News recap: Litecoin undergoes its third halving

Crypto market in numbers

Between 21st and 24th July, the cryptocurrency market capitalisation fell by 3.3%, from $1.20 trillion to $1.16 trillion, according to CoinMarketCap. The indicator then managed to recover and stood in the range of $1.18-$1.19 trillion. However, since 2nd August, the market has fallen again by 2.5% to $1.16 trillion.

Trading activity remained very low. Between 21st July and 3rd August, the average daily trading volumes stood in the range of $25-$30 billion. By the end of July, the total trading volume on centralised cryptocurrency exchanges amounted to $426 billion, the lowest since October 2020.

The Cryptocurrency Fear & Greed Index moved down into the “Neutral” zone, falling from 56 points to 50 points. A similar movement pattern was observed at the beginning of May 2023, which was then followed by market growth. As of 3rd August, the indicator stands at 52 points.

The volatility of cryptocurrencies dropped to extremely low levels. Between 21st July and 3rd August, bitcoin’s 30-day volatility index fell by 14.2%, from 0.91% to 0.78%. The same indicator for ETH decreased by 21.1%, from 1.42% to 1.12%.

The crypto market was under the pressure of sellers after BTC fell below $30,000. Investor sentiment has worsened. It is also worth noting that cryptocurrencies almost stopped reacting to the US inflation data and the Fed’s rate decision. Market participants are waiting for other fundamental driving factors.

Considering the decline in trading volumes and volatility falling to the observed levels of 2017, a strong market movement in either direction should be expected soon. However, historically this month has not been a positive month for cryptocurrencies. Six times over the past ten years, their prices fell in August.

Gainers (21st July – 2nd August)

Losers (21st July – 2nd August)

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 (21st July – 2nd August)

Top crypto market driving factors

Overall crypto market

▼ 21.07.2023 – The crypto and blockchain sector saw $2.32 billion invested in Q2 2023, marking a new cycle low and the lowest since Q4 2020.

▼ 26.07.2023 – The Fed raised its key interest rate by 25 basis points to as much as 5.5%, the highest level in 22 years.

▲ 27.07.2023 – The U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) increased at an annual rate of 2.4% during the second quarter of 2023.

▲ 30.07.2023 – Blockchain technology has the potential to reduce cross-border transaction costs for financial institutions by $10 billion before 2030, according to Ripple’s report.

▲ 31.07.2023 – Tether reported a Q2 profit of $850 million, bringing its total excess reserves to $3.3 billion.

▲ 31.07.2023 – Whales began to actively accumulate stablecoins amid bitcoin’s price correction.

▼ 01.08.2023 – The total trading volume on centralised cryptocurrency exchanges stood at $426 billion in July 2023, the lowest since October 2020.

▼ 01.08.2023 – According to a new ruling issued by the IRS, cryptocurrency staking rewards are now considered gross income and must be reported as such, in the year they were received.

Bitcoin (BTC)

▼ 21.07.2023 – On-chain analysts at CryptoQuant have confirmed that the US government has sold another 8,200 bitcoins.

▲ 24.07.2023 – In July 2023, BTC users carried out more than 14 million transactions, the second largest number of monthly transactions in Bitcoin’s history.

▲ 24.07.2023 – Glassnode notes that long-term holders continue to accumulate BTC. The number of BTC they now hold has reached a record high of 14.52 million.

▲ 24.07.2023 – According to Glassnode, whales have withdrawn a record 255,000 BTC from exchanges since the beginning of June.
▼ 25.07.2023 – Since 30th May, the aggregate balance of bitcoins owned by whales, excluding exchange wallets, has decreased by 255,000 BTC.

▲ 25.07.2023 – Bitcoin reserves on centralised exchanges fell by 4.3% over the past year.

▼ 26.07.2023 –As a result of the latest recalculation, bitcoin’s mining difficulty decreased by 2.94% to 52.33 T.

