Bitcoin price stumbles as institutional investors slow down their stablecoin accumulation. A crypto user accidentally spent about $90,000 on transaction fees for a small transfer despite Ethereum transaction fees dropping to levels not seen in five years. Meanwhile, US regulators delayed a decision regarding the listing of the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF.
What’s Happening on the Stablecoin Front?
Institutional investors halted their stablecoin accumulation in the last two days, causing Bitcoin’s price to fall below a significant psychological level. In the past 24 hours, Bitcoin price dropped by 3.9%, trading at $58,930 as of August 12, down from a weekly high of $62,510.
According to an X post from blockchain data analytics platform Lookonchain on August 12, the drop below the $60,000 level likely resulted from institutions halting their stablecoin buying spree:
“Institutions seem to have temporarily stopped buying, and Bitcoin’s price fell by 4.5% today. We noticed that institutions stopped buying USDT from Tether Treasury and transferring it to exchanges two days ago.”
The lack of institutional stablecoin inflow to crypto exchanges could indicate a lack of buying pressure and investor appetite for the underlying asset, as stablecoins are the main entry point from fiat currency to the crypto world for investors.
Major Mistake by a Web3 User
A crypto user appears to have accidentally spent $90,000 in transaction fees for what should have been a simple $2,200 Ethereum transfer. According to Etherscan data cited in an X post by DeFiac on August 11, the user spent 34.26 Ethereum worth $89,200 in transaction fees to transfer 0.87 ETH.
At the time of writing, transaction fees on the Ethereum network are at annual lows between 2 to 4 gwei, meaning an Ethereum transfer should cost no more than $5. In percentage terms, the user overpaid by more than 1,783,900%. This occurred despite recent reports indicating Ethereum transaction fees have reached five-year lows, dropping below 1 Gwei.
Significant Development in the ETF Field
According to a regulatory filing dated August 9, US regulators delayed their decision on whether to approve the listing of the Hashdex Nasdaq Crypto Index ETF, a portfolio including the top ten crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The ETF proposal is significant because, if approved, it would be the first diversified spot crypto fund traded in US markets. It would also be the first US spot ETF fund holding altcoin projects like Litecoin, Chainlink, Uniswap, and Filecoin.
According to the proposal, the ETF fund is designed to track the Nasdaq Crypto US Index, representing a portfolio of crypto assets weighted by total market value. The SEC approved several spot Bitcoin ETF funds in January and gave the green light to spot Ethereum funds about six months later. According to industry data, the funds currently hold assets worth approximately $65 billion.
