Amid fluctuating market conditions, Bitcoin is forging ahead by displaying encouraging signs of decentralization, despite its liquidity challenges. Opening the Tuesday trading day in Asia at $30,366, Bitcoin not only clings onto its strong, over $30K, stance but has also realized an impressive achievement—there are now over one million wallets holding at least one Bitcoin, suggesting a considerable decentralization of this network.
While the count of Bitcoin ‘whales’ diminishes, network activity heightens, as evidenced by various metrics such as miners transferring more coins to exchanges and an increase in addresses with a balance of over 0.1. The rise in such ordinals is adding to the load on the Bitcoin network.
As future data on jobless claims and CPI releases builds anticipation amongst traders, another entity facing its unique trial is Binance.US—deviating from its supposed role as the fiat pipeline for U.S. nationals using Binance. Largely due to suspended fiat pipelines last month, the exchange currently faces a liquidity crunch, resulting in a discount of approximately 9% on Bitcoin and Tether (USDT) trades.
Notable data from research group Kaiko highlights a dramatic plunge of over 60% in available liquidity on Binance.US in June. Big company leaders such as Adrian Wang, CEO at Metalpha, identify the upcoming withdrawal deadline of July 20 as a potential reason for this depegging. However, despite the unprecedented situation, Binance.US users have identified an opportunity—purchasing USDT at a discounted rate and transferring it elsewhere to trade with.
The curious aspect here is why this dilemma hasn’t yet ironed itself out. Why hasn’t it either dipped Tether’s overall value or bolstered the value of USDT on Binance.US? Insights from Tony Ling, co-founder of NFTGo, and a partner at Bizantine Capital, propose that the selling volume isn’t adequate to offset the overall market price. In his words, “There have been more serious price deviations before, and nothing happened in the end.”
As the crypto community globally assesses the unfolding scenarios, there are intriguing movements to observe which underline the future of blockchain markets and technologies and safety measures within the space. Despite minor bumps in the decentralization journey, Bitcoin’s resilience is commendable; however, tightening liquidity conditions and consistent hurdles faced by exchanges like Binance.US cannot be overlooked.
Source: Coindesk
