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Here’s what happened in blockchain and crypto this week.
Markets got off to a weak start on Friday amid a stronger than expected US jobs report. Overall, prices of cryptoassets have rebounded this week in line with stronger US equity markets. After a few weeks of consolidation, Bitcoin registered its largest one-day jump since November 10th, in part due to Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish talk on Wednesday which some investors interpreted as a signal for potentially slower rate hikes in the coming months. The FTX collapse continues to take its toll on the crypto industry, with BlockFi filing for bankruptcy this week. In Bitcoin mining, reports by blockchain analytics firms suggest that some miners have been selling BTC aggressively in recent weeks.
Crypto lender BlockFi filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week. During the first day hearing for its bankruptcy proceedings, the firm revealed that FTX and its associated property trading firm Alameda Research owe it more than $1 billion. BlockFi had substantial exposure to FTX after it received a lifeline worth $400 millionin July in a deal that the company’s legal team said was approved by 89% of its shareholders. BlockFi needed the line of credit partly due to the collapse of Three Arrows Capital in June – one of its largest clients. BlockFi also sued FTX founder for his Robinhood shares which had been pledged to the crypto lender as collateral on the defaulted loan.
Meanwhile, FTX founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) did an interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin of The New York Times as part of the Dealbook Summit. SBF attended the conference virtually from the Bahamas and was mostly evasive. Even though on-chain data suggests otherwise, SBF said he was unaware of the exchange funneling assets to Alameda, but acknowledged that the the two firms – FTX and Alameda – were “in effect, tied together substantially more than I would have ever wanted it to be”. He further said that “I didn’t knowingly commingle funds”. SBF’s invitation to a high-profile conference alongside speakers such as Janet Yellen and BlackRock’s Larry Fink caused an outcry in parts of the crypto community which accuses him of lying repeatedly.
In Bitcoin mining, recent data by Glassnode shows that the market is undoubtedly in a period of miner capitulation. Not only have Bitcoin miners been selling aggressively but they continue to be squeezed by the combination of low Bitcoin prices and the elevated network hashrate. The projected drop of more than 7% in the network’s difficulty – a mechanism ensuring a block time of roughly 10 minutes after each bi-weekly adjustment – indicates that some miners have been shutting down their operations. Conversely, the remaining Bitcoin miners will start earning more BTC as a result. Market Overview The global cryptoasset market capitalization currently amounts to $892 billion – up from $868 billion since Friday last week, with bitcoin accounting for 36.5%. Among the Top 30 cryptoassets by market cap, Dogecoin (DOGE) outperformed, gaining roughly 22% over the week. During the same period, the price of bitcoin (BTC) climbed by 2.3% to $16,970 while the price of ether (ETH) gained 6.5% to $1,283. The total value locked (TVL) in DeFi is sitting at $42.7 billion – up from the $41.3 billion last week – with Ethereum accounting for about 57.6% of TVL.
This Week’s Headlines
Notable Deals and Fundraising
Manuel Trojovsky, Head of Crypto Investments & Research
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