June was a bad month for Bitcoin and, by association, the crypto market. Between the Mt Gox distributions and the German government offloading a massive amount of seized bitcoins, the world’s foremost crypto asset saw almost a quarter of its value wiped out. Yet, the overall resilience of the market seems to be improving. According to JPMorgan, even in this tumultuous period crypto finds itself in, miners and stablecoins still performed well, underscoring the wider acceptance and expansion that crypto has undergone in recent years.
Crypto Expansion
Among the many industries that have accepted cryptocurrencies as a payment method and expanded its versatility is the iGaming sector. Between facilitating faster payouts and more private online casino games, it’s also become one of the main selling points behind the booming popularity of non-Gamstop casino sites. According to gambling expert Tim Mirroman, many players prefer non-Gamstop casinos as they cater for a less restrictive and more anonymous experience.
JPMorgan’s recent report underscored how popular, wide-ranging, and robust parts of the crypto industry are becoming as many other coins have begun forging their own markets that can withstand bearish sentiment and even panic selling in Bitcoin. However, despite this, the crypto market did decline in June, which has caused it to lose $18 billion across the board and has left investors worldwide unsettled. As ever, when volatility moments like these rear their head, it tends to infect most of the market across the board as many people still believe crypto may just be a bubble that’s set to burst in its entirety one day.
One of the factors that have startled many investors is the 8% drop in cryptocurrency market capitalisation, which has made it fall to around $2.25 trillion. This drop has meant cryptocurrencies have basically lost all the gains they made in May.
Another factor that has contributed to a decline in crypto prices is that daily spot trading volumes also decreased by 18% in that time. Also, all this occurred during a period where traditional financial markets have been bullish, with the Nasdaq seeing 6% gains, which has all contributed to the many outflows seen among crypto assets.
Miners’ Performance
Amidst all this turmoil, the JPMorgan report has also shown that miners have been a significant exception to the wider contraction of the market. In that time, the total number of publicly listed Bitcoin miners increased by 19% in contrast to the almost 20% decline of the CoinDesk 20 index.
Many factors have contributed to this growth, such as the adoption of artificial intelligence to reduce power costs. An example of this is the 12-year agreement that Core Scientific has signed with CoreWeave to utilise their AI cloud infrastructure to mine tokens, a move that not only triggered a re-rating of this sector but also set off a larger trend of mergers and acquisitions as other miners wanted access to similar solutions.
Stablecoins’ Resilience
Stablecoins have also become an attractive investment during this volatile period as investors are looking for digital assets that can better hold their value during such bloodbaths. Stablecoins, such as USDT, which is known as Tether, and USDD, have, of course, maintained their value since they are pegged to the US dollar and provide investors with a safer option during periods of volatility. Other investors have also been using the safety that stablecoins provide to hedge trades in more volatile tokens, as these coins’ entire appeal rests on the fact that they don’t generally experience major price swings.
Factors like these have contributed toward the market’s confidence in stablecoins that have seen them weather the storm as expected. However, another factor that has played a role in this is their transparency and various use cases, as another branch of cryptocurrencies that are widely accepted by some major eCommerce sites, crypto gambling sites, and large retailers.