Bitcoin improvement proposal to block spam draws heat from heavyweights

By Omkar Godbole (All times ET unless indicated otherwise)

A new Bitcoin Improvement Proposal, BIP-110, which seeks to curb spam-like data clogging the blockchain, is facing backlash from some industry leaders who argue it risks damaging the network's reputation more than the spam itself.

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BIP-110 is a "soft fork," a type of upgrade that works smoothly with existing Bitcoin setups without breaking the blockchain. It seeks to set strict temporary limits on non-money data in transactions, particularly Ordinals inscriptions that jam images, videos or tokens into Bitcoin blocks.

Implementing the same could help fight "spam" and unclog the network, making it cheaper for regular people to use, keeping the blockchain focused on payments. The onchain activity has been close to negligible in recent months.

However, Blockstream's CEO, Adam Back, disagrees, calling the proposal an attack on Bitcoin's reputation as reliable money.

"It's worse as it is an attack on bitcoin's credibility as a store of value, it's security credibility, and a lynch mob attempt to push changes there is not consensus for. spam is just an annoyance, it all definitionally fits within the block-size. the op returns are 4x smaller," Back said on X.

Several others echoed this, arguing the fix might hurt trust more than spam does.

In the meantime, markets offer little excitement, as bitcoin continues to trade back and forth between $67,000 and $70,000, with prices approaching the lower end of the range as of writing. The CoinDesk Memecoin Index (CDMEME) is down 3% over 24 hours alongside 1% declines in other major tokens such as ether and BNB.

"The decline of the largest coins is an ominous sign for smaller ones, as it may soon pull them down with it at an accelerated pace," Alex Kuptsikevich, senior market analyst at The FxPro, said in an email.

He added that the market has entered a "stress zone" but has not yet reached the final capitulation stage. "To form a 'true bottom,' a peak in loss-taking and a complete exhaustion of selling pressure are necessary," he noted.

In traditional markets, dollar shorts hit their highest level in over a decade, while the recent decline in the inflation-adjusted yield on the U.S. 10-year note offered hope to battered bitcoin bulls. Stay alert!

Read more: For analysis of today's activity in altcoins and derivatives, see Crypto Markets Today

What to Watch

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

Crypto Feb. 17, 7 p.m.: Rocket Pool to launch its Saturn One upgrade.

Macro Feb. 17, 8:30 a.m.: Canada inflation rate YoY for January (Prev. 2.4%); Core rate YoY (Prev. 2.8%) Feb. 17, 8:30 a.m.: NY Empire State manufacturing index for February est. 7.1 (Prev. 7.7) Feb. 17, 6:50 p.m.: Japan balance of trade for January est.-2.142bn yen (Prev.105.7bn yen)

Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data) Feb. 17: HIVE Digital Technologies (HIVE), pre-market, -$0.07

(Estimates based on FactSet data)

Token Events

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

Governance votes & calls Feb. 17: Jito to host an X Spaces session with Hush Protocol. Feb. 17: Basic Attention Token to host a Brave Talk session on X Spaces. Balancer is voting to swap a signer on the Emergency subDAO multisigs to improve operational responsiveness and security coverage. Voting ends Feb. 17.

Unlocks Feb. 17: YZY $ 0.3296

Token Launches No major launches.



Conferences

For a more comprehensive list of events this week, see CoinDesk's "Crypto Week Ahead".

Day 1 of 3: ETHDenver

Market Movements

BTC is down 1.03% from 4 p.m. ET Monday at $68,131.79 (24hrs: -1.28%)

ETH is down 1.11% at $1,976.32 (24hrs: -0.57%)

CoinDesk 20 is down 1.28% at 1,978.56 (24hrs: -1.03%)

