Bitcoin retreated after unsuccessful test of Fibonacci 23.6 last week: it was unable to close above $41,450 as bears retained firm control of crypto market. A glance at the Bitcoin daily chart reveals the bearish trend continues and there are no sign the trend may reverse soon!
The cryptocurrency market tracked global stock market’s retreat last week. The stocks selloff deepened after Fed chair Powell confirmed that a half-point interest rate hike was “on the table” when the Fed meets in May. As of last Monday, the entire crypto market had fallen about 19%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Against this background, Terra’s LUNA became third largest stablecoin, Robinhood announced about the purchase of a UK crypto platform while Google data point to declining retail interest in Bitcoin.
Terra’s LUNA outperformed the wider crypto market last week: it rallied 17% on Tuesday after a nearly 37% drop in the first two weeks of April. LUNA is a governance token for money market protocol Terra. Terra's algorithmic stablecoin UST replaced Binance USD (BUSD) to become the third-largest stablecoin by circulation. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat currencies, usually the US dollar. Each token is backed by an equivalent amount of fiat in reserve. Algorithmic stablecoins like UST can also be backed by a basket of assets, such as bitcoin (BTC).
US online brokerage platform Robinhood (HOOD) announced it is acquiring London-based crypto platform Ziglu. Ziglu offers buying and selling services for 11 cryptocurrencies as well as a "Boost" product that earns users yield on their holdings. The company won approval to offer crypto services in the UK by financial watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in 2020. Robinhood plans to integrate Ziglu more fully into its own platform to "bring the Robinhood brand overseas," according to the US platform.
Data from Google’s search trends suggest retail interest in Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies could be declining. Google Trends allows users to compare the relative volume of searches. Worldwide searches for Bitcoin have reached mid-2020 levels as of April 22, 2022. This does not mean the total number of searches for that term is decreasing, but just means its popularity is decreasing compared to other searches. Experts explain this decline by shifting of investor interest to new cryptocurrencies known as altcoins.
