Fantom (FTM) surpasses $12 billion in TVL – Is it the most important competitor for Ethereum?

Fantom (FTM) appears to be flexing its muscle as the next big thing. The blockchain is billed as the most direct competitor for Ethereum and based on recent events, it seems it’s living to that billing. Although the project is down today due to broader headwinds in crypto, it is looking like a good bet for the future. Here are some highlights:

  • Fantom (FTM) has surpassed $12 billion in Total Value Look, making it one of the most valuable DeFi out there.

  • The recent surge means that FTM’s TVL is now higher than that of Solana and Avalanche.

  • With this trend, Fantom (FTM) looks poised to compete directly with Ethereum in the near term.

Data Source: Tradingview.com 

Fantom (FTM) – Where does it go next

The price action in the broader crypto market has remained quite bearish. Most coins have tumbled, and FTM is not any different. At the time of writing, it was trading at $1.97, down nearly 11% in 24-hour intraday trading. 

But more importantly, FTM has now surged past $12 billion in total value locked. This makes it bigger than Solana and Avalanche in terms of TVL. Shortly after the news was announced, FTM surged by 17% albeit sentiment in broader crypto has weighed on the price, sending it tumbling in the last 24 hours. But despite this, this is a good sign that Fantom is growing and growing fast.

Should you buy Fantom FTM?

Yes, with the kind of growth we have seen in FTM over the last few months, you should have it in your portfolio. The fact that the token is down right now means that you have a rare chance to get in on a discount. This is a long-term play for folks who are looking for Ethereum alternatives.

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Olympus (OHM) hits point of no return, dips nearly 95% from all-time highs

Olympus (OHM) is closely edging towards the point of no return as downward pressure on the price continues to persist. The DAO token is falling sharply, and as sentiment in the market continues to favour a risk-off mentality, it may take a lot of time before OMH recovers. Here are some notable highlights:

At the time of writing, OMH was trading at $64.81, down about 4% in 24-hour intraday trading.

Also, Olympus (OHM) is now trading at over 90% lower from its all-time highs.

The crypto market crash is likely to make the price action even worse, with negative pressure expected in the coming days.

Data Source: Coinmarketcap.com 

Olympus (OHM) – Can it recover?

Many coins have tumbled in the market over the past few weeks. Some are even way lower than all-time highs. So, this is not something unique to Olympus (OHM). But it is worrying to see such a speedy drop in fact, at press time the coin was trading nearly 95% from all-time highs. 

However, even amidst these headwinds, the project has been trying to build up, launching a new 12-month plan designed to usher in a “stronger ecosystem”. Whether this will do anything to lift the downward pressure remains to be seen. But so far, it looks like OMH may be getting into the point of no return.

Should you buy Olympus (OHM)?

Olympus (OHM), for those of you who don’t know about it, is a platform designed to incentivise users to stake the native OHM token. The hope is that OHM will grow to become a crypto reserve, the same way the US dollar is. This sounds a bit far-fetched but when the project launched, it had a huge following. At the moment, it may not be the right time to buy Olympus (OHM) given the headwinds in the market.

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Is $1.5 the next low for Fantom (FTM/USD)?

  • FTM/USD is down 7.83% in the past 24 hours and 33% in the last seven days
  • The crypto token sits at the support of $2.0 in a bearish market
  • $1.50 is the next support level if FTM/USD breaks below the consolidation zone

Fantom’s token FTM/USD has been on a strong rally since December 21, when all other cryptocurrencies were experiencing major weaknesses. It rose from a low of around $1.35 on December 21 to a high of $3.37 on January 17.

However, the token faced bearish pressure and has been dropping since then. At the current trading of around $2.0, FTM/USD has dropped by more than 7% in the past 24 hours, extending losses in the week to at least 33%.

FTM/USD technical analysis – $2.0 is the established support

Source – TradingView

Looking at the daily chart above, FTM/USD has retreated to the support of $2.0. It attempted to rebound before retesting the support again in price weakness that has engulfed the entire cryptocurrency industry. The overall weakness has been connected to the upcoming policy tightening by Fed aiming to tame the rising inflation.

Although FTM/USD is rebounding from the support, it still faces bearish pressure, with the 9-day, 14-day, and 20-day providing resistance. A short-term resistance also exists at the $2.39 level and could constrain prices. We need to watch the close of the candlestick on the daily chart to confirm a trend reversal or continuation.

