By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless otherwise noted)
A new Bitcoin improvement proposal, BIP-110, which seeks to curb spam-like data clogging up the blockchain, is facing backlash from some industry leaders who argue that it risks damaging the network’s reputation more than the spam itself.
BIP-110 is a “soft fork,” a type of upgrade that works seamlessly with existing Bitcoin setups without breaking the blockchain. It seeks to place strict temporal limits on non-monetary data in transactions, particularly ordinal inscriptions that introduce images, videos or tokens into Bitcoin blocks.
Implementing the same could help combat “spam” and unblock the network, making it cheaper for ordinary people to use and keeping the blockchain focused on payments. On-chain activity has been almost negligible in recent months.
However, Blockstream CEO Adam Back disagrees, calling the proposal an attack on Bitcoin’s reputation as trustworthy money.
“It’s worse, as it’s an attack on Bitcoin’s credibility as a store of value, its security credibility, and a lynching attempt to push changes for which there is no consensus. Spam is just a nuisance, everything fits by definition within the block size. Trade returns are 4 times smaller,” Back said on X.
Several others echoed this, arguing that the solution could damage trust more than spam.
Meanwhile, markets offer little enthusiasm as bitcoin continues to trade between $67,000 and $70,000, with prices approaching the lower end of the range at the time of writing. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) is down 3% in 24 hours along with 1% drops in other major tokens such as ether and BNB.
“The decline of the largest coins is an ominous sign for the smaller ones, as it could soon drag them down at an accelerated pace,” Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at The FxPro, said in an email.
He added that the market has entered a “stress zone” but has not yet reached the final stage of capitulation. “To form a ‘true bottom,’ a spike in loss-taking and a complete exhaustion of selling pressure is necessary,” he noted.
In traditional markets, dollar short positions hit their highest level in more than a decade, while the recent drop in the inflation-adjusted yield of the US 10-year bond offered hope to battered bitcoin bulls. Stay alert!
Read more: For an analysis of current activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today
What to watch
For a more complete list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Crypto
- February 17, 7 pm: Rocket Pool will release its Saturn One update.
- Macro
- February 17, 8:30 am: Canada’s year-over-year inflation rate for January (previously 2.4%); Annual base rate (previously 2.8%)
- February 17, 8:30 am: New York Empire State Manufacturing Index for February estimated at 7.1 (previous 7.7)
- February 17, 6:50 pm: Japan’s January trade balance estimated: 2,142 billion yen (previously 105.7 billion yen)
- Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
- February 17: HIVE Digital Technologies (HIVE), pre-market, -$0.07
symbolic events
For a more complete list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
- Governance votes and calls
- February 17: Jito will host an X Spaces session with Hush Protocol.
- February 17: Basic Attention Token to host a Brave Talk session in X Spaces.
- Balancer is voting to change a signer in emergency subDAO multisigs to improve operational responsiveness and security coverage. Voting ends on February 17.
- Unlock
- February 17: to unlock 17.24% of its circulating supply worth $20.84 million.
- Token releases
Conferences
For a more complete list of this week’s events, check out CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”
Market movements
- BTC is down 1.03% as of 4 pm ET Monday to $68,131.79 (24 hours: -1.28%)
- ETH is down 1.11% to $1,976.32 (24 hours: -0.57%)
- CoinDesk 20 is down 1.28% to 1,978.56 (24 hours: -1.03%)
- Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate Up 6 Basis Points to 2.84%
- BTC funding rate is 0.002% (2.2119% annualized) on Binance
- DXY rises 0.21% to 97.12
- Gold futures fall 1.87% to $4,952.10
- Silver futures down 4.19% to $74.70
- The Nikkei 225 closed down 0.42% at 56,566.49
- Hang Seng closed up 0.52% at 26,705.94
- The FTSE rises 0.37% to 10,512.50
- The Euro Stoxx 50 rises 0.15% to 5,987.94
- The DJIA closed Friday up 0.10% at 49,500.93
- The S&P 500 closed up 0.05% at 6,836.17
- Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.22% at 22,546.67
- S&P/TSX Composite closed up 1.87% at 33,073.71
- The S&P 40 Latin America closed on Monday with a fall of 0.64% to 3,717.23
- The 10-year US Treasury rate fell 2.7 basis points to 4.029%
- E-mini S&P 500 futures down 0.20% at 6,836.50
- E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures down 0.58% at 24,658.75
- E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average index futures down 0.02% to 49,560.00
Bitcoin Statistics
- BTC dominance: 58.81% (-0.16%)
- Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.02897 (-0.14%)
- Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,043 EH/s
- Hashprice (spot): $34.08
- Total fees: 2.22 BTC / $151,829
- CME Futures Open Interest: 118,450 BTC
- BTC priced in gold: 13.8 oz.
- BTC market capitalization against gold: 4.53%
Technical analysis
- The chart shows the swings of bitcoin’s 30-day implied volatility index in candlestick format.
- Volatility has cooled significantly, reversing the increase from the beginning of the month to almost 100%.
- The reversal indicates that the panic has subsided and traders are no longer frantically chasing options or hedging bets as they were in the first six days of the month.
Crypto Stocks
- Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Friday at $164.32 (+16.46%), -0.94% to $162.78 in the previous market
- Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $60.04 (+6.02%), -0.35% to $59.83
- Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $21.66 (+7.49%), -1.66% to $21.30
- Bullish (BLSH): closed at $31.73 (+0.06%), -0.66% at $31.52
- MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $7.92 (+9.24%), -1.14% to $7.83
- Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $15.22 (+7.18%), -1.18% to $15.04
- Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $17.84 (+2.06%)
- CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.85 (+5.80%), -0.81% at $9.77
- CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $41.34 (+3.09%)
- Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $11.27 (+10.60%), -3.02% to $10.93
Crypto treasury companies
- Strategy (MSTR): closed at $133.88 (+8.85%), -1.60% at $131.74
- Strive (ASST): closed at $8.33 (+8.18%), -0.12% to $8.32
- SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $6.85 (+4.74%), -2.34% to $6.69
- Upexi (UPXI): closed at $0.77 (+3.36%), +5.76% at $0.81
- Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.12 (+8.74%)
ETF Flows
BTC Spot ETF
- Daily net flow: $15.1 million
- Accumulated net flows: $54.31 billion
- Total BTC holdings ~1.26 million
ETH Spot ETF
- Daily net flow: $10.2 million
- Accumulated net flows: $11.67 billion
- Total ETH holdings ~5.71 million
Source: Farside Investors
while you were sleeping
Bitcoin Remains Under Pressure Near $68,000 Even as Panic Eases (CoinDesk) – Bitcoin is struggling to generate bullish momentum even as the key panic indicator retreats from its high earlier in the month and hints at renewed stability.
A BofA survey shows that dollar bearish bets are at their highest level in more than a decade. Here’s what it means for bitcoin (CoinDesk): Investors are the most bearish on the dollar in more than a decade, according to the latest Bank of America survey, and that extreme bet could drive volatility in bitcoin, but not in the way crypto bulls have become accustomed to.
Pound and Bond Yields Fall as Weak Data Firms Rate Cut Bets (Bloomberg): The pound is falling below $1.36 after data showed wage growth slowed more than expected to 4.2% in December, while unemployment rose.
U.S., Iran begin nuclear talks in Geneva as threat of war looms (Reuters): Iran’s supreme leader warned that U.S. attempts to depose his government would fail, as Washington and Tehran begin nuclear talks amid a U.S. military buildup in the Middle East.
