Bitcoin had a slightly bearish day as it dipped below $42k before recovering back above it. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is looking to make a decisive move above or below a narrow trading range but has struggled to post any meaningful change. Altcoins on the other hand witnessed bearish price pullbacks of their own too. More on that later on.
In other news, according to LinkedIn, the number of crypto related jobs posted on the platform have risen more than 395% in 2021. These included jobs with terms like “Bitcoin”, “Ethereum”, “Cryptocurrency” and “Blockchain”. More on that later on.
Crypto.com, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, has suspended withdrawals for some users after detecting suspicious transactions. Despite the company claiming that all funds were safe, the withdrawals are still frozen which is giving rise to speculations that the exchange’s hot wallets were hacked and some amount was stolen from them. It would be better for the exchange to come out clean and release the details of the anomaly, otherwise users will look to bail out from the exchange and take their crypto with them. It can also potentially impact its partnerships including a recent one it struck with Australian Football league worth $25 million.
The United Kingdom now ranks 3rd in the world for Ethereum ownership according to a new survey by finder.com. The country also witnessed a growth of 1% during December despite the bearish price action.
Major Non Fungible Token (NFT) platform OpenSea has surpassed over $3.5 billion in monthly ETH transactions which is a new record. It also recorded a whopping $260 million worth of volume on last Sunday alone, which is another new high for the NFT scene. The NFT sector is seeing phenomenal growth in recent times despite the overall crypto slowdown which shows that the sector is decoupling from the mainstream digital currency scene and making a mark of its own.
Over in the Far East, Singapore has banned cryptocurrency service providers from advertising in open space. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) doled out the new guidelines as it continued to crack down further after reports of scams and frauds rising in the country.
The Pacific archipelago nation of Tonga is now accepting Bitcoin donations as it grapples with a natural disaster. A big underwater volcano burst in the Pacific Ocean that sent Tsunami warnings across the Pacific Islands. Tonga is one of the countries hit by this disaster and the extent of the damage is yet unclear.
Bitcoin Drops to $42k
Bitcoin is currently trading around the $42k level as it dropped slightly in value during the last 24 hours. The cryptocurrency was looking to post some recovery after recording a multi month low of around $39.6k recently but it has been a slow experience overall.
The last 24 hours started with the Bitcoin price at around $43k. It came down slightly to $42.5k at 6 AM in the morning and traded sideways around that level for many hours in the aftermath. After that, the cryptocurrency began to trend downwards at 4:45 PM in the evening and posted a low of $41.9k in the process before recovering from it. At press time, it is trading around $42.3k.
Moving forward, Bitcoin is currently trending slightly downwards and the bears are looking to make a comeback. The bulls needed to show some strength by pulling the index above $45k but they failed to do that yet again. Now, the index is looking to continue on its downwards trajectory, albeit slowly.
The total market capitalization of Bitcoin was around $800 billion at press time and its share of the proceedings was 39.82%.
Altcoins Post Losses
Other cryptocurrencies aka altcoins also posted some losses during the last 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH, -4.5%). Binance Coin (BNB, -5%), Terra (LUNA, -7%), Polkadot (DOT, -8%), Dogecoin (DOGE, -5%), Avalanche (AVAX, -7%), Polygon (MATIC, -5%), Shiba Inu (SHIBA, -5%) and Chainlink (LINK, -8%) all posted some losses. Cardano (ADA, 5%) was the sole gainer of today.
In Other News….
LinkedIn Gets Almost 4 Times as Many Crypto Jobs in 2021 as in 2020
Major professional recruiting website LinkedIn has announced that its crypto and blockchain-related job postings increased more than 395% in the USA during 2021 alone. The wider tech sector showcased a growth of around 98% and thus the digital currency sector dwarfed that as well.
Coinbase posted 300, Kraken 250 and Binance posted 600 jobs alone. However, the pace is expected to slow down in 2022 as the bear market kicks in.
