Stakes are few, Ethereum!

DATE: 26-12-22 View online Hey Cryptonews, here's our curated daily bundle of crypto news. Retail investors' interest in BTC hits new high No. of addresses holding over 0.01 BTC hit a new ATH On the contrary, whales' interest was comparatively lackluster According to Glassnode, the number of addresses with over 0.01 BTC has now hit a new all-time high. This finding seemed to underline a significant uptick in retail interest as far as Bitcoin is concerned. Furthermore, the number of addresses holding between 0.01 BTC and 1000 BTC also climbed to a new high.  Here, it's worth noting that most of the buying spree transpired right after the price drop on 15 December. This was a sign that most of these retailers bought BTC at a discounted price.  On the contrary, the number of addresses with 1000 - 10,000 BTC fell, highlighting the whales' tendency to exit positions. In fact, owing to the growing selling pressure, short positions against Bitcoin have been on the rise too.  Learn more ETH's staking data reveals centralization A majority of the ETH being staked is being handled by 4 providers Finding has raised the question of centralization within Ethereum again A recent Delphi Digital report found that 57% of all ETH staked is being handled by just four staking providers. Lido Finance, Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken constituted this percentage, with Lido Finance alone accounting for over 30%. The finding has again raised concerns about possible centralization within Ethereum.  Additionally, the revenue generated by Ethereum stakers has been declining recently. With the same down by over 22%, the overall revenue collected by stakers, at press time, was $863.5M.  On the other hand, there has been a spike in the amount of gas being used for Ethereum transactions. In fact, median gas usage for Ethereum hit a new ATH. Similarly, long positions against Ethereum have been on the rise lately too.  Learn more USDT's throne could be up for grabs as 2022 ends Despite market volatility, total stablecoin trading volume hit a new high in 2022 The same recorded figures of $7.4T Stablecoins remain popular across the crypto-market, despite frequent bouts with volatility. While total trading volume hit a new high, the same couldn't be said about all stablecoins in the market. In fact, USDT's transfer volume fell by over $200 billion on the charts.  According to Dune Analytics, USDC accounted for 63% of the overall stablecoin transfer volume. USDT, the world's largest stablecoin by market cap, however, accounted for just 18.4% of the same.  A social angle can be linked to the aforementioned fall in USDT's metrics. While the stablecoin's social mentions fell by 13.5% over the month, its social engagements were down by 23.3%. On the contrary, the weighted sentiment associated with USDT did see some improvement recently. Learn more Bitcoin's hashrate returns to normalcy after brief fall The network's hashrate fell by 38% before recovering to touch 241.29 EH/s This wasn't the first time weather conditions had affected the network Freezing winter temperatures in the United States have put a significant strain on the country's electricity grid. Owing to the same, miners in Texas voluntarily shut down their operations. This precipitated a fall in the hashrate, with the same falling to as low as 170.60 EH/s. Lancium was one of the first to shut down its operations over the last few days. While this had a corresponding effect on the hashrate, many in the community welcomed the voluntary move. In fact, CEO of Satoshi Act Fund Dennis Porter claimed that the "network worked as designed." He added,  "Bitcoin miners are good for the grid." On the contrary, not everyone was pleased with how the hashrate dropped and rose again. FutureBit's John Stefanop stated that the hashrate went offline thanks to highly centralized miners. The network is too dependent on weather and geological disruptions, he added.  Binance faces €2.4M lawsuit from French investors Binance France, Binance Holdings Limited are the subjects of this lawsuit According to the plaintiffs, the defendants have been violating French laws Binance is being sued by 14 investors in France for alleged misleading commercial practices and fraudulent concealment. According to the plaintiffs, the crypto-exchange started advertising and providing crypto-services before it had actually registered for the same under France's regulatory regime. The plaintiffs also claim that they lost €2.4M following UST's collapse.  Under the license granted to Binance by France's Autorité des marchés financiers, the platform can offer services such as assets custody and crypto-trading. This license was granted back in May 2022.  For its part, Binance France did respond by stating that it does not comment on any pending proceedings. It did, however, add that "Binance did not promote in France before being allowed to do so." CZ addresses FUD directed at Binance On Twitter, CEO Changpeng Zhao listed out all the reasons why there is FUD around Binance 'We welcome feedback, but ignore FUD,' he said According to the exec, a lot of the FUD around Binance is generated by media outlets that are 'paid' to FUD the exchange. CZ claimed that some industry players view Binance as competition and go as far as paying 'completely-owned media outlets to spread FUD.   