Coin360 Daily Dispatch (Apr 12, 2023): Crypto Market Updates & Highlights
Apr 12 2023
Crypto Market Update: G-7 Nations Focus On CBDCs And Crypto Regulation; ZA Bank Offers Crypto Services In Hong Kong
Written by Van - Perfected by ChatGPT
The G-7 nations will discuss prioritizing help for developing countries in introducing CBDCs and increasing crypto regulation for business transparency and consumer protection. From the East side, ZA Bank is offering account services and crypto-to-fiat exchanges for local crypto firms in Hong Kong, while mainland China clients are restricted. An official from the Hong Kong Security and Futures Commission stated that DeFi projects will require regulation, and the city has been making efforts to become a crypto hub.
CoinShares Report Reveals Positive Sentiment in Crypto Market, Bitcoin Dominates Inflows
CoinShares’ latest report reveals a positive sentiment in the digital asset market as inflows totaled \(57 million last week, bringing them back to a net positive position year-to-date. The US saw the highest inflows with \)27 million, while Bitcoin accounted for 98% of all inflows with \(56 million. Altcoins such as [UNI](https://coin360.com/coin/uniswap-uni), [DOT](https://coin360.com/coin/polkadot-dot), and [MATIC](https://coin360.com/coin/polygon-matic) saw minor inflows, while ETH inflows were relatively minor at \)600,000 ahead of its scheduled Shapella upgrade.
Source: CoinShares
The release of Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for March caused volatility in crypto markets, but ultimately resulted in optimistic upside with potential for further gains in line with equities. The 12-month increase in CPI was 5%, which was lower than expectations, sparking positivity for Bitcoin bulls as the market leader went straight up from \(29,986 to over \)30,300 before stepping back to $29,950 at the time of writing.
Caution was urged due to the potential for “fakeout” price action and the likelihood of significant moves resulting in liquidations on exchanges. Despite the improvement in CPI data, market expectations on rate hikes only modestly shifted, with a 70% chance of a hike taking place at the next Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The Fed raised rates by 25 bps in March, and markets are expecting one more rate hike in May and eventually a rate cut by the end of the year.
Source: CME
Ethereum Shapella Update Could Release Over $2 Billion in Rewards: Possible Impact on ETH Price and Whale Trading Activity
The Shapella upgrade, which is expected to come at 10:30 PM UTC on April 12, will allow over 1.1 million ether worth \(2 billion in accrued validator rewards to become available for partial withdrawals. Glassnode estimates that around 170,000 [ETH](https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth) worth \)317 million may be sold by validators in the week following Shapella, which it believes could have an “acceptable impact” on the price of ETH.
The market’s reaction to the Ethereum unlock remains uncertain, with ETH trading at above \(1,900 as of press time. Blockchain Capital, a notable Ethereum [whale](https://coin360.com/glossary/whale), has made significant trades possibly in anticipation of the upcoming Ethereum update and unlock. The company sold 1.5 million [Lido](https://coin360.com/coin/lido-dao-token-ldo) DAO’s [LDO](https://coin360.com/coin/lido-dao-token-ldo) tokens for a profit of \)1.05 million and traded Rocket Pool tokens, selling 65,352 RPL for 1,522 ETH (\(2.9 million), generating a profit of around \)1.09 million. Large retail traders are also seen deleveraging and closing positions in preparation for the event, potentially indicating a mass derisking.
Binance.US to Delist TRON’s TRX Token on April 18 Amid Changes in Risk Profile and Unethical Conduct
Along with abracadabra.money’s SPELL, Binance.US will delist Tron’s TRX token on April 18, citing changes in the token’s risk profile, regulatory standing, and unethical conduct. This comes after the US Securities and Exchange Commission took legal action against Tron founder Justin Sun and three of his firms for the “unregistered offer and sale of crypto asset securities Tron (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT).” TRX used to drop by 6% after the news before slightly recovering, now trading at a -3.44% loss.
