Bitcoin improvement proposal to block spam draws heat from heavyweights

By Omkar Godbole (All times Eastern unless otherwise noted)

A new Bitcoin improvement proposal, BIP-110, aims to curb spam and other data clogging the blockchain, but it is facing a backlash from some industry leaders who believe it will do more damage to the network’s reputation than the spam itself.

BIP-110 is a “soft fork,” a type of upgrade that works smoothly with existing Bitcoin setup without breaking the blockchain. It attempts to place strict temporary limits on non-monetary data in transactions, specifically images, videos or tokens stuffed into the ordinal inscriptions of Bitcoin blocks.

Implementing the same measures could help combat “spam” and unclog the network, making it cheaper for ordinary people to use, allowing the blockchain to focus on payments. On-chain activity has been almost negligible in recent months.

However, Blockstream CEO Adam Back disagreed, calling the proposal an attack on Bitcoin’s reputation as a reliable currency.

Back said on

Some others agree, arguing that fixes may damage trust more than spam.

Meanwhile, there isn’t much excitement in the market as Bitcoin continues to trade back and forth between $67,000 and $70,000, with the price approaching the lower end of that range as of this writing. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) fell 3% in 24 hours, while other major coins such as Ethereum and BNB also fell 1%.

“The decline of the largest coins is an ominous sign for smaller coins as it could quickly accelerate their decline,” Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at FxPro, said in an email.

He added that the market has entered a “stress zone” but has not yet reached the final stage of capitulation. “For a ‘true bottom’ to form, it would be necessary for losses to peak and selling pressure to be completely exhausted,” he noted.

In traditional markets, U.S. dollar bears hit their highest levels in more than a decade, while a recent decline in the inflation-adjusted yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury gave hope to battered Bitcoin bulls. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today’s altcoin and derivatives activity, see Today’s Cryptocurrency Market

What to see

For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

• cryptocurrency
  • February 17, 7 p.m.: Rocket Pool launches Saturn One upgrade.
• Macro
  • February 17, 8:30 am: Canada’s January inflation rate year-on-year (previous value 2.4%); core interest rate year-on-year (previous value 2.8%)
  • February 17, 8:30 a.m.: New York Empire State manufacturing index in February is expected to be 7.1 (previous value 7.7)
  • February 17, 6:50 pm: Japan’s January trade balance is expected to be -2.142 billion yen (previous value: 105.7 billion yen)
• income (Estimate based on FactSet data)
  • February 17: HIVE Digital Technologies (HIVE), pre-market, -$0.07

Token event

For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

• Governance votes and calls
  • February 17: Jito co-hosts the X Spaces conference with Hush Protocol.
  • February 17: Basic attention tokens for hosting Brave Talk sessions on X Spaces.
  • Balancer is voting to swap signers on emergency subDAO multisigs to improve operational responsiveness and security coverage. Voting ends on February 17th.
• Unlock
  • February 17: YZY$0.3296 Unlocking 17.24% of its circulating supply, worth $20.84 million.
• Token issuance

Meeting

For a more comprehensive list of this week’s events, see CoinDesk’s “Crypto Week Ahead.”

market trend

• BTC is down 1.03% since 4pm ET on Monday to $68,131.79 (24 hours: -1.28%)
• ETH fell 1.11% to $1,976.32 (24 hours: -0.57%)
• CoinDesk 20 fell 1.28% to 1,978.56 (24 hours: -1.03%)
• The comprehensive pledge rate of Ethereum CESR increased by 6 basis points to 2.84%
• The BTC financing interest rate on Binance is 0.002% (annualized 2.2119%)

• DXY rose 0.21% to 97.12
• Gold futures fell 1.87% to $4,952.10
• Silver futures fell 4.19% to $74.70
• The Nikkei 225 closed down 0.42% at 56,566.49 points
• The Hang Seng Index closed up 0.52% to 26,705.94 points
• The FTSE rose 0.37% to 10,512.50
• Europe’s Stoxx 50 rose 0.15% to 5,987.94
• The Dow closed up 0.10% on Friday at 49,500.93 points
• The S&P 500 closed up 0.05% at 6,836.17 points
• The Nasdaq Composite Index closed down 0.22% at 22,546.67 points
• The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 1.87% at 33,073.71 points
• The S&P 40 Latin America index fell 0.64% on Monday to 3,717.23 points
• The U.S. 10-year Treasury bond rate fell 2.7 basis points to 4.029%
• E-mini S&P 500 futures fell 0.20% to 6,836.50
• E-mini Nasdaq 100 futures fell 0.58% to 24,658.75
• E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.02% to 49,560.00

