BTC stays stuck

Crypto markets brace for macro-driven volatility as September unspools, full swing, with key inflation numbers set to come out this week and the U.S. Federal Reserve holding a policy meeting next Wednesday, Sept. 20.

It remains possible the Fed skips a rate increase – if inflation remains in check. August's Consumer Price Index (CPI) data is set to be released on this coming Wednesday, Sept. 13. Producer price measures come out Thursday.

Bitcoin is dragging like a comically overtaxed pack mule with a bum hoof but there's a rich vein of optimism to be discovered if you know where to look. Dig this: BTC’s 200-week exponential moving average (EMA), near $25,600.

As of 9:40 a.m. (EST), the biggest crypto clung above $25,700.

Cointelegraph, citing chart watcher, JT, explained how the largest coin's clutch weekly close was more about indecision than momentum but still a welcome dose of seemingly positive news in a time of definite pessimism.

While Bitcoin held steady on an unseasonably muggy Monday, Ethereum slid 2% following yesterday's hacking of the X account of Vitalik Buterin, Ethereum's co-founder.

According to ZachXBT, a blockchain investigator, hackers posted phishing links to a phony commemorative NFT project on Buterin’s Twitter page, reeling in some of Buterin’s followers duped into connecting their crypto wallets to a bunk address allowing bad actors to abscond with about $690,000 in victims’ funds.

ETH spent a decent part of Sunday sitting atop the $1,600 level. As of 8:26 a.m. (EST), the second-largest crypto was clinging to $1,590.

The incident triggered online commentary about security concerns. Social media, per U.Today, seemed perplexed someone as tech-savvy as Buterin could have fallen prey to something like this.

India commanded the world stage this past weekend as the "Group of 20" leaders (minus two) converged in New Dheli for a summit that the host country touted with billboards emblazoned with Prime Minister Narenda Modi in beige garb, unsmiling.

Alongside his visage was a simple tag line: "G20 2023 India – One Earth, One Family, One Future."

Over the course of the rest of this year, per joint recommendations of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB), timed to coincide with the G20, India could very well push ahead with one, global-minded crypto legislative framework, possibly even to be formalized by early next year.

Although the country imposed a 30% tax on crypto gains, India doesn’t have any specific crypto regulations in place, yet.

Sidharth Sogani, CEO of Crebaco, a collaborator with India's finance ministry, told Cointelegraph that the government is working on a five-pronged plan that could result in legal legislation in the next six months.

India wants crypto companies to: set up Know Your Customer (KYC) rules; release proof-of-reserve audits; pay taxes, uniformly; subject themselves to guidelines set by India’s central bank; and maintain mandatory compliance roles, such as Money Laundering Reporting Officer.

Crebaco's Sogani said point blank that banning cryptocurrencies outright is no longer an option.

“If you want to ban crypto, go ahead," Sogani said, speaking hypothetically, and generally, of world leaders who may be considering that route.

But it'll be "extremely difficult" for any one country to ban crypto if "the rest of the countries are not," he added.