• Gold reflects financial uncertainty while oil predicts economic downturn
• Bitcoin touched the low of $19,500 due to the fallout of SVB
• Crude oil has plummeted by 15% in the past month

Gold Prices Reflecting Global Financial Distress

During Friday’s session, when Bitcoin touched the low of $19,500 due to the fallout of SVB, further contagion spread into Europe. As a result, gold is up 5%, reflecting global financial distress and uncertainty. Credit Suisse has got major headlines and rate hikes are planning to go ahead which could lead to more contagion.

Oil Prices Predict Economic Downturn

James Van Straten, research analyst at CryptoSlate believes that oil prices can be used as an indicator for inflation and recession. Over the past month crude oil has plummeted by 15% indicating an economic downturn.

Bitcoin Price Movement

Bitcoin price movement can also provide insight into global financial health. After hitting its low on Friday it is now up 25%. This could be evidence that markets are aware of global financial distress and that further fallout is unknown.

Silvergate Bank Postmortem

CryptoSlate recently released a report dissecting Silvergate Bank’s demise to understand why it went under and what other banking giants could learn from its experience. It found that poor management decisions combined with decreased demand for crypto services were key factors contributing to its downfall.

Conclusion

Gold is pricing in global financial distress while oil prices are predicting an economic downturn. Bitcoin price movement indicates that markets are aware of this distress but further fallout remains unknown. CryptoSlate’s latest report provides insight into Silvergate Bank’s failure and what other banking giants can learn from it.

• The Senate held a hearing on March 7 to discuss the potential environmental impacts of cryptocurrency mining.
• Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyoming) expressed concern about the use of energy efficiency standards to target crypto mining operations.
• The Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act requires miners utilizing over 5 megawatts of power to disclose their emissions data, while the EPA is tasked with evaluating these emissions.

Senate Holds Hearing on Crypto Mining and Environment

The United States Senate held a hearing on March 7th to discuss the potential impacts of cryptocurrency mining on the environment. Chair Ed Markey (D-MA) introduced the Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act in December, which seeks to enforce disclosure of emissions by crypto miners and obligate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to evaluate those emissions.

Senator Lummis Questions Government’s Role in Regulation

During the hearing, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R – Wyoming) emphasized that energy efficiency standards must not be used to target particular energy use cases like crypto mining. She questioned Rob Altenburg, director of Penn Future Center, an environmental think tank, about whether it was Congress‘ role to legislate how energy use is deployed and pointed out similarities between mining for cryptocurrency and electric vehicles.

Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act

The Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act would require miners utilizing over 5 megawatts of power to disclose data about their emissions while obligating EPA to study the impact of such miners on greenhouse gas emissions. According to Chair Markey, carbon dioxide emissions for bitcoin mining are equivalent to annual emissions from as many as 7.5 million gasoline cars in the U.S., illustrating why this bill is necessary for understanding and addressing any potential negative effects that could arise from crypto mining operations.

Potential Challenges Ahead

Despite its importance, some are concerned that this legislation could lead to overregulation or even stifle innovation within the industry if implemented incorrectly or too broadly without providing adequate guidance or alternatives for crypto companies seeking compliance solutions. As such, it will be important for policymakers and industry stakeholders alike to ensure there is an appropriate balance between regulation and innovation going forward so as not harm either one unnecessarily or excessively.

Conclusion

In summary, this hearing highlighted both sides‘ evidence regarding how cryptocurrency affects the environment; however more work needs done in order determine how best regulate this space going forward in order protect all involved parties while still allowing innovation thrive within industry itself

• Bluesky, a decentralized social media app tied to Twitter’s pre-Elon Musk leadership, has been made available on Apple’s App Store as of March 1.
• The platform uses the AT Protocol ⁠— a federated network that relies on cryptography to store data in a decentralized way.
• Despite gaining most users during the Twitter exodus, Mastodon saw its user count drop from 2.5 million to 1.4 million in January — an ominous sign for Bluesky’s competing product.

Twitter-Adjacent Bluesky App Hits Apple Store

As of March 1, the decentralized social media app Bluesky is now available on Apple’s App Store. Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey first announced the project in 2019 and it was joined by Jay Graber as CEO in 2021.

How Does it Work?

The app is currently in private beta, and users must enter an invite code to use it; additional invite codes can be obtained by contacting Graber directly. Bluesky does not have any cryptocurrency-related features or store data on a blockchain; however it does use the AT Protocol – a federated network that relies on cryptography to store data in a decentralized way, making it similar to blockchain technology while allowing self-ownership of data. Graber also noted last October that this type of cryptography is relatively easy to integrate with cryptocurrency features if needed in future updates.

Competition From Other Decentralized Platforms

Bluesky may be arriving at an opportune time due to Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter prompting some users to leave and move towards decentralized alternatives such as Mastodon; despite this migration trend Mastodon still saw its user count fall from 2.5 million to 1.4 million in January – an ominous sign for Bluesky’s competing product. Various other decentralized networks have gone live recently such as Nostr’s Damus (launched Feb 1) and Emurgo’s Spot (launched Feb 16). Lens Protocol linked with Aave also went live mid 2022 which further adds competition for Bluesky’s market entry success rate.

