Crypto Industry Outlook:

The People's Bank of China (PBoC) allegedly plans to use its Digital Currency Electronic Payment system (DCEP) - another term for a central bank's digital currency - to undermine the dominance of tech giants such as Alibaba and Tencent in the digital payments industry.

The report comes just days after the central bank's claims prompted a leading antitrust agency to investigate Alipay and WeChat Pay for using their dominance to stifle competition.

Even regulators and executives from Alibaba Ant's financial group have agreed that the PBoC will seek to undermine the market dominance of Alipay and WeChat Pay, according to the financial media.

Currently, Alibaba's financial subsidiary Alipay and Tencent's WeChat Pay control most of China's digital payments, while banks are lagging far behind. In the first quarter of 2020, Alipay processed nearly 56% of all mobile payments in China.

According to details received by the media from several officials familiar with central bank strategies, the PBoC will use DCEP to provide banks with a level playing field in digital payments, as it has done to tech giants before.

Reflecting on the unprecedented use of digital payments by tech giants, head of Asian economic research at a major international bank said former PBoC governor Zhou Xiaochuan had allowed Alipay and WeChat Pay to "grow into monsters" despite complaints from Chinese banks and the China Banking Regulatory Commission.

Technical Market Outlook:

The ETH/USD pair has been trading in a narrow range after the pair had broken out from the narrow range located between the levels of $379.59 - $392.79 and made a new local high at the level of $407.03. For now the price is trading close to the recent ATH, around the level of $393 and the up trend is still being continued. The next target for bulls is seen at the level of $414.00 and $425.25. The nearest technical support is seen at the level of $363.20 - $355.24, but the key short-term support is seen at the level of $300. The momentum is still strong and positive, which supports the short-term bullish outlook.

Weekly Pivot Points:

WR3 - $532.98

WR2 - $470.84

WR1 - $423.16

Weekly Pivot - $365.99

WS1 - $312.04

WS2 - $255.55

WS3 - $208.47

Trading Recommendations:

Due to the violation of the level of $351, Ethereum is now in the up trend on the long-term time frame. The next target for bulls is seen at the level of $500. The key long-term technical support is located at the level of $86.10, but the zone around $300 - $308 is an important technical support as well.