Weekly recap: crypto market is heating up

Crypto market in numbers

According to CoinMarketCap, the cryptocurrency market cap has topped a three-month high of $1.9 trillion.

The Fear and Greed Index remains in the “Greed” zone. As of 11th August, the index value was 70.

Over the past week, daily trading volumes have increased by 70% – up to $120 billion. Ark Invest predicts that cryptocurrency trading volumes in 2021 will surpass those of FAANG stocks and reach $16 trillion, up more than 8-fold from last year.

For the first time since May, the price of bitcoin has grown above $46,000. The world’s first crypto has added 20% over the week. It is now trading about 29% below its ATH.

According to CryptoCompare, the Bitcoin 30-day volatility index has not changed significantly over the past week, and as of 11 August it was at 3.29%.

For the first time since May, Ethereum’s price has reached $3,200. ETH’s weekly price growth is almost 30%. The current price is 26% lower than ETH’s all-time high. Ethereum’s share of the crypto market has grown to 20%. A month earlier, it fluctuated between 17-18%.

All Time High

Gainers of the week (5th – 11th August 2021)

Losers of the week (5th – 11th August 2021)

Easily track gainers and losers within the Simple trade section on EXMO. Check real-time updates in the last 24 hours, week and month.

Segmentation of cryptocurrencies based on trading results (5th – 11th August 2021)

Most traded coins (4th – 10th August 2021)

Top crypto market driving factors

Bitcoin (BTC) and the overall crypto market

▲▼ 06.08.2021 – Glassnode: The volume of large bitcoin transactions (over $1 million) has increased over the last 14-days. In general, their share has risen from 30% in 2020 to over 65% in 2021.

▲ 09.08.2021 – Glassnode: Despite a strong rally to $45,000, the Bitcoin market has still not seen a significant increase in old coins (held for a period of more than one year) being spent.

Ethereum (ETH)

▲ 05.08.2021 – Ethereum’s London hard fork was launched.

▲ 09.08.2021 – Developers plan to launch Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, Arbitrum, in August this year.

▼ 09.08.2021 – Santiment: Ethereum’s price rise did not affect the number of active addresses on its network. ETH address activity started declining.

Cardano (ADA)

▲▼ 05.08.2021 – Cardano’s Alonzo Purple smart contract hard fork is scheduled to take place in early September.

▲ 06.08.2021 – Cardano has launched the Alonzo Purple public testnet that supports smart contracts.

▲ 10.06.2021 – IOHK CEO, Charles Hoskinson, has announced that the date of Cardano’s smart contract launch is going to be revealed by the end of this week.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

▲ 04.08.2021 – The established hot dog maker, Oscar Mayer, has listed the limited-edition pack of Dogecoin-themed wieners for sale on eBay. The pack comes with a cash value of 10,000 Dogecoins, which is just over $2,000.

▲ 07.08.2021 – SpaceX and Canadian startup, Geometric Energy Corporation, plan to launch a satellite with a giant pixelated screen on it to display advertisements in orbit. DOGE is chosen as the “unit of account for all lunar business”.

XRP (XRP)

▲ 05.08.2021 – In Ripple’s ongoing lawsuit with the SEC, the court has granted Brad Garlinghouse’s motion to obtain documents from Binance.

▼ 10.06.2021 – The SEC filed a motion, requesting the judge to order Ripple to produce and submit its employee messaging record on Slack, a popular business communication platform.

▲ 10.06.2021 – Ripple announced a partnership with Global Money Express, a top South Korean money transfer firm.

Chainlink (LINK)

▲ 05.08.2021 – The popular weather service, AccuWeather, has launched its own Chainlink network node to provide access to weather data around the world through smart contracts.

▲ 05.08.2021 – Switzerland-based telecommunications company, Swisscom, plans to join Chainlink’s oracle network as a node operator.

▲ 05.08.2021 – Chainlink developers have introduced decentralised off-grid computing tools and bridging.

▲ 06.08.2021 – Chainlink developers have added decentralised weather data from Google Cloud’s Big Query.

