Grayscale Investments Plans European Expansion – Featured Bitcoin News

Grayscale Investments Plans European Expansion – Featured Bitcoin News

Grayscale Investments, the world’s largest digital asset manager, is expanding into Europe. “We’re going to be very thoughtful, very methodical about each of the financial centers and financial hubs that we ultimately launch in,” said the CEO.

Grayscale Entering Europe

The world’s largest digital asset manager, Grayscale Investments, is getting ready to expand into Europe, CEO Michael Sonnenshein told Bloomberg Tuesday.

He explained that decisions have yet to be made regarding which exchanges, which products, and which countries Grayscale will target first. The executive revealed that he has been meeting with various local partners to discuss the launch timeline, adding that the company plans to run a series of pilot tests in different markets.

“Although the EU is unified, we don’t view the entire European market as in fact one market,” Sonnenshein described, elaborating:

Instead we’re going to be very thoughtful, very methodical about each of the financial centers and financial hubs that we ultimately launch in, because we recognize the differentiation of investor behaviors and attitudes, and of regulatory regimes.

There are more than 80 exchange-traded crypto products listed in Western Europe, the publication conveyed. However, in the U.S., the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has yet to approve a spot bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

Grayscale has filed with the SEC to convert its flagship bitcoin trust (GBTC), which has about $25 billion in assets under management, into a spot bitcoin ETF. The SEC is expected to make a decision in July. Sonnenshein recently said that the securities regulator refusing to approve bitcoin spot ETFs is “potentially grounds for an Administrative Procedure Act violation.”

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Bitcoin, bitcoin spot etf, bitcoin trust, Crypto, Cryptocurrency, GBTC, grayscale, grayscale europe, grayscale european expansion, grayscale expanding europe, Grayscale Investments, greyscale, Michael Sonnenshein, SEC

What do you think about Grayscale expanding into Europe? Let us know in the comments section below.

Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.

Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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ApeCoin (APE) hits a new all-time high ahead of this week’s Otherside land auction

ApeCoin (APE) hits a new all-time high ahead of this week’s Otherside land auction

The nonfungible token (NFT) and Metaverse sectors have been the bright spots in an otherwise sideways crypto market in 2022 and proof of this comes as the APE token hit a new all-time high at $22.60 on April 28.

The steady bullish momentum for APE is, in large part, due to the upcoming The Otherside land auction being held by Yuga Labs and Animoca Brands in conjunction Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project on April 30.

APE/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The Otherside launch will consist of a Dutch auction-style sale and only Know Your Customer (KYC)-approved wallets will be allowed to participate in the sale of the first 100,000 land parcels. All sales will be paid for using APE, which is clearly helping to drive demand for the token higher as interested parties accumulated the token in anticipation of the sale.

Related: ApeCoin price breakout stalls after $2.4M BAYC NFT robbery — What’s ahead?

Wallets that already hold a BAYC or Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT will be able to claim a land parcel for free for 21 days after the auction without needing to be KYC-approved to claim.

Ongoing governance votes within the ApeCoin community have also helped increase demand for APE, a clear demonstration that BAYC and MAYC holders are looking to get more engaged with the direction the ecosystem will take in the years ahead.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.



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CropBytes Games Celebrates a Milestone Unheard of, ‘4 Years of Sustainable Web3 Gaming’ – Press release Bitcoin News

CropBytes Games Celebrates a Milestone Unheard of, ‘4 Years of Sustainable Web3 Gaming’ – Press release Bitcoin News

PRESS RELEASE. For a gaming community to complete 4 years in the crypto gaming industry is a remarkable achievement to say the least. CropBytes was launched during the 2018 bull run, and the team’s strategy and agility towards changing market scenarios and needs of the community have enabled the game to sustain and grow over the years. What started out as a NFT based game with initial flash sale, is now a game with a sustainable economy with a mix of FTs and NFTs with over 550k downloads and adequate liquidity is the market.

With the first few months fo launching the assets in erly 2018, the initial version of the game was launched which was a big hit and it drew attention of the early adopters of crypto-based games. As the players grew, so did the demand for game assets and goods in the game. This set the ball rolling for the expansive game economy we see today.

Building a web3 games for the Bulls & the Bears

When the game’s acceptance grew and more players began to hold assets in the game, the CropBytes team saw that demand for NFTs decreased as the bear market loomed. Focusing on economics, the team reworked their approach, knowing that an only NFT game will not survive the following bear market. After extensive research and consultation the team concluded that adding FTs is critical to the economy’s sustainability.

