Digital Asset Intelligence Weekly | Issue 14

All eyes on BTC’s next move following elusive golden cross

Key headlines this week: Bitcoin sees a rare golden cross on the daily chart, but now all eyes are on the weekly chart as the prospect of a death cross looms. Elsewhere: crypto ETFs surge ahead; and Australia announces a three-stage regulatory plan.

Most traded coins this week

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New from Nuant

Did you miss our Blockworks webinar on preparing for the next growth cycle? As shared last week, our Chief Revenue Officer, Stuart Petersen, discussed the tools and infrastructure investors will need with Matt Hougan of Bitwise and Michael Hall of Nickel Digital Asset Management. The conversation covered everything from past lessons to managing costs, and we’ve distilled the panel’s wisdom here.

Nuant Research

As crypto asset management becomes increasingly regulated, our latest research article explores the need for portfolio managers to have a proper toolkit to support rapid and effective decision-making, while providing appropriate analytics and insights to ensure compliance and due diligence.

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Digital Assets

• AI may be getting all the headlines, but crypto ETFs are strongly outperforming those for AI so far this year, and attracted US$210 million of investment over January. 
• Genesis is the latest target for distressed debt buyers, with claims trading at up to 80% of face value. 
• Binance has announced it is temporarily suspending deposits and withdrawals of US dollars using bank accounts starting from Wednesday. The firm has not given a reason for the suspension, and other operations are functioning as normal.
• A proposed mainnet upgrade fuelled further acceleration for OP, the token of Ethereum layer 2 network Optimism. OP was already one of the year’s top performers, having climbed nearly 200% in January, against 44% and 39% for Bitcoin and Ether, respectively.
• Flatcoin NUON offers an alternative to stablecoins pegged to fiat. The token is linked to cost of living and uses a “triple redundancy” algorithmic method to maintain stable value by incentivizing holders to mint or burn the coin according to price movements. 

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DeFi & CeFi

• Structured finance platform Intain has launched an Avalanche subnet, IntainMarkets, for trading asset-backed securities. The company says this is the first such platform to offer all-in-one token issuance, investing and administration. 
• Also on Avalanche, decentralized exchange Dexalot has launched a subnet that aims to offer a hybrid DEX/CEX experience. The subnet is designed to lower barriers to DeFi adoption by reducing slippage and improving UX, while allowing users to retain custody of their assets. 
• The Synapse token, SYN, surged ahead last week, as the cross-chain bridge enjoyed a flood of traffic from users flocking to new layer 1 Canto. Traders appear to be making heavier use of bridges in the hunt for better yields in a tighter market, despite a number of bridge-related security incidents last year.        
• New stablecoin DJED, on the Cardano network, attracted 27 million ADA tokens as collateral within its first day, making it around 600% collateralized. The coin’s early success may fuel demand for supporting token SHEN. 

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Infrastructure & Regulation

• Is foreign exchange the natural use case for blockchain? Researchers at Uniswap and Circle have published a paper arguing that moving all foreign exchange onto DeFi platforms would generate large efficiency improvements and reduce risks. Meanwhile, digital payments firm Strike is targeting the Philippines’ US$12 billion international remittances market with a new expansion of its cross-border payments service, Send Globally. Strike transfers are run on the Bitcoin Lightning Network but can be received in local currencies.   
• The Australian government has announced a three-stage plan to “make crypto safer for consumers”. The plan focuses on enforcement (through the Australian Securities & Investments Commission), licensing, and identifying regulatory gaps. 

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Analytic of the Week

Technical traders have been eyeing Bitcoin’s rally closely in hopes of a “golden cross” – the 50-day average price rising above the 200-day average – which in the past has preceded strong surges for the token. The elusive event occurred on February 7, but some analysts warn, however, that significant differences in the macro context this time around may be a reason for history not to repeat itself. 

Moreover, BTC is lining up for a death cross on the weekly charts, where the 50-week moving average drops below the 200-week – an event that is traditionally viewed as a bearish signal. All eyes are now on the charts to see which forces will prevail over the coming days. 

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