Binance Allows Large Traders to Keep Assets at Banks, Native USDC Coming to Celo
Market Update
- U.S. equities are showing moderate declines after JOLTS surprised to the upside with 9.03 million job openings vs. 8.75 million expected. The SPY and QQQ have declined by 0.14% and 0.63%, respectively. All eyes will be on tomorrow’s FOMC meeting and QRA announcement, which should give near-term direction to rates and the DXY. Crypto markets are showing strength, with $BTC rising 0.36% to $43.5k and $ETH gaining 2.46% to exceed $2,375. Bittensor ($TAO) is one of the strongest performers this week, gaining over 28%, as Vitalik Buterin mentioned the AI protocol in his latest crypto/AI essay. Similarly, Render Network is rallying ahead of Apple’s Vision Pro release on Friday. $RNDR has risen 19.74% this week as it provides distributed GPU services that virtual reality products can leverage.
- Binance has begun to let large traders custody their assets at independent banks instead of on the Binance exchange. Traders have traditionally been required to custody their assets with Binance’s custody partner Ceffu, which the SEC has ridiculed as being another Binance entity. Binance previously announced a tri-party banking agreement without identifying the banks, but the banks are now believed to include Switzerland’s Sygnum Bank and Flowbank. Allowing large traders to keep their assets with regulated banks offers a greater sense of security. It removes significant counterparty risk, especially considering some of the blowups associated with crypto exchanges. The new program could entice large capital investors to choose Binance over other exchanges. After a tumultuous 2023, including a $4 billion settlement with the U.S. DOJ, Binance’s market share of trading volume is beginning to rebound, surpassing 49% of total trading volume, according to Kaiko.
- Circle is bringing native USDC to Celo, a mobile-first EVM compatible blockchain. The Celo ecosystem has over 1,000 projects in more than 150 countries, aiming to create economic prosperity for all. Circle is choosing to integrate with Celo due to its global, mobile-first user base, an existing ecosystem of RWAs, including stable coin use cases, and a diverse network of fast-growing apps and projects. Native USDC offers multiple benefits compared to bridged stablecoins, including being regulated and fully redeemable 1:1 for US dollars, equipped with easy institutional on/off ramps like Circle Mint, and easy integration into existing Celo apps. Celo’s development company, cLabs, is expected to submit a governance proposal allowing users to pay gas fees with USDC, bringing additional utility to USDC and Circle. $CELO has risen 1.46% in today’s trading following the announcement.
Daily Technical Strategy
Mark L. Newton, CMT
Head of Technical Strategy
Following nearly two weeks of decline, $ETHBTC has begun to show technical signs of bottoming out following its rise to multi-day highs on Tuesday 1/30/24. Daily charts show the breakout in Ethereum vs. Bitcoin and the subsequent pullback since 1/20 peaks. Today's gains happened at nearly an exact area of trendline support based on the former resistance downtrend which connected former highs going back since September. This rise looks promising for investors who might have anticipated the start of some outperformance out of Ethereum vs. Bitcoin after its recent spot ETF approval. In the weeks to come, a bounce looks likely in ETHBTC based on today's move to multi-day highs. Any rise back over $0.058 would point to a probable push back to new monthly highs which should result in some above-average outperformance for Ethereum vs. Bitcoin. At present, this looks like a short-term positive development following the recent consolidation.
