Crypto Market Pulse (24/10/2023)

BTC tops US$34K, marking a 16-month high. Reddit ends its token-based Community Points programme. Lightning Labs’s Taproot Assets to enable RWAs on the Bitcoin network.

Weekly Market Index

Last week’s crypto market prices rose by +9.32%. Volume and volatility also increased by +48.49% and +47.00%, respectively.

Chart of the Week

Bitcoin’s price has surged to a 16-month high and topped US$34K. A main reason behind this is likely the swell of optimism surrounding spot Bitcoin exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) in the US. For example, there is the recent court ruling in favor of Grayscale that the SEC will reconsider the conversion of GBTC to a spot ETF. Also, BlackRock’s proposed ETF showed up on a Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. website with an assigned unique ID number – something that doesn’t mean its ETF was approved but a step some interpreted as a sign of the company’s confidence.

Weekly Performance

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) rose by +21.2% and +12.4%, respectively, in the past seven days. Other selected top-cap tokens also gained in price.

Selected key categories all increased in terms of market cap, in the past seven days.

News Highlights

• There have been more developments in Bitcoin spot exchange-traded-funds (ETF). For instance, the BlackRock ETF has just shown up on the website of Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. – a key market utility in the US that processes all securities transactions. 
• Reddit announced the end of its Community Points program, citing “scalability limitations” and an uncertain regulatory landscape. The program involved users earning tokens (e.g. MOON, BRICK) for activities like posting and commenting in particular subreddit forums. 
• Bitcoin Layer-2 infrastructure firm Lightning Labs has released the mainnet alpha of Taproot Assets, a protocol aimed at enabling stablecoins and real-world assets to be issued on the Bitcoin and Lightning Network.
• Deutsche Telekom, one of Europe’s largest telecommunications companies, announced a partnership with Layer-1 blockchain provider MultiverseX. The German telecommunications giant will join a list of validators responsible for maintaining the network’s security.

Recent Research Reports

• Research Roundup Newsletter [September 2023]: We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring trending market insights in September, charts of the month, and our insights on the Ethereum Dencun upgrade.
• Ethereum: Dencun Upgrade and Proto-Danksharding: Ethereum’s next major upgrade is Dencun, which introduces Proto-Danksharding. We explore what it is and its benefits.
• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [September 2023]: Risk assets end 3Q 2023 mostly down on a QoQ basis, but YTD paints a more positive picture. Inflation retreats. US avoids a government shutdown.

Recent University Articles

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• What Is Impermanent Loss? How to Manage It in DeFi Liquidity Pools: Learn about Impermanent Loss, a crucial concept in DeFi liquidity pools, and how to navigate and leverage it.
• What Are Dapps? Decoding Decentralised Applications: Dapps are changing the way users interact with applications and the internet as a whole — learn how they leverage decentralisation and which platforms are popular right now.

Catalyst Calendar

Author

Research and Insights Team

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