Market picture
The cryptocurrency market has added over 2% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin gained 3% during this time, Ethereum rose 1.75%, while Solana and Cardano outperformed the market, adding 5.7% and 8.3%, respectively. The outperformance in major altcoins points to a broadening of participant interest beyond the two largest coins. But don’t expect sustained demand for smaller altcoins or meme coins this year – it usually happens after a prolonged bull market.
Bitcoin has exceeded its 50-day moving average, climbing above $43.3K. This is important but not yet solid evidence of a bullish trend. However, the altcoins’ consistently positive performance over the past six days is setting up optimism, setting up Bitcoin for a test of $46K.
According to CoinShares data, bitcoin investments decreased by $479 million, Ethereum – by $39 million, and Solana – by $3 million. Investments in funds allowing to open bitcoin shorts increased by $11 million.
Despite significant outflows from the “old” Grayscale fund (totalling $5bn since 11 January), the pace of withdrawals slowed throughout the week. In contrast, recently launched US ETFs saw inflows of $1.8bn, with inflows totalling $5.94bn since launching on 11 January, CoinShares noted.
News background
The Hong Kong unit of Chinese investment firm Harvest Fund Management has submitted a proposal to the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission to launch a spot bitcoin ETF. According to Tencent News, the regulator may allow product listing after the Lunar New Year holiday on 15 February.
According to Stand With Crypto Alliance, a non-profit advocacy organisation founded by Coinbase, a robust cryptocurrency lobby has formed in the US Senate. At least 18 senators in the US are actively in favour of the crypto industry.
Bitcoin will at least fall into the $30K-36K range before likely hitting a local bottom around the $20K level. This is the forecast given by Placeholder partner Chris Burniske. That said, he sees the long-term trend as positive.
According to IntoTheBlock, crypto whales added 76,000 bitcoins to their holdings in January, totalling about $3 billion.
According to PeckShield, the cryptocurrency industry has lost $2.61bn to hacker attacks and fraud cases through 2023. Projects managed to recover $674.9 million (25.9 per cent). Attackers continued to focus on DeFi protocols (about 67% of total damage).
According to a survey conducted by Binance, 73% of Europeans they expressed confidence in the favourable outlook for cryptocurrencies.
