• The Fed and five central banks have announced to enhance liquidity via USD swap lines.
• Weekly USD swap line operations with the Fed will now become daily experience for five of the main central banks.
• This move is expected to result in billions if not trillions of liquidity incoming in the short-medium term.
The Federal Reserve and five major central banks (Bank of England, Bank of Canada, European Central Bank, Swiss National Bank, and Bank of Japan) have announced an enhancement to liquidity via US Dollar (USD) swap lines. These swap line operations with the Fed will now be conducted on a daily basis instead of weekly as was previously done.
The shift from weekly to daily US Dollar swap line operations offers several benefits both to the financial system and individual institutions. For starters, this provides distressed banks with access to more immediate liquidity (in the form of US Dollars). Furthermore, it allows for balance sheet expansion as a result of billions or even trillions worth of new liquidity entering into circulation over the short-medium term.
Many analysts expect that this move by the Fed could bring about positive impacts on cryptocurrency markets as well due to increased global liquidity. As Bitcoin has been known to feed off other forms of global liquidity such as quantitative easing measures implemented by central banks around the world, this could potentially lead to further price appreciation in BTC and other digital assets.
James Van Straten, a research analyst at CryptoSlate commented on this news saying: „The fed and five central banks have just announced to enhance liquidity via USD swap lines…Swap line operations with the fed will now be daily instead of weekly…Distressed banks can now get liquidity (dollars) from the fed daily.“ He also added that „the result is balance sheet expansion — billions if not trillions of liquidity incoming in the short-medium term.“
This announcement by The Fed and its partners shows their commitment towards ensuring financial stability through enhanced liquidty access for all participants within their respective markets. While it remains unclear what sort of impact this might have on crypto markets, many are expecting positive results given Bitcoin’s correlation with global economic events such as these.
• Euler Labs experienced a security breach resulting in the loss of $197 million worth of cryptocurrency.
• The malicious actors stole 8.76 million DAI, 33.85 million USDC, 849 WBTC and 85,817 stETH.
• Following the news, Euler Labs‘ EUL token has plummeted 48%.
Euler Labs has been exploited for $177 million in four transactions according to Blockchain security firm BlockSec. Two more attack transactions took the total loss to $197 million. This included 8.76 million DAI, 33.85 million USDC, 849 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) worth $18.5 million and 85,817 staked Ethereum (stETH) worth $135.8 million as confirmed by Arkham Intelligence who corroborated BlockSec’s findings.
The UK-based firm confirmed that it was aware of the exploit and stated that their team is currently working with security professionals and law enforcement to release further information when available .
Following the news, Euler Labs‘ EUL token has plunged by roughly 48% to 3.10 according to CoinMarketCap data .
Euler Finance provides on-chain lending services and completed a $32 million funding round that included Coinbase and defunct crypto exchange FTX in 2022 .
CryptoSlate does not endorse nor provide opinion on any project mentioned or linked to in this article which should be taken as investment advice nor does CryptoSlate take responsibility for losses incurred due to investing in cryptocurrency-related projects..
• An SEC lawyer has stated that Binance.US and Voyager Digital come under securities regulations.
• Binance.US is attempting to purchase the assets of Voyager Digital, an action which the SEC has objected to.
• The judge overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings criticized the SEC’s objections to the deal and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao suggested pulling out of it altogether.
William Uptergrove, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawyer, recently made a statement that both parties involved in Voyager Digital’s bankruptcy case come under securities regulations, according to a Bloomberg report on March 3. This means that Binance US must be allowed by the regulator even if all other parties approve of their asset purchase plan for Voyager.
Binance US is attempting to acquire the assets of Voyager Digital, which has been met with objections from the SEC as early as January this year. In addition, there is an ongoing investigation by the regulator against Binance US regarding this matter. Uptergrove also asserted that Voyager’s planned recovery token should be regulated as a security — thus putting it under the SEC’s jurisdiction.
