Crypto Market Outlook – The Trend of Events on July 19, 2023

The crypto market is experiencing a positive trend as of July 19, with most assets playing in the green. Subsequently, the cumulative crypto market cap witnessed a surge of 0.42% over the past 24 hours.

Though Bitcoin is still below the $30,000 mark, the token saw a slight upward move. Similarly, most altcoins recorded an increase in their prices over the past day. The slight shift in the pattern of most crypto assets showed no significant impact within the DeFi, stablecoins, and NFT markets.

Current Trend Of The Digital Asset Market

The trend in the crypto market shows the bears retracting their pressure on prices. According to CoinMarketCap, the overall crypto market cap has hit $1.208 trillion, reflecting an increase of 0.42% over the past day.

But the market’s trading volume dipped by 10.30% in 24 hours, taking the value to 432.48 billion. Also, the Fear and Greed Index dipped to 55, indicating that the market sentiment is still NEUTRAL.

Below are the trends of the key sectors in the crypto market as of July 19.

Bitcoin Market

The price performance of the primary crypto asset is below the $30,000 level. The market lacks strong volatility to create a higher momentum.

Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $29,986.42, following a slight surge of 0.17% over the past 24 hours. Also, its market cap now sits at $582.72 billion.

BTC witnessed a decline of 4.92% in its 24-hour trading volume, with the value falling to $13.42. This indicates that about 440,013 BTC tokens were traded within the past day.

Bitcoin is gradually losing its strength in market dominance as altcoins get more aggressive. BTC recorded a drop of 0.14% in its dominance over the past 24 hours, with the value now at 48.42%.

As of July 19, Bitcoin became the fifth top trending crypto asset, according to CoinMarketCap.

Market Trend for Major Altcoins

Most altcoins are trading in the green while following the twist in price trend within the market today.

Ethereum defends the $1,900 region, with ETH posting an increase of 0.60% over the past day, trading at $1,910.77. The second-largest crypto asset now boasts a market cap of 4229.64 billion and a market dominance of 18.37%.

Ethereum posted a dip of 18.20% in its trading volume over the past 24 hours. The volume is currently at $5.74 billion, reflecting the trading of more than 3 million over the past day.

Among the altcoins, XRP has indicated a higher price surge within the past 24 hours. During the early Asian trading hours, XRP spiked by almost 10%.

As of 6:00 EST, XRP indicates over 6% price growth as the value hit $0.7876. XRP’s market cap has grown to $41.35 billion with the second increase phase.

It witnessed a whooping surge of 44.10% in its 24-hour trading volume, with the value reaching $3.44 billion. The volume shows that more than 4.4 billion XRO coins were traded within the past 24 hours. However, XRP is the second top trending crypto asset as of July 19, after Arkham (ARKM).

Some altcoins have recorded significant surges in their value over the past day. Solana increased by 3.78%, Cardano (ADA) by 3.53%, Litecoin (LTC) by 2.10%, Bitcoin Cash (BCH) by 3.95%, and Toncoin (TON) by 2.14%.

BNB, Dogecoin (DOGE), and Shiba Inu (SHIB) saw a slight surge of 0.44%, 0.11%, and 0.08%, respectively. Conversely, Polygon (MATIC), Tron (TRX), and Polkadot (DOT) plummeted by 1.11%, 0.13%, and 0.99%, respectively.

Stellar (XLM) is today’s top gainer, with a surge of 10.11%, according to CoinMarketCap. The second and third top gainers are Maker (MKR) and BitDAO (BIT).

Conversely, 1inch Network (1INCH) emerged as the top loser, following a drop of 8.77%.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Market

The outlook within the DeFi market is contrary to the trend within the crypto market. A majority of the tokens are moving in the red. 

The DeFi market cap is currently at $45.35 billion, following a massive drop of 36.68% over the past 24 hours.

The market’s 24-hour trading volume decreased by 36.69%, taking the value to $2.20 billion. The DeFi market represents about 6.81% of the total crypto market volume over the past 24 hours.

