1. Market update
2. Hong Kong leads race to become Global Crypto Hub
3. February in a Nutshell
4. Regulators
- U.S. regulatory crackdown on crypto
5. Regulators: Read More
6. Crypto projects
- NFT markets are booming again — Here’s what you should know
- How should you prepare for the Shanghai Upgrade?
7. Crypto Projects: Read More
8. Institutions
9. Mining
10. March Preview
- Bitcoin performance calendar
- Macroeconomic events
- Crypto events
1. Market update
Crypto markets tried to carry strength from a solid run from January but were hindered by regulatory concerns and unfavorable macroeconomic conditions.
Bitcoin attempted to move above $25k mid-month but was rejected at this key resistance level. That said, a breakthrough to the upside is still eagerly anticipated by the crypto bulls because of two reasons. First, if price can close above, it would represent a higher high on the weekly and a further indication of directional change. Second, the collapse of Three Arrows (3AC) last June left a gap between $25k and $28k that remains to be filled. The $28k mark also corresponds to the Fibonacci 0.236 level and represents a reasonable target for a rebound from November lows.
But macro headwinds continue to be a lingering concern for risk assets. January inflation data was less than ideal with CPI at 6.4% YoY (est. 6.2%) and PPI at 6.0% YoY (est. 5.4%). In addition, the labor market remained tight with unemployment at a 53-year low and initial jobless claims statistics that repeatedly beat expectations.
Reacting to the data, a couple of Fed officials said that they might consider a 50 bps hike in the next meeting. If inflation and labor market data do not cool down soon enough, traders will certainly be expecting more aggressive rate hikes in terms of quantity and magnitude, which would not be supportive for crypto assets.
For the Fed’s next meeting on March 22, traders are attaching 77% probability to a 25 bps hike and 23% probability to a 50 bps hike. As of now, the most likely trajectory of interest rates would be consecutive 25 bps hikes towards a higher terminal rate of 5.25–5.5% or above. A pause is not expected until four meetings later in July, and interest rates are expected to stay “higher for longer”.
On-chain data remains somewhat positive. The Bitcoin aSOPR metric has held slightly above the key support level at 1.0. However, as a drop below this level could signal a resumption of downtrend, it should be monitored closely in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has emerged above the buy zone (green) as suggested by the MVRV Z-Score. Typically, this marks the start of an expansion cycle and Bitcoin does not return to such levels for a period of time.
Combined with the four-year cycle thesis that repeatedly played out throughout the history of Bitcoin, the default scenario to consider for the rest of 2023 appears to be a range-bound market with capped upside.
2. Hong Kong leads race to become Global Crypto Hub
To attract funds and talent, jurisdictions must offer a high level of regulatory clarity. Crypto businesses are not incentivised to open offices in places where the licensing process is long and uncertain. In Asia, Hong Kong and Singapore are neck and neck in the race to become the region’s crypto hub.
Singapore initially took the lead, namely by allowing retail investors to trade on licensed platforms. However, three of the most infamous figures of crypto in 2022 were based in Singapore: Kyle Davies and Su Zhu from 3AC and Do Kwon from Terraform Labs. Coupled with its recent tightened rules on crypto trading, Singapore is slowly losing pace.
Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the end of travel restrictions that isolated the city for more than two years, pushed it back under the spotlight. In December 2022, to regain momentum, Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) proposed a new crypto licensing regime that will take effect in June 2023. It mandates licensed platforms to comply with the following requirements:
- secure storage of assets
- thorough KYC process
- avoiding conflicts of interest
- maintaining strong cybersecurity measures
- accurate accounting and auditing practices
- effective risk management
- preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism
- deterring any market misconduct.
While they appear somewhat restrictive, the rules were positively received by the crypto community as they provide more clarity for crypto businesses looking to settle in HK.
Then, on February 20, the SFC opened a public consultation hinting they might introduce retail investors to licensed platforms which was not the case in previous regulations. During the discussion, it was generally agreed that excluding retail investors from licensed marketplaces, would only divert them to unregulated platforms and hinder consumer protection.
To top it all, on February 22, Hong Kong announced it will allocate HK$50m (US$6.4m) of its annual budget to support the development of Web3 through “international seminars, cross-sectoral business cooperation and workshops for young people”.
