BTC (-6.50%) and ETH (-5.25%) led the decline over the weekend following reports that President Biden is likely to issue an executive order next week directing government agencies to study cryptocurrencies and a central bank digital currency. In addition to that, the unfavorable macroeconomic situation in Russia has further dampened the sentiment, leading to a rather significant correction setting over the past week.
The Bitcoin network has hit another all-time high in terms of difficulty as competition among miners has intensified over the past few months. On-chain analysis indicates that on Friday mining difficulty reached a new high of 27.97 trillion hashes. Amongst alts, Decentraland welcomed JPMorgan, as it became the first large Wall Street bank to open a presence in the metaverse, with their announcement of a lounge opening in Decentraland.
Over the past week or so, an interesting pattern has started to emerge. It appears that retail investors are taking this opportunity and buying the dips more and more, while hedge funds and VCs are less convinced that this dip will end anytime soon as they continue selling. Due to this dynamic, the market is unable to swing in a particular direction and has been rather range-bound over the weekend.
The ongoing legal battle between Ripple and the U.S. SEC carries on. Going into its second year, some newly released documents might provide the payment company with an advantage over the commission, according to industry experts. This development has led to a strong rally in the asset. XRP is up 30% since the start of the month and has consistently seen attractive volume growth. The anticipation is high, and after the court filings submitted on Feb 18, many believe that Ripple has a high chance of proving that XRP is not a security asset, something it was sued for in Dec 2020, marking an end to this saga. A break and close above the C$1.10 level could challenge the resistance at C$1.35. The gradually rising 20-day EMA and the RSI near the midpoint suggest a minor advantage to buyers right now.
The Graph (GRT) got a double-digit boost in price after its catalog of subgraphs increased and Web3 became a trending topic among industry experts. After hitting a low of C$0.43 on Jan. 24, GRT has rallied to its resistance level at C$0.65. The key reasons for its momentum include GRT’s addition of new subgraphs, increased capabilities of The Graph network due to community engagement and outreach efforts, and finally the rise of Web3.
We’re in a cycle right now where events completely separate from crypto (imminent rate hikes, Russia-Ukraine) threaten to completely disrupt the frankly strong narrative that crypto has established here in 2022. However, even then we are seeing strong fundamental developments take place. An example of one is Twitter adding Ethereum wallet support - this was not a surprise to the market but is still a relatively big deal for ETH. Every Layer 1 has its own case for an NFT ecosystem, and Ethereum’s position in the PFP space seems like a secure lead, which will only grow with Twitter integration. It also highlights a key advantage that Ethereum has at this moment, which is wallet infrastructure readier to interact with Big Tech. This will surely change over time, but this feels like a space where the first-mover advantage is no small factor.
