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Bitcoin and Ether. Source: Adobe

The exchange rate between Bitcoin (BTC), the worlds first and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, and Ether (ETH), the worlds second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization that powers the Ethereum blockchain, has fallen rapidly in recent weeks.

ETH/BTC was last changing hands on Binance (as per TradingView) around 0.0625, down around 15% from earlier monthly highs in the 0.0735 area and at its lowest level since July 2022.

ETH/BTCs downside isnt a result of Ether performing poorly. On the contrary, at current levels in the $1,750s, Ether is up just shy of 10% this month and is up over 27% versus earlier monthly lows under $1,400.

The problem for Ether is that it, like most other cryptocurrencies, hasnt been able to keep pace with Bitcoin. Bitcoin has been leading a charge higher in cryptocurrency markets amid what analysts have referred to as a safe haven bid as cracks form in the global banking system.

After three major regional US banks went under earlier this month, Credit Suisse was bought out by Swiss rival UBS over the weekend. Meanwhile, a consortium of US banks came together last week to provide a $30 billion bailout for US bank First Republic.

Despite efforts from authorities to calm the situation, investors remain on edge that more banks, in the US and elsewhere, might be about to go under. And while this is hampering sentiment in US stock markets, it is helping safe haven assets like gold, and also appears to be helping cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin.

Gold formed the bedrock of most civilizations financial systems for thousands of years, hence when troubles in the fiat-based, central bank-centered fractional reserve banking system surface, many investors like to flock back to gold, which many view as the ultimate haven.

But Bitcoin, which many refer to as digital gold, is increasingly viewed as a safe haven. After all, it is a highly robust, highly decentralized payment system that operates entirely separately from the traditional financial system.

Ether can also make the claim to be robust, decentralized, and independent of the traditional financial system. Indeed, given its smart programmability, it arguably goes beyond Bitcoin in that an independent decentralized finance ecosystem can be built directly on top of its blockchain (and already is being built).

But Ether is only about half the age of Bitcoin. In the eyes of many investors, Bitcoin has more trust, particularly given that its future prospects dont depend on the efforts of programmers (like the Ethereum Foundation who are still working to upgrade the Ethereum blockchain). Bitcoin is expected to remain pretty much exactly how it is right now, more or less like gold.

Even though the Feds rate hiking cycle might not yet be over (they could hike rates by 25 bps this week), markets are already placing bets on the cutting cycle, with many expecting it to come soon amid turbulence in the banking sector. Easing financial conditions could well help lift cryptocurrencies broadly (including Ether), though Bitcoin is likely to maintain its lead on the added safe-haven bid.

Just as investors increasingly turn to Bitcoin as a safe haven, various core on-chain activity metrics are trending higher, showing a growing demand for network utilization. On many of the same metrics, the Ethereum blockchain is showing no such pick-up in activity.

While this probably wont outright prevent Ether from continuing to rally (not if the broader crypto market keeps pumping), it may make it difficult for ETH to keep up with Bitcoin, meaning potential further downside for the ETH/BTC exchange rate.

The first metric of note is the number of transactions taking place on a daily basis. As can be seen in the below graphs presented by The Block, this metric recently hit its highest level since early 2021 for the Bitcoin network, but remains subdued and within recent levels for the Ethereum network.

Meanwhile, though the rise in the number of active addresses on the Bitcoin network in recent weeks hasnt been quite as impressive, the metric is still close to multi-month highs. The same cannot be said for the number of active addresses on the Ethereum network.

Elsewhere, the rate at which new addresses are interacting with the Bitcoin network for the first time has also been trending higher. The same cannot be said for the Ethereum network, with new addresses remaining close to multi-year lows.

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Divergent On-chain Trends Within Ethereum/Bitcoin Network Add to ... - Cryptonews

A little-known Ethereum competitor is in the midst of a major breakout, posting numbers that outpace both Bitcoin and ETH.

The layer-1 blockchain Conflux Network (CFX) is trading at $0.295 at time of writing, up 53% in the last seven days.

That compares to a 16% rise in the price of Bitcoin and a 9% rise in the price of Ethereum in the same time frame.

The coin, which launched in November of 2020, burst on the scene in this year when the project announced a partnership with China Telecom, one of the largest wireless carriers in the country.

The platform has also been integrated into Xiaohongshu, known as Little Red Book, which is a Chinese social media and e-commerce platform that reportedly has more than 200 million monthly active users.

Conflux says its the only fully regulated layer-1 blockchain in China, with the goal of building a borderless, blockchain-based economy.