The team then transitioned from traditional list trading to an order book exchange. The strategy succeeded, and CropBytes was able to successfully navigate through the initial bear market with the game’s players not abandoning ship as was the case with some other games.

Not just running the NFT hype

CropBytes started with a rudimentary economy and elected not to go too far, such as establishing an inflation or deflation protocol, but even then, the team had a strategy for what needed to be done in the next couple of years. A prime example of this is that the gamers were aware from the start that a ‘Version 2’ of the economy, also referred to as the ‘Service Economy’, was on the way. The team had intended to deploy it in 2020, but decided to push it ahead determined that an exchange where players in the game could buy, sell and trade FTs was the need of the hour so players can grow the value of the assets over time.

The importance of 2020 and CropBytes’ involvement

The CropBytes team gained the knowledge of studying market cycles after running the game for more than two years and hence anticipated the approaching bull market of 2020. That’s when it started, as the team was fully prepared with essential features and a great product along with the new in-game referral plan that attracted numerous people from new demographics like South America and Southeast Asia. This tremendous influx of gamers presently accounts for about 45% of all active users, and growth is still being experienced even now.

Numerous established participants had lost their source of income when the pandemic first began, and CropBytes thus became their sole option for financial security, which ended up bringing together the team and the community. It was the most pivotal point in CropBytes’ journey, and the team has witnessed countless participants increase their portfolio by more than 8,900% alone during that time.

CropBytes’ gamers are hence more devoted to their CropBytes metaverse assets than they are to their actual world assets. They exist in the metaverse and actively participate in the economy’s growth on a daily basis.

CBX IEO, partners and overall journey

The goal of starting and developing the game on a centralized platform was to establish a strong foundation and create a fully functional balanced economy before releasing the game to larger markets. According to the roadmap, several in-game additions such as Pro-Animals, Breed Feed Crafting, Breed Feed Market, Superhero Breeding, New UI, and others have been successfully released.

Furthermore, the native token, CBX, debuted on Bybit and MEXC following a successful launchpad setup by the exchanges and with support from notable industry leaders like Sandeep Nailwal (CEO & Co-Founder of Polygon), Siddharth Menon (COO & Co-Founder of WazirX), as well as various major VCs such as Draper Dragon, Exnetwork Cap, and others. Nischal Shetty (CEO & Co-Founder of WazirX), Harsh Rajat (Founder of EPNS), and many additional crypto industry luminaries also contributed.

‘While NFTs are the most popular form of game assets, fundamentally it may not be sustainable in open economy. Using real world economics of commodities games assets have to be designed accordingly to make them fungible. This addresses the biggest problem with NFT that is liquidity and attracts more capital over time.’

– Siddharth Menon, Founder Tegro

CBX token is CropBytes’ metaverse token. It is possible to observe numerous projects distributing tokens even without a product in existence these days. CropBytes team has run the game for the first 3 years and built an established community with TRX, aother popular token. It was only in Nov 2021 that CropBytes was listed on a joint platform by Bybit & MEXC and this greatly assisted the veteran players who remained by CropBytes’ side.

What else should we know about CBX?

The plans for CBX are long-term, as the price is not based on ‘hype’ but rather value. Over the course of four years, the asset value progressively increased and is currently worth more than 50 times its original purchase price.

Also, as good projects usually take time to reach their potential, the fact that the players who signed up at the beginning are still hanging on to their assets and have expanded their portfolio by over 40x to 50x is a true testament to CropBytes’ robust and sustainable economy. Future plans revolve around working on the metaverse, mini-games, the service economy (which will be in various phases), and much more to come.

About CropBytes

CropBytes is a one-of-a-kind farming simulation game. Starting a ‘crypto farm’ entails more than just growing digital crops and raising animals, since the project’s major goal is to be at the heart of the cryptocurrency gaming revolution with its inherently constructed game economy.

Its goal is to provide its customers with an effective platform for leveraging the power of crypto in order to both play and earn in the digital world, and is both iOS and Android compatible. To date, CropBytes has managed to gain over 550,000 signups and 15,000 average monthly active users. It is one of the most talked about gaming initiatives in this entire sector as it strives to do its part for the Web 3.0 gaming revolution.

