#29: DeFi tokens lead a mixed week for crypto
GM Architects,
Crypto prices and overall volatility were down this week. The Arch Ethereum Web3 token traded 3.57% lower despite DeFi gains (FXS was up 25%), while the Arch Blockchains token was down by 4.10%. Ethereum traded 3.34% lower while Bitcoin was down by 3.88% over the previous seven days.
In this edition, we explore why the future of the internet is decentralized, share the market movers, and deep dive into how crypto players impact the markets.
☕️ A quick weekly overview
- Ethereum records its first deflationary month in history. Data by ultrasound shows a negative supply growth, delivering on the promise made by The Merge.
- ApeCoin DAO is considering pushing back the launch of NFT and ApeCoin (APE) staking to allow for a bug bounty program to the tune of 1 million APE (around $4.5 million dollars).
- Twitter will run a pilot that will allow select NFT marketplaces to test out the Tweet Tiles feature, a tweet format that allows users to display their NFTs directly within tweets.
Bitcoin now as volatile as blue-chip TradFi
Crypto volatility continues to drop, with Bitcoin's 30-day volatility dropping to a two-year low lowering to Nasdaq's and S&P500's levels. The gap between BTC and equities' 30-day and 90-day volatilities has also been shrinking since the second half of September, as shown in research published by Kaiko.
Investors across the board remain cautious, with Fed’s next monetary-policy meeting less than two weeks away. However, the crypto market is less responsive to macroeconomic problems than other asset classes.
And while prices continue to trade flat, the industry is keeping up with new developments and innovations. Celestia, a blockchain scaling startup, just raised $55 million to power up its Web3 developments, while Rarible, the NFT marketplace, updated its platform.
⛓ CHAIN is down 4.10%, but Polygon is up on zkEVM, tradFi partnership news
The Arch Blockchains token (CHAIN) traded 4.10% lower this week
- Polygon (MATIC) is up 4%. Nubank, a fintech bank based in Brazil, has announced it's set to launch its digital token called Aucoin, which will be available by the first half of 2023 on the Polygon's chain. On the other hand, Polygon also announced their zkEVM testnet last week, showing its commitment to the zk-chain race.
- Solana's (SOL) price continues to go down, and while some of it could be explained by the general market outlook, the frequent outages highlight a network issue. The network's total value locked (TVL), which measures the amount deposited in its smart contracts, broke to its lowest level since September 2021. Similarly, its NFT trading volume has dropped. Its monthly volume peaked at $299 million in January and then plunged to $129 million in September.
📈 DeFi tokens rallied, while infrastructure and metaverse assets were down
At the time of writing, The Arch Ethereum Web3 token (WEB3) traded 3.57% lower, with Frax Share being the top performer constituent.
- Frax Share (FXS) is trading more than 25% higher this week, making it one of the best performers within the crypto market. This comes after the launch of frxETH, a liquid staking derivative that looks to give users a sustainable source of yield and aspires to dominate the ETH staking derivative landscape.
- Lido DAO (LDO), the popular liquid staking platform, is having a comeback after a couple of weeks of trading in the red. The protocol is now trading over 19.64% higher than in the last seven days.
- Curve DAO (CRV) is also leading this DeFi token rally, trading over 10.80% higher than in the last seven days. This comes after a proposal to enable rewards originating from stablecoin swap application Curve on third-party applications passed with overwhelming support from the community earlier Wednesday. The deployment would massively reduce the time required to deploy and manage CRV rewards to third-party applications.
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🌐 The future of the internet is decentralized
The internet is, without a doubt, one of the fundamental bases of the digital world. We can all agree that since the internet was created, the world has changed.
Check out this post from Nicolas Jaramillo that explores the evolution of the Web and the top Web3 players.
⚾ Hedge Funds, Miners, Hodlers - Who runs crypto?
From a speculative asset to an investment vehicle, the value and use cases of crypto continue to develop, and with them the dominance of different types of players.
In this article, we explore how the main players have evolved and what impact they have market cycles of Bitcoin and other digital assets
--> 📚🤓 Take a deep dive into how players impact crypto cycles
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed are for general informational purposes only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations. The views reflected in the commentary are subject to change without notice.