Overview
Bitcoin reached a new record high, surpassing the $73,500 mark. Bitcoin’s ongoing surge can be attributed to the strong demand for spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. There was a remarkable surge in inflows into Bitcoin ETFs, with a staggering amount of over $1 billion. This data highlights the growing interest and confidence in the cryptocurrency market. The demand for Bitcoin ETFs greatly surpasses the amount of newly mined Bitcoin available in 2024. In 2024, approximately 65,500 Bitcoin were mined, while the two leading Bitcoin ETFs have acquired over 330,000 Bitcoin. There is a probability that the near-term downside will be limited due to strong demand. The crypto market rally appears to be losing steam, yet the charts for Bitcoin and altcoins indicate that traders are still eager to grab any price falls.
Fundamental Updates
Let’s delve into the significant developments shaping the crypto market landscape:
Ethereum’s Dencun Upgrade Lowers Layer 2 Blockchain Fees: This Wednesday saw Ethereum’s Dencun upgrade, which reduced layer 2 transaction fees by batching and compressing transactions before transmitting them to the mainnet. Instead of $1.4, scaling solution Optimism now charges nearly 4 cents each transaction. Basis’ average cost dropped to 3 cents from $1.50, while Arbitrum’s dropped to 40 cents. Zore and zkSync’s average fees dropped. Blobs, which link big data chunks to normal operations, were introduced in Dencun update. Layer 2 rollups like Optimism, Arbitrum, and zkSync store data in blobs instead of call data, making transactions cheaper. Native tokens of rollups, which are meant to benefit most from blob-carrying transactions, have yet to attract investors after the Dencun update.
Judge Rules Craig Wright Is Not Satoshi: The case was initiated by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (COPA), an organisation dedicated to preventing litigation over open-source technologies in the crypto business. COPA’s goal was to put an end to Wright’s ongoing legal efforts against developers and other members of the community for claimed intellectual property infringement involving Bitcoin’s underlying technology.
Following a month-long trial, Judge Mellor determined that the evidence against Wright’s assertions was overwhelming. This decision is a victory for COPA, which is backed by industry heavyweights such as Jack Dorsey, Coinbase, and other significant companies. The verdict supports the consortium’s position and has implications for other lawsuits. These include Wright’s claims against Coinbase and Dorsey’s Block, which claimed ownership of the Bitcoin blockchain’s database.
Key Data Points
- Total market capitalization: The total market capitalization of the crypto market is currently around $2.692 trillion. This is a net $52 Billion change from last week.
- Bitcoin dominance: Bitcoin dominance, which tracks the percentage of the total market capitalization that is held by Bitcoin, is currently at around 49.40%. This is 0.8% down from last week.
- ETH dominance: ETH dominance, which tracks the percentage of the total market capitalization that is held by Ethereum, is currently at around 16.40%. This is 4.65% down from last week.
Bitcoin Price Analysis:
At $73,000, bears tried to sell Bitcoin, but its long tail implies robust buying on intraday dips. For several days, the BTC/USDT pair has been climbing in an ascending channel pattern, but bears have kept the price below the resistance line. However, if bulls push the price above $73,000 this time, the positive momentum might build, and the pair could soar to $77,000.
Unlike this scenario, if the price falls and breaks below $65,000, the pair may drop to the channel’s support line. If the bears drive the price below the channel, the selling could accelerate. The duo may decline to $59,000, then to $54,000.
BTC Technical Indicator:
Macro Updates:
- US Retail Sales Improvement in February with 0.6% increase in US retail sales, mainly driven by auto dealerships and petrol service stations.
- Consumer spending still affected by inflation and increased borrowing costs.
Revised figures from January showed a 1.1% decrease, indicating potential slowdown in consumer spending. - Labour market remains strong, with a small decline in weekly jobless claims to 209,000.
Investors expect the Federal Open Market Committee to keep interest rates at current levels on March 19 and 20. - Keeping rates stable would help the Fed control inflation and achieve a soft landing for the U.S. economy. The goal is to lower inflation to 2% without a U.S. recession.
Bitcoin returns were -0.2% for this week. The Alpha Blue Chip Focused Strategy returns were -10.99% during the same period (07 March-14 March). The Top Cap Digital Assets Strategy and Arbitrage Opportunities & Balanced Strategy returns were -7.71% and -2.45%, respectively.
Thanks for your support and trust.
