Cryptocurrency Market Overview 08/23/2023
News block
1. Oman Launches Cryptocurrency Mining Center
The Sultanate of Oman has launched a new cryptocurrency mining center, which was opened in the free economic zone of Salalah with low corporate taxes. This is the second mining center opened in the country in the last 10 months.
It is reported that the construction of the center cost 135 million Omani rials (approximately $ 350 million) and it will use the latest equipment from Bitmain Technologies. By October 2023, 15,000 mining rigs (ASICs) are planned to be installed in the new center. Currently, the center has been operating in pilot mode since 2000 ASICs.
This facility is part of a plan to accelerate the digitalization of Oman's economy, which mainly depends on oil exports.
The first mining center in Oman opened in November 2022 and cost 150 million Omani rials ($389 million).
2. Confiscation of crypto assets in favor of the state
The authorities of the South Korean city of Cheongju have requested information from seven cryptocurrency exchanges, including Upbit and Bithumb, about 8,520 clients suspected of tax evasion. The crypto assets found on the balance of violators will be confiscated in favor of the state.
Recall that in July, the South Korean government launched a unit to combat cryptocurrency crimes, including tax evasion, unauthorized transfers and money laundering.
3. Binance helps Russian citizens circumvent sanctions
The US Department of Justice is investigating Binance's activities in connection with possible violations of US sanctions against Russia. And although the representatives of the exchange claim that they "comply with the sanctions requirements," this may aggravate the legal problems of the crypto exchange in the United States.
The investigation proceeds from the fact that Binance continues to process significant trading volumes in RUB and probably interacts with banks from the "Western blacklists".
The pressure on Binance in the Western world is not easing.
Overview of the crypto market
🔸 The current capitalization of the crypto market is 1.089 trillion
🔸 Trading volume for the last day is $42.96 billion
🔸 BTC dominance 46.5%
🔸 Fear and Greed Index:
- today 37, yesterday 37, a week ago 50
where, 0 is extreme fear (may be a sign that investors are too scared - it's often a good time to buy), and 100 is extreme greed (the market needs correction).
Over the past few days, the BTC price has frozen at $26.0k. Analyzing the liquidity of the BTC/USD pair in the Binance order book, Material Indicators noted a significant lack of liquidity, which increases the likelihood of a sharp movement in any direction.
The SEC has less than 2 weeks to officially respond to applications for the launch of 7 spot bitcoin ETFs from companies such as BlackRock, VanEck, Fidelity and others:
NVT Golden Cross Indicator
NVT Golden Cross is a signal indicator that predicts the formation of local highs/lows and helps traders to open short or long positions.
- The indicator value above "2.2" means that the short-term trend is much stronger than the long-term one, which means the price may soon return to the average value (i.e. it is a sell signal);
- The indicator value below "-1.6" means the opposite situation (the long-term trend is stronger than the short-term one) and is a buy signal.
At the moment, we are seeing the fifth time that NVT Golden Cross has fallen below "-1.6" since the beginning of the bear market:
The superiority of Ethereum over Bitcoin
The collapse of the market last week led to the fact that Ethereum (ETH) suffered fewer losses than the industry leader bitcoin. Analysts disagree on why this happened, given that BTC was previously the preferred asset for investors during market downturns.
While bitcoin fell by 10.5% last week, ether lost only 8.3%. And this is unusual, because previously investors preferred bitcoin, the most liquid cryptocurrency, during periods of stress. Historically, the price of ETH declined more rapidly during market downturns and could then show outstripping growth during market upturns.
This time the situation has changed. What was the reason for this?
Firstly, the market remains optimistic about the upcoming launch of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) based on Ethereum futures in the United States. According to the Wall Street Journal, at least 16 applications for Ethereum futures ETFs or Ethereum+Bitcoin futures are currently awaiting regulatory approval in the United States.
Exchange-traded funds based on Ethereum futures may be approved as early as October. Although it is not as good a product as a spot ETF, it is still convenient for retail and institutional investors.
Secondly, the hedging activity of market makers of ETH options contributed to the stability of ETH. So Griffin Ardern, a trader at the crypto asset management company Blofin, says: "For BTC, I think the hedging of market makers contributed to the price drop, but for ETH it was a key factor that prevented a sharp drop in price. ETH has had a steady positive gamma near the strike price around $1600 and its overall gamma is still positive, which means that when the price falls, market makers are buyers, not sellers."
