Cardano finds its groove

Ethereum's gas clog has been a boon for rival Cardano (ADA). Now the fourth-largest crypto, ADA has risen 4% over 24 hours as of Thursday morning at 8 a.m. (EST).

At one point earlier today, ADA was up 15% as it floated above $0.90 and that much closer to its all-time high of about $1.20 reached in January 2018.

The Ethereum-challenging smart contract platform continues to introduce upgrades. Its Reddit subs crossed 150,000. And the project is said to be less than two months away from becoming a 100% decentralized system run entirely by a community of stake pool operators.

Life rarely resembles a bowl of cherries. Sometimes it can be like a box of chocolates.

But, as any crypto investor can attest, we are all traversing peaks and valleys.

Bitcoin seemed destined for the $50K mountaintop. However, as of Thursday at 8:30 a.m. (EST), BTC had set up a cozy campsite around $46,000.

Ethereum, with transaction fees soaring, is content to lounge idly around $1,700.

Over 24 hours, each of these biggest-cap coins is down about 1%. And their trading volume fell in tandem, each more than 10% (Decrypt). 

Mastercard announced it will incorporate crypto payments into its network later this year.

Amazon, meanwhile, is hiring developers to work on a digital currency project in Mexico. Details about this project are scant. But the job description includes a line which seems to sum it up: when this project goes live it will “enable customers to convert their cash into digital currency" to spend on Amazon.

When high-net-worth investors buy Bitcoin at a price convergence, and then hang together, it’s called a "whale cluster."

Because whales are likely to either buy more BTC from there – or, alternatively, sell at break-even – these whale clusters can become crucial support or resistance levels.

After reaching a record at about $48K, BTC sold-off and went as low as $43,750.

BTC whale cluster data shows that $44,214 is the key near-term level (Cointelegraph).

Several rappers sing crypto’s praises. Now the frontman of the rock band KISS is joining the chorus.

In addition to tweeting about BTC, Gene Simmons also breathed some fire into XRP and DOGE. The 71-year-old musician/reality star is said to be worth some $400,000. He casually let it slip that he bought a "seven figure" amount of BTC – although if BTC's needle moved after that revelation then it’ll turn out special recording equipment was used to verify it; a Simmons social tout, in terms of net effect on the markets, would need numerous pairs of studded XXL platform boots to even begin to compete with the impact of, say, Elon Musk.