With some glimmers of hope in the previous week, cryptocurrencies still power through the uncertainties of the market. There remains little clarity as to which direction the crypto market is actually heading. Although BTC briefly surpassed the $ 25,000 mark last week, there still remains noticeable pessimism amongst many traders moving forward. At present, the state of the market exists in a grey area and has yet to cross critical thresholds to once more gain market-wide confidence. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are on the verge of major price movements in the days to follow. What is yet to be seen is whether these will be price booms or substantial corrections. This will ultimately depend on where each coin will close, and how traders will react to that.

Highlights of the week

• Coinbase CEO, Brian Armstrong has stated that the company is ready to shut down Ethereum staking in case they are pressurized by regulating bodies to censor transactions. This comes after the US treasury department banned Tornado Cash, which is essentially a crypto ‘mixing,’ service that pools and distributes cryptocurrencies to new addresses.
• The widely popular virtual currency exchange, crypto.com was given the go-ahead to initiate operations in the UK, by the country’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The FCA’s register authorizes the exchange the right to provide “certain crypto-asset activities” and gives it Money Laundering Regulation Status.
• The blockchain analysis firm, Chainalysis published a report which indicates that tokens worth a staggering $1.9 billion had been stolen through hacks this year, up by 58% since the prior year. Of this, $1 billion links back to North Korean hacking groups targeting DeFi protocols.
• Leading equity analyst from JP Morgan & Chase, Kenneth Worthington has hailed news of the upcoming merger between Ethereum and Coinbase. He stated that Ethereum could benefit significantly given Coinbase’s 15% market share in ETH assets.
• Canine-themed crypto-coins, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin each power through their price rally, amidst their intense rivalry. Both coins have been seeing some of the biggest price surges experienced in months. Interest in both these meme-coins has pushed up their volumes to immense proportions. 

Crypto fear & greed index

Our best bet on gauging the direction of crypto-markets is to assess figures that indicate sentimental stances amongst the broader market, as a whole. The best tool for this would be the crypto fear and greed index, which is down to 30 after an eventful week. The quantity of this metric suggests that the market is still in a fear zone in regards to digital assets. The trend of the last week further points to worsening sentiment in the market in recent days.

Last week Thursday, the figure stood at 31 and saw a gradual climb in the coming days. The index peaked at 47 on Sunday, which is somewhat close to the neutral territory between fear and greed. This represented the highest confidence in the market since early April. However, this soon began dropping throughout the following days, eventually reversing the bullish progress made throughout the week, with the index presently standing back down at 30.