U.S Bankruptcy Judge Michael Wiles criticized the SEC for „stopping everyone in their tracks“ without providing sufficient ways to respond to its concerns during earlier proceedings on March 2nd . When asked for his opinion on whether selling off these assets violated security laws, Uptergrove refused to give a definite answer which did not sit well with Wiles at all..
On March 3rd, following this increasingly complex situation, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao suggested pulling out of it altogether via Twitter by saying: „maybe we should pull out?“. Despite this suggestion he expressed support forthe deal if it were ultimately permitted in due course of time..
Despite all odds passengers voted overwhelmingly in favor of this plan on March 1st showing strong support from existing customers of Voyager digital services..
• Solana suffered an outage lasting 18 hours and 50 minutes on Feb. 25, the longest in over a year.
• The main cause of the outages is an on-chain consensus model which inflates transaction volume due to validator communication.
• During outages, validators have to communicate via Discord and reach a two-thirds majority agreement before any action can be taken.
Solana suffered an outage lasting 18 hours and 50 minutes on Feb. 25, the longest in over a year.
The main cause of outages is Solana’s on-chain consensus model which inflates transaction volume due to validator communication.
During outages, validators have to communicate via Discord and reach a two-thirds majority agreement before any action can be taken.
This design flaw bogs down the system, resulting in poor network performance.
Solana’s design results in long downtimes when the network does go down as it requires validator communication for resolution.
• Asia is a leader in retail crypto adoption, but traditional finance (TradFi) institutions are lagging behind.
• It could be now or never for TradFi to embrace Web3 and keep up with the rapid innovation and adoption rates.
• Examples of payments partnerships between crypto-native firms and licensed financial institutions have been few and far between in the APAC region thus far.
The APAC region has seen a groundswell of innovation and adoption when it comes to grassroots retail crypto adoption. Vietnam topped Chainalysis‘ 2022 Geography of Cryptocurrency report, demonstrating Asia’s leadership in this space.
However, banks and financial institutions in the continent are lagging behind their global peers when it comes to embracing blockchain technologies. This could spell disaster for these institutions if they do not take action soon as the next bull run approaches.
In Western markets, there have been numerous announcements regarding payments partnerships between crypto-native firms and licensed financial institutions; Binance’s Mastercard prepaid crypto card in Brazil being one example. However, developments have been much slower in Asia – with only one out of three proposed initiatives coming to fruition since 2021.
On the investment front, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing recently broke new ground by launching Asia’s first cryptocurrency ETF – nearly a year after North American exchanges launched similar products in 2021. Accenture also found that two-thirds of wealth management firms had no plans to offer any form of digital asset investments over the next 12 months.
It is clear that there is still much work to be done for traditional finance institutions across Asia to keep up with their global peers when it comes to embracing blockchain technologies – particularly on the payments side as well as on the investment front. These early steps must be taken sooner rather than later before they risk getting left behind by future bull runs or further innovations elsewhere around the world.
• Exchange deposits and withdrawals of Bitcoin are often good indicators of market sentiment.
• In February 2023, the total number of Bitcoin transactions surpassed 307,000, reaching a two-year high.
• Since 2014, the dominating trend was for exchange deposits to outpace withdrawals until September 2022 when withdrawals outpaced deposits.
Exchange-related deposits and withdrawals of Bitcoin can be an indicator of current market sentiment. When the number of exchange deposits grows, it indicates that liquid supply is increasing and investors are ready to trade. On the other hand, if there are more exchange withdrawal than deposit transactions taking place then investors may be less interested in trading and hodling their BTC off exchanges instead.
In February 2023, the total number of Bitcoin transactions surpassed 307,000 – a two-year high – according to data analyzed by CryptoSlate. Previously recorded transaction numbers had correlated with Bitcoin’s price rallies as seen in late 2017 when 400,000 transactions were recorded which helped fuel the bull run that pushed Bitcoin to its all-time high of $20,000. This pattern was repeated again in early 2021 although this time around Bitcoins price continued rising even after the transaction numbers peaked which showed that this bull run was fueled by derivatives rather than just exchange related activity alone.
