Coin360 Daily Dispatch | Crypto Market Updates & Highlights | April 17, 2024

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Crypto Market Update

Table of Contents

Crypto Market Updates

• Bitcoin Navigates Tough Market Waters
• Varied Perspectives on Bitcoin's Halving Impact
• Hong Kong Leads with Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs
• Celsius Network's Strategic Ethereum Transfer

Exchange and Platform Insights

• Leadership Changes at OKX Crypto Exchange
• FTX Europe Grapples with License Suspension
• Kraken Launches Privacy-Focused Wallet
• Upbit Adjusts to Regulatory Changes in South Korea
• Worldcoin Introduces Bot-Deterrent Features
• Zignaly Unveils ZIGChain and $100M Ecosystem Fund
• Tether Faces Criticism Over Token Minting
• New Stablecoin Legislation Proposed in the US
• DeFi and Crypto Market Surge in Q1 2024
• EigenLayer Dominates Ethereum Staking Sector
• Railgun Denies Aiding in Money Laundering
• Io.net Introduces Solana-Based Tokenomics
• Tranchess Collaborates for DeFi Yield Product
• Xai Launches Staking Pools Amid Web3 Gaming Surge
• Parcl Faces Setbacks After PRCL Token Airdrop
• BytePlus and Mysten Labs Partner for Web3 Solutions
• Ronin and Gravity to Adapt Ragnarok for Blockchain
• Andreessen Horowitz Secures $7.2 Billion in Venture Funds
• P2 Ventures Supports Startups in Polygon Ecosystem
• Centrifuge Eyes Institutional Adoption with Coinbase Base

Bitcoin Navigates Tough Market Waters

Bitcoin has recently seen significant price fluctuations, dipping below $60,000 before slightly recovering, influenced by factors like weak ETF inflows, Fed's rate decision, and macroeconomic variables. Powell indicated interest rates may stay higher longer than expected, impacting investment in risk assets like Bitcoin. The crypto market shows overall bearish sentiment with expectations of further drops, especially around the $57,000 and $60,000 levels. Bitcoin halving could exacerbate selling, worsening the downturn. Despite this, some market analysts expect potential recovery post-halving, contingent on broader economic conditions and interest rate policies stabilizing.

Varied Perspectives on Bitcoin's Halving Impact

Bitcoin's recent performance and expectations surrounding its halving events have drawn varied insights from major financial and crypto entities. JPMorgan notes Bitcoin's outperformance might have advanced some gains expected from the upcoming halving, identifying an attractive entry point in mining stocks despite their recent downturn. Meanwhile, Bitwise suggests the market generally underestimates the long-term impacts post-halving, expecting significant price gains over the year following the halving despite potential short-term drops. 

Goldman Sachs cautions against relying solely on historical halving outcomes to predict future price movements, pointing to changing macroeconomic conditions and market maturity. Anthony Pompliano highlights Bitcoin's impressive performance, stating an 8x increase since the last halving in 2020, despite market volatility and broader financial downturns. 

Hong Kong Leads with Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs

Hong Kong is set to launch Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs by the end of April, expected to reach a market size of $25 billion. However, Mainland Chinese investors will likely be restricted from purchasing these ETFs due to China's stringent crypto regulations, according to Bloomberg analysts. This limitation dampens the initial excitement and potential market impact of the ETFs, as mainland China's investors were seen as a major catalyst for higher ETF values. Although Hong Kong's regulatory approval marks a significant step for the crypto industry, the actual influence of these ETFs might be moderated by the limited access and the smaller scale of the Hong Kong ETF market compared to the US.

Celsius Network's Strategic Ethereum Transfer

Celsius Network, a crypto lending platform, transferred $24.5 million in Ethereum to Coinbase, marking its largest deposit in three months at an average price of $3,022 per ETH. This move follows prior transfers of $1.90 billion to exchanges for OTC deals. The recent transfers align with Celsius Network's repayment strategy of $3 billion to creditors, post-bankruptcy proceedings. The introduction of Ionic Digital, a Bitcoin mining entity, signals its commitment to financial recovery. 

