Ethereum

Polkadot

Avalanche

 is currently at 25/100 in the Extreme Fear zone, down 2 points from this time last week. The index reached a high of 29 on Wednesday and a low of 25 today.

Global financial markets closed higher at the end of last week’s trade. Investors appeared to be frontrunning probabilities of the Fed tightening cycle ending in the foreseeable future. Conditions looked to be easing faster than expected and short-term sentiment was bolstered by anticipation of a possible pivot in 2023. As the new week progressed and a robust calendar of economic activity eventuated, the previous week’s strength softened.

According to Jurrien Timmer, Director of Global Macro at Fidelity Investments, “It seems the stock market was rallying on two very big assumptions: the expectation that the yield curve is wrong and that earnings will hold up in 2023, and the expectation that the Fed will quickly return to a neutral policy of 3-3.5% after reaching a terminal rate of 5%. In other words, the market is betting on a soft landing.”

US markets held firm on Monday but declined as the week progressed in response to growing concern of a global economic downturn. The US economy showed signs of strength, adding 263,000 jobs in November, which was down from October, but exceeded expectations overall. The Federal Reserve signaled a 0.5% increase in next week’s rate decision which the market priced in accordingly.

The short-lived relief that markets experienced from easing Covid restrictions in China was quickly counteracted by general concern regarding the implications of higher interest rates and their impact on global economies.

In Australia, the 

 target by 0.25% to 3.1% and increased the interest rate on exchange settlement balances by 0.25% to 3.0%. According to statements by RBA governor, Philip Lowe, “Inflation in Australia is too high, at 6.9% over the year to October. Global factors explain much of this high inflation, but strong domestic demand relative to the ability of the economy to meet that demand is also playing a role. A further increase in inflation is expected over the months ahead, with inflation forecast to peak at around 8% over the year to the December quarter. Inflation is then expected to decline next year due to the ongoing resolution of global supply-side problems, recent declines in some commodity prices and slower growth in demand.”

In the week ahead, the US Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank are all scheduled to release rate decisions.

The digital asset majors showed early signs of strength as buyers defended local lows and price action trended to the upside.

Following a turbulent few weeks, Bitcoin gained support and pressed to local range highs, trading above the US$17k level. Similarly, Ether saw increased bids and trended higher, attempting to hold above range highs around US$1.3k. On the desk, cash-heavy positioning rotated into direct exposure as market participants saw opportunity across the board and allocated accordingly. We saw higher volumes of stablecoins rotating into AUD while traders prepared for increased volatility leading into the year's end.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin was down 1.5% on the week, trading at US$16,850 and Ether was down 3.5% at US$1,235.

Bitcoin dominance by market capitalisation traded 0.67% higher, positioning Bitcoin at 40.7% dominance by market cap. With total crypto market cap trading 2.1% lower on the week thus far, we’re now seeing US$797.3 billion in the crypto markets.


Ethereum co-founder, Vitalik Buterin published an article which addressed areas he’s most excited about in the 

.

In his commentary, Buterin covered a variety of key concepts, including cryptocurrency payments, stablecoins, DeFi, digital identity, DAOs, and hybrid applications. When addressing how his thinking has changed over time about the state of Ethereum, he stated, “my excitement about Ethereum is now no longer based in the potential for undiscovered unknowns, but rather in a few specific categories of applications that are proving themselves already and are only getting stronger.”

When it comes to the Ethereum application landscape, Vitalik’s overall view is that the fundamental limitations of the space are becoming more broadly understood. The knowns are falling into place and the unknowns are becoming lesser with time.

