• Bitcoin dominance has hit 41.5% as of Jan. 20 — the highest level over the past six months.
• Ethereum dominance is also up and currently stands at 19.4%.
• BTC-ETH Market Cap Dominance has been trending downwards, indicating an outperformance of Ethereum over Bitcoin since early 2021.

The crypto market has been abuzz over the past few weeks, with Bitcoin (BTC) reaching its all-time-high and crossing the $22,000 mark. However, this is not the only development that has caught the attention of crypto enthusiasts. Bitcoin’s dominance in the crypto market has also been on the rise, and it has now reached its highest level since July 2022.

According to data from Glassnode, Bitcoin’s dominance has hit 41.5% as of Jan. 20. This is the highest level that it has seen over the past six months. Ethereum’s dominance in the market is also up and currently stands at 19.4%.

The BTC-ETH Market Cap Dominance is an oscillator that tracks the macro outperformance trends between the top two crypto-assets. It considers only Bitcoin’s market cap relative to the combined market cap of Bitcoin plus Ethereum. Lower values and downtrends indicate an outperformance of ETH over the pink line. This means ETH has been outperforming BTC since early 2021.

The entire crypto space’s market cap has also been increasing steadily over the past few weeks and currently sits at just under $1 trillion. This is an impressive feat, especially considering that it has been achieved in the midst of a pandemic-induced economic crisis.

The increasing dominance of Bitcoin in the crypto market is a testament to its growing popularity. As more people become aware of the potential of cryptocurrencies, more of them are investing in Bitcoin as a way to hedge against traditional financial markets. This is leading to an increase in the demand for Bitcoin, which is in turn driving up its price and dominance in the market.

It will be interesting to see how the crypto market evolves in the coming months. With Bitcoin’s increasing dominance, it is likely that other cryptocurrencies will also gain traction and increase their own market share. It is also possible that the crypto space will become more competitive, with different coins vying for dominance in the market. Whatever the outcome, it is clear that Bitcoin is currently the leader in the crypto market and it looks set to stay that way for the foreseeable future.

• Argo Blockchain mined 25% less BTC in December due to winter storm Monika Ghosh.
• Argo’s mining revenue dipped 28% from $3.46 million in November to $2.49 million last month.
• As of Dec. 31, Argo had $79 million in total debt and $20 million in cash.

Argo Blockchain, the debt-ridden Bitcoin miner, experienced a significant decline in its mining activities during the month of December, primarily due to winter storm Monika Ghosh. The storm caused the miner to curtail its operations at the Helios facility in Texas, leading to a decrease in mined BTC by 25.75%.

The storm also caused a drastic dip in Argo’s mining revenue, which fell from $3.46 million in November to $2.49 million in December, a decrease of 28%. Despite the decrease in mined BTC, the miner’s Bitcoin and Bitcoin Equivalent Mining Margin improved to 48% in December compared to 29% in November.

As of Dec. 31, the miner held 141 BTC worth approximately $2.4 million at current prices. In addition to this, the miner had $20 million in cash, while its total debts amounted to $79 million.

In order to reduce its debt burden, Argo reached an agreement with Galaxy Digital to sell its Helios facility for $65 million. Additionally, it received a $35 million loan from Galaxy Digital. According to Argo’s CEO Peter Wall, the deal with Galaxy Digital “allows Argo to continue its mining operations, both at Helios as a hosted customer, as well as at our other facilities.”

Despite its struggles, Argo is still optimistic about the long-term prospects of the cryptocurrency market and is planning to use the funds from the sale of the Helios facility to focus on its core Bitcoin mining business. The miner is also looking to expand its operations in North America and Europe.

– New York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit against Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO and co-founder of Celsius Network LLC, for allegedly misleading investors about billions of dollars of cryptocurrency.
– The lawsuit demands damages, restitution, and disgorgement, as well as a ban from Mashinsky from doing business in New York, citing multiple violations.
– Mashinsky allegedly misled investors about Celsius’s safety to lure them into depositing billions of dollars, misrepresented and concealed Celsius’s deteriorating financial condition, and failed to register as a Celsius salesperson or a securities and commodities dealer.

The Attorney General of New York, Letitia James, has filed a lawsuit against Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO and co-founder of Celsius Network LLC, for allegedly misleading investors about billions of dollars of cryptocurrency. The lawsuit seeks to hold Mashinsky accountable for his alleged actions, demanding damages, restitution, and disgorgement, as well as a ban from him from doing business in New York.