Since 2014 it has been observed that exchange deposits have generally outnumbered withdrawals up until September 2022 when this trend was broken; 53 000 BTC was withdrawn during this month while only 52 000 BTC was deposited into exchanges at this time. This caused an increase in illiquid supply as investors chose not to trade their coins and instead opted for hodling them off exchanges instead indicating a bullish sentiment within the market at large.
The recent rise in transaction numbers combined with investors opting for self-custody rather than holding their coins on exchanges could indicate that we might see another crypto bull run coming soon as investors anticipate further gains from their investments over time based on their current views on market sentiment overall.
In conclusion it appears that the recent rise in transaction numbers along with investor behavior shows a shift towards a more bullish outlook on Bitcoin’s future prospects which could potentially lead to another crypto bull run if these trends continue throughout 2020 and beyond into 2021 and beyond..
• Over $76M was invested in crypto funds in the past 7 days.
• Around 90% of this inflow was directed towards Bitcoin-related investment products, equating to over $69 million.
• Total investment assets under management (AuM) have also reached $30.3 billion, which makes a 39% increase year-to-date.
The week of Jan. 30 to Feb., saw a total of $76 million being invested in digital asset products, according to a CoinShares report. Around 90% of this inflow was directed towards Bitcoin (BTC) related investment products, equating to over $69 million. This marks the fourth consecutive week that has recorded inflows to crypto-related investment products and the total amount invested during these four weeks is over $230 million.
Total investment assets under management (AUM) have also reached $30.3 billion, which makes a 39% increase year-to-date. Flows by provider and asset show that BTC related products collected a total of 68.5 million worth of investments last week and short BTC followed as second with 8.2 million while Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) came third and fourth with 700,000 and 500,000 respectively. The facilitator ProShares collected 37.4 million from investors last week while 3iQ and CoinShares Physical followed as second and third with 20.4 million, 16.3 million respectively .
This week marks the fourth consecutive week that recorded inflows to crypto-related investment products with an amount exceeding 230 Million dollars for all 4 weeks combined together . The highest amount since July 2022 was recorded on Jan 23rd when 117 Million dollars were flowing into crypto – related investments .
Flows by provider & asset shows that BTC related products collected a total of 68.5 Million worth of investments last week claiming first place in the rankings , Short BTC followed as second with 8 2 Million , while Ethereum(ETH) & Solana(SOL ) came third & fourth respectively with respective amounts 700k & 500k respectively .ProShares ranked first among all facilitators collecting 37 4 Million from investors last week while 3iQ & Coinshares Physical followed it up as second & third respectively collecting 20 4 Million & 16 3 Million respectively .
Total Investment Assets Under Management (AUM ) have also reached 30 3 Billion making an impressive 39 % increase Year To Date . This could be attributed to the increasing popularity & trust on cryptocurrency among investors who are now more than ever investing their money into cryptocurrency funds for long term gains .
• Three wallets converted 63,860 staked Ethereum (stETH) — roughly $90 million — to Ethereum (ETH) when the stETH/ETH peg dropped to a monthly low between May 2022 and June 2022.
• Blockchain security firm PeckShield identified the wallets and said they might be connected to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF).
• A director at Coinbase, Conor Grogan, tweeted that two wallets withdrew over $75 million stETH from FTX on June 8, 2022, and sold everything on the market.
At the height of the market depeg between May and June 2022, three wallets related to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) swapped a staggering $90 million of staked Ethereum (stETH) for Ethereum (ETH). Blockchain security firm PeckShield identified the wallets and said their transactions might be connected to SBF.
When stETH/ETH dropped to $0.971 on May 13, 2022, „0x6b92“ withdrew 15,000 stETH — worth $23.4 million — from FTX, swapped it for 14,300 ETH, and transferred it to FTX. This was followed by two other wallets, „0x1b23“ and „0x2e85“, who cumulatively withdrew 49,000 stETH worth $66 million from FTX, swapped them for 42,000 ETH, and returned the funds to FTX.
