The equity markets in Europe and the United States are seeing a sea of red as traders continue to sell risky assets due to the geopolitical situation. Bitcoin (BTC) and several major cryptocurrencies are also witnessing profit-booking after the recent rise. Another reason that could be keeping investors on the edge is the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on March 16. A statement from Fed hair Jerome Powell on March 2 highlighted that the central bank is likely to hike rates this month. Fitch Ratings chief economist Brian Coulton expects core inflation to remain high in 2022 and the Fed to boost the “Fed fund rate to 3% by the end of 2022.” Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 ExoAlpha managing partner and chief investment officer David Lifchit...
Impermanent loss is one of the most recognized risks that investors have to contend with when providing liquidity to an automated market maker (AMM) in the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Although it is not an actual loss incurred from the liquidity provider’s (LP) position — rather an opportunity cost that occurs when compared with simply buying and holding the same assets — the possibility of getting less value back at withdrawal is enough to keep many investors away from DeFi. Impermanent loss is driven by the volatility between the two assets in the equal-ratio pool — the more one asset moves up or down relative to the other asset, the more impermanent loss is incurred. Providing liquidity to stablecoins, or simply avoiding volatile asset pairs, is an easy way to reduce impermanen...
The layer-one (L1) ecosystem has received increased attention in recent months as users search for new investment opportunities in the Cosmos (ATOM), Fantom (FTM) and NEAR. Following January’s market sell-off, where Bitcoin (BTC) price dropped to bottom below $34,000, much of the L1 field has struggled to regain its momentum. Price performance of L1 tokens since Jan. 24. Source: Delphi Digital According to data from Delphi Digital, since the BTC bottom on Jan. 24, the only L1 to experience a notable gain in price include Terra (LUNA), Avalanche (AVAX) and Ethereum (ETH). Terra ecosystem growth The price growth seen in LUNA was in large part due to the announcement from the Luna Foundation Guard that it had raised $1 billion to form a Bitcoin reserve for the ecosystem’s Terra US...
2021 was a roller coaster of a year for THORChain (RUNE), which saw its price top out at $20.31 only to come crashing down below $4 as a series of hacks and declining interest in decentralized finance had the token limping into 2022. Data suggests that investors could be taking a closer look at Rune and a few potentially bullish factors could include the protocol’s recent integration with the Terra and Cosmos ecosystem, an upcoming mainnet launch and the attractive yields offered to liquidity providers. RUNE/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that after hitting a low of $3.00 on Feb. 24, the price of RUNE has rallied 74.2% to a daily high at $5.23 on March 1 amid a 388% surge in its 24-hour trading volume. Rune integrates ...
Bitcoin (BTC) soared above $40,000 on Feb. 28 even though the S&P 500 remained soft. This suggests that the correlation between Bitcoin and the U.S. equity markets may be showing the first signs of decoupling. If bulls sustain the price above $38,500 till the end of the day, Bitcoin would avoid four successive months of decline. The volatility of the past few days does not seem to have shaken the resolve of the long-term investors planning to stick with their positions. Data from on-chain analytics firm Glassnode showed that the amount of Bitcoin supply that last moved between three to five years ago soared to more than 2.8 million Bitcoin, which is a four year high. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Interestingly, an experiment by Portuguese software developer T...
The U.S. equity markets and Bitcoin (BTC) have rebounded sharply from their Feb. 24 lows while gold has made a retreat from its recent highs. This indicates that investors may be buying risky assets and reducing exposure to assets perceived as a safe haven. Recent reports also suggest that Russian President Vladimir Putin may send a delegation to negotiate with Ukraine and this raises hope that the conflict could end sooner than analysts expect. Some analysts believe that the U.S. Federal Reserve may not raise rates aggressively in March due to the geopolitical situation. Allianz chief economic advisor Mohamed El-Erian believes that the March 50 basis point rate hike is “completely off the table.” Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Dr. Raullen Chai, the co-f...
