Bitcoin extended its recent losses last week, falling 4% to as low as $107,300 before recovering slightly to trade around $111,000 at the time of writing. With September historically being a weak month for the world’s largest cryptocurrency, further downside could be on the horizon. Altcoins were not spared, with the total market capitalization excluding bitcoin slipping 8% over the same period.
Simon Peters, Crypto Market Analyst at eToro, commented: “Sentiment in the crypto markets, as measured by the Fear and Greed Index, is flashing ‘Fear’ and has fallen to its lowest levels since late June. This suggests we could see further downside this week. However, Friday’s US non-farm payroll and unemployment data could prove critical. A weak payrolls figure may encourage investors to buy the dip on expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates at its upcoming meeting later this month.”
BIGGEST MOVERS Cronos $CRO has been one of the biggest movers in the crypto space in the last week, up 70%, following the announcement that Trump Media will introduce a rewards system on the Truth Social and Truth+ platforms that will use $CRO as a utility token. In addition, a new venture called Trump Media Group CRO Strategy was announced, which will act as a treasury-style company, designed to accumulate CRO tokens using its estimated $6.4 billion backing. Discover more here: https://www.etoro.com/discover/markets/cryptocurrencies/market-movers.
EYE-CATCHING STORIES The Ether Machine raises further 150,000 ETH The Ether Machine, a crypto infrastructure firm preparing to go public via SPAC merger, announced today that it has secured a private placement in the form of 150,000 ETH, approximately $654 million. This additional investment brings the total ethereum owned by or committed to the firm to 495,362 ETH, approximately $2.16 billion at time of writing, with $367 million dollars also remaining for future ethereum acquisitions.
Unlike passive asset funds or ETFs, The Ether Machine will use its ethereum to actively generate yield via staking, DeFi protocols and providing institutional infrastructure services like validator operations and block-building tools. Even though it is not public yet, The Ether Machine is already one of the largest holders of ETH, although still some way behind BitMine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) who holds a reported 1.713 million ETH valued at approximately $7.4 billion. The intention from The Ether Machine to acquire ethereum, as well as an increasing number of corporate entities buying ethereum could be positive for the digital asset price going forward. Not forgetting also that the Ethereum network has a burning mechanism, as well as a growing amount of ethereum locked in staking and DeFi applications which can also contribute to price appreciation
