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Bitcoin (BTC) lingered near $16,500 at the Nov. 23 Wall Street open as United States markets awaited Thanksgiving cues.

Grayscale, GBTC still dominate crypto mood

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD shunning volatility after fresh two-year lows the day prior.

The pair left analysts guessing the day before U.S. markets closed for the Thanksgiving holiday, with crypto commentators still focused on Digital Currency Group (DCG).

Potential liquidity problems with DCG-owned Genesis Trading continued to agitate those already expecting further losses across Bitcoin and altcoins.

As Cointelegraph reported, concerns had already spread to doubt the future of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the largest Bitcoin institutional investment vehicle with assets under management worth over $10 billion.

USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin issued by the U.S.-based Circle Financials Ltd, is taking the lead over its top rival, Tether (USDT), when it comes to institutional adoption, according to on-chain data.

USDC daily transfer volumes are higher

The market capitalization of USDC tokens in circulation comes to be around $44 billion versus USDT's $65.42 billion. However, USDC's daily transfer value on the Ethereum blockchain has been consistently higher than USDT throughout 2022, data from Glassnode shows.

For instance, as of Nov. 22, the USDC daily transfer was around $14 billion compared to USDT's $5 billion.

In other words, USDC users engage in relatively higher capital transfers compared to USDT users, suggesting that USDC is increasingly the stablecoin of choice among high net-worth entities including institutional whales, hedge funds, family offices, crypto exchanges, etc.

Related: 82% of Tether reserves held in ‘extremely liquid’ assets, according to attestation

USD Coin (USDC), a stablecoin issued by the U.S.-based Circle Financials Ltd, is taking the lead over its top rival, Tether (USDT), when it comes to institutional adoption, according to on-chain data.

USDC daily transfer volumes are higher

The market capitalization of USDC tokens in circulation comes to be around $44 billion versus USDT's $65.42 billion. However, USDC's daily transfer value on the Ethereum blockchain has been consistently higher than USDT throughout 2022, data from Glassnode shows.

For instance, as of Nov. 22, the USDC daily transfer was around $14 billion compared to USDT's $5 billion.

In other words, USDC users engage in relatively higher capital transfers compared to USDT users, suggesting that USDC is increasingly the stablecoin of choice among high net-worth entities including institutional whales, hedge funds, family offices, crypto exchanges, etc.

Related: 82% of Tether reserves held in ‘extremely liquid’ assets, according to attestation

Bitcoin (BTC) hodlers may need to triple their on-chain losses for BTC price to put in a macro low.

According to market research firm Baro Virtual, the 2022 bear market is not yet harsh enough to match historical downtrends.

Bitcoin losses “only” total $671 million

With analysts predicting a return to $14,000 or lower for BTC/USD, the question of where Bitcoin will bottom is one of the hottest topics in the space this month.

For Baro Virtual, which analyzed data from on-chain analytics platform Whalemap, it may be a matter of simple arithmetic.

Taking Whalemap’s moving profit and loss (MPL) figures for on-chain BTC transactions, it noted that in the past, macro BTC price bottoms occurred once those transactions’ losses were equal to or more than the equivalent profits in the bull run which preceded them.

The turmoil surrounding crypto exchange FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) reaffirmed regulators’ belief about the need for stricter oversight across the crypto ecosystem. Seeking investor protection against a similar fallout, New York Attorney General (NYAG) Letitia James recommended prohibiting crypto investments in defined contribution plans and individual retirement accounts (IRAs).

In a letter addressed to the members of the U.S. Congress, James requested legislation that would bar U.S. citizens from purchasing cryptocurrencies and digital assets using their funds in IRAs and defined contribution plans such as 401(k) and 457 plans. However, a survey from October 2022 showed that nearly 50% of U.S.-based investors want to see crypto become a part of their 401(k) retirement plans.

James further pitched the rejection of two acts — the recently proposed Retirement Savings Modernization Act and the Financial Freedom Act of 2022 — that are aimed at allowing investments in digital assets. While highlighting SBF’s involvement in running a Ponzi Scheme and misappropriating users’ funds, James jotted down four primary reasons explaining her call to exclude digital assets from IRAs and defined contribution plans, as explained below.

First and foremost, the NYAG pointed out the importance of protecting retirement savings in the long term. Secondly, she highlighted Congress' historical obligation to protect the retirement funds of U.S. citizens. James used narratives including frauds and lack of sufficient guardrails as her third reason to prohibit crypto investments. The final concern was around the volatility and custodial and valuation uncertainties.

On the other hand, the NYAG clarified that there is a distinction between digital assets and blockchain technology. She does believe that U.S. citizens should be allowed to purchase stakes in publicly traded blockchain-based businesses in retirement accounts.

Argentina’s shock 2-1 loss to Saudi Arabia in the opening match of the FIFA World Cup has plummeted the price of the Argentine Football Association Fan Token (ARG), in line with the hopes of the nation’s die-hard soccer fans. 

With the ARG token priced at $7.21 at kick-off, the poor performance by the Lionel Messi-led soccer team saw the token’s price fall 31% to $4.96 by the end of the match before rising to $5.22 at the time of writing, according to data from Coingecko.

By contrast, the floor price of "The Saudis," a Saudi Arabian-themed nonfungible token (NFT) collection unrelated to the soccer team, skyrocketed 52.6% from 0.196 Ether (ETH) to 0.3 ETH over the same time before cooling off to a price of 0.225 ETH, around $250.

The collection's sales volume also spiked 990% over the last 24 hours, closing in on 24.5 ETH as per OpenSea data.

Despite the built-up hype for the FIFA World Cup, which officially kicked off on Nov. 20, cryptocurrency research firm Delphi Digital noted that the fan engagement platform Socios' native token Chiliz (CHZ), in addition to other soccer-based tokens representing participating nations, has also cooled off considerably over the last few days: