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Investor concerns persist as crypto investment products see 4th week of outflows

According to CoinShares, outflows from crypto investment funds amounted to $17 million last week, marking the fourth consecutive week of outflows.

Warning sign for ETH price? Ethereum volume profile is down 90% since March 2020

Ether’s 78% price recovery since July 2022 is at risk of exhaustion due to an unconvincing volume profile.

Warning sign for ETH price? Ethereum volume profile is down 90% since March 2020

The price of Ethereum’s native token, Ether (ETH), has recovered 78% since June 2022. But this doesn’t guarantee further upside, particularly with declining trading volumes suggesting that the risk of a major correction is high. 

Ether volume profile drops 90% since March 2020

A “volume profile” indicator displays trading activity across prices, with the blue indicating buying volume and the yellow indicating sell volume. 

Illustration of a volume profile bar. Source: TradingView

In March 2020, when the market bottomed, Ether’s volume profile on a weekly chart showed about 160 million ETH trades across the $85–$270 price range. At the time, the selling volume was greater than the buying volume by around 4 million ETH.

But Ether buying volume regained momentum after ETH price rallied above $270 in July 2020.

Notably, between July 2020 and November 2020, the Ether volume profile displayed about 64.25 million ETH trades across the $270–$450 range, with buying volume exceeding selling volume by almost 1 million ETH.

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Frax’s shift to a fully backed stablecoin signals the end of DeFi’s algorithmic experiment

The Frax community recently approved a proposal to make its FEI stablecoin fully backed by USD equivalents, rather than maintaining a partially backed and semi algorithmic stablecoin. With Frax’s decision, the days of experimentation with algorithmic stablecoins could finally be behind us.

The decentralized stablecoin space has only proved effective with ETH, USDC and BTC backed stablecoins. The failure of algorithmic stablecoins (like UST) and depegging of overleveraged stablecoins (like MIM) has become one of the primary reasons for loss of confidence in decentralized stablecoins.

The decentralized stablecoin space is still tiny

Decentralized stablecoins account for 5.5% of the total stablecoin supply. MarkerDAO’s DAI commands the lion’s share of this with 71% dominance. The transfer volumes of decentralized stablecoins are largely dominated in DAI and have declined since Q3 2022, suggesting that activity across the sector is still inhibited.

90-day moving average of decentralized stablecoin transfer volume. Source: Dune

During the bull run of 2021 and 2022, platforms like Abracadabra and Luna flourished due to higher yields, but when the market took a negative turn these stablecoins were some of the first to collapse. Luna’s UST stablecoin crashed in May 2022 after major withdrawals of the stablecoin disrupted its algorithmic mechanism. 

Before its collapse, UST had become the third largest stablecoin with a larger supply than BUSD and only behind the USDT and USDC. However, the ripple effects of Luna’s collapse caused Abracabra’s MIM stablecoin to lose its peg due to widespread drop in prices of assets backing MIM. Liquidations piled across the platform with no buyers, leading frequent dips below the $1 peg level.

Frax’s shift to a fully backed stablecoin signals the end of DeFi’s algorithmic experiment

The Frax community recently approved a proposal to make its FEI stablecoin fully backed by USD equivalents, rather than maintaining a partially backed and semi algorithmic stablecoin. With Frax’s decision, the days of experimentation with algorithmic stablecoins could finally be behind us.

The decentralized stablecoin space has only proved effective with ETH, USDC and BTC backed stablecoins. The failure of algorithmic stablecoins (like UST) and depegging of overleveraged stablecoins (like MIM) has become one of the primary reasons for loss of confidence in decentralized stablecoins.

The decentralized stablecoin space is still tiny

Decentralized stablecoins account for 5.5% of the total stablecoin supply. MarkerDAO’s DAI commands the lion’s share of this with 71% dominance. The transfer volumes of decentralized stablecoins are largely dominated in DAI and have declined since Q3 2022, suggesting that activity across the sector is still inhibited.

