Market picture
Bitcoin remains near $19.3K, unchanged over the past 24 hours, remaining painfully immovable by cryptocurrency standards. Ethereum is adding 0.3% to $1347, while the entire crypto market is making minimal moves. Total crypto market capitalisation rose 0.15% overnight to $931bn, according to CoinMarketCap estimates.
Although US stock indices overcame the initial decline on Monday, Bitcoin continued to sell off from its 50-day average. This passivity of cryptocurrency buyers is causing some wariness. This apathy towards the positive news backdrop could manifest as an internal caution about risk demand.
According to CoinShares, investments in crypto funds declined slightly last week. Outflows amounted to $5m compared to inflows of $12m a week earlier. Bitcoin investments increased by $5 million, Ethereum investments decreased by $3 million and investments in funds that provide shorts on bitcoin decreased by $7 million. The leader in inflows of funds in altcoins was XRP ($1 million).
News background
Most cryptocurrency investors surveyed by Bloomberg MLIV Pulse expect bitcoin to trade in the $17,600-25,000 range by the end of 2022. Meanwhile, 56% of respondents are willing to invest in crypto assets.
Billionaire Frank Giustra, who built his fortune on investments in the mining industry, tried to convince crypto investors that it is better to invest in gold. According to him, the US authorities will sooner or later destroy bitcoin as a competitor to the digital dollar.
Another recalculation saw the first cryptocurrency's mining difficulty rise by 3.44% to a new high of 36.84T. The average hash rate consolidated above the 260 EH/s level.
Over the year, the share of public miners in bitcoin's hash rate has quadrupled to 25%, the Hash rate Index noted. During last year's bull market, many companies in the industry went public, gaining access to capital to expand operations.
According to the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), the US (37.8% of VTC hash rate) tops the world in mining. China (21.1%) and Kazakhstan (13.2%) follow.
This article was written by FxPro’s Senior Market Analyst Alex Kuptsikevich.
