Crypto Market Outlook – The Trend of Crypto Events on July 21, 2023

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The outlook for the crypto market as of July 21 indicates a gradual slide to a downtrend. The primary crypto asset BTC is facing increasing bearish pressure keeping it below its critical resistance level.

Some of the altcoins followed the declining trend within the market. Subsequently, the overall crypto market cap witnessed a slight decrease in its value.

Also, other crypto market sectors are reflecting the price trend shift. Meanwhile, the crypto industry is still packed with several news and events impacting its outlook for the day.

Current Trend of The Digital Asset Market

According to data from CoinMarketCap, the cumulative market plummeted slightly by 0.40% over the past 24 hours. The value currently sits at $1.199 trillion.

Despite its declining price trend, the market saw an increase of 0.53% in its daily trading volume. The market’s Fear and Greed Index is 55, a NEUTRAL sentiment for investors today.

Below are the performance trends of some major sectors as of July 21.

Bitcoin Market

Following the bearish trend in the market today, Bitcoin lost its hold on the $30,000 region.

At 7:55 EST, the primary crypto asset is trading at around $29,759.81, reflecting a decline of 0.77% over the past 24 hours. Also, its market cap slid to $578.28 billion.

Bitcoin surged by 2.72% in its 24-hour trading volume, taking its value to $13.54 billion. This volume indicates that about 453,747 BTC tokens exchanged hands over the past 24 hours.

BTC is still witnessing a slide in its market dominance which plummeted by 0.16% to hit 48.27%. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is currently the fifth top trending crypto asset in the crypto market.

Market Trend for Major Altcoins

The declining trend in the crypto market is giving different results for diverse tokens. The outlook for the altcoins gave a mixed reaction to the prices of the assets.

The bears had an overwhelming impact on Ethereum as it lost some of its reclaimed value from the past. At 8:10 EST, ETH is trading at $1,889.42, highlighting a drop of 1.11% over the past 24 hours.

Its market cap is currently at $227.13 billion, and it boasts a 24-hour trading volume of $6.33 billion, which surged by 15.46%. The value reveals that over 3.34 million ETH tokens were traded within the past day.

With a twist in prices and performances, Polkadot (DOT) has distinguished itself in the market outlook as of July 21. DOT witnessed an increase of over 5% within the past 24 hours, taking its price to $5.48%.

It recorded a whopping surge of 102.95% in its 24-hour trading volume, which reached $227.8 million. Its market cap is currently at $6.92 billion.

The market disposition seems to be less favorable for XRP today. The token plummeted by 2.52% over the past 24 hours, lowering its price to $0.7749.

Subsequently, XRP’s market cap has slid to $40.71 billion. Its 24-hour trading volume hit $2.25 billion following a 32.31% decrease.

Despite the mixed trend, some altcoins increased their value over the past day. Polygon (MATIC) surged by 3.26%, Toncoin (TON) by 5.70%, Dogecoin (DOGE) by 4.66%, and Tron (TRX) by 1.23%.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) increased slightly by 0.39%, while BNB rose by 1.26%.

Conversely, Cardano (ADA), Solana (SOL), Bitcoin Cash (BCH), and Litecoin (LTC) recorded a decrease of 0.69%, 3.56%, 1.34%, and 0.68%, respectively. According to CoinMarketCap, Chainlink (LINK) emerged as the top gainer of the day following a surge of 19.66%.

Maker (MKR) and XDC Network bagged the second and the third top gainer’s positions after increasing by 17.66% and 16.74%, respectively. On the other hand, Rocket Pool (RPL) is the top loser of the day after posting a drop of 9.61%.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) Market

As of July 21, the DeFi market indicates a decline in some of the tokens’ performances. The DeFi market cap is currently at $50.25 billion, following a drop of 0.71% over the past 24 hours.

The market witnessed a 71.7% decrease in its 24-hour trading volume, pushing the value to $3.55 billion. The DeFi market volume constitutes up to 11.24% of the total crypto market 24-hour volume.

With a market cap of $4.84 billion, Avalanche (AVAX) stands as the top-ranked DeFi token. AVAX got a tough impact through yesterday’s trading hours, pushing its price below the $14 mark.

