Crypto newsletter: Cryptocurrency adoption on the rise!

• Bitcoin Lightning Network reached new capacity highs
• Goldman Sachs conducted its first offer over-the-counter Bitcoin options
• Cryptocurrency adoption to increase in South Korea
• Nearly10% of ETH supply has been pulled out of circulation
• Cardano gains dominance in DeFi ecosystem

The last seven days were positive for the cryptocurrency market despite ongoing war in Ukraine and lack of progress when it comes to peace talks. Markets digested FED interest hikes and bullish comments from several central bankers. Bitcoin was able to stay above 40’000 USD, which may provide an additional boost  for bulls. Major altcoins overperformed BTC pretty comfortably. Away from geopolitical jitters, crypto investors are focusing on progress within the crypto ecosystem, particularly smart contract blockchain Ethereum's impending proof of stake merge and the bullish implications for its native token ether (ETH). Bitcoin's market dominance decreased to 41.7%. The capitalization of all digital assets in circulation rose to 1.874 trillion, while an average daily trading volume is registered at $ 88.20 billion. Some investors believe that the market cap could appreciate even further once South Korea adopts a pro-crypto stance in taxation. 

BITCOIN:

• South Korea's incoming President Yoon Suk-yeol vowed to make a big cryptocurrency push in South Korea, imposing zero taxes on cryptocurrency gains up to $40,000,
• Incoming president has vowed to allow the introduction of initial coin offerings as part of the broader plan for crypto adoption in South Korea. 
• Yoon Suk-yeol has announced that crypto trading gains would be considered the same as stock winnings.
• Goldman completed its first over-the-country Bitcoin options trade with Galaxy Digital, an investment management company, which is seen as a key milestone in the crypto ecosystem and fuels a bullish narrative for the asset’s price. 
• Lightning Network reached another milestone. This feature allows instantaneous off-chain transactions to be sent en masse at practically zero cost and last week passed 3,500 BTC capacity. The technology has been in place for several years, and has quietly grown behind the scenes to cater to increasing volume and mainstream consumers. 

Lightning Network capacity expanded significantly in recent months. Source: Bitcoin Visuals

Bitcoin launched today’s session lower, however sellers failed to break below 50 SMA (green line) after which buyers took the initiative. Nevertheless as long as the price sits below the resistance at $41500, further downward move may be launched. Source: xStation5

ETHEREUM:

• Ethereum price rose sharply in recent day's as almost 10% of the altcoin's supply has been pulled out of circulation through staking in the ETH2 contract, reducing the altcoin's circulation. 

According to last week data, 8.56% of Ethereum's circulating supply was locked in the ETH2 staking contract. Source: Glassnode, Etherscan

• Last week, Ethereum developers successfully tested a highly anticipated merge of the programmable blockchain's proof-of-work and proof-of-stake chains, called Eth 2.0, which will allow users to hold coins in a cryptocurrency wallet to support network operations in return for newly minted coins. New upgrade is expected to make staking more analogous to passive investing, which may lead to even greater interest on the part of large investors and increase adaptation of the second most important cryptocurrency.

Ethereum managed to break above the major resistance zone around $2790.00, which is marked with lower limit of the triangle formation and 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the last downward correction. Today the price retested this area after which upward move was resumed.  Next target for buyers is located at $3185 and coincides with 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the last downward correction. Source: xStation5

RIPPLE:

• Ripple price recorded decent gains last week, however the funding rate has seen an uptick from 0.015% to 0.123%, a 720% increase, suggesting that a temporary reversal in trend is likely.

Ripple funding rate increased significantly in recent days. Source: Santiment

• Also 24-hour active addresses metric which measures investors’ interest in the project at the current price levels plunged from 117,000 on March 2 to 49,000 last week. 

Number of active addresses dropped 58% which may indicate that inflow of capital is drying out. Source: Santiment

Ripple bulls managed to defend psychological support at $0.80 during today’s session. As long as the price sits above further upward impulse may be launched, towards the lower limit of the triangle formation or even resistance at $0.8575, which coincides with 61.8% Fibonacci retracement of the upward wave launched in July 2021. However should break lower occur, then downward  correction may accelerate towards support at $0.70. Source: xStation5

CARDANO:

• Cardano network recorded the largest single month increase in total value locked in staking on its blockchain. 
• The total value locked (TVL) surged by $10 million, which in turn pushed Cardano's DeFi dominance higher. According to crypto tracker DeFi Llama, Aggregated TVL of the Cardano network is $277 million.

TVL of the Cardano network rose sharply in March. Source: FXStreet

Cardano price is recovering from a recent drop on the back of rising dominance in the DeFi ecosystem. Today the price broke above major resistance at $0.89 which coincides with 23.6% Fibonacci retracement of the last downward correction and 200 SMA (red line). Source: xStation5