“The third generation Internet (Web3), currently in its start-up period, has […] huge potential. We must keep up with the times and seize this golden opportunity to spearhead innovation development.” — Paul Chan Mo-po, Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary
Paul Chan even plans to build, and lead, a virtual asset task force made of policy bureaux executives, financial regulators and market participants.
Hong Kong’s forward-looking mindset diverges from US regulating institutions like the SEC, whose current regulatory crackdown is punitive rather than proactive. In contrast, Hong Kong’s coherent regulations and pro-crypto environment are already paying dividends. Huobi, who laid off 20% of employees in January, is quadrupling its Hong Kong team from 50 to 200 employees. Gate.io is planning to set up a new entity that is “tailored to serve HK’s growing crypto market”.
A regulated retail trading environment could be highly appealing for both firms and individuals. In fact, Hong Kong has the highest proportion of retail investors in the world and no capital gain taxes.
Most of all, Hong Kong opening its gates for crypto could signal a shift in stance from China, given its full-scale crackdown on crypto in 2021. According to a Bloomberg report, China seems to be quietly backing Hong Kong’s crypto endeavours, as government officials including China’s Liaison Office representatives were spotted at local crypto events.
3. February in a Nutshell
4. Regulators
U.S. regulatory crackdown on crypto
The crypto industry has been expecting regulatory repercussions from the FTX collapse, but it was unclear in what ways and to what extent regulators would act. In February, however, U.S. regulators were unusually active and launched several high-profile litigations against crypto firms. This led to a brief but sharp market dip in mid-February.
On February 3, the U.S. Department of Justice announced an investigation into Silvergate Bank, a major crypto-friendly bank, to examine its dealings with FTX and Alameda Research.
On February 6, Binance announced that they will pause supporting USD fiat withdrawals for customers. However, at the time crypto markets barely moved as the situation was labelled a “temporary halt”, and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) brushed off the issue saying that only 0.01% of customers are actively using the service. In retrospect, people realized that the exchange was probably being cut off from banking relationships in the U.S., and had difficulty supporting USD fiat withdrawals.
More alarm bells rang when Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong cited rumors on February 8 that the SEC could be taking action to ban crypto staking for retail customers. Less than a day later, Kraken was ordered by the SEC to close its staking program in the United States. They also had to pay a fine of $30 million to settle the case.
The SEC alleged that Kraken’s crypto staking-as-a-service was equivalent to offering unregistered securities products, and that Kraken failed to register the offer with the SEC. In an interview with CNBC, SEC Chair Gary Gensler said, “Companies like Kraken can offer investment contracts and investment schemes, but they have to have full, fair and truthful disclosure.”
Panic culminated with reports that the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) was launching an investigation into Paxos, which is the stablecoin company behind Binance USD (BUSD). On February 13, Paxos announced that it will cease issuance of new BUSD tokens. In addition, it was facing a lawsuit from the SEC for failing to register BUSD as a security. The BUSD product will be gradually winded down with redemptions supported until at least February 2024.
The regulatory flurry led to plenty of criticism from the affected parties. Kraken CEO Jesse Powell expressed disappointment against the ban of its crypto-staking program. He suggested that although the SEC appears to be neutral towards crypto staking programs, it is very difficult to be admitted into the regulator’s whitelist.
CZ said that the decision to rule BUSD as a security will bring “profound impacts” to how the crypto industry will develop, or struggle to develop, in the relevant jurisdictions. He said that due to recent developments, Binance has pulled back from some potential investments in the U.S., and had to end several business relationships in the region.
Many others, including Brian Armstrong, criticized the U.S. regulators for adopting an excessively stringent approach. This could lead to an exodus within US crypto firms to other jurisdictions that are more welcoming towards crypto ventures. In local crypto chatter, Hong Kong industry professionals talked about how U.S. regulators appear to refrain from taking the lead in drafting relevant articles and laws, instead choosing to wait for black and white from other jurisdictions.
Another point of discussion surrounded how stablecoins could be classified as a security under the Howey Test framework, because it does not come with an “expectation of profit”.
Crypto analyst Adam Cochran pointed out that the Howey Test may not be the only criterion to consider, as it is only a precedent for “investment contracts”. According to the Securities Act of 1933, “securities” can theoretically be a much broader category. He added that, because it was common practice for stablecoins like USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) to deposit customer assets into yield-bearing assets, they are much like a money market fund and could be regarded as securities under this aspect. It remains highly uncertain whether these two stablecoin giants could become the next targets for regulators.