At 9:00 EST, AVAX is trading at $13.99, indicating a slight increase of 0.25% over the past 24 hours. Its 24-hour trading volume surged by 13.05% to hit 131.3 million.

Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) is currently at the second position in the ranking of DeFi tokens, with a market cap of $4.84 billion. WBTC plummeted slightly by 0.39% over the past 24 hours, with the price hitting $29,871.82.

It recorded an increase of 12.33% in its 24-hour trading volume, raising the value to $81.19 million. The value indicates the trading of about 2,721 WBTC coins over the past day.

Dai (DAI) is maintaining the third position in the ranking of DeFi coins, as it boasts a market cap of $4.61 billion. It recorded an increase of 0.07% to keep its price at the pegged value of $1 as of 9:27 EST. Some DeFi tokens have displaced impressive price surges in their value over the past 24 hours.

Chainlink (LINK) posted a massive price rally of more than 19% over the past day to become the day’s top gainer. Currently, LINK is trading at $8.15 and boasts a market cap of $4.38 billion.

It witnessed a whopping increase of 301.75% in its 24-hour trading volume, taking the value to $1.03 billion. Similarly, Maker (MKR) surged by 17.67%, Uniswap (UNI) by 6.59%, Aave (AAVE) by 2.87%, Synthetix (SNX) by 13.17%,

The Graph (GRT) by 1.47%, Theta Network (THETA) by 5.56%, Injective (INJ) by 2.26% and Tezos (XTZ) by 1.97%.

However, some DeFi coins recorded a decrease over the past day. These include Stacks (STX), Rocket Pool (RPL), Kava (KAVA), Conflux (CFX), Frax Share (FXS), Terra Classic (LUNC), 1inch Network (1INCH), and others.

According to CoinMarketCap, MILK/ADA bagged the biggest DEX pair gainer for today, following a surge of 9999.99%.

Conversely, the HIT/WETH pair emerged as today’s top loser DEX pair, posting a drop of 99.11%.

Stablecoins Market

Despite the designed stable nature of the stablecoins, the market outlook as of July 21 is quite gloomy and reflects the trend in the broader crypto market.

The stablecoin market cap recorded a slight decline of 0.09% over the past 24 hours, pushing the value down to $126.36 billion.

Also, the market’s 24-hour trading volume plummeted by 53.9% to hit $29.69 billion. Over the past day, the total stablecoins volume constitutes about 90.34% of the overall crypto market volume.

Tether (USDT) stands in the first position in the ranking of stablecoins, with a market cap of $83.82 billion.

Its 24-hour trading volume surged by 11.49% to reach $22.92 billion, indicating the trading of over 22.9 billion USDT coins within the past day. With a market cap of $26.87 billion, USD Coin (USDC) is the second top stablecoin.

It witnessed a surge of 1.48% in its trading volume over the past 24 hours, which hit $2.87 billion, reflecting the sales of more than 2.87 billion USDC tokens.

Some stablecoins de-pegged from their fiat currency value as of July 21. These include Dai (DAI), Binance USD (BUSD), TrueUSD (TUSD), USDD, Pax Dollar (USDP), Gemini Dollar (GUSD), Frax (FRAX), etc.

NFT Market

The trend in the NFT market as of July 21 follows a mixed display of performances from the collections. As of 10:15 EST, the NFT market cap sits at $2.79 billion.

The total sales volume in the NFT market reached $24.35 million, following a whopping increase of 17.70% over the past 24 hours. But the market’s total sales dipped by 19.75% over the past 24 hours, reaching 47,318.

Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is currently ranked as the top NFT with an est market cap of 322,984 ETH. It recorded a massive surge of 118.82% in its 24-hour volume, which rose to 3,041.67 ETH. Also, its average price hovers around $34.56 ETH, following a rise of 1.98% over the past 24 hours.

MineablePunks has emerged as the second top collection with an est. Market cap of 108.24 ETH. It boasts a 24-hour volume of 1,307.33 ETH which saw a whopping increase of 399.62% over the past day.

But its average price plummeted slightly by 0.08% over the past 24 hours, taking the value to 261.47 ETH.

