A curious week of crypto narratives sees Bitcoin lose early gains
The week in review
With Jason Deane
Some of you may have noticed that my usual weekly summary was missing last week as, after two years of avoiding it, I finally had the personal experience of seeing two little lines come up on my Covid test meaning I was positive for the dreaded lurgi.
Not that I needed this little piece of plastic to tell me that, since I already felt rotten and could barely get out of bed. I lost a couple of days of productive output as a result.
As quickly as it came, it went away again and, although I’m still testing positive as of this morning, it is no longer preventing me from completing my writing duties. However, since I am supposed to be flying to Miami for Bitcoin 2022 on Monday and need a negative test to do so, things are getting a little, well, close to the mark. It’s going to be touch and go.
While I was feeling sorry for myself, Greenpeace, with the “help” of Chris Larsen (yes, he of Ripple fame) used the basis of a long-debunked piece of research to launch a thoroughly misguided attempt to “change Bitcoin’s code”. Of course, it will never succeed for myriad reasons, but it did manage to muddy the waters for people who are still trying to understand the relationship between Bitcoin and energy consumption.
Happily – and by complete coincidence – I had published that very same morning a piece of work I had been researching for some time extolling the positives of Bitcoin mining and how it will ultimately help us deliver a carbon negative position while still bringing all the benefits to humankind that it does. This, of course, has led to some interesting press coverage as the two mutually exclusive positions went head to head.
Then, somewhat lost in the noise, news came out of the EU that lawmakers there had decided it would be a great idea to outlaw all private crypto transactions, not only through exchanges, but through privately hosted (custodial) wallets as well. On paper, this is extremely damaging for innovation and development for the sector in general and could even lead to security issues.
Some have taken the headlines at face value and consider this a hammer blow to crypto within EU borders, but the reality is that this is far from being law and, even if it did ultimately happen, it would be so utterly cumbersome to try and manage that it would be rendered ineffective in practice. In my view, this will ultimately end up being a non-starter and non-story, but even so, like the Greenpeace “story” we could do without the hassle.
Have a great weekend!
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Yesterday’s Crypto AM Daily in association with Luno
In the markets
The Bitcoin economy
*Definitions and insights can be found at https://bytetree.com/research
Total crypto market cap
The total capitalisation of the entire cryptocurrency market at time of writing is currently $2.054 trillion, down from $2.153 trillion yesterday.
What Bitcoin did yesterday
We closed yesterday, March 31 2022, at a price of $45,538.68, down from $47,062.66 the day before. The daily high yesterday was $47,512.03 and the daily low was $47,655.15.
Bitcoin market capitalisation
Bitcoin’s market capitalisation at time of writing is $849.52 billion. To put it into context, the market cap of gold is $12.338 trillion and Tesla is $1.13 trillion.
Bitcoin volume
The total spot trading volume reported by all exchanges over the last 24 hours was $39.018 billion, up from $28.304 billion yesterday. High volumes can indicate that a significant price movement has stronger support and is more likely to be sustained.
Volatility
The price volatility of Bitcoin over the last 30 days is 44.85%.
Fear and Greed Index
Market sentiment today is 50, in Neutral.
Bitcoin’s market dominance
Bitcoin’s market dominance today is 42.03. Its lowest ever recorded dominance was 37.09 on January 1 2018.
Relative Strength Index (RSI)
The daily RSI is currently 57.34. Values of 70 or above indicate that an asset is becoming overbought and may be primed for a trend reversal or experience a correction in price – an RSI reading of 30 or below indicates an oversold or undervalued condition.
Convince your Nan: Soundbite of the day
“We estimate the total addressable market for the #Metaverse economy could grow to between $8 trillion and $13 trillion by 2030.”
Citi, leading global bank.
What they said yesterday
Next in fashion…
Bills, bills, bills…
Crypto AM: Editor’s picks
Fears crypto is used to avoid sanctions ‘misplaced,’ says Matt Hancock
Meet the hackers helping people recover lost crypto assets
The cryptocurrency fundraisers behind Ukraine’s military effort
Exclusive: Fireblocks valuation climbs to $8bn in $550m funding round
Crypto crazy couple name baby after favourite digital asset
Bitcoin hashrate touches new all time high
Peter McCormack: Transforming Bedford FC into a global Bitcoin brand
Exclusive: FTSE plots development of digital asset index in crypto push
Crypto could give London a unique post-Brexit advantage, says Hammond
Crypto AM: Features
Crypto AM: Founders Series
Crypto AM: Industry Voices
Crypto AM: Contributors
Crypto AM: In Conversation with James Bowater
Crypto AM: Tomorrow’s Money with Gavin S Brown
Crypto AM: Mixing in the Metaverse with Dr Chris Kacher
Crypto AM: Visions of the Future, Past & Present with Alex Lightman
Crypto AM: Tiptoe through the Crypto with Monty Munford
Crypto AM: Taking a Byte out of Digital Assets with Jonny Fry
Crypto on the catwalk
Crypto AM: Events
For those of you who missed the Crypto AM DeFi & Digital Inclusion online summit 2021 – you can now watch the event in two parts via YouTube
Part One
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvqNMNZTIDE
Part Two
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXhX_-Tr5j0
Cautionary Notes
It’s definitely tempting to get swept up in the excitement, but please heed these words of caution: Do your own research, only invest what you can afford, and make good decisions. The indicators contained in this article will hopefully help in this. Remember though, the content of this article is for information purposes only and is not investment advice or any form of recommendation or invitation. City PM, Crypto AM and Luno always advise you to obtain your own independent financial advice before investing or trading in cryptocurrency.
All information is correct as of 08:00 BST