What is sure though, is that there is a sizable gap in the stablecoin market waiting to be filled by its competitors. At its peak, BUSD accounted for around 15% of the stablecoin market share, and its users now need to seek alternatives. Being issued by a non-U.S. entity, Tether (USDT) was apparently the more popular choice for crypto users — its market share increased from 50% to 55% following the BUSD ban. Despite its roots in the U.S., USD Coin (USDC) also gained slightly from 30% to 32%.
Crypto professionals now expect more crackdown to follow in the coming weeks and months, and some have become very pessimistic over the situation. Nic Carter, partner at Castle Point Ventures, described recent developments as an Operation Choke Point on crypto. To add context, Carter was referring to a coordinated scheme by US regulators in 2013 that aimed to marginalize certain industries through the banking sector. He fears something similar could happen to crypto.
Others are more hopeful. Bernstein noted that the tightening of crypto regulations does not constitute an existential threat, and reassured that Circle, the issuer of USDC, has not fallen under the crosshair of the SEC. Riyad Carey, research analyst at Kaiko, said that the regulatory action on BUSD appears to be driven by KYC / AML issues, which is not a major concern for USDC.
Binance, who are widely expected to be the next target for US law enforcement, said that they expect to resolve current investigations by way of monetary penalties. Ironically, this was relieving news for most crypto participants.
Undoubtedly, the world’s biggest crypto exchange will be one of the major losers from the recent regulatory crackdown. As mentioned, it could be forced to abandon the U.S. market. Prior to the BUSD ban. It was also heavily promoting the BUSD as the preferred stablecoin for its exchange and its native BNB blockchain. Most notably, it was actively rolling out zero-fee trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum using BUSD.
Towards mid-late February, the market’s focus shifted towards Hong Kong and the wider macroeconomic backdrop, but the SEC continued in the background.
On February 15, the SEC announced stricter requirements for crypto custody. These would directly affect crypto exchanges that operate under an integrated model, where trading is not entirely separated from custody.
On February 16, the SEC officially submitted a lawsuit against Terraform Labs and Do Kwon, for their responsibility over the Terra (LUNA) and TerraUSD (UST) crash.
Gabriel Shapiro, General Counsel at Delphi Labs, said that the documents submitted by the SEC revealed more information about the regulator’s approach. He said that the SEC was “more thorough than usual” in its paperwork and ran through the Howey Test for various alleged securities like LUNA, UST and wrapped LUNA (wLUNA). He is concerned that the lawsuit could serve as a “roadmap” to take down other stablecoins.
Overall, tighter regulation of the crypto industry will leave a harder time for most crypto tokens. It will become more difficult for crypto tokens to qualify as commodities. This may especially be the case for Ethereum (ETH), which as we have argued for several times, might not pass the Howey Test.
But as always, with crisis comes opportunity, and some cryptocurrencies are set to benefit from the tighter regulatory environment.
The surest bet remains to be Bitcoin. In a latest interview, Gensler reiterated that he considers all crypto assets, except spot Bitcoin, to be subject to U.S. securities law. Clearly, Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency that is decentralized enough to qualify as a commodity thus far.
Besides, crypto investors could be developing a renewed interest into decentralized stablecoins. The biggest gainer from this narrative was Liquity (LQTY), which saw a month-to-date gain of 101%. Maker (MKR), the decentralized protocol behind Dai (DAI) also outperformed. Curve (CRV) and Aave (AAVE), the leading DeFi protocols who are planning the launch of their own decentralized stablecoins, traded mostly in line with major tokens.
SSV Network (SSV) was one of the biggest winners from recent developments and gained 137% month-to-date. The project is a leader in Distributed Validator Technology (DVT) solutions, which enables the distributed operation of Ethereum validators through a network of trustless nodes. The token was already gaining momentum ahead of the Shanghai upgrade and saw further inflows during February, as investors are now making bets on its DVT technology to make Ethereum more decentralized.
Stacks (STX) was another winner this month and gained 236% month-to-date. The Bitcoin Layer 2 solution benefitted from the fact that it was the first-ever approved token sale that obtained formal approval from the SEC. Indeed, the stars aligned as the growth of Bitcoin ordinals brought forward another positive catalyst for the token.