The global community of believers consists of gamers from Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Venezuela, Russia, Brazil, Vietnam, Argentina, Spain, India.

Everyday, 1000’s of gamers are joining this revolution, consistently contributing to the growth of the CropBytes’ sustainable economy. Today the game is far more diverse, immersive, rewarding, and collaborative…. just like the real world. This world provides more opportunities and a place for ambitious crypto farmers to thrive. Today CropBytes’ identity has adapted with its growing community and renewed vision.

Join the CropBytes movement, where every gamer has the power to build and own their crypto farm and grow this sustainable metaverse. #FarmOnCropBytes

Check out the website, whitepaper and Twitter as well as Telegram channels for more information.

 

 

 


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Number Of Bitcoin Millionaires On The Rise As Accumulation Continues

Number Of Bitcoin Millionaires On The Rise As Accumulation Continues

Bitcoin millionaires are now a widely understood term. This has grown from the massive surge in the price of the digital asset which has continued to decrease the number of BTC required to be a millionaire. A number of bitcoin millionaires had lost their status when the price of the digital asset had declined. However, as bitcoin is recovering, these millionaires have been growing in number but data shows that the increase in price is not the only driver.

Accumulation Is The Name Of The Game

The price of bitcoin had declined significantly following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This had seen a considerable number of bitcoin millionaires lose their status. But since then, there have been more investors being added to the millionaires’ list.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Futures Basis Nears One-Year Lows, How Will This Affect BTC?

Santiment notes in a new report that the number of bitcoin addresses had been on a steady increase since the way between Russia and Ukraine had started. Not only had the number of addresses been on the rise but whale addresses have been rising. These addresses which hold between 10 to 100k BTC on their balances which were either existing or new had been able to reclaim their millionaire status.

Usually, the obvious culprit for the number of bitcoin millionaires growing can be a surge in price. This drastically increases the value of the tokens held. However, with the price of BTC now making any significant recoveries recently, there is another reason for this and that has been accumulation.

The chart from Santiment shows that these investors have been accumulating BTC at an accelerated rate. This accumulation had seen a sharp increase at the end of March before falling but the whales are once again picking up momentum as the month of April draws to a close.

So instead of regaining their millionaire status by waiting for the price of BTC to go up, these whales have been buying more coins. This also follows the recent trend of daily active addresses picking up on the network. Network transaction volume is also up in this regard. 

Bitcoin Turning Bullish

Bitcoin had lost its footing at $40,000 earlier in the week. This had caused a stir among bears as they tried to drag down the price of the asset. BTC had continued to hold above its $36,000 support level, serving as a bounce point for its recent recovery.

BTC trading in the mid $39,000s | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Currently, bitcoin is trading above the 5-day moving average. An indicator that proves that investors are now willing to purchase the digital asset higher than the prices they bought days ago. This can often spell a shift in sentiment for investors but only for the very short term.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Drops To $38K After Amazon Retraction On Accepting BTC Payments

BTC still needs to hold above $39,500 though as this remains a critical spot for it. A failure to secure the price above this point could see the digital asset retest the $35,000 in the coming days before any sign of recovery is registered.

Featured image from Altcoin Buzz, chart from TradingView.com



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US needs ‘electronic tokens’ with functionality of cash — Software Freedom Law Center legal director

US needs ‘electronic tokens’ with functionality of cash — Software Freedom Law Center legal director

Mishi Choudhary, the legal director of the Software Freedom Law Center, supported the efforts of some United States lawmakers to develop an electronic version of the U.S. dollar.

In written testimony for a Thursday hearing of the House Financial Services Committee on digital wallets, Choudhary said the United States needed “a currency or electronic token that is equivalent in functionality to cash, offers all of its benefits including anonymity, privacy, autonomy, no transaction fee and addresses all of its flaws.” Her description suggested a token with many of the benefits of a central bank digital currency and cryptocurrencies but without traceability — similar to the e-cash proposed by Representative Stephen Lynch in a March bill.

“The unique element of the ECASH idea is hardware wallets containing the equivalent of coins created by and managed by the United States Treasury, which is as close a way of universal access just like the cash,” said Choudhary. “This idea imagines how everybody can have, store and pay with money without the banking system being involved in any way at all. An idea is to have electronic tokens that are equivalent in functionality to cash and no more traceable.”

