Crypto newsletter: Bitcoin drops below $9100 level

The consolidation that we have seen in the last few weeks has ended in losses for most cryptocurrencies. Some altcoins that jumped in the last two weeks such as Stellar, Tezos, Cardano, VeChain and Chainlink suffered the greatest losses. Bitcoin's market dominance decreased to 62.4%. The capitalization of all digital assets in circulation reached almost $269 billion, while an average daily trading volume dropped to $53 billion.

Open interest for Bitcoin rises

According to recent report from Skew, Bitcoin futures contracts open interest continues to surge despite declining  volatility. The recent analysis data shows that the open interest on Bybit crypto exchange platform had jumped to a new high of $434 million by July.  Bybit CEO, Ben Zhou said: "When there is market volatility, volume spikes. However, when more users enter the market, open interest would naturally increase. Recently, we have seen more users registering and I do believe that this is a clear indicator that a bullish market is upon us."

 

Meantime Grayscale’s quarterly report showed that institutional demand for Bitcoin continues to rise. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust reported record  inflow of nearly $1 billion in spite of Bitcoin price action stalling for many weeks. In the second quarter company reported $905.8 million compare to $503.7 reported in the first quarter. The chunk of the inflow came from institutional investors who accounted for 84%.  "With so much inflow to Grayscale Bitcoin Trust relative to newly-mined bitcoin, there is a significant reduction in supply-side pressure, which may be a positive sign for bitcoin price appreciation." company wrote in its report.

Ethereum 2.0 Sets for Another Delay?
Ethereum Foundation researcher Justin Drake said that Ethereum 2.0 might not launch until January 2021, far later than the 2020 release that the Foundation is pushing for. Ethereum 2.0 is the next version of the Ethereum blockchain which  offers users more utility in terms of increased transaction capacity, staking and decentralized application development among other key features. For the launch to happen, Ethereum 2.0 would need, among other things, a public testnet and a bug bounty program running for two to three months, said Drake. “All the above cannot happen in Q3 2020,” he said. “I'm now inclined to say that the earliest practical date for genesis is something like January 3, 2021 (Bitcoin's 12th anniversary)."

 

On Wednesday, several high-profile accounts on Twitter (TWTR.US) were hacked simultaneously and the hackers sent out tweets promising to send $2000 to every $1000 sent to anonymous Bitcoin addresses. Company is investigating this security breach, which impacted the accounts of Elon Musk, Joe Biden, Jeff Bezos, Kanye West, Barack Obama and Uber. According to the Blockchain intelligence firm – Elliptic, four Bitcoin wallets were used by hackers to receive around 400 payments (valued at $121,000).

 

According to market rumors, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is going public on the stock market with the debut of an IPO. The company will be under pressure to launch the IPO digitally through a tokenized security, setting a precedent for the emerging industry.