The Activity of the Whales Drops as the Bitcoin Price Tries to Remain above USD 23,000

Alexander Salazar
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The Activity of the Whales Drops as the Bitcoin Price Tries to Remain above USD 23,000

The Bitcoin whales transferred 24,551 BTC between exchanges and 20,790 BTC from those platforms to unknown wallets. Those long-term holders moved 10,982 BTC into the market and 18,784 BTC between peers.

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) has remained in the red after falling close to USD 23,000. The activity of the whales is among the factors that may have influenced the performance of the cryptocurrency. For that reason, it is helpful to monitor their behavior, especially now as they have slowly given up their holdings.

It is necessary to contextualize that activity to better dig into the status of the whales and the market as a whole. However, this is just a micro approach to one of the many factors that can influence the performance of BTC.

Daily Analysis of the Activity of the Bitcoin Whales

When writing this article, the whales have moved 56,323 BTC through 28 transactions.

The predominant trend of the whales has been the transfer between exchanges. They moved 24,551 BTC between those platforms, representing 43.58% of the daily total.

The second-highest trend has been accumulation, as 20,790 BTC went from exchanges to unknown wallets. That amount is equivalent to 36.91% of the daily total.

The introduction of liquidity into the market has been the third-highest trend, as the whales moved 10,982 BTC, representing 19.5% of the daily total. Finally, they moved 18,784 BTC between unknown wallets, equivalent to 16.25%.

The Current Situation of the Pioneering Cryptocurrency in the Market

The market capitalization of cryptocurrencies first dropped below USD 1 trillion in early 2021. The value of Bitcoin has decreased by 16% over the last 24 hours.

In that period, the market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has fallen by around 12%. It has reached nearly USD 970 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.

The dominance of BTC rose to over 47% during the weekend. That indicates that investors have held onto the cryptocurrency and turned away from altcoins. However, the price of Bitcoin has declined for almost 12 consecutive weeks, one of its most significant falls in history.

That drop in the value of BTC occurred amid a slide in global stocks following the release of poor data from the US Consumer Price Index for May. Inflation skyrocketed to over 8.3% year on year, taking a toll on investor sentiment.

The whales have continued to have a decreasing percentage of the existing Bitcoin in the last ten years. According to Whale map, the price of BTC has broken through relevant realized supports that might become new resistances. If the downward trend continued, it would bottom out at USD 13,331.

Bitcoin is trading at around USD 22,544 and has accumulated a USD 28.1% loss over the last week. While its daily trading volume is above USD 54,12 billion, its market capitalization is about 428,69 billion, according to CoinGecko.

It is advisable to monitor the behavior of the market, external factors, and the movements of the Bitcoin whales. That would allow for a partial perspective of the situation of the cryptocurrency.

By Alexander Salazar

Despite the Drop in the Markets, the Bank of America Report Highlighted that there is Still Interest in Digital Assets

Jenson Nunez
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Despite the Drop in the Markets, the Bank of America Report Highlighted that there is Still Interest in Digital Assets

According to a survey led by The Bank of America, Consumers are still interested in Bitcoin despite the recent price crash in the market.

Investors still have interest in digital assets, even amid the declined outlook. According to a recent Bank of America (BoFA) survey, a number of users had shown interest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, not only as investment tools but also as a form of payment.

The research, followed by CoinDesk and CNBC, determined that 91% of those surveyed had plans to acquire digital assets in the following six months. Bank of America analyst Jason Kupferberg found this situation interesting and expressed that this percentage matched that of users who acquired digital assets in the last six months.

In an interview with CNBC, Kupferberg expressed that the results come from a survey of just over 1,000 adult users in the United States of America that took effect in early June 2022, shortly after the drastic collapse of Terra and in the midst of the declining panorama experienced in the market, which has seen Bitcoin drop below $30,000.

