Crypto Highlights Week #10 – Ukraine decides to sell NFT in a major move to raise funds

Crypto Highlights: Bitcoin continues to decline, Ukraine sells NFT, Metaverse hype cools off, CME to launch micro bitcoin futures: These and more in this weeks’ Crypto Highlights.

Top Headlines Of The Week

• Amidst Russia and Ukraine crisis, Ukraine cancels crypto airdrop, plans to sell NFTs instead.
• Is the Metaverse and NFT hype cooling off? Google Trends data reveals that fewer people care about the metaverse or NFTs in 2022.
• Will Bitcoin decline continue into the new week? 36K might be in the book as analyst warns amid warning global stocks ‘look expensive’

Top Stories Of The Week

Ukraine cancels crypto airdrop, plans to sell NFTs instead

Following last week’s Russian invasion, Ukraine’s government quickly canceled its planned crypto-airdrop and said that it would instead sell NFTs to raise funds.

“After careful consideration, we decided to cancel the airdrop,” Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister for digital transformation, posted from his verified Twitter account today. “Instead, we will announce NFTs to support Ukrainian Armed Forces soon. We DO NOT HAVE any plans to issue any fungible tokens.”

Scammers have previously seemed to target Ukraine’s fundraising efforts by releasing a bogus token that looked to be legitimate. This cryptocurrency was believed to be official by news outlets, and it attracted large trading activity on decentralized markets. However, there were other red flags that indicated it was most likely a forgery, including the way the token was designed to appear to be issued from Ukraine’s public Ethereum address — when it was, in fact, issued by a third party.

While the airdrop is no longer taking place, it was an effective marketing tool in obtaining further donations. Following the announcement of the airdrop, contributions to Ukraine increased in anticipation of a future token, with millions of dollars entering into its coffers.

While those latter contributors will not receive the anticipated token, they will be able to boast that they have now been rugged by a sovereign state.

Google Trends data reveals that no one cares about the metaverse or NFTs in 2022

While global search interest in the terms “metaverse” and “NFT” peaked in the fourth quarter of 2021, Google Trends data suggests that the excitement may have peaked in February 2022. According to Google Trends, from October to December 2021, searches for “metaverse” increased in popularity. However, since the beginning of 2022, search interest has been declining, reaching its lowest position in March.

Aside from the phrase “metaverse,” data suggests that international searches for “NFT” have begun to fall this year. However, the collapse in NFT is more pronounced, as it hit record highs in 2021 before plummeting precipitously in the first quarter of 2022.

In Google Trends, people from Turkey have ranked first in the interest-by-region category for the search “metaverse” for the previous 12 months. The country has eclipsed China and Singapore, which are ranked second and third, respectively. Cyprus and Lebanon are close behind in fourth and fifth place, respectively.

Meanwhile, Singapore has kept the top rank in the interest-by-region list for the term “NFT” for the previous 12 months. Hong Kong, China, Canada, and the Philippines are the next most populous countries.

In December, worldwide search interest in “NFT” eclipsed that of “crypto” for the first time. In addition, monthly trading volume in the NFT marketplace OpenSea reached an all-time high in January. The surge in search activity for the phrase and trading volume indicates that NFTs have now gained the attention of the general public.

Mainstream Adoption Of The Week

CME to launch micro bitcoin and ether options in March

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s (CME) plans to sell micro bitcoin and ether options has stolen the spotlight in this week’s crypto highlights. This allows smaller investors to participate in the crypto derivatives market. According to a statement issued today, these micro BTC and ETH options will have contract sizes equal to one-tenth of their respective underlying currencies and will go live on March 28. CME now offers full-size options for bitcoin with a contract size of 5 BTC.

Instead of physical cryptocurrency, these options settle into bitcoin and ether futures contracts. CME touts them as providing “greater precision” for both individual and institutional traders.

The holder of an option has the right to buy or sell the underlying security – in this example, BTC or ETH futures contracts – at a predetermined strike price. According to the FAQs on the CME website, the micro options are European-style, which means they cannot be exercised before the last day of trading.

According to the business, approximately 5.2 million contracts have changed hands since CME started tiny bitcoin and ether futures in 2021. The introduction of micro cryptocurrency options is subject to regulatory approval.

This Week’s Market Sentiment

Bitcoin heading to 36K, analysis says amid warning global stocks ‘look expensive’

BTC/USD fell to its lowest level in almost a week on Sunday, according to TradingView data, after volatility resumed overnight. At the time of writing, the pair was in the midst of testing $38,000 support, with three-day losses reaching 12%. Despite the “after hours” trading atmosphere, the trend for the largest cryptocurrency was plainly downward, as the attitude on global stocks wobbled among analysts.

“Global equities have lost $2.9tn in mkt cap this week as war could trigger major stagflationary shock,” markets commentator Holger Zschaepitz warned on the day.

“Economists cut their growth forecasts & raise inflation projections. Global stock mkts now worth $110tn, equal to 130% of global GDP, which looks expensive for current situation.”

Some fear that if a larger TradFi correction occurs, an already unstable crypto market may fare just as poorly – at least to begin with.

Popular trader and analyst Pentoshi even predicted a recurrence of the global crisis that precipitated the Great Depression 90 years ago. Some well-known experts, on the other hand, took a radically different attitude. Bloomberg Intelligence’s newest crypto market outlook study, released on March 4, remained bullish on Bitcoin and Ether (ETH).

“Most assets are subject to the ebbing tide in 2022, on the inevitable reversion of the highest inflation in four decades,” it said. “But, this year may mark another milestone for Bitcoin.”

“If risk assets don’t decline and reduce some of the price pressure, inflation measures are more likely to remain buoyant, leaving few options for central banks but to raise rates more aggressively.”

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This Week’s Crypto Meme

We hope you enjoyed this week’s edition of crypto highlights. For a peek at our last edition of crypto highlights & blockchain news, click here.