Grayscale Files for Spinoff Mini-Trust, TradFi Institutions Complete Tokenization Pilot on Canton Network
Market Update
- The highly anticipated February CPI report was released this morning, showing slightly higher than expected readings. Core CPI came in at 3.8% YoY vs. 3.7% expected and 0.4% MoM vs. 0.3% expected. Over 60% of the total monthly increase can be attributed to shelter and energy prices. Investors were prepared for worse, as the odds of a June rate cut increased slightly following the data release, helping to spur a bounce back in equity indices, with the SPY and QQQ gaining approximately 1%. Crypto markets are declining today, with total market capitalization falling by 3.19%. $BTC has declined 3.36% to $69.6k and $ETH has decreased 4.03% to $3.9k. Despite the declines, there are still some altcoins outperforming including $INJ, $AVAX, and $TIA, which have gained 12.86%, 10.06%, and 4.14%, respectively. MapleStory, a large web2 gaming studio, announced yesterday their plans to launch an Avalanche Subnet to bring their creations to the Web3 world, helping $AVAX reach $53, its highest level since May 2022.
- Grayscale has filed an S-1 statement to register its new mini version of its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust. The mini trust would be a spinoff of GBTC, meaning that a portion of GBTC Bitcoin backing would be used to seed the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust. The spinoff and fee percentage were not disclosed in the filing, but Grayscale plans for the mini trust to have a “materially lower fee” compared to GBTC’s 2%. Therefore, the spinoff will allow long-term holders to gain exposure to a much more cost-effective product, lowering their blended fee and avoiding a taxable event. If approved, the mini trust will trade under the ticker “BTC,” a ticker they were able to get rights to from purchasing an equity stake in ClearShares back in 2021. The SEC should decide on the mini trust sometime in the next few months.
- A series of traditional finance institutions participated in a pilot program experimenting with tokenized assets on the Canton Network. The Canton Network is a layer-1 blockchain building with an institutional finance focus. The tests included various finance activities such as fund registry, digital cash, repurchase agreements, securities lending, and margin management. The pilot included institutions from multiple aspects of capital markets, including fifteen asset managers, thirteen banks, four custodians, three exchanges, and one infrastructure provider. Notable names participating in the pilot included Goldman Sachs, BNY Mellon, CBOE Global Markets, Broadridge, and Paxos, among others. The program's results were positive, displaying how the interoperable nature of blockchains can seamlessly connect different aspects of capital markets while providing efficiencies, reducing costs and risks, and remaining regulatory compliant.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
Despite a minor pullback across the Cryptocurrency space, coins like Avalanche remain higher by more than 7% following its technical breakout of former highs from December 2023. This looks to be a technically constructive move following nearly 2.5 months of consolidation and has carried $AVAX to the highest levels since May 2022. Upside targets lie initially near $69.50 which would make this latest rally from January 2024 lows equal to the prior runup from last Fall. An additional level of resistance might materialize near $78.50 which approximates the 50% retracement of AVAX's decline from late 2021. Overall, Tuesday's breakout likely allows for additional upside follow-through, technically speaking and any dip to consolidate today's breakout would likely prove minor and find strong support near $47-$49 before turning back higher.
Daily Important Metrics
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All metrics as of March 12, 2024 12:50 PM
All Funding rates are in bps
Crypto Prices
| Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
 BTC | $1.37T | $69,958 | ↓ -3.49% | ↑ 66% | |
 ETH | $471B | $3,921 | ↓ -3.19% | ↑ 72% | ↑ 6.68% |
 SOL | $65B | $146 | ↓ -0.55% | ↑ 43% | ↓ -22% |
 ADA | $26B | $0.7250 | ↓ -4.14% | ↑ 22% | ↓ -43% |
 DOGE | $23B | $0.1630 | ↓ -6.23% | ↑ 83% | ↑ 17% |
 DOT | $13B | $10.38 | ↓ -4.72% | ↑ 28% | ↓ -38% |
 LINK | $12B | $20.13 | ↓ -4.47% | ↑ 34% | ↓ -31% |
 MATIC | $11B | $1.15 | ↓ -4.66% | ↑ 20% | ↓ -46% |
 NEAR | $7.8B | $7.49 | ↑ 9.81% | ↑ 108% | ↑ 42% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
| Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
| GBTC | ↑ 1.04% | $64.31 | ↑ 5.24% | ↑ 75% | ↑ 8.88% |
| BITW | ↓ -34% | $37.40 | ↑ 1.38% | ↑ 52% | ↓ -13% |
| ETHE | ↓ -6.71% | $34.16 | ↓ -0.96% | ↑ 76% | ↑ 9.90% |
| BTCC | ↑ 0.09% | $13.12 | ↑ 4.13% | ↑ 60% | ↓ -5.25% |
News
MARKET DATA
The Block BlackRock’s IBIT spot bitcoin ETF amasses 200,000 BTC in two months The newborn nine spot bitcoin ETFs — excluding Grayscale’s converted GBTC fund — now total more than 420,000 BTC. |
CRYPTO INFRASTRUCTURE
BTC Manager MetaMask tests new on-chain payment card with Mastercard network MetaMask, a popular non-custodial cryptocurrency wallet for the Ethereum blockchain, is currently conducting tests on a novel on-chain payment card. This card,... |
REGULATION
CoinDesk EU Parliament Approves New Sanctions Laws That Also Apply to Crypto The laws are to ensure sanctions rules are applied uniformly across the EU's 27 member states. |
The Block Thailand allows asset firms to access spot bitcoin ETFs for professional investors: report The country's asset management firms are now allowed to offer funds with exposure to spot bitcoin ETFs for institutional investors. |
CoinDesk Hong Kong's Central Bank Starts Regulatory Sandbox for Stablecoin Issuers The regulator invited applicants with a "genuine interest in developing a stablecoin issuance business" to join the sandbox. |
FUNDRAISING AND M&A
The Block Elixir has raised $8 million in Series B funding co-led by Sui blockchain developer Mysten Labs and Arthur Hayes’ family office Maelstrom. |
The Block Monad Labs eyes $200 million raise, led by Paradigm: Fortune Monad Labs is eyeing a more than $200 million fundraising round, led by venture capital firm Paradigm, as investor attitudes warm toward the digital assets indu... |
MINING
The Block Bitcoin miner revenue hits all-time high amid price surge The seven-day moving average of miner revenue rose to $68.35 million on Sunday after hitting a record high of $68.28 million the day before. |
PRODUCT UPDATES AND PARTNERSHIPS
Bitcoin.com Tether Launches USDT on Celo Targeting Increased Usability Tether, the company behind the issuance of USDT, the largest stablecoin in the cryptocurrency market, has announced the launch of its currency on Celo, an EVM-c... |
INVESTMENT PRODUCTS
The Block Grayscale files S-1 form to launch ‘mini’ GBTC spin-off for investors Grayscale filed an S-1 form on Tuesday with the SEC to register a mini version of GBTC, named the Grayscale Bitcoin Mini Trust. |
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