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On this week’s episode of The Market Report, Cointelegraph’s resident expert discusses if this is your last chance to buy Bitcoin on the cheap as the Bitcoin pre-halving rally may be right around the corner. In the latest episode of The Market Report , Cointelegraph analyst and writer Marcel Pechman discusses Standard Chartered bank’s $120,000 Bitcoin price expectation based on the halving impact. According to the report, increased miner profitability due to a pre- halving rally would “reduce the net BTC supply.” Pechman, on the other hand, doesn’t acknowledge the thesis, given that the mining difficulty will continue to increase and the news confirming Riot Platform’s investment in new ASIC equipment. In fact, the mining difficulty increased by 73% in the last 12 months, while the Bitcoin (BTC) price increased by 58%. Regarding the $50,000 Bitcoin year-end price prediction, Pechman believes the number is too optimistic, given the low odds of a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ET...

Aptos’ star-studded founders and the market’s disbelief in the rally could further fuel the rise in APT price. Aptos (APT) reached a new all-time high of $20.39 after posting gains exceeding 400% since the start of 2023. While the rally could just be a pump-and-dump event due to the perception of weak fundamentals, increasing negative sentiment toward the token will likely fuel the prices in the short term. Let’s explore some of the factors that could be propelling the Aptos price rally. A rich history and strong investor backing Aptos is a byproduct of Facebook’s attempt with the Libra blockchain, which regulators forcibly shut down. Two of Libra’s leadership team members, Mo Shaikh and Avery Ching, later found Aptos, a decentralized version of the abandoned blockchain project. The Move programming language-based project introduces a new class of Layer-1 blockchains that will compete against the likes of Solana and Cardano. Investors’ hope for a technological breakthrough, Aptos that...