48 million — that is the threshold Bitcoin wallet ownership crossed earlier this week. Both the popularity of BRC-20 tokens among retail traders and the influx of Bitcoin ETF applications from traditional investment firms are assumed to have helped to spur BTC adoption in 2023. Amid the volatile Bitcoin price action of the past weeks, this development underscores the growing adoption and widespread interest in Bitcoin as a digital asset.
In other good news, we’re excited to introduce Earn Plus, which allows Crypto.com users to enjoy higher allocation limits and greater reward rates. At launch, USD Coin (USDC) and PayPal USD (PYUSD) will be available for Earn Plus. More details below.
Market Spotlight
Note: Market prices captured in USD at the time of sending. Explore more on Crypto.com/Price.
Want more? Get weekly Market and DeFi Updates from Crypto.com’s Research Team.
News Snaps
Visa Broadens USDC Payment Capabilities
Following a successful pilot with Crypto.com, global payment processor Visa has rolled out support for USD Coin payments on the Solana blockchain to settle fiat-based payments. Check out the Visa and Crypto.com USDC settlement case study here.
ETF Opportunity Isn’t Limited to Bitcoin
Following a landmark victory last week for Grayscale against the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), financial research firm Bernstein believes the ruling shows that “the crypto ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) opportunity won’t stop at just Bitcoin.”
More ETH ETF Applications
Investment firms Ark Invest and 21 Shares have filed proposals for spot Ether ETFs in the US, continuing the crypto ETF trend. On X (formerly Twitter), VanEck chimed in with the fact that it was the first to apply for an ETH ETF in 2021.
Goodbye Cloud, Hello Filecoin
The Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, an Australian medical organization, has selected Filecoin as its preferred method to store massive volumes of research data. The institute says it ditched ‘on-premises storage systems’ and cloud-based solutions, as Filecoin offered cost savings.
Türkiye Increasing Crypto Adoption
According to a new report from KuCoin, Türkiye has shown increased interest in cryptocurrency as an alternative for investment and wealth preservation — with half of Türkish adults investing in crypto.
Crypto Gateway to Better Financial Literacy, According to Research
Academics from the University of Cincinnati published a new research paper titled “Measuring Crypto Literacy,” which the researchers believe will be fundamental to advancing financial literacy.
What’s Ahead
Bitcoin ETFs on Hold
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has delayed making a decision on the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications until October.
Applications were filed earlier this year by applicants including BlackRock, WisdomTree, Invesco Galaxy, Fidelity’s Wise Origin, VanEck, Bitwise, and Valkyrie Digital Assets.
Chart of the Week
Ethereum (ETH) recently flashed a death cross on its price chart, which is a popular technical analysis trading indicator based on moving averages (MAs). It occurs when the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average and is typically interpreted by traders as a bearish signal.
Learn more about crosses in The Golden Cross and Death Cross in Crypto Trading.
Research & Insights
Monthly Feature Article | Decentralised Stablecoins
Stablecoins are well positioned to facilitate broader adoption of cryptocurrencies. Here’s how.
Key Takeaways:
- Stablecoins have become an integral part of the cryptocurrency ecosystem, rising dramatically in prominence and usage in recent years. They aim to address a key limitation preventing greater mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies — significant price volatility.
- However, a series of high-profile stablecoin depeggings in recent years — where the coin permanently or temporarily loses its 1-to-1 pegged value with the reference asset — highlights that volatility risks still remain.
- Issued by centralized entities, centralized stablecoins typically maintain reserve assets like fiat currency to back each coin and ensure pegs are maintained. However, they present counterparty risks and other issues for the users.
- Decentralized stablecoins aim to provide a solution: They operate on blockchain networks without the need for a centralized authority and maintain their pegs autonomously through protocols (often involving collateralization) and mathematical algorithms.
Read the full report: Decentralised Stablecoins
NFT Spotlight
Let’s talk about the ancient lions — who love honor and peace — protecting the meta world in 2023. And let’s talk about Sandbang — the world’s first NFT sand artist — seeking to create life force through light and sand, conveying a message of goodness. So naturally let’s also talk about ‘Sand Lions’, the latest NFT collection by Sandbang, which drops on Wednesday, September 13.