Vitalik addressed some of the challenges the ecosystem faces and thinks that answers are already in motion, citing that “many of these applications are being built today, though many of these applications are seeing only limited usage because of the limitations of present-day technology. Blockchains are not scalable, transactions until recently took a fairly long time to reliably get included on the chain, and present-day wallets give users an uncomfortable choice between low convenience and low security. In the longer term, many of these applications will need to overcome the spectre of privacy issues. These are all problems that can be solved, and there is a strong drive to solve them.”



 which highlighted how central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) are gaining traction among financial institutions and financial leaders worldwide. The benefits Ripple emphasized, included efficient and cost-effective payments, ease of cross-border remittances, advancement of financial inclusion, and improved accessibility of loans and other financial services to historically underserved communities.

The report, which surveyed over 1,600 global financial leaders, cited that “more than 70% of respondents surveyed across five global regions believe CBDCs stand to deliver major social change within the next five years, with Asia Pacific ranking the highest at 89%. Specifically, four out of five regions see financial inclusion or greater access to credit as the largest potential breakthrough to be driven by CBDCs.”

Limitations and challenges concerning implementation of CBDCs included consumer education, identity verification, offline access, and security protections. Despite the visible hurdles, potential alternatives and solutions are believed to be available but must encourage interoperability between currencies and need to be scalable.

Overall, CBDCs are garnering serious traction worldwide. The Bank for International Settlements survey showed that nine out of ten banks are exploring CBDCs, an increase of 80% relative to 2021. Further, 85% of leaders at major financial institutions shared the likelihood of their country launching a CBDC in the next four years, 44% believed the technology would enhance national competitiveness, and 43% felt the technology would increase the efficiency of payment systems.




The Bank of Japan has announced their plans to 

. Alongside key megabanks, regional banks, and private fintech companies, the BOJ’s pilot scheme is scheduled to commence in April of next year.

As early as October 2020, the BOJ was openly vocal regarding their consideration of CBDCs. In spring 2021, the BOJ launched a proof-of-concept phase which sought to gauge the costs and benefits of involvement, stating, “while the Bank currently has no plan to issue CBDC, from the viewpoint of ensuring the stability and efficiency of the overall payment and settlement systems, the Bank will prepare thoroughly, including implementing experiments, to respond to changes in circumstances in an appropriate manner. In the course of CBDC exploration, the Bank considers it important to apply the knowledge of various stakeholders such as the private sector, experts, and relevant public authorities.”

Fast-forward to December 2022 and the BOJ has gone live with their three-phased test in preparation to introduce a digital yen. Currently involved in phase one, the BOJ has tested basic functions such as issuance and distribution and will progress toward security, controls, and peripheral functioning in subsequent phases.

Amidst rapidly changing business environments and growing digital payment options, the BOJ foresees a shift toward cashless economies and proposes the digital yen as having advantages of speed over credit cards, immediate payments, and reduced transaction risks relative to cash.




Alibaba Cloud has expanded support for the Avalanche public blockchain to power their infrastructure services. The integration will enable developers to launch their own validator nodes and will provide access to Alibaba Cloud’s ‘plug-and-play’ infrastructure and products.

According to 

, “Alibaba Cloud, the largest cloud service provider in Asia Pacific, has expanded their line of infrastructure technology and intelligence tools to the Avalanche public blockchain, enabling users to launch validator nodes through the service and access computing, storage, and distribution resources through Alibaba Cloud’s suite of products in Asia.”

Avalanche supports upwards of 1,200 validators and handles more than two million transactions daily. Alibaba Cloud’s 

 describes Avalanche as “the fastest smart contracts platform in the blockchain industry; blazingly fast, low in cost, and eco-friendly” and includes a step-by-step tutorial to deploy an Avalanche node using Alibaba Cloud with the click of a button.



 report for 2022 outlined how digital assets can transform the lives of Australian businesses and consumers. The report suggested that Australia is well positioned to be a leader in responsible digital asset innovation and can add upwards of AU$60 billion per year to the Australian economy by 2030. Further, it was cited that Australia’s leadership in digital assets could contribute upwards of 700-1,000 new start-ups, AU$15-20 billion in additional investment, and AU$10-15 billion in tax revenue by 2030.