Tron (TRX)

▲ 06.08.2021 – DeFine and Tron strike a partnership to build a NFT ecosystem and bring a social profile system on the Tron network.

▲ 10.06.2021 – The TRON Foundation has launched a $300 fund to support GamiFi projects.

Dash (DASH)

▲ 04.08.2021 – Valkyrie Digital Assets announced the launch of its fourth investment vehicle, the Valkyrie Dash Trust.

▲ 06.08.2021 – Dash Core Group announced the release of Dash Platform v0.20 on testnet.

Chiliz (CHZ)

▲ 04.08.2021 – Lionel Messi’s forthcoming PSG move has triggered a 150% price surge for the PSG fan token, launched on Chiliz’s Socios.com.

Tezos (XTZ)

▲ 06.08.2021 – Granada update has been successfully activated on the Tezos network. Blocks are now mined twice as fast, and the volume of gas for smart contracts has been drastically reduced.

Crypto market trends

Regulation

? The Senate’s $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, calling for increased cryptocurrency tax reporting, has provoked active discussions within the crypto community.

The latest version of the bill would require crypto “brokers” to report specific information in relation to crypto transactions such as price points from when users bought in and sold. A primary concern is that the current definition of a “broker” would target miners, developers, stakers, etc. The compromise amendment which would have clarified the definition of a “broker” was rejected by the Senate on 9th August 2021.

? The director of the IRS’ cybercrime unit, Jarod Koopman, reports that the IRS has seized $1.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency this fiscal year. For comparison, last year it had up to $137 million worth of crypto seizures. With cybercrime being on rise, the government’s crypto coffers are expected to swell even further, states CNBC.

? A commissioner with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Brian Quintenz, clarified that “the SEC has no authority over pure commodities or their trading venues, whether those commodities are wheat, gold, oil… or crypto assets.”

Quintenz’s clarification followed the statements by SEC Chairman, Gary Gensler, regarding the regulation of the crypto industry whenever investment products are considered securities.

? A Russian financial watchdog, Rosfinmonitoring, has selected a contractor for the building of a platform that will be used to track cryptocurrency transactions in the country. The company that won the tender, RCO, is managed by Rambler Internet Holding affiliated with Sberbank.

CBDC and stablecoins

? According to Chris Waller, a member of the US Federal Reserve Board, the US authorities should launch the CBDC only in the event of significant market disruption. “The private sector is already developing cheaper payment alternatives to compete with the banking system,” Waller explained. He also noted that “there are many legal, regulatory, and policy issues that need to be resolved before stablecoins can safely proliferate.

? Circle is intended to become a full-reserve national commercial bank. The company anticipates that in the coming years USDC will grow into hundreds of billions of dollars in circulation. With a banking license, Circle will be able to act as a custodian of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets and tokenise securities.

Circle has also filed with the US SEC for a merger with Concord. The deal will allow Circle to become a publicly-traded company without going through the lengthy procedures of a traditional initial public offering (IPO).

? Tether Limited has released an assurance report reviewed by Moore Cayman, an auditor of investment funds and digital assets. The report states that consolidated total assets amount exceeds consolidated total liabilities amount. USDT is backed by 10% cash and bank deposits and 22.5% of US tax bills with a maturity of less than 90 days. At the same time, Tether continues to hold half of USDT collateral in commercial paper.

Along with the report’s publication, Tether has minted another 1 billion USDT on the Tron network. This is the first USDT release after a long two-month break.

? The trial of Reggie Fowler, the alleged unlicensed bank operator who worked with Bitfinex and Tether, is scheduled for 14th February 2022. The US prosecutor’s office claims that the banker was engaged in legalising the criminal proceeds of Colombian drug cartels through exchange operations with cryptocurrencies.

? The Beijing municipal government has fully integrated the digital yuan into the payment ecosystem as part of improving CBDC testing.

? Samsung Electronics plans to participate in a project being pursued by the Bank of Korea to build a pilot platform CBDC. The company will test the usability of blockchain-based systems on its Galaxy mobile lineup.

