We're starting this weeks report off with some alarming news, Coinbase suffered from a huge customer data breach and your data could be at risk.
Things like this happen way too often and they always say KYC is there to "protect us".
Coinbase have said they will reimburse people... but the problem is, you can't reimburse someone for their home address, passport, any KYC documents being leaked. There's no coming back from that, those users privacy and physical security are now at risk.
You can read the full statement from Coinbase here but it's once again a reminder that protecting your privacy is fundamental to everything, especially in the age of AI.
Anyway, let's get into this weeks market metrics and see how we're doing.
Macro Overview
Bitcoin has been holding above $100,000 with strength so far, and it looks like dominance could be starting to top out, which is a great signal for alt season. But as always, don't get too comfortable and be prepared for either scenario here as the volatility certainly hasn't finished yet.
Ethereum is finally starting to show some strength too, with a strong bounce from it's 2019 dominance lows. ETH has never really gone below a 7% crypto market dominance, so the signs are pointing towrads the bottom being in for ETH right now, especially against its BTC pair. Unless you're a Bitcoin maxi of course!
In terms of sentiment, it's switched pretty fast and we're now entering a greed phase. Could this be a signal of a short term pullback? Possibly. Eitherway, it's unlikely this bull market is over yet.
Pectra Upgrade
One of the most significant Ethereum upgrades happened recently too, Pectra.
It's essentially taken a massive leap forward in terms of user experience as it now allows for smart accounts which can both approve and send tokens in one transactions instead of the usual two.
This might seem like it's not much, especially if you're used to using crypto, but for newcomers it simplifies things massively. One of the main drivers of people using Solana was due to its simple and fast user experience.
Plus the gas fees on Ethereum are now extremely competitive, that's without even considering layer 2s which are practically negligible in terms of cost.
If you want a complete breakdown on the upgrade then check out our full guide here.
Bitcoin Mining Decentralization
There is some good news for Bitcoin mining this week, it looks like it's starting to become a bit more decentralized again.
Over the last week the chart has looked like this, with smaller mining pools growing in share, which is great to see.
Here's how it looks over the yearly timeframe, where you can see AntPool and Foundry had a larger piece of the pie. If you want to dig into it more yourself, here's the source.
Bitcoin Adoption
Now it's quite clear that Bitcoin is getting adopted institutionally now, which has its pros and cons. The regulation is starting to appear and to be honest, this space is much better off without government involvement – and if we look back, that was the original purpose of it too.
One of the most interesting things to note about Bitcoin currently is the change of ownership. At the moment, it's "retail" selling to the institutions, close to the all time high.
What's strange about this though is it's usually the other way around, and the Bitcoin these institutions are buying for the most part is being bought with a long term outlook. Especially if you're to believe what people like Michael Saylor say in terms of never selling.
The main concern with Strategy though is the leverage and their approach, it's not sustainable and relies on new investors to deliver the yield across their offerings too.
Anyway, it's an interesting dynamic we are witnessing right now, nobody knows for sure what this change in holders means, but it's definitely something to keep an eye on.
That's all for this week, let us know what you think in the comments about the institutional adoption right now and how you think it will affect Bitcoin going forward.
And here's an update from Toby, it was filmed mid week in India!