Mishi Choudhary addressing the House Financial Services Committee on April 28

Choudhary added that the aim of this proposed e-cash would be to preserve privacy and improve financial inclusion while allowing the public access to the software underlying the technology for transparency. Raúl Carrillo, deputy director of the Law and Political Economy Project and one of the witnesses at the hearing, said that unlike cryptocurrency, e-cash would not be used for payments online, and could potentially be lost along with missing hardware.

The proposed e-cash would not be built on a blockchain or require the internet to operate, but Illinois Representative Bill Foster pointed to the lack of information concerning ownership as a potential concern around illicit transactions — i.e., Know Your Customer, or KYC, requirements. Choudhary hinted a lack of regulatory clarity could hold back the United States from being a leader in digital transactions as other jurisdictions have attempted to address issues in the space.

“The European Union has adopted a very different approach for crypto transactions to include information on the parties involved and outline anonymous crypto transactions for now,” said Choudhary at the hearing. “That has obviously raised the concerns of how much innovation will come out of [the] European Union if the same kind of KYC issues are superimposed on that. Major crypto companies have now, at least, unveiled initiatives that are improving the industry’s KYC and Anti-Money Laundering practices.”

Related: Banks will be required to work with crypto, e-money and CBDCs to survive

Many U.S. lawmakers have come out in support of the Federal Reserve releasing a central bank digital currency or backing adoption of crypto on a state level. In January, the Fed issued a discussion paper on the benefits and risks of a digital dollar while in November 2021, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets urged lawmakers to consider legislation on stablecoins to address potential risks.



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‘Ready, steady, NFT:’ Ukrainian government accepts NFT donations

‘Ready, steady, NFT:’ Ukrainian government accepts NFT donations

Mykhailo Fedorov, Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, tweeted that the Ukrainian government will accept war effort contributions in the form of nonfungible token (NFT) donations and purchases. Via the official “Aid for Ukraine” crypto fund, individuals can donate cryptocurrency, fiat and now NFTs. So far the initiative has raised over $60 million, according to the website. 

All funds go toward supplying Ukrainians with weapons, medical gear, medical kits and other expenses outlined on the Aid for Ukraine website. Total expenses amounted to $45,103,538 by April 14. The Aid for Ukraine platform is powered by crypto exchanges FTX and Kuna, and by staking provider Everstake. 

The Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine is the beneficiary organization of several NFT projects including Russia For Sale, which sells Russian lands in the form of NFTs, and Holy Water, which supports local Ukrainian NFT artists, among others. Those who buy an NFT from one of the organizations will contribute directly to Ministry’s crypto wallet.

At the time of publication, the NFTs donated by “UkrainianCryptoFund” and available to bid on in OpenSea come from collections such as, CryptoPunks, mfers, MoonCats, TIMEPieces by Time Magazine, CREYZIES and Chubbiverse Frens. All of these collections only accept Ether (ETH) for payment. 

Just as the Ukrainian government has fully embraced digital assets in order to support humanitarian efforts, so have many both Ukrainian and Russia citizens had to familiarize themselves and accept using crypto to support themselves. Cointelegraph spoke with some of the people who experienced the advantages of Bitcoin firsthand as well with some of the blockchain companies that have been thriving amid war. 

Related: Binance announces crypto card for Ukrainian refugees

Fedorov first signaled in a tweet on March 3 that the government would soon be using NFTs to help pay for its military. Since then, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine has also launched a virtual NFT gallery to keep alive the memory of war. 



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A Deep Dive Into the Portfolios of the World’s Largest Ethereum Whales – Bitcoin News

A Deep Dive Into the Portfolios of the World’s Largest Ethereum Whales – Bitcoin News

While there’s a number of bitcoin whales that often get caught by blockchain parsers and written about in media reports, ethereum whales get a lot less attention. According to statistics in 2022, there are a lot more ethereum whales than holders with large sums of bitcoin. In fact, while the top 100 richest bitcoin addresses control 14.08% of the circulating supply, the top 100 richest ethereum addresses hold 39.81% of all the ether today.

Data Shows Ethereum Still Has a Large Concentration of Whales in 2022

Ethereum, the second-largest crypto asset in terms of market capitalization, has an overall USD valuation of around $348 billion. Ethereum’s market cap represents 18.3% of the $1.89 trillion crypto economy’s net value. While the leading crypto asset has been around for close to seven years, 100 addresses command 39.81% of the current ether in circulation. However, after subtracting the Ethereum 2.0 Contract address, which holds 10.06% of the current ether in circulation, 99 wealthy addresses own 29.75%.

