Polygon

$MATIC

Leading cryptoassets are experiencing a significant breakout this morning, with $BTC finally surpassing the $53k mark after roughly two weeks of consolidation between $50k and $52.5k. Despite a pullback in ETHBTC this morning, $ETH has continued its upward trajectory, reaching new YTD highs above $3.1k. $STX is also witnessing a notable rise, climbing nearly 10% today, aligning with its pattern of performing as high beta relative to BTC. Among other...

Equities are relatively flat in Friday’s trading after yesterday’s sharp surge. The SPY has gained 0.16%, while the QQQ is down 0.09%. Crypto assets are underperforming compared to equities with $BTC (-0.47%) briefly dropping below $50.7k and $ETH (-1.20%) retreating to the low $2,900’s. Reddit filed for its S-1 yesterday, indicating that it had invested some of its excess treasury funds into Bitcoin, Ether, and Polygon. Following the disclosure, $MATIC...

U.S. equity indices are showing mild losses, with both the SPY and QQQ declining about 0.20% at the time of writing. Treasury yields are continuing yesterday’s retreat, with the US10Y approaching 4.50%. Crypto markets are mixed, with $BTC (-0.19%) sitting above $35k and $ETH (+0.61%) hovering just below $1,900. Large-cap altcoins are showing strength today, with $LINK (+7.29%) and $MATIC (+6.54%) being two of the best performers in the top...

It's a new day, but the script is pretty much a repeat of the last several weeks, characterized by rising interest rates, particularly at the long end of the curve. The U.S. 10-Year Treasury yield is inching toward 4.8%, while the 30-Year yield is nearing 5%, spurred by higher-than-expected JOLTS figures released this morning. Alongside this, the DXY is gaining, gold prices are declining, and equities are in the red...

SCALABILITY PROBLEM Transaction fees on Ethereum have jumped to hundreds of dollars during times of high activity, rendering the mainnet unusable for anyone without deep pockets. Ethereum can only process 7-15 transactions per second, while centralized networks like Visa can scale up to over 65k tps. Since network fees function similarly to a road with a fluctuating toll, the more congested and in demand Ethereum’s rails become, the higher the...

After Ripple's victory over the SEC yesterday, token prices experienced a rapid increase, with XRP surging by 65% in the past 24 hours, making it the fourth largest token. $BTC is up 1.1% while $ETH gained 2.1%. Tokens alleged to be securities by the SEC, like $MATIC, $ADA, and $SOL, have outperformed, with gains ranging from 20% to 30%. In addition, Coinbase's stock ($COIN) saw a significant jump of 24%...

Crypto markets are sharply rising after a judge has ruled that Ripple’s sales of $XRP do not constitute an offer of investment contracts. $XRP is up 35% following the announcement, and $BTC (+2.41%) has surpassed $31k and $ETH (+3.46%) is nearing $1,950. $MATIC (+9.80%) is outperforming today after a proposal was submitted to make MATIC a multipurpose token used to validate multiple blockchains. The proposal would have the token rebranded...

WHAT IS AN APPCHAIN? Appchains, short for application-specific blockchains, are built to run one specific application or use case. They differ from general-purpose L1/L2 infrastructure chains that run many decentralized applications (dApps) concurrently. While both dApps and appchains technically exist on a base layer blockchain, the key difference is that appchains also operate their own sovereign blockchains while dApps do not. In this piece we will cover factors driving the...

Crypto markets pulled back today, $BTC is down 1.44% and $ETH is down 2.81%. Altcoins took a bigger hit, especially those that Robinhood is delisting and expected to sell later this week amid the SEC's crackdown (Cardano, Solana, and Matic). $ADA, $SOL, and $MATIC are down 4.01%, 4,13%, and 3.62%, respectively. Interestingly, many of the "DeFi 1.0" tokens (DeFi protocols launched in 2019 and 2020) saw large gains over the weekend. $AAVE,...

SEC EMPTIES THE CHAMBER It’s only Wednesday, but the SEC has pulled out the big guns. Conveniently following the release of a rather comprehensive crypto oversight bill by the House Financial Services Committee on Friday, the SEC dropped their mightiest hammer to date on the crypto industry. On Monday, the SEC took legal action against Binance, accusing the exchange of offering unregistered securities to the public. The SEC's lawsuit alleged...

PMIS SHOW SLOWING ECONOMIC GROWTH There was a significant amount of economic data released this week, with particular attention given to the PMI data, which is considered a reliable indicator of economic activity. In May, the manufacturing sector in the US experienced its seventh consecutive month of contraction, as indicated by the Manufacturing ISM Report. The Manufacturing PMI for May was recorded at 46.9, a data point that suggests a...