▼ 27.07.2023 – Glassnode notes that whale inflows have sustained an elevated increase throughout the past two months. Whale-to-exchange netflows have tended to oscillate between 5,000 BTC per day.

▲ 27.07.2023 – The Block: large holders of digital gold continue to accumulate coins while the market is in a sideways movement.

▼ 31.07.2023 – According to data from K33 Research, the average seven-day Bitcoin spot trading volume dropped to its lowest level since 2021 due to low volatility.

▲ 02.08.2023 – MicroStrategy added 467 BTC to its balance sheet in July and now holds a total of 152,800 BTC, with an average purchase price of $29,672 BTC, said the company’s CEO Michael Saylor.

▼ 02.08.2023 – According to CryptoQuant analysts, Bitcoin’s exchange whale ratio reached its all-time low, indicating a possible BTC decrease.

▲ 03.08.2023 – The number of Bitcoin addresses holding at least 100 BTC has surged to 15,870.

Ethereum (ETH)

▲ 31.07.2023 – The number of ETH staked reached a new high, surpassing 25 million.

▼ 01.08.2023 – Total Value Locked (TVL) in Ethereum DeFi has fallen by almost 8% since Sunday.

▲ 01.08.2023 – A total of 63.9% of ETH holders are currently in profit.

Ripple (XRP)

▲ 24.07.2023 – Santiment: the number of XRP whale wallets with over 100 million tokens reached an eleven-week high.

▲ 24.07.2023 – Crypto lawyer, John Deaton, believes that a potential SEC appeal in the Ripple case will not even be close to a setback for Ripple Labs.

▲ 24.07.2023 – XRP stands as the most actively traded altcoin in 2023, with more than $150 billion in trading volume.

▲ 27.07.2023 – Corpay and Ripple launch an innovative internal invoicing solution called the Netting Manager for multinational companies with global subsidiaries.

▲ 31.07.2023 – Fubon Bank, a Hong Kong-based financial institution, will utilise the Ripple CBDC platform in a pilot project to tokenise properties.

▲ 01.08.2023 – Wells Fargo Treasury Manager predicts XRP to reach a price range between $100 and $500 in the next two to seven months.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

▲ 24.07.2023 – Dogecoin jumped by 9% after Elon Musk inserted an X and the Dogecoin symbol, Ð, as his location on his Twitter profile.

▲ 24.07.2023 – Santiment noted increased interest in meme coins like DOGE, SHIB, and APE.

Cardano (ADA)

▲ 21.07.2023 – Cardano developers hinted that the long-awaited Mithril upgrade is set to hit the mainnet in a relatively short period of time.

Litecoin (LTC)

▼ 24.07.2023 – Every time the number of new LTC addresses surpassed 350,000 over the past five years, a substantial price correction followed. Recently, more than 690,000 new LTC addresses have been created.

▲ 31.07.2023 – According to Santiment, whale wallets continue to accumulate LTC ahead of the halving event.

▲ 02.08.2023 – The Litecoin network has successfully undergone its halving event at a block height of 2,520,000, reducing the block reward from 12.5 LTC to 6.25 LTC.

Sui (SUI)

▲ 24.07.2023 – Sui Network reached a major milestone, surpassing 500 million total transactions.

▲ 25.07.2023 – The Sui network keeps seeing a surge in transactions, hitting 55 million transactions over the past 24 hours with stable gas fees.

▲ 03.08.2023 – Sui mainnet upgraded to V1.6.3, bringing fixes and optimisations, along with new features like liquidity staking.

EXMO.com news

Earn rate changes. Starting from 7th August 2023, we’re introducing new annual rates for three assets that are part of our Earn program, including BTC, ETH, and DAI.

Update on refunds. To ensure the security of your funds, we have extended the period for refunds in the event of early subscription cancellation. Starting from 3rd August 2023, your funds will be returned to your balance after 24 hours.