Weekly recap: a new hope for the crypto market growth

Crypto market in numbers

Since 21st July, Bitcoin has completed daily trading with a rise for seven days in a row. The first cryptocurrency rose by more than 20% between 22nd and 28th July, breaking the $40,000 mark.

Bitcoin’s volatility index continued its gradual decline. According to Buy Bitcoin Worldwide, the 30-day volatility index is now 3.2%.

The cryptocurrency market started to rise in the wake of BTC, but most of the leading altcoins continue to lag behind. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin’s dominance increased from 46% to 48%. Ethereum’s market share remains unchanged at 17.4%.

Market sentiment is getting more positive. For the first time since 12th May, the Crypto Fear and Greed Index has moved from ‘Extreme Fear’ to the ‘Neutral’ zone, having increased to 50 points on 28th July.

The market recovery began with the maintenance of low trading volumes, which began to grow following the price rise of bitcoin. Daily trading volumes remain at least half the levels of May. According to CoinMarketCap, when the trades opened on 28th July, their valuation was $99 billion.

All Time High

Gainers of the week (22nd – 28th July 2021)

Losers of the week (22nd – 28th July 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
(22nd – 28th July)

Most traded coins (21st – 27th July 2021)

Top crypto market driving factors

Bitcoin (BTC) and the overall crypto market

▲ 21.07.2021 – During The B Word crypto conference, Elon Musk said that SpaceX has invested in bitcoin.

▲ 21.07.2021 – Jack Dorsey agreed with Elon Musk’s idea of accepting bitcoin for Twitter ad payments.

▲ 21.07.2021 – The founder and chairman of the Interactive Brokers online trading platform, Thomas Peterffy, revealed that he has invested in cryptocurrencies.

▲ 25.07.2021 – City A.M.: Amazon is looking to accept Bitcoin payments by the end of 2021.

▼ 25.07.2021 – Santiment: despite its price growth, Bitcoin’s on-chain data does not show signs of increased activity or rising demand.

▲ 26.07.2021 – Glassnode: the recent rise in the price of bitcoin has resulted in a more constructive spike in receiving entities (those taking custody of coins) whilst sending entities (those spending coins) remains relatively flat. This may indicate the dynamics of accumulation.

▲ 26.07.2021 – Santiment: Bitcoin whales have accumulated 170,000 BTC for the past six weeks, with 40,000 BTC having been accumulated in the last ten days.

▲▼ 27.07.2021 – Tesla has recorded $23 million in bitcoin-related impairments after BTC’s second-quarter plunge. With a revenue of $11.96 billion and earnings per share of $1.45, they did not buy or sell any digital assets during the reporting period.

▼ 27.07.2021 – Amazon denied the City AM rumour and said it has no plans to accept BTC.

Ethereum (ETH)

▲ 21.07.2021 – Speaking at the B Word crypto conference, Elon Musk confirmed that he owns some Ethereum, in addition to Bitcoin and Dogecoin.

▲ 22.07.2021 – Ethereum EIP-3675 For ETH 2.0 Upgrade has launched on GitHub.

▲ 23.07.2021 – A major investment fund, Edge Wealth Management, has increased its exposure to Ether through Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust (ETHE).

▼ 25.07.2021 – Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin, confirmed that the transition to ETH 2.0 might be delayed due to technical issues and internal team conflicts.

▲ 25.07.2021 – Santiment: Ethereum’s top 10 non-exchange whales now hold 21.3 million ETH – a new 5-year high. Meanwhile, the top 5 exchange wallets keep hitting lows.

▲ 26.07.2021 – Glassnode: exchange ETH balances continue to fall on a downwards trend.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

▼▲ 25.07.2021 – Elon Musk tweeted a new meme about Dogecoin.

▲ 27.07.2021 – The Burger King franchise in Brazil has introduced meat-flavoured dog biscuits that can be purchased with Dogecoin.

Stellar (XLM)

▲ 22.07.2021 – Non-profit organisation, Stellar Development Foundation, is reportedly considering a potential acquisition of MoneyGram International – one of the leading money-transfer services.

Cardano (ADA)

▲ 27.07.2021 – Morningstar: Cardano is expected to join Bitcoin and Ether to form a “big three” of mainstream cryptocurrencies.

Litecoin (LTC)

▲ 25.07.2021 – Santiment: since the beginning of July, Litecoin whales have increased their holdings by 270,000 LTC or about $30,000,000.

Tron (TRX)

▲▼ 27.07.2021 – Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron blockchain, is participating in a research project at the Central Party School that trains cadres of the Communist Party of China.

Dash (DASH)

▲ 22.07.2021 – Dash Core Group leaders posted a Q2 2021 report and presented an updated roadmap.
▲ 24.07.2021 – ​​Dash has announced the launch of the DashDirect app that allows for the Dash cryptocurrency to be accepted at multiple US retail locations.

