Investment developments
The worldwide crypto market experienced a slight uptick on March 13, showing some positive signs, which spilled over into March 14. This can be attributed to the recently published US inflation data that came in lower than anticipated, sparking discussions that the Federal Reserve (Fed) might wrap up its rate-hiking phase earlier than predicted, impacting cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC).
Based on the data revealed on March 12, we saw a 0.1% rise in US consumer prices. Consequently, this led to a 5.0% annual increase, marking the slowest 12-month growth since May 2021. Excluding the unpredictable food and energy expenses, the core CPI grew by 5.6% annually, a slight increase from the previous month’s 5.5%. Although this was under the 5.2% prediction, the core inflation pressures still remained high.
As a result, the chances of a quicker conclusion to the rate-hiking cycle could soon cause BTC prices to climb. Furthermore, the potential for a minor economic downturn later in 2023, as suggested by the March Fed meeting minutes, might prompt the central bank to reduce interest rates.
Based on information from the research website btctools.io, Ether’s market portion has risen to 19.8%, experiencing a more than 1.1% increase in just a day, while Bitcoin’s dominance has dipped by nearly 1%. From the start of the year, ETH’s dominance has grown by 7.6%.
As Ethereum’s market share expands, Bitcoin’s market dominance has dropped to 47.7%. The post-Shapella ETH surge has pushed BTC down from its almost two-year market share peak. Following its climb to $30,000, BTC’s market share reached 48.8% on April 12, the highest point since July 2021, when it was just below 50%. Moreover, BTC hasn’t held more than 50% dominance since April 2021.
Despite this, Bitcoin’s dominance has still increased by 13.6% since the beginning of the year, as per TradingView data.
Finally, according to data from CoinMarketCap, the global crypto market cap stands at $1.29 trillion, a 4.38% increase from April 13 to 14. Meanwhile, the total crypto market volume over the last 24 hours (April 14) is $56.35 billion, a 24.46% increase.
The Crypto Fear and Greed Index, which uses six measurements to assess the current sentiment in the markets, still shows the emotion of greed with a value of 68. The index rates market emotions from 1, extreme fear to 100, extreme greed.
Another week, another “greed” reading from the Index shows that investors are piling into crypto, possibly indicating another bull run. With both BTC and ETH crossing their respective psychological barriers, it is expected that the run will continue, but be ready with your stop losses if you are a trader.
Crypto Exchange developments
Twitter has joined forces with trading platform eToro, enabling social media users to purchase and trade cryptocurrencies, stocks, and various financial instruments. The collaboration was initially disclosed by CNBC on March 13, stating that Twitter will provide its users with a wider array of financial asset price charts than previously available, as well as the option to conduct transactions on eToro.
This agreement is the first significant collaboration for Twitter since Tesla CEO and Dogecoin enthusiast Elon Musk acquired the company, as highlighted by CNBC in their report.
In a conversation with CNBC, Yoni Assian, the CEO of eToro, expressed that Twitter has emerged as a significant platform for their clientele, serving as an educational hub for traders.
“Throughout our substantial growth in the past three years, we have observed an increasing number of our users engaging on Twitter to enhance their knowledge about the markets,” he said.
A narrower collaboration between Twitter and eToro has been established for a while now, providing users with eToro accessibility when looking for specific ticker symbols preceded by a “$” sign.
For example, if you search for “$TSLA,” a TradingView graph of Tesla’s stock appears along with an option to “View on eToro.” However, searching for “$USDT” does not yield the same result.
Crypto Fear & Greed Index. Source: Alternative
Web3 developments
During the yearly NFT NYC conference, payment processing company Mastercard introduced a complimentary Music Pass NFT drop, providing token holders with several advantages. This digital collectible is part of the Mastercard Artist Accelerator program, which began in January.
You can mint the Mastercard Music Pass NFT for free until April’s conclusion. The drop is happening on Polygon, an Ethereum scaling network that other popular brands like Starbucks, Nike, and Reddit have embraced for diverse Web3 projects.
Holders of the Mastercard pass can look forward to exclusive perks such as an AI-driven music creation app, educational resources, and an invitation to a virtual exhibition happening in June that highlights talents from the company’s accelerator initiative. Additionally, the program aims to teach participating artists the ropes of utilizing Web3 technology effectively.
DeFi developments
Decentralized finance (DeFi) platform Yearn Finance recently experienced an attack, leading to the loss of around $11 million in Dai (DAI), Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), Binance USD (BUSD), and Tru USD (TUSD) tokens, as discovered by blockchain security company PeckShield. Meanwhile, Yearn Finance’s team has responded to this news in an effort to reassure its users.
They stated, “We’re examining an issue with iearn, an older contract predating Vaults v1 and v2. This problem appears to be unique to iearn and doesn’t affect current Yearn contracts or protocols,” as mentioned in the platform’s tweet. Additionally, the protocol shared that its team is continuing to look into the matter more closely.
It’s been about two months since Yearn Finance teamed up with several top DeFi protocols to promote decentralization. They kicked off a Twitter campaign alongside over 30 projects, and the most recent achievement has just been revealed.
Tech developments
Input Output Global (IOG), the brains behind Cardano, revealed the introduction of Lace Wallet, marking the debut of a native wallet within the Cardano ecosystem.
Similar to Metamask’s role in the ETH blockchain, Lace 1.0 will serve as a lightweight wallet, providing users with immediate access to the Cardano network and its assortment of dApps constructed on the platform.
A light wallet is a non-custodial option that doesn’t require users to download the entire blockchain. Instead, the backend server handles the downloading of blockchain data on the user’s behalf, all while keeping sensitive information (like private keys) secure and undisclosed.
With Lace, individuals have the ability to send and receive various digital assets, such as ADA, NFTs based on Cardano, and other native tokens. Moreover, they can stake their ADA tokens directly through the wallet, enhancing the network’s security and earning rewards on their stakes.
A standout feature of Lace is its ability to bundle multiple assets into a single transaction, which can then be sent to various addresses. This greatly reduces user expenses, as only one transaction fee gets applied. The Lace team mentioned that initially, only the browser extension was accessible, but the development of a dApp store and desktop app is well underway.
