $12,569

WR1 - $12,222

Weekly Pivot - $11,635

WS1 - $11,298

WS2 - $10,689

WS3 - $10,325

Trading Recommendations:

The weekly trend on the BTC/USD pair remains up and there are no signs of trend reversal, so buy orders are preferred in the mid-term. All the dynamic correction are still being used to buy the dips. The next mid-term target for bulls is seen at the level of $13,712. The key mid-term technical support is seen at the level of $10,463.