Chiliz (CHZ)

▲ 26.07.2021 – Socios.com, Chiliz’s blockchain-based platform, has partnered with the National Basketball Association’s Cleveland Cavaliers.

Crypto market trends

Regulation

? Securities and Exchange Commission Chair, Gary Gensler, reminded the audience that a number of creative token-based securities still need to report to the SEC.

? Democrat Senator, Elizabeth Warren, has called on United States Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, to develop a “comprehensive and coordinated” framework for addressing the growing risks that cryptocurrencies pose to the financial system.

? The Bank of Russia issued asked Russian stock exchanges not to list foreign and local companies involved in a broad range of crypto services.

? Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine presented a strategy for developing its virtual asset market within the next three years.

? As a part of а pilot project, cryptocurrency exchanges registered at the Astana International Financial Center will be permitted to open accounts in Kazakh banks.

? The crypto ban is finally lifted in Vanuatu, one of the most popular offshore licensing jurisdictions.

? The Australia Securities Exchange (ASX) warned local investors about the risks of holding cryptocurrencies on exchange platforms.

Acceptance of cryptocurrencies

? Jack Dorsey Calls Bitcoin one of three trends that are going to be a big part of Twitter’s future along with AI and decentralisation. Bitcoin becoming integrated into Twitter products and services can drive Twitter engagement and monetisation.

? Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, said in a keynote at Paris’s EthCC conference that Ethereum needs to look beyond the DeFi movement. As an example, he proposed the use of Ethereum for decentralised social media, identity verification services and public interest funding.

? Amazon listed a job opening for a digital currency and blockchain product lead.

? El Salvador citizens protested against the quick adoption of Bitcoin as legal tender. They are concerned about their legal insecurity, Bitcoin’s price volatility as well as the likelihood of Bitcoin being used to defraud users.

? The International Monetary Fund has warned countries that the widespread adoption of crypto assets as legal tenders or national currencies comes with substantial risks to macro-financial stability, financial integrity and the environment.

CBDC and stablecoins

? Chinese authorities have opened a national digital yuan research institute that will develop cryptographic applications to enhance the security of the PBC’s digital currency.

? The Bank of Canada has released a report, “The Positive Case for a CBDC”.

? The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is working on a phased implementation strategy for the national digital currency and a process for launching it in the wholesale and retail segments.

? The Central Bank of Nigeria has announced the launch of a pilot project to test the digital Naira, that will take place on 1st October 2021.

? According to a survey by HeadHunter, 41% of Russians are strongly against receiving a salary in digital rubles. Another 48% of the respondents were undecided and only 11% were ready to accept a salary in CBDC.

? Paxos submitted financial statements showing that stablecoins PAX and BUSD are fully backed by cash and cash equivalents, as well as U.S. Treasury securities.

? Tether General Counsel, Stu Hegner, said that the company is conducting an audit of the reserves and full collateral of the USDT stablecoin, the results of which will be published within a month.

? According to Bloomberg sources, the U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation on the fact of Tether’s possible banking fraud. Federal prosecutors are determining whether the company was hiding cryptocurrency-related transactions from banks. Tether called the Bloomberg article clickbait and an attempt to discredit the company.

Big business

? Most of JPMorgan’s Asset and Wealth Management clients see Bitcoin as an asset class and want to invest in it.

? According to a Goldman Sachs survey of over 150 family wealth management firms, 15% of the respondents already have crypto investments. Another 45% said they are interested in digital assets as a hedging tool.

? According to CoinDesk sources, Goldman Sachs has given some European hedge funds access to exchange-traded products (ETP) based on cryptocurrencies. The investment bank also sent an application to the SEC to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF), the basket of which will include shares of public companies from the DeFi and blockchain sectors.

? The New Jersey pension fund allocated $7 million to purchase shares of mining companies.

? Thomas Peterffy, founder and chairman of the largest brokerage company, Interactive Brokers, stated that scepticism regarding the long-term prospects of cryptocurrencies doesn’t prevent him from investing in digital assets.

? Man Group hedge fund CEO, Luke Ellis, compared cryptocurrencies to Tulip Mania. Nevertheless, the fund is interested in trading cryptocurrencies due to their high volatility.

? The first digital bank, Galaxy Digital, opened a venture fund. It will invest in existing funds, which are placed in various tokens or shares of startups.

Mining

? Bitcoin mining hardware manufacturer, Bitmain, has finished spinning off Antpool, the largest bitcoin mining pool by hash rate. Bitmain has partnered with Enegix to be able to host miners in a 180-megawatt data centre in Kazakhstan.

? Core Scientific, one of the largest mining companies in North America, plans to enter the stock market through a merger with Power & Digital Infrastructure Acquisition Corp.

? Argo Blockchain, a UK-based publicly traded company, has filed with the SEC for a US IPO that is expected to occur in the third quarter of 2021.

? Thailand’s Jasmine Telecom Systems (JTS), a subsidiary of Jasmine International Public Company, has announced its plans to mine bitcoin.

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.