5. Regulators: Read More
1–14.02.2023
- Hong Kong to mandate stablecoin licensing as early as this year (Read More)
- Founder of $7.5M ‘brazen fraud scheme’ gets 8 years behind bars (Read More)
- Feds Sanction Bitcoin, Ethereum Addresses Linked to Russian Arms Dealer (Read More)
- South Korean Prosecutors Arrest Executive Linked to Crypto Exchange Bithumb: Report (Read More)
- Silvergate Faces US Fraud Probe Over FTX and Alameda Dealings (Read More)
- Hong Kong Regulator Wants to Beef Up Its Staff Covering Virtual Assets (Read More)
- Australia Releases Token Mapping Consultation Paper, Plans to Reveal Crypto Rule Framework in 2023 (Read More)
- Kraken to Shut US Crypto-Staking Service, Pay $30M Fine in SEC Settlement (Read More)
- Crypto Firm Paxos Faces SEC Lawsuit Over Binance USD Token (Read More)
- Regulator Orders Crypto Firm Paxos to Stop Issuing Binance Stablecoin (Read More)
15–28.02.2023
- Bankman-Fried, Ellison Among Those Subpoenaed in FTX Bankruptcy (Read More)
- Crypto Giant Binance Expects to Pay Penalties to Resolve U.S. Investigations (Read More)
- SEC Proposal Could Bar Investment Advisers From Keeping Assets at Crypto Firms (Read More)
- Norwegian Authorities Seize $5.9M From Crypto Game Axie Infinity Hack (Read More)
- SEC Sues Terraform Labs, Do Kwon for Misleading Investors on TerraUSD Stablecoin (Read More)
- Hong Kong Plans to Let Retail Sector Trade Larger Crypto Tokens Like Bitcoin (Read More)
- New York Attorney General sues CoinEx crypto exchange over registration (Read More)
- SEC Objects to Binance.US’ $1B Voyager Deal, Alleging Sale of Unregistered Securities (Read More)
- Crypto gateway Alchemy Pay scores license in Indonesia (Read More)
- Robinhood Faces SEC Investigation Over Crypto Business (Read More)
6. Crypto projects
NFTs are booming again — Here’s what you should know
NFT markets have recovered well from last year with rising floor prices and volume since the FTX crash. In February, there has been several high profile transactions including the sale of CryptoPunk #5066 for 857 ETH ($1.4 million), and BAYC #7090 for 857 ETH ($1.3 million).
The talk of this month is the rise of Blur as a prominent NFT trading platform, to the extent that it challenges OpenSea’s leadership position.
As an introduction, Blur is a hybrid platform that serves as both NFT marketplace and aggregator, meaning that it can facilitate trades on its own marketplace, but also on other major platforms like OpenSea, X2Y2 and LooksRare.
Apart from a handy interface that allows users to easily track and sweep NFT collections, Blur also trumps its competitors in terms of speed. For example, it only takes 0.4 seconds for Blur to detect pending transactions, and 4 seconds to update live listings. It makes Blur 10x faster than Gem, which was the largest NFT aggregator.
Like other platforms, the launch of Blur comes with an incentive program that allows users to obtain BLUR tokens. Nevertheless, Blur’s approach is slightly different from its predecessors. Instead of directly rewarding users for their trade volumes, which encourages wash trading, users are awarded more points if they place bids close to the relevant floor price. For example, if an NFT collection is trading at floor price of 1 ETH, users who make a bid of 0.99 ETH will receive higher points than those who bid 0.98 ETH, and so forth. In turn, it provides a great liquidity boost to Blur’s marketplace.
In addition, Blur does not charge a fee for its platform and users are free to select the royalty percentage to be paid back to art creators. Compared to OpenSea, which imposes a 2.5% marketplace fee and mandatory royalties between 5–10%, Blur is clearly the cheaper platform to opt for. Nevertheless, Blur users receive more airdrop points if they chose to pay higher royalties, therefore striking a clever balance between users and creators.
Because of the combination of these factors, the Blur marketplace quickly gained popularity, especially among active NFT traders. On October 20, only three days after its launch, it had already surpassed Gem to become the biggest NFT aggregator platform.
As a defensive move, OpenSea introduced a firewall to prevent NFT collections from being traded on Blur and other platforms. But by early February, Blur had found a way to work around it.
According to Dune Analytics, Blur surpassed OpenSea in terms of monthly trading volume since early December. It has also captured a sizable proportion of NFT buyers, with weekly users at around 40–60k. By comparison, the figure is around 100–150k for OpenSea.
