📈 Silver linings for BTC, ETH

Crypto markets dance to debt ceiling tunes as investors remain on edge

Crypto markets saw brisk selling last week which was followed by hefty buying, as the overall market cap is now back above the $1.2 trn mark. As has been witnessed in the past few weeks, overall market liquidity and trading volumes have dried up, which has resulted in small triggers causing accentuated directional moves. The triggers last week were the discussions around the debt ceiling resolution by US lawmakers, which first resulted in a fall across "risk-on" assets, that was followed by a subsequent surge in prices. There has been a bipartisan agreement for a tentative deal that would move the debt ceiling by a couple of years! BTC and ETH are trading in the green and are now hovering around the $28k and $1.9k levels respectively.

There were some major silver linings for BTC and ETH as Glassnode mentioned that long-term holders (over one year) of BTC had surged to their highest level of 68%! For ETH, the amount held on exchanges has dropped to one of its lowest levels (14%), as more of its supply is staked on the network.

The broader crypto markets were a sea of green, as most tokens traded higher in price, as the rally on "risk-on" asset prices came back post the "debt ceiling" deal! The major token-specific positive developments included ETH Layer-2 Rollups like Arbitrum (ARB) and Polygon (MATIC), which rose by 10%. RNDR, the token for the Render protocol, witnessed heavy buying and shot up in prices after the release of Render’s OctaneX app on M1 and M2 iPads coincided with Apple's VR Headset announcement. The outliers were "smart contract platform" tokens or "ETH competitors" like ICP, ALGO and FTM, which witnessed brisk selling and a fall in prices.

Before we conclude, here’s a quick look at other important news updates from last week's crypto world.

BTC HODLing in one year hits a new ATH; ETH balance on exchanges hits a low

An increasing number of BTC holders are choosing to hold their coins over selling them for short-term gains, per Glassnode. On-chain data shows the percentage of BTC supply hasn't changed in a year, meaning long-term investors are holding 68% of the supply. About 40% are holding the asset for 3 years. Meanwhile, Ether (ETH) holdings on exchanges have reached a record low not seen since July 2016 due to increased staking activity. Data from Glassnode showed only 14.85% of all ETH is currently held in centralized exchange wallets. The fall in exchange balances is seen as a positive indicator, suggesting limited availability, which, in turn, drives up prices. (Sources: CoinDesk, Coinmarketcap)

Major crypto players shun Multichain over ‘safety’ rumors

Rumors about the safety of Multichain, the third-largest bridging protocol by transfer volume and total value locked, are forcing some of the key crypto players such as Binance to tighten their defenses. The situation arose after technical issues impacted users’ ability to withdraw tokens from the protocol. A tweet from Multichain blaming some cross-chain breaks on “force majeure” has only added fuel to the widespread speculation that something is amiss. (Source: CoinDesk)

TradFi investors remain bullish on crypto’s long-term prospects: Survey

Despite the collapses of FTX and Celsius that triggered a crypto bear market, a majority of institutional investors and investment managers remain bullish on crypto, according to a survey. About 70% of institutional investors are enthusiastic about crypto, while 95% of managers have a positive view about the future of digital assets. The survey was conducted on the sidelines of Consensus 2023 conference organized by CoinDesk. (Source: CoinDesk)

Hong Kong to welcome crypto exchanges

In a bid to solidify its reputation as a fintech hub, Hong Kong is all set to lift the ban on retail trading of cryptos. HK’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will begin accepting retail crypto trading platform licenses from 1 June. The SFC will put in place a thorough vetting process for listing tokens to protect retail investors. (Source: Cointelegraph)

Sam Altman’s Worldcoin raises $115 million

Worldcoin, a new crypto project that aims to create a global digital identity system using biometric scanning, raised $115M from investors. Backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, the startup seeks to create IDs for every living person by scanning their eyes. The series C funding was led by Blockchain Capital. (Source: Cointelegraph)

Beijing releases white paper for Web3 innovation

The municipal government in Beijing released a white paper that recognizes Web3 technology as “an inevitable trend for future Internet industry development.” It may be noted that the release of the white paper coincides with new digital asset regulations in Hong Kong. The plan seeks to make China’s capital city a leading global innovation hub for the digital economy. A budget of $14 million a year will be allocated for the scheme until 2025. (Source: Cointelegraph)

That’s it for now. Thanks for sticking around.

See you later, folks! 👋

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