Crypto markets spooked

Dogecoin rival Shiba Inu has rallied another 20% amidst a broad crypto sell-off and as Robinhood's top dog remarked publicly that the exchange is considering listing SHIB.

Bitcoin, plus most altcoins, are enduring losses today; SHIB just hit a new all-time high to above $0.00051.

SHIB, which is the 11th-largest crypto in terms of total market capitalization, has a deliberately outsized supply so as to err on the side of mere fractions of pennies per coin. And speaking of incremental change, an online petition, asking Robinhood to add SHIB, has garnered more than 326,000 signatures (Bloomberg).

Not entirely unexpectedly, Bitcoin is tanking. So is Ethereum. Among the Big Ten by market cap, there were some bruising but not debilitating 24-hour-period losses as of Wednesday morning at 9 a.m. (EST), including DOGE, down 11%, and SOL, down 7%.

In a startlingly abrupt tantrum earlier today, BTC shed $1,000 off its price – in the span of five hot minutes (Cointelegraph).

If $60K is an important psychological level, traders' frontal lobes will be tested, with a quick check of the biggest digital asset, at 9:15 a.m. (EST), showing it slightly above $59K. Some analysts are already mentally preparing for low $50K levels.

Downward, there's seemingly significant support at around $58,000, and at $55,000, according to a read of head/shoulders patterns evident in compressed time frames (Crypto Daily).

It could turn out to be the case that BTC’s most recent run to glory has been fueled by institutional investors, or maybe a manifestation of hoards of FOMO-driven retail investors. Rising leverage levels would seem to suggest the latter scenario having played out.

Big whales (largest holders) are said to be in decline. Small whales (call them humpbacks) are on the rise. Looking at total active addresses, that number had doubled to hit 1.2 million as of the end of December 2020.

The address count not long ago had rocketed back to that neighborhood, but only days ago fell to around 740,000.

Retail leverage levels could be the more crucial metric on which to keep an eye. Cold-blooded market makers when the moon is full will always pounce, crushing the overextended, forcing liquidations. Bybt data shows that the 24-hour liquidations have surged to more than $750 million (Cointelegraph). Lightning speed wipeouts, Crypto Daily said, could be a sign that this current correction will be short-lived.

Record-setting electric vehicle sales in Q3 and news of a 100,000-car order from beleaguered rental car company Hertz helped push Tesla's market capitalization over $1 trillion. Although feasting on the Chinese EV market, Tesla still ultimately sees self-driving cars, a scary future to some, as their ticket to ride.

Tesla also revealed by way of public filing that it could eventually resume accepting BTC. It'd be another jolt to crypto’s most basic use-case narrative, already packed with fresh plot thickeners: "Today we started to accept XRP," Belgian restaurant FRIETSHOP Wetteren declared by tweet on Monday.

Belgian Fries, made from authentic Bintje potatoes, lightly salted, paid for digitally? The world will never be the same. (But for humanity's sake, hold the mayo).

The rise in crypto adoption is expected to reach many new milestones in the next 18 months.

A PYMNTS.com report in July found that two-thirds of holders indicated having obtained crypto for use as a means of payment, expecting acceptance to become more common.

According to Chainalysis, global crypto transactions (spent, held) surged during the pandemic, with total adoption up by 881% over 12 months, as of the end of June 2021.

Visa recently announced that $1 billion was spent on their crypto-linked card in the first six months of the year.

Bitpay, the largest blockchain payments processor, and which is being incorporated by more and more retail companies each week, has reached an average of 61,755 transactions processed every month.

Banks and businesses generally must become more comfortable within their executive suites in order to create a safe space within which to navigate the global payments ecosystem, said a pair of Gemini analysts writing in Global Risk Regulator.

Many of these companies remain wary. Concerns about volatility linger unsettlingly like a bad dream or path-crossing black cat.

These institutions should consider getting a grip on fear itself, the Gemini analysts say, and more formally contemplate how such issues could be mitigated.