30% do not Have Intentions to Sell their Digital Assets

According to CoinDesk, sales expectations are also at a balanced point. The research determined that 30% of surveyed holders do not intend to sell their holdings in the next six months. The results represent no change from the percentage who revealed they had not sold any digital assets in the previous six months, according to the report.

The investigation led by the second-largest bank in the United States of America also focused on the interest in the use of digital assets as a unique form of payment. According to CoinDesk, 39% of those surveyed expressed they use digital assets as a vehicle to pay for and acquire goods online. On the other hand, 34% use them for purchases in person.

CoinDesk also highlighted that, despite the apparent inclination of investors towards digital assets, this new asset class still represents less than 10% of overall financial investments for 65% of respondents, according to the survey. Allocations did vary, though, with 15% holding more than 25% of their total financial investments in digital assets.

Meanwhile, the post ends by revealing that most respondents were short-term investors, with 77% typically holding crypto for less than a year, according to the BoFA study.

Crypto Winter does not Discourage Consumers

The release of the banking entity’s most recent survey to determine interest in digital assets arrived amid a steep decline experienced in the market. Bitcoin danced below $23,000 on Monday as the global digital currency market capitalization crumbled below $1 trillion, a level not experienced since early 2021.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Central Banks of Kenya and Nigeria Attack Cryptocurrencies but Bring their Support to CBDC

Jenson Nunez
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Central Banks of Kenya and Nigeria Attack Cryptocurrencies but Bring their Support to CBDC

Central bankers in Kenya and Nigeria attacked digital assets but openly expressed their support for Central Bank digital currencies.

Both Nigeria and Kenya have been African regions with a mutating relationship regarding digital assets. Nigeria was on the path of setting a general prohibition on them but changed its plans last year. It has been very different with the central bank digital currencies, CBDC. Nigeria currently counts on one of its own: the e-naira, officially released in October 2021.

Statements from the high positions of the central banks of both nations have now been revealed, describing digital assets as unbalanced items to become widely employed as a form of payment. In addition, bankers express that digital assets might become a risk to financial equilibrium in the region, according to various media reports such as Reuters and Bitcoin.com.

A Volatile Asset

Within their statements, the central bankers of Nigeria and Kenya expressed that digital assets are too volatile and do not rely on favorable features to become an acceptable payment method.

According to the Reuters report, Kingsley Obiora, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and Kenyan Central Bank Governor Patrick Njoroge believe that a central bank digital currency has a better opportunity of minimizing the financial exclusion gap.

Central bankers also expressed that only a central bank digital currency (CBDC) could have what it takes to reduce the cost of transactions and financial activities linked to trading.

Obiora, who spoke at a virtual summit hosted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), explained why his entity had shown a rejective stance on digital assets by that the volatility these items generate can become a source of disorder in the system.

Kenya will also Deal with a CBDC

Nigeria already counts on its CBDC, the e-naira. However, it is now that the world knows that Kenya also has solid intentions to have its CBDC.

Njoroge, the Governor of the Bank of Kenya, openly spoke about digital assets as a hype phenomenon. However, he expressed that his administration may eventually set regulations on private crypto assets as a wealth product. He also hinted that the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) could follow in Nigeria’s footsteps and create its own CBDC.

However, unlike the Nigerian bank and its intentions to increase the number of people financially included through its CBDC, the Kenyan bank will not prioritize this situation as it argues this goal got achieved with mobile money, Njoroge explained.

By: Jenson Nuñez

As Binance Moves Forward With Its Expansion, BlockFi and Crypto.com Will Choose to Get Rid of Workers

Jenson Nunez
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According to the CEO of Binance, the exchange intends to keep hiring workers and consolidating more strategic alliances. On the other hand, BlockFi and Crypto.com will try to minimize costs by firing part of their workforce.

The so-called crypto winter impacts entities in the sector, which would be applying new strategies to deal with costs and keep carrying out their activities until the market returns to favorable fields. But this situation does not seem to be what happens to Binance, which appears to keep carrying out its expansion without getting rid of its workers.

