Crypto Research

ADJUSTING TO A POST-FTX WORLD A couple of weeks ago, we discussed several critical risk vectors remaining in the market and provided our take on each matter. Our near-term view was that it was more likely than not that most of the contagion from the implosion of FTX had been sifted through, but due to the unknown status of Digital Currency Group, investors might not be getting paid enough for...

Today we are covering both this week and last week due to Thanksgiving last Thursday. Not surprisingly, funding was low last week during the holiday and amid the FTX insolvency. Funding decreased from $280M the week of 11/18 to just $41M last week. However, we’re seeing funding starting to bounce back this week – increasing from $41M to $196M. Like we’ve seen most of the year, much of this funding...

MAPPING POSSIBLE CONTAGION Recently, we have discussed the risk of further drawdowns from the fallout from FTX as the reason for not being too aggressive at these admittedly favorable long-term entry levels. In this week’s note, we wanted to further unpack a few areas of the market where contagion could be lurking. Below is a fascinating graphic compiled by Bloomberg that maps SBF’s exposure throughout the crypto and traditional financial...

Funding saw an uptick this week, with the total amount rising to $280 million from $242 million last week. Infrastructure had a dominant week, comprising nearly 87% of all dollars raised. Most funding came from a $200 million Series C round by Matter Labs (this week’s deal of the week). The next largest deal was a $28 million deal by Arkon Energy. Arkon Energy is a data center infrastructure and...

Funding was on par with last week’s levels, with the total amount rising modestly to $224 million from $222 million. Infrastructure deals claimed the lion’s share of deals and amount raised, representing 36% of deals and 71% of total funds raised. The majority was raised via two $70 million deals from Ramp and TRM Labs. Ramp Network is a crypto payments solution looking to make purchasing cryptocurrencies easily available via...

A FLOCK OF BLACK SWANS Unless you have been off the grid for the past week, you likely are familiar with the shockingly abrupt implosion of FTX. For those just entering the fold, to make a long story short – Sam Bankman Fried (SBF) allegedly stole an estimated $4 billion of customer deposits for Alameda, the fund in which he has a significant ownership stake. Alameda subsequently lost these funds,...

SBF VS. CZ As we addressed in our daily note on Monday, one thing few can argue is that crypto always keeps things interesting. As many know by now, two industry giants, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) and Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ), sparred over the weekend following circulating rumors that FTX was on the verge of insolvency. _TO RECAP RECENT EVENTS:_Rumors initially emerged from a COINDESK REPORT last week implying that...

IDIOSYNCRATIC OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND The euphoric part of the bull market for crypto was largely about finding the fastest horse paired with one’s relative risk appetite. Unfortunately, in a bear market, most horses, notably the weaker or tired ones, no longer want to race. However, the past few months have revealed that ample opportunities exist to find the few horses that have some giddy-up in them. The two environments require fundamentally...

This week, funding increased to $191 million from a measly $105 million last week. The bulk of fundraising came from the infrastructure and gaming sectors. Infrastructure has been the strongest category for most of the year, but gaming saw a notable increase, rising to $51 million from $15 million last week. Other categories, such as NFTs, Web3, DeFi, and CeFi have been consistent with the amounts raised over the previous...

COINS DO NOT CARE ABOUT EPS As we have addressed over the past month, cryptoassets were nonreactive to the onslaught of gruesome tech earnings this week. At the time of writing, bitcoin, ether, and the rest of the crypto ecosystem have vastly outpaced the Nasdaq. As we can see below, a major contributing factor to crypto doing so well is yields rolling over for the first time since early October....

Funding this week fell once again, dropping from $191M to just $105M. Surprisingly, the bulk of this decline came from the infrastructure segment, which has generally been strong this year. Infrastructure funding fell from $142M to $35M, but still saw a fair number of deals, with seven of this week’s 17 deals being infrastructure-related. It’s important to note that the financing amount for two of the infrastructure deals this week...