As the only regulatory compliant, public, and permissionless blockchain in China, Conflux is building a borderless transactional and technological ecosystem for globally-minded crypto projects, extending beyond China to North America, Russia, Latin America, Europe, Africa, and the rest of the world.

Conflux designed to be a highly scalable and low cost protocol, and utilizes a proof-of-work consensus model to validate transactions.

Its native crypto asset, CFX is used to pay transaction fees, offer staking rewards and let users participate in the networks governance.

CFX is trading at $0.295 at time of publishing, up 6.9% in the last 24 hours.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Alberto Andrei Rosu/Natalia

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Little-Known Ethereum Rival Erupts, Outperforming Bitcoin and ETH With 53% Boom in Seven Days - The Daily Hodl

Bitcoin's relentless rally ever since Silicon Valley Banks collapse caused a mini meltdown earlier this month is showing signs of tapering off, but not before the benchmark cryptocurrency chalked up considerable gains in the process.

Since the fateful day of 10 March, when SVB was unable to sustain itself amid a bruising bank run, BTC/USDT has surged over 40%, peaking at US$28,470 on Monday, 20 March.

Since then, the pair has cooled off, posting small losses on Monday and then adding around 1.4% on Tuesday, while remaining essentially flat at US$28,125 this morning.

Bitcoin (BTC) has been on a rollercoaster since the FTXcollapse last November Source: currency.com

Open interest in bitcoin futures remains at a nine-month high, indicating sustained volatility plays among traders.

The question for the market is: Can bitcoin stabilise at this price point?

Much of the coins recent strength was due to its perceived safe-haven status as the traditional markets went into a spin, so it stands to reason that when things calm down, so will the price of bitcoin.

If investors decide to take profits en masse, we could see some price deflation.

There is also the spectre of ongoing interest rate hikes, less likely now than they were merely two weeks ago, but considerably higher-than-expected inflation data emerging from the UK this morning proves that the issue persists, and thus so could rate hikes.

Risk-on assets tend to take the backseat whenever central bank hawks take the wheel, and with interest rate decisions from the US and UK due over the following 24 hours, its a headwind that cannot be ignored.

That being said, Matt Maximo and Michael Zhao at Grayscale suggested that bitcoin may emerge as a strong performer regardless of the outcome, since safe-haven money allocations will remain buoyant for some time to come.

For now, Binances order book shows strong support at the 28k mark, which may act as a buffer to losses below this point, while selling pressure is most evident at US$28,400.

Ethereum (ETH)s price action has been more muted than bitcoins although the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation has still benefitted from the recent turmoil.

ETH/USDT has rallied 30% since 10 March, peaking at US$1,840 on Sunday, 19 March. The pair has been fairly volatile since, with bulls and bears jostling between the US$1,700and US$1,850 price range.

At the time of writing, ETH/USDT was changing hands at US$1,790, having fallen by 0.6% in early trades. ETHbears have pitched up a considerable sell wall at US$1,807.

Binances order book shows bearish resistance at US$1,807 Source: binance.com

Ripple Labs XRP token steamed ahead in the past 24 hours, racking up around 20% to bring the payment token to a four-month high of 0.457 cents.

As has been the case with previous rallies, it correlates to renewed optimism that Ripple Labs is set to trump the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the long-running SEC v Ripple Labs lawsuit launched way back in December 2020.

The regulator contends that XRP is an unregistered security and thus Ripple Labs illegally raised US$1.3bn from its initial coin offering.

A favourable pending outcome for Ripple Labs is evidently being priced into the market.

The rest of the top-20 altcoin set has remained relatively muted, with Polkadot (DOT), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Tron (TRX) and Litecoin (LTC) moving into week-on-week losses in the low single digits.

Global cryptocurrency market capitalisation added 2.8% to US$1.18tn overnight, while total value locked in the decentralised finance (DeFi) space added 1.3% to US$48.8bn.

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Bitcoin and Ethereum: Will crypto markets stay afloat? - Proactive Investors USA

SUMMARY

Cryptocurrencies gained on Wednesday ahead of the FOMC rate decision. Bitcoin traded above $28,000-mark. The global crypto market cap stood at $1.18 trillion, with a volume of $67.2 billion in the past 24 hours.

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Bitcoin | The world's largest and most popular virtual currency, Bitcoin, rose 1.4 percent to $28,176.4. Its market value stood at $546.6 billion. The trade volume was at nearly $35.6 billion.