Binance Counts on Reserves to Face a Bad Scenario

Regarding Binance’s intentions, the CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) highlighted that the exchange would carry out its expansion strategies despite the impact of the crypto winter on the sector since they count on enough reserves prepared for a situation like this crypto winter.

Zhao made this statement during a panel discussion held at the Consensus 2022 event, where the Binance manager shared some thoughts about the current panorama of the crypto sector.

According to Zhao, the most rapid strategy to deal with this problem is to keep expanding its tentacles while reducing certain expenses. In this sense, the CEO also highlighted that he does not see a priority in securing participation spaces in expensive promotional advertisements, as some exchanges did in events such as the Super Bowl or securing their names in iconic sites in some nations.

This statement reflects the intentions encouraged by networks such as Coinbase and Crypto.com in recent times.

Crypto.com and BlockFi Announced Layoffs Cycle on their Companies

While Binance wants to expand its territory and intends to gain more field and advantage of the crypto winter as best as possible, networks like Crypto.com and BlockFi deal with this crypto winter by reducing their base of workers to minimize costs.

Crypto.com also announced that it would be setting up a new reduction of its workforce by 5%, a figure that would represent at least 260 employees that will lose their positions in the company.

The CEO of the exchange, Kris Marszalek, confirmed this news and revealed the announcement in a message posted through his official Twitter account. In that statement, he opened up about the current panorama in the market and expressed that this situation requires making hard and necessary decisions to ensure sustainable long-term growth.

 Kris Marszalek plans to deal with this situation by going through targeted reductions of approximately 260 [employees] or 5% of their current corporate workforce.

By: Jenson Nuñez

MicroStrategy Experienced a 23% loss in its Shares as its Bitcoin Investment Falls $1 billion

Jenson Nunez
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MicroStrategy Experienced a 23% loss in its Shares as its Bitcoin Investment Falls $1 billion

The company revealed on paper a crucial loss on its Bitcoin holdings amid the price collapse. Tesla was also affected by this drop.

MicroStrategy, the enterprise software entity and Bitcoin’s most prominent institutional whale, recently experienced how its share price crumbled due to a steep pullback in the market. According to data provided by Yahoo! Finance, shares of the company, under the MSTR ticket, reached a depth registered at 23% since closing on Friday.

MicroStrategy shares were trading at $155 after closing slightly above $200 on Friday. The price shows the lowest stage for the company’s shares since September 2020.

The stock fall arrived due to a forced correction in the digital asset market. Bitcoin crumbled below $23,000 on Monday morning as the global digital currency market capitalization went below $1 trillion, a level not experienced since early 2021.

Tesla and MicroStrategy lost $1.5 Billion

The slumping bite has also impacted MicroStrategy’s very gypsy Bitcoin investment. Managed by Michael Saylor, MicroStrategy has been acquiring Bitcoin fastly since August 2020, collecting almost 130,000 coins.

While the company started investing in the flagship digital asset when it was trading at around $12,000, overall, purchases happened at an average that surrounds $30,700 per BTC, a figure registered below the $23,300 that Bitcoin previously had.

After noticing this data, MicroStrategy deployed at least $3.9 billion in the last two years, going after its Bitcoin holding plans. Considering that the first digital asset went to $22,900, Saylor’s entity faced an unexpected loss of just over $1 billion.

According to information provided by Bitcoin Treasuries, that loss on Bitcoin holdings got registered at around $950 million. Meanwhile, MicroStrategy is not the only entity with bets on crypto and is facing losses on its BTC holding during these difficult times.

Tesla, the electric carmaker owned by Elon Musk, which acquired more than 40,000 bitcoins during the 2021 bull market, is in precarious conditions too. Spending $1.5 billion Tesla to purchase Bitcoin is now worth about $500 million less, and together, both whales registered losses estimated at $1.5 billion (on paper).

