Decentral Block Post

Ethereum has been the dominant smart contract and decentralized application (DApp) network since its inception. An analysis of Ether’s price (ETH) and market capitalization shows indisputable evidence that the blockchain has been gaining market share. 

As shown above, Ether’s dominance in market capitalization terms has grown over the past couple of years, from an 18% average in July 2021 to the current 20%. Excluding Bitcoin (BTC) from the analysis, Ether’s market share presently stands at 40.6%, while its next competitor, BNB (BNB), holds a 7.2% share.

The disparity between Ethereum and others is also evident when analyzing the total value locked (TVL) on each network’s smart contracts. Ethereum is the absolute leader with $24.6 billion in TVL, followed by Tron’s $5.4 billion and BNB Chain’s $3.3 billion.

The above chart depicts how Ethereum’s TVL market share declining from 70.5% in June 2021 to 49.5% in May 2022 as Terra and Avalanche gained a combined 20% market share. However, following the Terra ecosystem collapse in May 2022 — which culminated in developers halting network activity — Ethereum quickly regained a 58% market share.

Despite the emergence of DApps on the BNB and Tron blockchains, Ethereum’s leadership has remained uncontested over the past 12 months. This data shows the irrelevance of the total number of unique active wallets (UAW) interacting with smart contracts per chain.

Bitcoin (BTC) returned to $30,000 after the June 21 Wall Street open in a triumphant continuation of the week’s gains.

Bitcoin price destroys traces of multi-week downturn

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirmed a new multi-month high of $30,340 on Bitstamp.

BTC price action continued to heat up throughout the day as bulls made the most of strength, which had come thanks to various announcements of legacy finance applying to launch a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).

In so doing, BTC/USD erased many weeks of downside, adding over 20% versus local lows below $24,800 seen on June 15.

As traders lined up short-term targets, on-chain monitoring resource Material Indicators focused on $30,000 as an important level to overcome.

Bitcoin (BTC) hit $29,000 on June 21 as largescale buying fueled a fresh sentiment boost.

Analyst: $29,000 becoming fakeout "very unlikely"

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $29,014 on Bitstamp — its highest since May 7.

The pair enjoyed continued buyer interest overnight, this coming on the back of multiple announcements concerning new Bitcoin-focused institutional investment products.

For analysts, who were previously concerned about overall market strength, the latest action was cause for a modest rethink.

“Fantastic BTC breakout beyond the multi-month downtrend,” popular trader and analyst Rekt Capital reacted.

Bitcoin (BTC) achieved new highs for the month after the June 20 Wall Street open as observers stayed cautious on market strength.

“No meaningful trend shift” for Bitcoin yet

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD reaching $27,499 on Bitstamp.

The pair saw its highest levels since May 31 as the return of United States market trading boosted its performance. Versus the prior day’s lows, gains totaled around 4.2%.

Despite this, wary market participants stopped short of calling even a low-timeframe trend shift.

“It's difficult to look for Daily breakout confirmation for BTC in the context of this blue Lower High diagonal resistance,” trader and analyst Rekt Capital commented alongside an explanatory chart.

Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped nearly 15% from its yearly high of around $31,000, with the recent regulatory crackdowns on Coinbase and Binance crypto exchanges and the Federal Reserve's hawkish forward guidance accelerating its selloff.

Still, Bitcoin is up 60% year-to-date (YTD), holding above a technical support level of $25,000. Moreover, a new bull cycle can begin for a few reasons.

Bitcoin halving

The next Bitcoin halving, a pre-programmed event that slashes the cryptocurrency's supply rate by half every four years, is in April 2024.

The previous three Bitcoin halvings (2012, 2016, 2020) have all preceded massive BTC price rallies and new all-time highs. For instance, BTC is up 276% since the previous halving in May 2020. 

The market will likely be in an accumulation zone until the halving, according to analyst Lark Davis, who anticipates Bitcoin to test its record high of $69,000 in the next 18-24 months. One analyst even sees the price hitting $160,000 by April 2024.

Bitcoin (BTC) faces up to one-and-a-half years of “boredom” as the bull market gathers steam, a new prediction says.

In the latest edition of its weekly newsletter, “The Week On-Chain,” analytics firm Glassnode predicted an “arduous” period for BTC hodlers next.

Glassnode: Bitcoin hodlers set for 12 months’ “gradual accumulation”

After gaining 70% in the first quarter of 2023, but struggling to hold its ground recently, Bitcoin is dividing opinions when it comes to future price action.

With the 2024 block subsidy halving in sight, some believe a dramatic uptick will characterize the coming year, while others think it will take longer — perhaps until 2025 — for a new all-time high to hit.

