Markets

‘Personal Jet Branding’ Is One Way Polkadot Burned Money

Published

7 months ago

3 July, 2024

‘Personal Jet Branding’ Is One Way Polkadot Burned Money

June proved to be an incredibly ugly month in the crypto markets (see our blood-red chart below), but it wasn’t completely devoid of decent blockchain technology stories. One obsession of the crypto Twitterati over the past week has been poring over the line items in Polkadot’s treasury transparency report. The $6.8 million to sponsor a “prestigious football club” was just one of many expenditures held up for public scrutiny.

Polkadot spending more than doubled from the previous quarter. (Polkadot)

BURNING RATE: At the very least, Polkadot has to be given credit for transparency. On Tuesday, the blockchain project released a long reportIncluding spreadsheets and copies of invoices detailing its spending over the past six months. No good deed goes unpunished, however, and right on cue, the Twitterati lashed out at the project’s multi-million dollar spending on activities such as marketing, advertising, sponsorships, events and influencers. At the highest level, the project spent $87 million worth of its own DOT tokens on various activities during the first half of 2024, a pace that would deplete the $245 million currently in the treasury in approximately two years, as relayed by Shaurya Malwa of CoinDesk. But it was the green-spectacled details that left readers of the report open-mouthed — $4.9 million to influencers, $1.9 million to sponsor race car driver Conor Daly, $1 million for digital ads on CoinMarketCap, $490,000 to press release site Chainwire, $180,000 to “private jet branding“$6.8 million for a “deal with a prestigious soccer club,” as the report called it. (Lionel Messi’s team, Inter Miami?) Sarcastic posters on X commented that despite all the spending, the influencers looked strangely inactive – while others joked that the report was finally bringing Polkadot into advertising that coveted. Polkadot officials noted that spending has been higher than expected, thanks to this year’s bullish crypto markets: “We can see a big jump in spending as proposals have become more ambitious in scope and size of requests recently,” the report said. “The good news is that the average DOT price has risen this half year, resulting in more returns for DOT, highlighted by the fact that DOT spending has increased 2.4x, but the USD equivalent has increased 3.2x over the same period.”

NOT SO FAST! Hey, Bitcoin gained ETFs earlier this year, and now Ethereum seems to be heading in that direction, possibly bringing billions of dollars in just a few monthsbased on research from Galaxy Digital. So what about an ETF for Solana, seen as one of the most promising blockchains? Probably not anytime soon, experts say. Speculation began last week when investment manager VanEck filed for a Solana ETF, sending the project’s native token, SOL, up 8%. Another firm, 21Shares, make a request a day later. But how reported by CoinDesk’s Helene Braun“Solana has failed to clear a prerequisite for the Biden administration’s Securities and Exchange Commission: a well-established regulated derivatives market. Both bitcoin and ether have had that, in the form of CME Group’s cryptocurrency futures contracts.” Another potential hurdle is that the SEC has, in some of its legal cases, claimed that SOL is an unregistered security — and that cloud may have to clear before an ETF sees any sunlight. “It’s unlikely there will be a decision on this in the near future,” as institutional analysts at Coinbase put it in a weekly research report.

Last week’s top picks from our Protocol Village column, highlighting the main updates and news about blockchain technology.

Website montage for singer-songwriter Ainsley Costello, whose music can be heard on the Wavlake music platform, compatible with the Bitcoin Lightning Network.ainsleycostello.com)

1. Developer teams behind the Tezos blockchain revealed”Tezos Xa set of technology upgrades that they say can bring a “major increase in performance, composability and interoperability.” road mapoutlining a development plan for the next two years, it calls for splitting transaction execution into a separate “canonical rollup” that would support “atomic transactions in smart contracts written in different programming languages.” The main Tezos blockchain would serve as a base layer for consensus and settlement.

2. Igloo Inc.The parent company of Pudgy Penguins, announced on Monday that it has acquired the Frame team. “Frame’s co-founders and notable blockchain developers Cygaar and Beans will contribute to building a new Ethereum L2, Abstract, designed to take advantage of the consumer cryptocurrency opportunity,” according to the team.

3. World currency announced that it is partnering with Alchemy to provide trusted infrastructure for World Chain, a new blockchain designed for humans, according to the team.

4. Blockchain startup Obol Laboratories formed a new industrial group that aims to promote the growing field of distributed validation technology – at the heart of the latest push by developers to eradicate single points of failure in decentralized networks like Ethereum. The Obol Collective includes a consortium of Ethereum ecosystem participants “dedicated to the security, resilience, and decentralization of Ethereum consensus,” according to a Wednesday blog post from Obol Labs. Early participants in the collective include EigenLayer, Lido, Figment, Bitcoin Suisse, Nethermind, Blockdaemon, Chorus One, DappNode, and ETH Stakers.