Coincarp.com rich list statistics for this article were recorded on April 27, 2022.

From the top five richest ethereum addresses alone, 5.17% of the ETH supply is controlled by the Wrapped Ether contract, 1.78% of the ETH supply is held by the trading platform Kraken, and 1.68% is held by Binance. Many of the 100 richest ethereum addresses are centralized exchange platforms and decentralized finance (defi) protocol reserves. This includes exchanges and protocols such as Bitfinex, Okex, FTX, Polkadot Multi-Sig, Arbitrum’s bridge, and Lido. After the 57th largest ethereum address, the majority of the rest are unknown wallets or simply whales.

Into the Block’s Large Holders statistics for this article were recorded on April 27, 2022.

Into the Block statistics show addresses that own more than 1% of the circulating supply and addresses that own between 0.1% and 1% of the circulating supply, equate to 41%. Those same metrics applied to bitcoin’s top 100 addresses equate to 10%. From this perspective, the data shows that there are a lot more ether whales than the concentration of large bitcoin holders. Moreover, some of these ethereum whales have been making a name for themselves, as blockchain parsers are starting to monitor their activities more often.

Meet Some of Ethereum’s Most Famous Whale Addresses Light, Locke, Tsunade, Bluewhale0072, and Bluewhale0073

For instance, whalestats.com gives an interesting perspective of the ether whales who not only hold ethereum but also tokens and non-fungible token (NFT) assets. Whalestats.com labels the rich list, and the top five addresses include wallets called “Light,” “Locke,” “Tsunade,” “Bluewhale0072,” and “Bluewhale0073.” The wallet Bluewhale0073 has been making headlines lately for purchasing and selling massive amounts of shiba inu (SHIB). Whalestats monitors whales “who are worth an average of $75,905,160 and hodl an average of 10,236 ETH, 34 tokens, and 1 NFT.”

The address called Light is currently worth over $17.9 billion today and it holds 136 NFTs from 54 collections. While none of the NFTs are extremely valuable, Light’s SHIB stash is worth $786.69 million. Light also holds $218.74 million in CRO and $217.08 million in tether (USDT). The whale’s stash of ethereum is worth $87.57 million as Light holds 30,320 ether. Light also has multi-million-dollar stashes of usd coin (USDC), enjin coin (ENJ), the sandbox (SAND) and, decentraland (MANA).

Whalestats.com statistics for this article were recorded on April 27, 2022.

The address dubbed Locke currently holds $13.52 billion in digital assets today. Locke holds 151 NFTs from 53 different collections and $109.3 million worth of ethereum. Locke also owns millions of dollars worth of BAT, SAND, UPXAU, MATIC, SHIB, LINK, FTM, and APE. The address also holds hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of ENJ, USDC, USDT, GRT, SRM, SPELL, and QNT. The whale address called Tsunade holds $186.9 million and 162 NFTs from 57 different collections. Tsunade has $60.07 million in USDT, $40.44 million in SHIB, and $36.5 million in ETH.

Bluewhale0072 is the fourth largest ether whale on whalestats.com and the address holds 100 NFTs from 37 different collections. The wallet is currently worth $67.4 million today and $40.67 million of the wallet’s funds are held in tether (USDT). Bluewhale0072 also holds a large portion of wrapped bitcoin (WBTC) and has $4.99 million worth of WBTC today. As mentioned above, Bluewhale0073 has been written about on a few occasions and in recent times. That’s because at certain times, Bluewhale0073 purchases vast quantities of shiba inu (SHIB).

Bluewhale0073’s USD value today is $122.98 million and the wallet only owns ten NFTs from four different collections. A large portion of Bluewhale0073’s wealth is in ethereum (ETH) as the wallet holds $114.53 million in ether today. Bluewhale0073 also holds $5.53 million in USDT, $1.75 million in USDC, $640K in MATIC, and $19,324 in SHIB. While reports noted that Bluewhale0073 was purchasing millions of dollars of SHIB, the address sold most of the meme-coin, trading for other coins like ETH.

While we don’t know who all the ethereum whales are, they are caught regularly by blockchain analysis and they can be tracked. Crypto whales have always been an enigma and they are called whales because they are massive compared to the rest of the smaller fish in the digital currency industry. Much like the whales in the ocean, crypto whales can cause major volatile waves within the crypto economy.

