Ethereum Staking Withdrawal Date Confirmed, SEC Chief to Testify in Congress
Market Update
- Crypto and Equities are rising, with the S&P up 1.07% while $BTC gained 3.82% over the last day. No news is good news as investors regain comfort that the financial sector has stabilized each day that passes without another crisis. Core PCE inflation is scheduled to be released this Friday. Known as the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, it could either strengthen or weaken the market’s conviction that the Fed may be at the end of its rate hiking cycle. $ETH is underperforming Bitcoin, gaining only 1.73%. Yesterday the Ethereum Foundation released a blog stating they had set a date for the Shanghai / Capella upgrades (Shapella), which will enable withdrawals from network staking. Liquid staking projects $LDO (+12.9%) and $FXS (+19%) both moved higher as investors see the upgrade as a potential catalyst for further LSD product demand. $XRP continues to outperform among the top 10, gaining 8.3% over the last day from continued speculation of a favorable ruling in their case against the SEC.
- The Ethereum Foundation has confirmed staking withdrawals will be enabled with the Shapella network upgrade on April 12th. Users who staked $ETH on the network as early as December 2020 will finally be able to unstake after the long-awaited upgrade. Over 16m $ETH or ~15% of the circulating supply is currently locked for staking. Investor sentiment has been cautious on $ETH this year due to uncertainty around the upgrade, with the ETHBTC pair falling ~12% YTD. While investors have been focusing on the potential overhang of supply that will now be available to sell on the open market, we believe any sell-off from this would be temporary. We outlined our rationale for this in our weekly note earlier this month. The main reasons are that stakers have already had access to liquidity through LSD products, the mechanisms in place to limit a rush for the exits, and investors already seem to be de-risking given $ETHBTC underperforming. Among proof-of-stake networks, Ethereum has one of the lowest percent of its supply locked for staking. With withdrawals enabled, Ethereum will likely see a rise in the amount of its supply staked on the network.
- SEC chief Gary Gensler is set to testify before the House Financial Services Committee over the agency's approach toward crypto. Representative Patrick McHenry, chairman of the committee, stated the primary focus would be to set a foundation for "laying down a regulatory sphere for digital assets." The hearing will center around the agency's highly criticized approach to regulating crypto assets. US financial regulatory agencies have begun turning up the heat on crypto after being asleep at the wheel through several blow-ups that affected American customers. Regulators have taken several enforcement actions against prominent crypto companies, including Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken, among others. Enforcement actions have been so prevalent that many in the industry have speculated they may be part of a coordinated movement to limit the industry's ability to expand in the US, called Operation Chokepoint 2.0. The hearing may be the first step for a much-needed evolution of digital asset regulation in the US.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
GALA's rally to multi-day highs suggests some reprieve to recent selling after nearly two weeks of decline. $GALA has been slowly but surely stabilizing following its pullback from late January. The near-term trend turned back to bullish on the breakout in March and now its recent consolidation over the last couple weeks also looks complete. The ability to close Wednesday above 0.04077 should allow for a push back up to 0.05, and exceeding that would help spark a larger rally to test former highs made in late January near 0.065 and higher. Recent weakness since mid-March has failed to properly show sufficient technical damage to be negative, and the pattern appears to show steady improvement. Only on a drop under 0.03 would the rally be interrupted, so, barring a material breakdown, longs are favored, and GALA's chart should continue to show intermediate-term improvement as the rally progresses.
