With the last week of February now upon us, cryptocurrency markets have been making headlines for recent volatility. This has yet to slow down as over the weekend we saw a fairly bearish market mood turn positive just before Sunday set in. As another trading week begins, there are a few key things to look out for. First up is the Ethereum Constantinople upgrade which has been delayed since last month due to vulnerability issues, but is due this week followed closely behind by the St. Petersburg upgrade which is also expected to go live this week. We are expecting both of these hard forks to be executed when Ethereum sees block number 7,280,000 (expected around the 28th Feb). Changes include the network’s core protocol specifications, contract standards and client APIs, but also we can expect that because of the several accidental forks in the past, the imminent upgrade will include a reversal to the intended Constantinople changes. The Constantinople hard fork is moving forward to bring the Ethereum model from the regular proof-of-work consensus, to a proof-of-stake model, which will help in the long run to develop a durable and sustainable blockchain that can withstand the global financial structure.
Another anticipated announcement for the crypto market is the US decision on Bitcoin ETF due on the 27th February, something so far that has been kicked down the road more than once. Joining this discussion is the Korean Exchange who have recently said they’re closely monitoring the developments from the United States regulators on Bitcoin exchange traded funds, as the decision will “Set a tone for local crypto markets”. The statement read; “The US has been the front-runner on the cryptocurrency market and related derivatives, and there are strong voices supporting the launch of Bitcoin ETFs within the market — which is why we are observing the progress and response of the US [SEC]’s decision on Bitcoin ETFs.” Gabor Gurbacs who is the director of digital asset strategy at VanEck, told the news outlet CoinDesk via email that he “believes a bitcoin ETF will serve the public interest if approved.” Naturally, any positive outcome here should result in a rally on crypto prices, although given the previous capitulation surrounding this issue, we wouldn’t be surprised to see this deferred yet again.
BTC Price: $3,836
Last 7 Days: -3.56%
1month: 6.3%
12months: -59.19%
BTC Technicals
Good start to the Bitcoin market last week with Monday seeing a push through the $4000 resistance and grinding higher each day, gradually moving between $4000 to $4050 for the rest of the week until Saturday where we saw the price of Bitcoin soar from $4050 to just under $4300. Unfortunately, this bull run was put to a quick end on Sunday as the price fell from $4200 to $3850.
BTC Volume:
18th February: $8,178,565,910 (BTC price of $3,746)
24th February: $10,794,227,451 (BTC price of $3,810)
8.2% increase in trading volume in the last 7 days
ETH Price: $138.66
Last 7 Days: -5.89%
1month: 18.31%
12months: -83.02%
Ethereum Technicals
Looking back on Monday 18th February Ethereum had a great open with a rally from $133 in the morning to $144 just after lunch, then throughout the week having a balanced flow through $140 to $150 then along comes the weekend and just like other cryptos we saw over the weekend, ETH being no exception launched from $146 to a peak of $165 before falling back down to $136 towards the end of the weekend, resulting in a very volatile weekend for Ethereum.
Past Week Talking Points
- Russian State Duma to Review Crypto Regulation, Oil-Backed Crypto in Development.
- Confirmed: Samsung Galaxy S10 Will Have In-Built Cryptocurrency Wallet.
- Fidelity Digital Assets, the digital assets branch of financial services giant Fidelity Investments, in an unprecedented first, has become the first investment bank to receive the torch signalling the entry into the Bitcoin [BTC] payments realm via the Lightning Network.
- “Mobile was Internet 2.0. It changed everything. Crypto is Internet 3.0.” Gil Penchina- former VP of eBay and Founder of angel investor syndicate Flight VC.
- Put Your Money On Crypto for the Long-Term, Says Major Wealth Manager for Pensions, a major consultant for pensions and endowments has recommended institutional investors to pay attention to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.
Last 7 Days Big Market Movers
S4FE S4F UP 408% Price: $2.15
Paragon PRG UP 198% Price: $0.29
Moss Coin MOC UP 132% Price: $0.09
Market Cap. Dominance
BTC: 52.4%
ETH: 11.3%
XRP: 9.7%
Other ALT-Coins: 26.6%
Have a great week,
The GlobalBlock Team.