Ether CESR Composite Staking Rate is up 6 bps at 2.84%

BTC funding rate is at 0.002% (2.2119% annualized) on Binance

DXY is up 0.21% at 97.12

Gold futures are down 1.87% at $4,952.10

Silver futures are down 4.19% at $74.70

Nikkei 225 closed down 0.42% at 56,566.49

Hang Seng closed up 0.52% at 26,705.94

FTSE is up 0.37% at 10,512.50

Euro Stoxx 50 is up 0.15% at 5,987.94

DJIA closed on Friday up 0.10% at 49,500.93

S&P 500 closed up 0.05% at 6,836.17

Nasdaq Composite closed down 0.22% at 22,546.67

S&P/TSX Composite closed up 1.87% at 33,073.71

S&P 40 Latin America closed on Monday down 0.64% at 3,717.23

U.S. 10-Year Treasury rate is down 2.7 bps at 4.029%

E-mini S&P 500 futures are down 0.20% at 6,836.50

E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures are down 0.58% at 24,658.75

E-mini Dow Jones Industrial Average Index futures are down 0.02% at 49,560.00

Bitcoin Stats

BTC Dominance: 58.81% (-0.16%)

Ether-bitcoin ratio: 0.02897 (-0.14%)

Hashrate (seven-day moving average): 1,043 EH/s

Hashprice (spot): $34.08

Total fees: 2.22 BTC / $151,829

CME Futures Open Interest: 118,450 BTC

BTC priced in gold: 13.8 oz.

BTC vs gold market cap: 4.53%

Technical Analysis

Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index, BVIV. (TradingView)

The chart shows swings in bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index in candlestick format.

Volatility has cooled significantly, reversing the early month pop to nearly 100%.

The reversal indicates that panic has ebbed and traders are no longer frantically chasing options or hedging bets as in the first six days of the month.

Crypto Equities

Coinbase Global (COIN): closed on Friday at $164.32 (+16.46%), -0.94% at $162.78 in pre-market

Circle Internet (CRCL): closed at $60.04 (+6.02%), -0.35% at $59.83

Galaxy Digital (GLXY): closed at $21.66 (+7.49%), -1.66% at $21.30

Bullish (BLSH): closed at $31.73 (+0.06%), -0.66% at $31.52

MARA Holdings (MARA): closed at $7.92 (+9.24%), -1.14% at $7.83

Riot Platforms (RIOT): closed at $15.22 (+7.18%), -1.18% at $15.04

Core Scientific (CORZ): closed at $17.84 (+2.06%)

CleanSpark (CLSK): closed at $9.85 (+5.80%), -0.81% at $9.77

CoinShares Valkyrie Bitcoin Miners ETF (WGMI): closed at $41.34 (+3.09%)

Exodus Movement (EXOD): closed at $11.27 (+10.60%), -3.02% at $10.93

Crypto Treasury Companies

Strategy (MSTR): closed at $133.88 (+8.85%), -1.60% at $131.74

Strive (ASST): closed at $8.33 (+8.18%), -0.12% at $8.32

SharpLink Gaming (SBET): closed at $6.85 (+4.74%), -2.34% at $6.69

Upexi (UPXI): closed at $0.77 (+3.36%), +5.76% at $0.81

Lite Strategy (LITS): closed at $1.12 (+8.74%)

ETF Flows

Spot BTC ETFs

Daily net flow: $15.1 million

Cumulative net flows: $54.31 billion

Total BTC holdings ~ 1.26 million

Spot ETH ETFs

Daily net flow: $10.2 million

Cumulative net flows: $11.67 billion

Total ETH holdings ~ 5.71 million

Source: Farside Investors

While You Were Sleeping

Bitcoin remains under pressure near $68,000 even as panic ebbs (CoinDesk): Bitcoin is struggling to build any upward momentum, even as the key panic gauge pulls back from its early-month high and hints at renewed stability.

BofA survey flags dollar bearish bets at over a decade high. Here's what it means for bitcoin (CoinDesk): Investors are most bearish on the dollar in over a decade, per Bank of America's latest survey and that extreme bet could breed bitcoin volatility, just not the way crypto bulls have become used to.

Pound and bond yields Fall as weak data Cements rate-cut bets (Bloomberg): The pound is falling below $1.36 after data showed wage growth slowed more than expected to 4.2% in December, while unemployment ticked up.

US and Iran begin nuclear talks in Geneva as threat of war looms (Reuters): Iran's supreme leader warned that U.S. attempts to depose his government would fail, as Washington and Tehran began nuclear talks amid a U.S. military buildup in the Middle East.