Trakx Weekly Update: November 25

Key Crypto Market Figures

CTIs Weekly Performance

Another green week for digital asset prices as evidenced by the 15% increase in the value of our benchmark Top 10 Crypto CTI. The best performer over the preceding seven days was the Interoperability CTI, up 38%, followed not far behind by the Gaming and ESG CTIs both of which also rose over 30%. Last place on the performance table was taken by the Meme CTI. Despite continued positive vibes surrounding DOGE, the Meme CTI slipped 5% as investors decided to book some profits after the sector’s recent stellar run.

Gensler Out

The good news continued last week after the crypto industry’s nemesis, SEC Chair Gary Gensler, announced on X that he would be vacating his role on January 20^th, a date that coincides with Donald Trump’s inauguration. Given Trump had threatened to fire him on Day 1 of his presidency, Gensler clearly decided it was better to jump rather than wait to be pushed. Be that as it may, for crypto investors his exit hopefully signals the end of the SEC’s widely criticized regulation-by-enforcement approach and that his replacement will be someone with a more constructive attitude who wishes to develop the crypto industry in support of the broader US economy. Gensler was not the only member of the SEC to announce his imminent departure last week. Another Democrat SEC Commissioner, Jaime Lizárraga, said he too would be stepping down on January 17^th.

Crypto Czar

As well as all-change at the top of the SEC, there was speculation that Trump was considering creating a new crypto czar role to oversee US digital asset policy – a position that would be supported by a newly established crypto advisory council to help the country catch up ground lost over recent years. Although Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong met with Trump and his transition team at Mar-A-Lago last week, the person most hotly tipped to fill the role – assuming it is created – is Chris Giancarlo. Not only is Giancarlo a crypto fan, but he has considerable regulatory experience having worked at the CFTC for several years and in several roles. Indeed, when he was Chairman of the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission) between 2017-2019 he oversaw the introduction of Bitcoin futures in the US.

In The (Banana) Zone

One sure sign that we are in a more bullish mindset was the decision by Tron founder Justin Sun to pay more than $6 million for a banana duct-taped to a wall. As much as we agree with the view that fiat money is being degraded by fiscal profligacy in pretty much every major economy, we still think $6 million is probably overpaying for a piece of fruit that will become a rotten pile of mush in a matter of days. That said, if you think Justin Sun’s trade was a bad one, consider how the German government feels. Over the summer they sold nearly 50,000 Bitcoin for an average price of just under $58,000. If, instead of selling them for $2.9bn, they had hodled them they would be sitting on a bag worth $4.9bn just a handful of months later. Ouch!

Sources: Trakx, Coingecko, Alphavantage

Market Trends

• SEC Chair Gary Gensler resigns, leaves legacy of division and crypto feuds: Fortune
• Trump’s Former CFTC Chair Considered For White House ‘Crypto Czar’ Position: Bitcoinist
• Crypto investor pays $6 million for a banana — and plans to eat it: CNBC
• Sui Network restored after 2-hour outage in setback for ‘Solana killer’: Cointelegraph
• Why Stellar, Polkadot and NEAR Protocol Were 3 Of the Biggest Crypto Winners This Weekend: Yahoo Finance
• Michael Saylor has lost voting control of MicroStrategy: Protos

Trakx News

• Our next CGP seminar will be held on December 3rd in Aix-en-Provence, France. For more details, please contact [email protected].

Trakx CTIs Performance

Sources: Coingecko and AlphaVantage

*Return of bitcoin is calculated since 01/05/2020, while CTIs performances were calculated since their respective launch date.
**Includes simulated performance.
***The risk signal is determined according to the historical volatility level, the higher the riskier.

Trakx is a global fintech company creating new standards for digital asset investments. Through our trading platform, we offer thematic Crypto Tradable Indices (CTIs) and customised solutions, providing sophisticated investors with a high degree of compliance, custody and liquidity.

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Disclaimers: No Investment Advice. Index returns and statistics are for illustration only. Index returns do not reflect any transaction costs or expenses. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The information provided in this newsletter does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the newsletter content as such. Trakx.io does not recommend that any cryptocurrency should be bought, sold, or held by you. Readers shall conduct their own due diligence and consult their financial advisors before making any investment decisions.