Brazil's central bank, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), has announced the selection of 13 participants for the second phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot, called Drex, after its Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) received 42 proposals for it.

Bitcoin’s daily active addresses have dropped to their lowest level in three years, with the number of daily active addresses on the network plunging from nearly 1.2 million to around 838,000 since their March peak.

A significant portion of new Bitcoin investors are currently sitting on unrealized losses, a situation that could potentially lead to substantial selling pressure should the market experience further corrections, according to analysts at Glassnode.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Brazil's Central Bank Launches CBDC Pilot Phase With Visa and Santander
• Bitcoin Network’s Active Addresses Slump to Lowest Level in Three Years
• Short-Term Bitcoin Holders’ Unrealized Losses Could Further Sell-Off: Glassnode
• Spot Trading Volumes Rise To The Highest Level Since May

Brazil's Central Bank Launches CBDC Pilot Phase With Visa and Santander

Brazil's central bank, the Banco Central do Brasil (BCB), has announced the selection of 13 participants for the second phase of its central bank digital currency (CBDC) pilot, called Drex, after its Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) received 42 proposals for it.

The BCB and CVM will jointly oversee the pilot for the country’s CBDC Real Digital, with the BCB managing 11 projects and the CVM supervising two. The second phase will focus on testing the implementation of financial services through smart contracts created and managed by third-party participants on the platform.

Among the selected projects are collaborations with global financial giants like Visa, which will partner with Brazilian brokerage XP and digital bank Nubank to optimize the foreign exchange market. Spanish banking giant Santander has also been chosen to participate in one project related to automobile operations and another on lending and decarbonization. 

Other notable local financial entities involved in the second phase include Bradesco, Itaú Unibanco, and the Brazilian stock exchange, B3. In the third quarter of the year, the BCB is set to call for more firms interested in participating in Drex to join the pilot.

Bitcoin Network’s Active Addresses Slump to Lowest Level in Three Years

Bitcoin’s daily active addresses have dropped to their lowest level in three years, with the number of daily active addresses on the network plunging from nearly 1.2 million to around 838,000 since their March peak.

According to on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, this marks the network’s lowest daily activity tally since 2021, when the price of Bitcoin was hovering around the $45,000 mark.CryptoQuanto contributor Gaah wrote that a decline in the number of daily active addresses “indicates less overall activity on the Bitcoin network, i.e. fewer transactions are taking place.”

The contributor added that less activity on the network also “generally means less volatility, which can lead to periods of price stability.” Bitcoin, he added, has been trading sideways for around 180 days within a range between the $71,000 and $50,000 levels.

Short-Term Bitcoin Holders’ Unrealized Losses Could Further Sell-Off: Glassnode

A significant portion of new Bitcoin investors are currently sitting on unrealized losses, a situation that could potentially lead to substantial selling pressure should the market experience further corrections, according to analysts at Glassnode.

In a recent report, Glassnode analysts warned that "until the spot price reclaims the short-term holder cost basis of $62,400, there is an expectation for further market weakness."

While the overall unrealized losses among all Bitcoin holder cohorts remain historically low, the report highlighted that short-term holders that represent “new demand in the market” are an exception and could face significant pressure.

One key metric that supports this analysis is the short-term holder market value to realized value (MVRV) ratio, which measures the relationship between the current market value and the realized value of coins held by short-term investors.

The MVRV has fallen below the breakeven value of 1.0 and is now trading at levels similar to August 2023, during Bitcoin’s recovery from the collapse of FTX that occurred in November 2022

Binance Volumes Rise For First Time in Five Months

At the end of August, Binance remained the leading centralized cryptocurrency exchange in the combined spot and derivatives market, holding a commanding market share of 38.7%. Following behind were Bybit and OKX, with respective market shares of 14.1% and 13.3%.

While Binance's spot market share saw a slight uptick for the first time in five months, reaching 29%, its derivatives market share experienced a decline for the third consecutive month, falling to 42.7%.

Bybit, on the other hand, continued its growth trajectory, with both its spot and derivatives market shares reaching new all-time highs of 9.89% and 15.9%, respectively.

Dig deeper into the world of cryptocurrency trading with CCData’s latest Exchange Review report.

State of the Crypto by Top Tier Exchange Volume

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