According to the lawsuit, Mashinsky is accused of making false and deceptive statements about Celsius’s safety, its number of users, and its investment strategies to attract investors. During his appearances at cryptocurrency conferences and social media to promote Celsius, he allegedly claimed that Celsius was safer than a bank, and as a result, many investors lost funds. Additionally, Mashinsky is accused of misleading investors about Celsius’s safety to lure them into depositing billions of dollars, misrepresenting and concealing Celsius’s deteriorating financial condition, and failing to register as a Celsius salesperson or a securities and commodities dealer.

The lawsuit states that Mashinsky’s alleged actions „have caused immense harm to investors and the larger cryptocurrency community“. It also claims that Mashinsky has been „unjustly enriched“ and seeks to make him pay for the damages he caused.

This is not the first time the New York Attorney General has taken action against crypto firms. In the past, it has gone after companies such as Bitfinex and Tether for allegedly manipulating the crypto markets.

The lawsuit against Mashinsky is an important step in protecting investors from unscrupulous actors in the cryptocurrency space. It is a reminder that investors need to do their due diligence and research projects before investing, as there are still many bad actors in the space who are looking to take advantage of unsuspecting investors.

• HiFi Finance and Crown Ribbon are partnering to tokenize real-world assets, such as horse syndicates, on the blockchain.
• Tokenization of real-world assets will allow a broader audience to invest and gain financial exposure to experiences such as horse ownership and can also serve as a growth tool for syndicates.
• HiFi Finance is a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol that offers fixed-rate loans.

In this episode of the Slatecast, host Akiba and Doug from HiFi Finance discussed the potential impact of decentralized finance (DeFi) on tangible real-world assets through tokenization. HiFi Finance is a decentralized lending and borrowing protocol that offers fixed-rate loans, and its partnership with Crown Ribbon aims to bring horse syndicates onto the blockchain and offer token holders a unique, SEC-compliant security that pays dividends.

Crown Ribbon provides the legal guidance and assistance necessary to make the process a reality. This includes filing exemptions with the SEC, acting as custodian for the ownership papers of the horses, and handling the issuance and audit of digital assets. The goal is to provide liquidity to syndicate owners and disrupt the performance horse industry. Doug noted that although horse syndicates may not be the most technologically savvy, the user experience can be made more accessible through widgets and ACH payments.

Tokenization of real-world assets provides a variety of benefits. It allows a broader audience to invest and gain financial exposure to experiences such as horse ownership, which can serve as a growth tool for syndicates. Furthermore, it provides investors with the opportunity to trade in fractionalized assets and to receive dividends from their tokenized assets.

The process of tokenizing real-world assets is still in its early stages; however, it has the potential to revolutionize the way assets are valued and traded. The partnership between HiFi Finance and Crown Ribbon is just one example of how tokenization can bring tangible assets onto the blockchain, and it will be interesting to see how the process evolves in the future.

• The cryptocurrency market cap experienced minor net inflows of around $740 million over the past 24 hours and currently stands at $807.70 billion — up 0.07%.
• Bitcoin and Ethereum’s market caps decreased by 0.01% to $322.15 billion and 0.15% to $148.80 billion, respectively.
• The top 10 cryptocurrencies traded flat during the last 24 hours, with the majority posting gains of less than 1%.

The cryptocurrency market has seen a positive start to the new year, with overall market cap increasing slightly in the past 24 hours. According to CryptoSlate, the market cap of the entire cryptocurrency market was up 0.07% over the reporting period, with net inflows of around $740 million.

Leading the market were Bitcoin and Ethereum, which experienced slight drops in their market caps. Bitcoin’s market cap decreased by 0.01%, while Ethereum’s decreased by 0.15%. Despite this, both digital assets maintained their respective prices of around $16,735 and $1,215.

The top 10 cryptocurrencies traded flat during the last 24 hours, with the majority posting gains of less than 1%. Tether’s market cap remained flat at $66.24 billion, while USD Coin (USDC) marginally increased to $44.72 billion. BinanceUSD (BUSD) dropped to $16.43 billion.

The positive start to the new year is indicative of the bullish sentiment of the market as investors look ahead to the 2021 bull run. Bitcoin, Ethereum and other digital assets are expected to see significant price growth over the coming months as institutional investors continue to enter the market and increase demand.

