A precipitous slump in the crypto market like the one witnessed on Friday after China announced its renewed crackdown on crypto-related activities in the country is bound to further demoralize the market. The flagship cryptocurrency, BTC, has slumped to a 6-month low at the $6,700 handle but has slightly recovered to $7,210.67.
Unfortunately, ethereum has taken an even greater beating. In just a week, ethereum plunged from around $182 to below the $150 handle. As the downturn continues, the number of ethereum holders at a profit has significantly declined.
Surprisingly, the amount of ETH locked in DeFi is blossoming despite the market-wide downswing. Could it possibly save the ETH price situation?
Only 10.93% Of ETH Addresses Are In Profit
Ethereum prices have undergone a serious correction in the last couple of weeks with the decline in the broader crypto market placing the coin under intense selling pressure. Looking at the ethereum addresses that are currently “in the money” gives us a bird’s-eye view of the intensity of the crypto massacre.
With the current prices, 89.07% of ETH holders are either at a loss or at break-even points according to data from cryptocurrency analytics service IntoTheBlock. To be precise, 86.48% of holders are at a loss, meaning they are holding ETH tokens with an average purchase price higher than the current $147.48 spot price. This indicates that only 10.93% of ethereum holders – approximately 3.63 million addresses – are holding profits.
In contrast, bitcoin holders are in a better position as it has 57.17% of its holders in profit at the current $7,282.15 price. This shows a stronger position for bitcoin as compared to ethereum.
ETH Recovery Soon?
Decentralized Finance (DeFi) uses smart contracts on a blockchain network to allow cryptocurrency users to give or receive loans to facilitate their activities. Today, the total value of ETH locked in DeFi applications has smashed a $4.4 million record. Many investors are hoping that the soaring DeFi will fuel ethereum’s on-chain activity, subsequently improving the price of ETH.
However, during a market pullback, altcoins often retrace more than bitcoin. Ethereum, for instance, has slipped by at least 20% over a seven-day period. Moreover, as ETH continued its descent on Friday, an estimated volume of 16 million worth of ETH locked in DeFi was liquidated, as noted by trader Alex Kruger.
While the possibility of ETH recovering in the short-term looks bleak, there’s a silver lining: the upcoming Istanbul upgrade estimated to happen on December 7. This highly-anticipated hard fork is set to introduce a couple of improvements like scalability solutions, greater interoperability with Zcash and the transition from a proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism – which will potentially set the stage for the next ethereum bull run.
