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After momentarily going above $26,000, Bitcoin is back under it and, as of writing, has been trading at $25,983.
Ether, meanwhile, is exchanging hands at $1,642 despite trading aggregator protocol 1Inch investing over $10 million worth of stablecoins from its treasury to purchase 6,088 ETH over the weekend. The total crypto market continues to be just above the $1 trillion mark.
The ongoing weakness comes amidst a generally bearish sentiment among crypto traders and the lack of new catalysts to rally markets.
Bitcoin’s price is currently below its 200-week average, which has the short-term outlook for the largest cryptocurrency to be further downside. With the price making higher highs and higher lows, futures traders have been positioning for a bearish market, while options activity shows traders expect a further downside ever since the start of August.
Expectations for the price dip match with the historically red September. It has been historically the worst month for Bitcoin, with the price failing to record a positive performance since 2016.
But while crypto prices can fall further in the short term, the decline will be limited, according to JPMorgan. The banking giant said in its recent report that the liquidation of long positions is nearing completion. Meanwhile, the crypto asset’s annualized seven-day realized volatility has fallen to 26% from nearly 60% seen early last week.
If we look at the market cap of the top two stablecoins, USDT and USDC, which together account for 87% of the stablecoin market, have been experiencing a decline, painting a bearish picture.
The leading stablecoin, Tether, which accounts for 66.42% of the stablecoin market share, saw its market cap surging from about $4 bln in March 2020 to $83.27 bln in May 2022, only to drop to $65.3 bln in Nov. 2022. On July 27, USDT’s market cap yet again climbed to $83.89 bln, but since then, it has declined some and is currently at $82.78 bln.
As for USDC, which has a 20.6% market share, its market cap increased from $730 mln in March 2020 to $53.45 bln on March 1, 2022, and then declined to $48.45 bln on May 11, 2022. The subsequent jump in market cap took it to its peak of $56.12 bln in late June 2022, only to now be at $26 bln. Between Nov. 2022 and early March 2023, USDC’s market cap did see a couple of jumps, only to continue downwards.
Amidst all this, the largest crypto exchange, Binance, continues to struggle with Mastercard and Visa refusing to issue cryptocurrency payment cards for the platform, which is facing regulatory troubles. In March, the CFTC filed a civil lawsuit against the exchange, and then a few months later, the SEC filed 13 charges against Binance.
Now, a report from The Wall Street Journal this week stated that the cryptocurrency exchange Binance may be considering “a full exit” from Russia amid sanctions from countries including the US.
OMI Declines After Massive Upside in August
Against this bearish backdrop, altcoin OMI, which has a market cap of $269.4 million, has recorded a decline of 8.4% in the past 24 hours to now trade at $0.000994 while managing just over $ 1 million in trading volume, which represents a decrease of 36.80% from a day ago.
The latest losses actually came following a 76% jump in OMI’s price in a matter of a week. At the beginning of the month, OMI was trading at $0.000618, and last Sunday, it went as high as $0.001272. This was a spike of 105.8% in less than a month, so it makes the crypto asset now registering losses.
Despite the latest losses, OMI’s price is still up 23.3% in the past week and 57.5% in the past 30 days.
OMI’s increment in its value during the month of August came after a nearly brutal four months between Feb and June, during which the crypto asset fell more than 52%, which followed a 44.5% jump in price in the first two months of 2023.
Now, OMI is still up 22.5% year-to-date (YTD) while being down 25.5% over the past year. The digital asset is also down 92.6% from its all-time high (ATH) of $0.0134 hit in March 2021.
OMI is an ERC20 token issued by ECOMI, a technology company based in Singapore that aims to lead the way in the emerging digital collectibles space, as well as the protection of digital assets by offering a one-stop store for digital comics and digital collectibles through the VeVe app.
It has a maximum supply of 750 billion, out of which 270.6 billion are currently circulating in the market, as per CoinGecko.
The token is intended for use in the VeVe digital collectibles ecosystem. The digital collectible platform has sold over 8 million NFTs since the beginning of 2021, and a range of international brands, artists, and IP partners are releasing content through the platform. OMI is intended to amplify the collecting experience and provide VeVe collectors with a range of unique ways to build and expand their digital collections.
This way, OMI is a utility token that can be used to access premium analytics and tools with Vemate as well as interact with third-party NFT marketplaces. There’s also an innovative loyalty program called the Master Collector Program within the VeVe digital collectibles ecosystem where OMI can be used.
Click here to learn all about investing in Ecomi (OMI).
The Ongoing Master Collector Program (MCP)
With digital streaming, gaming, and in-app purchasing becoming a multibillion-dollar market, Ecomi believes the collectibles industry and pop culture will be the next to join this digital trend. The company sees digital collectibles as a new asset class that offers intellectual property owners the opportunity for new revenue streams in the digital landscape.
As a result, Ecomi has built VeVe, an app-based marketplace for premium licensed digital collectibles and comics.
When it comes to VeVe, users can obtain common, rare, or one-of-a-kind premium 3D digital collectibles and comics and customize them. Users can not only interact with them in a virtual space but also showcase them in the digital showrooms, which are shared with other collectors through the in-app social Feed.