90-day moving average of decentralized stablecoin transfer volume. Source: Dune

During the bull run of 2021 and 2022, platforms like Abracadabra and Luna flourished due to higher yields, but when the market took a negative turn these stablecoins were some of the first to collapse. Luna’s UST stablecoin crashed in May 2022 after major withdrawals of the stablecoin disrupted its algorithmic mechanism. 

Before its collapse, UST had become the third largest stablecoin with a larger supply than BUSD and only behind the USDT and USDC. However, the ripple effects of Luna’s collapse caused Abracabra’s MIM stablecoin to lose its peg due to widespread drop in prices of assets backing MIM. Liquidations piled across the platform with no buyers, leading frequent dips below the $1 peg level.

American regulators are pushing hard against crypto: Law Decoded, Feb. 28–March 6

Crypto mining operators, custodians and Binance personally received a fine doze of the United States officials' attention last week.

Lawmakers should check the SEC’s wartime consigliere with legislation

Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler has a lot in common with “The Godfather’s” Michael Corleone, according to the Cato Institute's Jack Solowey and Jennifer Schulp.

SEC continues streak of enforcement actions, targets BKCoin for alleged $100M fraud

The financial regulator’s complaint alleged that BKCoin raised roughly $100 million from investors to invest in crypto, but diverted some of the funds for personal use.

Bitcoin traders eye $19K BTC price bottom, warn of 'hot' February CPI

It could be a testing few weeks for Bitcoin and risk assets, market commentators say, with Fed Chair Jerome Powell due to kick off the triggers on March 8.

Bitcoin traders eye $19K BTC price bottom, warn of ‘hot’ February CPI

Bitcoin (BTC) failed to react at the March 6 Wall Street open as consensus formed around a potential violation of $20,000.

BTC/USD 1-hour candle chart (Bitstamp). Source: TradingView

$19,000 BTC price is “breakdown target”

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView tracked a limp BTC/USD as it clung to $22,400 at the time of writing.

Motionless throughout the weekend, the pair offered few trading opportunities as concerns built up over the impact of forthcoming macroeconomic data from the United States.

Specifically, the February print of the Consumer Price Index (CPI), due March 14, is expected to be “hot,” or above expectations, analyst Venturefounder said.

“New Bitcoin higher low, and the bearish RSI divergence continues,” he wrote in a Twitter update on the day.


What are artificial intelligence (AI) crypto coins, and how do they work?

Discover how AI crypto coins enable decentralized AI and ML networks for the secure, transparent exchange of data and value.

Is the IMF shutting the door prematurely on Bitcoin as legal tender?

Should the International Monetary Fund leave the door open for developing countries struggling with inflation? “Bitcoin was made for the Global South.”

Naira redesign no more: President’s directive canned by Nigerian supreme court

The supreme court of Nigeria says no to naira redesign, rules the old banknotes to remain in circulation.

Babel wants to repay creditors via special ‘recovery coins’: Report

Babel reportedly owes $524 million worth of Bitcoin, Ether and other tokens due to “risky trading activities” by co-founder Wang Li.

Technical discussions take center stage at Advancing Bitcoin conference in London

A look back on a highly technical Bitcoin conference hosted in London, in which ordinals, silent payments and the Lightning Network were studied and discussed.

Here’s how Binance is mitigating its stablecoin needs after BUSD ban

The recent action from Binance comes in the wake of the NYDFS ordering BUSD issuer Paxos to stop minting new coins.

Bybit introduces Mastercard-powered debit card days after halting USD transfers

Bybit is set to roll out Mastercard-powered debit cards, allowing users to pay for goods and services with cryptocurrency holdings.

Bybit introduces Mastercard-powered debit card days after halting USD transfers

Bybit is set to roll out Mastercard-powered debit cards, allowing users to pay for goods and services with cryptocurrency holdings.

Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon gets probed by Singaporean authorities

Local police in Singapore sent an email on Monday saying that they have begun a probe connected to Do Kwon’s Terraform Labs.

Iran completes pre-pilot phase of central bank digital currency

The Central Bank of Iran progresses with CBDC development in anticipation of the Bank of Russia’s governor Elvira Nabiullina’s visit.

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