Good morning and welcome to First Mover. I'm Lyllah Ledesma and I'll be updating you on the latest crypto market developments, news and insights.
- Price Point: Altcoins have taken a tumble this morning, with Ether dropping more than $100 in one hour.
- Market Movements: Bitcoin's dominance over altcoins has reached a seven-month high. The last time this level was reached was in October 2021.
- Feature: We take a look at data showing that the USD coin (USDC) has become the stablecoin of choice on the Ethereum blockchain, rather than the larger tether (USDT).
Price Point.
Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen 1.7% in the last 24 hours and is struggling to hold $30,000. At press time, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading at around $29,000.
Ethereum took a bigger hit, trading down 6.5% at around $1,800 for the day.
"When the BTC price doesn't go up, the negativity comes out," said Charles Storry, head of growth at Phuture, a crypto index platform.
"The narrative around BTC and crypto in general is going from a futuristic store of value to a fraud," Storry said. "That depresses the price until investor sentiment changes and we go back up."
Altcoins appear to be suffering more than BTC, with Avalanche (AVAX) leading the price decline. AVAX fell 12% during the day, Cosmos' ATOM fell 10.5%, and Solana's SOL fell 8%.
In traditional markets, Wall Street posted a positive trading session overnight, but has since been mixed. Bonds gained ground as traders assessed the Fed minutes, which were less aggressive than expected. News from China sent Asian markets and European futures lower overnight.
Market Movements.
Although BTC's market cap has fallen to $552 billion, Bitcoin's dominance over altcoins has reached a seven-month high. BTC dominance - the measure of Bitcoin's share of total cryptocurrency market capitalization - has risen to 45%, its highest level since October 2021.
However, according to Laurent Kssis, Head of Europe at Hashdex, signals for BTC are not yet showing signs of recovery.
"We could see further downside in altcoins as there are still strong signs that BTC remains below $30,000," Kssis said in an interview with CoinDesk.
Kssis noted that Ether's price drop was particularly significant on Thursday (Ether fell $1,000 around 9 a.m. GMT).
"We saw big sellers dominating the Ether market this morning, fueled by the loss of interest. This is a clear absence of bullish volatility currently seen in the crypto market," Kssis said.
Last Headlines.
- Binance's Bahrain License Upgraded for More Crypto Services Binance Bahrain was granted a provisional license in December and a full license in March.
- Gaming DAO Merit Circle and YGG Caught in DAO Governance Dispute Merit Circle members want to recoup Yield Guild Games' investment and terminate an agreement between the two, claiming the gaming guild giant did not add enough value.
- Former Binance executives launch $100 million fund to boost crypto adoption in emerging markets: Old Fashion Research report was founded by Ling Zhang and Wayne Fu, who were previously vice president of M&A and head of corporate development at Binance, respectively
- Solana, Dogecoin Tokens Fall as Futures Indicate Bearish Sentiment Choppy trading in broader markets failed to mitigate the gradual decline in major cryptocurrencies, with some falling as much as 8% in the past 24 hours.
- After Armstrong's tweet, India's crypto policy body says no contempt of court challenge against RBI The Coinbase CEO suggested last month that the RBI's "shadow ban" on crypto exchanges violates a Supreme Court ruling.
- Portuguese Congress Rejects Two Bills to Tax Cryptocurrencies The proposals were submitted by two leftist parties. The government, which is also seeking taxation, has yet to submit a proposal.
Feature:Terra Snapshot is expected this week. Here's how the "new" Luna will be distributed
By Krisztian Sandor
There has been a rethink among major crypto investors known as whales. Data shows that USD Coin (USDC) has become the stablecoin of choice on the Ethereum blockchain, rather than the larger Tether (USDT).
In the cryptocurrency industry, whales are the largest holders of cryptocurrencies - institutional investors, exchanges, individuals with a lot of money - who are able to move large amounts of tokens and influence market prices. Analysts closely monitor their activities to identify trends and predict large price movements.
Data from CoinMetrics, a blockchain analytics firm, shows that wallet addresses on the Ethereum blockchain holding more than $1 million USDC have surpassed the number of wallets holding USDT, still the largest stablecoin by market cap.
"In the current market situation, many people see USDC as the safer, preferred stablecoin," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at trading platform Oanda, told CoinDesk.
USDC, the second largest stablecoin, has gained market share since the once $18 billion UST stablecoin collapsed and USDT's peg to the dollar wobbled.
CoinMetrics examined blockchain data since May 9, when UST lost its peg to the U.S. dollar. The company identified 147 Ethereum wallet addresses that increased their USDC balance by at least $1 million and decreased their USDT balance by at least $1 million. This included 23 addresses that added at least $10 million USDC and surrendered $10 million USDT. Many of these addresses are exchanges, custodians or decentralized financial protocols, the report added.
The report also said that USDC's lead over Tether's USDT in terms of so-called free float - the number of tokens held by investors - on the Ethereum blockchain reached an all-time high among all holder groups on Tuesday.
"This likely reflects the fact that only large holders generally have the privilege of redeeming USDT and minting new USDC to take advantage of arbitrage," Kyle Waters, an analyst at CoinMetrics, wrote in the report. "But it could also be the case that some large accounts are de-risking their holdings and turning to the perceived safety of monthly USDC certificates and full reserve backing."
Read the full story: crypto whales abandoned Tether for USDC after stablecoin panic
Today's newsletter was edited by Lyllah Ledesma and produced by Parikshit Mishra and Stephen Alpher.