All eyes were on Ark Investment Management today after the release of a report claiming [Ethereum](/coins/eth) could reach $180,000 by 2030.

Famed crypto investment fund Ark Investment Management released details today claiming that the market value of Ethereum could reach $20 trillion by 2030. Such a massive market cap would mean an individual Ethereum price of anywhere between $170,000 and $180,000.

The new report from the investment fund supports the claims, by stating that it all depends on the amount of market share Ethereum manages to capture from traditional finance through DeFi.

## $1 million [Bitcoin](/coins/btc)?
---------------------------------------------------------

Decentralised Finance, or DeFi for short, is the area of cryptocurrency that is currently creating more efficient, more transparent, and more reliable applications which aim to disrupt the legacy financial system. The total value of the DeFi market today is $108.5 billion and growing, with the Ethereum network currently accounting for around 70% of all DeFi transactions. If Ethereum can maintain or increase this market share in the next 8 years while traditional financial systems wake up to the cost benefits of DeFi protocols, then anything is possible.

The report also suggested that if Bitcoin can continue to ‘scale as nation states adopt as legal tender then the price of one Bitcoin could exceed $1 million by 2030.’ These are bold claims from Ark Invest, but as we all know are not unheard of in the cryptocurrency space. Only last month Michael Saylor, CEO of Microstrategy, made the claim that Bitcoin would hit $1 million in the next 10 years. Microstrategy backed up their confidence with another purchase of Bitcoin taking their total holdings to 121,044 which at current prices is worth $4.4 billion.

## Ark 21 Shares ETF
-----------------

Ark Investment Management were in the news again yesterday, as the US based [SEC](https://www.sec.gov/) stated that any decision on a futures Bitcoin ETF would be delayed an extra 60 days from the beginning of February. Ark Invest together with 21 Shares had made the application to launch a futures backed Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) back in June 2021. 

The ruling from the SEC pushes the decision deadline back to April 3rd stating that it was ‘appropriate to designate a longer period’ as a proposed rule change regarding Bitcoin ETFs would impact their decision. Ark and 21 Shares will be relieved to know that April 3rd will be the final date for a decision, as the SEC will be unable to deliberate any further from this date.

## A Step in The Right Direction

With more and more investment funds looking to create Bitcoin ETF’s it can only be a positive for the continuing legitimacy and development of the cryptocurrency market. Although not quite a physically backed Bitcoin ETF, futures-based investment funds are a step in the right direction. If cryptocurrencies can continue to gain mainstream exposure and financial legitimacy, then Ark Investment’s claim of a $1 million Bitcoin by 2030 may not seem so far away.

Ark Invest Holdings: Ethereum Prediction

A sense of optimism hung in the crypto air this morning as [Bitcoin](/coins/btc) and other major cryptocurrencies bounced strongly after a week of heavy losses.

At the time of writing, the price of Bitcoin stood at $36,460 representing an increase of 8.10% in the last 24 hours while Ethereum gained 8.23% reaching a price of $2,423. The total market cap of crypto currently stands at $1.65 trillion, an increase of 7.71%. After a week of absolute carnage, it appears that investors have indeed bought the dip demonstrating continued strength in the cryptocurrency market.

## Increasing correlation to traditional markets

Bitcoin began its bounce on Monday as US east coast traders returned to their desks after lunch. Interestingly the US equity market also saw a strong surge during the same time indicating Bitcoin’s increased correlation with traditional markets. With many eyes on today’s meeting of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (FOMC) which is anticipated to discuss interest rate rises and continued asset purchases, this week could be very interesting indeed.

The Relative Strength Index continues to indicate Bitcoin is heavily oversold which would suggest a turnaround is imminent as buyers seek to take advantage of the discounted prices. As we have mentioned before, historically Bitcoin often begins strong rallies after precipitous falls. Could this be the start of a rally to new all-time highs?

## Alt season on hold?

Mike McGlone, Chief Commodity Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence however was not so optimistic for altcoins going on record to say, “Price reversion in crypto is likely to spread in 2022 after the assets were a poster child of speculative inflationary excess in 2021, but Bitcoin stands to come out ahead.”

However, as we can see above many of the major altcoins demonstrated as much resilience in Bitcoin with equally strong bounces. Solana, Polkadot, Atom, and Avalanche all posted 24-hour gains ranging between 12% and 17% respectively. The crypto market may be down, but it is certainly not out.

## ‘I'm loving it’

Finally, in a candidate for tweet of the year already the official Twitter account of McDonald’s Restaurants asked “[how are you doing people who run crypto twitter accounts?](https://twitter.com/McDonalds/status/1485726032967704582)” Demonstrating the humour and camaraderie that has come to be associated with what is known as ‘crypto Twitter’ McDonald’s are clearly getting their own back on all those crypto tweeters who see a job at McDonald’s as the last resort in a prolonged bear market. However, I and many others have a feeling that McDonald’s will soon be eating their own words, with extra fries.