Avalanche (AVAX) still retains the first position in the ranking of DeFi tokens with a market cap of $4.81 billion. But the price of AVAX plummeted by 0.21% over the past day, taking the value to $13.92. Its 24-hour trading volume decreased by 16.55% to hit $127.07 million.

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) takes second in the list of DeFi tokens with a market cap of $4.74 billion. The token surged 0.10% over the past 24 hours as the price climbed to $29,996.77.

WBTC’s 24-hour trading volume is currently at $78.12 million, reflecting a decrease of 15.61%. This indicates that about 2,627 coins were traded over the past 24 hours. 

Dai (DAI) is maintaining the third position in the ranking of DeFi coins, as it boasts a market cap of $4.61 billion. Despite its post of 0.04% increase in value, DAI is currently trading at $0.9998.

Some DeFi tokens recorded an increase in their value as of July 19. Synthetix (SNX) surged by 5.14%, Maker (MKR) by 8.57%, Injective (INJ) by 1.01%, Internet Computer (ICP) by 0.87%, Compound (COMP) by 0.66%, Theta Network (THETA) by 0.46% and others. 

But some coins witnessed a dip in price over the past day. These include Chainlink (LINK), Uniswap (UNI), Conflux (CFX), Aave (AAVE), Lido DAO (LDO), The Graph (GRT), Kava (KAVA), Fantom (FTM), Tezos (XTZ), 1inch Network (1INCH), and others.

According to CoinMarketCap, HIT/WETH trading pair became the biggest DEX pair gainer for the day. It witnessed a surge of 9999.99%. On the other hand, SOCA/WBNB emerged as the top loser DEX pair for today, recording a decrease of 67.86%.

Stablecoins Market

The stablecoins market is still highlighting the bears’ impact on the coins’ overall trend as of July 19. The stablecoin market cap dropped 0.15% over the past 24 hours, pushing the value to $126.53 billion. 

The market’s 24-hour trading volume is currently at $28.79 billion, following a decline of 7.88%. The stablecoins volume constitutes about 89.64% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume.

Tether (USDT) is still ranked as the largest stablecoin with a market cap of $83.76 billion, recorded a decrease of 7.33% in its 24-hour trading volume, with the value reaching $22.02 billion. The volume indicates the trading of about 21,992,234,485 coins over the past 24 hours.

The second-ranked stablecoin USD Coin (USDC), currently boasts a market cap of $26.99 billion. Also, it saw a drop of 6.07% in its 24-hour trading volume, with the value hitting $2.91 billion.

As of July 19, some stablecoins reflect a shift from their pegged fiat currency value. These include USD Coin (USDC), Dai (DAI), TrueUSD (TUSD), USDD, Pax Dollar (USDP), Terra ClassicUSD (USTC), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), Frax (FRAX), and others.

NFT Market

The trend in the NFT market is still reflecting a downward move with a significant drop in performance. Currently, the NFT market cap sits at $2.55 billion.

The sales volume declined 8.55% over the past 24 hours, taking the value to $20.07 million.  The market recorded a staggering decrease of 21.27% in total sales over the past day, with 52,333 total sales. The market saw a twist in the performance of its top collections as of July 19.

Azuki has emerged to the first position in the ranking of the NFTs, recording a market cap of 65,540 ETH. Its 24-hour volume surged by 12.89%, taking the value to 1,550.36 ETH. It posted an average price of 5.6999ETH, reflecting a drop of 4.54% over the past 24 hours.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has slipped to become the second top NFT ranking, posting an estimated market cap of 334,467 ETH. The 24-hour volume plummeted by a whopping 31.93% to hit 1,176.89 ETH. Its average price dipped by 3.56% over the past day, taking the value to 32.69 ETH.

Dreadfulz is ranked as the third top NFT with an estimated market cap of 156.32 ETH. It recorded a drop of 3.98% in its 24-hour volume, as the value reached 862. 35 ETH. However, Dreadfulz witnessed an increase of 8.02% in its average price over the past 24 hours, taking the value to 107.79 ETH.

Crypto Market News And Events For Today

Below are some news and events in the crypto industry as of July 19.

