Weekly Research Report: MASTERCARD ADDS CRYPTO ‘SAUCE’
Market Recap
Crypto market had another uneventful week with Crypto Total Market Cap dropped 0.5% to $952bn. Bitcoin once again rejected at the 50dma, $19.6k, and was stabilising in a narrow range between $18.6k and $19.7k (7d $BTC +0.4%). Ethereum outperformed Bitcoin this week and its token issuance returned to pre-Merge level (7d $ETH +2.8%).
Crypto dominance: (BTC 38.3%, ETH 16.8%, USDT 7.0%, USDC 4.5%).
Derivatives Market
General funding rates turned less negative (7d avg funding: BTC -1.6%, ETH -4.6%) (Chart 1).
Alt’s funding rates remained negative (7d avg funding: ADA -26.2%, SOL -11.3%, BNB -10.0%)
On liquidation side (Chart 2), only $88m worth of bitcoin positions have been liquidated this week, which was 24% less than last week number, with 1.5 Long/Short liquidation ratio this week, which could be concluded as a calm liquidation week.
Altcoins Roundup
Aave released clean audit report on its upcoming stablecoin $GHO. (7d $AAVE +14.1%)
Ripple was testing its ripple ledger (XRPL) sidechain which will be compatible with Ethereum. (7d $XRP -4.6%)
Lido Finance will be launching and offering $LDO as rewards on two Layer-2 networks, Optimism and Arbitrum. (7d $LDO +12.1%)
Crypto Updates
Tether announced that the company’s stablecoin $USDT will be available at 24,000 ATMs in Brazil, starting from 3 Nov.
OpenSea, the largest NFT marketplace, added support for Avalanche NFTs. The platform now supports NFTs from seven blockchain networks: Ethereum, Solana, Polygon, Klaytn, Optimism, Arbitrum and Avalanche.
Magic Eden, the Solana’s top NFT marketplace, launched ‘optional royalty model’ which buyers could choose to pay a flexible amount of fees to the creator. Magic Eden will also waive its 2% platform fee and the team said these decisions may not be permanent.
Rarible NFT marketplace will be upgrading to Rarible 2.0 which includes a new feature called ‘NFT aggregator’. Users can browse and purchase Ethereum NFTs listed from any NFT marketplace, by only executing on Rarible 2.0.
Regulatory Updates
Hong Kong clarified their crypto stance is separate from China’s, and will consider direct retail participation.
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has published new guidelines on NFT, which digital collectibles will be treated as stablecoins and cryptocurrencies and taxed under same rules.
Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX crypto exchange, proposed standards for sanctions and licensing for Defi development.
Israel planned to issue government bonds via blockchain technology platform, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE).
Institutional Updates
Fidelity added Ethereum trading service for institutional clients.
N26, German digital bank, launched crypto trading service in Austria. The service will allow customers to trade nearly 200 cryptocurrencies.
Mastercard introduced ‘Crypto Source’ programme which enable financial institutions ,banks and fintech companies to bring crypto trading capabilities to their clients.
Macro Front
US stocks traded higher as market discussing possible Fed pivot in November ahead of US mid-term election (7d: DJI +3.0%, S&P500 +4.9%, NQ +5.8%). The strength of dollar slowed down as Liz Truss resignation caused the Sterling to soar (DXY -0.7%). Hong Kong and China’s stocks tumbled as the Chinese President Xi continued his tightening policy (HSI -6.4%). Commodities were mixed (GOLD +0.4%, Oil +0.0%, Wheat -2.2%).
Conclusion
Crypto assets continued to trade with no-surprise price actions. Without any independent pipeline, market started to discuss on Fed pivot ahead of US mid-term election. Risk assets are now stabilising and waiting to soar when macro uncertainty is eased. SR undoubtedly keeps the accumulation process of crypto assets going.
DYOR, Good Luck!
