Perhaps no coin symbolises the rollercoaster ride of crypto better than Solana (SOL). It’s been a journey filled with meteoric highs and crushing lows – so let’s dive in to exactly what has happened over the last year, and what the future holds for Solana. Ethereum’s Problems The phrase “Ethereum-killer” gets thrown around a lot in crypto. For the most part, I roll my eyes. Sure, ETH has its fair share of problems. Even amid the recent parabolic rise in oil prices, gas in the real world still looks like a bargain compared to Ethereum. Given the extent of these fees, it has very much become the blockchain of the elites, with transactions completely unfeasible unless in very large amounts. Still cheaper than Ethereum though… Having said that, the network effects and first mover advantage wit...
The geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine has resulted in investors seeking safe-haven assets. Contrary to expectations by crypto investors, Bitcoin (BTC) has failed to rise along with gold and it remains closely correlated with the U.S. stock markets. Lloyd Blankfein, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, said that the actions of governments freezing accounts, blocking payments and inflating the U.S. dollar should all be positive for crypto but the price action suggests a lack of large inflows. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 On-chain data suggests that investors may be accumulating Bitcoin for the long term. Data from Santiment shows that 21 out of the past 26 weeks have seen Bitcoin move off the exchanges. Could Bitcoin climb back above $40,000 and pull alt...
Today, Adobe’s Behance has announced support for Phantom Wallet to allow people to showcase Solana-based NFTs on their profile, in addition to NFTs minted on Ethereum. Starting today, Behance users can connect their Phantom wallet and showcase Solana-based NFTs on their Behance profiles. The move resonates perfectly with Behance’s mission to help creators to build their careers without being dictated by third parties. Behance is built for freelancers, full-time gig sellers, those looking for subscriptions, those who want to sell templates, and those who want to live stream as well as those who want to sell NFTs. Before today’s announcement, Behance users were only able to showcase NFTs minted on Ethereum. But there have been concerns about the amount of Energy used by Ethereum in add...
The equity markets in Europe and the United States are seeing a sea of red as traders continue to sell risky assets due to the geopolitical situation. Bitcoin (BTC) and several major cryptocurrencies are also witnessing profit-booking after the recent rise. Another reason that could be keeping investors on the edge is the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on March 16. A statement from Fed hair Jerome Powell on March 2 highlighted that the central bank is likely to hike rates this month. Fitch Ratings chief economist Brian Coulton expects core inflation to remain high in 2022 and the Fed to boost the “Fed fund rate to 3% by the end of 2022.” Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 ExoAlpha managing partner and chief investment officer David Lifchit...
Bitcoin (BTC) soared above $40,000 on Feb. 28 even though the S&P 500 remained soft. This suggests that the correlation between Bitcoin and the U.S. equity markets may be showing the first signs of decoupling. If bulls sustain the price above $38,500 till the end of the day, Bitcoin would avoid four successive months of decline. The volatility of the past few days does not seem to have shaken the resolve of the long-term investors planning to stick with their positions. Data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode showed that the amount of Bitcoin supply that last moved between three to five years ago soared to more than 2.8 million Bitcoin, which is a four year high. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Interestingly, an experiment by Portuguese software developer T...
The U.S. equity markets and Bitcoin (BTC) have rebounded sharply from their Feb. 24 lows while gold has made a retreat from its recent highs. This indicates that investors may be buying risky assets and reducing exposure to assets perceived as a safe haven. Recent reports also suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin may send a delegation to negotiate with Ukraine and this raises hope that the conflict could end sooner than analysts expect. Some analysts believe that the U.S. Federal Reserve may not raise rates aggressively in March due to the geopolitical situation. Allianz chief economic advisor Mohamed El-Erian believes that the March 50 basis point rate hike is “completely off the table.” Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Dr. Raullen Chai, the co-f...
Ethereum (ETH) and decentralized finance (DeFi) are undergoing a seismic shift as the transition to Eth2 and a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism is helping to increase the value proposition for the network which has historically has been plagued with scaling issues and high transaction costs. Alongside this transition has been the introduction of liquid staking, which is helping to add utility to DeFi and giving investors the option to do more with their assets than just lock them up indefinitely. Liquid staking could also help investors build more capital efficient portfolios. One protocol that has benefited from the shift toward liquid staking is Lido (LDO), a platform that allows investors to earn staking rewards on their tokens while also enabling them to put the resulting...
Bitcoin (BTC) and several altcoins have bounced off their immediate support levels after buyers attempted to arrest the current decline. Bloomberg Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone highlighted in a recent Tweet that Bitcoin was trading roughly 20% below its 50-week moving average and such discounted levels have “often resulted in good price support.” The bearish price action of the past few days does not seem to have deterred the institutional traders from accumulating at lower levels. According to CoinShares’ Feb. 22 “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” report, institutional investors pumped about $89 million into Bitcoin funds between Feb. 14 and Feb. 18, taking the total inflows in the current month to $178.3 million. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Crypto t...
Digital security service 1Password has announced a collaborative partnership with Phantom Wallet to enable asset holders to amalgamate their vast accumulations of public key addresses, seed phrases and other corresponding security details into a single ‘Save in 1Password’ system. Operating primarily in the traditional financial sector at this time, 1Password has over 100,000 corporate clients from a panoply of industries, including well-recognized brands like IBM, Slack, Shopify and Under Armour. The application programming interface (API) of 1Password aims to simplify the user experience, enable asset sovereignty and assign portfolio responsibility to help investors sufficiently manage their cryptocurrencies and nonfungible tokens (NFTs) held on the Solana blockchain. A centralized entity...
A rebound move witnessed in the Solana (SOL) market this weekend exhausted midway as its price dropped below the $90 level from a high of $96 on Feb. 21. In doing so, SOL price technicals are now risking a classic bearish reversal setup. Solana price risks dropping to $60 Dubbed head-and-shoulders (H&S), the technical pattern emerges when the price forms three peaks in a row atop a common support level (called a neckline). As it typically turns out, the pattern’s middle peak, called a “head,” comes longer than the other two peaks, called theleft and right shoulders, which come to be of similar heights. The H&S pattern tends to send the prices lower—at length equal to the maximum distance between the head and the neckline—once they decisively break below its ...
Coachella, one of the world’s most illustrious and profitable music festivals, recently announced the launch of three NFT collections: Sights and Sounds, Desert Reflections, and Coachella Keys. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are digital assets—such as photos, visual artwork, or audio—stored on a blockchain. The tokens are immutable and they are purchased, sold, and traded using cryptocurrency. Coachella launched its own native NFT marketplace, which was built by FTX for the Solana blockchain. The festival’s three collections offer a range of digital photos, soundscapes, and posters that can be redeemed for real-world experiences. Perhaps the most significant, however, is the Coachella Keys collection. Each of its 10 collectibles grant their owners lifetime passes to Coachella. Afte...