The Crypto Pulse: December 20th

Rollbit's weekly analysis and review of the news in Bitcoin, Ethereum, NFTs and cryptocurrency markets.

News 📰

Adidas Sold More than $22 Million in NFTs, But it Hit a Few Snags Along the Way

All 30,000 of Adidas’ Into the Metaverse NFTs were minted within a matter of hours after going on sale on December 17th. Each NFT cost 0.20 ETH and the company sold 29,620 NFTs (“Adidas and partners” held onto 380 of the NFTs for “future events”), meaning the company earned more than $22 million in just one afternoon!

However, during the early access sale reserved for holders of partner NFT projects, Mutant Ape Yacht Club owners couldn't participate in the mint, which forced a pause in the sale. We'll likely see the clothing brand do another NFT sale as it is hinted on their website, "this is just the beginning".

Win an Adidas Originals Into the Metaverse NFT on Rollbit!

Nike Buys NFT Collectables Startup RTFKT

On December 13th, Nike announced the acquisition of NFT fashion and collectibles startup RTFKT, which sent the price of their CloneX collection skyrocketing. Out of the top 10 NFT sales in the past week, 5 were from the CloneX collection.

Source: DappRadar

Nike said in a press release that the team "leverages the latest in game engines, NFTs, blockchain authentication and augmented reality to create one of a kind virtual products and experiences". The clothing brand did not disclose the terms of the deal.

Tesla to Accept Dogecoin as Payment for Merchandise, says Musk

On December 14th, Tesla chief Elon Musk tweeted that the electric car manufacturer will being accepting Dogecoin (DOGE) as payment for merchandise. The price of Dogecoin soared 20% following Musk's announcement, reaching highs near $0.22.

However, the price of DOGE retraced the move over the past 6 days and has edged closer to the lows seen on December 14th, currently trading just above $0.16.

The Tesla founder is a well-known advocate for DOGE. In an interview to the Time magazine, which named him "Person of the Year" for 2021, Musk stated that Dogecoin is more suited to transactions than Bitcoin.

Trade DOGE with up to 400x leverage on Rollbit or gain exposure to DOGE via our Crypto Portfolio feature!

Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT Accidentally Sold for $3,000 Instead of $300,000

Someone accidentally sold Bored Ape Yacht Club #3547 for 0.75 ETH instead of 75 ETH on December 11th after a fat finger error. The seller was meant to list the NFT for ~$294,000, but the value was incorrectly entered as ~$2,940.

A bot paid 8 ETH (worth around $23,300 at the time) in gas to purchase the NFT on OpenSea upon listing. Cored Ape #3547 was sold two days later on December 13th for 59.99 ETH, netting the seller a massive profit of 51.24 ETH when accounting for the gas fees.

Take a chance and try to win Bored Ape #7832 via the new betting feature on our NFT marketplace!

DeFi ‘Rug Pull’ Scams Pulled in $2.8 Billion This Year: Chainalysis

According to a report from Chainalysis, rug pulls accounted for 37% of all illicit revenue from cryptocurrency-related scams this year. In 2020, rug pulls only accounted for just 1% of all illicit revenue from crypto scams.

The top 15 rug pulls are shown in the chart above, with Thodex being the only centralised entity on the list and the rest all being DeFi projects.

Other News

• Ethereum layer 2 network Optimism removes whitelist, opens to all developers,
• Circle's stablecoin USDC was deployed on the Avalanche blockchain,
• Bitwise launches NFT-tracking index fund for accredited investors. Known as the Bitwise Blue-Chip NFT Index Fund, it will comprise holdings from the top 10 NFT collections, including CryptoPunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, Autoglyphs, Fidenza, VeeFriends, CyberKongz Genesis, Cool Cats, Meebits and Chromie Squiggle,
• Bored Ape Yacht Club to launch Play-to-Earn NFT game,
• First Bitcoin Metaverse game on Stacks, Moonray, raises $3.5 million,
• This week's staking rewards for Rollbit's NFT marketplace can be claimed on Thursday, December 23rd at 19:00 UTC!

Market Analysis 📈📉

7-day Price Change

• BTC: -7.4%
• ETH: -7.0%
• BNB: -9.2%
• SOL: -0.4%
• XRP: +1.9%
• ADA: -9.2%
• DOT: -19.6%
• DOGE: -3.3%
• SHIB: -20.2%
• MATIC: +2.6%
• LTC: -5.7%
• LINK: -8.7%
• TRX: -15.9%

Data as of December 20th, 18:00 UTC

Let's look at the Bitcoin chart.

Last week saw Bitcoin close lower, moving down by around $3,400 to finish the week at $46,687. The chart above shows that the lower Bollinger band provides a long-term support just above $39,000. The price of Bitcoin would need to rise above the middle band at $52,860 to support a bullish outlook over the long run.

The daily chart for Bitcoin is shown below and on this timeframe, the lower Bollinger band provides support at $43,165. A close above the middle band (currently at $49,474) will provide a bullish confirmation.

Also, you'll notice from the daily chart that Bitcoin bounced and reached fresh highs in late September after testing the $40,000 level, so traders bullish on Bitcoin will want to watch this level as well as $43,165.

The 4-hour chart for Bitcoin displayed below shows that a breakout is imminent. The Bollinger bands have not been this tight since December 2nd-3rd when the price broke out to the downside, falling from around $56,000 to lows near $42,000.

When the Bollinger bands are tightening, it tells us volatility is low and that we should anticipate a return to volatile trading conditions. With the price testing the lower band, there's a greater likelihood of a move to the upside. Also, there is a Bullish Engulfing candlestick pattern in play (as long as the 4-hour close at 20:00 UTC is above $46,104).

The weekly chart for Ethereum is a bit different to Bitcoin's, with the price of ETH currently sitting just above the middle Bollinger band. Therefore, ETH is at a critical juncture, with a weekly close below the middle band (currently at $3,824) justifying a bearish outlook for the second largest cryptocurrency.

However, if ETH can close the week higher than $3,824, then the worst of the current downward move may be over.

Moving to the daily chart for ETH and the setup is similar to Bitcoin, with the price nearing the lower Bollinger band, which should act as support and lies at the $3,642 level. For greater bullish confirmation, we’d like to see a move above the middle band (currently at $4,110) and an eventual test of the upper band at $4,579.

THe 4-hour chart for ETH below shows a Bullish Engulfing candlestick pattern is in play, with a similar setup to Bitcoin. With the bands contracting and width at lowest level in 7 days, we should see volatility return to the market soon, with a greater likelihood of an upward move (possibly towards the important $4,000 level).

The best performer in the past 7 days out of all cryptocurrencies available via Rollbit's leveraged trading feature is MATIC. The chart below shows that MATIC posted its highest ever weekly closing price on December 19th, at $2.223.

For the past 3 weeks, MATIC has consistently posted higher closing prices but has not yet taken out the all-time high of $2.70. It's likely that MATIC will continue the bullish momentum, run up along the upper Bollinger band and eventually break the all-time high.

Have a great week!

-The Rollbit team