Frank Holmes
Crypto SWOT: Coinbase's marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is finally here
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Featuring views and opinions written by market professionals, not staff journalists.
Strengths
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the best performer for the week was Millennium Sapphire, rising 821.88%.
- Coinbase's marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is finally here in what could be key to reviving the crypto exchange's growth prospects a year after its fizzling public debut, writes Bloomberg. A trial version of its long-awaited marketplace, designed to sell ownership of digital art and possibly other items, was unveiled on Wednesday in the company's latest attempt to diversify its revenue and bring more predictability to the business.
- Despite the recent bearish market, Cardano (ADA) seems undeterred and continues showing signs of activity, writes CoinQuora. This dip might be a perfect opportunity to buy ADA before its market price eventually rises. There are several types of activities that show Cardano's resilience and persistence despite the cryptocurrency market dipping.
Weaknesses
- Of the cryptocurrencies tracked by CoinMarketCap, the worst performing for the week was Movei Coin, down 99.97%.
- According to a Bloomberg article, Bitcoin looks soft in the era of hard assets to hedge inflation. A 50-day correlation coefficient for Bitcoin and gold is around minus 0.4, the lowest since 2018. So while demand for portfolio buffers against price pressures catalyzed commodity performance this year, Bitcoin has gone the other way, leaving backers of its store-of-value narrative with a tougher story to sell.
- The announcement of a flat 30% tax on income from cryptocurrencies and other virtual digital assets in Union Budget 2022 seems to have negatively affected Indian retail investors' interest in crypto, search data from Google Trends over the past 90 days suggest. Searches for the term "cryptocurrency" were at all-time highs in the past 90 days on February 1, the Budget Day, with a reading of 100. Since then, readings have been in the range of 17-9 on most days.
Opportunities
- The New York Liberty announced that it would become the first team in Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) history to drop NFTs in the form of digital art. The release of the NFT will be on May 7 to coincide with the Liberty's season opener against the Connecticut Sun, writes Bloomberg.
- Rapper Snoop Dogg collaborated with metaverse platform Mobland to bring digital weed farms to the metaverse, according to Bloomberg. The platform will host branded digital weed farms in the form of NFTs and exclusive content from Snoop's son Champ Medici.
- Cryptocurrency traders are currently "itching" for a Cardano price rally, as their sentiment towards the asset is now at a high that hasn't been seen since mid-November, when ADA was trading near the $2 mark.
Threats
- Decentralized finance project Beanstalk Farms suffered one of the largest-ever flash loan exploits on Sunday, sending the price tumbling, writes Bloomberg. The credit-focused Ethereum-based stablecoin protocol suffered a total loss of around $182 million, and the attacker got away with around $80 million of crypto tokens. It isn't clear yet whether investors who lost funds will be reimbursed or if so to what extent.
- Countries such as Russia and Iran may eventually use cryptocurrency mining to evade sanctions, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned in a report. There's a risk that sanctioned nations will leverage their energy resources to power mining, said the IMF. By expanding their mining operations, governments could also generate revenue directly from transaction fees, reported Bloomberg.
- The U.S Treasury Department imposed sanctions on crypto mining company BitRiver, targeting one of the industry's largest data center service providers over its operations in Russia in its first such action, writes Bloomberg. The Switzerland-based firm offers energy sources, mining facilities and large-scale management solutions to Bitcoin miners across the world, including those in Eastern European and Russia.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.
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