Conclusion

Overall, with other platforms already active and offering similar services, there will be stiff competition for Bluesky despite being one step closer towards public launch through its availability on Apple’s App Store from March 1st onwards . It remains uncertain what type of impact this new platform will have upon current industry trends but nevertheless it offers intriguing possibilities into potential future developments within the field of distributed ledger technology’s applications within social media contexts .

Author Profile: Mike Dalton

Mike Dalton trained in library and information sciences before moving into crypto writing back in 2018; he currently lives on the West Coast of Canada where he works as Journalist at CryptoSlate

• Coinbase saw its total trading volume for 2022 decline by 50% year-over-year and its transaction revenue for 2022 fall by 66%.
• The company attributed its decline in performance to two high-profile collapses: Luna and Terra in May 2022 and FTX in November 2022.
• Despite these setbacks, Coinbase was resilient and reported a net full-year revenue of $3.1 billion, with fourth quarter net revenue of $605 million.

Coinbase Reports Financial Performance for 2022

Total Trading Volume Declines by 50 Percent

Coinbase reported that its total trading volume for the year of 2022 declined by 50% year-over-year. This resulted in a 66% decrease in transaction revenue over the same period. The company attributed this dip to two major collapses: Luna and Terra’s collapse in May 2022, as well as FTX’s collapse in November 2022. These events caused the crypto market to lose 64% of its value, which had an impact on Coinbase’s own revenues.

Net Revenue at $3.1 Billion

Despite these setbacks, Coinbase was able to remain resilient and reported a net full-year revenue of $3.1 billion, down from $7.4 billion in 2021. Additionally, the company’s fourth quarter net revenue was reported at $605 million—a decrease from Q4 2021 but an increase from Q3 202 ($576 million). Operating expenses were also up 3%, totaling at $1.2 billion for the year due to rapid hiring prior to the market crashes mentioned above.

Ended Fourth Quarter with U.S Dollar Resources of 5.$5 Billion

At the end of the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2021, Coinbase ended with U$D resources totaling at $5.$5 billion—a minor decrease from 0$.14$8 million from the previous quarter (Q3). The company addressed this issue by implementing layoffs during mid-2022 and early 2023 which should reduce expenses by over 30%.

Shareholder Letter Published

Today, February 21st 2023, Coinbase published their shareholder letter which detailed their financial standing for both Q4 202`2 as well as throughout the entire year of 202`2 . The letter noted that despite major shocks to their system they have remained resilient while continuing to diversify their sources into subscriptions and services which has allowed them increased quarterly revenues since then..

Conclusion

Despite major shocks hitting cryptocurrency markets throughout 202`2 , Coinbase managed to remain „resilient“ while still experiencing decreased trading volumes and transaction revenues compared to those seen in 2021 . However, thanks to diversifying their sources into subscriptions services they were able manage increased quarterly revenues since then making it possible fro them maintain much needed liquidity during such trying times

Summary

• Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao addressed issues around Paxos and BUSD stablecoin.
• Circle denied that it has received a Wells notice from the SEC.
• Siemens announced its issuance of 1st digital bond on Polygon.

CZ Addresses Rumors about Circle Telling Regulators to Look into Paxos/BUSD

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao addressed various issues related to Paxos and the BUSD stablecoin in a wide-ranging Twitter Spaces AMA on Feb. 14. CZ welcomed more stablecoin alternatives and that he ultimately supported more diffusion and competition in the marketplace. He also said he believed there is no substance to recent reports that Jeremy Allaire, founder of Circle, secretly told New York regulators to look into Paxos and BUSD.

Circle Denies Receiving Wells Notice from SEC

Circle, which issues the USDC stablecoin, denied receiving a Wells notice in a tweet by CSO Dante Disparte on Feb. 14. Unsubstantiated rumors had earlier suggested that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had sent such a notice to Circle, which would mean that the regulator planned to start enforcement against the company.

Siemens Announces Issuance of Digital Bond on Polygon

Germany’s third-largest publicly traded company by market cap, Siemens, announced its issuance of 1st digital bond on Polygon – an Ethereum-based platform for building decentralized applications (DApps) & smart contracts – with an initial value of 100 million Euro ($122 million). The move marks one of the largest corporate issuances of digital bonds on blockchain technology thus far.

Other News From CryptoSlate Wrapped

Other news from today’s edition of CryptoSlate Wrapped included: news about Polygon-based bonds; AI tokens; Sam Bankman-Fried’s VPN use; Binance’s endorsement of ChatGPT; Peter Schiff’s anti-crypto sentiments; plus more other topics.

Conclusion
CryptoSlate Wrapped presented all kinds of news from within the cryptoverse today, ranging from developments with Paxos/BUSD stablecoins to bonds issued on Polygon’s blockchain network & AI tokens being created – plus much more besides!

• Bitcoin (BTC) is up 287,000% against the US dollar since 2011.
• Great Britain Pound Sterling (GBPUSD) is 11% away from its all-time low.
• The UK government is likely to introduce a digital pound this decade.

