Crypto Market Week In Review: February 16, 2023
Although the previous week in the cryptocurrency market was calm, this one looked different. The prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum and most altcoins rose significantly on February 15th. So what happened to cryptocurrency this week? Let's take a look at this week's charts and top stories!
What happened to Crypto this week?
Let's start today's review by analyzing the prices of the main cryptocurrencies, namely Bitcoin and Ethereum. As a result, they made quite a lot of profit, both in price and in the online business.
Bitcoin price in dollars this week
The price of bitcoin in US dollars was relatively calm at the beginning of the week. However, on February 15, the trend changed after the US government released inflation data. These figures caused the fall of a number of stock indices. On the other hand, DXY, an index that compares the value of the US dollar to other national currencies, rose.
Usually, the price of bitcoin moves in the opposite direction. So when the dollar goes up, bitcoin goes down. However, over the past year, BTC has repeatedly demonstrated that it would like to break this inverse correlation.
So what is the price of bitcoin today? The current price of bitcoin is $24,633 and the market capitalization is $475 million. The 7-day high of BTC was $24,737.24 and the 7-day low was $22,088.41. Primary crypto dominance increased to 40.8%.
The rise in the price of bitcoin once again caused positive sentiment among investors. The fear and greed index is at 62 compared to 48 last week.
Ethereum price in dollars this week
The price of Ethereum has also risen, albeit slightly less than Bitcoin. ETH is currently worth $1,678 and has a market capitalization of over $200 billion. The 7-day high for ETH was $1,700.57 and the 7-day low was $1,546.16. The dominance of the second largest cryptocurrency remains the same as last week at 17.5%.
Cryptocurrency Growth Leaders This Week
While Bitcoin and Ethereum are doing well, some altcoins have shown even more gains over the last 7 days. Among the top 100 crypto assets, the top crypto assets were:
- Bitget token (BGB) - 80%.
- MINE PROTOCOL (MINA) - 40%
- WhiteBIT Token (WBT) - 24%.
- GMX (GMX) - 22%
- Baby Doge Coin (BABYDOGE) - 21%.
Hadera (HBAR) and ImmutableX (IMX) were also up over 20%. The largest gains this week came from a wide variety of categories, from the metaverse to the token exchange and meme coins. In the wake of ChatGPT last week, a lot of the growth was mainly due to AI cryptocurrencies.
Weekly Cryptocurrency News
We have already analyzed the prices and earnings of the largest cryptocurrencies. So, let's take a look at what happened in the cryptocurrency market last week.
US inflation continues to fall; However, experts are far from enthusiastic.
We have new data on inflation in the US, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in January it fell again. The problem is that the fall turned out to be less than experts expected.
US consumer price inflation eased to 6.4% in January from 6.5% in December, 7.1% in November and 7.7% in October. The fall is even more visible. In September, inflation was 8.2%; in August - 8.3%; and in July - 8.5%.
The data above shows that prices are not rising at the same rate as six months ago. The problem is that the market consensus was 6.2%, so experts were expecting a bigger drop.
However, in order not to be pessimistic, it is necessary to take into account the seventh consecutive fall in annual CPI growth in the US. So far, many indicators point to an all-time high of 9.1% in June 2022. By the way, it was the biggest price increase in 41 years.
However, it is too early to open champagne and declare financial success. Food prices in January were 11.3% higher than a year earlier, while gas prices, which stimulate the economy as a whole, rose 1.5% over the past 12 months. However, the price of diesel fuel increased by 27.7%.
All this data is very important for the cryptocurrency market. Inflation is falling, but not as fast as economists expected. This may affect the decisions of the Fed. It is expected that the US Federal Reserve will continue to raise interest rates. The good news is that we don't have to fear big raises, at least not yet. Most likely, they will remain at the level of 25 basis points. However, investors may be concerned that we will not rise higher as expected a few weeks ago.
Bitcoin network activity is on the rise. All because of disputed serial numbers
Despite opposition from proponents of the classic Bitcoin networking application, Ordinals, a project that implements NFTs directly on the Bitcoin blockchain is growing rapidly. De facto available in January 2023, Ordinals is the latest initiative to bring NFT into the Bitcoin ecosystem.