Ripple’s Investment In AI And Metaverse Company Triggers A 10% Spike For XRP

The San Francisco-based blockchain firm Ripple recently announced its investment moves. This company has dived into AI and metaverse technology with an investment in Futureverse, a content firm.

The news from Ripple created a second phase of a price rally for its native token XRP over the past day. Futureverse provides AI content generation tools to promote some aspects within metaverse platforms, such as music, animations, objects, and characters. 

The firm generated $54 million through a Series A round of funding with a focus on combining AI and the metaverse. 10T Holding pioneered the fundraising round with the participation of other firms, including Ripple.

According to Furtureverse’s statement, it would channel the funds to enhancing comprehensive AI technologies.

It noted that the firm’s activities include the “blockchain and suite of protocols with ready-made runtimes for building next-generation metaverse apps, games, and experiences.”

After the announcement, XRP’s price increased by 10% during the Asian trading hours. As of 4:00 EST, XRP is trading at around $0.7859, indicating 6.26% over the past 24 hours.

Binance Burns Almost 2 Million BNB In Its Quarterly Token Burning Mechanism

The world’s leading crypto exchange Binance has announced the completion of its 24th quarterly BNB burn on July 19. The burning process, corresponding to the second quarter of 2023, destroyed 1,991,854 BNB coins worth about $484.1 million.

The Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) reacted to the recent BNB burn process. He noted that other large transactions would follow the token burn to ensure proper allocation and distribution of coins to multiple addresses. 

The indication for the firm to complete such transactions is still unknown as no similar trend was recorded in the past after quarterly burns.

According to the protocol’s whitepaper, Binance has maintained the BNB burning mechanism as part of its routine. Notably, it is a means of controlling the circulating supply of a crypto asset and ensuring a boost in its value.

From the start of 2022, Binance has been burning BNB till the total supply fall to 100 million. BNB has witnessed a decline of about 25% in its value following the SEC’s crackdown on Binance and the growing FUD within the crypto market.

Further, BNB could face liquidation worth over $200 million on the Venus protocol if its value plummets to $220. In Oct 2022, such an amount of funds was sealed from the BNB Bridge attack, which the BNB chain community is yet to resolve.

Australian Regulator Revokes FTX’s Operational License In The Country

The Australian financial regulatory authority has revoked the financial license of FTX Australia.

The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) officially announced the cancellation of the license on July 19. The revoke of the license has been in effect for the exchange since July 14.

According to the statement, FTX Australia can still provide financial services to its Australian customers until July 12, 2024. This grace period will help the exchange to conclude all outstanding deals with their users. Further, ASIC stated that FTX is still expected to arrange for its compensation to its customers within the extension period. 

FTX has a large user base, numbering up to 30,000 retail customers and 132 local firms. The number has brought some concerns about the possible financial implication on the clients and the necessity of proper compensation. 

Polygon Unveils New Governance Structure To Improve Decentralization And Community Engagement

According to a blog post on July 19, Polygon plans a new governance structure for its ecosystem.

The protocol team stated that the vision for the change in the governance architecture is to spike the platform’s decentralization. It would implement a network of Layer 2 chains operated using zero-knowledge (zk) technology.

Also, the team mentioned that the change is expected to enhance active engagement from stakeholders like validators, dApp developers, and other users.

The proposed governance structure includes three major elements. The first involves the expansion of the Polygon Improvement Proposal (PIP) framework that will trigger a surge in community participation in decision-making processes.

The second deals with laying out an ecosystem council to monitor smart contract updates on the network. The final element brings in a two-phase community treasury governance process for providing the funds for relevant projects in the ecosystem.

With the inclusion of users, validators, and dApp developers in its governance process, Polygon strives to create a more transparent façade. Also, the move aims to introduce collaborative and community-based governance in the ecosystem.

The network would receive a wide range of ideas and concepts from participants that could foster a stronger and more resilient ecosystem in the long run.

Bitfinex Report Reveals Bitcoin Miners’ Double Strategy Of Hedging And Bullish Betting

A recent report of Bitfinex unveils the latest strategy that Bitcoin mining firms are using in the market.