As the trend of digitisation increases and the global economy becomes increasingly interconnected, leadership in digital assets “will ensure that Australia maintains sovereignty over its payments and financial system. Leadership in digital assets can allow Australia to diversify its economy and grow an important new local industry.”

To succeed, however, Australia must advance in skills, innovation, and investment where it currently lags its peers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Singapore.

Tech Council CEO, Kate Pounder, noted that digital asset technologies can provide benefits to the Australian economy, businesses, and consumers by making transactions safer, better, and easier. Pounder commented that “we want to see Australia capture the economic opportunities of digital assets, but we want to see it done in a responsible way.” She continued, “Australia is already an attractive destination for investment in data centres, but we have an enormous opportunity to position ourselves as a regional hub for green data centres, which can support the sustainable growth of tech activity. Other countries in our region such as Singapore are much more constrained by their land size and renewables capacity, which creates an opportunity for Australia to capture more of this growing market.”


Polkadot (DOT) token is now live and available to trade on BTC Markets. Learn more about Polkadot, its history and use cases via our 


BTC Markets CEO Caroline Bowler addressed Fintech 2022 in a keynote speech regarding ‘The Future of Money’. Her presentation explored how the evolution of money mirrors the evolution of human history.

Our society has become increasingly global, interconnected, and digital. The advancement of money has historically run parallel alongside societal developments and is something we all must keep ‘buying in to’ for it to remain functional. Trends have pointed toward a story of declining cash use and an increase in cash alternatives, moving to an era of programmable money via smart contracts.




Scams are on the rise in Australia, and some of them are targeting BTC Markets clients. We want to remind you of the importance of safe online practices, so you can avoid falling victim to these scams.

The most common scams right now include fake websites and social media posts that attempt to steal your personal information. Scammers may pose as representatives from companies that you interact with such as BTC Markets, and they use these fake sites to trick you into handing over your personal information. These sites often look like real websites with logos and addresses that make them appear like they're legitimate.

You should never give out your personal information or provide credit card information over email or social media messenger chats. We have a dedicated page on how to '

', which we encourage you to read. Being informed and taking simple measures is the best action you can take to protect yourself and your account while online. The Australian government’s ‘

’ website provides the latest information on how to recognise, avoid and report scams.



 The information provided in this email is for general purposes only. It should not be construed as professional financial advice from BTC Markets Pty Ltd. BTC Markets is not a financial adviser, and you should consider seeking independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice to ensure that the information relates to your unique circumstances. BTC Markets is not liable for any loss caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided directly or indirectly, by use of this information contained with this email.
Prices are accurate as of 10:15 AM AEDT, on 08/12/2022.


This Week in Crypto: 8th December 2022

Bitcoin

 is currently at 27/100 in the Fear zone, up 7 points from this time last week. The index reached a high of 29/100 on Wednesday and a low of 20/100 on Friday.


We are excited to announce that multi-chain protocol, Polkadot will be listed on BTC Markets. Post only orders, deposits and withdrawals will be available on the 6th December, with the market going live around midday on the 7th December.

Polkadot is a multichain protocol which enables cross-chain transfer of data and assets and is currently the 11th largest crypto asset by market capitalisation. Polkadot is a multichain network, which means it can process a variety of transactions on several different chains in parallel, resulting in improved scalability. This next generation protocol enables interoperability across blockchains, meaning different blockchains and systems can communicate, and exchange information passed between one another... learn more about DOT.

The digital asset markets have continued to consolidate in a tight trading range and market participants have maintained a general ‘one day at a time’ approach. After nearly two weeks of disconnected correlation with the broader global financial markets, the digital asset majors have once again returned to significant positive correlation with the Nasdaq and S&P equities indices.

Global markets started the week off to a soft open, broadly pulling back amidst concerns that the Chinese government would further tighten Covid 19 restrictions, resulting in potential supply chain disruption. Leading into the end of the week and the start of December, the broader markets rallied in a move to the upside.

An eventful calendar of economic news and several important economic drivers occurred during the week.

