Top-Heavy Crypto Market Structure; Intel Takes Crypto Mining Industry by Storm

Chart of the Day

On Tuesday, the broader crypto market took a further plunge amid the escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine following the former's recognition of two self-proclaimed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine that seems to have antagonized the West. After having already dipped so much over the past weekend, BTC has further shed 5% of its market value within the last 24 hours, and is currently trading precariously around the $37k handle (as of the time of writing). In a similar vein, ETH has dropped from the $2,700 level over the past 24 hours to test the resistance near the $2,500 level, whilst many major altcoins also suffered heavy double-digit percentage losses over a similar timeframe. Additionally, and in looking at some key on-chain metrics, the BTC UTXO Realized Price Distribution chart reveals that the current crypto market structure is extremely top-heavy. This means that unless there is a corresponding influx of on-chain demand, the high concentration of supply held by short-term BTC holders whose cost bases sit around the $42k to $50k range would likely become an overwhelming source of sell-side pressure. Ultimately, said demand wave looks unlikely to come through anytime soon as most investors around the world seem to already be taking on risk-off stances on the back of the deteriorating macroeconomic conditions currently plaguing the different markets.