Besides buying, selling, and trading collectibles and comics with other VeVe users, the platform offers a new way for fans and collectible enthusiasts to engage with their favorite brands and artists. All of this has been made possible by utilizing modern technologies such as blockchain and augmented reality to provide an immersive digital collectibles experience.
So far, the platform has sold more than 8 million digital collectible NFTs over the past two years through licensing partnerships with globally recognized brands such as Marvel, DC, Coca-Cola, and Disney. This has allowed Veve to deliver many first-appearance collectibles and brands to the blockchain.
Currently, VeVe is running the Master Collector Program (MCP), introduced a couple of weeks ago. On Monday, Ecomi took to X (previously Twitter) to share that since Season Zero was first announced, more than 3 Billion OMI have been deposited into the Veve Master Collector Program.
Season Zero, according to the team, is just the first of many OMI token utilities within the VeVe Collectibles ecosystem. It is currently available to all users. To earn MCP Points daily, one just has to hold collectibles and comics.
The Master Collector Program incentivizes user participation and loyalty by rewarding active collectors with in-app perks, rewards, benefits, and advantages, which will expand further in the future.
VeVe Collectors can further supercharge their earned MCP Points by taking advantage of OMI token utilities within the platform. The first available utility is OMI Reward Tiers: Season Zero, which requires Collectors to deposit OMI tokens into the Web Wallet to receive additional daily MCP Points. These points will be counted towards a user’s collector Level and Rank. In the future phases of the program, the project plans to allow these points to be spent to access other features and benefits as they become available and augment waitlist drops.
Besides depositing OMI to the Web Wallet to earn bonus Points, the token is also available for use in external marketplaces, games, and applications such as Immutable X Marketplace, Epiko Marketplace (v2), and Tengoku Senso.
Currently in beta testing, Tengoku Senso is an adventure hack-and-slash game that allows players to collect and enjoy ownership of digital assets based on the game’s IP. Players can fight through the levels to earn the in-game currency (Anima), which can be spent on in-app items once the Tengoku Marketplace is available. In future iterations of the marketplace, players can exchange their Anima for OMI tokens and withdraw them to their wallets or deposit them into other applications such as VeVe.
Ecomi has also introduced Vemate Premium for VeVe collectors who seek more specialized information and data points in their digital collecting journey. The Vemate app is currently available on the web and across mobile devices, and the OMI token holders can access the solution for free.
Progress Made in the VeVe World
While Ecomi is a Singapore-registered company, it is operated and supported by ORBIS Blockchain Technology Ltd, a New Zealand–based organization co-founded by David Yu, Daniel Crothers, and Joseph Janik. The whitepaper for Ecomi was released during the fourth quarter of 2018, and the project held its initial coin offering (ICO) the same year. The next year, OMI’s price fell to its all-time low of $0.00000337.
Besides Veve, another component in the Ecomi ecosystem is the Secure Wallet for users to store and secure their OMI tokens. The wallet employs world-leading security, which is combined with ultra-portability in a world-first credit card-sized cold storage hardware wallet for users to keep their digital assets safe.
The ECOMI Secure Wallet only supports layer 1 OMI tokens. Meanwhile, VeVe uses layer 2 OMI tokens.
Last month, the platform integrated its new provider for Payout, which allows users to withdraw their Gems from VeVe wallet and into the bank account in local currency. Initially made available in early 2022, this feature was available through a different partner at the time. Due to their unforeseen closure, a more robust service provider has been now selected and integrated into the VeVe application.
In July, VeVe also dropped four chibi-style digital collectibles in blind box format, with Stan Lee being one of many digital collectible NFT releases besides Tezuka Productions Astro Boy, Dreamworks Kung Fu Panda, and Disney and Pixar’s The Incredibles.
There was also Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph Arcade Character Series, which was the first series in a collection of five Walt Disney Animation Studio collectible drops. Purchasing a collectible in any of these five drops entitles the holder to one airdropped Pencil per user per series, which together are used to craft one Animation Desk. Users have until December 31, 2023, to acquire all five pencils which will be burned to receive the Animation Desk.
The same month, VeVe returned to San Diego Comic-Con with brand partners Marvel, showing off the Marvel Mighty.
In terms of updates, the team introduced the VeVe Social Feed on the Web app, made UI/UX enhancements, and made various bug fixes, optimizations, and enhancements last month. An MOU was also signed with Alibaba Cloud as VeVe plans to expand the product into China and the greater Asian region.
A big development came in the form of VeVeVerse being released in closed beta. The VeVeVerse, according to the team, is the next step in social connectivity and world-building that will add an entirely new and fully customizable layer to the VeVe Collectibles experience.
Concluding Thoughts
The broad crypto market is showing weakness, with investors pricing for tail risk, which is consistent with the persistent macroeconomic uncertainty. Last Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reaffirmed that the central bank remains committed to hitting the 2% inflation target and signaled that the monetary policy will remain tight for longer than expected.
With majors in red, it doesn’t speak well for altcoins, including OMI, which has started retracing its gains. While the price may suffer in the short term, the project’s continuous development, big partnerships, and growing adoption work in favor of the token!