Leadership Changes at OKX Crypto Exchange

Long-term OKX executives Tim Byun, former CEO of Okcoin and head of global government relations at OKX, and Wei Lan, head of product, have recently departed the company. Byun led the U.S. subsidiary as CEO from 2018-2020. Wei Lan was responsible for overseeing the trading desk at OKX, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency exchange.  

FTX Europe Grapples with License Suspension

FTX Europe, formerly part of the collapsed FTX exchange, faces a license suspension by Cyprus SEC until September 2024. Prohibited from offering services or new client transactions, it must comply with legal provisions. Formerly sold back to its founders, the Swiss startup’s turbulent journey involves regulatory hurdles and financial settlements after FTX's bankruptcy.  

Kraken Launches Privacy-Focused Wallet

Kraken, the second-largest U.S.-based crypto exchange, unveiled its self-custodial open-source Kraken Wallet supporting eight blockchains, emphasizing user privacy and minimal data collection. This move aligns with the industry trend of prioritizing decentralized asset management, providing developers the ability to enhance the wallet's security through bug fixes and grants.  

Upbit Adjusts to Regulatory Changes in South Korea

Upbit, a major South Korean crypto exchange, is suspending deposits and withdrawals exceeding 1 million Korean won due to changes in Ten&Ten's services. The move follows the termination of Ten&Ten's Travel Rule Solution. Upbit ranked second in market share after Binance, with a trading volume of approximately 528.57 billion euros. Additionally, South Korean won surpassed the U.S. dollar in crypto trading volume in Q1 2024, totaling over $456 billion. Tighter regulations for token listings on centralized crypto exchanges are expected to be imposed soon by South Korean financial authorities, alongside prohibitions on listing assets with unresolved hacking incidents. Upbit's 24-hour trading volume reached a high of $15 billion in March but fell to $3.8 billion in April, possibly influenced by Bitcoin's all-time high of $69,200.  

Worldcoin Introduces Bot-Deterrent Features

Worldcoin plans to launch its layer-2 solution, World Chain, on Optimism's software set, OP Stack, aiming to combat bot activity by prioritizing human transactions. With 43% of activity on Optimism related to Worldcoin, the platform aims to disincentivize bots through higher gas fees and faster transaction times for humans.

Zignaly Unveils ZIGChain and $100M Ecosystem Fund

Zignaly has launched the ZIGChain layer-1 blockchain on Cosmos, along with a $100 million ecosystem fund. The fund, backed by DWF Labs, aims to develop user-friendly wealth-generation infrastructure. Zignaly, awarded a crypto license in South Africa, focuses on enabling effortless decentralized finance (DeFi) engagement for all users, with a specific emphasis on a seamless wealth management layer within ZIGChain.  

Tether Faces Criticism Over Token Minting

Tether stirred controversy by minting $1B unbacked USDT, labeled as "inventory replenishment." WhaleWire accused Tether of inflating tokens. Tether clarified these were "authorized but not issued." Concerns persist over Tether's influence on crypto liquidity and lack of transparency, prompting scrutiny from BlackRock, Circle, and Coinbase, casting doubt on its cryptocurrency ecosystem role.  

New Stablecoin Legislation Proposed in the US

Senators Lummis and Gillibrand introduced a stablecoin bill aiming to regulate dollar-pegged digital assets. The proposed legislation outlines operational requirements, reserves, and issuer obligations. It establishes a $10 billion cap for trust institutions issuing stablecoins and emphasizes compliance with anti-money laundering rules. The bill also addresses concerns about algorithmic stablecoins and seeks support in Congress.  

DeFi and Crypto Market Surge in Q1 2024

As per the “OnChain Report Q1 2024” by QuickNode and Artemis, in Q1 2024, DeFi surges in the blockchain space with 7 million daily transactions and a 291% increase in user activity. Web3 gaming sees a 155% rise in active addresses, surpassing stablecoins in transaction volume. Additionally, stablecoins remain active, while layer-2 blockchains and decentralized social platforms also experience substantial growth.  

