Starknet Airdrop Speculation, Circle Denies BBC Allegations
Market Update
- Equities are continuing to climb after closing out a strong November rally. The S&P gained 8.9% for the month, while the Nasdaq advanced 10.7%. Cooling inflation data coupled with a resilient economy drove optimistic sentiment. Jerome Powel commented on the future rate hike this morning, attempting to temper expectations of future interest rate cuts. He stated that it's too early to assert that the current monetary policies are adequately stringent. Despite Powell's cautious words, bond yields decreased as investors interpreted his comments to suggest that the Fed might not increase rates further. Consequently, the 10-year Treasury note yield dropped by six basis points to 4.295%. BTC has risen 3.1% to new YTD highs, reaching $38.8k for the first time since May 2022. The price surge is fueled by excitement over a proposed U.S spot bitcoin ETF, coupled with on-chain data indicating that a substantial portion of the asset has been transferred to cold storage. This suggests a strong demand and a reduced likelihood of immediate selling pressure. ETH is performing in line with BTC, rising 3.5% to trade at $2.1k. DYDX is a notable underperformer, with a 3% fall today coinciding with a ~$505 million unlock (81% of circulating supply). The unlock comes from vesting of a 50% allocation to investors, founders, employees, and other insiders. The recent unlock constitutes 30% of this allocation - or 15% of the total DYDX supply.
- The Starknet Foundation has cautioned against scams related to circulating screenshots of a token distribution portal for its upcoming SRTK ecosystem token. They warned that the images shared online are still in the draft phase and must be finalized. StarkWare, the development company behind Starknet, emphasized that any criteria for distributing STRK tokens are already set, and current activities will not affect eligibility. They also highlighted the risk of scams exploiting the token distribution's uncertainty. The Foundation is still finalizing plans to distribute tokens to specific users, contributors, and investors. In July 2022, Starknet initially detailed its token design, including minting ten billion off-chain tokens. StarkWare clarified that these tokens do not represent equity, participatory rights, or claims against the company. Initial allocation plans indicated that 17% of the tokens would go to StarkWare investors and 32.9% to core contributors, including StarkWare employees, consultants, and Starknet developer partners. The Starknet Foundation holds the remaining 50.1% for various purposes. Starknet prioritizes developers of core infrastructure, decentralized applications (DApps), and other contributors to ecosystem security in its potential token distribution.
- Circle has denied a recent BBC report alleging its stablecoin USDC facilitated terrorist financing. The report claimed Chinese OTC desks used USDC for money transfers that ended up with militant groups. Circle stated it has stringent controls and works closely with regulators to prevent illicit activity. It monitors for suspicious transactions and said the transfers highlighted do not violate policies or regulations. Circle noted it partners with reputable trading desks, not end users, and has no visibility into trades once USDC leaves its systems. It emphasized the named desks - Huobi and Renrenbit - have anti-money laundering policies in place.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
Ethereum's rally to the highest closing levels since early November constitutes a bullish breakout of the triangle pattern which has been ongoing for a month. This is a very constructive technical development and likely leads to a coming test and breakout above 11/24 intra-day peaks of $2132.95. Upside ETH targets lie near $2400 and upside acceleration will be likely once this level is exceeded on a closing basis. ETH's sideways consolidation since early November has successfully helped to alleviate some of the short-term overbought conditions and it's expected that December might turn out to be stronger than November for performance. Intermediate-term targets above $2400, while potentially difficult to achieve by year-end, should materialize near $2900 which represents the 50% retracement of the entire decline from 2021 peaks. Bottom line, Friday's gains are constructive and should be the technical catalyst for its upcoming breakout back to new 2023 highs.
Daily Important Metrics
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All metrics as of December 1, 2023 1:53 PM
All Funding rates are in bps
Crypto Prices
| Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
 BTC | $757B | $38,709 | ↑ 2.57% | ↑ 134% | |
 ETH | $251B | $2,090 | ↑ 2.51% | ↑ 74% | ↓ -59% |
 SOL | $26B | $60.44 | ↑ 1.65% | ↑ 511% | ↑ 377% |
 ADA | $14B | $0.3836 | ↑ 2.06% | ↑ 55% | ↓ -78% |
 DOGE | $12B | $0.0833 | ↓ -0.28% | ↑ 19% | ↓ -115% |
 LINK | $8.3B | $14.91 | ↑ 3.59% | ↑ 169% | ↑ 35% |
 MATIC | $7.4B | $0.7961 | ↑ 3.59% | ↑ 4.46% | ↓ -129% |
 DOT | $7.0B | $5.45 | ↓ -0.10% | ↑ 25% | ↓ -108% |
 NEAR | $1.9B | $1.89 | ↑ 1.28% | ↑ 48% | ↓ -85% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
| Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
| GBTC | ↓ -11% | $31.42 | ↑ 3.89% | ↑ 279% | ↑ 145% |
| BITW | ↓ -27% | $22.75 | ↑ 1.79% | ↑ 324% | ↑ 190% |
| ETHE | ↓ -17% | $17.02 | ↑ 3.78% | ↑ 258% | ↑ 124% |
| BTCC | ↓ -0.09% | $7.09 | ↑ 3.05% | ↑ 134% | ↑ 0.33% |
News
QUICK BITS
Decrypt.co Coinbase Has No Plans to Launch Base Token: CEO Brian Armstrong Despite earlier comments from a Coinbase exec to the contrary, Armstrong says the company won’t be launching a native token for its layer-2 network. |
Coin Telegraph Starknet token distribution not yet finalized, despite speculation over portal screenshots The Starknet Foundation is warning community members to be on the lookout for... |
MARKET DATA
CryptoSlate DYdX price dips as $505 million worth of tokens hit the market Decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol dYdX unlocked 150 million tokens earlier today, leading to a nearly 5% drop in its price during the past day despite the b... |
CryptoSlate Tether’s circulating supply increased by 4.5 billion USDT in November The circulating supply of Tether’s USDT increased by 4.5 billion in November amid growing market optimism for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF). Blockch... |
THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS
Decrypt.co Coinbase CEO: Future AI ‘Agents’ Will Transact in Crypto The worlds of artificial intelligence and crypto will intersect in the future through autonomous AI agents, said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong. |
REGULATION
Decrypt.co Circle Denies Links to Terrorist Financing and Justin Sun “We are built on a culture of compliance and take our obligations seriously,” said the firm's chief strategy officer. |
FUNDRAISING AND M&A
CryptoSlate Bitcoin miners Hut 8, USBTC prepares for halving with merger into new company Hut 8 Mining Corp., a North American Bitcoin (BTC) miner, said it has finalized a merger with US Bitcoin Corp (USBTC) and is rebranding to a U.S.-based entity t... |
PRODUCT UPDATES AND PARTNERSHIPS
CryptoSlate Esports leader Team Liquid joins Illuvium for strategic blockchain game beta test Illuvium, an Ethereum (ETH)-based decentralized gaming platform, has joined forces with Team Liquid, a globally recognized esports organization, to beta-test th... |
HACKS, EXPLOITS, AND SCAMS
Decrypt.co KyberSwap Hacker Demands Company Control in Unhinged On-Chain Ransom Letter The self-proclaimed "Kyber Director," who drained $48 million from KyberSwap, outlined their vision—including a purge of current leadership. |
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