The Crypto Weekend – What’s happening as BTC falls under $42K

As crypto continues to captivate both investors and enthusiasts alike, the recent weekend has ushered in a wave of volatility, placing Bitcoin (BTC) at the forefront of attention. The digital currency, often considered a barometer for the broader crypto market, experienced a significant downturn as it fell below the crucial $42,000 threshold.

Crypto markets take a shift on the weekend

On Sunday, the Bitcoin Fear & Greed Index rose from 52 to 56. The Index returned to the Greed zone, an indication that investor sentiment has improved substantially.

BTC-spot ETF-related news and positive US equity market sessions on Friday probably played a role. Nevertheless, SEC activity continues to be a source of concern for crypto investors. The potential consequences of the SEC proceedings against Coinbase and Ripple have the capacity to impact the crypto market in the United States significantly.

Crypto investors in other regions persisted in their response to the SEC’s postponement of its ruling on Fidelity’s application for an ETH-spot ETF. ETH declined 0.79 percent on Saturday, in contrast to the overall crypto market trajectory. 

At the time of this writing, the value of Bitcoin (BTC) stands at $41,828.10, reflecting a 0.1% surge from one hour ago and a 0.6% surge since the last day. BTC is currently worth 2.5% less than it did seven days ago. The 24-hour trading volume of Bitcoin amounted to $8,553,987,213.

As of today, the value of Ethereum (ETH) is $2,478.53, reflecting a 0.3% surge from the previous hour and a 0.5% surge since yesterday. ETH is currently worth 2.3% less than it did seven days ago. The total volume of Ethereum traded over the last twenty-four hours was $4,296,396,179.

The current value of the global crypto market cap is $1.73 trillion, representing a change of 0.72% over the last twenty-four hours and 59.3% over the past year. The current market cap of BTC is $819 billion, which signifies a 47.4% market share for Bitcoin. Stablecoins, meanwhile, have a market cap of $135 billion, or 7.83% of the total crypto market cap.

Bitcoin ETFs market value surges

After six consecutive trading days, the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which were recently approved, have accumulated 95,000 Bitcoin in total. The funds’ assets under management (AUM) are approaching $4 billion.

According to information released by senior ETF analyst Eric Balchunas at Bloomberg, the inflow of capital into the newly introduced ETFs has exceeded the outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). GBTC has experienced a decline of $2.8 billion in its assets under management during the initial half-day of trading.

Fidelity’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and BlackRock’s FBTC have both received inflows exceeding $1.2 billion. Despite FBTC’s marginally greater inflows, IBIT presently possesses a greater AUM of $1.4 billion in contrast to Fidelity’s nearly $1.3 billion.

The ETF managed by Invesco ranked third and has sustained consistent growth. Its highest-attracting day for inflows was Friday, January 19, with over $63 million being deposited, although the total assets under administration have not yet surpassed $200 million. Friday was also the highest day for inflows to VanEck’s ETF, which surpassed $100 million in total assets under management.

Ripple’s XRP continues to make market waves

XRP holders’ lawyer, John Deaton, has slammed the lawyers representing the United States Securities and Exchange Commission over the Bitcoin statement made during the previous week’s hearing in the ongoing Coinbase Global Inc. litigation.

John Deaton criticized the SEC’s argument in this regard, while MetaLawMan ironically highlighted the large community behind Bitcoin (BTC), as evidenced by its hashrate, which has risen to a new All-Time High (ATH) of 500 exahashes.

Attaining this milestone is no minor feat, given that many computers around the world are connected to the network in a decentralized and autonomous manner to ensure the Bitcoin network’s integrity.

Additionally, Evernode (EVR), a layer-2 scaling solution built on the XRP Ledger (XRPL), has operated its network with a minor hiccup for the past week since its much-anticipated launch. 

As per the update published on Evernode’s X account, a significant malfunction has arisen due to the exponential increase in the number of node hosts, which impacts the settlement of transactions. 

The introduction of Evernode was accompanied by considerable enthusiasm. Notwithstanding the postponement in the final implementation of the protocol, it garnered an immense amount of support, as evidenced by the sum of addresses that downloaded the EVR airdrop. An equivalent rate of expansion is presently being sustained in the number of node operators.