Today’s crypto headlines are dominated by a notable event as Bitcoin, the pioneer and bellwether of the crypto world, has experienced a significant downturn, sinking below the $42,000 mark. This sudden shift in value has sparked discussions and raised questions about the factors influencing the crypto market, leaving market participants and observers eager to understand the implications and potential outcomes.
Crypto industry happenings today
So, what happened in crypto in the last few hours? As of the time of writing, the current value of Bitcoin (BTC) is $41,186.47, accompanied by a 24-hour trading volume of $17,436,615,923.78. This signifies a price decline of -11.28% over the past week and a price decline of -3.46% over the last twenty-four hours.
Presently, the value of crypto coins on the global market is $1.71 trillion, representing a -3.09% year-over-year and 68.86% year-over-last-day change. The market cap of Bitcoin currently stands at $809 billion, signifying a 47.32% market share for Bitcoin. Stablecoins, meanwhile, have a market cap of $135 billion, or 7.9%, of the total crypto market capitalization.
Former US President Donald Trump has pledged to “never allow” the establishment of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the United States. Meanwhile, VanEck has indicated that it will delist its futures Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF), and ProShares has applied for five Bitcoin ETFs with indirect exposure to BTC.
Nathaniel Chastain, a former product manager of nonfungible token (NFT) platform OpenSea, has appealed his conviction for insider trading.
In a January 17 filing in the United States Court of Appeals, Chastain’s attorneys argued that he should be acquitted because the prosecution failed to show that nonfungible token information should be categorized as property.
Chastain was found guilty of wire fraud and money laundering in May 2023. Later that year, he was sentenced to three months in prison and a $50,000 fine after a jury determined that he exploited his managerial position at OpenSea to select which NFTs would appear on the website.
Bitcoin market performance
As the crypto industry digests last week’s spot bitcoin ETF clearance, trading volumes across all 11 issuers reached $11.95 billion, with assets totaling $27.7 billion within four days, according to a post on X by James Seyffart, an ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
Prior to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval of the spot bitcoin ETFs, several analysts predicted that trading volumes would reach $10 billion in a year, not a week. So, it’s safe to state that these numbers far exceed the previously expected demand.
Franklin Templeton, a 77-year-old corporation with over $1.4 trillion in assets under management (AUM), has a PFP with laser eyes (a homage to the Bitcoin community) and posts about memecoins like dogwifhat. I bet you didn’t have it on your 2024 bingo card.
VanEck, an asset management, has stated that it will close its futures-based Bitcoin exchange-traded fund less than two years after its introduction.
The asset manager said on January 17 that its board of trustees had approved the liquidation and closure of the Bitcoin Strategy ETF, which is currently traded on the Cboe BZX platform. Shareholders will have until January 30 to liquidate their shares, with the final delisting slated for February 6.
VanEck did not comment on the decision, simply saying that it was based on continued ETF performance and liquidity assessment. The decision appears to be related to the recent approval of many spot Bitcoin ETFs, including VanEck’s.
Jim Cramer has another BTC prediction
CNBC Mad Money anchor Jim Cramer is back with his dim crypto forecasts, this time claiming to have received a warning from “Larry Williams” that the crypto market is still a long way from bottoming.
Jim Cramer’s latest prediction suggests that the crypto market will see significant price drops in the coming days and weeks. While there is no guarantee that his prediction will come true, the crypto market has typically shown gloomy indications, with the values of various coins, including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), falling.
This is the American television host’s second unenthusiastic prediction regarding crypto in the previous few days. When Bitcoin was about $42,000, Jim Cramer posted a post on X implying that it would not climb above its current levels.
