Trade
Cryptocurrency Prices Rally Towards Double-Digit Gains in 2020
The cryptocurrency market has started 2020 with a huge bang, expanding by an impressive 23% within the first two weeks of the year. The overall market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market – a measure of the size of the market – has grown from $192 billion at the start of the year, to well over $240 billion by the middle of January.
Leading the pack is Bitcoin (BTC), which constitutes more than 65% of the overall market size. Going from just under $7,200 at the end of 2019 to a high of $8,800, Bitcoin recorded double-digit gains within two weeks. January 14 saw a spike of more than 11% in Bitcoin’s price, fuelling speculation that the two-year-long cryptocurrency recession could finally be over.
Among the many factors that contributed to Bitcoin’s price increase was the geopolitical upheaval emanating from increasing tensions between the USA and Iran, which led to a flight of safety capital by investors, to safe-haven assets such as gold. Already established as a manifestation of digital gold, it seems hardly coincidental that the prices of both gold and Bitcoin went up.
Another catalyst for the increase was the official launch of the CME Bitcoin options on January 13. The CME group represents the biggest derivatives marketplace in the financial sector. The trading volume of the CME Bitcoin options surpassed that of Bakkt exchange — its direct competitor — within a single day, underlining the status of CME as well as the increasing demands for a wider range of Bitcoin products for traditional investors.
Ethereum
Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency, saw a breakout from a consolidation range of $145 to a high of $170, amounting to a relatively modest 18% increase. This was substantiated by strong trading volume that guided ETH’s price spike through a key resistance line that has been hindering its price growth.
Ethereum’s fundamental prospects look positive, particularly given the latest statistics by DeFi Pulse. These indicate that $667M worth of digital asset value — consisting of more than $450M worth of ETH — is locked in decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, which is an increase of 2.5% over last year at the same time. DeFi applications are mostly built on the Ethereum blockchain. An increase of ETH locked in decentralized applications would result in lower circulating supply, and result in notable scarcity.
Another fundamental metric for ETH is the growing quantity of users that it has represented through the number of unique Ethereum addresses. There are now more than 84 million unique ETH addresses, an upsurge from 50 million in 2019. Additionally, last month Ethereum also managed to successfully implement its latest hard fork — known as Istanbul.
EOS
EOS performed relatively well in the recent bull market, clocking a rally of over 22% in the last couple of days. It rose from a low of $3.1 to a high of nearly $4, breaking through major resistance levels to briefly touch $4 for the first time since September 2019.
Much like Ethereum, EOS is also big on DeFi. Nearly 7% of EOS coins are locked in various DeFi applications, more than ETH’s 3%, indicating a strong use case.
DASH
One of the best performers in the market was the privacy coin, DASH, currently the 12th largest cryptocurrency. DASH jumped from $86 to a high of $127, notching a stupendous 47% gain over two days.
This significant increase may be substantiated by the fact that Dash is the preferred cryptocurrency of the citizens of Venezuela. Its increased popularity in Venezuela is not surprising given the hyperinflation that the country faces, compounded by ineffective economic policies, corruption, and sanctions. Given that a privacy-focused cryptocurrency can effectively mask users’ activity, it was natural that Dash became a top candidate. Since January 4, 2020, Dash has seen an exponential rise in value, at one point going from $45 to a high of $120 over a matter of hours. That is an astounding 150% increase within a week. Furthermore, recent reports have announced that Burger King is considering accepting Dash in its outlets.
Conclusion
The cryptocurrency market is experiencing a steep rally across the board, with many convinced that this may be the end of a two-year bear market. Various developments in cryptocurrency adoption and technology further substantiate the use cases of blockchain. The increase in trading volume and the breaking of prior price resistance could signal a resurgence in the markets.
