Bitcoin’s Endless Fight For $10K As Correlation With Stocks Increases: The Crypto Weekly Market Update

In terms of sheer price action, this week was rather sloppy. Bitcoin was trading at around $10,400 seven days ago, and it’s now indecisive around $10,300.

During the week, things did get slightly more tumultuous as BTC dipped below $10K on a few occasions, reaching as low as about $9,800 on Binance. Many thought that this is when it would close the outstanding CME gap at $9,600, but Bitcoin recovered and remains largely indecisive.

It’s worth noting, though, that the primary cryptocurrency is also becoming increasingly correlated with global markets as its price moves in sync with indices such as the S&P 500, NASDAQ, and the DJI.

Altcoins were also somewhat shaky during the week, though DeFi-based cryptocurrencies did feel quite a bit of pressure. It all started six days ago, when the anonymous creator of Sushiswap – the popular Uniswap fork, drained out millions worth of ETH from the protocol’s development fund.

Many related altcoins started to drop and, as CryptoPotato reported, shed a good 50% of their value during the week.

And right when no one expected it, the protocol’s developer suddenly returned $14M worth of ETH in the protocol’s treasury. It’s interesting to see if the DeFi coins will react positively, although SUSHI has already started to increase in value, spiking massively on the news.

Elsewhere, authorities continue their quest into cracking blockchain-based privacy solutions. The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that it would pay up to $625,000 for experts who successfully crack privacy-oriented coins protocols such as Moner or Bitcoin’s layer-two Lightning Network.

It’s also worth noting that the number of people who own at least one whole Bitcoin has increased to a new all-time high, despite the recent slump in its price.

Market Data

Market Cap: $334B | 24H Vol: 351B | BTC Dominance: 56.8%

BTC: $10,324 (-0.34%) | ETH: $370,30 (+0.77%) | XRP: $0.241(-1.18%)

Breaking: SUSHI Lead Developer Returns $14 Million Worth of ETH. In an unexpected turn of events, the former lead developer of Sushiswap, Chef Nomi, has returned the $14 million worth of ETH he drained six days ago. The price has since reacted and is increasingly notable.

The IRS Will Pay $625,000 to Crack Monero and Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. As per the latest announcement, the IRS has offered to fund the development of tools that can help crack open privacy-focused blockchain protocols such as Monero and layer-two solutions for Bitcoin like the Lightning Network.

Number of Users Who Own At Least 1 BTC at ATH Despite Latest Bitcoin Price Dump. Despite the most recent price dump where BTC lost about $2,000 of its dollar value, the number of people who own at least one full BTC is at an all-time high. There are currently over 800,000 ‘wholecoiners.’

Binance Announces $100 Million Fund to Boost Its Own DeFi Ecosystem. The world’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, has announced that it will create a $100 million fund to promote DeFi projects that run on the Binance Smart Chain. The move comes amid massive hype in the field of decentralized finance.

Report: PlusToken-Like Ethereum Ponzi Could Dump ETH Price. An ETH-based Ponzi scheme could cause some very serious problems for the cryptocurrency’s price, according to an industry expert. The scam dubbed Forsage is gaining steam in China as millions of dollars are already sent to its smart contract.

The Plan to Cut Ethereum Transaction Fees Gains Steam: Meet EIP-1599. Sky-high Ethereum fees have been the theme of the ongoing DeFi craze, leading many to believe that the segment is reserved for large investors. Ethereum’s Improvement Proposal (EIP) 1599 aims to fix this.

Charts

This week we have a chart analysis of Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, and Chainlink – click here for the full price analysis.