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Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. I'm Lyllah Ledesma here to take you through the latest in crypto markets, news and insights. In today’s newsletter: - Price Point: Bitcoin has managed to trade back above the $19,000 mark as altcoins Helium (HNT) and Near Protocol's NEAR surge on the day.
- Market Moves: Ethereum's upcoming Merge will likely be a near-term catalyst for greater adoption of staking on Coinbase’s platform, Goldman Sachs said in a report.
- Chart of the Day: Bitcoin supply per whale has dropped to its lowest since December 2020.
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Bitcoin (BTC) was back trading above $19,000 Thursday, appearing to stabilize at a lower level after its 10-day stretch around the $20,000 mark came to an end earlier this week. The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value was up 2.4% over the last 24 hours and ether (ETH), the second-largest, was back up 6%. In traditional markets, stock futures were wavering after major U.S. stock indexes finished the day higher on Wednesday. The European Central Bank raised interest rates by 0.75 percentage point, the biggest single hike since it began setting monetary policy in 1999. Winners amongst the altcoin market were Near Protocol, up 10%, and FLOW token, which traded up 9%. Last week, Ticketmaster announced a partnership with Dapper Labs – the company behind the Flow blockchain. The partnership will enable event organizers to issue non-fungible tokens (NFT) before, during and after live events. Helium (HNT), the decentralized open wireless network, surged 20% on the day. This comes after the network submitted a proposal to migrate to the Solana blockchain from its standalone blockchain last week. In the news, Binance announced it is seeking to speed up transaction times and reduce fees for its BNB blockchain, becoming one of the largest players yet to embrace a technology known as a zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup. Aave Companies, a development lab overseeing crypto lending protocol Aave, is seeking over $16 million from the Aave community to pay for development work on the platform.
Also, a group of Celsius borrowers wants a bankruptcy court to appoint an independent examiner to investigate the crypto-lender’s financials, but not one working for the U.S. Trustee office.
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Crypto Exchange Coinbase to Benefit Near-Term from Staking Revenues After Ethereum Merger, Goldman Says |
The Merge will likely be a near-term catalyst for greater adoption of staking on Coinbase’s (COIN) platform, Goldman Sachs (GS) said in a research report Wednesday. Coinbase has continued to grow its staking offering and recently announced support for institutional clients, adding staking for Cardano (ADA) and Solana (SOL), and will eventually support ether (ETH) post the Merge, bank’s analysts led by Will Nance wrote. The Merge, or the switch from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, is the first of five planned upgrades for the Ethereum blockchain, and is expected to happen later this month. Goldman sees Coinbase generating $250m-$600m in additional staking revenues from ether staking, assuming that around 20%-40% of the ETH on its platform is staked. Read the full story here. |
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Chart of The Day Bitcoin Supply Per Whale Drops to Lowest Since December 2020 |
Bitcoin’s supply per whale has declined this year. (CoinDesk) |
- Supply per whale, calculated as dividing the total supply owned by addresses holding 100 BTC to 10,000 BTC by the address count, has declined to 554.65 BTC, the lowest since December 2020.
- The continued decline suggests low probability of a bull revival in the near-term.
- The metric increases when whales are boosting their aggregate holdings and decrease during distribution events.
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The following are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 digital assets over the past 24 hours: |
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Biggest Gainers Biggest Losers There are no losers in CoinDesk 20 today. |
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Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive, and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges. |
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- Fed Vice Chair Brainard Calls for Crypto-Specific Regulations, Notes Stablecoin Risks: While crypto "has all the same risks that we’re very familiar with from traditional finance,” its quirks need tailored solutions, Lael Brainard said.
- Asset Manager Brevan Howard Reveals Details About Its Record-Setting $1B Crypto Hedge Fund: New SEC filings disclose information about the first two sub-entities of the massive hedge fund.
- Crypto Trading Platform Enclave Seeks to Encourage Safer Markets Through Dark Pools: The institutional product currently supports trading of bitcoin, ether, Avalanche’s AAVE, and Circle’s USD Coin, with more to be added.
- Israel's Markets Regulator Grants First Crypto License to Private Company: Report: Hybrid Bridge Holdings is the first company to receive a permanent license from the country's capital markets authority to engage in crypto-related business activities, Globes reported.
- Taiwan Approves 24 Crypto Platforms, Including WOO Network, for AML Compliance: Taipei is bringing crypto into its regulatory fold.
- Crypto Startup Mysten Labs Raises $300M From Industry Heavyweights at $2B Valuation: Report: Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Circle Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and the crypto wing of Andreessen Horowitiz were among the participants.
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Check out the CoinDesk TV show “First Mover,” hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. - Andre Portilho, head of digital assets, BTC Pactual
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Which institutes are most impacting the blockchain world? Tell us your thoughts in a five-minute survey. We're welcoming responses until Sept. 7. Take the survey here. |
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Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments. |
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