Daily News | BTC Breaks Over $68K, Near Historical High; SEC Postpones Proposal for Spot Ethereum ETF; Starknet Announces Postponement of Upgrade

2024-03-05, 04:17

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## Crypto Daily Digest: Bitcoin broke through $68,000, the highest in recent history, with crypto concept stocks generally rising after the US stock market opened
In terms of <a href="/price/bitcoin-btc" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Bitcoin</a> ETF trading activities, on March 4th, the Grayscale GBTC outflow was approximately $368 million, Bitwise Bitcoin spot ETF (BITB) inflow was $90.9 million, ARK 21Shares Bitcoin spot ETF (ARKB) inflow was $38.2 million yesterday, and WisdomTree Bitcoin spot ETF (BTCW) net inflow was $3.2 million. Fidelity Bitcoin spot ETF (FBTC) inflow of $404.6 million yesterday.

Although GBTC holdings have decreased daily since mid-January, it remains the largest Bitcoin investment tool. According to CoinGlass's data, as of March 4, its total holdings amounted to 428540 BTC ($28.9 billion).

At the time of writing, according to Tradeview data, the price of Bitcoin was at $68,171.5, breaking a two-year high and approaching its own historical high; Over the past few days, Bitcoin has been on a steady upward trend. Even as the outflow of funds from Grayscale BTC continues to increase, the price of Bitcoin seems to ignore its impact. Some analysts believe the current sentiment is overheated, and Bitcoin is severely overbought. However, it cannot be denied that there is a possibility of quickly breaking through the historic high of $69,000 due to strong market sentiment.

With the recent sustained substantial rise of Bitcoin, its current market value has reached $1.337 trillion, surpassing Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, with a market value of $1.27 trillion) and jumping to the 9th place in the world's mainstream asset market value. At present, the total market value of cryptocurrencies has exceeded $2.6 trillion.

Driven by the recent rapid rise in Bitcoin prices to near historical highs, various crypto-related stocks have also shown a general increase after the opening of the US stock market; MicroStrategy's stock price surged to a new high in 24 years, with data showing it hit $1,334.1 on Monday, a nearly 24% intraday increase and the highest closing price since March 2000. This has been the sixth consecutive day of increase in its stock price, with the company's market value reaching $22.4 billion on Monday, an increase of $10.7 billion in the past six trading days.

In the past two days, as Bitcoin continues to climb, Meme coin has maintained good performance. Representative currencies include PEPE with a 24-hour increase of 29.03%; The 24-hour increase in DOGE is 31.36%; SHIB's 24-hour increase is 92.75%; and the 24-hour increase in ORDI is 6.18%.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has again postponed its decision on BlackRock and Fidelity's spot <a href="/price/ethereum-eth" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Ethereum</a> ETF applications. In a separate submission on March 4, the SEC announced that it would postpone its decision on BlackRock's application for its iShares Ethereum Trust and Fidelity Ethereum Fund.

January was the first time the SEC postponed its decision on the Ethereum ETF application. Before making a final decision, the US Securities and Exchange Commission may postpone the decision up to three times. The SEC's delay is unsurprising, as market commentators and ETF analysts have long speculated that the SEC will only decide to approve or reject ETFs after the first final deadline in May arrives. According to Gate.io data, the ETH/USDT was $3,660 at the time of writing.

On March 4, Starknet officially announced a delay in the v0.13.1 upgrade plan to allow more time for a new full-node version that fully supports RPC 0.7. The Starknet v0.13.1 upgrade schedule is:

On March 5, it was conducted on the Sepolia testnet;
On March 6, it was conducted on the Goerli testnet;
On March 12, it will be held on the mainnet.

"We remind everyone to upgrade to RPC 0.7 (or at least 0.6) simultaneously. All nodes of Starknet will no longer support RPC 0.4."

Starknet is a Validity Rollup (also known as ZK Rollup) layer 2 network running on Ethereum, which enables dApps to scale on a large scale without compromising security. Starting on February 20, the Starknet Foundation launched the first round of the StarNet supply plan, which involves distributing tokens (STRK) to the community. This is part of the 900 million STRK dedicated to the Provisions program (a total of 1.8 billion STRK dedicated to the community).

According to Arkham's official announcement, it has added the UK Government's crypto asset holding address tracking service. Its data monitoring shows that in 2018, the London Police Department seized over 61,000 Bitcoins (currently worth over $4 billion) and obtained their access rights in July 2021.