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Bitcoin Whales, Blockchain Parsers, Bluewhale0072, Bluewhale0073, BTC Whales, Digital Currencies, digital currency industry, ERC20 Tokens, ETH Whales, Ethereum Whales, headlines, Into the Block stats, Large Holders, largest whales, Light, LiNK, Locke, matic, NFTs, shib, shiba inu, Tokens, Tsunade, USDC, USDT, WBTC, whale movement, whale watching, Whales, Whalestats.com

What do you think about today’s ethereum whales? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Jamie Redman

Jamie Redman is the News Lead at Bitcoin.com News and a financial tech journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open-source code, and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 5,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.




Image Credits: Shutterstock, Pixabay, Wiki Commons, whalestats.com, Into the Block, coincarp.com

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It is not a direct offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell, or a recommendation or endorsement of any products, services, or companies. Bitcoin.com does not provide investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice. Neither the company nor the author is responsible, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with the use of or reliance on any content, goods or services mentioned in this article.

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Bitcoin is 40%+ down from its ATH, but on-chain analysts say it’s ‘starting to bottom out’

Bitcoin is 40%+ down from its ATH, but on-chain analysts say it’s ‘starting to bottom out’

The cryptocurrency market has experienced another rollercoaster week that saw Ether (ETH) price drop below $3,000 and Bitcoin (BTC) price hit a new multi-month low at $37,700. Equities markets also endured a sharp sell-off primarily due to investor fear over potential changes to the size of the Federal Reserve’s next rate hike.

To date, Bitcoin price fell 41.72% down from its $69,000 all-time high and while the price might be in what some describe to be a bear market, a deeper dive into various on-chain and derivatives data shows that a drop in inflows and thepivot from institutional investors are the main factors impacting BTC price action.

Perpetual futures dominate trade volumes

A lot has changed in the crypto market since 2017 when the Bitcoin market was dominated by spot trading and derivatives markets made up just a small fraction of trading volume.

According to a recent report from on-chain market intelligence firm Glassnode, Bitcoin derivatives “now represent the dominant venue for price discovery” with the “future trade volume now representing multiples of spot market volume.”

This has important implications for the current price action for BTC because thefutures trade volume has been declining since January 2021. The metric is down more than 59% from a high of $80 billion per day during the first half of 2021 to its current volume of $30.7 billion per day.

Bitcoin futures volume. Source: Glassnode

During that same time period, perpetual futures have overtaken traditional calendar futures as the preferred instrument for trading because they more closely match the spot index price and the costs associated with taking delivery of BTC are considerably lower than with traditional commodities.

According to Glassnode, “the current open interest in perpetual swaps is equivalent to 1.3% of the Bitcoin market cap, which is approaching historically high levels.”

Despite this, the total transfer of capital and leverage out of calendar expiring futures has led to a declining leverage ratio, which “suggests that a reasonable volume of capital is actually leaving the Bitcoin market.”

The cause for this capital rotation is likely related to the fact that the yields available in futures markets are currently just above 3.0%, which is only 0.1% higher than the 2.9% yield available on the 10-year U.S. Treasury Bond and well below the 8.5% U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation print.

Bitcoin annualized perpetual funding vs. 3-month basis. Source: Glassnode

Glassnode said,

“It is likely that declining trade volumes and lower aggregate open interest is a symptom of capital flowing out of Bitcoin derivatives, and towards higher yield, and potentially lower perceived risk opportunities.”

Related: Trader flags BTC price levels to watch as Bitcoin still risks $30K ‘ultimate bottom’

On-chain data points to large entity adoption

Moving away from derivatives markets, positive signs for the future of Bitcoin can be found by digging deeper into on-chain volume data.

Beginning in October 2020, the percentage of transactions greater than $10 million has increased from 10% of transfer volume on a good day to the current average daily dominance of 40%.

According to Glassnode, this points to significant growth “in value settlement by institutional sized investment/trading entities, custodians and high net worth individuals.”

Bitcoin relative transfer volume breakdown by size. Source: Glassnode

Using aggregate transaction volumes in conjunction with the Network Value to Transactions (NVT) Ratio, the current value of Bitcoin is between $32,500 and $36,100.

Bitcoin NVT price model. Source: Glassnode

According to Glassnode, both the 28-day and 90-day NVT models are “starting to bottom out and potentially reverse” with the 28-day breaking above the 90-day, which has historically “been a constructive medium to long-term signal.”

