Cryptocurrencies have recouped much of the losses since the flash crash on Wednesday, Nov 10. Overall market capitalization of all crypto assets is now at $2.87 trillion, versus the seven-day low of $2.70 trillion.
Market leader Bitcoin (BTC) has recovered to $65,538.31 in the backdrop of its successful Taproot upgrade on Sunday. The Taproot upgrade and in particular, the adoption of Tapscript, a new programming language is expected to pave the way for a smart contracts functionality on the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin is currently trading 1.3 percent higher over Sunday's levels.
Despite the flash crash, month-to-date gains on Bitcoin are near 6.9 percent. In contrast, Dollar Index has gained 1 percent and Gold, which is denominated in U.S. dollars has added 4.7 percent.
Meanwhile, the SEC has rejected Van Eck's proposal for a spot ETF amidst concerns that basing a product on the spot price of Bitcoin could violate securities rules in a market prone to abuse. However, the investment firm's bitcoin futures-based exchange-traded fund (ETF) is set to debut on the Chicago-based CBOE Exchange under the ticker XBTF next week. SEC had approved it in late October.
Ethereum (ETH) too is trading with overnight gains of 2 percent and is currently at $4,720.29.
While overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies has increased by 2 percent over previous day, Entertainment category has made overnight gains of 13 percent, primarily attributed to the 179 percent overnight price surge in 2007th ranked SkinCoin, a crypto token that operates on the Ethereum platform. E-commerce category has recorded a 24-hour spike of 10 percent in market capitalization amidst crypto token Elemon(ELMON) witnessing price gain of 109 percent in a day.
Media, Play to Earn, Metaverse, Gaming and Logistics categories have recorded growth of more than 5 percent in market capitalization in a day.
Smart Contracts market capitalization stood at $867 billion, a 2.5 percent gain overnight. DeFi market cap edged up by 0.75 percent to $189 billion. Stablecoins market cap was more or less stable at $140 billion.
In the coins category, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), XRP (XRP), Polkadot (DOT), Dogecoin (DOGE), Terra (LUNA), Avalanche (AVAX), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Algorand (ALGO), Polygon (MATIC), and VeChain (VET) are the 15 top ranking coins in terms of market capitalization.
Litecoin (LTC) is the best performer with a weekly gain of close to 30 percent. Litecoin, dubbed a lighter version of Bitcoin, was recently selected as a payment mode at AMC Theatres alongside Bitcoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash.
Polkadot (DOT) was the week's biggest laggard in this category as parachain hype waned and the coin declined more than 10 percent.
In the tokens category, Tether (USDT), USD Coin (USDC), SHIBA INU (SHIB), Chainlink (LINK), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC), Uniswap (UNI), Binance USD (BUSD), Crypto.com coin (CRO), Axie Infinity (AXS), Bitcoin BEP2 (BTCB), FTX Token (FTT), Dai (DAI), Decentraland (MANA), The Graph (GRT) and PancakeSwap (CAKE) are the 15 top ranking tokens in terms of market capitalization.
Decentraland (MANA) that defines itself as a virtual reality platform powered by the Ethereum blockchain allowing users to create, experience, and monetize content and applications is the top gainer in this category with a weekly gain of 22 percent.
The FTX Token (FTT) declined close to 10 percent in a week to be the most beaten-down token in the category.
As cryptocurrencies get accepted more and more into the financial mainstream, regulators and central banks world-wide are warming up to the idea of Central Bank Digital Currencies. A recent panel at Helsinki, Finland, witnessed central bankers thinking aloud on the prospects, and way ahead for CBDCs. Fabio Panetta, a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank has opined that the Digital Euro as a legal tender in the Euro area was a likely outcome. Some other officials were of the view that CBDCs, working under government control, would represent the future of the financial network. It was also placed on record that the seamless conversion between forms of money, was crucial for the trust the society has in money.
How different would CBDCs be from cryptocurrencies? Would CBDCs be run on blockchain technology? If virtual fiat currencies or CBDCs are reckoned as legal tender in home countries, what would be the impact on cryptocurrency industry? Would the urge to own cryptocurrencies increase with the advent of sovereign digital money?
These and more would be answered as more clarity emerges on the technology, legality and scope of CBDCs. Crypto watchers would definitely keep an eye on this space too.
For comments and feedback: editorial@rttnews.com