? The Central Bank of Venezuela will launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in October alongside bolivar redenomination. These measures are aimed at combating the growing monetary inflation.

? The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and French central bank Banque de France announced the successful completion of a wholesale cross-border payment and settlement experiment using CBDC.

Acceptance of cryptocurrencies

? Ukraine’s draft bill on virtual assets will allow payments in cryptocurrency. The bill will not recognise crypto as legal tender but enables acquiring operations.

? Uruguayan lawmakers propose a bill to allow crypto to be used for payments. However, the document does not recognise Bitcoin as legal tender.

? AMC Entertainment to accept cryptocurrency as payment in theatres by the end of 2021.

? Bakkt and a Quiznos location in Denver, Colorado, will be launching a pilot scheme that allows customers to purchase food with bitcoin by leveraging the Bakkt application.

Big business

? RIT Capital Partners, founded by Jacob Rothschild, spearheaded a full fund for Aspen Digital crypto asset management services. In total, the startup raised $8.8 million.

? Financial holding company, JPMorgan, has opened up wealthy clients to a passively managed bitcoin fund launched with Stone Ridge Assets.

? British bank, Standard Chartered, plans to offer cryptocurrency broker services in Ireland through its Zodia Custody subsidiary.

? The Paris-based fund manager, Melanion Capital, got approval from the French regulators to lunch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) focused exclusively on blockchain and mining company stocks. This is the first EU exchange traded fund that complies with the EU standards known as UCITS.

? A new exchange-traded fund (ETF), BITH1, was launched in Brazil. The fund’s founder, Hashdex Asset Management, claims that it is the country’s first “green” Bitcoin ETF.

Decentralised finance (DeFi)

? According to Genesis, Bitcoin’s dominance in terms of market cap, declined from over 70% at the end of 2020 to under 45% at the end of the second quarter of 2021. Ether and most of the main decentralised finance tokens more than doubled in price from the beginning of the year.

? According to ConsenSys, there are already 2.91 million Ethereum addresses participating in DeFi projects, which is 65% more than in the previous quarter.

? According to The Block, trading volume across the decentralised exchanges (DEX) has declined in July. The monthly value has decreased by 35% compared to May all-time highs.

? The DeFi Money Market executives settled the SEC charges by paying back $12.8 million that they raised and agreeing to fines of $125,000 each. The U.S. SEC stated that this is its first enforcement action that involves decentralised finance (DeFi).

NFT

? OpenSea daily trading volumes hit a record high of over $78 million on 8th August 2021. The platform also ranked first in the Ethereum network Gas consumption list, ​​finishing ahead of the DeFi exchange Uniswap.

? According to The Block, NFT trading volumes reached a record $491 million over the past week.

? Marvel will launch its NFT crypto collectibles on the VeVe marketplace. The first NFTs will be Spider-Man digital sculptures, priced between $40 and $400 each.

? The British auction house Christie’s has announced the company’s first NFT art sale in Asia on 17th September 2021. According to the announcement, the NFTs will feature Cryptopunks, Meebits, and Bored Apes.

Gaming

? According to InvestGame, Blockchain gaming companies raised $476 million in the first half of 2021. Forte raised $185 million, Animoca Brands – $89 million, and Mythical Games – $75 million.

? As stated by CoinGecko, Wall Street Games, FaraLand and Mist were the most profitable tokens of game projects in July.

? According to Axie World, Axie Infinity earned over $196 million in July 2021. Axie is also the first NFT product ahead of CryptoPunks, ArtBlocks, or NBA Top Shot, in terms of the trading volume. So far in August, the project has raked in circa $45 million in revenue, with almost 1 million active users.

EXMO news

EXMO to delist Vitae. Vitae trading will be terminated on 11th August 2021. Token withdrawal will only be possible until 25th August 2021.

EXMO supports the monthly reports published by CryptoCompare. Stay on top of cryptocurrency trends with access to proven insights from the global leader in digital asset analytics.

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That’s all for this week! Follow EXMO on YouTube, Twitter and Telegram to stay tuned to the main events and trends in the crypto market.