Overview
- Fed: Playing good cop/bad cop
- ETH merge delayed…
- BTC: Important support holding strong
- BlackRock “studying” crypto
- Anchor + Polkadot
What did the Fed say to move crypto markets?
“I’m forecasting that this is pretty much the peak, it is going to start to come back down,” Fed Gov. Chris Waller said yesterday.
Waller noted interest rates should begin to falter demand and that oil prices have retreated after the Russian invasion induced spike.
In what seems like a good cop/bad cop game, Waller’s comments helped the markets gain traction after a rocky start to the week.
Various analysts have rejected optimism as an effort to calm negative market sentiment. Nevertheless, the Fed still plans to raise rates by an estimated two basis points in the upcoming meeting, which the markets give an 84% probability.
Though good for the markets, the dovish tone comes with a grain of salt. Words are just words, and the Fed has recently utilized this particular tool to manipulate market moves. Chances are Waller is trying to steady the ship for the time being.
To the surprise of nobody, the ETH merge is pushed back…
Yes, hard as it is to believe, it turns out Ethereum’s merge with the Beacon Chain, heralding the full transition to a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, may not be coming in June after all. In a tweet posted yesterday, developer Tim Bieko stated that ‘it won’t be June’…
https://twitter.com/TimBeiko/status/1514010098145759232
The upcoming merge had been cited as a potential bull-run catalyst, and while that may remain the case, it appears we’ll have to continue doing what we’ve become accustomed to: wait!
Market update 🌍
The inflation games continue. The markets reacted positively to Fed Chain Waller’s comments today and took the statements as a green light. Hesitantly, Bitcoin (BTC) climbed +2.68% to $US42,147 today, showing a nice bounce from a strong uptrend level discussed in yesterday’s Morning Brew. However, there is still a lot of fear in the crypto markets, noted by the Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index, which rose a modest three points to 28.
Altcoins additionally took the opportunity to climb with Centralized Exchanges (CEX) +1.4%, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) + 1.4%, and Smart Contract Platforms +1.4% leading the categories. A handful of projects with recent catalysts made the notable climber chart: Frax Shares (FXS), Aave (AAVE), GMX (GMX), and Redacted Cartel (BTRFLY). The fast climbers highlight the importance of staying up-to-date with project changes.
Source: Trading View
| US markets close | Gain |
| S&P 500 | +1.12% |
| Nasdaq | +0.74% |
| Dow | +1.42% |
| VIX | -10.14% |
Notable Gainers (24h)
| Protocol (Coin) | Price ($) | Gain (%) |
| Frax Share (FXS) | 32.68 | +17 |
| Bitcoin Cash (BCH) | 343.44 | +13 |
| Apecoin (APE) | 13.11 | +14 |
| THORchain (RUNE) | 8.63 | +13 |
| Aave (AAVE) | 178.03 | +7 |
| Kadena (KDA) | 5.89 | +9 |
| LooksRare (LOOKS) | 1.64 | +16 |
| Lido DAO | 3.36 | +13 |
| Astroport (ASTRO) | 3.67 | +13 |
| MoonBeam (GLMR) | 4.00 | +12 |
| GMX (GMX) | 38.77 | +23 |
| Status (SNT) | 0.077 | +21 |
| Redacted Cartel (BTRFLY) | 273.60 | +15 |
| Bitcoin Fear and Greed Index | 28 Fear (+3) |
| “Crypto” Google Trends | 33 (+2) |
| “Bitcoin” Google Trends | 41 (+12) |
Newswatch 📰
VC funding is through the roof. The Block Research releases a report noting the blockchain/crypto sector has received a high of $US12.5b in venture funding in Q1, 2022, 36% went to NFTs/Gaming. Venture funding has increased for seven consecutive quarters, according to the report.
BlackRock hits the books. During a conference call with Wall Street Journal, Blackrock CEO Larry Fink said the company is studying the crypto sector “broadly .”This comes after the Circle announced a $US400m strategic partnership with the firm earlier this week. Blackrock is the world’s largest asset manager with US$10 trillion in assets.
Crypto Payments Expansion. Custody platform Fireblocks partners with payments giant FIS to accelerate crypto adoption. The two giants set to advance the payments services for crypto to over 6,000 global customers. Clients of FIS will gain access to move, store, and stake crypto if plans move as attended.
Uniswap in court. A class-action lawsuit accuses Uniswap Labs and its investors of fraud. The user, who lost funds to fraudulent pump and dump schemes listed by Uniswap DEX, blames the protocol for listing unregistered securities and failing to list them with the SEC. The tokens mentioned in the lawsuit are EthereumMax, Bezoge Earth, Matrix, Samurai, Alphawold Finance, Rocket Bunny, and BoomBaby.io.
Helium teams up with Microsoft. The Helium (HNT) ecosystem announces the integration of Microsoft IoT central with the Helium Console. Microsoft IoT users can now leverage the Helium Network’s massive coverage to expand the range of IoT solutions. Helium benefits from the integration with increased usage and data transfer.
On-chain ⛓
USDT to Polkadot. USDT stablecoin issuer Tether launches the stablecoin on the Kusama network (KSM) and, in turn, brings the largest stablecoin (by market cap) to the Polkadot (DOT) network.
Do Kwon at it again. The Luna Foundation Gaurd (LFG) increased its BTC holdings by 2508 bitcoins today and currently sits on 42,406 BTC.
Nervos mainnet upgrade. Nervos (CBK) announces its mainet upgrade for May 10, 2022. The upgrade will “have more new features, including a crypto-friendly instruction set, virtual machine versioning, extensible block headers, and new cryptography standards.”
NFT & metaverse update 🐵
Notable mints:
| Project | Community score | Mint price | Date of mint | Time (UTC) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supreme Skulls | 81 | 0.08 ETH | April 14 | 02:00 |
| 88 Dynasty | 80 | 0.09 ETH | April 15 | 05:00 |
| GS Warriors | n/a | $US 499.99 | April 15 | 19:00 |
Banter’s take
While the Fed talks the smooth game, some worrisome cracks appear on the finance sector’s edges. We recently saw Sri Lanka and Russia default on debts. Barclays Bank has lost 450 million in pounds on a so-called bond blunder, and a selloff in 116 million shares of Deutsche Bank points towards increasing pressures from inflation. So while the rhetoric is “everything is under control,” a flurry of activity is taking place underneath the surface. Nobody knows where the tides of fiscal mismanagement will lead, but the indicators point towards the Fed eventually going back to what it does best—printing money to bail out the system. It’s likely just a matter of time despite lulling effects of sweet talk.
-Gabri