Summary

Based on the technical pointers, FTM/USD presents a buying opportunity if the $2.0 level holds. A price action signal such as the formation of a bullish pin bar at the support could signal a trend reversal and take FTM/USD higher.

Nonetheless, FTM/USD could break below the support if crypto weakness continues. A break below the current level would see the token claim the $1.5 zone, which is the next support.

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Should you buy Shiba Inu as the price get stuck along the support

5 Reasons Why You Should Buy Shiba Inu Today for 2022 Gains

Weak volatility and average momentum are some of the most influential factors that alter the general market sentiment. And to be able to distinguish between a trending market and a range-bound market, you ought to understand the volatility condition of the market.

In general, strong market volatility aided the price action of the meme coin to plunge against the US dollar. And why you might be wondering about what reward you stand to gain when you buy SHIBA INU. Read below to discover the reason why Shiba Inu should be considered as a good buy asset.

Technical levels to watch before buying Shiba Inu

Source – TradingView

From the 4-hour chart, the price action of the meme coin has been plugging to the South after printing a series of lower highs into support.

In addition, the price of the asset couldn’t stop the sellers from plummeting its value downward after a strong bearish pressure helped to stimulate the price action to the south. At the moment, the long-term bearish price action of the asset would have been considered to have found a resting point at $0.0002048 support. Conversely, this could be the right place to take a long position if at all, the price of the asset should bounce beyond this price target.

However, support and resistance exist at $0.0001972 while resistance resides at $0.00002598. In general, a break above the resistance will serve as the right place to create a buy order as this would confirm the beginning of a bullish market.

Final thoughts

The price action of the asset hasn’t shown a significant sign of going long yet. As it’s currently trading along with the horizontal support. Thus a break below the support will enable the value of the asset to continue its bearish rally further. While on the other hand, if the price should bounce off the support it’ll hit immediate resistance at $0.00002598.

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5 Reasons why you should buy Terra

 What do you turn to in a period of incessant dips and reds? Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to non-digital assets. Unlike most cryptocurrencies, they can remain stable in the face of dips. So, if you are looking to invest in a stablecoin amidst the endless pool of stablecoins, why not invest in Terra instead?

 Terra is a layer-1 blockchain platform that supports smart contracts and enables the creation of various stablecoins. It aims to serve as a base layer for the fintech ecosystem. These stablecoins are stabilised by algorithms and are used for payment purposes. They run on a seigniorage mechanism.

 The development of Terra began in 2018 by Terraform Labs‘ Do Kwon and Daniel Shin. The whitepaper was in April 2019; the same month, the mainnet was launched. Terra is widely used in South Korea and its environs. It is very popular in the Asian e-commerce market.

1. Terra works in a unique way

 Unlike most stablecoins, Terra uses smart contract algorithms to maintain the supply of its stablecoins. The stablecoins are collateralised by LUNA rather than their fiat currency equivalents. In essence, every stablecoin is pegged to LUNA. Terra serves as an intermediary for swapping between stablecoins and LUNA and vice versa, thereby helping to maintain supply.

 To mint stablecoins on Terra, you need the LUNA equivalent of the amount you want to mint. Minting stablecoins generate seigniorage. This allocates a small portion of the LUNA used for minting into the community treasury, which is then used to incentivise mining on the network. Seigniorage is essential in minting, burning, and maintaining the supply and price of stablecoins.

 As with other cryptocurrencies that burn, it is a deflationary measure to stabilise the economy. The community treasury also serves in reinvesting in apps that use UST. A decrease in demand causes the Terra algorithm to increase fees, automatically stabilising the network. It has an average block time of six seconds.

 All transactions pay gas fees that are set by the validators. Transactions involving stablecoins on non-market swaps cost stability fees, and spread fees are paid on market swaps. Rewards are earned through gas, fees, and seigniorage rewards. Trading LUNA and stablecoins help maintain the supply of the stablecoins.

2. Terra uses an eco-friendly consensus algorithm for its operations

 The blockchain is created using the Cosmos software development kit. The platform is run by its stakeholders. It uses the eco-friendly proof-of-stake consensus algorithm- Tendermint Delegated Proof-of-Stake. This involves using a group of decentralised validators who verify transactions in exchange for rewards. Terra had about 130 validators in October 2021.