5. Lake Wava music and podcast distribution platform, has partnered with ZBD to revolutionize creator payments. According to the team: “Unlike Spotify and Apple Music, which pay meager royalties, Wavlake empowers independent musicians and podcasters. Through Wavlake, creators can upload content that is distributed on platforms like Source.fm. Listeners can tip artists using the Bitcoin Lightning Network, enabling instant microtransactions. Ainsley Costello earned over $700 in Bitcoin for a single track, beating Spotify.”

CEO of Pi Squared Grigore Rosu (Pi Squared)

Regulatory, Policy and Legal

Leaders and laggards were crushed by cryptocurrency markets in June, with bitcoin as the benchmark (BTC) falling 8.5% – and this week falling below $60,000well below the all-time high above $73,000.

All members of the CoinDesk 20 Index were losers during the month. Uniswap’s UNI had the least bad performance, with a drop of 8.1%. XRP fell 8.8% and Ethereum ETH lost 9.4%.

The dog themed meme coin SHIB produced the largest decline in the index, at 32.9%, surpassed by the 32.7% loss of Internet Computer (PIC).

(Pallavi Chintam/CoinDesk Indices)

July 8-11: EthCCBrussels.

Source

Related Topics:ETFs Polka dot Solana The protocol

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We are the editorial team of FinCrypt, where seriousness meets clarity in cryptocurrency analysis. With a robust team of finance and blockchain technology experts, we are dedicated to meticulously exploring complex crypto markets with detailed assessments and an unbiased approach. Our mission is to democratize access to knowledge of emerging financial technologies, ensuring they are understandable and accessible to all. In every article on FinCrypt, we strive to provide content that not only educates, but also empowers our readers, facilitating their integration into the financial digital age.

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Markets

Crypto Markets Rebound as Spot Bitcoin ETFs Attract Massive Inflows

Published

6 months ago

17 July, 2024

FinCrypt Staff

Crypto Markets Rebound Ahead of Early Ethereum ETF Approval

This week saw $722 million worth of Bitcoin spot ETF inflows, including the largest daily inflow in a month.

Cryptocurrency markets rallied on Wednesday, driven by inflows into spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) is up 3% over the past 24 hours to last change hands at $65,200, according to CoinGecko. Ethereum (ETH) is up 2% and is trading at $3,471. Solana (SUN) and Polkadot (POINT) increased by 4%.

Bitcoin spot ETFs saw $422 million in daily inflows on Tuesday, the highest in the past 30 days, according to Far side data, . The all-time record for a single day was $1.05 billion on March 12.

Among Tuesday’s top contributors, BlackRock’s IBIT led with $260 million in inflows, followed by Fidelity’s FBTC with $61 million. This week has already seen more than $722 million in inflows.

Among the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market cap, Worldcoin (WLD) led with a 28% increase, followed by Helium (HNT) with 20% and Lido DAO (LDO) with 15%.

Worldcoin, a decentralized identity project led by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, announced is extending the lockups for early investors and team members. This means that tokens will be gradually released through 2029, instead of the original 2027 plan. Token unlocks are generally seen as a negative because they increase supply and early investors can sell their tokens for profit.

Meanwhile, XRP, the token of the XRP Ledger network, jumped 8% after the CME and CF benchmarks introduced new indices and reference rates for XRP.

U.S. stocks faced a downturn on Wednesday. The S&P 500 fell 1%, while the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average both fell 2%.

Source

Markets

Altcoins on the cusp of a major breakout – WLD, AR, and INJ prices could surge by 20% in the coming days

Published

6 months ago

17 July, 2024

FinCrypt Staff

Altcoins on the cusp of a major breakout – WLD, AR, and INJ prices could surge by 20% in the coming days

Crypto markets appear to have been taken over by the bulls as major tokens have surged above their crucial resistance zone. Bitcoin surged above $65,000 while Ethereum was above $3,500, and XRP, which had remained passive for quite some time, surged over 40% in the past few days to hit $0.6. The uptrend has been captured in most altcoins, with Worldcoin (WLD), Arweave (AR), and Injective (INJ) leading the rally. Here’s what to expect for these tokens in the coming days.

Worldcoin (WLD) Price Analysis

O Worldcoin Price has been trading inside a descending wedge since it marked a new ATH near $12 in the final days of Q1 2024. The recent price action helped the price break out of the upper resistance of the wedge, breaking above the crucial resistance zone between $2.21 and $2.39. Market sentiments have changed, but technicals suggest that the bulls may remain passive for a while, which could offer some room for a bearish pullback.

The price broke out of the wedge with a significant increase in volume, but the current volume suggests that the bulls have taken a step back. Meanwhile, the RSI is about to reach the upper boundary, which could attract bearish forces. Additionally, the DMI has undergone a bullish crossover, but the decline in the ADX suggests that the rally may remain consolidated above the gains. Therefore, the WLD price is expected to maintain a horizontal consolidation between $3 and $3.3 and trigger a fresh rally to $4.4 during the next bullish rally.

