Triaconta Weekly #284

The following topics will be addressed in this weekly:

  • Bundle performance
  • Winners & Losers
  • Market overview

Bundle performance
Here we are once again. Bitcoin also started the year with the flu, but that too seems to be over today. Indeed, the U.S. economy is doing great and stock markets S&P and Dow Jones are notching new all-time highs, usually followed by further gains. Some of those gains are always invested a bit riskier, for example in crypto. Meanwhile, billions of dollars have already been invested in the new Bitcoin ETFs and everyone is gearing up for the next big event, the Bitcoin halving. Instead of about 900 new Bitcoin per day, we will then drop to just 450 new Bitcoin per day all at once. To put this in perspective, the Bitcoin ETFs have added an average of 1860 Bitcoins per day on balance over the past few days!

Big3:
1 Month: -5.16% | 7D: -5.11% | 24H: +1.08%

Top30:
1 Month: -10.14% | 7D: -3.90% | 24H: +2.42%

Penny:
1 Month: -23.31% | 7D: -0.42% | 24H: +2.90%

DeFi:
1 Month: -11.93% | 7D: -6.11% | 24H: +2.90%

Bitcoin halving countdown. 78 days

Winners & Losers

An excellent week for Chiliz (+26%) which was added at the last revision in Penny and is emerging as the leading Web 3 sports and entertainment blockchain. The Lisk (+18%) rise with no news seems speculative, as does 0X (+8%). There were also speculative declines with little volume such as Siacoin (-20%), Nem (-15%), Luna Classic (-14%) and Curve DAO (-10%). Significant though was the drop in Ethereum (-9%) possibly due to large sales from bankrupt Celsius or disappointment over the Ethereum ETF’s postponement.

Market overview

The Bitcoin price is currently very influenced by the transfer of thousands of Bitcoins back and forth between the Grayscale Bitcoin ETF and all the new Bitcoin ETFs. Because Grayscale used to be the only one with a Bitcoin fund they apply high annual management fees of 1.5% while the new ETFs charge an average of 0.25%. It is difficult to determine if there are new buyers until this cross-selling stops. In the past 10 days, there was a $4.75 billion outflow from Grayscale’s fund and a $5.5 billion inflow into the other funds. So on a net basis, there was a plus. What the real demand will be we will not know for some time.

The Chiliz CEO has indicated in plans for 2024 that an aggressive merger and acquisition (M&A) strategy is the way forward. Chiliz recently surpassed 10 million on-chain transactions thanks in part to Socios, the platform for sports fans. Socios lets fans own and use “Fan Tokens” to influence their favorite teams, a proposition that is resonating fantastically with the sports-crazy masses. Meanwhile, whales are extracting more and more tokens from the market, causing the price to even jump 50% for a while this week. Keep an eye on this token.

Solana (SOL) on Jan. 24 announced new developments including several token enhancements. These innovative features offer enhanced functionality and are a significant advancement similar to Ethereum’s ERC-20 token standard. Solana listed 13 token extensions in the announcement. With the exception of confidential transfers, all extensions are immediately available for use. Confidential transactions will become accessible once the network adopts version 1.17, expected in February 2024. It is very positive that there is plenty of building to users’ needs, and more and more companies such as Visa, Worldpay, Stripe, Google and Shopify are now using the capabilities of the Solana blockchain.