## Market trends: BTC skyrocketed, just one step away from a historic high
BTC surged more than 10% in a single day, just one step away from a historic high. However, it is worth noting that if BTC breaks through the previous high, it may trigger a rapid decline in short selling. In addition, BTCD (BTC market share) reached 55%, leading to a widespread decline in counterfeit coins. This week, other concept currencies performed poorly except for the significant increase in Meme concept tokens. On the macroeconomic front, the US stock market has fallen, and the market is waiting for the release of non-farm employment data, which will significantly impact market sentiment.
### Market hotspots
Meme concept: The collective price of Meme concept tokens such as PEPE, BONK, SHIB, and DOGE has surged. Among them, BONK broke through a new historical high, DOGE's weekly increase exceeded 100%, and its market value approached USDC. In addition to the aforementioned leading Meme, other Meme concept coins have entered the price adjustment range.

BTC In_script_ion tokens: Overall increase, ORDI is close to previous highs, while RATS, MICE, and others have seen significant gains. RATS refers to the animal Meme on the BTC chain.

AI concept: AI concept tokens such as ARKM, AR, WLF, FET, etc., collectively fell and began to adjust after rising for three consecutive weeks. The market estimates that there will be a collective adjustment in about half a month.

In summary, the market situation fluctuates greatly, and the sharp rise of BTC has attracted the attention of investors. However, caution should also be taken to deal with the short-term downside risk after breaking through the previous high. Meme and BTC in_script_ion tokens are still hot topics in the market. The concept of AI has entered an adjustment period after a continuous rise, and investors need to remain vigilant.

## Macro: Global stock markets experienced a slight correction, multiple potential risks in the Asian market, and the opening of the National People's Congress of China has attracted attention
According to Reuters, in the global market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) and the Standard&Poor's 500 Index (SPX) fell 97.55 points, or 0.25%, to 38989.83 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index (. IXIC) fell 6.13 points, or 0.12%, to 5130.95 points, or 67.43 points, or 0.41%, to 16207.51 points.

The Standard&Poor's 500 Index Communications Services Index (. SPLRCS) closed down 1.5%, while Defensive Utility (. SPLRCU) rose 1.6%, making it the largest stock to gain on the day.

The stock market has experienced a relatively small pullback, and the overall outlook is still dominated by optimistic sentiment around technology and artificial intelligence. Deutsche Bank analysts point out that the S&P 500 index has risen by over 20% since October and is currently in one of the best consecutive gains on record.

The Asian market is full of potential political and economic risks that could affect the market - inflation in the Philippines, Thailand, and Tokyo, service industry purchasing managers' indices in multiple countries, including China, GDP in South Korea, and annual meetings of the National People's Congress of China.

Meanwhile, it is expected that the core inflation rate in the Japanese capital will accelerate again in February, rising from a nearly two-year low of 1.6% in January to 2.5%, higher than the Bank of Japan's target of 2%. The Bank of Japan is gradually ending years of the super-loose policy, and some economists believe it may exit negative interest rates later this month. Tokyo inflation data will be closely monitored, especially by yen traders. The return of the Japanese yen to below 150.00 against the US dollar has sparked speculation that the Japanese authorities may soon take intervention measures to support the yen exchange rate.

The remarkable opening of the annual session of the National People's Congress of China has set a growth target of around 5% in 2024, which is on par with last year, and is attempting to "transform" the economic growth model - striving to transform the development mode, curb industrial overcapacity, resolve real estate risks, and reduce excessive local government spending.

The real estate crisis, intensified deflation, stock market crash, and intensified local government debt crisis have pressured Chinese leaders to respond to these calls. There are currently no specific details on the reforms that China plans to implement. The China stock (.CSI300) regained its previous decline and remained largely unchanged in trading on the same day. The RMB exchange rate remained unchanged, which may reflect the current relatively lackluster response from investors to stimulus plans and reform commitments.

Regarding commodities, although concerns about China's demand outlook have led to lower prices, the supply factors caused by major producing countries reducing production and geopolitical concerns triggered by the Israel-Gaza war have supported crude oil prices. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+) extended their voluntary reduction of 2.2 million barrels per day of oil production until the second quarter on Sunday to support prices amid global growth concerns and increased production outside the organization.

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<div>Author:**Sherry S.**, Gate.io Researcher
<div>Translator:Joy Z.
<div class="info-tips">\*This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
<div>\*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.
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