Fed Chair Jerome Powell raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point yesterday and refused to commit to a pause in future hikes. But the stock market did not buy his spiel and sent equities higher. Crypto markets followed suit, albeit in a less dramatic fashion than usual. Bitcoin price rose by only one percent… Read More Notes 7/27: Bitcoin Price, Bitcoin Miners,And Lido Tricks
Tokenization of securities and real world assets (RWA) is one of the promises of crypto. And tokenizing U.S. treasuries is a low-hanging fruit because the market for such securities is already liquid. According to rwa.xyz, the market value of blockchain-based investment products for treasury bills, bonds, and money market funds into tokens totals $614 million.… Read More Notes 7/17: Tokenized Treasuries, Lido and Binance Rewards
There’s a fresh attempt to regulate crypto afoot in Congress. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) have proposed a new version of the bill they introduced last year. According to CoinDesk, the bill draws a demarcating line between securities and commodities. That might help settle a long simmering dispute between the Commodities Futures… Read More Notes 7/13: A Revised Bill To Regulate Crypto, Ethereum’s Lido Problem
Crypto’s profit-making method has snuck into mainstream markets through the SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisitions Company) crack. The world’s biggest crypto ATM operator, Bitcoin Depot, debuted on NASDAQ Monday and the price of its holding company, GSRM II, jumped by 12% in pre-market trading. Trading markets have low liquidity before they open and small orders can… Read More Notes 7/5: Bitcoin Depot, Ether Prices, LSD Tokens
Bitcoin price edged past the $31,000 mark once again this morning. As of this writing, it is trading at $31,040.82, up 2% from its price yesterday. There are no fresh catalysts to pump its price further. But it might be preparing for a big move if derivatives are signals for future price action. The open… Read More Notes 7/3: All-time Highs for Bitcoin and Ether Options, Restaking Once Again, and Future of Crypto Exchanges
Bitcoin price remains ‘steady’ this morning after more turmoil last week. As of this writing, it is changing hands for $26,753.59, up roughly 1.5% from yesterday. But that steady hand masks turmoil in its ecosystem. Bitcoin Price’s Steady Turmoil According to analytics firm Glassnode, the amount of bitcoin held in illiquid entities has risen to… Read More Notes 6/20: Bitcoin Price Defies Logic and Demand, Ethereum Validator Mystery
For the most part, the relationships and dependencies in cryptocurrencies are make believe trades using worthless tokens. But they offer a good blueprint for how dubious assets can carve a path into the financial system and cause a crisis. The latest example of this comes from the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Liquid staking platforms and… Read More Notes 6/16: LSD Tokens
Slightly more than a month after Ethereum enabled withdrawals of staked ether on its platform, the landscape for staking presents a rosy picture on the surface. The numbers of staked ether and platforms offering staking services has multiplied. Ether’s staking yield, which was expected to decline after withdrawals, popped after the event. Underneath, however, the… Read More Ethereum Staking After Withdrawals
The end times are nearing for cryptocurrencies. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a case against Binance.com, the crypto world’s biggest exchange by trading volume, this morning. In response, crypto markets crashed. The magnitude of Binance’s operations became immediately evident. Bitcoin price, which had stayed above $27,000 over the weekend, fell below $26,000 after… Read More Notes 6/5: Bitcoin Price Crashes after SEC Filing Against Binance, Ethereum Staking
Down and down goes bitcoin price. A resolution of the debt ceiling drama should have boosted the cryptocurrency’s price. But last weekend’s round of profit taking for investors turned out to be a brief respite. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency is changing hands for $26,881.68, unchanged from a day earlier. While the price is… Read More Notes 6/1: Bitcoin Price, LDO Liquidity
When it was launched, Ethereum had a simple vision. It was to be a smart contract platform with low fees that settled transactions occurring on other applications. That idea is now a corporate money-making entity. Investors and stakeholders use the venue to boost staking rewards and prices for worthless tokens. Examples include the recent meme… Read More Ethereum’s Latest Bad Idea: Restaking
Lido’s stETH token has a liquidity problem. Lido uses the token to ensure liquidity for staked ether locked at validators. Thus, stETH acts as an ether substitute in transactions on decentralized finance (DeFi) even as the actual token resides inside a staking smart contract. The promise here is that stETH price will mirror that of… Read More Notes 5/24: Lido’s stETH Liquidity Problem
Bitcoin price moved slightly higher on news that Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) will begin accepting applications from exchanges to offer cryptocurrency trading to retail investors from June 1 onwards. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency is changing hands at $27,299.15, up 1.2% from its price yesterday. An Asian Bull Run? According to… Read More Notes 5/23: Bitcoin Price and Asian Bull Runs, Ether Deposits
Bitcoin price rallied past the $27,000 mark yesterday morning but is back in the $26,000 range today. As of this writing, the cryptocurrency is changing hands at $26,923, down 1.2% from a day earlier. Amid regulatory crackdowns and investor defections in the United States, there is a sliver of positive news from Asia. CoinDesk reports… Read More Notes 5/19: Bitcoin Price Is Stagnant, Ether Use Cases Dwindle While its Staking Rewards Multiply
Staking platform Lido’s pile of $12 billion worth of ether came online yesterday after the platform commenced staking withdrawals. Lido is Ethereum’s biggest staking platform, accounting for approximately 32% of all staked ether as of this writing. Mass withdrawals from the platform could have had a catastrophic effect on ether price from individuals selling their… Read More Notes 5/16: Lido Begins Withdrawals, Aragon DAO Drama
Bitcoin price is rebounding after last week’s lows. The cryptocurrency fell below $26,000 over the weekend but has recovered sharply. As of this writing, it is changing hands at $27,428.55, up 1.2% from a day earlier. The cryptocurrency’s price action has defied rational explanations in the past and this time is no exception. Choose Your… Read More Notes 5/15: Bitcoin Price Rebounds, Ethereum Staking Reaches Record Levels, and the Magic of Lido
Bitcoin price rose yesterday after the release of positive consumer price inflation (CPI) data and sparked hopes that it was making another bid for the $30,000 mark. But the slight increase in its price turned out to be false narrative. A familiar one of declining prices took over shortly afterwards. As of this writing, the… Read More Notes 5/12: Bitcoin Price, Ethereum Staking, and Withdrawing Ether from Lido
In traditional finance markets, May is typically a month to sell and go away. Translated, this means that traders exit markets and prices drop. Before its trading volumes metastasized, crypto was an uncorrelated asset. It bucked conventional trading wisdom and rose in May for some years and fell in line during the others. With their… Read More Notes 5/2: Bitcoin Price in May, Ether’s Fantastic Yields
One of the few success stories of the debilitating crypto winter this year has been a surge in prices and valuations of tokens for staking platforms. Even as prices for top cryptocurrencies crashed, those for staking platforms have zipped higher on the back of enthusiasm for Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade. The upgrade, which enables investors to… Read More The Future of Liquid Staking Derivative (LSD) Tokens
The first batch of profit-taking from Ethereum’s native token ether’s staking program has ended. Prices for the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization rose, briefly pushing past the $2100 mark, after Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade. The upgrade, which enabled withdrawals of staked ether, is the final step in the blockchain’s move to a Proof of Stake… Read More Notes 4/23: Ether Prices and Rewards
After the successful completion of Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade, the percentage of total ether staked on its network has declined to 14.5% from 15.6% earlier. The number of active validators on Ethereum’s blockchain has fallen slightly, by 0.1%, to 562,168, as of this writing, from yesterday. This means that an insignificant percentage of validators have fully… Read More Notes 4/13: Ethereum Unstaking, Ether Prices, and CZ Profile