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.791 trillion and Bitcoin’s dominance rate is 41.5%.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.



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Litecoin Drops 87% Trading Volume In Q1 2022

Litecoin Drops 87% Trading Volume In Q1 2022

The interest in cryptocurrencies continues to wane in 2022, as does Litecoin’s popularity. The trading volume of Litecoin was eight times lower in the first quarter of 2022 than it was in the first quarter of 2021. 

For example, the trading volume from January to March 2022 was around $82 billion, 87% less than in Q1 2021. In the first quarter of  2021, the trading volume was  $674.9 billion. Litecoin (LTC) trading volume crashed by more than $590 billion in quarterly comparison.

Related Reading | ApeCoin (APE) Is Now The Biggest Metaverse Token, Edging AXS, MANA, SAND

The sharp decline in Litecoin’s value results from the negative crypto market sentiment. The price dropped 70% from its highest point, $412, attained back in May 2021.

LTC started the day in green with a 1.72 increase, currently trading at $102.37 | Source: LTC/USD price chart from Tradingview.com

The most popular stablecoin pair for Litecoin’s native LTC was the United State Dollar Tether (USDT) in the first quarter of 2022.

Litecoin Month Wise Comparison Of Trading Volume

January 2021 was the month of Litecoin, with a trading volume of  $284.52 billion. LTC hit a single-day high of $17.99 billion. But in January 2022, LTC trading volume dropped by 89%. The coin’s approximately trading volume was $31.48 billion, with a single-day high of $2.09 billion.

Similarly, February 2021 also performed well. The trading volume of Litecoin reached around $257.49 billion, with a single-day high of $16.57 billion. However, in February 2022, the coin performance dropped by 90% compared to Feb 2021. As a result, the single-day high of Feb 2022 was $1.68 billion. 

Litecoin saw a decline in trading volume in March 2021 compared to January and February 2021. The total trading volume for March was $132.91 billion, with a single-day high of $8.08 billion. LTC trading volume was $24.98 for March 2022 with a single-day high of $1.35 billion, 81% less than March 2021.

On January 1, 2022, Litecoin opened at $146.54. On January 2, the coin reached its quarterly high of $152.94. The closing of the first quarter was $123.72. Overall a 15% decrease in Litecoin’s opening and closing price in Q1 2022.

Related Reading | Dogecoin Plummets As Investors’ Doubts After Musk Twitter Takeover Unfold

For comparison purposes, on January 1, 2021, Litecoin opened at $124.67 per coin. On Feb 20, LTC reached its quarterly high of $245.96. The closing of the first quarter of 2021 was at $197.5. Litecoin performed well during the first quarter with a 58% spike. 

LTC $100 Support Is Under Attack

Litecoin has been trading down for most of the past year. In November, LTC was below $300 after it couldn’t stay above that level. The coin has been testing the $100 level since January. However, the overall sentiment in the crypto market is still bearish. This cryptocurrency has been making lower highs, which is a bad sign, but the $100 support zone is still holding.

There was a spike in activity in wallets holding more than $100k a week ago. That didn’t cause the price of Litecoin to go up, though. Instead, it stayed bearish and kept going down. Yesterday, the sellers failed to break below the $100 support level. That was a good sign. But today, the pressure is still bearish, so the digital asset might see a breakout to the downside.

                 Featured image from Pixabay and chart from Tradingview.com

 



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An update on our asset listing processes | by Coinbase | Apr, 2022

An update on our asset listing processes | by Coinbase | Apr, 2022

By Brian Armstrong, CEO and Cofounder

Tl;dr: We review assets as thoroughly and quickly as possible, and list everything that we can safely and legally. But there is always more we can do to improve our asset listing process.

Recently, members of the crypto community have told us that they don’t always understand why Coinbase lists certain assets and not others. We’ve also received reports of people appearing to buy certain assets right before we announced they’d be listed on Coinbase, allowing them to benefit from price movements that sometimes accompany our listing announcements.

These are two different issues, but they both relate to our asset listing process. So, I want to address both of them here, and talk about some additional improvements we’ll be putting in place.