The geopolitical news flow is likely to result in volatile moves in Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins in the next few days. News of Russian President Vladimir Putin ordering the nuclear deterrence forces on high alert may be viewed as a negative, but reports of talks between the warring nations could be positive as it raises hopes of an end to the conflict. The crypto community came into focus as the Ukrainian government called for help and sought crypto donations. Some individuals on social media said their Ukrainian credit cards had stopped working and they were not able to withdraw money from their banks. They highlighted how crypto was the only money left with them. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 While some analysts are projecting that Bitcoin may have bottomed out, Cointelegr...
Mirror Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Terra blockchain, was hit by one of the biggest collapses in financial history this week after Vladimir Putin ordered military strikes against Ukraine. Terra tokens rally Mirror Protocol’s native token, MIR, dropped to $0.993 on Feb. 24, its worst level to date amid a selloff across the broader crypto market. But a sharp rebound ensued, taking the price to as high as $1.41 two days later, up more than 40% when measured from MIR’s record low. MIR/USD four-hour price chart. Source: TradingView Just like the drop, MIR’s upside retracement came in the wake of similar recoveries elsewhere in the crypto market. But interestingly, MIR/USD returns appeared larger than some of the highly valued digital assets, i...
Ethereum (ETH) and decentralized finance (DeFi) are undergoing a seismic shift as the transition to Eth2 and a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism is helping to increase the value proposition for the network which has historically has been plagued with scaling issues and high transaction costs. Alongside this transition has been the introduction of liquid staking, which is helping to add utility to DeFi and giving investors the option to do more with their assets than just lock them up indefinitely. Liquid staking could also help investors build more capital efficient portfolios. One protocol that has benefited from the shift toward liquid staking is Lido (LDO), a platform that allows investors to earn staking rewards on their tokens while also enabling them to put the resulting...
Bitcoin (BTC) and several altcoins have bounced off their immediate support levels after buyers attempted to arrest the current decline. Bloomberg Senior Commodity Strategist Mike McGlone highlighted in a recent Tweet that Bitcoin was trading roughly 20% below its 50-week moving average and such discounted levels have “often resulted in good price support.” The bearish price action of the past few days does not seem to have deterred the institutional traders from accumulating at lower levels. According to CoinShares’ Feb. 22 “Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly” report, institutional investors pumped about $89 million into Bitcoin funds between Feb. 14 and Feb. 18, taking the total inflows in the current month to $178.3 million. Daily cryptocurrency market performance. Source: Coin360 Crypto t...
The nonprofit organization focused on the open-source stablecoin network behind Terra USD, Luna Foundation Guard, has closed on a $1 billion raise through the sale of LUNA tokens. In a Tuesday tweet, Terra said Jump Crypto and Three Arrows Capital led the $1 billion round with participation from DeFiance Capital, Republic Capital, GSR, Tribe Capital and others. The platform said proceeds from the sale — $1 billion — would “go towards establishing a Bitcoin-denominated Forex Reserve for UST,” a stablecoin in the Terra ecosystem. 1/ The long awaited [REDACTED] 3 is here! The Luna Foundation Guard (LFG) has closed a $1 billion private token sale to establish a decentralized $UST Forex Reserve denominated in $BTC! — Terra (UST) Powered by LUNA (@terra_money) February 22, 2022 “One common ...
Mirror Protocol, a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built atop the Terra blockchain, was among the biggest gainers in the last 48 hours, primarily as its native token MIR rallied by over 30% to $1.48, its highest level since Jan. 22. MIR/USD four-hour price chart. Source: TradingView Has Mirror Protocol bottomed out? MIR price rose despite an absence of concrete fundamentals, a sight pretty common across crypto assets. As a result, its rally may have been purely technically-driven, especially because it originated after MIR had dropped by more than 90% in value from its May 2021 high near $13, making the token extremely oversold. IncomeSharks, an independent market analyst, called MIR’s rebound move a “no brainer,” noting that its multi-month drop had left ...