Crypto-related Entities are Suffering During these Times

The collapse seems to be one tentacle of a harsher trend experienced in global stock markets, facing macroeconomic headwinds, as CoinDesk notes. Nasdaq 100 futures went down to 2.8%, and S&P 500 futures also sank 2.4%. Amidst this panorama, stocks of entities connected to the crypto space look affected.

On the other hand, shares of the Coinbase exchange and some digital asset mining entities also faced losses in pre-market. Coinbase shares crumbled down 8%, according to data provided by Yahoo! Finance, while Marathon Digital (MARA), Riot Blockchain (RIOT), and Hut 8 (HUT) all experienced double-digit percentage decay.

The shares of MicroStrategy and these other entities got acknowledged by traditional investors as indirect exposure to digital assets. It is vital to consider that Tesla’s stock price also crumbled to a percentage registered at 5% amid the harsh panorama observed in the markets.

By: Jenson Nuñez

Milestones in the History of the CryptoPunks NFT Collection since Its Launch

Alexander Salazar
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Milestones in the History of the CryptoPunks NFT Collection since Its Launch

Twitter users recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of the launch of the CryptoPunks NFT collection. A buyer paid more than USD 190 million for one of the collectibles.

The CryptoPunks NFT v1 collection recently celebrated its fifth anniversary, thus becoming one of the pioneers in that industry.

Since its launch in 2017, the cryptocurrency community has known CryptoPunks as one of its cultural icons. It is now among the highest-selling NFT collections in the market.

Five milestones will help remember the collection of the iconic pixelated characters inhabiting the Ethereum network.

The Launch of CryptoPunks Occurs in 2017

The Larva Lab studio, founded by Canadian software developers Matt Hall and John Watkinson, launched the CryptoPunks NFT v1 on June 9th, 2017.

However, they announced that CryptoPunks v1 was not official from Larva Lab due to an error in distributing the 10,000 copies. Their smart contract allowed buyers rather than sellers to withdraw the money, leaving many in the red.

That error in their code led the Larva Lab team to release CryptoPunks v2 to replace and reject the first version. CryptoPunks v2 are now the ones considered to be the official NFTs.

Buyers Pay over USD 16 Million for Nine CryptoPunks NFTs

In 2021, buyers paid nearly USD 17 million for nine CryptoPunks NFTs at the world-famous auction house Christie’s.

By the end of 2021, another person bought the most expensive CryptoPunk NFT in history at the same sales platform. The buyer offered 124,457 ETH for the collectible, currently equivalent to over USD 194 million.

However, the tracker of the auction house reported that the buyer sent the NFT back to the seller an hour later. That confirmed that it was a self-purchase, not a genuine sale.

A Cryptocurrency Enthusiast Has over 100 CryptoPunks

Twitter user 0x650d shocked many people with his response to why he spent so much money on 104 CryptoPunks NFT tokens. In August, the cryptocurrency enthusiast said he always chose wealth, referring to his acquisition.

He stated that he decided to believe in NFTs as store-of-value assets as they increase or maintain their warmth over the years. According to Coin Metrics, the sales volume of the CryptoPunks collection at OpenSea exceeded USD 40 million in 2021.

People Can Rent Their CryptoPunks NFTs through a Rental Protocol

In mid-2021, a rental protocol called reNFT created a licensing service that allows owners of NFTs like CryptoPunks to rent them. They would sign a transaction to grant renters the right to display the token as their own for over three months.

However, one of the conditions is that the owners must refrain from using it as an avatar on their social networks during the rental time. Although many consider that topic absurd, others defend the service arguing that the NFT market has potential.

Visa Shows off Its CryptoPunk NFT in Its Digital Art Collection

One of the most relevant reports on CryptoPunks in 2021 was the purchase of one of their NFTs by Visa. The payment technology company paid 49.50 ETH for the collectible, now equivalent to over USD 76,000.

Visa turned to a digital asset platform that facilitated the transaction to purchase that NFT.

By Alexander Salazar

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