Overall, the cryptocurrency market appears to be on a positive trajectory heading into the new year. With institutional investors increasing their exposure to the market, it is likely that the market cap and prices of digital assets will continue to grow throughout 2021.

• Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr lost 216 BTC ($3.6 million) to the compromise of his PGP key.
• Blockchain explorer showed that the wallet transacted four times and holds 216.93 BTC as of press time.
• Crypto-security experts have raised several theories behind the compromise, ranging from the possibility of a backdoored software to a data breach.

On January 1st, Bitcoin core developer Luke Dashjr revealed on Twitter that he had lost “basically” all of his Bitcoin stash due to the compromise of his PGP key. While Dashjr did not reveal the exact amount of BTC he lost, blockchain explorer showed that the wallet he was associated with transacted four times and holds 216.93 BTC, worth roughly $3.6 million, as of press time.

Dashjr added that his attempts to reach out to law enforcement agencies had been unsuccessful so far. This led to crypto-security experts from the community trying to explain the incidence. Blockchain engineer Peter Todd posited that Luke might not have been a victim of a targeted hack and that he didn’t keep different activities separated, which could have been one of the ways he was compromised. Meanwhile, other members of the community pointed out that Dashjr previously said his server was compromised on November 17th, 2022, and questioned if he used LastPass, which suffered a data breach in December 2022 that led to its users‘ data loss.

The incident has certainly been a tough lesson for Dashjr, and a reminder to the rest of the crypto community to always be vigilant and take the necessary steps to protect their crypto assets. Keeping one’s activities and accounts separate, using secure and trusted password managers, and not sharing PGP keys with anyone are just some of the steps that everyone should be taking to ensure the safety of their funds.

• BTC and ETH bear market started in mid-2021, months before the all-time highs in November 2021.
• Active addresses suggest the bear market could have started in mid-2021, months before BTC and ETH attained all-time highs.
• Analyzing address activity can help to gauge the activity in the ecosystem or how well the ecosystem is being used.

The cryptocurrency market has been on an unstoppable ride in the past few years, particularly in 2021. After the bear market in 2018, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have been on the rise, with BTC reaching an all-time high of over $68,600 on Nov. 10, 2021, according to CryptoSlate data. On the same day, Ethereum (ETH) also reached an all-time high price of $4,864.11, CryptoSlate data shows.

However, a closer look at the data on active addresses reveals a different story. Active addresses indicate that the bear market set in months before BTC and ETH prices attained all-time highs in November 2021. Analyzing address activity can help to gauge the activity in the ecosystem or how well the ecosystem is being used.

Between January and May 2021, active BTC addresses hovered around the 1.2 million mark, breaching it twice in the five months and reaching as high as over 1.3 million, according to Glassnode data. But in June 2021, active Bitcoin addresses reached a low of around 500,000, which could be indicative of the bear market setting in.

Similarly, the number of active Ethereum addresses also started to decline in June 2021. By August, the number of active Ethereum addresses had fallen to its lowest level since January 2021, according to Glassnode data. This could be indicative of investors moving out of the market, as they had already begun to sense the bear market.

The bear market has been further corroborated by the declining Bitcoin volumes. Bitcoin volumes have been on the decline since December 2021, according to Glassnode data. The same trend is being seen in Ethereum volumes, as they have also been declining since January 2021.

The bear market is further evidenced by the declining open interest in the derivatives markets. The open interest in the Bitcoin futures market has been on the decline since December 2021, according to Skew data. Similarly, the open interest in Ethereum futures has also been declining since January 2021, Skew data shows.

It is clear that the bear market set in months before BTC and ETH prices attained all-time highs in November 2021. The declining active addresses, volumes, and open interest in the derivatives market all indicate that the bear market had already set in. As investors become more cautious, it is likely that the bear market will continue into 2022.

Bullet Points:
• Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of FTX, denies accessing funds related to the Alameda cryptocurrency addresses.
• Bankman-Fried is facing criminal charges, but will likely plead not guilty at his next hearing on Jan. 3.
• Bankman-Fried is willing to cooperate with authorities to investigate the matter.

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX, recently returned to Twitter to deny accessing funds related to the Alameda cryptocurrency addresses. This comes after several batches of assets were moved from those addresses on Dec. 28 to crypto mixers, amounting to at least $1.7 million.

