Weekly recap: increasing market pressure as a result of geopolitics

Crypto market in numbers

After attempting to gain a foothold at the level of $2 trillion, the cryptocurrency market cap eventually dropped to $1.75 trillion. The indicator remained around this level over the last four days, according to CoinMarketCap.

Trading volumes decreased by 3.9% over the week and amounted to $538 billion. The indicator has been standing at the level below $700 billion for over two months already.

Since 21st February, some revival in the market has been observed. Amid the increasing geopolitical tensions, daily trading volumes rose above $90 billion.

Market sentiment remains bearish. The Crypto Fear & Greed index returned to the “Extreme Fear” zone on 19th February after moving to the Neutral zone for a short while. On 23rd February, the index value stood at 25 points. The median value for the previous seven days is 27 points.

Bitcoin’s volatility has decreased slightly recently, with its price falling below $40,000. Between 17th and 19th February, the 30-day volatility index stood at 3.8% – the highest value since mid-December. Over the last three days, the index value remains at around 3.32%.

Losers of the week (17th – 23rd February 2022)

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

Most traded coins (16th – 22nd February 2022)

Top crypto market driving factors

Overall crypto market

▼ 16.02.2022 – In its report on digital currencies, the Financial Stability Board (FSB) warns that the risks to global financial stability will increase as large banks and hedge funds enter the crypto market. The report states that the correlation of securities with bitcoin and altcoins keeps growing along with the loan risks associated with the development of the DeFi industry. There is also a mismatch between the liquidity of stablecoins and their reserves. FSB is concerned about the increase in crypto derivatives trading volumes and the lack of transparency in the crypto market.

▼ 16.02.2022 – David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management: investors will see massive losses in crypto because the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates and bring an era of “crazy” speculation to an end.

▲ 16.02.2022 – Colorado will start accepting cryptocurrencies for tax and other state payments by the end of the summer.

▲ 17.02.2022 – During reconsideration, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada, the country’s parliament, has adopted the law “On Virtual Assets”. The law will legalise crypto exchanges and regulate crypto transactions in the country.

▲ 17.02.2022 – Sequoia Capital, one of the world’s largest and most successful venture capital firms, is launching a new $600 million crypto-focused fund.

▼ 17.02.2022 – The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is launching a new unit dedicated to tracking cryptocurrency crimes.

▲ 18.02.2022 – Wyoming lawmakers have introduced a bill that would authorise the treasurer to issue a U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin.

▲ 18.02.2022 – Members of the Georgia House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would exempt local crypto miners from paying sales and use tax.

▼ 21.02.2022 – Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DPR) and the “Luhansk People’s Republic” (LPR) in eastern Ukraine as independent states.

▲▼ 21.02.2022 – Russian Ministry of Finance has prepared and submitted a new bill to the government to expand crypto regulations in the country.

▲ 21.02.2022 – KB Asset Management, a member of the largest South Korean financial conglomerate KB Financial Group, has announced the launch of a fund focused on retail clients dealing with crypto indices and ETFs.

▼ 21.02.2022 – Glassnode: expectations of a key rate hike by the Fed and geopolitical tensions fuel the pessimism of bitcoin investors and increase the likelihood of sales of “unprofitable” coins.

▲ 21.02.2022 – California State Senator introduced a bill that would allow for the acceptance of cryptocurrencies as payment for certain governmental services.

▲ 21.02.2022 – CoinShares: digital asset investment products saw inflows totaling $109 million last week despite recent price weakness and the negative impact from the looming conflict in Eastern Europe.

▲ 21.02.2022 – CoinShares: multi-asset products saw inflows totaling $9.4 million between 14th and 18th February. They appear relatively insulated from outflows seen for other products.

▲▼ 22.02.2022 – Santiment: topics related to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine have been dominating crypto discussions, which indicates that markets will remain volatile.

▼ 22.02.2022 – Santiment: as the crypto markets continued their drop, the amount of “buy the dip” calls has decreased significantly. Patient investors have been waiting for this as a capitulation sign.

Bitcoin (BTC)

▲ 16.02.2022 – Two large crypto mining companies, Hut 8 and Marathon Digital Holdings, intend to sell their shares to survive a potential extended bear market.

▲ 17.02.2022 – Santiment: bitcoin’s top addresses with over 100,000 coins have increased their holdings from 260,000 BTC to 693,000 BTC in a year. They held an all-time high of 693,000 BTC in late June last year, just prior to prices surging.

▲ 18.02.2022 – The Bitcoin mining difficulty has experienced an increase of 4.78%, as a result of the latest recalculation, and has reached a new all-time high at around 26.97 trillion hashes.

▲ 21.02.2022 – CoinShares: between 14th and 18th February Bitcoin saw the largest inflows compared with other investment products – $89 million out of total inflows of $109 million.

▲▼ 21.02.2022 – Kaiko: bitcoin’s correlation with European equities surpasses its correlation with the S&P 500.

Ethereum (ETH)

▲ 16.02.2022 – Twitter has enabled users to send and receive Ethereum tips.

▲ 16.02.2022 – IntoTheBlock: the Ethereum network gained 18.36 million addresses with a positive balance in 2021. Over the year, the figure increased by a third. The number of profitable addresses is 52.6 million, which exceeds the total number of bitcoin holders (39.38 million).