Onshore in Australia, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released retail trade data relating to monthly and quarterly estimates of turnover and volumes for retail businesses. The data indicated that the October 2022 seasonally adjusted estimate for retail businesses fell 0.2% month-on-month and rose 12.5% comparatively to October 2021.

In unprecedented gesture, Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe apologised to the general public for the central bank’s previous guidance. Throughout 2020 and nearly all of 2021, the RBA provided ongoing indication that interest rates would remain low until 2024. Acting on this message, nearly 300,000 Australians took out loans and mortgages upwards of six times their income. In his apology, Lowe stated, “I’m sorry that that happened. I’m certainly sorry if people listened to what we’d said and then acted on that.”

In the United States, Federal Chair Jerome Powell addressed the U.S. economic outlook, inflation, and the labour market at The Brookings Institute Hutchins Centre in Washington, DC. Fed Chair Powell commented, “today I am going to offer a progress report on the FOMC’s efforts to restore price stability to the U.S. economy for the benefit of the American people. That report must begin by acknowledging the reality that inflation remains far too high. My colleagues and I are acutely aware that high inflation is imposing significant hardship, straining budgets, and shrinking what pay checks will buy. This is especially painful for those least able to meet the higher costs of essentials like food, housing, and transportation. Price stability is the responsibility of the federal reserve and serves as the bedrock of our economy.” Powell continued, “Given our progress in tightening policy, the timing of that moderation is far less significant than the questions of how much further we will need to raise rates to control inflation, and the length of time it will be necessary to hold policy at a restrictive level.”

Powell implied that the Federal Reserve would slow the pace of interest-rate increases in December’s meeting, however, he emphasized that borrowing costs will need to remain restrictive in order to beat inflation. The market responded positively to Powell’s remarks, likely due to his comments being perceived as less hawkish than originally priced-in.



Bitcoin continued to trade in a range between US$16-17.5k and Ether between US$1-1.3k. At the end of the November trading month, BTC was 16.2% lower at US$17,167 and ETH closed 17.7% lower at US$1294.

Bitcoin dominance by market capitalisation closed the month 0.69% lower, leaving Bitcoin at 40.2% dominance by market cap. With total crypto market cap closing 15.6% lower in November, we’re now seeing US$820.8 billion in the crypto markets

On-chain insights platform Glassnode released a recent update which highlighted that while Bitcoin has been trading below the cost-basis for the broader market, participants have been widely accumulating. Particularly, the cohort of entities holding less than one Bitcoin have reached an all-time-high of balance increase, accumulating an equivalent to 6.3% of the entire Bitcoin supply. According to Glassnode, long-term holders and smaller entities are taking advantage of lower prices and soaking up buys into otherwise capitulating price-action.


European Central Bank President, Christine Lagarde, called for 

 around crypto in the wake of recent market events.

The EU Commission’s previous proposal “Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation,” or 

, was presented to address innovation, competition, and mitigation of risks relating to digital asset markets. Originally introduced in 2020, MiCA is expected to pass in early 2023 and anticipated to be implemented in 2024.

In this week’s hearing of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Lagarde reiterated her stance that there needs to be a more robust version of MiCA (MiCA II) which would include additional legislation and further provisions. Lagarde reinforced Europe’s position as a leader in the regulation of digital assets and highlighted EU Central Bank digital payment alternatives via the digital euro which is in the pipeline.




The Reserve Bank of India has announced plans to pilot the first digital rupee, a retail focused central bank digital currency. The pilot encompasses select locations in a closed user group which includes both customers and merchants and is intended to provide a real time stress-test of the entire digital rupee process including creation, distribution, and overall retail usage. Based on learnings from the initial testing phase, future iterations would be designed, implemented, and re-tested in subsequent pilot series. The RBI suggests that the digital rupee will make the inter-bank market more efficient by reducing transaction costs and “pre-empting the need for settlement guarantee infrastructure or for collateral to mitigate settlement risk.”