For Glassnode, there are signs that a classic pre-bull market phase is playing out, but long-term holders will still need considerable patience.

In an interview with Bloomberg, ARK Invest CEO and chief investment officer Cathie Wood recently discussed why her flagship fund, Ark Innovation (ARKK), is adding to its position in shares of Coinbase (COIN) after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Binance, one of Coinbase’s biggest competitors.

ARKK purchased nearly 330,00 shares of COIN on June 6, 2023, worth about $17 million at the time, according to disclosure statements. Two other exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Ark Fintech Innovation ETF and Ark Next Generation Internet ETF, also added 35,700 shares (worth $1.8 million) and 53,900 shares (worth $2.8 million), respectively. 

Across all three funds, Ark’s average entry price is $272.75 to $282.93, with the firm’s total position currently valued at $1.77 billion. At the time of writing, COIN is trading at $53.90. Needless to say, the fund is deeply in the red on this trade so far.

As far as why she’s still bullish, her reasoning boils down to this: SEC enforcement will lead Coinbase to become the only game in town when it comes to cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States. Of course, this assumes that Coinbase will triumph in its own legal battles with the SEC.

Wood explained that she sees a difference in the accusations being brought against the two exchanges. While both are facing lawsuits by the SEC over the alleged trading and staking of unregistered securities, Binance may also be facing more serious charges.

After a momentary retest of the $25,000 support on June 15, Bitcoin gained 6.5% as bulls successfully defended the $26,300 level. Despite this, the general sentiment remains slightly bearish as the cryptocurrency has declined by 12.7% in two months.

The dismissal of Binance.US’s temporary restraining order by Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States district court is somewhat related to investors’ sentiment improving. On June 16, the exchange reportedly reached an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), avoiding the freeze of its assets.

On a longer timeframe, the global regulatory environment has been extremely harmful to cryptocurrency prices. Besides the SEC trying to unilaterally label exactly which altcoins it views as securities and litigating with the two leading global exchanges, the European Union signed the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulations into law on May 31. This means crypto businesses have set timelines to implement and comply with MiCA’s requirements.

Curiously, while Bitcoin’s (BTC) performance has been lackluster, on June 16, the S&P 500 Index reached its highest level in 14 months. Even with this recovery, JPMorgan strategists expect the rally to come under pressure in the second half of 2023 “if growth stalls in absolute terms."

Investors will keep their focus on the U.S. central bank, with Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell set to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on June 21 and the Senate Banking Committee on the morning of June 22 as part of his semi-annual testimony before lawmakers.

The price of Cardano (ADA) is down over 3% on June 19 after dropping over 30% in the past two weeks. Is ADA’s price heading for its fourth red weekly candle in a row? 

No respite for Cardano price bulls

On June 19, ADA’s price fell over 3% to daily lows of $0.257 as traders continued to assess Cardano’s mention in the list of crypto assets that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission considers “unregistered securities.”

In addition, Federal Reserve’s hawkish guidance last week didn’t help ADA price either, with another 50 basis points hike now likely in 2023. Higher rates typically decrease investors’ appetite for risk assets, such as Cardano.

Meanwhile, open interest in ADA-linked derivatives has dropped to around $111 million, the lowest since January 2021.

The past 24 hours have witnessed liquidations worth around $360,000, with long positions losing the most at $341,320. In other words, more bullish traders have closed their positions by selling ADA, which likely added to the downward pressure on June 19. 

Bitcoin (BTC) emerges from a hectic macro week to circle some classic trend lines near $26,000 — what could happen next?

After some brutal tests of traders’ resolve over the past seven days, the BTC price is still determined to hold familiar ground.

Market participants are in “wait and see” mode as a lack of clear direction characterizes the largest cryptocurrency at the start of a new week’s trading.

United States holidays mean traditional markets will only open on June 20, giving at least one day’s grace before any surprises hit.

There is still plenty left to deal with from last week, however, including BlackRock filing for a Bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF). Rumors are now that Fidelity Investments might follow.

The bears lost an opportunity when they failed to sustain Bitcoin (BTC) below the $25,000 level this week. That may have attracted buying from the bulls who are attempting to start a recovery in Bitcoin and select altcoins. 

Additionally, BlackRock’s application to launch a Bitcoin spot price exchange-traded fund and the sustained strength in the United States equities markets may have helped improve crypto sentiment. Bitcoin is on track to finish the week with a minor gain of 2% and institutional buying in the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust reduced its discount to Bitcoin spot from 44% on June 13 to 36.6%, according to CoinGlass data.

