As the next Bitcoin halving approaches in less than three months, reducing the BTC block subsidy from 6.25 to 3.125 BTC, Bitcoin’s price remains steady around $43,000. Although Bitcoin has exhibited some recent volatility, its value has remained relatively unchanged over the past few weeks. However, when examining the flow of funds in spot Bitcoin ETFs, it appears unlikely that this sideways trend will endure for much longer, with bullish factors still in play. Bitcoin ETFs experienced a shift towards net inflows this week, while GBTC outflows stabilized without fully dissipating. The total spot Bitcoin ETF inflows have now reached approximately $1.3 billion. Each day this week witnessed positive net inflows, despite ongoing GBTC outflows. Additionally, the daily outflows from GBTC, which has seen a loss of over $5.6 billion in assets since its ETF conversion, are noticeably slowing down. During the recent FOMC meeting, the Fed decided to keep interest rates unchanged for the fourth consecutive time. Fed Chair Powell indicated the need for more evidence of inflation reaching their 2% target before considering rate cuts, suggesting this is unlikely to happen by the next meeting on March 20th. In economic data, Friday’s January US jobs report revealed better-than-expected job additions, totaling 353,000, the highest figure since January 2023. As a result, bond market yields inched higher, as investors interpreted this positive data as potentially prolonging the Fed’s timeline for policy adjustments. Elsewhere, it was a big week in venture deals (see deals below), with decentralized exchanges (DEXs), Bitcoin DeFi products and mining firms in the spotlight.
Market Overview
The global cryptoasset market capitalization currently amounts to roughly $1.73 trillion – little changed from last week, with bitcoin accounting for about 48.8%. Among the Top 30 cryptoassets by market cap, Chainlink (LINK) outperformed, gaining about 26.4% over the week. The price of bitcoin (BTC) rose by 3.1% to $43,115 while the price of ether (ETH) increased by 1.3% to $2,304. The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi is sitting at roughly $58 billion, with Ethereum (excluding Layer 2s) currently accounting for about 56% of TVL.
This Week’s Headlines
- SEC delays decision on Grayscale‘s proposal for spot Ethereum ETF again
- Bankrupt Genesis Global Holdco settles SEC lawsuit over Gemini Earn program
- Celsius Network starts $3 billion payout after emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy
- Tether reports profit of $2.9 billion in Q4 attestation, with $5.4 billion in excess reserves
- Coinbase brings in former UK Chancellor George Osborne as an advisor
- Robert Leshner’s Superstate introduces Ethereum-based tokenized fund
- DEX aggregator Jupiter records roughly $1.4 billion in daily trading volume amid the launch of its native token
- Crypto derivatives exchange OPNX to shut down in February
- Ripple co-founder says personal accounts impacted in $113 million exploit
Notable Deals and Fundraising
- Mining rig maker Canaan raises $50 million in preferred shares financing
- Grayscale Bitcoin ETF liquidity provider Flowdesk raises $50 million Series B
- Swiss crypto banking group Sygnum raises $40 million round at a $900 million valuation
- Bitcoin-based DEX Portal raises $34 million in seed funding from Coinbase Ventures and others
- Cube.Exchange raises $12 million in a Series A funding round at a $100 million valuation
- NFT project Pixelmon raises $8 million in a seed round from Animoca Brands and others
- Gevulot raises $6 million in seed funding for blockchain focused on zero-knowledge proofs
- Crypto trading startup Velar raises $3.5 million to build a suite of DeFi tools for Bitcoin
- Decentralized BBO Exchange secures $2.7 million in pre-seed funding
- imgnAI raises $1.6 million seed round to support “digital companion” launch
- Marathon to pay Hut 8 $13.5 million to take operational control of two bitcoin mining sites
- Uncorrelated Ventures raises $315 million for crypto and software-focused fund
