Bitcoin.com monthly recap for December 2021

Bitcoin.com monthly recap for January 2022

Here's a look at the feature upgrades we made in January, as well as a rundown of the biggest news of the month.

Bitcoin.com Wallet upgrades

✅ Markets view

Track price action and get key info for top cryptoassets. Available on mobile and web versions.

✅ FIO name resolution support

Now you can send to BTC/BCH/ETH addresses via FIO-registered human-readable handles.

✅ Dark mode

Accessible via your device's global settings (Android only for now)

Other upgrades

✅ Support "sell-to-fiat" in more countries

Now you can sell crypto for cash in your bank account if you live in Russia, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. (Already supported regions include US, UK, EU, AUS).

News

January saw a continuation of the negative price action since Bitcoin's November all time high, with the price of bitcoin down as much as 30% and ether 40%. The crypto markets as a whole have shed in excess of $700 billion just this month. If you're a glutton for punishment, read about how far crypto assets have fallen from ATHs. Despite crypto markets declining, NFTs and the metaverse continue to be bright spots.

Here's a recap of some of the biggest stories in January:

Down market

What was true in December continues to be so in January: bears are fully in control. Bitcoin dipped below 44k, then below 40k, and eventually under 36k. Meanwhile, the fear and greed index hit a 5 month low. Despite the plummeting price of bitcoin, bitcoin mining difficulty reached an all time high. This had the unfortunate side effect of squeezing already thin profit margins of bitcoin miners. Where Bitcoin leads, the market follows. Volume across spot and derivative markets fell, and total value locked in DeFi fell too.

Inflation and rate hikes

Much of the price action in crypto markets comes from macro events in the broader economy. The US inflation rate jumped to its highest point in 40 years to seven percent, threatening to harm US Democrats in the 2022 midterm elections. Political worries along with concerns that US inflation will only get worse, have many forecasting several rate hikes. Fed rate hike expectations have caused confidence in crypto as well as traditional markets to falter. Inflation isn't restricted to America alone. Euro inflation hit a record high, though the ECB has made no indication that they will rush to raise rates. Turkey's inflation rate jumped to 36%, causing the value of the Lira to plummet.

Flight to stablecoins

The volatility in crypto markets has been a boon for stablecoins. Stablecoin trade volume currently accounts for more than 60% of global trade volume across more than 12,000 crypto assets. USDC, despite being younger than Tether (USDT), this month surpassed USDT's total ERC20 supply issuance. Paypal is looking to get in on the stablecoin bonanza by considering launching their own stablecoin. Finally, OHM, once touted as a "reserve currency," and OHM-forks, have fallen between 30% and 50%.

Web2 wants a piece of web3

Web2 companies are scrambling to secure footing in the rising web3 narrative either with new initiatives or through acquisitions. This will probably become a running segment in the monthly recap. First up, Airbnb CEO hinted that they will soon accept cryptocurrencies. Robinhood revealed that listing more cryptocurrencies is a priority, and Robinhood also began to roll out their crypto wallet to select customers. Microsoft purchased Activision in a move many think was largely motivated by Microsoft's desire to jumpstart their metaverse positioning. Finally, Meta and Instagram are looking into adding some kind of NTF functionality.

Governments continue to choose sides

China, having largely banned crypto, is moving full steam ahead with its CDBC. China's digital yuan wallet was released and currently ranks among the most downloaded apps in China. More countries are warming up to CDBCs: Mexico announced it will issue its own by 2024. Taking a different tack, El Salvador's president believes two more countries will take its strategy of making Bitcoin legal tender. Other central banks are less friendly towards crypto. Pakistan's central bank decided to completely ban cryptocurrencies, and the Bank of Russia proposed a crypto ban. The latter was at least met with opposition by parliament.

NFTs are hot

As mentioned above, NFTs remained hot even as the wider crypto markets continued to cool. According to Google Trends, interest in Bitcoin and Ethereum have fallen, while NFT searches have skyrocketed. Despite the drop in crypto prices, weekly NFT sales in the third week of January increased by 81%. Opensea, the largest NFT exchange, raised $300 million putting the company at an approximately $13.3 billion valuation. Opensea better not rest on its laurels. While this was happening, new NFT exchange entrant Looksrare, launched and surpassed Opensea's daily volume.

Legacy companies enter the metaverse

If Facebook changing its name to Meta wasn't indication enough on the inevitability of the metaverse, stalwart of traditional finance Goldman Sachs has predicted that the metaverse could be an $8 trillion opportunity. Brick and mortar retailer Walmart is seemingly preparing to introduce NFT and metaverse products. Entertainment incumbent Disney is moving towards the metaverse with an approved US patent to create a "virtual-world simulator."

Defining the metaverse is hard because it can potentially encompass so much. To get a better feeling for what the metaverse is, or could be, check out Neomi's experiences. If you missed last months, check them out here and here. Neomi continues this month with a futuristic crypto game featuring real economics and immersive graphics.