Although Bitcoin and select altcoins are trying to start a relief rally, the overall trend remains bearish. Therefore, short-term traders who buy for a pullback should consider booking profits or tightening their stops when the price struggles to break above stiff resistance levels.

The strategy may be different for long-term investors who may use the dips to strong support levels to acquire the cryptocurrencies of their choice. It is prudent to adopt a staggered buying approach as a runaway rally is unlikely.

Let’s look at the top-5 cryptocurrencies that are trying to start a recovery in the short term.

Bitcoin (BTC) plans by BlackRock appear to have sparked a rally in the “OG” institutional BTC investment vehicle.

Data from monitoring resource CoinGlass shows that on June 17, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) almost hit new 2023 highs.

GBTC “premium” heads below -37%

Bitcoin market sentiment showed a modest improvement late last week as news emerged that the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, had filed to launch a Bitcoin spot price exchange-traded fund (ETF).

While still not allowed in the United States, a spot ETF from a stalwart entity such as BlackRock should have better chances of breaking the legal impasse, some say.

In the meantime, however, signs of optimism beyond sentiment are becoming clearer, with GBTC long trading at a major discount to BTC spot, which is on the way up.

The cryptocurrency total market capitalization fell to $1.02 trillion on June 15, its lowest level in three months. But while the derivatives market's resilience and end-of-week price gains amid uncertainty in stablecoins' reserves provides hope for bulls, it might be too soon to celebrate.

Crypto regulatory conditions deteriorate

The past few week have seen a bearish trend fueled by regulatory uncertainty. Last week, Bitcoin (BTC) and BNB saw 2.5% gains, but XRP dropped 5.2%, and Ether (ETH) traded down 0.7%.

Notice that the 10-week long pattern has tested the support level in multiple instances, signaling that bulls will have a hard time breaking from the bearish trend while regulatory conditions have worsened across the globe.

For starters, New York-based derivatives exchange Bakkt is delisting Solana (SOL), Polygon (MATIC) and Cardano (ADA) due to recent regulatory developments in the United States. The decision follows last week's lawsuits brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase.

Related: Why is the crypto market up today?

While the Arbitrum governance token ARB has been in a consistent downturn since the airdrop in late March, its ecosystem shows healthy growth. 

A recent Nansen report shows that Arbitrum’s activity improved after the airdrop, stabilizing “at a level higher” than before the airdrop. The daily active users, gas fees and transaction count have maintained consistently higher levels since April 2023.

The gap between the number of active users on Arbitrum and Optimism widened after the Aribtrum airdrop, closing in on Ethereum.

The trading volume on Arbitrum-based decentralized exchanges paints a similar picture, showing an evident rise in volume after the airdrop.

Moreover, Nansen’s report shows that ARB airdrop recipients only accounted for around 5% of the activity on the blockchain and that Arbitrum has attracted considerably more new users after the airdrop.

Ether (ETH) price plunged 7% between June 14 and June 15, reaching its lowest level in three months and impacting investors’ view that the altcoin was en-route to turning $2,000 to support. 

It is worth noting that the $1,620 bottom represents a $196 billion market capitalization for Ether, which is higher than PetroChina’s $186 billion, and not far from chipmaker AMD’s $198 billion.

Being the 66th largest global tradable asset in the world is no small feat, especially considering that the cryptocurrency is merely 8 years old and does not return any kind of direct profit for the project’s maintenance. On the other hand, securities enjoy the benefits of corporate earnings and eventual government subsidies, so perhaps investors should be concerned by the recent price drop from Ether.

Ether price pressured succumbs to regulation and lowered network activity

Regulatory pressure helped to subdue investors’ appetite for Ether as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed a rule change regarding the definition of an exchange. Paul Grewal, chief legal officer of the Coinbase exchange, has pushed back against the proposed change, claiming that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act.

More concerningly, decentralized applications (Dapps) usage on the Ethereum network failed to gain momentum despite gas fees plummeting by 75%. The 7-day average transaction cost dropped to $4 on June 14, down from $16 one month prior. Meanwhile, Dapps active addresses declined by 18% in the same period.

Bitcoin (BTC) headed toward a “crucial area” after the June 16 Wall Street open as a recovery from three-month lows continued.

Bitcoin reinforces rebound from multi-month lows

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC/USD nearing $26,000 on Bitstamp.

BTC price built on an overnight rebound from its lowest levels since early March amid ongoing regulatory and macroeconomic pressures.

For Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm Eight, $26,000 represented a key level for bulls to flip next.

“Long weekend is coming up with the bank holiday on Monday,” he told Twitter followers, referencing the June 16 Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the U.S.