Weekly Market Index

All three crypto market indices dropped last week. Price index dropped slightly by -0.69%, while volume and volatility indices decreased more drastically by -33.04% and -44.54%, respectively.

Bitcoin (BTC) fluctuated around the US$67,000 level mid-week before dropping to settle at the $63,500 level over the weekend. This coincided with the US announcing Q1 GDP growth of 1.6% QoQ, well below market expectations. At the same time, the core personal consumption expenditures price index (core PCE), which is often an inflation gauge, rose 3.7% in Q1, above the Fed’s 2% target. Ethereum (ETH) increased to $3,300 level over the weekend, which coincided with reports on Franklin Templeton’s ETH spot ETF emerging on the US Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation list. 

US Spot Bitcoin ETFs had a week of net outflow totalling US$328 million, topping last week’s $204 million net outflow. Grayscale Bitcoin Trust ETF’s (GBTC) weekly net outflow settled at $454 million last week, similar to a net outflow of $458 million the prior week.

Check price

Chart of the Week

Bitcoin hits a daily record number of transactions of 927,010 on 23 April, three days after the fourth Bitcoin halving. The previous peak was in December 2023 when the number of transactions hit 730,000. This is attributed to the Runes protocol, which accounted for 81% of the transactions on 23 April, and a total of 57% of all Bitcoin transactions since its launch.

Weekly Performance

BTC fell slightly by -1.6% while ETH increased by +5.0% in the past seven days. The price action for other selected top market cap tokens was mostly negative. ICP led the drop while OP led the gains.

All selected key categories were down in terms of market capitalisation in the past seven days, with gaming leading the drop.

News Highlights

• The first Spot Bitcoin and Ether ETFs in Hong Kong have a target launch date  for 30 April. There are six approved Hong Kong-based ETFs in the first batch, three Bitcoin and three Ether-based, managed by China Asset Management and Harvest Global, plus a jointly managed product by Bosera Asset Management and Hashkey Capital. Mainland Chinese investors are excluded from trading the ETFs. 

• Franklin Templeton listed its Spot Ether ETF on the US Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC) website. DTCC is an important platform for securities transactions in the US, although the listing does not guarantee SEC approval of the said ETF. Last week, the SEC postponed its decision on Ether ETF applications from Franklin Templeton and Grayscale to June. 

• Stripe, US payment service provider, will reintroduce crypto payments via USDC on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon blockchain in summer 2024.  The company first supported Bitcoin as a payment option in 2018 but halted the service subsequently. 

• Renzo’s liquid staking token, ezETH, briefly lost its peg with ETH on 24 April.  This was further intensified by liquidations in leveraged protocols. The token traded at a large discount to wrapped Ether (WETH) at one point, dropping to $700 on a DEX before stabilising. The incident coincided with the airdrop announcement of its native token REZ. 

• Franklin Templeton enables peer-to-peer transfers of tokenised shares for its Franklin OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX). One share of the fund is represented by the BENJI token on the Polygon and Stellar blockchains. According to RWA.xyz, FOBXX has a $376 million market cap at the time of writing. 

Recent Research Reports

• Alpha Navigator: Quest for Alpha [March 2024]: Asset classes were up in March, with crypto outperforming significantly. US and EU central banks kept interest rates unchanged.

• Research Roundup Newsletter [March 2024]: We present to you our latest issue of Research Roundup, featuring our deep dives into staking providers, Bitcoin Ordinals and Runes, decentralised AI, Ethereum L2 activities post-Dencun, and many more.

• Crypto.com Visa Card Consumer Spending Insights 2023: A full break-down of what our community across the globe likes to spend on in 2023.

Recent University Articles

• What Is Helium and How to Buy HNT Token: Helium offers a unique approach to decentralising wireless communications for IoT devices. Here’s how its HNT token and the Helium mining process work.

• What Is a Crypto Wallet? A Beginner’s Guide: Learn about the different types of crypto wallets on the market, how they work, and which one is best for you.

• What Is dYdX and How to Buy DYDX: What is dYdX? Learn about this decentralised crypto exchange that specialises in perpetual swaps and its native token, DYDX.

Catalyst Calendar

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