At Coinbase, our goal is ​​to list every asset that is legal and safe to do so, so that our customers are protected but we also create a level playing field for all the new assets being created in crypto. The number of Web3 crypto assets are exploding, with a collective global market cap of ~$2 trillion, and we want to make sure we enable the important innovation happening in this industry. Some crypto startups just getting off the ground today will become major companies in the future. Customers benefit from these innovations, but we also have a role to play protecting customers from scams and fraud. On top of all this, we want to avoid getting in the business of picking winners and losers, because we are not investment advisors. So how does one navigate this tricky space? We do it by setting minimum listing requirements (tests for legality, security, compliance, etc), and after that letting the market decide. We may also de-list assets if they stop meeting our requirements, or new information becomes available.

This process of reviewing and listing assets is rigorous and time consuming. Some assets are easier to review and list than others, due to technical details. ERC-20 tokens, for example, are relatively simple to evaluate and integrate technically so we can generally do so fairly quickly. However, assets built on new chains are more technically complex and harder to support. We would like to list all chains that meet our listing standards, but if it requires more work to do so, they may not be listed in the order some customers expect.

To some, this looks like we’re playing favorites. In reality, we review assets as quickly as possible, and list everything we can — as long as we believe it’s safe and legal. We believe that the market will ascribe value over time.

We’re also aware of concerns that some market participants may be taking advantage of information from our listings process. Examples of this might include using on-chain data to detect when Coinbase might be testing new asset integrations or using small differences in Coinbase API responses to detect when assets might be configured, but not yet launched. While this is public data, it isn’t data that all customers can easily access, so we strive to remove these information asymmetries.

Finally, there is always the possibility that someone inside Coinbase could, wittingly or unwittingly, leak information to outsiders engaging in illegal activity. We have zero tolerance for this and monitor for it, conducting investigations where appropriate with outside law firms. These firms review our listing systems and tools, leveraging blockchain forensic analysis to trace transactions, and search for possible social or professional links between Coinbase employees and those engaged in any front-running activity. If these investigations find that any Coinbase employee somehow aided or abetted any nefarious activity, those employees are immediately terminated and referred to relevant authorities (potentially for criminal prosecution).

Like all publicly traded companies, Coinbase has a trading policy in place that restricts when employees and other insiders can buy or sell company stock. But our trading policy goes well beyond this, and also prohibits employees and contractors from trading crypto assets on material non-public information, such as when a new asset will be added to our platform. We mandate that all employees trade crypto only on Coinbase’s trading platforms (where the asset is supported) so we can look out for prohibited trading activities. And we have a dedicated Trade Surveillance team that utilizes advanced software to investigate and stay ahead of possible abuse.

We know our asset listing process can always be better. So today I want to share some changes that we plan to implement over the next few quarters, in part based on feedback from the community:

Going forward, we plan to publish externally once a decision has been made to list an asset, but before any technical integration work begins, to try and prevent on-chain data giving signal to watchful traders. In addition, we plan to publish only once a decision has affirmatively been made to list, vs when we’ve decided to consider listing an asset.

In March, we announced a new experimental label on asset pages and a disclosure when executing trades for some assets. Some assets are suitable only for more advanced traders, and we want to make sure customers know the potential risk involved. We’ll continue to develop labels and features that provide clarity for our customers.

Coinbase already provides some basic information about each asset so customers can make informed decisions. Now we’re going to take it up a level by launching asset ratings and reviews so the community can share additional information on each asset, whether we list them or not.

Many consumer services today utilize the wisdom of crowds to help consumers make more informed buying decisions (Airbnb, Uber, Amazon, etc). We believe ratings and reviews can help create additional consumer protections in crypto, and ideally these can be decentralized in new protocols over time. We recognize that special care will be needed to avoid fake accounts or sybil attacks and to keep reviews high quality. We plan to launch a beta of this feature later this year.

We’re continuing to improve our capability to evaluate assets, by looking at the tokenomics of assets, and using on-chain forensic tools to evaluate each project. We’re also working to ensure we can move quickly to delist assets that appear to be experiencing bad activity.

***

We won’t catch everything, but these investments will help us get better, and we may be able to open source these approaches and standards to the industry over time so we can all learn from them together. We’d love to work more closely with other crypto companies to compare notes and develop best practices.

These are still early days for crypto, and it’s going to take time for us to figure everything out. What we can promise is that we’ll keep listening to our customers, keep looking for ways to improve, and keep holding ourselves to the highest standards as this space evolves. It’s always tricky to find the right balance on enabling innovation while simultaneously protecting customers from bad activity, but that is exactly the hard work that we need to do each day.



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