DailyCryptonews by cryptoborges - 04/02/2021

By Francisco Borges | CryptoNews by cryptoborges | 4 Feb 2021

Investors Still Prefer Stocks To Bitcoin, But BTC Wins Over Gold - Survey

In the US, cryptocurrencies were ranked the fourth most attractive investment in 2021.

During the survey in the first half of January, when BTC surpassed USD 40,000 and ethereum doubled in two weeks, stocks were indicated by 54% out of 1,000 American respondents as the most attractive investment asset.Also, according to the respondents, 401k, certificate of deposits and insurance are the second most attractive form of investing this year, with 35% of answers, followed by real estate, at 31%. Mutual funds were a less popular answer than cryptocurrencies, with 29%, followed by bonds, at 22%.

Investments in commodities such as gold and silver, and foreign exchange, were significantly less popular, with 16% and 11% of answers.

In Japan, crypto was the 5th most popular asset, as people favored other investment vehicles such as Mutual Funds and FX," bitFlyer said. In this market, they surveyed 2,000 people.

Meanwhile, comparing the US and Japan, American respondents demonstrate a more positive perception of cryptocurrencies.

Rare Hashmasks Digital Artwork Sells for $650K in Ether

"The piece itself is chaotic, yet ordered. It invokes a concept of biblical dualism with the demon and halo," said the buyer.

Selling for 420 ETH (roughly $650,000 at the time of purchase on Wednesday), the collectible non-fungible token (NFT)-based artwork is known as a Hashmask.

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“The mask itself is a unique, one-of-a-kind design, and the mystical attributes – character, eye color and skin color – are present in only 0.07% of all Hashmasks,” the artwork’s buyer, Danny – who preferred to not to provide a surname – told CoinDesk via email.

“I’m particularly interested in purchasing ultra-high-end NFTs that are aesthetically pleasing to the eye and scarce,” he said.

The Hashmask platform, from Switzerland-based Suum Cuique Labs, hosts a collection of 16,384 unique digital portraits created by a collective of over 70 artists, according to the its website.

Total crypto market cap hits new all-time high of $1.13 trillion

The combined value of all cryptocurrencies broke a new record of close to $1.139 trillion at 8:50 a.m. UTC on Feb. 4 .

Having broken the $1 trillion milestone early in Jan. 2021, today's crypto market is seeing greater distribution of growth between the top two assets in the game: Bitcoin and Ether.On Jan. 7, the date of the market's $1 trillion breakthrough, Bitcoin dominance clocked in at 69%, versus Ether's 13.5%.

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Ether's relatively stronger market share signals the asset's record performance this week, having scored a new all-time high of $1,653 on Feb. 3. On the same date, Bitcoin dominance was down to 61.6%.