EigenLayer Dominates Ethereum Staking Sector

EigenLayer attracted a record $157 million inflow in the past 24 hours, surpassing Lido's Ethereum staking dominance under 30%. The removal of caps on all ETH liquid staking tokens signifies a significant move towards fostering an open market for innovation. Despite market volatility, EigenLayer retains a 99% market control in the restaking sector.  

Railgun Denies Aiding in Money Laundering

Railgun refutes claims of aiding North Korea's Lazarus Group in money laundering, citing stringent prevention systems. Reports by Elliptic suggest the group shifted operations to Railgun post-sanctions, but Railgun insists on blocking the group for over a year. It also emphasized its "Private Proofs of Innocence" system validating transactions to prevent illicit usage.  

Io.net Introduces Solana-Based Tokenomics

io.net, a Solana-based infrastructure network, introduces tokenomics for its IO token. With a capped supply of 800 million coins, 500 million initially released, the remaining 300 million will be distributed as rewards over 20 years. The inflation model starts at 8% annually, decreasing monthly. Network revenues will be used to burn tokens, reducing the circulating supply.  

Tranchess Collaborates for DeFi Yield Product

Tranchess, Scroll, and StakeStone have launched Queen Stone, a new yield product integrating multiple DeFi protocols. The collaboration aims to meet the increasing demand for DeFi products by offering complex yield optimization solutions. The Dencun upgrade has led to a surge in demand for DeFi products, with TVL reaching over $86 billion, signifying the need for broader DeFi accessibility.  

Xai Launches Staking Pools Amid Web3 Gaming Surge

On April 16, 2024, Xai announced the launch of staking pools, aiming to foster collaboration and innovation within its ecosystem. This initiative revolves around Sentry Key and esXAI, enabling pool creation, setting reward percentages, and promoting network health. The market response has been modest, with XAI trading at $0.7, despite the broader resurgence of Web3 gaming in 2024.  

Parcl Faces Setbacks After PRCL Token Airdrop

Parcl, a Solana-based real estate betting platform, experienced a significant decline in Total Value Locked (TVL) by 40% following an 80 million PRCL token airdrop to users. This led to massive withdrawals and a drop in PRCL token price from $0.61 to $0.45 within hours, echoing a trend of weak performance among airdropped tokens on Solana.  

BytePlus and Mysten Labs Partner for Web3 Solutions

BytePlus, part of TikTok's parent company ByteDance, is entering the Web3 space via a partnership with Mysten Labs for the Sui blockchain. This collaboration aims to leverage AI and data warehousing technology for Web3 gaming and SocialFi projects. The integration could enhance Sui's analytics capabilities, offering scalable and real-time data processing solutions.  

Ronin and Gravity to Adapt Ragnarok for Blockchain

Web3 gaming-focused blockchain Ronin has partnered with Gravity to bring the renowned Ragnarok Online universe to blockchain gaming. The game, "Ragnarok: Monster World," developed by ZERO X AND, will feature monster collecting and tower defense gameplay. With Ronin's growing user base of 17.6 million wallet addresses, the partnership aims to further enhance gaming success in the Web3 space.  

Andreessen Horowitz Secures $7.2 Billion in Venture Funds

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) raised $7.2 billion for five venture strategies including Games, Apps, and Growth, with the largest raise for Growth. Notably, Games and American Dynamism received $600 million each. a16z shows interest in Web3 gaming and plans to raise additional funds by 2025, aligning with its active investments in the crypto industry, recently supporting projects like Espresso Systems and EigenLayer.  

P2 Ventures Supports Startups in Polygon Ecosystem

P2 Ventures, a $50 million venture capital firm, is backing startup founders in the Polygon ecosystem through Hadron FC's support program. The investment includes mentorship, legal aid, and networking opportunities, aiming to foster new projects. This move signifies P2 Ventures' confidence in Hadron Club's capacity to empower visionary founders within Polygon.

Centrifuge Eyes Institutional Adoption with Coinbase Base

Centrifuge, a major DeFi platform, aims to launch an institutional RWA lending protocol on Coinbase's Base. The $270 million active loans platform raised $15 million in VC funding. CFG token spiked 14% post-announcement. The growing interest in RWA tokenization reflects a potential $10 trillion tokenized asset market, signaling a crucial phase in institutional adoption.