▼ 18.02.2022 – Morgan Stanley: Ethereum dominance may dwindle as faster and cheaper alternatives emerge.

▲ 18.02.2022 – Finder survey: ETH is expected to grow by 102% and peak at $7,609 in 2022. By the end of 2025, ETH will be worth $10,810 and $26,338 by the end of 2030.

▼ 21.02.2022 – CoinShares: last week, Ethereum recorded outflows once again, just after breaking its nine-week-long spell of outflows a week earlier. Between 14th and 18th February, ETH outflows amounted to $15.2 million.

XRP (XRP)

▲ 16.02.2022 – STASIS, an established leader in euro-backed stablecoin production, will issue the EURS stablecoin on the XRP Ledger (XRPL) in the second half of 2022.

▲ 18.02.2022 – The 2012 memos from Perkins Coie to Ripple’s founders are now unsealed. Defense lawyer James K. Filan stated that the legal memos prove Ripple is not a security. However, they state that there is a “small” risk that the SEC could disagree.

▲ 18.02.2022 – Santiment: The second largest XRP accumulation period in the past five years by top-tier whales is in progress. There are currently 336 XRP network addresses that hold 10 million XRP or more. Since December 2021, they have added a total of 897 million XRP (1.87% of the circulating supply) to their reserves.

Cardano (ADA)

▲ 16.02.2022 – Leading Cardano-powered decentralised exchange, SundaeSwap, reached $109 million in trading volume just a month after its launch.

▲ 17.02.2022 – Finder: Cardano (ADA) will jump by 168% to $2.79 by the end of 2022. It is also expected to hit ​ $8.18 in 2025 and $58.04 by 2030.

▲ 18.02.2022 – Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), the crypto company behind Cardano, announced the launch of another decentralised exchange, OccamX.

▲ 18.02.2022 – IntoTheBlock: there’s been a spike in large ADA transaction volume, surpassing $21.6 billion.

▲ 19.02.2022 – Cardano creator Charles Hoskinson: Africa-focused peer-to-peer lending project will be launched on the Cardano blockchain this year.

▼ 21.02.2022 – CoinShares: Cardano recorded no inflows and outflows between 14th and 18th February.

Solana (SOL)

▲ 21.02.2022 – CoinShares: between 14th and 18th February, Solana investment products saw inflows totaling $1.2 million. They appear relatively insulated from outflows seen for other products.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

▲ 16.02.2022 – Dogecoin supporters have speculated that aerospace manufacturer, SpaceX, is looking to add support for a Dogecoin payment option. An eagle-eyed user has found the name of the cryptocurrency in the source code of SpaceX’s merch store. However, this may also be due to the fact that the company uses the Shopify service, which has been supporting the meme coin since May 2020.

▲ 19.02.2022 – Elon Musk: Tesla will accept Dogecoin as payment at its Santa Monica Supercharger station.

Shiba Inu (SHIB)

▲ 18.02.2022 –The first version of DoggyDAO, a decentralised autonomous organisation, has launched on decentralised cryptocurrency exchange ShibaSwap, bringing voting rights to the Shiba Inu community.

▲▼ 18.02.2022 – IntoTheBlock: Shiba Inu transactions greater than $100,000 have risen by 47% over the last 24 hours.

Litecoin (LTC)

▼ 21.02.2022 – CoinShares: Litecoin recorded no inflows and outflows between 14th and 18th February.

Cosmos (ATOM)

▲ 17.02.2022 – Cosmos developers have announced the release of the Inter-Blockchain Communications (IBC) protocol, which will be the largest network upgrade since the launch of Stargate last February.

Chainlink (LINK)

▲ 17.02.2022 – Bank of America: Chainlink could accelerate the adoption of next-generation blockchain use across finance, insurance, supply chain, gaming and gambling.

Tron (TRX)

▼ 21.02.2022 – CoinShares: Tron recorded no inflows and outflows between 14th and 18th February.

NEAR (NEAR)

▲ 22.02.2022 – NEAR Foundation has partnered with Elliptic to enhance on-chain security.

EOS (EOS)

▲ ▼ 21.02.2022 – EOS Network Foundation reveals plans to recalculate all possible losses incurred after parting ways with EOS creator Block.one.

Neo (NEO)

▲ 16.02.2022 –​​ The Chinese cryptocurrency project, NEO, has partnered with the Chinese platform Blockchain Service Network (BSN) to create the Jiuquan blockchain for issuing NFTs. The project is expected to enter the top 10 largest blockchains in the Chinese ecosystem.

Waves (WAVES)

▲ 18.02.2022 – The Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology conducted a dissertation council vote using the WE.Vote blockchain service developed by Waves Enterprise.

EXMO news

Celebrating our 8th birthday: crypto to crypto trading fee slashed to 0.1%. With EXMO’s 8th birthday coming up this week, we’ve decided to give all traders a present by lowering our basic trading fees to the minimum. Forever!

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NEAR listed on EXMO. The token is now available for deposits and trading in the following pairs: NEAR/BTC, NEAR/USD and NEAR/USDT.

EXMO has delisted BitTorrent (BTT). Token trading, deposits and withdrawals are no more available.

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.