Crypto Market News and Events for Today

Below are some news and events in the crypto industry as of July 21.

US House Republican Committee Members Release Joint Crypto Bill

The United States House Republican Agriculture and Financial Services Committee members have introduced a new crypto bill.

The bill is coming after a joint effort to create a robust regulatory framework for virtual assets that lasted for several months. Released on July 20, the bill, titled ‘Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act’, comprises 212 pages.

The bill aims to handle all regulatory gaps through a framework that focuses on all potential risks associated with crypto-related activities.

Further, the bill provides distinctive regulatory jurisdictions for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The CFTC regulations cover all digital commodities.

Also, the bill included a process for selling crypto assets that were originally grouped as securities as commodities.

Additionally, the bill provides requirements for classifying a digital asset as a commodity, the key point being decentralization. Asset commodities can be sold on trading platforms registered by the SEC.

Also, market participants would adhere to both new and more comprehensive disclosure conditions. Crypto business registration would be obtainable from the two regulatory agencies.

FTX Sues SBF And Other Past Execs for Funds Recovery

The implosion crypto exchange FTX has filed a lawsuit against some of its past executives in a US Bankruptcy Court on July 20. The case is geared toward recovering over $1 billion, which the former executives alleged to be misappropriated funds.

The filed document listed the former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), FTX co-founder Zixiao G. Wang, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh as defendants.

FTX alleged that the past executives broke their fiduciary duties and misused clients’ funds under the custody of the exchange. They channeled customers’ deposits to support luxury condominiums and made massive political and charitable donations.

Also, the filed document accused the defendants of engaging in speculative investments and several other unconfirmed pet projects. It accused the executives of issuing over $725 million worth of assets among themselves, leaving the debtors dry without any value.

The lawsuit maintained that the defendant abused their authority over FTX and its affiliate firms to perpetrate one of the largest financial frauds in history.

Notably, the defendant introduced an unhealthy working atmosphere that empowered selected employees with limitless authority. They collaborated to continuously transfer funds and exercise the power of hiring and firing staff without effective oversight.

Scammers Compromised Uniswap Founder’s Twitter Account For Fraud

Scammers have compromised the Twitter account of Uniswap founder Hayden Adams’ account. The Web3 Security Alerts on Telegram notified Adams’ followers of the threat.

Notably, the scammers recently posted a message from the compromised account to its over 254,000 followers with false information. The message stated that an unknown hacker had attacked the Uniswap Permit 2 contract, exposing customers’ tokens.

The scammers lied that millions of clients’ crypto coins had already been stolen from the Uniswap liquidity pool. They shared a malicious link and encouraged users to click and follow their laid-out process to secure their assets.

The first scam tweet from the compromised account lasted for just a few minutes before going down. Also, the scammers have posted more similar tweets on the account, as many are still viewable.

Further, Web3 Security Alerts revealed that Adams could not access his Coinbase Wallet and MetaMask accounts.

Coin Center and Blockchain Association Criticize The US Senate DeFi Bill

Some advocacy bodies for the crypto industry have criticized the recently proposed United States Senate bill for digital assets. The bodies noted that the bill gave a confused and incompatible regulatory approach to decentralized finance (DeFi).

In recent separate statements, the crypto think tank Coin Center and crypto advocacy group the Blockchain Association complained about the US crypto legislation. The bodies described the bill as an unworkable mess and an inappropriate approach to DeFi regulation.

The bipartisan bill targets to address money laundering violations in DeFi. If passed, the rule levels fresh penalties on anybody that controls or provides an application that supports crypto assets transactions on a protocol.

Moreover, the bill leaves the US Secretary of the Treasury to decide who or what will control a DeFi protocol. This move has stirred several reactions where many believe it would bring excessive controls on the DeFi space.

In its statement, Coin Center said the bill handed unleveled discretion to the Secretary regarding controls of DeFi protocols. It called the bill “unconstitutional,” given that it restricts software developers whose primary work is to publish code.

Further, Coin Center expressed its concern about the bill’s scope since DeFi is naturally designed to be decentralized. So, enforcement of control on a DeFi protocol would create huge legal issues.

