Crypto Week At A Glance: Bitcoin consolidates above $16K after a tumultuous week

The FTX saga continues to claim more casualties globally, with BlockFi and Genesis coming out with their liquidity crisis. Amid calls for tighter regulations, over $3 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) were withdrawn from centralized exchanges (CEXs) last week as investors now prefer self-custody of assets.

This has reduced the sell pressure on the crypto asset, which seems to have stabilized above $16,000 this week. The overall crypto market is now worth $830 billion, down from its peak of $3 trillion last year. Crypto market has not surged despite strong US CPI inflation data that beat estimates.

Meanwhile, activity on DeFi platforms like Uniswap has surged as CEXs aim to regain consumer trust by providing proof of reserves and other assurances.

Bitcoin and the wider crypto markets are likely to be range bound this month though brief rallies are possible. Macroeconomic conditions globally, including a possible announcement of a recession in the US, continue to be a cause of concern in the medium term.

As this bear market plays out, we look at some positives in terms of adoption and other stories of the week below.



Nike launches first Web3 project

Footwear giant Nike is stepping into the world of Web3 with the release of Dot swoosh (.SWOOSH), a new platform geared towards building a community around its digital wearables. Dot swoosh will serve as a platform for trading and purchasing digital items like virtual sneakers and jerseys as well as a resource for Web3 education.

Dot swoosh is currently in beta and is opening up its registration by the end of November, ahead of its first collection drop in 2023.

First airport metaverse takes flight in India
The first metaverse airport based on the Po

lygon blockchain, Metaport, has been launched at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, India. In a digital replica of Terminal 2 at Bengaluru International Airport, Metaport users can communicate with other travellers, access entertainment, and make purchases online.

The Metaport arrives months after Polygon was roped in to bring Web3 to the aviation industry.

Binance establishes industry recovery fund

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance is setting up a fund to help potentially strong projects experiencing liquidity challenges as the consequences of the FTX crisis continue to negatively impact the markets.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said that the fund aims to reduce the cascading negative effects of the collapse of FTX by helping projects that are strong but in a liquidity crisis. Zhao also clarified that the project is for other potentially strong projects and not ones like FTX, stating that “liars or fraud” would never qualify.

Crypto payments with USDC now available on Apple Pay

Circle, the company behind the US dollar-pegged stablecoin USD Coin USDC, has added support for Apple Pay to integrate cryptocurrencies and conventional payment methods more closely.

Circle said that Apple enabled crypto payments that will be using stablecoin on their payment platform. The addition of Apple Pay support will benefit traditional businesses by allowing them to shift more retail payments to digital currency.

The move is expected to help build the future of commerce by boosting businesses’ sales and making payments faster, easier, and more secure.

Cristiano Ronaldo launches first NFT collection

Football icon Cristiano Ronaldo has launched his first NFT collection as part of an exclusive, multi-year partnership with Binance. The collection will feature seven animated statues with four rarity levels: Super Rare (SSR), Super Rare (SR), Rare (R), and Normal (N).

Each NFT statue depicts Ronaldo in an iconic moment from his life, from career-defining bicycle kicks to his childhood in Portugal. Binance said that future sets of the Cristiano Ronaldo NFT collection will be available in early 2023.

Top 5 gainers for the week (as of 11.30 hours IST, Nov 20, 2022)

Trust Wallet Token (TWT): 21% up

Arweave (AR): 16% up

Unus Sed Leo (LEO): 13% up

GMX (GMX): 12% up

Toncoin (TON): 12% up

Top 5 losers for the week (as of 11.30 hours IST, Nov 20, 2022)

Casper (CSPR): 18% down

NEAR Protocol (NEAR): 15% down

Curve DAO Token (CRV): 13% down

Decentraland (MANA): 11% down

EthereumPoW (ETHW): 11% down
Note: Analysis includes top 100 cryptocurrencies only. Source: Coinmarketcap