Arweave (AR) Price Analysis

Arweave formed a strong base around $25, which helped the rally trigger a recovery during the bearish attack. Mt. Gox and German terror forced the price to fall below $20. However, the recent price action has brought the altcoin within the bullish range and raised expectations of maintaining a decent uptrend for a few more days.

AR price has hit one of the major resistances around $30 to $31.5, which could act as a strong base once overcome. The buying volume is slowly increasing, which could keep the bullish hopes for the rally high. Moreover, the supertrend has just flashed a buy signal, indicating a clean reversal of the trend. Therefore, AR price seems primed to maintain a healthy uptrend and rally above $40. However, if the bulls maintain a similar trend, making new highs above $50 may not be a tedious task for the bulls.

Price Analysis of Injective (INJ)

Injective price has been showing sharp strength since the beginning of the year and hence, the recent turnaround is expected to revive a good uptrend going forward. The bears engulfed the rally to a large extent, but the recent price action suggests that the bulls have regained their dominance. Therefore, INJ price is expected to maintain a strong uptrend with a bearish interference on the way down.

INJ price has surged above the lower support zone and has registered consecutive bullish candles. Although the volume is below the required levels, the OBV is maintaining a sharp uptrend. Furthermore, the Ichimoku cloud lead span B is heading towards the lead span A and a healthy crossover indicates the start of a new uptrend. However, INJ price may be out of the bears’ reach once it secures the resistance zone between $30.77 and $32.12, which seems to be on the horizon.

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Markets

Ethereum at $3.5K, Exchange Supply Hits 34-Month High

Published

6 months ago

17 July, 2024

FinCrypt Staff

Ethereum at $3.5K, Exchange Supply Hits 34-Month High

Ethereum (ETH) supply on exchanges has hit a 34-month high as the asset’s price surpassed the $3,500 mark.

ETH has risen 2.3% over the past 24 hours and is trading at $3,490 at the time of writing. The second-largest cryptocurrency — with a market cap of $419 billion — briefly touched an intraday high of $3,517 earlier today.

ETH Price, Whale Activity, RSI, and Exchange Supply – July 17 | Source: Santiment

Ethereum’s daily trading volume also increased by 7.6% to reach $19.8 billion.

According to data provided by Santiment, the supply of Ethereum on exchanges has reached $19.52 million ETH. This level was last seen in September 2021, when the asset was trading around the same price.

On the other hand, data from the market intelligence platform shows that the number of whale transactions has fallen by 12% in the last day — falling from 8,730 to 7,629 unique transactions per day.

The move shows that the supply of Ethereum on exchanges has been increasing with small deposits rather than large transactions from whales.

Additionally, the ETH Relative Strength Index (RSI) is currently hovering at the 60-mark, per Santiment. The indicator shows that Ethereum is slightly overbought at this price point, but it may not be in a critical position due to its large market cap.

One of the main drivers of Ethereum price increase is ETH spot expectations ETFs in the US Investment products are scheduled to start trading on July 23rd.

Source

Markets

Bits + Beeps: How to Play the ‘Trump Trade’ in Cryptocurrencies After the Assassination Attempt

Published

6 months ago

17 July, 2024

FinCrypt Staff

Bits + Bips: How to Play the ‘Trump Trade’ in Crypto After the Assassination Attempt

Also, how much will the Fed cut rates (and when)? What will be the inflows into ETH ETFs? And what is the near future for Bitcoin?

Posted on July 17, 2024 at 12:00 PM EST.

Listen to the episode at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Capsules, Source, Podcast Addict, Pocket molds, Amazon Musicor on your favorite podcast platform.

In this episode of Bits + Bips, hosts James Seyffart, Alex Kruger and Joe McCann, joined by guest Jack Platts, dive into the market reaction to the recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, analyzing how this event will influence the 2024 US presidential election and the cryptocurrency markets.

They also cover potential rate cuts: Could there be a cut in July? How big could the September rate cut be? Could the decision be influenced by the upcoming election?

They also give their predictions on what percentage of BTC ETF inflows the ETH ETFs will reach, and James talks about what he expects for Grayscale’s ETHE (hint: his outlook would be positive for ETH).

Finally, they delve into what’s next for Bitcoin as the German government runs out of BTC and Mt. Gox distributions begin. Just now?

Program Highlights:

Whether Trump’s shooting decided the election and whether the event caused a “flight to safety”
How election markets are becoming a place to watch election probabilities and whether cryptocurrencies “lean right”
Whether rate cuts will occur in July or September and by how much they will cut: 25 bps or 50 bps
How Joe sees the relationship between global liquidity cycles, rate cuts, and the potential rise of Bitcoin
What are the new updates about Ethereum ETFs and their expected launch?
Why Solana Hasn’t Performed Significantly Better Since Trump News
What Market Breadth Indicates About the Current Market Rally and the Impact of Rates on Small Caps
Everyone’s predictions on ETH ETF inflows and how much outflow we’ll see on Grayscale’s ETHE
What’s Next for BTC After German Government Exits Bitcoin and Mt. Gox Giveaways Starting This Week