Read in the Digest:
- Bitcoin closes ninth bearish candlestick – ETH transaction fees at 10-month low.
- Terra 2.0 launches, but price falls 70% – Do Kwon under investigation for price manipulation.
- Tether’s USDT stablecoin launches on the Polygon Network.
- Total value locked (TVL) in TRON hits $6 billion with USDD boost.
- Global interest in non-fungible tokens falls 74%, as monthly sales plunge.
Bitcoin Snuffs Ninth Bearish Candlestick – ETH Transaction Fee at 10-Month Low
After closing its nine successive bearish candlesticks of the weekly timeframe, Bitcoin, the world’s biggest crypto, is beginning to show signs of a trend reversal. Bitcoin’s daily and weekly RSI (Relative Strength Index) have now turned bullish.
Bitcoin’s 9 week downtrend.
The price action of Bitcoin is beginning to correlate with a trend reversal, with Bitcoin gaining 6% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin’s rally has seen it make a push from below $29k, where it opened the week, to as high as $30,723.20—a 14 day high for Bitcoin.
The 24 hour price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap
Transaction fees on the Ethereum network, Bitcoin’s biggest competitor, dropped to as low as $2.96 per transaction on Sunday afternoon–the lowest they have have been on the network since July 11th, 2021.
The average cost of making a transaction on Ethereum is now 0.0026 ETH, or $5.03 USD, as of this writing. Transaction fees have been a consistent thorn in the side of the Ethereum network, and even recently they surged to as high as $3,800 and $6,500 during the ‘Otherside’ land sale in early May.
Flipsider:
- As a result of the sustained bearish trend this year, the number of Bitcoin-made millionaires has fallen 20% in 2022.
Why You Should Care
A bullish trend reversal will be vital in easing the fear surrounding the crypto market after nine consecutive weeks of downtrends across the board.
Terra 2.0 Launches, but Price Falls 70% – Do Kwon Under Investigation for Price Manipulation
Following the successful approval of Terra’s recovery plan, as put forth by Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, the Terra 2.0 mainnet went live on Saturday, May 28th, and started producing blocks.
Do Kwon announced via Twitter that the Terra 2.0 mainnet, dubbed “Phoenix-1”, was live, and users could now see their airdropped tokens on supported exchanges. He added that public node services, wallets and explorers would follow the mainnet in going live soon.
Terra 2.0 experienced a less than ideal start to life, despite a largely successful launch. Shortly after LUNA was released, the token rocketed from its opening price of $0.5 to as high as $30 in a matter of minutes.
The 72 hour price chart for Terra 2.0 (LUNA). Source: CoinMarketCap
What followed was a massive token dump by investors, crippling the price of LUNA. Shortly after reaching a trade point of $30, the price of LUNA swiftly fell to as low as $3.63. Terra’s (LUNA) value is now trying to recover, with the token trading at $6.10 at the time of writing.
The 24 hour price chart for Terra 2.0 (LUNA). Source: CoinMarketCap
Flipsider:
- Do Kwon, the founder of Terraform Labs, is under investigation by South Korean authorities.
- The authorities are investigating Kwon for alleged price manipulation leading to the collapse of the Terra ecosystem’s tokens, LUNA and UST.
Why You Should Care
The dump, which sent the price of LUNA plummeting, is believed to have been caused by investors of the original Terra, who were looking to recoup part of their losses via the new airdropped token.
Tether’s USDT Stablecoin Launches on the Polygon Network
Despite persistent concerns about the state of the stablecoin market, Tether, the company behind the world’s largest stablecoin by market value, has launched its USDT on Ethereum scaling solution Polygon.
The launch follows the recent release of the Peso-backed stablecoin by Tether. Following the Polygon integration, USDT is now available on 11 blockchains, including previously supported chains Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Algorand, Tron, Omni, EOS, Liquid Network, Kusama, and Bitcoin Cash’s Standard Ledger.
Tether claims that the launch of USDT on Polygon will permit faster transactions and provide its users with cheaper transfer fees as they move money in and out of the ecosystem. Additionally, the 19,000 decentralized applications currently running on Polygon can now also access USDT.
Flipsider:
- To ensure the continuity of stablecoins, experts have called for increased transparency from the likes of Tether.
Why You Should Care
To further expand its ecosystem, CEO of Polygon Studios Ryan Wyatt has announced a multi-million dollar fund to assist Terra blockchain developers in onboarding to the Polygon Network.
Total Value Locked (TVL) in TRON Hits $6 Billion with USDD Boost
Tron has been experiencing immense growth in its DeFi ecosystem of late, with the total value locked (TVL) in the chain hitting $6 billion. The surge in Tron’s TVL was catalyzed in part by the launch of its algorithmic stablecoin, USDD.
TRON’s total value locked (TVL). Source: DefiLlama
Since the collapse of TerraUSD (UST), once the biggest algorithmic stablecoin, Tron’s Decentralized USD (USDD) has gained massive traction. On May 5th, USDD possessed a market cap of $127 million. As of this writing, it now has one of $602 million.
Although $602 million is a huge market cap, the USDD remains a signficant way short of UST’s market cap of $18.7 billion. However, at $5.96 billion, TRON’s TVL is closing in on that of the Binance Chain, which currently stands at $10 billion at press time.
If the USDD continues its trajectory without any hiccups, the algorithmic stablecoin could help TRON overtake Binance as the second-largest DeFi chain.
The 1 month market cap for Decentralized USD (USDD). Source: CoinMarketCap
Flipsider:
- Stablecoins are still under intense scrutiny from regulators following the Terra meltdown.
Why You Should Care
After a spectacular first month of trading, TRON’s Founder, Justin Sun, has teased huge announcements for USDD in the coming weeks.
Global Interest in Non-Fungible Tokens Falls 74% as Monthly Sales Plunge
The non-fungible token (NFT) market made impressive strides last year opening 2022 strongly, with the average price of an NFT growing from $587 in Q4 2021, to $1,057 in Q1 2022. However, recent data suggests that interest in NFTs is beginning to wane.
According to Google Trend Data, global interest in NFTs and NFT-related topics has dropped to severe lows, with search rates declining by more than 70% in May 2022. The survey considered Google searches into NFT content, and represented their frequency with a number between 0 and 100.
The survey results show that searches for the term “non-fungible token” dropped to 26 points from a high of 100 points in January 2022. This indicates a 74% drop in interest in NFTs from their peak at the start of the year.
The monthly NFT trading volume has been on a similar downward spiral. In January 2021, NFTs recorded all-time high sales of $16.54 billion, however, the monthly sales for May have been approximately $4 billion – a familiar 75% decline.
Flipsider:
- Despite the drop in sales volume, adoption of NFTs has steadily been on the rise, with eBay, Coachella, the Super Bowl, Adidas, Dolce & Gabbana, and MAC being just a few of the big names in their repsective spaces to have taken up the NFT torch in 2022.
Why You Should Care
The decline in global interest in NFTs can be attributed in part to the market crash, which has seen a plunge in the value of most NFT collections, naturally leading to lower sales.
