Market Overview (Dec 2 – Dec 8): Altcoin Season Slows as Tether’s $2B Mint Hints at Turmoil

Key Takeaways:

• Bitcoin is currently trading sideways around the $100K level, with techcoins temporarily losing momentum.
• Altcoins are undergoing slight corrections, while BTC dominance has slightly increased. The Altcoin Season Index has dropped slightly to 76.
• Over $131 million in stablecoin netflows were withdrawn from exchanges in the last 24 hours, and Tether minted an additional $2 billion, signalling potential market volatility this week.

BTC hits $100K, MicroStrategy buys $1.5B worth. US employment rose by 227K, with unemployment at 4.2%. South Korea declares martial law. The market shows BTC sideways trading and altcoins correcting, with a $2B Tether mint suggesting upcoming volatility.

Last week’s Highlights Big News (December 2 – December 8)

BTC Officially Hits $100K

MicroStrategy buys an additional $1.5 billion worth of BTC (15,400 BTC) at approximately $95,976 per Bitcoin. Their average purchase price increases to $58,263 per Bitcoin.

Metaplanet partners with SBI VC Trade to launch a Bitcoin rewards program for shareholders via a lottery system, with a total value of 30 million yen (~$199,500) for 2,350 shareholders.

Wisdom Tree Funds has officially filed an S-1 application with the SEC for the approval of an XRP Spot ETF. Other applicants for an XRP ETF are Bitcoin, 21 Shares, and Canary Funds, besides Wisdom Tree.

Sora Ventures Launches $150M Fund to Execute MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Strategy Across Asia The fund will look to emulate MicroStrategy’s model by deploying Bitcoin as a major reserve asset to optimize financial strategies and grow shareholder value.

The U.S. government transfers 10,000 Bitcoin (~$963 million) to Coinbase. Many believe this is a preparation by the U.S. government to sell this Bitcoin, although it is equally possible they moved it to Coinbase for storage.

The President of South Korea declares martial law and measures to “protect a free South Korea from threats posed by North Korea” and eliminate anti-state elements.

PancakeSwap Launches SpringBoard, a free tool on BNB Chain for creating and trading tokens with no programming experience. The platform eases the process of creating tokens, setting up liquidity, and trading, ensuring maximum transparency and further expanding DeFi.

Sushi DAO has put forward a proposal to gradually diversify its treasury composition from 100% SUSHI to 70% stablecoin (USDT and USDC), 20% Bitcoin and Ethereum each, and 10% to DeFi tokens, like AAVE.

Read more: Market Overview (Nov 25 – Dec 1): Altcoins Rebound as November Ends with Record BTC Gains

Macroeconomic News

U.S. Employment Data increased by 227,000 in November, higher than the expected 214,000, but the unemployment rate rose to 4.2% from 4.1%.

While this may not be ideal for the overall economy, it could be seen as a positive development for the potential of the Federal Reserve (FED) to reduce interest rates in the coming two weeks.

Market Overview

BTC is currently trading in a sideways range around the $100k mark, with techcoins temporarily losing momentum.

Altcoins are experiencing slight corrections following BTC’s movement, while BTC Dominance (BTC.D) has seen a mild uptick.

The Altcoin Season Index has slightly dropped to 76.

Over the past 24 hours, more than $131 million in stablecoin netflow has been withdrawn from exchanges.

Over the weekend, Tether minted an additional $2 billion. This suggests that we may see significant volatility in the market this week.