After an initial delay, it was announced that live trading of the BLUR token would commence on February 14. In the meantime, the hype around Blur exploded. Trading activity on Blur surged in the past two weeks, accounting for more than 75% of total NFT market volume during this period. The number of weekly users also increased to over 90k.
On February 18, OpenSea announced that they will move to optional creator royalties and adopt zero marketplace fees for a limited time. This was seen by many as a desperate move to maintain its leadership.
That said, more time is needed to see if Blur has successfully dethroned OpenSea to become the new leader of NFT markets. For now, OpenSea is still the go-to place for most NFT buyers, and remains the most user-friendly platform for people new to NFTs. Meanwhile, we have seen remarkable ambition and innovation from the Blur team that undoubtedly will continue to pose a serious challenge.
Zooming out, the NFT-Fi ecosystem has seen exceptional growth along with the recovery of NFT markets. Borrow volumes spiked since January and the monthly number of NFT-Fi loans have made new highs. At the time of writing, cumulative borrow volume has surpassed $357 million.
Currently, the main application of NFT-Fi is the lending and borrowing of NFTs. At present, the NFT lending market is evenly split by a handful of protocols, with BendDAO (BEND) having the lion’s share. Nevertheless, new emerging challengers like Arcade and Pine Protocol are aiming to win a share of the fast-growing market.
Incubated by JKL Group, LENA Network is the new up-and-coming NFT liquidity protocol. Using a permissionless and multi-chain approach, LENA aims to unlock the liquidity potential for all NFT assets. The project has gained traction recently, having established partnerships with several names including DWF Labs, OpenGate, XPLUS and veDAO.
On February 8, LENA held its first Twitter Space in Chinese. In the one-hour session, the host was joined by five experienced crypto users to discuss recent trends and outlook in the NFT-Fi landscape.
Speakers praised the utility brought by NFT-Fi, as it improves efficiency for capital deployment. Thanks to different liquidity lending protocols, NFT holders are able to obtain ETH or stablecoin loans using their NFT assets as collateral. The “buy and hold” is no longer the only viable strategy to participate in NFTs.
Raccoon Chan, experienced DeFi and NFT investor, who is also the founder of Buji DAO, pointed out that the current NFT market is dominated by a small number of expensive NFT collections, and that existing NFT liquidity protocols are built to serve this niche segment. This means there is a sizable portion of the market that is not served by existing protocols. For instance, there are a large number of NFTs from GameFi like costumes and props. Although they are relatively low-priced, there is a stable demand from players who are interested to trade or obtain liquidity from these assets.
Raccoon added that using NFT-Fi today reminded him of DeFi’s early days . While he is impressed by the quick developments in the field, gaps remain in terms of project-market fit, as well as user experience and smoothness overall.
Altogether, speakers agree that there is a bright future ahead for NFT-Fi. As the sector is still young and developing, it is worth keeping an eye on coming trends that may challenge the status quo. Apart from liquidity protocols, fractionalisation of NFTs could lead to broader participation and better liquidity in NFT markets. One should also monitor the adoption of Automated Market Maker (AMM) models for NFT markets, as they could significantly improve trading efficiency, but also NFT perpetual contracts that will allow NFT holders to hedge their exposure.
6. How should you prepare for the Shanghai Upgrade?
What is the Shanghai upgrade?
On 15 September 2022, Ethereum’s consensus mechanism transitioned from PoW to PoS by merging the Beacon Chain with Ethereum Mainnet. Since December 2020, network participants can stake their ETH as validators of Ethereum’s new consensus layer. However, they cannot withdraw their staked ETH just yet and have to wait for Ethereum’s upcoming hard fork, named the Shanghai upgrade, scheduled for mid-March. Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP) 4895 will enable withdrawals for ETH stakers and unlock massive amounts of liquidity. From the launch of the Beacon Chain, more than two years ago, until recently, EIP-4895, was at the heart of a heated debate as it was unclear when network participants would be able to access their stake. Frustrations were notably intensified during periods of market stress when investors were looking for liquid exits. While EIP-4895 is the highlight of the Shanghai upgrade, it comes with two other noteworthy EIPs:
- EIP-3855 aims to increase transaction speed by reducing contracts code size.
- EIP-3860 aims to reduce transaction costs mainly for developers by capping their gas fees.
How will it affect the network?
Now that the upgrade is near, analysts speculate on how it will influence the total number of staked ETH.
