​The search for an alternative for Ethereum and other key events of the week

The past seven days have seen a calm in the cryptocurrency market. The bitcoin price remains stable and is at the $42 000 level. The change over the week is only -0,22%. The second cryptocurrency, Ethereum, added 2,45% and the Binance exchange’s native token called BNB rose 8,18%. The investors attribute BNB’s continued growth to a quarterly token burn of around $793 million on January 17.

The total capitalization of the crypto market fell from $2,052 trillion to $2,004 trillion during the week, with bitcoin dominating at 39,7%. Ethereum’s share is 19%. As can be seen on the infographic of the Coin360 portal, the overall market backdrop is in the red zone.

Source: Coin360

Ethereum: in search of an alternative

Despite its solid market share, Ethereum may lose its leadership in the DeFi segment. The main reasons are high fees, scalability issues, and a long transition to the PoS model.

This week, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin decided to conduct a study among his Twitter followers on finding an alternative for the second cryptocurrency. In total, Buterin posted two polls where he asked users to answer the question, “You wake up in 2035, and 80% of all transactions and savings in the world are in one currency that is not ETH. Which would you prefer it to be?”

As a result, the ADA (Cardano) cryptocurrency won the first poll and TRON won the second. Meanwhile, the fiat currencies (US dollar and Chinese yuan) ranked last in the users’ preferences.

Bitcoin: store not spend

It seems that the comma in this sentence needs to be put exactly after the word store. An analysis by Bitpay, one of the world’s largest crypto payment operators, found that users from around the world prefer to store bitcoin more than spend it. The bitcoin payments from merchants have decreased from 92% in 2020 to 65% in 2021.

In this, a quarter of all global businesses are already willing to accept cryptocurrency payments, according to a Visa report. And more than 30% of small business owners based in Brazil, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Hong Kong are preparing to introduce this payment method as early as 2022.

One of the main developments this week has been the sharp rise in bitcoin outflow. According to Cryptoquant, more than 26 300 BTC were withdrawn from the exchanges on Wednesday and about 30 054 BTC on Monday. The outflows are considered optimistic for the market as they reduce the risk of selling bitcoins.

Going back to the question of whether to store or spend bitcoin, it is impossible not to mention the important news from Rio de Janeiro. The authorities of this Brazilian city plan to transfer some of their reserves into bitcoin. As mayor Eduardo Paes stated at the moment it refers to 1% of the public reserves. In addition, in 2022, the authorities may allow citizens to pay taxes using cryptocurrencies, following the example of the US city of Miami.

REvil: high-profile detention

On January 14, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced a special operation to detain the members of the REvil hacker group. This was made possible after the US colleagues identified the head of REvil.

A total of 25 addresses in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Lipetsk were checked by the FSB. As a result of a series of raids, the law enforcers confiscated about $5,5 million in cryptocurrency, as well as $600 000 and 500 000 EUR in cash.

The detained members of the organized criminal group are currently facing criminal charges under Part 2 of Article 187, “Illegal turnover of payment funds.”

Walmart: retail giant enters new markets

The largest US retail chain is preparing to take a share in the promising markets of digital assets and metaverses. These findings were published on CNBC's website following an analysis of the seven trademark registration applications Walmart filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

According to the applications, Walmart's upcoming plans may include the issuance of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the development of its own cryptocurrency, and the sale of virtual goods for the metaverses. The exact launch dates of the new services are not yet known, and the comments from the retail giant’s representatives contain only general information without any specifics.