Crypto slides, again

OpenSea is not only the biggest marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), it's also the No. 1 user of gas on Ethereum, surpassing Uniswap (UNI).

According to on-chain analytics firm Nansen, the OpenSea/Uniswap gas-use rivalry, proxy for an Ethereum-run product popularity contest, stretches back to September-October 2021, which was the last time decentalized finance (DeFi) leader UNI ceded most-gassy status to OpenSea (U.Today).

ETH, second-largest digital asset, was hovering at roughly $2,500 as of Monday at 7:50 a.m. (EST), staying more or less flat (-0.5%) over seven days. Transaction costs on the network, as measured in ETH, have fallen 6% to 95,000 ETH during that period, per Nansen's gas tracker.

Many analysts anticipate ETH will resume its climb, owing to its involvement in the decentralized finance and NFT sectors (Cointelegraph).

Among the biggest ETH bulls is Bloomberg Intelligence’s senior commodity strategist, Mike McGlone, who predicted ETH would hit $5,000 this year.

Bitcoin begins a new week under pressure and rangebound at $37,000, even tinting slightly green over the past hour as of 8:20 a.m. (EST). BTC declined 1.7% over 24 hours.

Still, in the past seven days, BTC is up 2.3%. Recovery-wise that's apparently unsatisfying to bulls who craved a weekly close closer to $40K.

"Amid a lack of any genuine spot market recovery, despite solid on-chain data, it may be an external trigger that ends up responsible for a shake-up," Cointelegraph said, noting a looming Biden administration executive order on crypto regulation.

Briefly this past weekend it looked as if BTC might catch some wind. Even mild short-term breezes proved elusive in a rather dull regatta that started and finished at about $37,000.

Long-term gale forces for the largest crypto tend to be viewed as still gathering up but now suddenly could be in danger of petering out with bullish base cases on the verge of being technically invalidated. That's based on the recently spotted sub-zero move for the monthly moving average convergence divergence (MACD) chart, a sell signal (CoinDesk).

The Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals have advanced to Super Bowl LVI set to be played at SoFi Stadium in L.A. in two weeks. Already, there are rumblings that from an advertising standpoint it could turn out to be a "Crypto Bowl."

So far, FTX and Crypto.com have confirmed they’ll run commercials during the game (Morning Brew).

The Bengals are back in it for the first time since 1989, the year Budweiser debuted its Bud Bowl series. Five years earlier, Microsoft famously introduced Macintosh with its "1984" ad spot.

Considered one of the most effective television commercials of all time, the ad featured a woman hurling a sledgehammer toward the big-screen image of an Orwellian Big Brother-type figure spouting pro-conformity rhetoric to a crowd of bald extras, many of them actual skinheads rounded up off London streets by director Ridley Scott.