On the one hand, some argue that it will go down since investors will finally be able to sell their ETH position to reduce risk exposure following 2022’s several market crashes. One must keep in mind that one year ago, before LUNA crashed, already three million ETH were staked on the blockchain. Some of these investors went through severe liquidity crises and might need to cash in some gains now that the market is recovering.
On the other hand, the Shanghai upgrade’s scheduled date lifted uncertainties around withdrawals, so more network participants might be willing to stake their ETH. Eventually it will depend on market sentiment at the time of the upgrade as it is often the case in crypto.
How will it affect the market?
According to staking rewards, 14.74% of all ETH are staked and locked on the Ethereum blockchain. The crypto market is fairly young compared to other asset classes. This makes it highly unpredictable, especially in unprecedented situations like the Shanghai upgrade. Thus, the share of network participants that will withdraw and sell their stake cannot be precisely estimated.
However, one thing is certain, the Shanghai upgrade significantly improves Ethereum staking experience for users. Many risk-averse investors were avoiding ETH staking due to distrust over liquid staking solutions and a lack of information regarding the ETH withdrawal schedule. They now might drive ETH demand upward.
One should also consider that while the utility of liquid staking tokens like stETH will decrease, their peg will be much stronger since they will be redeemable for ETH in a straightforward manner. It should therefore benefit the Ethereum ecosystem as a whole. Overall, increased liquidity of the Ethereum token will improve price discovery efficiency and drive ETH price closer to its fair value.
How will it affect you?
Once the hard fork will be completed and the Shanghai upgrade adopted by network participants, stakers will have three options:
- Keep holdings staked on-chain.
- Withdraw staking rewards only, which will be processed instantly.
- Withdraw rewards and 32+ initial staked ETH. This process will be slow and face high network congestion. Only 16 withdrawal requests will be handled every 12 seconds. According to Lucas Outumuro, Head of Research at IntoTheBlock, it would take well over a year for all staked ETH to be withdrawn.
What’s next?
Ethereum’s next major EIP will be Proto-Danksharding (EIP-4844). It will lay the foundations for danksharding, a new type of sharding architecture tailored to the Ethereum blockchain. It will prepare Ethereum to reach new scalability milestones by optimising L2 rollups solutions’ efficiency on the network.
7. Crypto Projects: Read More
1–14.02.2023
- Cardano-Based Djed Stablecoin Attracts 27M ADA Tokens as Reserve Backing (Read More)
- Blur Reportedly Finds Loophole in OpenSea’s Blocklist as Marketplace War Escalates (Read More)
- Bitcoin NFT Mints Are Rising — But So Are Transaction Fees (Read More)
- Jack Dorsey-Backed Decentralized Twitter Alternative Damus Banned in China (Read More)
- Ethereum Testnet Successfully Processes First-Ever ETH Staking Withdrawals (Read More)
- CoW Swap hacker milks over 550 BNB using ‘solver’ exploit (Read More)
- Saudi Arabia, The Sandbox agree to collaborate on metaverse projects (Read More)
- CryptoPunk, Bored Ape Sell for Over $1M Each as NFT Market Rebounds (Read More)
- Blockchain tech still far from hitting the esport big leagues, says investor (Read More)
- Curve Token Surges Over 10% as Crypto Traders Eye Curve USD Stablecoin (Read More)
15–28.02.2023
- Binance’s CEO Says Algo Stablecoins May Reemerge (Read More)
- Cardano Gets ‘Valentine’ Upgrade. Here’s How it Benefits ADA Token (Read More)
- NFT Marketplace Blur Releases Native Token for Community Ownership (Read More)
- NFT Marketplace Rarible Expands Aggregation to Tezos (Read More)
- OpenSea Goes Zero-Fee, Creator Royalties Optional (Read More)
- Yield Guild Games raising $75 million venture fund to double down on web3 gaming (Read More)
- Blur Overtakes OpenSea as Ethereum NFT Trading Skyrockets (Read More)
- Start of the End? Testnet Goerli Ether Spikes to $1.60 as Traders Jump on Opportunity Meant for Developers (Read More)
- Solana Network Stumbles, On-Chain Trading Slows After ‘Forking’ Incident (Read More)
