Ethereum price action remains choppy despite positive cross-chain developments
Despite the launch of a digital bridge that links the Cosmos Network with Ethereum, the latter's price action did now show any positive movement.
- ETH's fortnightly losses currently stand at 12.4%.
- The altcoin's market dominance index is currently hovering just above the 20% mark.
- A whopping 8,641,954 ETH is currently locked in a Beacon Chain contract, rendering it useless until the Ethereum network transitions to ETH2.0.
Traders across the globe continue to remain worried about Ethereum, the world's second largest cryptocurrency by total market capitalisation, especially since the altcoin has failed to cleanly break past its US$4,000 (AUD$5,500 approx.) support zone over the last couple of weeks. As a result, the asset is showcasing 30-day losses in excess of 6% while currently trading at a price point of AU$5,530.
Despite the bearish sentiment surrounding Ethereum, earlier this week, Swiss non-profit Interchain Foundation revealed the launch of Gravity Bridge, a digital platform that seeks to enable the transfer of ERC-20 tokens between the Ethereum and Cosmos blockchains. In its present iteration, the offering will look to work as a standalone system following which it will move to the Cosmos Hub – a move that is slated to take place sometime during Q1 2022.
To elaborate, the Gravity Bridge is designed to help facilitate interchangeable token issuance across the Cosmos and Ethereum networks as well as provide complete support for any oracles operating across both ecosystems.
Additionally, as per statistical data available online, the single largest Ethereum contract – which is estimated to contain 8,641,954 Ether – as part of the existing Beacon chain contract is currently stuck in limbo, such that the crypto cannot be spent or transferred to another wallet until the Ethereum network makes its much-awaited transition to ETH2.0.
adidas unveils NFT collection
Despite the crypto market at large being faced with an immense amount of volatility over the last month or so, the non-fungible token (NFT) sector continues to accrue increased investor support. In this regard, multinational sportswear brand adidas revealed that it had entered into partnerships with 3 distinguished members of the NFT space – Bored Ape Yacht Club, GMoney and PUNKS Comics – so as to help spur its metaverse ambitions.
While details regarding the development continue to remain slim, certain reports suggest that the collection will go on sale via the official adidas website on 17 December at a base price of around 0.2 ETH – which works out to around approximately US$800, at press time.
IMF economist calls for global regulation of the crypto market
As part of a recent panel discussion, chief International Monetary Fund (IMF) economist Gita Gopinath was quoted as saying that instead of outright banning cryptocurrencies, it would be in the best interest of governments across the world to formulate a "global framework" to regulate this fast-evolving space. She went on to add:
"There are challenges to banning it – whether you can end up with truly banning crypto because many exchanges are offshore and they are not subject to regulations of a particular country."
Thus, with so much monetary and regulatory uncertainty surrounding this space, it remains to be seen how the future plays out for ETH, especially with the new year just around the corner.
Interested in cryptocurrency? Learn more about the basics with our beginner's guide to Bitcoin, dive deeper by learning about Ethereum and see what blockchain can do with our simple guide to DeFi.
Disclosure: The author owns a range of cryptocurrencies at the time of writing
