Crypto adoption is on the rise. Last month saw over 5% growth, bringing the number of global crypto owners to near half a billion people. Positive news we love to read after months of market correction. Find more crypto facts and figures in our monthly Research Roundup.
Market Spotlight
Note: Market prices captured in US$ at the time of reading. Explore more on Crypto.com/Price.
News Snaps
More Block for Your Buck
For the first time since 2017, Bitcoin transaction fees in a single block surpassed the block subsidy rewarded to miners. Transaction fees in the block were 6.7 BTC, while the block subsidy was 6.25 BTC. The recent surge in transactions can be attributed to Ordinals NFTs and BRC-20 tokens.
Amy Says hAI
Crypto.com has introduced Amy, its first-ever artificial intelligence (AI)-powered initiative. Amy is an AI companion to help users learn about the crypto industry with near real-time information about specific tokens and projects, as well as details on price listings and historical events.
Bluechip Blockchain
Microsoft, Deloitte, Goldman Sachs, and other financial institutions and tech giants are partnering to launch Canton Network. It is a privacy-enabled blockchain network designed for institutional assets, allowing for interoperable and synchronized transactions in finance.
Rate Hike
The US Federal Reserve increased interest rates by 25 bps last week — making that 10 hikes in 14 months. That pushed its benchmark target rate to between 5% and 5.25%, up from near zero in March 2022.
Bhutan Bitcoin
The Kingdom of Bhutan has reportedly been running a Bitcoin mining operation for the past few years. This would make Bhutan one of the only countries to run a state-owned mine, alongside El Salvador.
Spark Ignited
Maker DAO recently launched Spark Protocol, its new DeFi lending solution for DAI users. The platform’s first iteration, Spark Lend, will act as a lending marketplace to supply and borrow cryptocurrencies like ETH, stETH, DAI, and sDAI.
What’s Ahead
Here are the top macroeconomic events to look out for this month:
Research & Insights
Monthly Feature Article | Bitcoin’s Expanding Ecosystem: Layer-2, DeFi, NFTs
In our latest report in the Research & Insights series, we provide an overview and dive into Bitcoin’s expanding ecosystem.
Key Takeaways:
- The landscape of the latest projects building on top of Bitcoin is expanding beyond payments, and includes Layer-2 scaling solutions and key application categories like DeFi and NFTs.
- Currently, the main Layer-2 solutions are Lightning Network, Rootstock (RSK), Stacks, and Liquid Network.
- Bitcoin-based projects in DeFi include Sovryn, ALEX, Stackswap, and Lend at Hodl Hodl.
- Bitcoin-based projects in NFTs include Ordinals, Bitcoin Stamps, and Bitcoin domain names.
Check out Bitcoin’s Expanding Ecosystem: Layer-2, DeFi, NFT.
NFT Spotlight
From multi-award-winning digital art pioneer VESA comes ‘SENSES’, a series that looks at courage through artistic expression.
Dropping Monday, May 15, and exclusively curated for Crypto.com, the SENSES collection entwines transformative artistic nudes with paint and photography.
🪂 Special Edition NFT Airdrop
📞 Zoom session with the artist
💬 Access to the SENSES Telegram group
🎉 Access to the Blockchain Valley Virtual Metaverse party
The 1/1 artworks have garnered attention from the community, as several pieces already have been collected from the series, which will be implemented into the Blockchain Valley Virtual Gallery in 2024.
[E]ach layer of the art piece, each technique, is its own puzzle piece to form a larger whole; and as a digital original, the emergence of new technologies was the crucial, yearned [for] element. Last puzzle piece needed. This collection is timeless and pioneering all at the same time. [T]he work is immortalized on the chain.
Meet VESA. Or check out his SENSES.
Product Picks
New Items in the Missions Rewards Store
The last NFT for the Cryptoverse NFT collection — ’The Mastermind’ — has just been added to the Missions Rewards Store. Additionally, you can also redeem for a three-month UFC Fight Pass subscription or signed jerseys with diamonds. Check it out here.
Crypto.com Is Launching a New ‘Crypto.com Expedition Gear’ CollectionThis is a complementary collection to ‘Crypto.com Land 一 The First Frontier’, consisting of 50,000 backpack NFTs divided into five rarities. These backpack NFTs grant holders additional benefits, including enhancing their in-game experience for ‘Loaded Lions: Mane City’. Find out more here.
Crypto Level Up
The Key Factors Influencing Cryptocurrency Prices
Cryptocurrency prices are volatile. Here are key factors that influence token prices and potential trading opportunities from price swings.
Supply and Demand
Basic economics dictates that an asset’s price is determined by the forces of supply and demand. This applies to cryptocurrency, as well.
Fundamentals
A token’s fundamentals refer to the health of the blockchain it is minted on and how fast the network is growing.
Global Macroeconomics
Cryptocurrency doesn’t exist in a vacuum, and events that affect the world’s economy also impact token prices.
Market Sentiment
Sentiment refers to the desire to buy or sell a token based on emotion. Market sentiment can be easily driven by hype from news and social media, creating a fear of missing out (FOMO).
Technical Forces
There are plenty of traders who rely on signals to let them know when to buy or sell a token. This can then result in prices moving sharply.
Learn All About the Key Factors That Influence Cryptocurrency Prices.
#CryptoIRL
Joining @pmbrsantos with the Crypto.com Obsidian Visa Card in wishing the #CROFam #health, #happiness, and #fortune. Thank you for the well-wishes, friend. 🤞🏼🍀
Hashtag #CryptoIRL with your Crypto.com Visa Card on your social profiles to get featured! Your 15 minutes of fame in the #CROFam awaits you!
Decoder
Mining Reward
A mining reward, otherwise referred to as a block reward, is a fixed amount of newly minted cryptocurrency given to a miner who successfully mines a new block on a blockchain.
Mining rewards are not only for Bitcoin miners. Other cryptocurrencies with similar forms of consensus mechanisms, such as Litecoin, Bitcoin SV, and Bitcoin Cash, have their own respective methods of rewarding miners.
This Week in Crypto History
Fidelity Announces Launch of Cryptocurrency Trading Service
This week in May 2019, American financial services firm Fidelity announced it would launch a cryptocurrency trading service for institutions. This wasn’t a surprise, with the company revealing in late 2018 that it planned to launch an over-the-counter trading platform. Fidelity launched a cryptocurrency custody solution in May 2019, as well.
Today, Fidelity’s cryptocurrency trading service is available for both institutional and retail traders. However, users can select from only two assets: BTC and ETH. Additionally, the service hasn’t been rolled out to all US states yet, and users can only trade from 4 a.m. to 12 a.m. ET daily.
That’s it for this week’s Snapshot. Want more? Head over to our Insta feed for bite-size crypto lessons.
