5 Things to Know in Crypto Today: BTC Slips Back to $22K, ETH Under $1,550 Ahead of Key Macro Risks

Key Points

• Crypto prices are under modest pressure on Monday as traders de-risk ahead of a key week of macro events.
• Bitcoin was last trading just above $22,000 and Ethereum just under $1,550.
• Thai crypto exchange Zipmex is in talks with various possible partners for a rescue package.

Crypto Weighed as Traders De-risk Ahead of Key Macro Events

Cryptocurrency markets have begun the week on the back foot, with traders seemingly keen to take some risk off of the table ahead of a key week of macro events that could result in large market swings. Bitcoin was last trading just above $22,000, down about 2.5% on the day as it continues to track closely to its 50-Day Moving Average (currently near $22,200).

Ethereum, meanwhile, was last trading lower by closer to 3.5% on the day and trading just under $1,550, well within recent intra-day ranges. In terms of this week’s major macro events, Monday will be a quiet day where markets likely remain in wait-and-see mode. The US Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by 75 bps on Wednesday for a second successive meeting – Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s tone on the economy and outlook for further rate hikes in the post-meeting press conference will be closely scrutinized, with crypto bulls hoping that Powell might offer up a slightly more dovish outlook.

US GDP figures for Q2 are then due on Thursday and will confirm whether or not the US economy has been in a technical recession in the first half of 2022 (defined as two consecutive quarters of growth). Meanwhile, throughout the week major US companies will continue posting Q2 earnings including the likes of tech giants Apple, Microsoft, Google and Facebook.

Zipmex in Talks with Multiple Possible Partners for Rescue Plan

Thailand-based crypto exchange Zipmex, which halted user withdrawals last week, is in discussions with multiple possible partners for a potential rescue plan. Reportedly, at least one of these potential partners has already proposed terms in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to Zipmex.

Zipmex, which has over 2 million predominantly Asia-based users, has seen the price of its own ZMT token collapse in the last week. A roughly $0.30 per token, ZMT is down over 45% since last week’s levels around $0.57.

Ethereum’s Upcoming Merge Could See It Flip Bitcoin, Says Researcher

Ethereum’s upcoming “Merge”, which will see its blockchain shift from a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism to a much less energy-intensive Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism in September (as per leading developers), will enable it to flip Bitcoin as the world’s largest cryptocurrency, said Ethereum researcher Vivek Raman in an interview with Cointelegraph.

“Ethereum does have, just from an economic perspective and because of the effect of the supply shock, a chance to flip Bitcoin,” he said. “After The Merge, Ethereum will have lower inflation than Bitcoin… Especially with fee burns, Ethereum will be deflationary while Bitcoin will always be inflationary”.

Raman expanded on these remarks in a Twitter thread on Sunday.

Why ETH will flip BTC:

There are 900 BTC mined per day. At current prices, that’s ~$20mm to miners daily

Let’s assume miners sell 90% to cover costs. That’s ~$18mm in sell pressure *every single day*

Meaning, without ~$18mm of new daily buy pressure, BTC price goes down

(1/8)

— VivekVentures.eth 🦇🔊🐼 (@VivekVentures) July 23, 2022

Distressed Crypto Lender Voyager Rejects FTX/Alameda Buyout Offer

Distressed crypto lending platform Voyager Digital, which halted user withdrawals last month and filed for bankruptcy in early July, has rejected a buyout offer from FTX and its associated investment arm Alameda Ventures. According to Voyager, the offer is “not value-maximizing” and could harm its customers. Alameda had made its offer public last Friday, which included buying all of Voyager’s assets and loans except a defaulted loan to Three Arrows Capital (3AC).

In a lengthy Twitter thread, FTX Founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried explained that Alameda’s offer would “give Voyager customers back 100% of the remaining assets that Voyager has, including claims on anything recovered in the future”. He argued that Voyager should accept the offer in order to allow customers to quickly move on, rather than have their remaining assets eaten into for years amid lengthy bankruptcy proceedings.

2) Let's say that Voyager has, remaining, 75% of assets (I don't know the exact number).

It seems like the first thing that should happen is that customers get back the 75%, and then later get back the rest if anything is recovered from 3AC.

But that hasn't happened yet. Why?

— SBF (@SBF_FTX) July 25, 2022

Yuga Labs Faces Possible Class Action Lawsuit over BAYC/ApeCoin Promotion

Law firm Scott & Scott proposed a class action lawsuit last Thursday which would accuse Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) Non-fungible Token (NFT) and ApeCoin creator Yuga Labs of having “inappropriately induced” investors. The proposed class action also claims that Yuga Labs enlisted celebrity promoters and influencers to “inflate the price” of BAYC NFTs.

“After selling off millions of dollars of fraudulently promoted NFTs, YUGA LABS launched the Ape Coin to further fleece investors,” the proposed lawsuit claims. “Once it was revealed that the touted growth was entirely dependent on continued promotion (as opposed to actual utility or underlying technology) retail investors were left with tokens that had lost over 87% from the inflated price high on April 28, 2022”.

Scott & Scott are currently looking for impacted investors to represent. Various members of the crypto community derided the lawsuit as ridiculous. “This lawsuit against @yugalabs is just a bunch of people mad cuz they bought the top of the $APE ApeCoin chart and got rekt,” claimed one Twitter user.

Lolz this lawsuit against @yugalabs is just a bunch of people mad cuz they bought the top of the $APE ApeCoin chart and got rekt. 🤣 pic.twitter.com/8v8pOdg1mg

— chefdisco.eth ᵍᵐ 🍌 (@SoapBoxCar) July 24, 2022

The lawsuit is “extremely ridiculous… take responsibility for your own actions people” said another.

So there's a class action lawsuit against @yugalabs as investors were "inappropriately induced to buy financial products created by Yuga Labs".

Extremely ridiculous😂 Take responsibility for your own actions people. https://t.co/WeuVVLNGv6 pic.twitter.com/7c9Jywvv9V

— Kevin Wu 🦾🤖🦾 (@kevwuzy) July 24, 2022