Bitcoin Up Almost 287,000% Since 2011

The cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has seen an incredible rise in value since 2011, with a staggering increase of almost 287,000%. Meanwhile, the GBPUSD currency pair has been in a long-term decline since 1971, with the exchange rate currently being only 11% away from its all-time low.

Government’s Proposal for Digital Pound

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt of the United Kingdom has proposed the introduction of a digital pound that would be a „trusted and accessible“ way to pay. Additionally, it has been reported that there could be restrictions on hoarding ‚Bitcoin‘ due to bank run fears under Sunak’s digital currency regulations.

Price Comparison: BTC vs GBPUSD

The graph below shows how much BTC and GBPUSD have changed over time since 2011:

Conclusion

It is clear that crypto currencies like Bitcoin offer very high returns compared to traditional fiat currencies such as GBPUSD given their massive gains over time when measured against each other. It will be interesting to see how this new development of introducing a digital pound will affect both asset classes going forward in terms of price action and investor sentiment.

Disclaimer

CryptoSlate takes no responsibility should you lose money trading cryptocurrencies or making decisions based on our content. Please do your own due diligence before taking any action related to content within this article

• Bitcoin futures open interest (OI) has seen a notable increase leading up to the FOMC meeting.
• This rebound in OI began in mid-January and is largely attributed to increased institutional interest in Bitcoin futures.
• On Jan 30, Bitcoin futures OI saw the biggest increase since the beginning of the year, indicating investors are gearing up for a significant market movement.

Background on Futures Open Interest

Futures open interest (OI) is the total number of open futures contracts for an asset held by market participants. Open interest on futures contracts for any given asset varies daily, representing the amount of cash flowing into the market. An increase in OI often confirms a prevalent trend in the market — rising OI during a bear market shows that downward price action will continue while an increase during a bull run indicates upward movement.

Recent Increase In Bitcoin Futures Open Interest

CryptoSlate’s analysis of Bitcoin’s futures open interest showed a notable increase in OI following the collapse of FTX which wiped out 40% of open contracts since mid-November. As of now, around 433,000 BTC are allocated into futures contracts — this represents a sharp decrease from November’s 666,000 BTC recorded before FTX’s collapse. The rebound was mainly driven by institutional investors with 20% coming from CME alone — largely inaccessible to retail traders and hence indicative of institutional involvement. Most recently, on January 30th Bitcoin’s future OI saw its biggest increase since 2021 so far thus pointing to investors gearing up for significant price movements ahead of FOMC meeting.

Impact Of Price Movements

The increasing open interest has already had an impact on price movements as evidenced by Bitcoin’s recent uptick in value over recent weeks. Historically volatility increases before and during Federal Reserve meetings causing prices to fluctuate heavily — predictions backed by data show that post-FOMC meetings have positive effects on prices with markets tending towards long term bullish trends after such events take place.

Conclusion

The growing open interest in Bitcoin futures indicates strong investor confidence that can be expected to spread across other crypto assets as well once markets become more active post FOMC meeting due to higher liquidity levels caused by greater investor activity pre-event and post event respectively . It remains yet unclear how exactly these events will affect crypto markets but it is safe to say that investor sentiment appears optimistic at this point which could cause prices to rally significantly following Fed announcements depending on their content and implications for global financial markets at large

• Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and distributed ledger technology (DLT) are converging to create a machine economy that could contribute up to $15 trillion to the global economy by 2030.
• The machine economy is defined as a network of smart, connected, and economically independent devices and machines acting as autonomous market participants, executing economic transactions and other activities with little to no human intervention.
• Research conducted by IoTeX and Siemens explores the potential of the machine economy, business models it could enable, and implementation examples.

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and distributed ledger technology (DLT) are converging to create a new era of digital transformation. This new era, referred to as the machine economy, could contribute up to $15 trillion to the global economy by 2030, according to a PwC report.

In order to further understand the potential of the machine economy, two leading tech firms – IoTeX and Siemens – co-authored an Industrial IoT Consortium (IIC) article. This article explores how the combination of IoT and DLT will enable machine economy growth and unlock new opportunities for IoT manufacturers and end-users.

The article defines the machine economy as a network of smart, connected, and economically independent devices and machines that act as autonomous market participants. This means that these devices and machines can execute economic transactions and other activities with little to no human intervention. This definition illustrates the disruptive capabilities of the machine economy, as it has the potential to revolutionize the way we do business.

The article goes on to discuss the potential business models enabled by the machine economy. The possibilities are vast, ranging from predictive maintenance to data monetization, peer-to-peer payments, and more. The authors cite a study from Next Big Thing AG, which explores the potential for these business models and provides examples of successful implementations.

The article further explores the challenges and opportunities presented by the machine economy. It highlights the need for improved scalability and security, as well as the need to identify and eliminate potential obstacles such as regulatory barriers and data privacy concerns.

In conclusion, the machine economy could revolutionize the way we do business, providing unprecedented opportunities for IoT manufacturers and end-users alike. This article provides an in-depth exploration of the potential of the machine economy, the business models it could enable, and the challenges and opportunities it presents. With the right combination of technologies and strategies, the machine economy could become a reality in the near future.

• 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.