In the Twitter thread, CZ also attacked the perception associated with centralized exchanges. Whether CEXs help with crypto-adoption or not, some entities just 'hate' CEXs, especially if one or a few of them turn out to be bad, he said. Finally, the CEO also speculated,  "Writing about Binance gets you more clicks. If you write about a small exchange, you get less clicks." Less than a week ago, Binance had touched upon a few more instances of FUD via a blogpost written in Chinese. In the same, the exchange had clarified its position on exchange reserves and the temporary suspension of USDC withdrawals.  Crypto practically 'non-existent' for institutional investors - JP Morgan exec Most institutional investors are still averse to entering the crypto-market JP Morgan Asset Management's Jared Gross cited 'high volatility' as a reason for the same Despite widespread optimism, institutional investors are yet to embrace crypto. According to the analyst, this has been the case thanks to a variety of reasons including 'high volatility' and the lack of an 'intrinsic return.' These factors have made the asset class 'very challenging' to navigate, he added.  That's not all, however, with the analyst adding that Bitcoin's position as an inflationary hedge has been undermined too.  Here, it's worth noting that on the contrary, this Christmas saw the world's largest cryptocurrency foregoing a 'Santa rally.' In fact, according to Reflexivity's Will Clemente, Bitcoin's volatility is at an all-time low now.  Low volatility 'Santa' for BTC, ETH, XRP Coin Price 24hr Market Cap ↑BTC $16,845 +0.1% $324 Billion ↑ETH $1,220 0% $147 Billion ↑XRP $0.35 +0.6% $17 Billion Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency, was trading at under $19,000 at the time of writing. BTC disappointed those who expected a 'Santa rally,' however, with the crypto up by just 0.1% over the last 24 hours. Simply put, volatility has been extremely low lately. On the price chart, while the mouth of the Bollinger Bands seemed to be squeezing around BTC's price candles, the Chaikin Money Flow highlighted major capital outflows.  Like BTC, volatility wasn't Ethereum's strong suit either. The world's largest altcoin was keeping steady on the price charts with very minimal movement in either direction. Priced at $1,220 at press time, the Parabolic SAR's dotted markers underlined the bearishness of the altcoin's market situation. Similarly, the RSI was well below the neutral 50-zone too. XRP appreciated by 0.6% over the last 24 hours to touch a value of $0.35 on the charts. With the SEC's lawsuit against Ripple Labs still ongoing, no immediate catalysts can be seen either. On the charts, the Bollinger Bands were holding steady around the price candles while the MACD and Signal lines were converging below the histogram.  Altcoins make decent daily gains Coin Price 24hr Market Cap ↑LTC $68.95 +4.9% $4.9 Billion ↑AAVE $55.54 +1.4% $788 Million ↑ATOM $9.07 +1.3% $2.6 Billion Litecoin was priced at $68.95 at press time, having hiked by almost 5% over the last 24 hours. In fact, LTC was one of the market's biggest gainers over the said period. On the price charts, the proximity of the SAR's dotted markers to the price candles suggested that a trend reversal might be incoming soon. The positioning of the RSI close to the neutral zone lent some weight to this prediction too.  With a value of $55.54 at press time, volatility wasn't very strong on AAVE's price charts. In fact, the altcoin was up by a mere 1.4% over the last 24 hours, underlining the general market's hesitancy to move in either direction. While the Bollinger Bands had a fair degree of width around the price candles on the charts, the Chaikin Money Flow highlighted low capital inflows.  ATOM's price trend pointed to a steady rate of growth over the last few days, with the last 24 hours seeing the alt climb by 1.3% too. Priced at $9.07 at press time, the altcoin's MACD and Signal lines were too close together to project what the upcoming trend will be like. On the contrary, however, the Relative Strength Index was well below 50 and highlighted bearishness.  LUNC, GRT, APE star as weekly anomalies Coin Price 24hr Market Cap ↑LUNC $0.00014 +5.1% $889 Million ↑GRT $0.06 +3.3% $444 Million ↑APE $3.59 +2.9% $1.2 Billion With a value of $000.14, Terra LUNA Classic was one of the market's biggest weekly gainers on the back of a 5% hike. In fact, most of this hike can be attributed to the price appreciation seen over the last 24 hours alone. This recent volatility was underlined by its indicators too, with the mouth of the Bollinger Bands widening around its price candles. Similarly, the Moving Average was positioned well below the price candles - A sign of bullishness.  GRT was trading at $0.06 at the time of writing. With a market cap of $444 million, the altcoin appreciated by over 3% over the last 7 days. Here, it's worth noting that GRT was one of the few altcoin anomalies to move positively over the said period. The dotted markers of GRT's Parabolic SAR were positioned below the price candles - A sign of bullishness. Additionally, the CMF's uptrend highlighted the scale of capital inflows into GRT.  APE was valued at $3.59 on the price charts at press time. With a market capitalization of $1.2 billion, the altcoin, like LUNC and GRT, also appreciated with a weekly hike of less than 3%. The indicators seemed to be flashing some mixed signals, however, with the Moving Average almost level with the price candles while the RSI was levelling off at around 50. Share with friends: Facebook  | |  Twitter  | |  Email © 2022 Unhashed. All Rights Reserved. Unsubscribe