- Liquid Staking Replaces DeFi Lending as Second-Largest Crypto Sector (Read More)
8. Institutions
1–14.02.2023
- Tesla Details $140 Million Bitcoin Loss in SEC Filing (Read More)
- Zuckerberg’s Metaverse Division Loses $13.72 Billion in 2022 (Read More)
- ARK Invest Maintains Prediction Bitcoin Price Will Hit $1M by 2030 (Read More)
- Crypto Venture Firm Pantera Capital Says Co-CIO Joey Krug Leaves (Read More)
- Institutional Traders Shifting Attention from Blockchain to AI: JP Morgan (Read More)
- DCG sells shares in Grayscale crypto trusts in push to raise funds (Read More)
- Stablecoin Issuer Tether Reports $700M Profit, Complete Exit From Commercial Paper (Read More)
- Coinbase ‘Will Defend Staking in Court if Needed’: CEO (Read More)
- Celsius Looking to Raise $14.4M Selling Bitcoin Mining Coupons and Credits (Read More)
- Credit Suisse leads $65 million Series B in digital asset firm Taurus (Read More)
15–28.02.2023
- Nomura’s Crypto Arm Invests in Institutional Hybrid DeFi Protocol Infinity Exchange (Read More)
- DBS Exchange Says Bitcoin Trading Surges 80% Amid Crypto Winter (Read More)
- Siemens Issues Blockchain Based Euro-Denominated Bond on Polygon Blockchain (Read More)
- Sony Teams Up With Astar Network for Web3 Incubation Program (Read More)
- Hong Kong Successfully Offered Inaugural $100M Tokenized Green Bond (Read More)
- Crypto Hedge Fund Galois Capital Shuts Down After Losing $40M to FTX (Read More)
- Coinbase beats on revenue and earnings, but usage continues to decline (Read More)
- Microsoft and Ankr partner to offer blockchain node infrastructure service (Read More)
- Google Cloud to Become Validator on Tezos Network (Read More)
- BlackRock Starts Metaverse-Themed ETF Despite Waning Investor Interest (Read More)
9. Mining
1–14.02.2023
- Bitcoin Miner Core Scientific to Borrow $70M From B. Riley (Read More)
- Core Scientific cuts deal with lender NYDIG to extinguish $38.6 million in debt (Read More)
- Bitcoin Miner TeraWulf Restructures Debt (Read More)
- Marathon Digital Sells Mined Bitcoin for First Time to Monetize Recent Rally (Read More)
- Riot’s Bitcoin Mining Still Crimped by December Storm in Texas (Read More)
- Bitcoin Miner Stronghold Restructures Debt to Improve Liquidity (Read More)
- Bitcoin Miners Hut 8, US Bitcoin to Combine in All-Stock Merger (Read More)
- Argo Blockchain mined 14% more bitcoin in January than December (Read More)
- Bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain’s CEO Peter Wall steps down (Read More)
- Bitcoin Miner Iris Energy Expands Data Center to Triple Hash Rate (Read More)
15–28.02.2023
- Bitcoin miner Iris Energy posts $144 million net loss (Read More)
- Crypto Miner CleanSpark Extends Bear-Market Strategy, Buying 20K of Bitmain’s Newest Rigs (Read More)
- Startup Sustainable Bitcoin Protocol Completes First Transaction of Clean Mining Tokens (Read More)
- Celsius Reaches Acquisition Agreement with NovaWulf (Read More)
- Judge Clears Celsius’ Plan to Sell Bitmain Mining Coupons Worth Over $7M (Read More)
- Compute North’s Reorganization Plan Approved by Bankruptcy Judge (Read More)
- Crypto Miner Core Scientific Paid More Than $1M to CEO-Affiliated Personal Jet Company (Read More)
- Bitmain Partner BitFuFu Starts Marketplace for Crypto Mining Rig Coupons (Read More)
- Crypto Miner Hive Blockchain Posts Q3 Loss as Ethereum Merge Cuts Revenue, Mining Margin (Read More)
- Luxor partners with Southeast Asia mining firm, seeks to attract capital (Read More)
10. March Preview
Inflation and labor market statistics such as CPI, PPI, Nonfarm Payrolls and Initial Jobless Claims will remain in focus before the Fed meeting on March 22. Traders will also be looking at the PMI readings to assess whether monetary tightening is starting to impact the fundamental economy. Until more significant weakness is observed from the economic data, the “higher for longer” narrative is likely to persist.
Bitcoin performance calendar
March tends to be a bearish month for crypto. Over the past ten years, Bitcoin closed six times in the red with a median return of -4.2%. This provides rationale to adopt a conservative approach for the coming month.
Macroeconomic events
Crypto events
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