Telefonica Forms Strategic Partnership with Chainlink Labs, Citibank Completes Tokenization Pilot on Avalanche
Market Update
- A flurry of economic data this morning has provided mixed signals for markets. On one side, retail sales decreased 0.8% MoM versus an expected 0.2% decline. On the other side, jobless claims came in lower than expected and the Empire State manufacturing survey showed higher than expected prices paid. U.S. equities are mixed, with the SPY gaining 0.29% and the QQQ showing a modest decline of 0.05%. BTC (+0.75%) continues its strong February performance, trading above $52k. ETH (+1.89%) is showing larger gains and has surpassed $2800. Bitcoin-related names have outperformed this week. STX (one of our core strategy picks) and ORDI have gained 40% and 12%, respectively.
- Telefonica, a global telecommunications company, has announced a strategic partnership with Chainlink Labs to help protect customers against SIM-swap attacks. A SIM-swap attack is when hackers get control of a person’s phone number, enabling access to important information like credit cards, bank accounts, or crypto wallets. SIM swapping has become a prevalent method for scammers over the past few years. Telefonica will leverage Chainlink’s Functions technology to ensure the secure connection of smart contracts with Telefonica’s GSMA Open Gateway API. With the integration, smart contracts can make data requests to Telefonica’s API and confirm that a device’s SIM card hasn’t been compromised before executing the transaction. This will add an additional security layer to blockchain transactions and help protect Telefonica’s customers. Additionally, Telefonica and Chainlink Labs have agreed to continually work together to discover how Telefonica can continue enabling Web3 development.
- Citibank has successfully completed its proof-of-concept program experimenting with tokenizing private funds in conjunction with WisdomTree and Wellington Management. Private markets are an enormous asset class worth over $10 trillion globally but often have complex infrastructure with manual processes, lack of standardization, and transparency, leading to inefficient operations. The tokenization project leveraged the Avalanche Spruce Subnet, Avalanche's subnet dedicated to institutional finance. Citi stated that “smart-contract capabilities could deliver new functionality and operational efficiencies, which are currently unavailable with traditional assets. These new functionalities could enable buy and sell side institutions to engage with distributed ledger infrastructure in a low-risk, low barrier-to-entry manner that is consistent with regulations.” Citi plans to continue developing digital asset solutions that enhance the bank’s products and services, including areas such as trading custody and collateral mobility.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
Due to a personal matter, Mark Newton will be temporarily unable to publish Daily Technical Analysis. Additional information is not available at this time, but we will provide updates as soon as this changes.
Daily Important Metrics
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All metrics as of February 15, 2024 12:49 PM
All Funding rates are in bps
Crypto Prices
| Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
 BTC | $1.02T | $52,041 | ↑ 0.89% | ↑ 23% | |
 ETH | $339B | $2,824 | ↑ 3.11% | ↑ 24% | ↑ 0.88% |
 SOL | $50B | $114 | ↓ -1.97% | ↑ 12% | ↓ -12% |
 ADA | $21B | $0.6052 | ↑ 6.67% | ↑ 2.10% | ↓ -21% |
 DOGE | $12B | $0.0846 | ↓ -0.52% | ↓ -4.96% | ↓ -28% |
 LINK | $12B | $20.11 | ↑ 0.15% | ↑ 34% | ↑ 11% |
 DOT | $9.9B | $7.76 | ↑ 3.04% | ↓ -4.37% | ↓ -28% |
 MATIC | $8.6B | $0.8944 | ↑ 2.54% | ↓ -6.85% | ↓ -30% |
 NEAR | $3.5B | $3.35 | ↑ 1.30% | ↓ -7.05% | ↓ -30% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
| Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
| GBTC | ↓ -0.25% | $37.25 | ↑ 4.78% | ↑ 1.09% | ↓ -22% |
| BITW | ↓ -43% | $24.10 | ↑ 3.88% | ↓ -1.87% | ↓ -25% |
| ETHE | ↓ -13% | $19.73 | ↑ 4.50% | ↑ 1.39% | ↓ -22% |
| BTCC | ↑ 0.07% | $8.07 | ↑ 3.46% | ↓ -1.34% | ↓ -25% |
News
QUICK BITS
Bitcoin.com Solana Mobile Processed Over $20 Million in Payments Using USDC With No Processing Fees Solana Mobile, Solana Labs’ smartphone subsidiary, processed over $20 million in payments in alliance with Shopify and USDC, the second-largest dollar-pegged st... |
BTC Manager Binance Labs announces first batch of sixth-season incubation projects Binance Labs invested in the Ethena Labs, NFPromt, and Shogun projects as part of the incubator. According to a post on the X account on Feb. 15, Binance invest... |
MARKET DATA
CoinDesk Coinbase Upgraded to Neutral Ahead of Earnings at JPMorgan as Shares Surge The bank lifted its rating on Coinbase stock to reflect rising crypto prices following the approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in the U.S. |
CryptoSlate Ark Invest offloads $34 million in Coinbase while shares jump 7% pre-market ahead of earnings report Ark Invest, led by Cathie Wood, divested over 200,000 units of Coinbase (COIN) shares, marking its first significant sale in over a month, per the firm’s latest... |
CryptoSlate BlackRock and Fidelity lead as Bitcoin ETFs capture $340 million in a single day Quick Take Feb. 14 proved to be another day of impressive inflows for Bitcoin ETFs, recording a net increase of $340 million, according to BitMEX Research. BitM... |
DOSE OF DEFI
The Block DeFi lender Moonwell enables USDC lending throughout Ethereum The tool, powered by Base, also lets users leverage their digital assets to send USDC throughout the Ethereum ecosystem. |
CRYPTO INFRASTRUCTURE
Bitcoinist Blockchain Adoption: CitiBank Trials Tokenization Of Private Equity Funds On Avalanche CitiBank, one of the world’s largest banks, has successfully conducted a simulation demonstrating the tokenization of a private equity fund on the Avalanche blo... |
MINING
CryptoSlate Bitcoin mining difficulty set to hit record high today amid US miner scrutiny Bitcoin’s mining landscape is poised for another challenge as mining difficulty is set to rise by nearly 8% today, Feb. 15. Data from CoinWarz shows that this i... |
PRODUCT UPDATES AND PARTNERSHIPS
The Block Spanish telecom giant Telefonica partners with Chainlink for enhanced security Telefonica and Chainlink will first collaborate on utilizing web3 technology for fraud prevention in SIM cards. |
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