Yes, it's been done before, but this time it's different. Ordinal differs from previous projects in that NFTs are mined directly into Satoshi without the need for an external sidechain or token. To date, over 100,000 NFTs have already been created, and as you can see, bitcoin is by no means destined to become a cryptocurrency boom.
El Salvador Opens Bitcoin Embassy in Texas
It would be an exaggeration to say that Bitcoin brings countries together. After the El Salvadorian government partnered with authorities in the Swiss city of Lugano last year to open a bitcoin embassy there, a similar partnership was forged with the Texas government.
Information about the new initiative was shared on Twitter by Milena Mayorga, Ambassador of El Salvador to the United States.
The creation of several organizations that are the first ambassadors of the cryptocurrency aims to celebrate the true commitment of governments to the development of education and research in the field of bitcoin.
Paxos and BUSD have problems with regulators
The New York City Department of Financial Services has ordered Paxos Trust Co., the company behind one of the most famous stablecoins, Binance USD (BUSD), to stop issuing cryptocurrencies. In addition, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) plans to sue the company. The stablecoin issuer will be accused of violating investor protection laws.
BUSD is a stablecoin and its value is pegged to the US dollar. It was founded in 2019 by Binance and Paxos. They claimed that the New York financial regulator approved the project.
The problem is that regulators have been scrutinizing blockchain companies in recent months. As a result, the Securities and Exchange Commission notified Paxos that it plans to sue the company for violating investor protection laws.
Kraken problems. The company was fined and stopped providing services
Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken will no longer offer cryptocurrency staking to U.S. customers, and will also pay a €30 million fine. Following a decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), it was found that the company had provided a service without the necessary notice to the authorities.
The SEC stated that Kraken did not register its services. This caused problems in the stock market.
The situation is worrisome. In fact, Kraken's problems could be the beginning of attacks on other similar companies. Many centralized exchanges, such as Gemini, offer their customers the opportunity to bet on cryptocurrencies. This is an interesting alternative to a bank deposit.
And that might be the key here. According to the SEC, Kraken's U.S. customers alone have amassed more than $2.7 billion worth of digital assets through the service. A significant number of investors also participated: more than 135,000 people decided to use the exchange's participation service.
Kraken, on the other hand, advertised the service as something that could provide crypto investors with passive income of 20% per year. A bank client can only dream of such an offer!
StealthEX partner news and updates
In addition to global news about cryptocurrencies, check out the news from our partners.
Akita DAO project launched HACHI token
Akita DAO has released the HACHI control token. It is based on Ethereum, in addition to the ERC-20 standard and the organization's other useful token, Akita-Inu (AKITA).
Because HACHI is a governance token, it allows holders to vote on decisions within the ecosystem. However, in the future, it should also become a utility token, allowing the purchase of AKITA.
If you want to buy HACHI, you already have this option on Uniswap. The agreement is available at this link.
Solar Network launches crypto map
The Solar Grid project launched its cryptocurrency card in collaboration with Choice. He also introduced the "Early Bird" program to encourage users to use it. The first 5,000 users can take advantage of a great price, which means:
- €79 per year for Sun Virtual Card
- 99 euros per year for a standard solar card
- 149 euros per year for a metal solar card
By owning a Solar Grid Crypto Card, you can count on the following benefits:
- IBAN accounts
- low rates
- Accounts in US dollars, euros, pounds sterling and crowns
- Choose 24/7 support
- Buy and sell cryptocurrencies easily
- Pay for goods and services worldwide
- Withdraw money from ATMs
- Concierge service and discounts on various products
- Record table in SXP (courtesy of Dokdo)
Summary
This week has been positive for crypto investors. The rise in prices affected the mood of the market much better than a week earlier. However, will this trend continue? This remains to be seen. After all, regulators are increasingly cracking down on the industry, and so far there are no signs of a halt. As always, we remind you to invest as much money as you can afford to lose. The cryptocurrency market is very volatile, and although we are seeing growth this week, next week the situation could turn 180 degrees.
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Remember to do your research before buying any cryptocurrency. The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
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