Daily Important Metrics
|
All metrics as of January 30, 2024 12:17 PM
All Funding rates are in bps
Crypto Prices
| Symbol | Market Cap | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
 BTC | $852B | $43,427 | ↑ 1.21% | ↑ 2.82% | |
 ETH | $285B | $2,373 | ↑ 3.32% | ↑ 4.27% | ↑ 1.45% |
 SOL | $46B | $105 | ↑ 5.09% | ↑ 3.07% | ↑ 0.25% |
 ADA | $18B | $0.5185 | ↑ 0.40% | ↓ -13% | ↓ -15% |
 DOGE | $12B | $0.0814 | ↓ -0.48% | ↓ -8.61% | ↓ -11% |
 DOT | $9.4B | $7.02 | ↓ -1.65% | ↓ -13% | ↓ -16% |
 LINK | $8.9B | $15.65 | ↑ 5.38% | ↑ 4.56% | ↑ 1.73% |
 MATIC | $7.9B | $0.8178 | ↑ 2.33% | ↓ -15% | ↓ -18% |
 NEAR | $3.2B | $3.17 | ↑ 5.65% | ↓ -12% | ↓ -15% |
Exchange Traded Products (ETPs)
| Symbol | Premium to Nav | Last Price | Daily Change | Year to Date | Relative to BTC YTD |
| GBTC | ↓ -0.48% | $37.25 | ↑ 4.78% | ↑ 1.09% | ↓ -1.74% |
| BITW | ↓ -35% | $24.10 | ↑ 3.88% | ↓ -1.87% | ↓ -4.70% |
| ETHE | ↓ -10% | $19.73 | ↑ 4.50% | ↑ 1.39% | ↓ -1.44% |
| BTCC | ↓ -0.16% | $8.07 | ↑ 3.46% | ↓ -1.34% | ↓ -4.17% |
News
QUICK BITS
The Block Binance allowing larger traders to hold funds at Sygnum Bank and FlowBank: FT Binance has begun to allow its larger traders to hold their assets with independent banks rather than on the exchange, according to the FT. |
REGULATION
BTC Manager Polygon Labs proposes defi protocols as critical infrastructure in new regulatory framework Polygon Labs, in collaboration with Arktouros law firm, has put forward a new regulatory framework that proposes designating certain decentralized finance (defi... |
FUNDRAISING AND M&A
CoinDesk Fintech Provider Portal Raises $34M Seed Round for Bitcoin-Based Decentralized Exchange Portal aims to offer a decentralized infrastructure for peer-to-peer swapping of BTC across different blockchains without the need for intermediaries, which hei... |
The Block Decentralized BBO Exchange secures $2.7 million in pre-seed funding The decentralized derivate trading platform announced today that it has completed a funding round led by Hashed and Arrington Capital. |
BTC Manager PayPal backs crypto security startup Mesh with its PYUSD stablecoin International payment giant PayPal has completed its first investment using its stablecoin PayPal USD (PYUSD). In a press release on Jan. 29, the San Jose-headq... |
PRODUCT UPDATES AND PARTNERSHIPS
The Block Circle will launch USDC on the Celo network An imminent governance vote will determine if the stablecoin USDC should become Celo's official gas currency. |
BTC Manager DYdX Foundation partners with Stride to launch liquid staking The dYdX Foundation introduces liquid staking on its blockchain in partnership with Stride, enhancing staking options in the Cosmos Ecosystem. Stride is recogni... |
HACKS, EXPLOITS, AND SCAMS
CoinDesk MIM Stablecoin Suffers Flash Crash Amid $6.5M Exploit The stablecoin issued by decentralized platform Abracadabra.money {MIM}, suffered a flash crash to $0.76 after reports emerged of a $6.5 million exploit. |
Reports you may have missed
MARKET COMMENTARYA PRETTY SIZEABLE MISS IN TODAY'S CONSUMER SENTIMENT SURVEY REVERSED MOST OF THE GAINS EXPERIENCED IN THE CRYPTO MARKET OVER THE PAST 24 HOURS. Consumer sentiment came in at 67.4, well below market expectations of 77.2. 1Y inflation expectations came in at 3.5%, well above the market forecast of 3.2%. We saw the DXY 0.00% turn sharply higher on the move, and most risk assets sold off. BTC -3.60% fell from...
U.S. equity indices are showing modest gains today following weekly jobless claims coming in higher than expected, showing 231k versus 212k estimated, putting downward pressure on the DXY 0.00% (-0.21%) and rates. The $SPY has gained 0.36%, approaching the $520 mark, while the $QQQ has risen 0.14% to the $440. Crypto assets are showing larger gains, with BTC -3.60% (+1.57%) rising above $62k and ETH -4.17% (+1.05%) surpassing $3,000. The Render Networkâs mobile app, OctaneX, was featured in Appleâs keynote presentation earlier...
The crypto market declined overnight, with BTC -3.60% dropping from $63k to $61k, SOL -6.59% from $150 to $145, and ETH -4.17% dipping below the $3k mark once again. The likely cause of the drawdown was upward pressure on the DXY 0.00% and a lack of follow-through in flows. Among the few outperformers of the day were RUNE -6.99% , the native token of the cross-chain swapping protocol Thorchain, and Ethereum Classic (ETC -4.18% ), possibly driven by...
Rates are broadly lower again on Tuesday, with the US 10Y nearing 4.4%, down from 4.7% just under a week ago. Risk assets are on the rise, with both the $SPX and $QQQ showing gains today. Crypto performance is mixed so far, with BTC -3.60% retesting the $63k level after US market open, following a rally to just over $64k in the early morning hours. Meanwhile, ETH -4.17% is still hovering just...