According to the 

 from the Reserve Bank of India, “the digital rupee would be in the form of a digital token that represents legal tender. It would be issued in the same denominations that paper currency and coins are currently issued. It would be distributed through intermediaries, i.e., banks. Users will be able to transact with the digital rupee through a digital wallet offered by the participating banks and stored on mobile phones / devices. Transactions can be both Person to Person (P2P) and Person to Merchant (P2M). Payments to merchants can be made using QR codes displayed at merchant locations. The digital rupee would offer features of physical cash like trust, safety and settlement finality. As in the case of cash, it will not earn any interest and can be converted to other forms of money, like deposits with banks.”




As Bitcoin prices have continued to trade at lower levels, miners have faced pressures of increased cost of production and diminishing returns on the short-term. According to on-chain analytics platform, CryptoQuant, “Bitcoin difficulty is really high for miners so that means; costs are getting higher and doing business in this kind of environment is getting harder. That's why miners do not work in full force. If they have efficient, new generation mining machines, they put them into work but that's all. Inflation is high and people feel the effect of living costs, bitcoin price is declining, mining cost and difficulty is getting higher.”

Despite the short-term headwinds that many miners are currently experiencing, firms like Greenidge and Arkon Energy have 

, leading at the forefront of sustainable practices like vertically integrated green Bitcoin mining, electricity sovereignty, and regional diversity when it comes to site location.

In recent response to a successful fundraising round, Arkon’s CEO, Josh Payne stated, “in a period in which the largest bitcoin miners in the world are struggling with high costs and over-leveraged balance sheets, the ability of Arkon Energy to attract capital highlights its unique value proposition. Distressed cycles produce winners and losers and Arkon is well positioned to be a winner.”




ConsenSys, the Ethereum software company behind next-generation applications like MetaMask and Infura, initiated a 

 which created quite the stir among privacy-minded crypto users. The revised policy update notified users that the firm would formally collect IP and Ethereum wallet addresses.

In their official media release, ConsenSys stated, “we believe in transparency and want to ensure all users know what we are collecting and how it is being used...as more users are exploring non-custodial ways to hold their crypto assets, the updates to our policy were made in an effort to educate users about how MetaMask works, including highlighting its use of Infura as the default RPC provider in MetaMask and users’ ability to use their own Ethereum node as an alternative to the default RPC provider.”



 reorganisation this week. BlockFi’s client update addressed the matter, stating, “our team has explored every strategic option and alternative available to us, and has remained laser-focused on our primary objective of doing the best we can for our clients. These Chapter 11 cases will enable BlockFi to stabilize the business and provide BlockFi with the opportunity to consummate a reorganisation plan that maximises value for all stakeholders, including our valued clients. Rest assured, we will continue to work on recovering all obligations owed to BlockFi as promptly as practicable.”

We've been nominated for 'The Blockies!'


We are excited to announce that BTC Markets has been nominated for two 

 for 2022. The nominations include ‘Digital Currency Exchange of the Year’ and our CEO, Caroline Bowler has been nominated for the ‘Blockchain Leader of the Year’ award.

‘The Blockies’ recognises leadership and excellence in the blockchain industry and community. Australia’s blockchain sector continues to grow and flourish as individuals break new ground in technical advancement, regulation consultation, community building and new business ideas.

It’s been quite a year of growth and innovation for our sector and it’s time to celebrate the achievements of individuals and businesses that continue to contribute to the Australian blockchain industry ecosystem.




Last week, we advised you about the launch of our Trust Pilot online review program. We want to ensure we are collecting and responding to your feedback effectively. Email invitations will come from 

, where you can rate your experience with BTC Markets and provide feedback. We understand the concern about not clicking on unsolicited emails, so we wanted to prepare you for the Trust Pilot email. This is an image of what the email will look like.


Due to market conditions, we have temporarily paused the launch of Solana on our platform. Once more clarity around the status on Solana is known, we will issue an update.