The previously unknown wallets became public after they sent ETH and stETH to the bankrupt FTX’s estate this January. A director at Coinbase, Conor Grogan, also tweeted that two wallets withdrew over $75 million stETH from FTX on June 8, 2022, and sold everything on the market. This move triggered a series of events that eventually affected bankrupt crypto lender Celsius and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, according to Grogan.
These transactions demonstrate how much influence one individual or entity can have on the cryptocurrency markets. It is important for traders to be aware of such manipulative practices, and to always do their own research before investing in any digital asset.
• Axie Infinity’s AXS token has seen a 42% rise in the last 24 hours, despite an imminent token unlock of 4.89 million tokens.
• The token unlock could lead to a potential selling pressure on the asset.
• Market analysts have advised trading cautiously ahead of the unlock.
Axie Infinity’s digital asset AXS token has seen an impressive price action, rising 42% over the last 24 hours, according to CryptoSlate data. This positive price performance has occurred ahead of an imminent token unlock, which is set to release 4.89 million new tokens – 1.8% of the asset’s total supply – worth roughly $63.8 million, according to Token Unlocks.
Although the token unlock could provide an opportunity for investors, it could also lead to a potential selling pressure on the asset. This has caused some market analysts to advise their community to trade cautiously, while some have argued that the unlock provides a short opportunity. The managing partner at Hartmann Capital, Felix Hartmann, commented, “Historically teams have saved up announcements for unlocks. I think market has become so reflexive that people buy in anticipation of unlock news. Funding rate is at around +0.03% meaning starting to see an imbalance with more longs than shorts.”
While the token unlock could be a cause for concern, the average player count for Axie Infinity has dropped to a new low, according to Active Player data. This could be an indication that the play-to-earn (P2E) token has seen its peak, or that the recent price performance is due to speculation.
Analysts have speculated that the recent price performance of the digital asset is due to the increasing popularity of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). NFTs have become one of the hottest trends in the cryptocurrency space, with many projects being released within the space.
It remains to be seen if the token unlock of AXS will cause the asset to cool off, or if the recent price performance was due to the increasing interest in NFTs. In any case, investors are advised to trade cautiously and monitor the market closely.
• The Ethereum (ETH) Shanghai upgrade is due in March and will enable withdrawals from the beacon chain by granting ETH validators the ability to unstake.
• The number of beacon chain validators has reached 500,000, with a total of over 16 million ETH staked in the ETH 2.0 deposit contract.
• After the Bellatrix upgrade in September 2022, block validation was taken over by the beacon chain and the transition from Proof of Work (POW) to Proof of Stake (POS) was completed.
The much-anticipated Ethereum (ETH) Shanghai upgrade is set to be released in March, bringing with it a set of new capabilities and opportunities for ETH stakers. The upgrade will enable withdrawals from the beacon chain, granting ETH validators the ability to unstake, and allowing them access to their ETH.
The ETH 2.0 deposit contract currently holds over 16 million ETH, with 500,000 active validators in the beacon chain. With over 70% of ETH stakers currently at a loss, the Shanghai upgrade will give them the opportunity to decide whether to sell at a loss or hold long-term until back in profit.
The ETH merge took place in the Bellatrix upgrade in September 2022, marking the transition from Proof of Work (POW) to Proof of Stake (POS). This meant that block validation was taken over by the beacon chain, using validators who have deposited 32 ETH in order to begin operations.
ETH validators who wish to withdraw their staking rewards must ensure their withdrawal credentials are updated to the new „0x01“ format. This new format is needed in order to ensure the security of staked ETH, as it will be used to track and verify the validator’s identity and their ownership of the ETH.
The Shanghai upgrade will give ETH stakers the opportunity to manage their staked ETH and decide whether to sell at a loss or hold long-term until back in profit. This could have a significant impact on the ETH market, potentially boosting prices if more ETH holders decide to hold their staked ETH for the long-term.
Overall, the ETH Shanghai upgrade is set to be a major development for Ethereum and its staking ecosystem. The upgrade will bring with it a range of opportunities for stakers to withdraw their ETH, as well as new security measures to protect their deposited funds. With the upgrade just around the corner, it will be interesting to see how the Ethereum market and staking landscape will be impacted.