Top-Heavy Crypto Market Structure; Intel Takes Crypto Mining Industry by Storm

Chart of the Day

On Tuesday, the broader crypto market took a further plunge amid the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine following the former's recognition of two self-proclaimed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine that seems to have antagonized the West. After having already dipped so much over the past weekend, BTC has further shed 5% of its market value within the last 24 hours, and is currently trading precariously around the $37k handle (as of the time of writing). In a similar vein, ETH has dropped from the $2,700 level over the past 24 hours to test the resistance near the $2,500 level, whilst many major altcoins also suffered heavy double-digit percentage losses over a similar timeframe. Additionally, and in looking at some key on-chain metrics, the BTC UTXO Realized Price Distribution chart reveals that the current crypto market structure is extremely top-heavy. This means that unless there is a corresponding influx of on-chain demand, the high concentration of supply held by short-term BTC holders whose cost bases sit around the $42k to $50k range would likely become an overwhelming source of sell-side pressure. Ultimately, said demand wave looks unlikely to come through anytime soon as most investors around the world seem to already be taking on risk-off stances on the back of the deteriorating macroeconomic conditions currently plaguing the different markets. 





Talk of the Town

On Monday, tech giant Intel revealed a new Bitcoin mining chip that will likely take the mining industry by storm amid the current global chip shortage. The first-generation Bonanza Mine ASICs will comprise 300 tiny power-efficient chips, and will be able to perform up to 40 THash/s. Intel is not looking to rest on its laurels though, as the company has also made it clear that they are already starting to delve into the development of its second-generation chips to challenge the industry hegemony of huge players like Bitmain and MicroBT. These are potentially revolutionary times for the Bitcoin mining industry indeed!