BTC is currently trading around $20,800 and ETH around $1,550. Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are KAVA, ENJ, and APT. The global crypto market cap is ~$1.00T, down ~3.2% over the last day. DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$44b and BTC dominance is around 43%.
Risk assets are heading lower as fears of an economic slowdown overshadowed the positive read-throughs to lower inflation. Fed officials’ comments were notably mixed yesterday, with Lorie Logan and Patrick Harker making a case for a decreased 25 bp rate hike. Conversely, Loretta Mester and James Bullard were distinguishably more hawkish. Bullard specifically vouched for 50 bps as he favors ‘front-loading’ hikes. Despite this, Fed Funds futures continue to price in a ~95% chance of a 25 bp hike at the February FOMC meeting.
Yesterday morning was particularly dramatic for crypto markets as the DoJ announced that it would disclose “a major, international cryptocurrency enforcement action” at noon EST. The pre-announcement shook crypto markets, causing a ~5% selloff in BTC & ETH as investors de-risked exposure ahead of the press conference. Crypto markets were positively surprised and quickly rebounded as the enforcement action was against a largely unfamiliar Russian crypto exchange for violating anti-money laundering requirements. BTC & ETH dwindled lower after the initial pop, essentially moving sideways since yesterday afternoon.
Notable news includes: Genesis’s creditors are reportedly negotiating a prepackaged bankruptcy; the National Bank of Australia revealed it will launch an AUD-backed stablecoin on Ethereum and Algorand; CFTC Commissioner Goldsmith Romero asked the U.S. Senate to deny crypto exchanges the ability to self-certify products for listing; Russia’s crypto mining bill has stalled according to the Finance Ministry; CoinDesk is reportedly musing a sale as its parent company DCG seeks to strengthen its balance sheet; BitMart joined Copper’s ClearLoop network; Bitget rolled out a $300m auditable protection fund, proof of reserves, and a fund custody service; OKX revealed $7.2b of clean assets in its latest proof of reserves report; Amber Group cut its Hong Kong workforce by 50%; zkSync revealed its integrating Espresso Systems’s technology to enable private transactions; Avalanche’s Trader Joe announced a path to improving the value accrual of its token; Osmosis revealed plans to improve cross-chain trade efficiency with its Neon upgrade; ENS DAO proposed liquidating 10k ETH to fund operating costs for the next two years; MakerDAO is voting to limit DAI’s exposure to Gemini’s GUSD stablecoin; BTC bridged to Avalanche now exceeds BTC deposited in the Lightning network; Yuga Labs blacklisted NFT marketplaces that do not support project royalties in advance of its Sewer Pass mint; Rarible expanded its NFT marketplace builder to Polygon-based collections; Flashbots is seeking to raise up to $50m at a $1b valuation; Deal Box launched a $125m web3 venture fund; 21Shares debuted its crypto staking index ETP on the BX Swiss stock exchange; and, more than one-third of U.S. Congress received donations from FTX.
Authors:
Matt Kunke, Junior Strategist | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
Brian Rudick, Senior Strategist | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
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