Bitcoin, Ethereum, Cosmos and more Week 12 2024
All things crypto, web3 and blockchain across all the Coin Clubs
TLDR: Bitcoin ETF’s Negative Net Cash Flow, Grayscale GBTC Liquidates $2B, MakerDAO Introduces Endgame for $DAI, The SEC Launches Campaign Against Ethereum, MANTRA Chain $11M Funding to Drive Tokenization of RWA’s, SOURCE Verified on Osmosis, Ark Invest Rebalances Its Investment Portfolio & TON Launches Incentives Program.
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Market & Airdrop Update
Before we dive in, make sure to check out our recent Market and Airdrop update:
Bitcoin Highlights of the Week
Bitcoin ETF’s Negative Net Cash Flow
The introduction of BTC exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has significantly fueled the recent cryptocurrency surge. Since their launch on January 11th; BTC ETFs have witnessed a net inflow of $11.3B. Naturally, this impacted the BTC price, which in the same period surged from $42,700 to $62,700, marking a 46.8% increase. However, it seems the pumping has halted for now. BTC ETFs have experienced four consecutive days of outflows. Consequently, BTC has seen an 8% decline over the week.
Its been a challenging week for the BTC ETF’s; in particularly Grayscale. Grayscales’ GBTC sees significant outflows with nearly $2 billion exiting GBTC. This event contributed to a challenging week of overall ETF outflows, yet analysts believe the worst may have passed.
Coinbase Launches Bitcoin Futures
Coinbase Derivatives plans to initiate futures trading for Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash starting April 1st. The exchange is utilizing self-certification with the CFTC to expedite listing, ensuring adherence to regulatory standards. These selections likely stem from their derivation from Bitcoin, recognized as a commodity by the SEC.
Pension Funds Diversification into Bitcoin
The largest pension fund in the world, Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF), has begun considering Bitcoin as a potential asset for diversification. With total assets under management exceeding $1.5 trillion, even a modest allocation of 1% to Bitcoin could significantly impact BTC's market price quite significantly. These developments underscore the accelerating institutional adoption of cryptocurrencies.
VanEck Bitcoin ETF Sale Sparks Frenzy
VanEck Bitcoin Trust (HODL) announced a zero-fee policy for its Bitcoin ETF over the next 12 months. This move has led to a twentyfold surge in trading volume compared to their typical average.
Ethereum Highlights of the Week
MakerDAO Introduces Endgame for $DAI
MakerDAO, a leading DeFi platform established in 2014 and known for its stablecoin DAI, has dedicated significant efforts over the past year to streamline its mission and elevate its goals. This they call; The Endgame. The Endgame initiative aims to draw in fresh users and capital to the protocol by broadening its applications and enhancing incentives. This endeavor seeks to enhance DAI’s standing within the industry, boosting its market share to rival centralized stablecoins such as USDT and USDC, while simultaneously decreasing dependency on centralized collateral.
Daily trading volume on the Ethereum Layer 2 network, Base, surged to a record $356 million on Tuesday, marking a 51% increase from Monday's levels. Base's total value locked (TVL) also reached an all-time high of $745.3 million. Analytics platform Dune reported that the network processed 1.65 million daily transactions and onboarded nearly 130,000 new users on Wednesday. The Base network witnessed significant activity growth earlier this month following the Dencun upgrade, with transaction volumes exceeding 1 million on March 17, up from around 440,000 prior to the Ethereum upgrade.
Immutable and Polygon Labs Launches Gaming Fund
Immutable, Polygon Labs, and King River Capital have joined forces to introduce the Inevitable Games Fund (IGF), a $100 million initiative targeting growth opportunities in the web gaming industry. The fund is designed for select progressive and sophisticated investors and will be overseen by King River Capital. Drawing on their respective strengths, Polygon and Immutable will contribute their expertise in the GameFi sector to drive the fund's investment strategy.
An Alien CryptoPunk was sold for $16.4 million, marking the second-largest sale in the history of CryptoPunks, both in terms of ETH and USD. The transaction, which involved Punk 7804, was finalized with a sale price of 4,850 ETH.
The SEC Launches Campaign Against Ethereum
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is vigorously pursuing a legal initiative aimed at categorizing Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, as a security. This development, revealed through subpoenas received by U.S. companies involved in the investigation, dampens the crypto industry's optimism regarding the SEC's approval of Ethereum ETF applications, particularly after its recent approval of several Bitcoin ETFs in January.
Cosmos Highlights of the Week
MANTRA Chain $11M Funding to Drive Tokenization of RWA’s
MANTRA Chain secured $11 million to develop a network focused on real-world assets, a sector blending traditional finance with crypto that is gaining attention. The project is nearing regulatory approval in the Middle East, with Dubai’s crypto regulator VARA closing in on issuing their license.
Persistence One Adopts Bitcoin Security
Persistence One has announced its decision to implement BTC Security via Babylon to safeguard its Cosmos L1. Babylon is a pioneering protocol facilitating Bitcoin staking across conventional PoS chains.
This week, Osmosis verified $SOURCE for its DEX. This allows for easier swapping of SOURCE tokens, participation in the Cosmos ecosystem and staking $SOURCE. SOURCE is a standalone, layer 1, proof-of-stake blockchain, based in the Cosmos Hub IBC ecosystem.
NIM Network Genesis Rolldrop Goes Live
The NIM Network Genesis Rolldrop has commenced. More than 500,000 addresses are eligible to claim NIM. The largest beneficiary group in the NIM drop is $DYM Stakers.
Neutron Launches Community Program
Neutron acknowledges the efforts of its community members. In doing so, Neutron has launched a Community Program where developers and content creators can receive rewards.
Other Highlights of the Week
Keyring Raises $6M to Regulate DeFi
Keyring, a London-based crypto start-up, has secured $6M in funding ahead of their goal to provide regulation solutions to investors in DeFi. Keyring enables institutional investors to adhere to regulatory requirements while engaging with DeFi. Recently, it conducted a proof of concept trial with Nomura's crypto division, Laser Digital, by constructing a compliance wrapper for the USDC stablecoin.
Ark Invest Rebalances Its Investment Portfolio
Ark Invest divested 199,526 Coinbase shares valued at $52.3 million across three of its exchange-traded funds this, as per the company’s latest trade filing. The Cathie Wood-led investment firm sold 133,533 shares worth $35 million from its Innovation ETF (ARKK), 59,215 shares valued at $15.5 million from its Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW), and 6,778 shares worth $1.8 million from its Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF). This marks the first time Ark has sold Coinbase shares since divesting $27 million worth of COIN on March 13th. Ark’s investment strategy aims to prevent any single holding from exceeding 10% of an ETF's portfolio, ensuring diversification. Therefore, it is likely to continue rebalancing its fund weightings if COIN's price continues to rise.
TON Launches Incentives Program
The TON Foundation is rolling out a $124 million incentives initiative, distributing 30 million Toncoin tokens via its “Open League” program to stimulate development and user involvement on The Open Network. This initiative targets developers and dApp users with rewards structured around seasonal cycles, offering $15 million for developers and $22 million for dApp users, aiming to enrich TON's ecosystem and demonstrate its potential for widespread consumer adoption. Over the span of four weeks, TON's Total Value Locked (TVL) has surged by 133%, accompanied by a 53% increase in Toncoin's price within two weeks, nearing its peak, prompted by Telegram's announcement of revenue sharing with channel owners via Toncoin.