Bitcoin and Crypto Rebound After Week of Loss

[Bitcoin](/news/category/bitcoin-news) traders woke to yet more shock Monday morning as the price of the asset tumbled to further localised lows.

At time of press, the price of the world’s number one digital asset sat at $33,728 – a fall of 5.52% in the last 24 hours. However, with the price of Bitcoin bottoming at $33,243 at 11:09 UTC this morning the current price shows that there are buyers at this level but as you may well imagine traders and investors are treading with extreme caution. 

Bitcoin wasn’t the only crypto to experience a devastating fall in value. The entire market also dropped sharply and currently stands at $1.54 trillion representing a fall of 7.01% in the last 24 hours.

## Outside factors

With market and network fundamentals at their strongest in years many investors are looking for outside factors as the reason behind the latest market crash. Tensions between Russia and NATO led allies continue to simmer over a Russian military build up at the Ukrainian border and while Russia insists it has no plans to invade, the USA and the UK have already told their embassy staff to begin making plans to leave the country. In contrast, the EU have no plans to fly diplomats out of Ukraine and is at a loss to explain why the USA and UK have given the green light adding ‘the US has not given any clear justification for its decision’.

As we reported on Friday, cryptocurrency and digital assets are still seen by many as risk-on investments which in times of uncertainty are often the first to be sacrificed, regardless of market strength.

However, there are other angles at play in this situation which many in the crypto community believe are having an impact on market activity. The US have threatened Russia with economic sanctions which will ‘bring the country to its knees’ should the country decide to stage an invasion of Ukraine. In practical terms this means deactivating Russia from the SWIFT network which has been used by every nation state to transfer capital around the world since 1972.

## ‘Alternative rails of finance’

In retaliation to the threat from Joe Biden, Russia have spoken of using ‘alternative rails of finance’ which many people believe is a nod toward distributed and decentralised networks able to move large amounts of capital such as Ripplenet or Stellar Lumens. However, with both of these firms originating in the US it is hard to believe Russia would choose to adopt their services. That being said the nature of many cryptocurrency networks is borderless and the vision they hold for the future is one of harmonious trade with drastically reduced friction in terms of policy, regulation and cost.

The last thing the world needs right now is yet another conflict and personally speaking I don’t think that is going to happen. I do believe however that a movement away from out of date and weighted legacy payment systems such as SWIFT towards the large scale use of decentralised and distributed networks that enable a fairer and balanced global economic environment is only a matter of time. However what time frame this financial transformation occurs on is anybody's guess.


Crypto Price Down as Ukraine Crisis Hits

Crypto investors are accustomed to market crashes. Smart investors cash out at the right time and invest in the downtrend, while those experiencing fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) contribute to the market collapse by panic selling. 

The latest crypto crash has erased over $1 trillion in market value. Market-definers [Bitcoin](/coins/btc) and [Ethereum](/coins/eth) plummeted to lows not seen in months and most altcoins have recently suffered greatly. Of course, several factors have contributed to the latest market crash, but we won't dive into them.

Instead, we will explore the consequences of the market plummet. How are investors reacting to the meltdown? 

## Ethereum is a mixed market 

According to Glass node metrics, the total Ethereum value in the ETH 2.0 Deposit Contract reached a five-month low of roughly $20.9 billion. The previous low of roughly $21.2 billion was observed on Sep. 21. 

While this statistic represents one position, the number of users with at least 0.01 Ethereum in their crypto wallets has reached an all-time high (ATH) of nearly 22 million. 

The statistics appear to indicate that holders with large Ethereum investments cashed out at the right time driving the market price down and leading a number of new investors to add Ethereum to their holdings at a relatively advantageous discounted price. 

Investors are keeping an eye on Open Interest in Perpetual Futures Contracts as well, as it reached a one-month high of nearly $65 million at crypto exchange Kraken. Notably, the previous one-month high was on Jan. 22. This indicates an increasingly upward trend. 

It should be noted that the number of Bitcoin addresses with over 100 Bitcoins is at a three-month low of almost 16,000. The previous three-month low was on Jan. 22 (surprise surprise). This indicates an increasingly downward trend. 

A correlation between the last two statistics? I think so. Folks, Ethereum is here to stay and 2022 will be a good year for the crypto asset. Hold tight!



What Does the Latest Crypto Crash Mean for Ethereum?

The price of [Bitcoin](/news/category/bitcoin-news) suffered further crash losses today as the value of the world’s foremost digital currency dropped below $40,000 usd for the first time in six months. While recovering slightly since a precipitous fall to $38,250 in the early hours of this morning, the price of Bitcoin is currently trading at $39,022 usd leaving many investors to speculate what caused the drop.