Blockchain Association CEO Kristin Smith agrees with Coin Center on the unworkable nature of the bill. Smith stated: “The Crypto-Asset National Security Enhancement Act of 2023 is an unworkable solution and simply incompatible with digital asset technology.”

Smith slammed the bill for over-emphasizing the place of money laundering in DeFi and the broader crypto space. The CEO corrected that illegal transactions constitute a small fraction of the total crypto volume.

In 2022, illicit transactions represented 0.24% of all crypto asset transactions, which is lower than those in traditional finance.

OpenSea Launches P2P Mechanism to Enhance NFT Trading

The prominent and leading NFT marketplace is revolutionizing NFT trading by launching a new peer-to-peer trading mechanism.

The new process is called ‘Deals,’ a feature that aims to enhance customers’ trading experience by adding a new layer of transactional freedom.

Through Deals, users can participate in P2P NFT swaps. This helps strengthen their collections and create direct links with other collectors.

Also, its revolution reintroduces trust among NFT collectors and traders. It shields users from becoming victims of unscrupulous activities on other platforms.

OpenSea’s Deals as a feature cuts off the involvement of third parties or intermediary platforms, as users trade directly among themselves.

This method aids in reducing risks associated with trading through sketchy DMs and websites that some collectors witnessed in the past. Further, the new feature enhances security and protection for NFT traders with a touch of flexibility.

With Deals, a user can initiate a trade by inputting the username, ENS name, or wallet address of the second collector to trade with. The feature allows users to choose from over 30 NFTs in trade and include the option of wrapped Ether (WETH) to spice their trades.

However, OpenSea’s Deals feature demands that engaging traders from both sides must trade NFTs from the same chain and come from a badge or verified collections. This helps to maintain an efficient and smooth trading process.

Conic Finance Slam With $3.2 Million Hack In ETH

Another hack hits the crypto space with Conic Finance as the victim, losing about $3.26 million worth of ETH tokens. Conic Finance is a liquidity pool balancing platform for the DeFi protocol Curve. The recent attack is spotted on the Ethereum omnipool.

Beosin Alert, a Web3 risk-alert provider, reported the exploit on July 21. Also, the data from Beosin disclosed that almost all the stolen funds had been moved to a new Ethereum address through a single transaction.

Conic Finance has already confirmed the incident through its official Twitter page. It stated that its team is probing the hack and will provide updates regarding any outcome.

Further, the prominent blockchain security company PeckShield revealed its analysis concerning the exploit. It reported that the attack emanated from the new CurveLPOracleV2 contract on the platform.

PeckShield explained that its finding noted a similar read-only reentrancy problem introduced in the newly created CurveLPOracleV2 contract. It stated that the input was not part of the audit scope.

Within an hour of the first news of the exploit, Conic Finance stated that it had disabled ETH Omnipool deposits on its front end.

US DOJ Sues FTX Founder for Leaking Caroline Ellison’s Diary

The US Department of Justice filed a complaint against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) on July 20. DOJ alleged that SBF leaked the diary of Caroline Ellison, his former business partner and lover.

According to the filed document, SBF tried to disrupt a fair trial through public discredit for Ellison. Notably, the latter turned to a government witness in SBF’s lawsuit toward the end of 2022.

The lawsuit papers noted that SBF attempted to discredit a government witness publicly by sharing Ellison’s personal recordings with a reporter.

According to US Attorney Damian Williams, SBF’s plan was for the private writings to be published as an article in The New York Times on July 20.

In the diary, Ellison wrote about several issues revolving around her life and job, such as feeling overwhelmed with her function at Alameda Research. Also, she expressed her emotional pain following a romantic breakup with SBF and some insecurities in her profession.

The NYT article didn’t indicate the source of the information, but Attorney Williams believed it came from SBF. Williams said: “When the government learned this week that this article was forthcoming, defense counsel confirmed that the defendant had met with one of the article’s authors in person and had shared documents with him that were not part of the government’s discovery material.”

Also, Williams noted that the excerpts within the article do not indicate that its source is from discovery materials in the prevailing case. Rather, all indications are pointing at the SBF’s personal Google Drive account as the origin of the documents.