Bitcoin Statistics

• Bitcoin dominance: 58.81% (-0.16%)
• Ethereum-Bitcoin ratio: 0.02897 (-0.14%)
• Hash rate (seven-day moving average): 1,043 EH/s
• Hash price (spot): $34.08
• Total fee: 2.22 BTC / $151,829
• CME Futures Open Interest: 118,450 BTC
• BTC in gold: 13.8 ounces.
• Bitcoin and gold market capitalization: 4.53%

technical analysis

• This chart shows the movement of Bitcoin’s 30-day Implied Volatility Index in candlestick format.
• Volatility has cooled significantly, reversing early-month gains to nearly 100%.
• The reversal suggests panic has subsided and traders are no longer frantically chasing options or hedging bets like they were in the first six days of the month.

crypto stocks

• Coinbase Global (COIN): Closed Friday pre-market at $164.32 (+16.46%), -0.94% at $162.78
• Circle Internet (CRCL): Closed at $60.04 (+6.02%), -0.35% at $59.83
• Galaxy Digital (GLXY): Closed at $21.66 (+7.49%), -1.66% at $21.30
• Bullish (BLSH): Closed at $31.73 (+0.06%), -0.66% at $31.52
• MARA Holdings (MARA): Closed at $7.92 (+9.24%), -1.14% at $7.83
• Riot Platforms (RIOT): Closed at $15.22 (+7.18%), -1.18% at $15.04
• Core Scientific (CORZ): Closed at $17.84 (+2.06%)
• CleanSpark (CLSK): Closed at $9.85 (+5.80%), -0.81% at $9.77
• CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miner ETF (WGMI): Closed at $41.34 (+3.09%)
• Exodus Movement (EXOD): Closed at $11.27 (+10.60%), -3.02% to close at $10.93

Cryptocurrency Treasury Corporation

• Strategy (MSTR): Closed at $133.88 (+8.85%), -1.60% at $131.74
• Strive (ASST): Closed at $8.33 (+8.18%), -0.12% at $8.32
• SharpLink Gaming (SBET): Closed at $6.85 (+4.74%), -2.34% at $6.69
• Upexi (UPXI): Closed at $0.77 (+3.36%), +5.76% at $0.81
• Lite Strategies (LITS): Closed at $1.12 (+8.74%)

ETF flows

Spot BTC ETF

• Daily net traffic: $15.1 million
• Cumulative net flow: $54.31 billion
• Total BTC holdings are approximately 1.26 million

Spot ETH ETF

• Daily net traffic: $10.2 million
• Cumulative net flow: $11.67 billion
• The total amount of ETH held is approximately 5.71 million.

Source: Farside Investors

when you are asleep

Bitcoin still under pressure near $68,000 despite fading panic (CoinDesk): Bitcoin is struggling to build any upward momentum, even as key fear gauges retreat from early-month highs and hint at a return to stability.

A Bank of America survey showed bearish bets on the U.S. dollar are at their highest level in more than a decade. What this means for Bitcoin (CoinDesk): Investors are the most pessimistic about the U.S. dollar in more than a decade, according to a new Bank of America survey. Extreme bets could breed volatility in Bitcoin, but not in the same way that cryptocurrency bulls are used to.

Pound, bond yields fall as weak data solidifies rate cut bets (Bloomberg): The pound fell below $1.36 after data showed wage growth slowed to 4.2% in December and unemployment rose.

U.S. and Iran begin nuclear talks in Geneva as threat of war looms (Reuters): Iran’s supreme leader warned U.S. attempts to overthrow his government will fail as Washington and Tehran began nuclear talks as the U.S. builds military power in the Middle East.