Crypto Week At A Glance: Bitcoin consolidates below $20K as ETH sell-off ensures post Merge

Bitcoin (BTC) has dropped by more than 6 per cent this week and has failed to hold support at $22,000 after successfully breaching $22,600 mid-week. BTC continues to consolidate in the range of $19,400-20.100 which has held as support for months now. If stocks recover their losses next week, there is a likelihood of BTC gaining back $22,000.

This week also scripted an historic day for the crypto world as Ethereum (ETH) completed its Merge, meaning the network will no longer rely on a proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism. Ethereum, the world’s second most valuable crypto, has completed its massive software upgrade with promises of massive environmental benefits. The Merge is set to reduce Ethereum’s energy consumption by nearly 99 per cent.

ETH, post the Merge, has dropped nearly 18 per cent this week as a sell-off event ensured. This can be attributed to short-term traders who bought ETH leading up to the event to gain on the positive momentum and to acquire new forked tokens. Once their motives were established, they sold their positions. Total crypto market cap is now below $1 trillion.

Given September is traditionally a red month for Bitcoin and crypto markets, investors are anticipating further pain in upcoming months before the final bottom is discovered. As this bear market plays out, we look at some positives in terms of adoption and other stories of the week below.

Norwegian central bank uses Ethereum to build digital currency

With the publication of the open-source code for the nation’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) sandbox, Norway’s central bank has achieved a significant milestone in its attempts to promote digital currencies.

The sandbox, which is accessible on GitHub, aims to provide a user interface for interacting with the test network, enabling features like ERC-20 token minting, burning, and transfer. The current version of the code is only privately accessible by people with the necessary credentials.

The Bank also stated that Ethereum is expected to provide core infrastructure for the issuance, distribution, and destruction of digital central bank money.

BNB Chain partners with Google Cloud to advance Web 3.0, Blockchain initiatives Binance’s smart contract blockchain platform BNB Chain has collaborated with Google Cloud to bolster Web 3.0 and blockchain projects.

The collaboration will allow access to the tools and infrastructure offered by both platforms to over 1,300 active BNB Chain-based decentralized apps (DApps).

Initiatives established on BNB Chain can now access Google Cloud infrastructure including the ability to analyze on-chain data and encrypt information through Google Cloud.

The partnership will also facilitate access to the Google for Startups Cloud Program to specific Web 3.0 builders from the BNB Chain ecosystem.

Puma debuts first Metaverse experience with NFT shoes

Sports giant Puma has announced the release of its first interactive metaverse experience ‘Black Station’ featuring exclusive non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with limited edition redeemable physical sneakers.

The aim of Puma Black Station is to provide customers with an immersive and engaging portal through which they may experience the brand’s future.

Puma is the newest sportswear company to introduce digital collectibles, following Adidas. Puma has previously entered the Web 3.0 space with the limited edition NFTs of the Puma boots worn by football player Sergio Aguero in a promotional campaign with football club Manchester City.

Starbucks to offer NFT-based loyalty program

Starbucks is set to launch a non-fungible token (NFT)-based loyalty program using Polygon’s blockchain technology.

Starbucks unveiled Starbucks

, a new Web 3.0-enabled experience that offers Starbucks rewards members the ability to earn and buy digital collectibles (NFTs) and unlock access to new benefits and immersive coffee experiences.

The program is to be built on Polygon’s proof-of-stake network, a consensus mechanism for processing transactions and creating new blocks in a blockchain that rests on top of the Ethereum network.

DBS becomes the first Singaporean bank to join the metaverse

DBS announced the launch of DBS BetterWorld, a metaverse experience created in partnership with The Sandbox. The Sandbox is a decentralized virtual game environment built on Ethereum.

It also became the first bank in Singapore to enter the metaverse.

The goal of this partnership is to create DBS BetterWorld, an interactive metaverse experience highlighting the importance of creating a better, more sustainable world and inviting others to join.

Top gainers for the week

Celsius (CEL): 20% up

Chiliz (CHZ): 15% up

ApeCoin (APE): 10% up

Quant (QNT: 6% up

XRP (XRP): 4% up

Top gainers for the week

Terra (LUNA): 51.12% down

Tera Classic (LUNC): 32.37% down

Gnosis (GNO): 21% down

Helium (HNT): 19% down

EOS (EOS): 18% down

Note: Analysis includes top 100 cryptocurrencies only as of September 18, 2022 at 11 hours IST.. Source: Coinmarketcap

(The author of the article is Analytics Team, Giottus Crypto Exchange) (Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of Economic Times)