Scams are on the rise in Australia, and some of them are targeting BTC Markets clients. We want to remind you of the importance of safe online practices, so you can avoid falling victim to these scams.


The most common scams right now include fake websites and social media posts that attempt to steal your personal information. Scammers may pose as representatives from companies that you interact with such as BTC Markets, and they use these fake sites to trick you into handing over your personal information. These sites often look like real websites with logos and addresses that make them appear like they're legitimate.

You should never give out your personal information or provide credit card information over email or social media messenger chats. We have a dedicated page on how to '


BTC Markets is the exchange of choice for traders and investors who are serious about account security, market liquidity, and cutting-edge technology. You’ll benefit from our industry-leading uptime of 99.99% and multiple best-in-class API integrations. You can trade with confidence knowing that you are protected by institutional-grade security practices and onshore custody of your assets.



Disclaimer: The information provided in this email is for general purposes only. It should not be construed as professional financial advice from BTC Markets Pty Ltd. BTC Markets is not a financial adviser, and you should consider seeking independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice to ensure that the information relates to your unique circumstances. BTC Markets is not liable for any loss caused, whether due to negligence or otherwise arising from the use of, or reliance on, the information provided directly or indirectly, by use of this information contained with this email.
Prices are accurate as of 10:00 AM AEDT, on 01/12/2022.

This Week in Crypto: 1st December 2022

Polkadot is a next generation blockchain that establishes an ecosystem of computers that can each operate their own blockchains. It incentivises a global chain of computers to use a blockchain and is thought by many to be one of the most innovative projects in the world of cryptocurrency.

Polkadot was founded in 2016 by Gavin Wood, the co-founder of Ethereum. Before Polkadot, Wood was also the founder of Parity Technologies and the Web3 Foundation. He also developed Solidity, the programming language for writing applications on Ethereum. The Polkadot Foundation conducted a series of capital raises from 2017-2019. In October 2019, the Polkadot Ecosystem Fund was created, providing money for projects built on the Polkadot network. Finally, the Polkadot mainnet launch occurred in May 2020.

As traditional blockchains were not built to communicate with each other, this provided an opportunity for the creation of a network that connects all other blockchains. Polkadot can act as a multichain connector across multiple networks, which generally would not be able to communicate otherwise.

Polkadot achieves this by hosting its blockchain network known as the ‘relay chain’, which is the primary chain for Polkadot and is responsible for its consensus mechanism, cross-chain interoperability, and shared network security.

The ‘relay chain’ then hosts data structures, known as parachains, which run parallel to the ‘relay chain’. These data structures come in various forms and can be customised based on their needs. Parachains can act across multiple blockchains and work simultaneously. This allows Polkadot to achieve vast levels of interoperability and network scalability.

To further understand the relationship between the various chains and how consensus is maintained, view a detailed description on Polkadot’s site 

Polkadot's vision is to create an ‘Internet of Blockchains’ with many use cases, including payment networks, marketplaces, prediction markets and more!

It's evolving ecosystem that currently holds approximately 100 parachains for use. To access these, Polkadot designed an auction system whereby teams can bid for available slots to build their projects with. The network allows projects to raise funds internally or source support from the Polkadot community via a crowd loan system. The chosen project is provided lease rights between 12-96 weeks and needs to lock up DOT as collateral during the nominated usage time. Once the timeframe expires, all DOT is returned, and teams can choose to reapply for a parachain.

The first parachain auction was held on November 11th, 2021. The network believes the combination of auctions, defined lease timeframes and crowd loans incentivises the best possible projects to gain the limited spaces available. Furthermore, the competition encourages consistent innovation among bidders who will compete to gain parachain leases.

To learn more about Polkadot, see the below resources:



Polkadot FAQ | What is Polkadot Used For?

BTC Markets Blog

This Week in Crypto: 8th December 2022

This Week in Crypto: 1st December 2022

New Listing: Polkadot (DOT)