The Bitcoin network has never been stronger with the hash rate at all time highs. The hash rate is the metric which illustrates the computing power needed to mine Bitcoin. A higher hash rate demonstrates confidence in the network and its long term growth. After dipping in mid 2021 the hash rate has recently rebounded to record highs.

## External influences

It is often said that positive price action usually follows higher hash rates however looking at the current market performance this is clearly not the case. As we know the cost of mining is closely tied to the price of Bitcoin. For large scale mining farms to be profitable miners need to know their break even point and calculations based on the current hash rate indicate this to be around $34,000 usd.

With the network in good health it is pertinent to look for outside factors which may have caused investors to sell off.

## $600 million ways to fry

Many people are pointing towards Friday’s options expiry of some $600 million in open interest contracts as a major factor in the price crash of Bitcoin. After almost two weeks of sideways action many investors believed that $40,000 usd represented a solid price floor. However, with speculators gambling on the value of Bitcoin through futures based ETF’s the price of an unregulated asset such as Bitcoin is always going to be open to manipulation. When you add in the fact that leveraged Bitcoin liquidations across trading platforms account for $292 million the picture of market manipulation becomes clear. Regulation has never been more needed in an industry desperate to break into the mainstream.

## Ukraine crisis

History shows us investors do not like uncertainty and when anxiety is in the air capital is often pulled from high risk assets into safe havens. Although Bitcoin is more frequently viewed as a risk free hedge to rising rates of inflation it is still considered by many to be a risk-on investment. Therefore, with the crisis in Ukraine bringing increased uncertainty to worldwide markets it is prudent to believe that a degree of long term profit is banked as significant capital leaves the market. The difficult question any serious investor should be asking right now is what and  how long will it take before Bitcoin inevitably bounces back?


Bitcoin below $40,000 for first time in 6 months

[Bitcoin](/news/category/bitcoin-news) price action remains stable but is a value surge just around the corner?

The price of Bitcoin has been steadily declining since 8th November leaving many to speculate the bull run is finally over. With a retracement close to 40% it is easy to see why this is a popular narrative. However, there are many people who believe Bitcoin has one and possibly two more bull runs left in the tank. What are the factors behind this optimism and when could this occur?

## Price volatility at record low

The current price of Bitcoin stands at $41,876 representing a fall of 2% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin has been range bound between roughly $41,000 and $43,000 since 6th January which in the volatile land of unregulated cryptocurrency is something of a rarity. Clearly retail investors have been spooked and institutional investors are buying their time.

This price stability is reflected in the volatility, which according to the Bitcoin Volatility Index is at its lowest point since November 2021 at 2.63%. Low volatility might not be attractive to traders but from an institutional adoption angle it represents maturity and stability which in turn generates interest. Therefore the ‘boring’ price action of Bitcoin may be just what is needed to encourage more large-scale investors to the crypto table.

## Bitcoin fear and greed index

As mentioned above, the price of Bitcoin has seen a sharp pull back from record highs of November 2021. In turn, retail investment has practically disappeared as many people fear getting burnt or worse. This market sentiment is measured by the handy Fear and Greed Index which uses a handful of factors to assess how traders are likely to react given the current price. The current Fear & Greed Index score is 24% representing Extreme Fear which to the bold investor is the perfect time to buy.

## China Bitcoin ban

Many people believe the price decline of Bitcoin since November 2021 could be related to yet another Chinese Bitcoin mining and trading ban as investors in the far east sell off and take profits. This would explain the 40% drawback as a large proportion of Bitcoin mining occurred in China before the ban. The USA now accounts for the highest percentage of hashpower in the world.

Historically speaking, Bitcoin has a habit of launching a price surge just when everyone thinks the asset is dead and it is headed for zero. This could easily be the case here. The development of the Bitcoin network has come too far in the last 24 months for it to crash and burn and the adoption of nation states such as Venezuela, El Salvador and lately Tonga show just how much credibility Bitcoin still has in the tank.

## Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency

The real question is why isn't anyone buying Bitcoin, and other crypto for that matter, in large enough quantities to move the market which was evident at time throughout 2021. This could be due to many factors. As we have discussed before the market is in dire need of regulation and its absence deters many traditional investors looking to enter the space. 

Later this week US Congress is due to host a hearing of the Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee entitles “Cleaning Up Cryptocurrency: The energy impacts of blockchain” which is sure to make recommendations which will impact the development of the market. So, is circa $40,000 the new floor? Will it hold? And once we have regulatory clarity will investors return to the table in record numbers? Only time will tell.



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What Does the Latest Crypto Crash Mean for Ethereum?

Bitcoin below $40,000 for first time in 6 months

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