Wednesday Watch: Closely Watching
Anybody thinks we’re gonna be at this level for a while?
Good morning. Crypto prices have retreated again, but again, we’re not here thirty days ago. It’s still up. It matters, of course, if you bought Bitcoin at $40k. Btw, BitPinas has an excellent posts mapping where Filipinos can buy Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, from virtual currency exchanges to P2P marketplaces.
Welcome to Watch, part of our new series: BitPinas Daily. We will look at the price of Bitcoin, Ethereum and the major cryptocurrencies. Crypto is global, but sometimes news that matters happens while we sleep. So we bring to you what’s happening in our space here and abroad.
Market Price as of January 13, 2021:
| Bitcoin | $33,938 | -4.86% |
| Ethereum | $1,045.41 | -4.35% |
| Tether | $1.00 | -0.99% |
| XRP | $0.293570 | 1.11% |
| Bitcoin Cash | $451.73 | -6.13% |
| SLP | $0.013 | 8.33% |
Bitcoin closed January 12, 2021, at $33,938 per BTC. We’re down -2.7% in the last 7 days and 13% since the year began. This is 21.5% below the previous all-time high of $41,940, which was hit on Jan. 8, 2021.
Bitcoin’s market capitalization stands today at $615,347,714,586 which is 66.82% of the entire cryptocurrency market. The entire crypto market, by the way, now has a market cap of $916,615,834,820.
On the table above, there’s the cryptocurrency SLP. If you wonder what that is, check out this article: Playing Axie Infinity vs Minimum Basic Salary in the Philippines.
DeFi
OCC Chief on DeFi: Get ready for self-driving banks
In an op-ed for The Financial Times, Brian Brooks, the acting chief of the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the country’s currency regulator has warm words about how DeFi could change how banks work in the future, attributing to its greater efficiency.
Comparing it to self-driving cars, Brooks said DeFi is paving the way for self driving banks (Banks without bankers). Still, he doesn’t think there are regulations currently in place that can be interpreted to work for DeFi. After all, bank regulation is more about regulating bankers actually.
Here are some of his thoughts:
- Federal regulators could ensure fair treatment of customers by self-driving banks.
- Regulators could properly examine a bank that exists only as software. (“It may be easier than supervising banks today,” he said.)
- Regulators could ensure self-driving banks properly serve their communities. (“Their greater efficiency would free significant amounts of capital that is lost to operating costs today or slowed by decisions dependent on human grey matter.”)
But can self-driving banks — banks without officers and directors — become banks under current regulations? Brook’s said not yet. Bank charters, for now, can only be issued to human beings. “But those antiquated rules should be revisited just as regulations that still mandate the use of fax machines should be,” he concluded.
Liquidations
$2.9 billion: Bitcoin liquidations kick up broader market headwinds
(By Frank Chapparo, The Block) “Data collected by The Block Research shows that liquidations of bitcoin futures long positions topped $1.47 billion on Sunday. Additional data from ByBt shows that liquidations over the last 24-hours stand at nearly $2.9 billion.”
Corporate
MicroStrategy plans to get more corporations buying Bitcoin
(By Scott Chipolina, Decrypt) “Business intelligence firm MicroStrategy is offering a free, online course in Bitcoin strategy on February 3 and 4, 2021.”
Bitcoin
Top 100 Bitcoin addresses accumulated $11B more BTC in the past 30 days
(By Joshua Mapperson, Cointelegraph) “The top 100 richest Bitcoin addresses are increasingly bullish, accumulating 16% more Bitcoin over the last 30 days. In total these addresses added 334,000 more Bitcoin to their bags, or around $11 billion worth. The majority barely reacted to Bitcoin’s recent price drop from $41,000 to below $33,000. Only seven addresses conducted a transfer out of the wallet since the most recent all-time-high on January 10.”
What else is happening
- Telegram sees 25 million new users in 72 hours. (Scott Chipolina, Decrypt)
- Mark Cuban is more into crypto than he’s previously let on. (Turner Wright, Cointelegraph)
- Coinbase implied IPO valuation is now $75 billion (Sam Reynolds, Blockworks)
- Tether minted $2 billion last week (Zack Voell, Coindesk)
This article is published on BitPinas: Wednesday Watch: Closely Watching