Bankman-Fried made it clear that he doesn’t have access to the funds anymore, but suggested that “various legit legs of FTX” can access them. He also offered to “advise regulators” in the investigation of the matter. Bankman-Fried’s willingness to cooperate is likely due to the criminal charges he’s facing, which could lead to a plea deal similar to those obtained by his associates Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang.

However, one former federal prosecutor believes that Bankman-Fried is unlikely to be given a favorable deal due to his lead role in FTX’s alleged fraud. Bankman-Fried’s next hearing is set for January 3, and according to sources, he will plead not guilty. This could be Bankman-Fried’s way of attempting to negotiate a plea deal that is more favorable to him.

Regardless of the outcome, Bankman-Fried’s case is a cautionary tale for those operating in the cryptocurrency space. His willingness to cooperate with authorities is a reminder that it is important to remain compliant with the law, even if the potential for large profits exists.

• Valkyrie Investments has proposed to become the sponsor and manager of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC).
• Valkyrie plans to offer orderly redemptions at net asset value, reduce fees, and offer redemptions in both Bitcoin and cash.
• Grayscale intends to convert GBTC into an ETF, though its past attempts to do so have been rejected.

Valkyrie Investments recently announced its proposal to become the sponsor and manager of Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). GBTC is the largest Bitcoin investment fund, valued at 643,572 BTC ($10.6 billion) at the time of the announcement. However, the fund has been facing trouble recently, as it was trading at 50% less than the value of the Bitcoin it holds.

Valkyrie provided details of its proposal, which seeks to improve upon the operation of GBTC. The company aims to offer orderly redemptions at net asset value (NAV), allowing customers to withdraw their funds at a fair value. This would ensure that customers do not encounter any issues when trying to withdraw their funds. Additionally, Valkyrie plans to reduce GBTC fees, and offer redemptions in both Bitcoin and cash.

The company also said that it is launching the Valkyrie Opportunistic Fund LP, which will take advantage of the discrepancy between GBTC and the NAV. Valkyrie asked Grayscale to consider its proposal, which it believes is a “significant improvement” over the current management of GBTC.

Grayscale has its own plans for GBTC. The firm intends to convert the fund into an ETF, though its past attempts to do so have been rejected by the U.S. SEC. Grayscale has also suggested other possibilities, including a tender offer for up to 20% of outstanding shares.

Valkyrie’s proposal comes at an interesting time for Bitcoin, as the cryptocurrency continues to surge to new highs. It will be interesting to see how Grayscale responds to Valkyrie’s proposal, and whether or not the company will be able to improve upon the operation of GBTC. Regardless, it is clear that the Bitcoin investment fund has a bright future ahead.

• The total supply of wallets holding between 0.1 Bitcoin (BTC) and 1 Bitcoin has surpassed 1 million coins.
• Wallets with 1 – 10 BTC have also broken its own all-time high by surpassing 2 million.
• As of Dec. 29, wallets that hold between 0,1 BTC and 1 BTC collectively own over 1 million coins.

Wallets that hold Bitcoin have seen a steady increase in total supply over the past few years. As of December 29th, the total supply of wallets holding between 0.1 Bitcoin (BTC) and 1 Bitcoin has surpassed 1 million coins, while the collective supply of wallets that hold between 1 BTC and 10 BTC topped 2 million.

The total BTC supply held in wallets with 0.1 BTC to 1 BTC has had a stable growth since late 2013, with short exponential growth periods in 2016 and 2018. As of December 29th, the total supply sits at 1.01 million BTC. In addition, wallets with 1 – 10 BTC have also broken its own all-time high by surpassing 2 million as of December 30th. The total BTC supply held by these wallets is 2.06 BTC.

The increase in total BTC supply held by wallets has been exponential since late 2011. The chart below represents the total supply held by wallets with 0.1 BTC to 1 BTC since 2010 with the orange line.

The chart above demonstrates the increase in the total BTC supply held by wallets that hold between 1 BTC and 10 BTC since 2010. This metric recorded an upwards spike in late 2011 and has continued its exponential growth since then.

Overall, the total supply of wallets that hold Bitcoin has seen a steady increase over the past few years. As of December 29th and 30th, the total supply of wallets holding between 0.1 Bitcoin (BTC) and 1 Bitcoin has surpassed 1 million coins, while the collective supply of wallets that hold between 1 BTC and 10 BTC topped 2 million. This exponential growth signals a positive trend for the future of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.