 Users can delegate their tokens to a validator, ensuring security by validating transactions. These validators determine the percentage of the rewards that will go to their delegators. The token exists in three states- the unbonded (when it can be traded freely), the bonded (when it is staked for rewards), and the unbonding (21 days during which unstaking occurs).

 Both validators and delegators can govern the network depending on their delegated tokens. The rewards for validators and delegators are derived from Terra taxes. Validators can be slashed if they are caught in any malicious behaviour. This affects the stake of their delegators as it is slashed too.

 3. Terra’s ecosystem is still young and growing

 Terra’s ecosystem is made of stablecoins, native wallet, investment platforms, Mirror Finance, payment apps, and bridges, among other projects. Terra has hosted over 100 projects, including DeFi, NFTs, and Web 3.0.

 As stated earlier, Terra supports the creation of stablecoins backed by algorithms and an elastic money supply mechanism. TerraUSD, TerraKRW, TerraCNY, TerraMNT, TerraSDR, and TerraJBY are some of the stablecoins that have been minted on Terra. UST is the fourth-highest stablecoin by market cap and is ranked 16th right now.

 Terra station is the native non-custodial wallet of Terra. It allows users to interact with the blockchain, including funding, staking, and participating in governance. Users can also see their transaction volume, staking rewards, and active accounts.

 It also serves as a host to the CHAI payment app, which aids frictionless transactions. It supports interoperability through the Terra Bridge, which links Terra to BSC, Ethereum, and Harmony, with plans to add Solana soon. Terra Bridge is a cross-chain system. Also, it has integrated the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol for interacting with other protocols in the Cosmos network.

 Anchor Protocol is a fixed yield platform that supports payments, investments, and savings. Users can enjoy a stable interest of 20% APY on investments. It also supports margin trading and short-term loans. Mirror Finance enables the deployment of mirrored assets (mAssets), which aids trading and tracking real-world assets. It has Shuttle Bridge, which can move mAssets to the Ethereum blockchain.

 Other notable projects on the ecosystem are Ozone, Terraswap, Wormhole Token Bridge, LoTerra, Lido, ApolloDAO, and many more.

4. Terra is backed by trustworthy investors and partners

 In August 2018, Terra had a private sale that saw the likes of Binance Labs, Huobi Capital, OKEx, and Dunamu & Partners invest about $32 million. And due to the notable partnerships, it is forming, and it is gaining traction. CHAI, BC Card, Voyager Digital, Bison Trails, Qoo10, Axelar, Woowa Brothers, Bugs, Carousell, and Singsang Market have partnered with the network.

 Arrington XRP Capital Hashed and Lightspeed Ventures, Lunex Ventures, BlockTower Capital, and Galaxy Capital have also invested in Terra. They invested over $150 million in its ecosystem fund. Terra has over $1.2 trillion of assets locked across protocols in the ecosystem right now.

5. LUNA; the multipurpose native token

 In February 2019, LUNA was sold to the public for $0.8. Three years later, today, it is worth $69.13 with a market cap of $27.8 billion. Over 380 million LUNA was minted at launch, and 10% was allocated to Terraform Labs, 26% was given to project backers, 4% for genesis liquidity, and 20% each for project contributors Terra Alliance, and price stability reserve. There is a max supply of 1 billion, and 403.4 million is in circulation right now.

 LUNA is used to maintain the stability of the stablecoins by absorbing volatility. It serves as a reward for validators and delegators. It is used to secure and run the network. Also, it can be staked and used as a governance token. LUNA serves utility functions as well.

 It is one of the top ten cryptocurrencies by market cap. It peaked at $103.34 in December 2021.

Ending Note

 Due to its less volatility, it is a worthy investment. Terra (LUNA) is currently very prominent in Asia, but as it expands to other regions, the need for LUNA will also increase. Although LUNA is not a stablecoin, its job in the ecosystem would impact its price dynamic in the long run.

 As appealing as Terra is, don’t dive in without proper research. It would be nice to know this helped make the big decision, but it shouldn’t be the only thing you consult. Don’t forget to deal wisely, the crypto market is extremely risky.

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