A big week for bitcoin as the largest futures expiration of the year is this Friday. Plus, the Avalanche Summit kicks off in Barcelona, and Elizabeth Warren’s crypto sanction Bill might be dead in the water.
All that and much more!
- Warren’s bill update hits a roadblock.
- Market update (BTC uptrend, TVL update).
- Newswatch (VCs own Web3, Sberbank).
- Notable events (Brady/Buterin bromance).
- NFT & metaverse update.
The week ahead
- Bitcoin futures and options expiration March 25
- Avalanche Summit begins tomorrow, on March 22 in Barcelona, Spain.
All eyes will be on the bitcoin futures and options expiration on Friday. The monthly contract holds the most liquidity of any this year with 71.7k in open interest. “Max pain” price is 42k.
Max pain is the price at which the majority of traders lose their bets, and spot price tends to gravitate towards max pain as expiration draws closer. Additionally, price volatility usually surrounds significant expirations.
The “crypto to bypass Russian sanctions” narrative received a deathblow from the US Treasury (to the dismay of Senator Elizabeth Warren). Senior Official Liang noted the US Treasury has been studying the subject for years, noting that crypto markets lack the liquidity to transact the large quantities required to avoid sanctions.
Elizabeth Warren recently introduced a bill that would allow the sanctioning of foreign crypto companies last Thursday. Notable crypto advocates claim the bill is unconstitutional.
Market update
Not much price action over the weekend in bitcoin (BTC), but a minor uptrend has developed on the daily charts as it inches closer to the 45k resistance. An ascending triangle looks to be developing in BTC that can confirm with a breakout of noted resistance.
Source: Trading View
TVL update
There was some interesting action on total value locked (TVL) this past week… Ethereum (ETH), Terra (LUNA), and Avalanche (AVAX) are big chains that continue to grow steadily. +6%, +7.5% and +4% respectively. The often ignored Cronos (CRO) chain grew +26%, and its monthly growth sits at an impressive +39%.
Polkadot (DOT) climbs the ranks this week with a 13.5% gain, and Near Protocol (NEAR) looks to pass a declining Harmony One (ONE) with a 26% gain.
An impressive THORChain (RUNE) climbed +37%, and Cardano (ADA) sets up for take-off with a +53% rise, 113% for the month.
Source: Defi Llama
Notable gainers (7d)
| Protocol (Coin) | Price ($) | Gain (%) |
| Ethereum Classic (ETC) | 37.76 | +43 |
| THORChain (RUNE) | 8.68 | +33 |
| Aave (AAVE) | 154.54 | +28 |
| Xido Finance (XIDO) | 33.91 | +28 |
| Synthetix Net. (SNX) | 5.30 | +26 |
| Basic Attention Token (BAT) | 0.83 | +25 |
| The Graph (GRT) | 0.39 | +24 |
| Waves (WAVES) | 32.72 | +22 |
| Avalanche (AVAX) | 86.20 | +21 |
| Origin Protocol (OGN) | 0.82 | +212 |
| STEPN (GMT) | 0.58 | +98 |
| LooksRare (LOOKS) | 1.53 | +57 |
| Moonriver (MOVR) | 60.13 | +23 |
| Qredo (QRDO) | 2.99 | +30% |
Newswatch
- Criticism over ApeCoin’s distribution raises questions relating to the decentralized nature of the project. Notably, capital investors, Andressen Horowitz and Animoca brands, received 14% (or 140 million) of ApeCoins, valued at $1.4B. Not long ago, Block CEO Jack Dorsey criticized the influence of venture firms in the future of web3.
Source: Bloomberg
- The Russian Central Bank grants Sberbank a license to issue and exchange digital assets despite voicing concerns about cryptocurrency in the past. The move was a reaction to western sanctions that harshly hit Russia’s financial sector. The question of who will attack the bank’s network and smart contract deployments quickly surfaced.
- In an interview, the founder of KUNA crypto exchange in Ukraine accuses Binance of cooperating with the Russian government. Binance pledged to donate $10m in crypto-assets to Ukraine in February 2022, to which KUNA founder, Micheal Chobanian, claims never transpired.
Notable Events
- THORChain (RUNE) to hardfork today.
- Wax (WAXP) hosts a game developers’ conference today.
- In the pretense of humor, football player, Tom Brady, and Ethereum founder, Vitalik Burterin, exchanged tweets concerning the Time magazine cover.
NFT and metaverse update
- The Gimmicks, Co-produced by Mila Kunis, will launch 10k NFTs of the new wrestling-theme animated series on March 22. Holders will vote on the plotlines of the show.
- FingerprintsDAO is soon to launch a project by artist Aaron Penne.
- Death Row Mix Vol. 1 was dropped by Snoop Dogg, on Opensea’s secondary market.
- Decentraland to host Community Fashion Week beginning Monday.
Banter’s take
Crypto markets displayed strength last week, showing resilience in the wake of the FOMC meeting update and the prospect of further rate hikes across the year. Notably, altcoins have been performing well, including the ETH/BTC pairing which finally broke the downtrend.
Keep an eye on market reactions to Friday’s big expiration and stay vigilant!
Thanks for reading fam!
Gabri
