The middle of March turned out to be quite an eventful week for the crypto market, with several assets experiencing significant developments and general events both taking place. From U.S. President Joe Biden’s executive order to Ethereum’s “The Merge,” there’s a lot to cover in this week’s roundup.
Highlights:
- United States President Joe Biden’s executive order on cryptocurrencies marks the start of a new era, and the crypto community has had time to digest the information.
- Ethereum’s “The Merge,” which brings the beacon chain onto testnets, successfully took place on the Kiln testnet, which could spark huge momentum for the asset and network.
- Meanwhile, Bitcoin has climbed above the $40,000 level after languishing below the significant psychological level for weeks.
- Binance Smart Chain underwent some considerable growth as the network outperformed Ethereum for the second consecutive month with 120 million more transactions than the latter.
The Week in Crypto
Crypto Community Digests and Dissects Biden’s Executive Order on Crypto
Arguably the most seismic news that took place in recent weeks, the United States government’s decision to formally tackle the crypto market, was a long time. While it did not technically take place in the last week, it is only with time that analysts and experts have managed to digest what is a colossal move forward for the market.
Taking place in the form of an executive order signed by President Joe Biden, the specific tasks as listed by the fact sheet are wide-ranging. There have already been opinions put forth that this could make the United States the leader in crypto regulation, but it’s not so cut and dry as that. There will be revisions and challenges, of course, but it’s clear that the U.S. is at least willing to put crypto alongside other markets so long as it is in the interest of its economy.
The overall takeaway, in terms of public sentiment, the overall takeaway is that the crypto community is happy that the U.S. is regulating crypto. With this, they expect the market to appear more legitimate to investors who are yet to take the plunge. With tacit government acceptance, these on-the-fence investors should feel more comfortable about investing in the asset class with investor protection measures in place
Ethereum’s Merge and Upcoming Developments Suggest Possible Upward Trend
As the indisputable hub of Decentralised Finance (DeFi), Ethereum has a critical role to play in the market. Any developments made in the network instantly impact the market and its millions of participants. The past week saw one major update, namely the introduction of “The Merge” into the Kiln testnet.
The Merge is the name for incorporating the ETH2 Beacon Chain into a testnet. The Kiln testnet precedes identical merges with other testnets before eventually being implemented in the mainnet later this year. As such, this is a significant move for Ethereum and unsurprisingly sparked a boost in price earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has also talked about “Danksharding,” a proposed change to the sharding design with EIP-4844. Buterin also broke down the technical aspects of the change in a post. With such major changes slated for Ethereum in 2022, it could turn out to be a landmark year for the network.
Bitcoin Stays Above $40K Levels
While Ethereum has had a pleasant week, Bitcoin’s has been less overtly positive. The asset has managed to climb above the $40,000 mark after weeks of idling under it, which has been a letdown for many market investors. Of course, ardent investors know better than this and have bought the dip, but the mainstream narrative has been pessimistic.
But that looks to be on the verge of change as several metrics point towards, including that a vast majority of investors are institutions making large volume trades. Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes also chimed in with his own opinion, saying that the sanctions on Russian would usher in a new era of money, with gold and bitcoin benefiting.
Besides the price on a tentative upward movement, the number of bitcoin addresses holding more than 0.1 BTC is also on a steady rise. Glassnode data shows the same, and this is a solid metric that suggests an optimistic future.
Elbows Out Against Ethereum for Binance Smart Chain
Ethereum’s tremendous week was accompanied by some excellent news for its rival DApp and DeFi networks. Binance Smart Chain (BSC) has been continually recording more transactions than Ethereum. BSC recorded an impressive 120 million more transactions than Ethereum in February, which was the second month straight of outdoing the latter.
Such tangible metrics show that competing networks still have a lot to offer in the fight for market share. Other such networks like Solana and Fantom have had their growing pains in recent months and have also matured, so the idea that the future is turning into one of many networks is becoming ever increasingly clear.
There is also no shortage of development in these networks, with new DApps, NFT platforms, and projects appearing by the week. These have undoubtedly contributed to their growth, though teams have also had to be wary of bad actors and potential security risks.