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"Bitcoin surged to the $28,000 threshold, ahead of the US FOMC meeting, which would determine whether to raise interest rates again. Many investors and traders expect interest rates to rise at a slower pace of 25 basis points. This follows the announcement by the U.S. that it will consider ways to secure client deposits at struggling banks in the wake of a recent crisis. The FED's decision is expected to result in some market volatility," says Edul Patel of Mudrex.

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Ethereum | The second largest virtual currency, Ethererum or Ether jumped 5.7 percent to $1,800.8 at the last count, with a market capitalisation of nearly $221.3 billion. The trade volume of Ethereum was almost $10.8 billion in the last 24 hours.

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Dogecoin | Meme-based virtual currency, Dogecoin, jumped 5.8 percent to $0.1. Its market value stood at $10.1 billion. The trade volume was at nearly $664.4 billion.

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Solana | Solana fell 0.6 percent to $22.3 with a market capitalisation of $8.6 billion. The trade volume of Solana was $697.6 million in the last 24 hours.

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Shiba Inu | Shiba Inu rose 3.5 percent with a market capitalisation of almost $6.5 billion. The trade volume was almost $334.3 million in the last 24 hours.

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Polygon | Polygon gained 3.2 percent with a market capitalisation of $10.1 billion. The trade volume was $543 million in the last 24 hours.

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Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin holds above 28k, Ethereum and other tokens gain - CNBCTV18

As Circles $USDC has lost ground, Tether-issued $USDT is now the dominant stablecoin on both Ethereum and Polygon.

Regulatory FUD from U.S. authorities has helped to catalyze a regime change in the world of cryptocurrency stablecoins, as $USDC has lost its dominant position to $USDT on both the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains.

The March 11 collapse of Silicon Valley Bank certainly shook crypto holders faith in the stability of $USDC (at least in the very short term), as it was disclosed that $USDC issuer Circle had more than $3 billion in reserves stored at the failed financial institution. $USDC suffered a major but brief de-peg, and it regained its $1 value a few days later, when Circle executives were able to reassure investors that the SVB collapse did not impact its ability to maintain the 1:1 backing for the stablecoin.

The apparent irony is that U.S. regulators statements and actions against stablecoins (notably $BUSD) have incentivized crypto holders to abandon stablecoins from U.S.-regulated issues (such as Paxos and Circle) in favor of issuers like Tether who are not subject to U.S. regulations.

According to DefiLlama, $USDC lost its dominant position on Ethereum to $USDT on March 18, a week after the SVB debacle. $USDc had accounted for the plurality of stablecoins on Ethereum since the beginning of 2022. However, $USDT rose to the top spot as it benefitted from investors switching out of $USD and, since December 2022, $BUSD.

The narrative on Polygon is different but has the same result: $USDT has surpassed $USDC as the dominant stablecoin on the Ethereum sidechain.

The wrinkles in the story, however, are that $BUSDs market share on Polygon was never significant; $USDC had always been the dominant stablecoin on Polygon; and $USDTs ascent came at the expense of $USDC and $DAI.

Perhaps most importantly, $USDT surpassed $USDC on Polygon on March 2, according to DefiLlama, more than a week before SVBs failure accelerated the abandonment of $USDC.

Overall, $USDT has strengthened its grip on the entire USD stablecoin marketplace, increasing its share of stablecoin holdings on all blockchains from less than 50% to nearly 60% since the beginning of the year.

The Tether-issued stablecoin accounts for almost all stablecoin holdings on Tron and is rapidly gaining even more ground on BNB Chain as $BUSD is being phased out.

One area where $USDC has maintained its edge over $USDT is on the fast-growing Arbitrum blockchain, where $USDC has 63% of the stablecoin market.

Ethereum is an open-source, distributed computing platform based on blockchain technology that can execute smart contracts - that is, the terms written in the contract will be executed transparently, automatically when the previous conditions are satisfied, and no one can interfere. At the same time, Ethereum also allows developers to build decentralized applications (DApps) and decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO).

Website | Twitter | Documentation | Whitepaper | Reddit | Discord | Youtube | GitHub | Ethereum Foundation Blog |

Polygon is a sidechain scaling solution that runs alongside the Ethereum blockchain allowing for speedy transactions and low fees. MATIC is the networks native cryptocurrency, which is used for fees, staking, and more. The effectiveness of Polygon as an alternative to Ethereum has seen existing projects such as Aave and Curve adopting its chain.

Website | Twitter | GitHub | Reddit | YouTube

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Binance NFT Extends Zero Fees, Gas Promotion for Ethereum ... - BSC NEWS