Altcoins
XNO Token of Xeno NFT Hub listed on Bithumb Korea Exchange
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 25th January, 2021, // ChainWire //
Xeno Holdings Limited (xno.live ), a blockchain solutions company based in Hong Kong, has announced the listing of its ecosystem utility token XNO on the ‘Bithumb Korea’ cryptocurrency exchange on January 21st 2021.
Xeno NFT Hub (market.xno.live ), developed by Xeno Holdings, enables easy minting of digital items into NFTs while also providing a marketplace where anyone can securely trade NFTs.
The Xeno NFT Hub project team includes former members of the technology project Yosemite X based in San Francisco and professionals such as Gabby Dizon who is a games industry expert and NFT space influencer based in Southeast Asia.
NFT(Non-Fungible Token) technology has recently gained huge focus in the blockchain arena and beyond, making waves in the online gaming sector, the art world, and the digital copyrights industry in recent years. The strongest feature of NFTs is that “NFTs are unique digital assets that cannot be replaced or forged”. Unlike fungible tokens such as Bitcoin or Ether, NFTs are not interchangeable for other tokens of the same type but instead each NFT has a unique value and specific information that cannot be replaced. This fact makes NFTs the perfect solution to record and prove ownership of digital and real-world items like works of art, game items, limited-edition collectibles, and more. One of the ways to have a successful…
Altcoins
XENO starts VIP NFT trading service and collaborates with contemporary artist Hiro Yamagata
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 24th December, 2020, // ChainWire //
The XENO NFT Hub (https://xno.live) will provide a crypto-powered digital items and collectables trading platform allowing users to create, buy, and sell NFTs. Additionally it will support auction based listings, governance and voting mechanisms, trade history tracking, user rating and other advanced features.
As a first step towards its fully comprehensive service, XENO NFT Hub launched a recent VIP service to select users and early adopters in December 2020 with plans for a full Public Beta to open in June 2021.
“NFTs are extremely flexible in their usage, from digital event tickets to artwork, and while NFTs have a very wide spectrum of uses and categories XENO will initially focus its partnership efforts and its own item curation on three primary areas: gaming, sports & entertainment, and collectibles.”, said XENO NFT Hub president Anthony Di Franco.
He also added “This does not mean we will prohibit other types of NFTs from our ecosystem However, it simply means that XENO’s efforts as a company will be targeted into these verticals initially as a cohesive business approach.”
Development and Procurement Lead, Gabby Dizon explained, “Despite our initial focus, we found ourselves with a unique opportunity to host some of the works of Mr. Hiro Yamagata. We are collaborating with Japanese artist Hiro Yamagata to enshrine some of his artwork into NFTs.”
Mr. Yamagata has…
Altcoins
My Crypto Heroes Announces Issuance of MCH Governance Token
Tokyo, Japan, 24th November, 2020, // ChainWire //
My Crypto Heroes is happy to announce the issuance of MCH Coin as an incentive to players in the My Crypto Heroes ecosystem, aiming to allow them to craft a “User-oriented world”. The MCH coin is available on Uniswap with a newly created pool with ETH.
My Crypto Heroes is a blockchain-based game for PC and Mobile. It allows users to collect historic heroes and raise them for battle in a Crypto World. Officially released on November 30th, 2018, MCH has recorded the most transactions and daily active users than any other blockchain game in the world.
What is MCH Coin?
MCH Coin is being issued as an ERC-20 Standard Governance Token. The issuance began on November 9th, 2020, with 50 million tokens issued.
Of the funds issued, 40% are allocated to a pay for on-going development and as rewards for advisors and early investors. 10% are allocated to marketing and the growth of the ecosystem, and 50% are allocated to the community. The Distribution Ratio of the MCH Coin is subject to change via a governance decision.
The MCH coin will be used as a voting right as part of the ecosystem’s governance, with 1 coin being 1 vote. It will also be used for in-game utilities and payments. Additional information can be found here:
https://medium.com/mycryptoheroes/new-ecosystem-with-mchcoin-en-a6a82494894f
During December 2020 the first…
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