ToE's Weekly Highlights #57
Digging up the grinds for the week.
Gm ToE readers! BTC ETF passed and we are looking forward to the ETH ETF next.
Macro: US inflation rose higher than expected to 3.4% annually in December, exceeding forecasts of 3.2%. This has cast doubt on expectations of Fed interest rate cuts as early as March.
Trends: The approval of the Bitcoin ETF was a major catalyst for the crypto market, but the actual impact was more of a "sell the news" event, with money rotating out of Bitcoin into Ethereum and other altcoins. This suggests Ethereum may be the next leader in the market.
DeFi: Detailed update from Mux and Merkle, TIA is getting heated, $IXS, $NXRA, $DEXTF, $RLB revenue king
Tools: TAO 0.00%↑network guide, Prevent scam for windows user, Provenance tokens, Must follow accounts, 5 tools to protect your funds.
Spicy drama: Gary Gensler betting on Rollbit
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Segmenting the megathread of content into 5 parts:
Macro news
Trending narratives
Defi happenings
Educational resources and tools
Spicy crypto drama
1. Macro News
US inflation rose higher than expected to 3.4% annually in December, exceeding forecasts of 3.2%. This has cast doubt on expectations of Fed interest rate cuts as early as March.
Core inflation also surpassed forecasts, affirming the Fed's hesitation to reduce rates from 23-year highs.
Following the inflation data, US stocks saw a slight decline and the bond market showed volatility. But 2023 inflation pressures significantly decreased from 2022 peak.
US equity markets fluctuated yesterday following higher inflation data. Nasdaq rose 0.17%, S&P 500 fell 0.07%, Dow Jones rose 0.04%.
Average US junk bond yields remain around 8%, down from 9.4% in early November.
Upcoming Taiwanese elections present crucial geopolitical implications for US-China relations and global markets. Markets likely to respond gradually, contingent on outcomes and reactions from Beijing and Washington. Safe haven assets like USD, JPY, gold and developed market sovereign bonds could protect against escalating risks.
Investors awaiting China inflation data today for further economic insights influencing markets.
@arndxt_xo on macro pulse
@CryptoCapo_ Capo thoughts
@0xcryptodave says we at local top
@_FabianHD looking for $BTC to stabllize
@BobLoukas on weekly cycle top
@invest_answers bought 11.5K $BTC
@EricBalchunas Fresh BTC trading
2. Trending Narratives
The approval of the Bitcoin ETF was a major catalyst for the crypto market, but the actual impact was more of a "sell the news" event, with money rotating out of Bitcoin into Ethereum and other altcoins. This suggests Ethereum may be the next leader in the market.
Bitcoin traded sideways around $44K until Jan 8th when there was frontrunning buying ahead of the Bitcoin ETF decision. Bitcoin hit $47K.
On Jan 9th there was a fake tweet about ETF approval which showed the market was ready to rotate from Bitcoin into Ethereum. ETH/BTC spiked on the "news."
The real BTC ETF approval came Jan 10th but had little impact. BTC pumped briefly then sold off as money rotated into altcoins.
The next 2 days, BTC dumped hard each morning as the US markets opened, possibly due to GBTC outflows and profit taking.
Ethereum has held up better, with ETH/BTC hitting new highs. This suggests a leadership change to Ethereum.
The big gainers last week were Ethereum layer 1 & 2 coins as money rotated out of BTC. An Ethereum ETF could be the next catalyst.
@hmalviya9 on DePin
@Prithvir12 on narratives
@DefiIgnas on $STX playbook
@DistilledCrypto narrative blueprint
3. Defi Happenings
Mux Protocol
@muxprotocol Bi-Weekly Update: Dec. 25th 2023 - Jan. 7th 2024**
MUX Stats Updates
Volume: $1,421,965,432
Protocol Income: $777,130
MUXLP Pool Value: $57,512,134
Total Historical Users: 26,862
MUX Product Updates
New trading setup in development
Launched the new landing page 🎉
New landing page: https://mux.network/#/
Fixed a site performance issue
Fixed GMX V2 boosting collateral return issues
Multiple other improvements & bug fixes
MUX STIP $ARB rebate program distributed around 3M $ARB on Thursday and there will be another 3M $ARB to be rebated 💙🧡 $ARB season continues
Merkle Trade
Some updates from the @Merkle_Trade team:
Launched V2 on Dec 27
Just launched Merkle Trading Season 2 on Jan 11 with dual incentive pool in MKL and APT (600k MKL + 5k APT): https://twitter.com/Merkle_Trade/status/1745438528060743734
Announced Retroactive LP rewards
About to reach 1B in trading volume today and consistently doing 100M+ in volume for the last 4 days: https://twitter.com/Merkleintern/status/1745590128113070360
Currently top-10 volume wise among all the derivative platforms
Gearing up to release our own marketplace for trading items and gears
Releasing tokenomics soon and prepping for TGE later this quarter (Hints: IDO coming up)
@redphonecrypto on Bascii Protocol
@Foxi_xyz on $SSV
@EnshrineCC on $ROSY
@MoneyCrptBunny on TIA
@apepital on RSKT
@LadyofCrypto1 on gems
@tombheads on AGRS
@jake_pahor on Stacks deep dive
@____ProfessorX bullish on $IXS
@0xJok9r on low cap gems
@RubiksWeb3hub on restaking
@InspectorDefi on $RLB revenue king
@yieldinator biggest bet on TIA
@0xGoldenDegen on DePin projects
@gametheorizing on mETH
@CryptoGodJohn on NSRA DEXTF
@0xJok9r on 27 projects
@MoneyCrptBunny on 30 best airdrops
@InspectorDefi on 24 picks
4. Educational resources and tools
@AltPartisan TAO network guide
@Cryptopathic on Provenence tokens
@thedefiedge how to maxmise your profits
LSP7 vs ERC20: Top 6 Differences
@AltPartisan on must follow guys
@splinter0n warns of scam for windows user
@nobrainflip on must follow accounts
@0xShinChannn on 5 tools to protect your fund
@0xChainMind on accounts to follow
5. Spicy Crypto Drama
@rollbitcom Gary playing rollbit
Twitter: https://twitter.com/arndxt_xo/status/1746579589517004975