Crypto markets are falling again but never fear, we’ve got you covered. This week’s top stories will help you understand how to find emerging opportunities and safely navigate the dip.
Crypto Markets Continue to Suffer
It was another poor week for crypto markets across the board. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so check out this snapshot of the last week for the top-50 cryptocurrencies by market cap:
[Source: Quantify Crypto]
But even in a sea of red there are trends for investors to notice in preparation of the week ahead. First, is the near uniformity of the crypto market’s decline. Bitcoin and Ethereum both dropped around 9%. Larger alternative coins like Binance Coin, Cardano, and Solana are equally affected. The trend is also seen in lower and mid-cap altcoins like Gala, Hedera and Helium. This means that there are no ‘safe’ cryptocurrencies to wait out the market dip.
Accordingly, Coinbase reported that net inflows for Stablecoins between November 2021 and January 2022 are up $3.5 billion. It appears that investors are using Stablecoins like Tether, Dai, and Binance USD to park their investments. As a quick refresher, Stablecoins are pegged to the value of another asset (e.g. the US dollar). This makes Stablecoins an excellent, non-volatile asset class to wait out market fluctuations.
The second noteworthy aspect of the above snapshot is the performance of Neo and Klaytn against the broader trend.
Neo saw a price climb after an announcement by China’s Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN) that Neo would be included as one of the ten chains that will form part of the Chinese government’s formal blockchain ‘mainnet’. Through Neo, Chinese nationals will be able to access NFT markets that operate on China’s BSN.
Klaytn, on the other hand, has risen on news that it will be part of the Blackchain Game Alliance: a global alliance of companies that will promote blockchain within the growing gaming industry.
The success of Neo and Klaytn shows that cryptocurrencies are still responsive to positive developments in the adoption of their technology. Consequently, investors will be more sensitive than usual to announcements of partnerships and milestone achievements by altcoins that will lead to short-term rises as investors back the upswing against the broader market decline.
OpenSea in Trouble
NFT’s have suffered this week on multiple fronts. GlobalBlock, a UK-based digital asset broker, reported that NFT trading volume is down 75% since the start of the year. This slowdown in trading volume is a major drag on the value of NFTs and the altcoins associated with NFT trading platforms.
But within the broader market slowdown the spotlight is shining brightest on OpenSea. OpenSea, one of the largest NFT marketplaces, is facing multiple reports of phishing attacks that are stealing NFTs from OpenSea users. These reports are particularly troubling, as they follow news last month that OpenSea’s platform embedded a feature that allowed users to purchase NFT’s via earlier listings for a fraction of their current value. This exploit allowed the sale of several assets, including Bored Ape Yacht Club, Cool Cats, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, and CyberKongz at a major loss for their owners.
OpenSea is under major pressure with its rapid growth coinciding with its struggles to keep up with security incidents. But investors might be able to spot an opportunity among the problems currently plaguing OpenSea.
If OpenSea continues to face issues with its platform security and technology then expect users and NFT assets to migrate to other platforms like LooksRare, which has increased its volume 122% in the last month while OpenSea’s has only increased by 6%. This could mean a huge upside for tokens like LOOK and RARE, which will benefit from the increased volume on their respective NFT trading platform.
Upcoming Initial Coin Offerings
An initial coin offering (ICO) is the cryptocurrency equivalent to an initial public offering (IPO). During an ICO, cryptocurrency projects will raise interest in their project and sell an initial allocation of coins to investors to raise funds.
Here’s a list of the latest ICOs that are about to drop:
| Coin | ICO End Date |
| Adadao | 22 Feb 2022 |
| Ratio Finance | 25 Feb 2022 |
| MetaFlokiRush | 25 Feb 2022 |
| GIGCO | 28 Feb 2022 |
| Cybershinu | 7 Mar 2022 |
[Source: Coin Market Cap]