Morning Coinheads!

Brrrr. Is it getting cold out there?

Bitcoin (BTC) is holding above US$29,000 perhaps there’s bargains there at lower levels.

The price of BTC was US$29,377 and number 2 playa – Ethereum (ETH) – inched below the US$2k mark to US$1,982 overnight.

The crypto market has yet to follow US equities which rallied briefly on Monday after the ol’ Nasdaq found 1.6% during an early week rebound after tech stocks had endured a seven-week slide.

Let’s get into it.

 

Crypto gold: Bitcoin dominance is at a 12-month high

The use of BTC as a crypto safe haven during the winter season has seen a right spike of the ratio between its market cap and the rest of the cryptocurrency market.

As the BTC continues to oscillate around US$30k, the top cryptocurrency’s reign over the digital asset market has jumped clear and is now just under 45% of total market capitalisation.

When conditions turn bullish, traders range far afield looking for faster profits within the decentralised finance (DeFi) landscape.

And as we’re seeing now, a wee crash into bearish territory brings traders and their capital running back to BTC.

 

Planned US crypto bill could ease chill of Crypto Winter

A few weeks ago it was an icy headwind, now the prospect of a US crypto bill could help bring an end to the winter of discontent for the sector.

US senator Cynthia Lummis is out front of her looming crypto bill, which she says can bring a certain order to the disorder of the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

Senator Lummis says the bill’s framework is such that the gaggle of cryptocurrencies, their various protocols and associated crypto-assets, can join traditional assets inside similar regulatory conditions.

“We’ve designed it so it works within the customary framework for managing and regulating traditional assets… So, for example, bitcoin is a commodity, it would fall under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for purposes of trading and the spot market and the futures market.

“And then when something fits in the Howey Test, that makes it a security, it would fall under the Securities Exchange Commission.”

 

Ethereum co-founder Buterin donates to UNSW, no longer a billionaire

Not that the two are connected.

Over the weekend, Vitalik B, the 28-year-old entrepreneur and co-founder of the No. 2 most valuable cryptocurrency, said this:

Ether has already lost circa 60% of its value after touching a record high in November of US$4,865.57. Back then, Buterin said he had ether worth about US$1.5bn.

Last week Buterin donated US$4 million of USD Coin (USDC) to the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to support the development of a pandemic detection tool.

The capital is part of Buterin’s self-described “moonshot anti-COVID effort” dubbed Balvi Filantropic Fund in partnership with the Shiba Inu (SHIB) memecoin project and Crypto Relief.

The funds will further support the development of the Shiba Inu Open-Source Intelligence-based EPIWATCH tool, which utilises artificial intelligence (AI) and open-source data to create early pandemic warning signs.

Created by Kirby Institute head Raina MacIntyre, the tool scans massive chunks of online data, from social media to news reports seeking changes that flag early disease concerns.

 

ECB: One in 10 EU urban households now got crypto

The survey took place in the EU’s major economic areas such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

On Tuesday, the European Central Bank (ECB) revealed some 10% of respondents from the EU’s major economic areas such as France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and the Netherlands said they own cryptocurrencies.

Out of this group, only 6% of respondents said they own digital assets worth more than 30,000 euros, while 37% said they owned up to 999 euros in crypto.

Across all of the countries surveyed, the wealthiest 20% of the population consistently had the highest proportion of cryptocurrency ownership relative to other income groups. I could’ve told Christine Lagarde this myself, but whatever, Christine.

The Consumer Expectation Survey asked adults aged 18 to 70 if they or anyone in their household owned financial assets in various categories, such as crypto-assets, and it was included in a new ECB study on the growing adoption of crypto assets despite their risk factors.

As cited by team Lagarde, 56% of respondents in a recent Fidelity survey said they had some exposure to crypto assets, up from 45% in 2020.

The ECB says increased availability of crypto-based derivatives and securities on regulated exchanges, such as futures, exchange-traded notes, exchange-traded funds, and OTC-traded trusts, have contributed to the momentum.