Ethereum

Ethereum is not as good as Bitcoin for money: Tether CTO

Paulo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer (CTO), at Bitfinex and Tether recently commented on Ether’s utility as money post-merge.

The CTO believes that the cryptocurrency can’t compete with Bitcoin as a money source, because of design decisions that prioritize other goals.

Bitcoin Is Money, Ether Is Not

As the CTO told Crowfund Insider on Tuesday, Ethereum is “stuck between claims of being a form of money and claims of being a platform.”

As formulated in its whitepaper, Ethereum was designed as an “alternative protocol for building decentralized applications” that Bitcoin wasn’t well suited to support. Every ecosystem transaction is powered with Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency.

Some people have started to call Ether “ultrasound cash” because of the way its tokenomic structure will handle the merge. Its transaction burn mechanism coupled with a substantial decrease in ETH per block will effectively make it a net-deflationary currency.

This could theoretically put it in competition with Bitcoin – a cryptocurrency well-renowned as long-term inflation hedge due to its fixed supply. Ardoino believes there is more to the story.

“ETH cannot compete with Bitcoin on the money front because there is no fixed supply, and it isn’t really a world computer yet because it has a shared global state and hence too slow to be scalable,” he explained.

The CTO added that the Merge will not fix Ethereum’s relatively high transaction fees (something Ethereum developers have confirmed), nor will it make Ethereum any more decentralized.

Indeed. Concerns are growing over the large amount of Ethereum 2.0 stake held by centralized staking companies. Lido, Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken collectively control over 60% of stake, and are all OFAC-compliant entities.

Some believe these circumstances could result in the government requiring these entities to censor Ethereum using their vast stake. That said, Coinbase’s CEO has denied that his company would likely do such a thing.

Overall Ardoino believes the Merge won’t resolve network congestion and thus will not make Ethereum more useful as a money network.

“The fact of the matter is that Bitcoin is the only asset out there that has a solid narrative, one that hasn’t changed,” he said. “Ethereum still doesn’t match Bitcoin because its narrative keeps shifting.”

Too many Goals

Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes offered a similar take last week. He stated that Ether cannot be considered money since it is already Ethereum’s gas token. Bitcoin, on the other hand, serves no relative purpose beyond transacting.

“That’s why it’s a good form of money,” he said, “because its value cannot be conflated with the actual utility of other stuff.”

Hayes said that Ethereum could be forced to alter its monetary policy if the deflation becomes “too severe”. This means that users may be discouraged from using a low-cost, reliable network due to the high transaction fees.

Shark Tank star Mark Cuban made the same point during an interview about the Merge last month. He explained that if utilization increases and the token’s value goes up, then so does the cost of doing something. “So you have these two competing interests.”

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Ethereum

Ethereum Price Analysis: What’s Ahead for ETH After a 9% Weekly Dip?

Ethereum currently rests at a notable support region near $3.2K, with market participants closely observing the potential for a bullish rebound.

The Funding Rates metric offers valuable insights into the sentiment within the perpetual futures markets, helping to gauge the likelihood of a recovery.

Technical Analysis

By Shayan

The Daily Chart

Ethereum has seen consistent declines following its rejection at the $4K resistance level, indicating the dominance of sellers. Most recently, another sharp decline pushed the price toward a substantial support zone, defined by the 100-day moving average of $3.1K.

This dynamic support is critical as demand concentration near this region is expected to curb downward momentum, with a bullish rebound being plausible if buying interest emerges.

Currently, ETH is trapped between the 100-day MA ($3.1K) and the $3.5K resistance level, forming a tight consolidation range. A decisive move in either direction will likely determine the mid-term trend.

The 4-Hour Chart

On the 4-hour timeframe, Ethereum broke down from an ascending wedge pattern, a bearish structure that typically signals further declines. This breakdown triggered a swift sell-off, pushing the price toward a support zone defined by the 0.5-0.618 Fibonacci retracement levels.

This support zone has the potential to stabilize the price and possibly initiate a short-term bullish rebound. However, persistent bearish pressure could result in a break below this line, intensifying the downtrend.

If Ethereum breaches this critical support zone, it may trigger panic selling, further strengthening sellers’ dominance. Conversely, a sustained rebound could pave the way for a recovery toward the $3.5K resistance level.

Onchain Analysis

By Shayan

Examining the chart, the recent market correction has coincided with a significant decline in funding rates. This shift suggests growing bearish sentiment among speculators, with many traders betting on further decreases in ETH’s price.

However, upon reaching the substantial support zone at $3K, the Funding Rates metric has started to show signs of recovery. A notable bullish spike in the metric suggests an influx of buying interest as market participants begin to open long positions in anticipation of a price rebound.