The report noted the increase in miners selling off high volumes of BTC tokens to exchanges. The move has created a spike in the value of shares held by Bitcoin mining firms amid the surge in spot BTC trades from institutional investors this year. The miners are also noted to be hedging bets in their holding concurrently despite the increased market volatility.

According to the report’s details, miners try to create a strong for their Bitcoin reserve as they move a significant amount of the token to exchanges. Poolin is at the forefront as it reportedly disposed of many BTC coins recently. 

However, BTC mining difficulty has witnessed a record-breaking value. This reflects that miners still retain high confidence in the potential, impressive performance of the primary crypto asset.

Bitfinex stated: “Miners are bullish on Bitcoin as they commit more resources to mining, thereby escalating mining difficulty, but they’re simultaneously hedging their position, hence the influx of Bitcoin to exchanges.”

Also, it reported that miners maintain hedging positions on derivatives exchanges. The fact is reflected through a 30-day total volume of 700,000 BTC tokens moved in the first week of July.

Nasdaq Stops Launch Of Crypto Custody Service

The world securities marketplace Nasdaq has decided to stop the launch of its crypto custody service. It previously planned to introduce the service by ending of Q2 2023.

Nasdaq’s CEO Adena Friedman revealed the decision during the firm’s recent second-quarter results call. The CEO cited the increased regulatory risks in the United States as part of the factors for the suspension.

Friedman said: “This quarter, considering the shifting business and regulatory environment in the United States, we have made the decision to halt our launch of the U.S. digital assets custodian business and our related efforts to pursue relevant license.”

The CEO mentioned that Nasdaq will keep up its commitment to crypto asset business development. It pledged to maintain technological capacities that still position it as the top software solutions provider for digital assets.

Also, the company plans to improve its custody solution, which will expand its operations in serving the broader crypto asset marketplace.

CoinMarketCap’s First Half 2023 Report Highlights Lost For Q2

The top crypto data aggregator CoinMarketCap has recently released its first-half report for 2023. The report is tagged “According to CMC: Crypto Market Analysis H1 2023.”

The report revealed that Q1 2023 witnessed more positive outcomes in the performance of most crypto assets. Bitcoin’s price doubled, and layer-2 scaling solutions such as Arbitrum and zero-knowledge proofs received more adoption.

Also, Q1 reflected a robust NFT market with a spike from product updates. NFT marketplace Blur’s token issuance occurred during the first quarter of the year.

However, the trend was different in Q2, with no major-breaking developments. CMC data indicated that Q2 failed to produce the excitement seen in Q1.

The second quarter turned out to be the season for meme coins explosion in the crypto market. Also, it brought in the new BRC-20 token models that rose to popularity in a very short time.

El Salvador’s BTC Adoption Falls Short But Reduced Crime

El Salvador is the first country to adopt Bitcoin as a legal tender. But after two years, its country’s adoption level appears to be low though it noted some benefits with the move.

Former Ethereum core developer Lane Rettig revealed the Central American country’s BTC stance during a recent discussion at EthCC 2023.

Rettig noted that he had visited El Salvador twice following its adoption of BTC as a legal tender. But he mentioned that it still lags irrespective of the huge promotional efforts from the government.

According to Rettig, just a few residents use BTC in their daily transactions in the country. But about 4 million citizens downloaded the government sponsored Chivo wallet in the past to receive the $30 BTC bonus. 

Rettig said: “Most people don’t feel that Bitcoin benefits them. It’s largely not an accepted medium of exchange in El Salvador despite the promotion on the part of the government.”

Conversely, Rettig stated that the introduction of Bitcoin in El Salvador has substantially reduced the crime rate. Recent surveys indicated that more than 80% of Salvadorians believed that crime had declined under the administration of President Bukele.

Further, the country saw a surge in Bitcoin ATMs, which moved from 2 in 2021 to more than 200 this year.

 The country’s BTC ATM coverage outshines some major cities globally, as El Salvador maintains ATMs in remote villages. Also, Rettig noted that the ATM fees are quite negligible.

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