SEC Reviews Bitcoin ETF Applications, Geist Finance Closes After Multichain Exploit
Market Update
- Equities markets open marginally higher after inflation data last week showed a slowdown in price increases, fueling hopes that the Fed can achieve price stability without triggering a recession. SPX and QQQ -0.07% are up 0.2% and 0.4%, respectively, with earnings season to roll through further this week. Despite last week's encouraging developments on the court's ruling against Ripple, the digital asset market has retraced most of its gains since Wednesday. BTC has since retraced back to $30k and is flat on the day, while ETH fell back below $2k to $1.91k and is down 0.5% in the same period. Apart from XRP, $1INCH has gained the most within the top 100, appreciating by ~46%. This price action can be partially attributed to the surge in volume from South Korean exchange Upbit, which has also done the same for Bitcoin Cash and Aptos in recent weeks.
- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially commenced review of BlackRock's proposed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). BlackRock's proposal stands out with a distinctive surveillance-sharing agreement with cryptocurrency exchange, Coinbase, designed to oversee and report possible illicit transactions. This measure has been replicated in the applications of other prospective ETF issuers like Valkyrie, Fidelity, and ARK Invest. As the SEC's has been historically hesistant towards greenlighting a spot Bitcoin ETF, the acceptance of BlackRock's application has triggered uplift in market sentiment. While this could indicate a shift in the regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies in the United States, short-term price action make us cautiously optimistic about this development's role in the next bull market.
- Geist Finance has announced its permanent closure following significant losses from the Multichain exploit. The lending platform on Fantom was initially suspended on July 6th and resumed on July 9th, but only in a "withdraw and repay only" mode. Geist's decision was made after confirmation from Multichain that the stolen funds would not be recovered. A critical issue highlighted was Chainlink oracles' inability to accurately track the value of Multichain assets, which are currently trading at around 22% of their real value. This mismatch made it impossible to reestablish lending without risking significant bad debt for holders of non-Multichain coins. The Multichain hack, which began on July 7th, resulted in over $100 million being withdrawn from the Ethereum side of Multichain bridges, with the thefts confirmed by Multichain on July 14th.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
Technically, Green Metaverse Token has finally started to show evidence of turning back higher following a difficult first six months of the year. Monday's (7/17) push back up above $0.25 in GMT / BUSD marks the highest levels since early June, suggesting that higher prices are likely in the weeks to come. Daily charts show the steep downtrend from January, which briefly undercut December 2022 lows before turning back higher to surpass its six-month downtrend. Importantly, volume has picked up measurably in the last two weeks coinciding with recent strength. Rallies look likely up to $0.36 which represents the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level of its prior decline from January. Additional strength might reach $0.42 but would likely encounter strong resistance at that level. Gains early this week look particularly positive given the minor neutral consolidation that started roughly a month ago that is being exceed with Monday's rally. Overall, GMT looks positive for further gains, and dips would represent attractive buy opportunities. Strong support lies near $0.20 which should not be broken without postponing the rally.
Daily Important Metrics
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All metrics as of July 18, 2023 1:33 PM
All Funding rates are in bps
Crypto Prices
| Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
 BTC | $585B | $30,096 | ↑ 0.13% | ↑ 82% | |
 ETH | $230B | $1,914 | ↑ 0.50% | ↑ 60% | ↓ -22% |
 ADA | $11B | $0.3197 | ↑ 3.63% | ↑ 30% | ↓ -52% |
 SOL | $11B | $26.41 | ↓ -0.11% | ↑ 167% | ↑ 85% |
 MATIC | $7.0B | $0.7528 | ↓ -1.88% | ↓ -1.22% | ↓ -83% |
 DOT | $6.3B | $5.25 | ↓ -1.16% | ↑ 21% | ↓ -61% |
 LINK | $3.7B | $6.96 | ↓ -2.26% | ↑ 25% | ↓ -56% |
 NEAR | $1.4B | $1.51 | ↑ 1.85% | ↑ 19% | ↓ -63% |
 DOGE | $0.0000 | $0.0000 | ↓ -2.92% | ↓ -100% | ↓ -182% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
| Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
| GBTC | ↓ -27% | $19.71 | ↓ -1.05% | ↑ 138% | ↑ 56% |
| BITW | ↓ -48% | $13.12 | ↓ -1.49% | ↑ 144% | ↑ 63% |
| ETHE | ↓ -40% | $11.52 | ↑ 4.04% | ↑ 142% | ↑ 60% |
| BTCC | ↓ -0.10% | $5.45 | ↓ -0.55% | ↑ 80% | ↓ -1.81% |
News
DOSE OF DEFI
Coin Telegraph Aave Protocol launches stablecoin GHO on Ethereum mainnet, $2M minted Decentralized finance protocol Aave has finally launched its new algorithmic dollar-pegged stablecoin GHO on Ethereum.... |
THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS
Coin Telegraph Ripple decision is 'troublesome on multiple fronts', says former SEC official According to John Reed Stark, former attorney in the SEC's Enforcement Division, the ruling in favor of Ripple Labs "r... |
REGULATION
CoinDesk SEC Launches Review of Latest Bitcoin ETF Applications The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has launched its review of the latest bitcoin exchange-traded-fund (ETF) applications. |
NFTS
Decrypt.co Le Clu3 Brings NFT-Based Loyalty Perks to Private Banking Crédit Agricole's Indosuez Wealth Management arm launches Le Clu3, a loyalty program aimed at high-end clientele. |
PRODUCT UPDATES AND PARTNERSHIPS
The Block A16z-backed cLabs submits plan for Celo to transition into Ethereum Layer 2 cLabs, the core developer behind the Celo blockchain, has proposed migrating from Layer 1 to Layer 2 solution on Ethereum to improve security guarantees. ... |
Coin Telegraph Unstoppable Domains adds .eth domains through Ethereum Name Service partnership Unstoppable Domains and Ethereum Name Service have dominated the decentralized domain name space as competitors until ... |
The Block Ethereum Layer 2 Mantle Network unveils mainnet alpha at EthCC Mantle Network launched its mainnet alpha at EthCC, alongside a $200 million ecosystem fund, following six months of testnet development. ... |
The Block Binance completes integration of Bitcoin Lightning Network Binance has completed the integration of the Bitcoin Lightning Network, opening bitcoin deposits and withdrawals via the network. Th... |
The Block Lens Protocol releases version 2, integrating ‘Open Actions’ and ERC-6551 Lens Protocol, has released version 2 of its platform, incorporating the ERC-6551 token standard and enhanced smart contract functionality. ... |
HACKS, EXPLOITS, AND SCAMS
Coin Telegraph Crypto lender Geist Finance shuts down permanently over Multichain hack The $29 million TVL lending platform is shutting down because its oracles are misreporting Multichain token values aft... |
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