Crypto Week at a Glance: Crypto market in consolidation as Bitcoin reaches 90% milestone

As Bitcoin struggles to get past $50,000, the community celebrated the milestone of 90 per cent of Bitcoin’s total supply being mined this week. It has taken just 12 years to mine the first 90 per cent while the remaining 10 per cent will be mined slowly over the next 120 years making a favorable demand-supply case for Bitcoin in the future.

Bitcoin (BTC) has had a dull December so far with prices hovering between $46,000 and $50,000 for the most part. The market is in a consolidation phase as BTC struggles to reclaim the key $52,000 level that will reconfirm its rally towards previous highs. On a weekly basis, BTC has dropped 3 per cent and is trading at $47,000 levels. Avalanche (AVAX), Terra (LUNA), Polygon (MATIC) and Solana (SOL) have gained more than 5 per cent in the last week among the top 20 cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile, Yearn Finance (YFI) emerged as one of the best performers in the crypto market this week, rallying over 46 per cent in just four days to reach a two-week high of above $29,100. This comes after Yearn Finance announced that it has been buying back YFI tokens since November to improve its token economics.

The news from the crypto world continued to lean towards optimism from around the world.

Elon Musk’s Dogecoin push continues while institutions invest in building new products.

Dogecoin gained 25 per cent on Tuesday as Elon Musk announced Tesla’s plans for accepting DOGE as payments for merchandise, the only crypto that Tesla will support. Previously, Tesla ended support for Bitcoin payments given environmental concerns. DOGE’s rally didn’t sustain through the week with traders likely profiting from the news instead of investors buying for the long term.

Polygon and Alexis Ohanian (Co-founder of Reddit)’s venture capital firm, Seven Seven Six, announced a US$200 million initiative backing projects that drive the power of social media and Web 3.0. The initiative will focus on gaming applications and social media platforms built on Polygon’s infrastructure.

Tokyo’s biggest finserv firm, SBI Group, will now allow Japanese investors to purchase cryptocurrencies via its newly launched ‘crypto-asset fund’. The fund is composed of seven cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple, Bitcoin Cash, Chainlink and Polkadot.


Governments contemplate regulations on cryptocurrencies

While India is awaiting its crypto-asset bill to be presented in the parliament, Thailand is reportedly preparing a similar framework to improve investor protection and minimize risks with cryptocurrencies. Thailand has however ruled out allowing cryptocurrencies as a means of payment. Its neighbor Myanmar’s parallel Government has declared the use of Tether (USDT), a US dollar-pegged stablecoin, as official currency. Its finance minister has claimed that USDT would offer trade and transaction efficiencies.

Meanwhile, the US SEC has delayed the decision on Bitcoin ETFs in the US to early February.


Brands continue to push into metaverse and NFTs

Iconic sportswear manufacturer Nike has acquired a virtual sneaker brand RTFKT this week that confirms its entry into the metaverse. RTFKT will help Nike deliver next-generation collectibles that combine culture and gaming.

Its competitor Adidas Originals has announced the launch of their NFT collection named ‘into the metaverse’ this week.

Meanwhile, Instagram’s blocking of a 9-year-old account with the username ‘@metaverse’ has triggered a backlash that eventually led to the platform reinstating the account. Instagram’s parent company Facebook renamed itself as Meta recently.

Top Gainers for the week

• Yearn.finance (YFI): 47.9 per cent
• Avalanche (AVAX): 33.9 per cent
• OKB (OKB): 31.9 per cent
• Terra (LUNA): 25.95 per cent
• Hedera (HBAR0: 22.3 per cent

Top Losers for the week

• Gala (GALA): -23.8 per cent
• BitTorrent (BTT): -19.3 per cent
• NEAR Protocol (NEAR): -19.3 per cent
• Quant (QNT): -15.2 per cent
• Internet Computer (ICP): -13.9 per cent

(Note: Data as of 12.45 PM IST, December 19, 2021; Source: Coinmarketcap.com)