Having previously released the NFT collection ‘Meta Puppy’, Sandbang — “the only artist in the world making the rarest art genre in the NFT market” — has exhibited various works in Korea, the United States, France, and the Metaverse. His latest collection is rife with utility features, from a lucky 🥚 Easter Egg and 🎉 Sand Lions NFT giveaways to a nifty assortment of airdrops and the 💎 Sand Lions Royal Package. And early access for holders of previously released ‘Loaded Lions’, ‘TENZAI’, or ‘Meta Puppy’ collections starts 60 minutes before the scheduled drop time.
As the meta world has gradually turned to darkness, Sandbang has captured the slumbering lions awakening as guardians. This is the beginning of the legend. We’ll discuss the rest when the journey begins on September 13.
Talk then, friends.
Sand is fun to play with. Those Meta Puppies are pretty adorable, too.
Product Picks
Introducing Earn Plus, a New Crypto Earn Program
We’re excited to introduce Earn Plus, a new Crypto Earn program that allows Crypto.com users to enjoy a simpler reward structure, higher allocation limits, and greater reward rates. At launch, USD Coin (USDC) and PayPal USD (PYUSD) — a new addition to Earn — will be available for Earn Plus, with more tokens to come. Please note that the old reward structure for USDC shall no longer apply. For more details, visit the blog here.
DeFi Wallet x Sunflower Land Quests
The Crypto.com DeFi Wallet has announced its campaign in collaboration with Sunflower Land. From September 4–18, 2023, 08:00 UTC, users can win 100 SFL tokens by simply completing two easy quests in the DeFi Wallet app. For more details, click here.
Crypto.com App New Token Listings
SingularityNET (AGIX)
The SingularityNET platform is an open-source and decentralized network of AI services made accessible through blockchain. Aim to create a decentralized, democratic, inclusive and beneficial Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).
AGIX is the native utility token of SingularityNET, and holders can pay for marketplace-based transactions, vote on governance proposals, stake to boost liquidity, and contribute to the strength of the project through the Staking portal, where contributors are rewarded by staking AGIX tokens. AGIX is an ERC-20 token, and developers can use their accrued funds on other Ethereum-based decentralized applications (dapps), or even exchange these funds into fiat for use in the real world.
Crypto Level Up
What Are Get-Rich-Quick Scams?
Scams are designed to trick people into giving away their money, assets, or personal details for something apparently beneficial. ‘Get-rich-quick’ scams specifically promise unrealistically high and ‘guaranteed’ returns on an investment. More details below.
Examples of Get-Rich-Quick Scams in Cryptocurrency
A well-known one is rug pulls, where the scammer creates a cryptocurrency or NFT project promising high returns. However, they have no plans to deliver any value and disappear once they collect enough money.
Another one that’s easy to fall for is the celebrity endorsement scam, where scammers impersonate celebrities or influencers on social media. They urge their followers to buy a digital asset they support, only to run off with the funds thereafter.
Avoiding a Get-Rich-Quick Scam
To safeguard against scams, always do your own research (DYOR). Thoroughly investigate the project’s white paper, team members, and more. Also, ensure to only engage with reputable projects, cryptocurrency exchanges, and wallets.
Learn More About Get-Rich-Quick Scams.
CryptoIRL
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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
Short Selling
Short selling, or ‘shorting’, refers to opening a ‘short’ position on an asset, such as on a crypto exchange. Shorting an asset simply means selling an asset at its current price with the plan to buy it back after some time when its price drops.
Short selling is usually performed by experienced traders who try to capitalize on an anticipated drop of an asset’s market value. A short seller borrows an amount of the asset against collateral and sells it immediately. Then, they buy back the same amount of borrowed assets when its price drops to pay back the borrowed assets and borrowing fees, hoping to make a profit off the difference between the prices.
This Week in Crypto History
Swiss Canton Accepts Tax Payments in Crypto
On September 3, 2020, the Swiss canton of Zug announced it would allow taxes to be settled with cryptocurrency. This law came into effect six months later and applied to both businesses and individuals. Taxpayers could select either Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH) when settling taxes of up to CHF 100,000.
In May 2023, Zug increased this threshold to CHF 1.5 million. The canton’s Finance Director also mentioned that paying taxes with cryptocurrency would be streamlined further, where individuals simply need to scan a QR code printed on the tax payment slips they receive.
That’s it for this week’s Snapshot. Want more? Head over to our Insta feed for bite-size crypto lessons.
