$BTC 24 Hour High $19,935.88
$BTC 24 Hour Low $19,607.44
$ETH 24 Hour High $1,579.33
$ETH 24 Hour Low $1,538.41
Happy Monday from HKbitEX! Highlights from the week:
- NFT volumes fall 99% since May high
- Argentinian province starts accepting tax payments in crypto Russian
- Iranian businesses get the green light to use crypto for imports
- Bank of Korea calls for institutional issuance of crypto ICOs, signalling an end to bans
The $BTC and $ETH market
Markets suffered a rough start to the week on fears of aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. The past seven days didn’t turn out very well for the broader cryptocurrency market as the total capitalization decreased by roughly $60 billion.
Bitcoin was trading slightly below $21K, and it quickly took a turn for even worse. The back and forth started on Monday, August 29th when BTC took a slump to the level of $20,500 before it also crashed to $19,600.
The rest of the market also declined. Altcoins are bleeding out, with Ethereum charting a 4% decline days before the merge. BNB is down 6.6^, XRP is down 5.4%, whereas Solana lost almost 10%. Polygon is one of the outliers and top performers from the leading altcoins, up 8.4% on the week.
Some say the Market conditions will remain choppy as we enter the final third of the year – the open interest leverage ratio for ETH and BTC has soared to a record high, increasing the risk of large price swings (traders love volatility).
As we approach the Merge this month…
For the past 4 weeks, weekly ETH trade volume has been greater than BTC volume. Ethereum based investment products witnessed inflows of 2.4% in August (whilst BTC products witnessed outflows).
NFT volumes fall…
The trading volume on top NFT marketplace OpenSea is down 99% in USD from May peak. On May 1, OpenSea processed a record $2.7 billion in NFT transactions, but on Sunday the marketplace recorded just $9.34 million worth, according to data compiled by DappRadar. The company recorded 24,020 users on Sunday, about a third fewer than when it hit its record transaction number in May.
Mainstream adoption & What’s in the news…
Mendoza, an Argentinian province, has implemented a system that allows taxpayers to pay their taxes fully with cryptocurrencies. The system, which was launched this week, is part of a strategic push for the modernization and digitalization of payments carried by the tax authority of Mendoza and uses the services of a third party to process the transactions.
Singapore's central bank wants to promote a digital asset ecosystem while restricting crypto speculation, said Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
Iran’s Industry, Mines and Trade Ministry has approved the use of cryptocurrency for imports into the country amid ongoing international trade sanctions.Amin outlined the regulatory change at an automotive industry exhibition on Sunday, just a week after the country had placed a first-ever import order for vehicles to the tune of $10 million, using cryptocurrency as a payment method.
The Bank of Korea (BOK) has signalled a change in its stance regarding the domestic issuance of new cryptocurrencies through initial coin offerings (ICO) after years of banning the initiative.
In this line, the institution, through the proposed Digital Asset Framework Act, notes that there is a need to institutionally allow local cryptocurrency ICO for traded digital assets like Bitcoin (BTC), South Korean news outlet Infomax reported on August 29.