However, on-chain activity suggests that Tron and BNB Chain are popular among investors despite concerns regarding suspected bot activity on their networks. According to Token Terminal, Ethereum has experienced a decline in daily active users over the past year, while Tron, Bitcoin, BNB Chain, and Polygon have seen growth. Comparatively higher fees on Ethereum remain a deal-breaker for many newer crypto users. Tron’s TVL oscillated between \(4B and \)6B, with only two protocols dominating. USDT supply on Tron has increased significantly in recent years, representing 52% of the supply, up from $3.3B three years ago.
Source: Token Terminal
ApeCoin Experiences 2,000% Price Surge on Upbit Amid ETH Deposit and Withdrawal Suspension Speculation
ApeCoin experienced a 2,000% price surge on Upbit, Korea’s largest exchange. This sudden increase in value coincided with Upbit suspending deposits and withdrawals of ETH and tokens from the ERC20 network, leading to speculation that APE was being artificially pushed up during trading freezes.
APE’s trading volume on Upbit was reported to be \(100 million at one point, double that of [Binance](https://coin360.com/exchange/binance). The APE vs. BTC pair reached a value of 0.003 BTC, equivalent to around \)90, on Upbit, but the token was trading at \(30 on the exchange. As a result, the APE price surged by 64.22% over the past 24 hours, reaching its highest level since August 2022 at \)7.15.
Maple Finance Announces New Lending Pool Invested in U.S. Treasury Bonds
Maple Finance plans to launch a lending pool that invests in U.S. Treasury bonds, according to CEO Sidney Powell. The platform is also planning a community vote on new tokenomics and utility for its native token, MPL.
Maple Finance has been recovering from a difficult year for crypto lending and experienced $36 million of credit defaults following FTX exchange’s implosion in November. The upcoming pool will allow accredited investors and corporate treasuries outside the U.S. to invest their stablecoin holdings in U.S. Treasury bonds and earn a yield. MPL initially rose before giving up some gains to trade with a 0.38% increase.
Ren Protocol Safeguards Assets and Shares with FTX Trading Amid Funding Uncertainty
According to Ren team, the protocol’s assets and shares will now be transferred to cold wallets controlled by FTX Trading to safeguard them in case of possible shutdowns of infrastructure and systems. Ren was a popular decentralized finance protocol in the 2021 bull run before being acquired by Alameda Research, and it had no funding beyond 2022 for the previous version of its service due to being impacted by FTX Group’s Chapter 11 proceedings. The price of REN fell by -6.79% in response to the news.
Summary of Market Events and Price Action
As a summary of today’s events and price action in the market, it is crucial to note the following key points:
- BTC soars over \(30,300 post-CPI release then back under \)30,000
- ETH maintains $1,900 as Shapella upgrade is less than 7 hours away
- LDO, RPL see whale take profit
- TRX falls following Binance.US delisting
- APE makes wave on Korean exchange with a 2,000% surge
- MPL loses momentum despite new feature announcement
- REN drops amid FTX news
- Decentralized AI and Crypto: Exploring SingularityNET’s AGIX Vision
Top Altcoin Gainers and Losers
Gainers:
ApeCoin APE (+64.22%)
Huobi Token HT (+4.89%)
NEAR Protocol NEAR (+4.60%)
Losers:
Conflux CFX (-7.57%)
Kaspa KAS (-4.94%)
Aptos APT (-4.61%)
NFT Market Map
Web3 startup Chiru Labs, the developer of the Azuki NFT project on Ethereum, has partnered with IPX, the parent company of popular media and merchandise property Line Friends. The partnership seeks to explore collaborations such as content, merchandise, and events, with a joint venture between Line Friends characters and the NFT Beanz collection from Azuki as the first collaboration. The companies announced the partnership with an animated short that will play on the video billboard above the Line Friends store in Times Square, New York City as an exhibition for the NFT NYC conference.
As a result, Azuki saw a 139.13% increase to make it the second largest collection by daily trading volume. Meanwhile, Captainz, whose team Memeland reportedly bought Azuki NFT #606 few days ago, topped the leaderboard today.