If this recovery in funding rates continues, it could indicate sustained demand and the potential for a bullish rebound from the $3K support. On the other hand, if the current recovery loses momentum or reverses, it would signal a return to bearish sentiment, paving the way for a deeper correction.

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Disclaimer: Information found on CryptoPotato is those of writers quoted. It does not represent the opinions of CryptoPotato on whether to buy, sell, or hold any investments. You are advised to conduct your own research before making any investment decisions. Use provided information at your own risk. See Disclaimer for more information.

Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.

Ethereum

Bitcoin Price Stalls at $94K, Ethereum Struggles to Maintain $3.2K (Weekend Watch)

Bitcoin’s volatile end of the week resulted in a price drop toward $91,000 and a subsequent surge to $96,000 before the asset calmed roughly in the middle.

The altcoins continue to struggle as SOL, ADA, and AVAX have charted 4% daily declines.

BTC Calms at $94K

It was nothing short of a volatile rollercoaster of a week for the primary cryptocurrency. It all started quite promising after the most recent MicroStrategy purchase on Monday, as the asset flew past $100,000 for the first time this year and kept climbing on Tuesday morning to over $102,000.

However, that’s when the landscape changed, and BTC slumped hard later that day, and on Wednesday, it slumped to $96,000. Although that was a painful correction on its own, bitcoin kept plunging in the following days to $91,200 (on Bitstamp) on Thursday, which became its lowest price tag in over a month.

The bulls managed to intervene at this point and pushed BTC north. More volatility ensued with several big moves that eventually pushed the asset to $96,000. However, it failed there and has lost almost two grand since then to trade at $94,000 as of now.

Its market cap has risen to just under $1.870 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts is up to 54.5%.

ADA, SOL Struggle

Most altcoins are in the red today as well. Ethereum slipped below $3,200 on Thursday, and even though it managed to recover some ground since that low is close to breaking below it now after a 2.3% daily decline. XRP is among the few alts with minor gains today.

In contrast, SOL, ADA, SUI, AVAX, and LINK continue to lose value, with losses of up to 4%. SOL is well below $190 now, while ADA is just over $0.9. More painful losses come from OM, ICP, and RNDR from the larger cap alts.

The total crypto market cap has lost some steam since yesterday and is down to $3.43 trillion on CG.

Cryptocurrency Market Overview. Source: QuantifyCrypto

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Cryptocurrency charts by TradingView.

Ethereum

Weekly Bitcoin, Ethereum ETF Insights: The Highs, Lows, and Key Takeaways

After struggling at the end of the year with numerous consecutive days of net outflows, the spot Bitcoin ETFs in the States finally registered some notable inflows on Friday.

The Ethereum counterparts sit in the opposite corner, as they have been mostly in the green since mid-December despite the FOMC aftermath on the entire market.

BTC ETFs Are Back

The latest FOMC meeting that took place in mid-December had a dramatic and immediate effect on US-based investors in terms of their Bitcoin-related activities. Following a superb streak after the presidential elections in which they poured billions of dollars within weeks into the regulated BTC financial vehicles, they did a 180-turn and started taking funds out.

December 19 was the worst day in terms of daily net outflows, with $671.9 million taken out. By January 2, seven out of the nine trading days were in the red, with a total withdrawn amount of roughly $2 billion.

This negative streak was finally broken on Friday as the spot Bitcoin ETFs saw $908.1 million in net inflows. Fidelity’s FBTC led the pack with $357 million, followed by BlackRock’s IBIT at $253.1 million and Ark Invest’s ARKB at $222.6 million. No fund recorded any outflows.

Friday’s numbers were so impressive that they managed to turn the whole week around. After the $415.1 million withdrawn on Monday and $242.3 million on Thursday, the week ended in the green with $256 million in net inflows, given the minor $5.3 million on Tuesday.

BTC’s price actions within the same week were quite volatile as the asset slumped hard on Monday amid the massive outflows to $91,300. However, it pumped to almost $99,000 later during the week as the inflows returned.

Ethereum ETFs’ Landscape

Unlike the BTC ETFs, the funds tracking Ethereum saw fewer days in the red after the aforementioned Fed meeting. Withdrawals were observed on December 19 and 20, but investors started to pour funds into them in the following days.

The past week was less positive, though, as net outflows dominated. $55.5 million was withdrawn on Monday and $77.5 million on Thursday. The $36 million in net inflows on Tuesday and $58.9 million on Friday couldn’t make up the difference, and the week ended with $36.1 million in the red.

ETH’s price tumbled hard on Monday as well but is 6.5% up on a weekly scale, which is more than double the increase for BTC. As of press time, Ethereum’s native token stands above $3,600.

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