BTC is currently trading around $23,800 and ETH around $1,650. Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are OKT, AGIX, and HT. The global crypto market cap is ~$1.14T, down ~1.2% over the last day. DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$50b and BTC dominance is around 44%.
It’s a rough end to the week for risk appetite as markets fell sharply following a worse-than-expected Core PCE release. The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation accelerated to 0.6% in January, coming in hotter than December’s 0.4% level despite markets anticipating another 0.4% reading this month. Risk markets retreated as investors digested the hottest reading since August. Equities are down 1% to 2%, crypto is down ~1.2%, the U.S. dollar is higher against all major pairs, and developed market bond yields are substantially higher with few caveats, like Japan. Fed Funds futures are pricing a 15% higher chance of a 50 bp hike at the next FOMC meeting relative to last week. Market implied probabilities now suggest a 67% chance of a 25 bp hike and a 33% chance of a 50 bp hike.
Notable news includes: Coinbase unveiled its new Ethereum L2 scaling network called Base that is built leveraging Optimism’s OP Stack; Sam Bankman-Fried is facing four additional charges in a new superseding indictment that was unsealed yesterday; Custodia Bank received a second rejection notice from the Federal Reserve, denying Custodia’s request for reconsideration after being denied in January; the FTC launched an investigation into Voyager’s allegedly deceptive marketing tactics; FTX Japan reported $50m in withdrawals since Feb 21; Binance liquidated the positions of ~500 Australian users who were incorrectly classified as “wholesale investors” per local regulations; HashKey obtained SFC approval to expand its OTC trading solutions in Hong Kong; Yearn teased an Ethereum liquid staking product; Blur has taken a staggering 82% of the total NFT volume share over the past week; Dapper Labs laid off another 20% of its staff; and, a Massachusetts-based municipal employee was charged after mining crypto in a school’s crawl space.
Authors:
Matt Kunke, Junior Strategist | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
Brian Rudick, Senior Strategist | Twitter, Telegram, LinkedIn
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