Crypto Research

Explore the latest market dynamics surrounding liquidity, short-term bills, and capital flow and their potential effect on asset prices. Stay informed about the latest treasury issuances and hear expert analysis on the crypto market and our forward outlook. Don't miss this insightful video for investors! _*Recorded on June 5, 2023_

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...

Crypto funding maintained last week’s levels, rising slightly to $179 million from $171 million. The general trend of Infrastructure and Seed deals being the most common continued. Additionally, Infrastructure deals made up 76% of the total fundraising amount. Interestingly, this was the second week in a row for CeFi and Mining not tallying any deals, as both categories have lost their luster throughout the ongoing bear market.  Deal counts were...

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...

AI SKEWING THE PICTURE Previous observations highlighted how the decline in crypto prices signaled a temporary liquidity peak, potentially tied to the impending debt ceiling deal. Correlations between BTC, gold, and equities illustrated BTC's sensitivity to liquidity changes. As anticipated, BTC/Gold and BTC/equities (excluding AI-related names) correlations are now strengthening, with gold and equities tracking BTC's lead. Over the past few weeks, our discussions have centered around an observed shift...

Funding declined from $238M last week to $164M this week. Most deals (75%) were in the infrastructure vertical, which increased from $104M to $124M this week, with six total deals. The second most funded sector was Metaverse & Gaming, which rose to $23M in funding this week from no funding last week. Every other sector lagged—Web3 & NFTs had $15M in funding, DeFi had $2M, and CeFi and Mining had...

A NOSEDIVE IN VOLATILITY Equities are not the only asset class undergoing a noticeable decline in volatility. Both Bitcoin and Ethereum are following a similar path. Over the past two months, there has been a significant decrease in the implied volatilities of these blue chip cryptoassets, especially following the fallout from the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) crisis and the subsequent rally in prices following the Federal Reserve’s intervention. The sense...

Crypto funding sharply increased this week, rising 114% from $108 million to $231 million. Infrastructure was the breadwinner, representing 44% of the total funding amount. The largest deal was an $81 million Series A deal completed by Auradine, valuing the company at $500 million. Despite the notable rise in total funding, deal counts dropped from 23 to 20, while the average deal size rose to $15.4 million.  Series A and Series...

THE ORACLE PROBLEM One of the major issues with blockchain technology and smart contracts is the inability to naturally connect to external data sources. As most world data remains off-chain, blockchain networks are facing an uphill battle in generating real-world applications. The second part of the problem is blockchains need to be able to trust the validity of off-chain data and know it hasn’t been tampered with. _Source: Chainlink_ Oracles...

Funding increased 40% week-over-week from $75 million to $105 million. Infrastructure and Web3 & NFTs dominated fundraising, representing 88% of total funding. Deal counts also rose this week, ticking up 31% to 21 deals. Deal sizes were consistent with last week’s levels, with an average of $6 million per deal. The week's largest deal was a $16.5 million token sale completed by Limewire. The ex-notorious file-sharing platform is refocusing its...

BITCOIN REFLECTING A LOCAL TOP IN MARKET LIQUIDITY During the majority of Q1 and early Q2, the financial market observed a strong correlation between Bitcoin (BTC), equities, and gold, with an even more pronounced link between BTC and gold. This close relationship was a result of global market liquidity reaching its lowest point in Q4 of 2022, which coincided with a slowdown in inflation and (likely) the final stages of...