Triaconta Weekly #204

The following topics will be addressed in this weekly.

  • Bundle performance
  • Winners & Losers
  • Market overview

Bundle performance

Bitcoin has no intrinsic value and no one uses it are things we have not heard in a while. Suddenly the whole world is talking about crypto. Is it being used to evade sanctions or do a lot of Russians now prefer Bitcoin to the plummeting ruble. Maybe there are first-time buyers who want to donate with crypto, which has been officially enabled by the government of Ukraine since Saturday? The fact is that due to the horrible events of this week, the awareness and adoption of crypto has made a huge leap forward. As a result, the price of Bitcoin broke through the €40,000 mark on Tuesday and most other currencies went up as well. We are trading down again at the end of the week but this was an excellent week for all bundles.

Big 3:
1 Month: +13.44% | 7D: +8.44% | 24H: -3.48%

Top 30:
1 Month: +3.69% | 7D: +12.11% | 24H: -2.85%

Penny stock:
1 Month: -5.15% | 7D: +7.87% | 24H: -2.45%

DeFi:
1 Month: +4.50% | 7D: +14.31% | 24H: -2.10%

Winners & Losers

Spectacular gains for Waves (+94%) on news of a multi-chain Metaverse plan and a partnership with Allbridge for multiple bridges to other blockchains. Terra (+38%) also popped up and has now passed Ethereum in committed coins ($30 billion) on the LUNA blockchain. Further down the winner’s list we find Cosmos (+35%) and Near Protocol (+32% and again above the revision price), Ren (+28%) and Fetch.AI (+25%). There are few losers this week with Aelf (-8%), Synthetix (-7%) and Reserve Rights (-5%) at the top.

Market overview

Cryptocurrency exchanges worldwide refuse requests to freeze all Russian accounts because this would also affect ordinary Russians. They do, however, cooperate with the blockade of Russian banks and certain Russian individuals on the international sanctions lists. Reports that the Russian government could use crypto to circumvent sanctions paint a false picture. Large movements of money across the blockchain can be traced very easily. The buying or selling of crypto with fiat money takes place through financial institutions that adhere to KYC/AML rules and sanctions legislation. There has certainly been a temporary increase in Bitcoin purchases since the invasion, both with rubles and Ukrainian grivna, but mainly through the regulated exchanges, and in total less than a fraction of the volume a company or government would need to do business with crypto to circumvent sanctions.

Polkadot CEO Gavin Wood promised $5 million if Ukraine would also accept DOT for donations. The next day, this was a fact and the promised DOT was transferred. Meanwhile, donations can now also be made in Doge and Solana and in total, more than $50 million in crypto donations have already been sent.

Axie Infinity is officially the most searched NFT collection, with a total of 3.86 million monthly global searches, an increase of more than five times since the end of 2021. NFT’s popularity has skyrocketed in recent months to 5.1 million Google hits per month due to celebrity promotions, making it now being labeled as the “new crypto”.

The Swiss city of Lugano accepts Bitcoin and stablecoin USD Tether as legal payment for taxes, fines, salaries, public transport etc. Lugano wants to become the cryptocurrency centre of Europe for blockchain projects and will invest $100 million in startups that choose to relocate their offices and employees to Lugano.

Tranglo, an Asian financial services company, will activate Ripple’s ODL for all cross-border payments. The move comes after it successfully tested the platform last year with more than 250,000 transactions worth $48 million processed in 100 days. The Ripple ODL feature will become active on all 25 payment corridors. This will allow cross-border payments using XRP as a bridge currency through Tranglo with more than 100 countries.