Triaconta Weekly #245

The following topics will be addressed in this weekly:

  • Bundle performance
  • Winners & Losers
  • Market overview

Bundle performance
For a very brief moment, Bitcoin took us above $25,000 (or €23,500) and the 200-week moving average and technically, by the end of the week, we would prefer to be above it again. Currently, we are on the way back up so who knows? In any case, we are much higher than last week, which is positive for the market and all bundles. With rapid moves like Wednesday (+11%), it is always hard to say whether the price has been manipulated upwards by big players or, conversely, if they tried for too long to keep it down and failed. That big players are trying can be seen in the increased volatility, though.

Big3:
1 Month: +9.14% | 7D: +7.00% | 24H: -2.16%

Top30:
1 Month: +14.59% | 7D: +8.22% | 24H: -0.61%

Penny:
1 Month: +19.81% | 7D: +9.66% | 24H: -1.31%

DeFi:
1 Month: +27.21% | 7D: +7.86% | 24H: -2.80%

Winners & Losers
It has been going fast this week, especially on Wednesday and today. Filecoin (+45%) benefits from the rise in NFT trading on OpenSea and, of course, launches its own virtual machine for executing smart contracts on 1 March. Internet Computer (30%) is doing fine with the now SocialFi named Web3 decentralised OpenChat where your profile is your wallet. Fantom (+27%) and Lido Dao (+20%) as DeFi is booming. Pennystock JasmyCoin (+20%) has been soaring for a fortnight after publishing a roadmap for 2023 that includes an AI Engine, Carbon credit solution and a Data value exchange. Also coming is an English version of their SecurePC solution. Another week with no significant declines.

Market overview

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has provided an interbank communication system to facilitate international payments since 1973. In March 2023, it will adopt the ISO 20022 standard for global messaging. This global standard has been the basis for the RippleNet and is still only supported by a limited number of crypto namely XRP, Stellar, Hedera, Algorand, Quant (all in the Top 30 bundle), and IOTA. Comprehensive and structured data in the ISO 20022 message will allow for better checks beforehand, less friction in the middle and better reconciliation at the end, so that payments can be handled better and faster from start to finish.

The Ethereum blockchain received an upgrade called the “Merge” in September 2022, which changed the consensus mechanism from Proof of Work to Proof of Stake. On the price, it did not have much effect but with the upcoming “Shanghai” upgrade, this might be different. Even before the switch to Proof of Stake, Ethereum could already be locked into the blockchain for two years that will only be released at the upcoming upgrade. It has already been determined that just under half will have bought Ethereum at a lower price than it is currently quoting, and so that could create selling pressure. On the other hand, the upgrade also includes quite a few improvements that will actually make it more attractive to (continue to) hold Ethereum.

Tencent Cloud, part of this Chinese tech conglomerate, has recruited MultiversX (EGLD) – formerly known as Elrond – to build out Web3 services. Quite a remarkable event in a country that has a very mixed and mostly negative attitude towards crypto. The strategic partnership could involve infrastructure, Metaverse, Gaming, Web3 hubs and combinations of Tencent Cloud Compute and this blockchain.

What is a Layer 1, Layer 2 blockchain? In a “layer 1” blockchain, the blockchain is the base layer of the system. The blockchain has its own independent running network like Bitcoin and Ethereum, for example. “Layer 2” blockchains are designed to add additional functionality or improve scalability on top of an existing “Layer 1” blockchain. One example is the Lightning Network, which is built on top of Bitcoin (BTC) and provides faster and cheaper transactions. Another example is Polygon (MATIC) as an optimisation on top of Ethereum. It is not always the case that a layer 1 blockchain is inherently worth more than a layer 2 blockchain. Rather, the value of a blockchain is determined by its utility and the number of users. So for our bundles, we mainly look at the proven track record, the size of the community and by how many people are actively working on a project to add more value.