Cryptoassets continued to rally across the board this week, with Bitcoin hitting $44,000 for the first time since April 2022 amid an influx of new capital and a fresh all-time high in Bitcoin options open interest. The largest cryptoasset has now appreciated by more than 160% in 2023. Factors such as the upcoming Bitcoin halving, the potential approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF and potential Fed rate cuts in 2024 are likely the major driving force behind the current rally. In altcoins, the governance token underlying the Solana-based liquid staking protocol Jito (JTO) crossed a trading volume of $1.1 billion within a day of going live while achieving a market cap of more than $400 million on its first day of trading. In macroeconomic data, the US job market remained resilient in November, defying expectations of a slowdown. Nonfarm payrolls increased by 199k last month after rising by 150k in October, while the unemployment rate fell to 3.7%. US consumer sentiment also exceeded expectations, with the University of Michigan sentiment index hitting a four-month high at 69.4 while inflation expectations dropped to the lowest level since 2021. The solid readings dampened hopes of an Fed early pivot. A recent Financial Times-Booth survey showed that US economists now expect the US central bank to hold off on interest rate cuts until at least July 2024 and deliver less relief than expected by financial markets. As a result, 10-year Treasury yields rose slightly by 15bps to 4.25% while US equities are little changed on the week after their recent rally.
Market Overview
The global cryptoasset market capitalization currently amounts to roughly $1.68 trillion – up from $1.52 trillion last week, with bitcoin accounting for about 50.3%. Among the Top 30 cryptoassets by market cap, Cardano (ADA) outperformed, gaining about 41% over the week. The price of bitcoin (BTC) rose by 12.4% to $43,680 while the price of ether (ETH) increased by 11.3% to $2,345. The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi is sitting at roughly $52 billion, with Ethereum (excluding Layer 2s) currently accounting for about 57% of TVL.
This Week’s Headlines
- Bitcoin ETF issuers disclose tickers, including HODL and FBTC
- SEC asks public for feedback on proposed spot bitcoin ETFs from Franklin Templeton, Hashdex
- Do Kwon will be extradited to US by Montenegro, WSJ reports
- Societe Generale-backed euro stablecoin EURCV starts trading on Bitstamp
- Jack Dorsey’s Block releases Bitkey Bitcoin self-custody wallet for pre-order
- Coinbase rolls out money transfers via WhatsApp, TikTok and Instagram
- Bitcoin developer Luke Dashjr calls inscriptions “spam”, community members push back
- Sotheby’s begins first Bitcoin Ordinals NFT auction for BitcoinShrooms
Notable Deals and Fundraising
- Spirit Blockchain secures major funding round from EOS Network Ventures and other investors
- Shares of crypto mining firm Phoenix Group rise after its $370 million IPO on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX)
- Authentication startup Dust Identity raises $40 million to get into sports
- Bitcoin staking protocol Babylon raises $18 million in Series A funding
- Crypto data platform startup Shadow raises $9 million in a seed round led by Paradigm
- Zero-knowledge platform Sindri raises $5 million in a seed round
- DeFi platform Curvance raises $3.6 million in a seed funding round from over 20 DAOs and developers
- Ethereum scaling startup Versatus raises $2.3 million in a seed round at a $50 million valuation
- Arbitrum DAO approves $23 million “backfund” for projects that missed initial grant
- Sam Altman-backed Meanwhile Group starts Bitcoin private credit fund for institutional investors
- Hong Kong gaming firm Boyaa seeks shareholder approval to invest $100 million in crypto
