Gm,
We have seen BTC move above the $42,000 level today after it was rejected over the weekend. As such, CT (crypto Twitter) has exploded with optimism and memes about how the bull market is back with a bang.
With the sheer capitulation of big tech stocks last week, the movement in the crypto markets was well received by investors. Bitcoin has broken out of two similar downtrends in the past year, which both resulted in significant rallies, hence the optimism for more potential upside if precedence is anything to go by.
The Crypto Fear & Greed Index, which has only seen extreme fear the past month, is now on the verge of breaking out of the ‘fear’ zone completely. Should this happen, this will be the first move into the neutral territory since the ATH records were set in November.
Last week, the index showed a level of 20/100, while the levels seen today stand at 45/100 - more than double on the index scale. What history tells us is that slow and steady gains are what traders look for in order to become more confident in reentering into a position. The caveat with the Fear and Greed Index is that the very low points may not always signal the price bottom and as such investors should not take this index as a signal to buy or sell at any given point.
As the Fed continues its mission to gradually raise interest rates in an effort to tighten monetary policy, I expect more interest from investors to pile back in in order to protect themselves from inflation.
I’m still sitting on the sidelines for now but it looks like the next few weeks will be interesting.
Let’s get started.
Markets
As of 7th February 2022
(source: coinmarketcap)
Headline roundup
Rolling Stone adds to crypto marketing efforts around Super Bowl(LI)
Crypto, Blockchain investment in 2021 exceeded previous 3 years (CD)
Commerzbank publishes blockchain trade finance study (LI)
FTX buys crypto exchange Liquid Group for expansion in Japan (CD)
Fed Reserve stablecoin paper makes controversial assumptions (LI)
Tom Brady retires to focus on family, NFT startup (CD)
Digital asset startup LAB577 acquired by BCB Group (LI)
MicroStrategy buys additional $25m worth of bitcoin during market dip (CD)
Thailand restricts use of digital assets for payments (LI)
Coinbase lists Solana-based project tokens for first time (CD)
Google Cloud unveils digital assets team, to explore accepting crypto (LI)
CBDC
India plans blockchain-based CBDC for 2022/2023 (LI)
South Korea progresses CBDC simulations (LI)
BIS Innovation Hub plans multiple new CBDC projects (LI)
VC
FTX valuation passes Coinbase after raising $400m (LI)
DeFi infrastructure provider-Qredo raises $80m at $460m valuation (CD)
Crypto analytics firm Dune raises $69m at a $1bn valuation (LI)
SoftBank leads $60m funding round for B2B payments platform tribal (CD)
Blockchain traceability startup Verofax raises $1.5m (LI)
NFT platform Pixel Vault closes $100m investment (CD)
Solana wallet Phantom raises $109m to rival Metamask (CD)
Meme of the week
About Me
My name is Michael Burke, and I started working in the blockchain space 5 years ago, firstly with Deloitte, now with R3, where I help our customers build enterprise solutions utilising the Corda platform. My interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency stems from the sheer potential of the technology to completely transform industries and value chains for the better.