Crypto newsletter: Will Ethereum dominate Bitcoin?

Summary:

• Iran is a paradise for Crypto Miners, but miners are a nightmare for Iran
• BTG Pactual partners with Dubai asset manager Dalma Capital
• Will Etherum dominate Bitcoin?

Iran’s restrictions

Iran is among countries with the cheapest electricity in the world. According to Global Petrol Prices, 1 kWh in the US costs about $0.14, while Iranians have to pay only $0.03 for the same amount. Low energy costs make crypto mining extremely profitable, and because of that Iran is a good place for illegal crypto mining. Recently, the Iranian govt found some mining equipment located mainly in schools and mosques. One needs to be aware that thanks to generous subsidies in practice electricity there has been free. As a consequence, the Iranian government has recently punished 1000 illegal crypto diggers. Moreover, some estimates suggest that demand for electricity in Iran has outpaced supply forcing the authorities to stop subsidising miners. What can this mean for traders? Assuming that Iran will want to crack down on illegal crypto activity one may suppose that it could negatively affect the web’s computing power reducing the amount of transactions. This information, among others, may have been behind the latest drop in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin fell noticeably from $13.5k to around $9.6k at the turn of June and July. Since then, it has been moving sideways at around $11.7k. Source: xStation5

New offer of security tokens (STOs)

The largest investment bank in Latin America, Banco BTG Pactual, has recently started cooperation with Dubai asset manager Dalma Capital in order to sell security tokens worth more than $1 billion. BTG, known for enthusiasm toward Blockchain, has made a statement regarding its stance on the integration of DLT which could be a sign that the company believes in innovative technologies based on cryptocurrencies. The prime aim of the mentioned collaboration is conversion of real assets into tradable digital codes being based on Blockchain. What could be interesting, BTG was already involved in this project in the past, hence the cooperation with Dubai asset manager Dalma Capital can be seen as a continuation of its previous project. Let us also added that the partnership to tokenize over $1 billion worth of real estate assets will utilize the Tezos blockchain. “When we look at capital markets, we notice that even with all of the recent technological advancements, we still have infrastructure that was designed for an analog, local world. It is our job not only to understand how new technologies can change the market, but also and foremost lead the process.”, Andre Portilho, a BTG partner responsible for tokenization says.

The combined market capitalization of the crypto market. Source: Coinmarketcup.com

Will Ethereum dominate Bitcoin?

Omni is a platform created to trade digital coins and is considered as one of the best and safest webs in the crypto industry. However, the constantly growing number of transaction has caused some problems as the web is no longer capable of serving all operations in various cryptocurrencies. As a result, owners of some cryptocurrencies have begun looking for new platforms and Ethereum has been among them. It is worth noting that Tether, the most famous stablecoin, has already decided to move their assets from Omni to Ethereum-based blockchain. What does it mean for market participants? It suggests that other digital coins (beyond Bitcoin) can also be equally important in the future, and if the move made by Tether is continued by others, it could have serious consequences in the whole crypto market.

Ethereum has struck the important support nearby the 38.2% retracement and it has begun rising since then. Source: xStation5