Daily Important Metrics
|
All metrics as of March 29, 2023 10:23 AM
All Funding rates are on bps
Crypto Prices
| Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
 BTC | $547B | $28,284 | ↑ 5.23% | ↑ 71% | |
 ETH | $220B | $1,802 | ↑ 3.79% | ↑ 50% | ↓ -20% |
 ADA | $13B | $0.3832 | ↑ 7.63% | ↑ 55% | ↓ -15% |
 MATIC | $10B | $1.12 | ↑ 5.73% | ↑ 47% | ↓ -24% |
 DOGE | $10B | $0.0756 | ↑ 4.27% | ↑ 7.76% | ↓ -63% |
 SOL | $8.1B | $21.10 | ↑ 4.60% | ↑ 113% | ↑ 42% |
 DOT | $7.3B | $6.19 | ↑ 4.29% | ↑ 42% | ↓ -28% |
 LINK | $3.8B | $7.32 | ↑ 7.23% | ↑ 32% | ↓ -39% |
 NEAR | $1.7B | $1.97 | ↑ 6.41% | ↑ 55% | ↓ -16% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
| Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
| GBTC | ↓ -37% | $16.00 | ↑ 2.50% | ↑ 93% | ↑ 22% |
| BITW | ↓ -59% | $10.79 | ↑ 4.91% | ↑ 101% | ↑ 30% |
| ETHE | ↓ -52% | $8.36 | ↑ 0.97% | ↑ 76% | ↑ 4.89% |
| BTCC | ↑ 0.09% | $5.20 | ↑ 2.56% | ↑ 72% | ↑ 0.88% |
News
REGULATION
CoinDesk The Liability of DAOs and Their Founders Has Been Put to the Test in Court Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) are beginning to look like general partnerships in the eyes of U.S. courts. |
Coin Telegraph SEC chief Gary Gensler to face Congress grilling over crypto policy The chair of the Financial Services Committee said its primary focus would be setting the groundwork for crypto regula... |
FUNDRAISING AND M&A
The Block Irene Zhao’s web3 social platform So-Col unveils $4.5 million in new funding So-Col (Social Collectables), a web3 social platform founded by crypto influencer Irene Zhao, raised $4.5 million in two rounds. The... |
The Block Hydra Ventures DAO raises $10 million for fresh take on fund of funds Hydra Ventures DAO is shaking up the world of fund-of-funds investing. Its backers include 1kx, ConsenSys and Seed Club. The post Hy... |
The Block Fetch.ai announces fresh funding at a $250 million valuation Fetch.ai, a blockchain platform that uses artificial intelligence to help people automate tasks, unviled $40 million in new funding from DWF Labs. ... |
NFTS
CoinDesk NFT Collection Y00ts Makes Anticipated Move From Solana to Polygon The popular project, which launched in September 2022, is using a cross-chain bridge to bring its 15,000-edition generative art collection to Polygon. |
PRODUCT UPDATES AND PARTNERSHIPS
Coin Telegraph Circle announces USDC launch for Cosmos via Noble network The stablecoin will be launched on the Noble network, making it available to all 50-plus Cosmos IBC blockchains. ... |
HACKS, EXPLOITS, AND SCAMS
CryptoPotato DeFi Protocol SafeMoon Loses $8.9 Million in Bug Exploit PeckShield said SafeMoon’s official deployer initiated the project's contract upgrade that introduced the bug, signaling a possible admin key leak. |
Coin Telegraph US and South Korea request extradition of Terra co-founder Do Kwon Do Kwon may have to serve time in Montenegro if convicted of charges related to forged identification documents before... |
Reports you may have missed
Major equity indices are rallying on the back of solid earnings, with both the $SPX and $QQQ up over 1%. Meanwhile, crypto markets are churning lower, which is understandable as we should not expect crypto to rally alongside equities during an earnings-driven market. Crypto remains an apparently undecided market ahead of next week's FOMC meeting and the Quarterly Refunding Announcement (QRA), evidenced by another day of ETF outflows and a...
U.S. equity indices are under pressure today following disappointing economic growth in conjunction with hotter-than-expected prices paid, sparking stagflation fears and reducing the chances of rate cuts. The $SPY has declined 0.91% to test $501 and the $QQQ has dropped 1.12% to $421, being weighed down by a 12% drop in META following its Q1 earnings release. Crypto markets are faring better, with BTC -2.07% (-0.28%) trading at $64k and ETH -3.23% ...
It has been a challenging day for crypto prices, with $BTC giving back yesterday's gains to fall to $68.5k, $ETH declining to $3,500, and $SOL currently trading around $176. Most altcoins are also experiencing downturns. The lone standout among large cap crypto assets today is $TON, which is rallying on rumors of USDT launching on the TON Network. Equity indices also faced a drawdown earlier in the day, sliding after...
Crypto assets are building on the weekendâs gains. $BTC (+3.47%) eclipsed $72.7k this morning before paring gains to approximately $71.8k. $ETH (+5.58%) is showing relative strength today, gaining to $3,650, helping the ETHBTC ratio reclaim the .05 mark. Last weekâs ETF net flows totaled $484 million, displaying the continued demand for exposure among traditional investors. Equity indices are relatively flat today, with the SPY and QQQ both gaining about 0.05%...
