Trakx Weekly Update: July 10, 2023

Key Crypto Market Figures

CTIs Weekly Performance

Crypto prices were in consolidation mode over the past week as reflected in the Trakx Top 10 Crypto CTI dipping 4%. The best performer was the Lending CTI, which was flat over the past seven days, whereas the weakest performer was the Diversifier CTI at -9%.

Last week’s US macro releases were largely responsible for tempering crypto’s month-long rally that has been driven by rising confidence of accelerated institutional adoption. Friday’s non-farm payroll report showed US wage growth accelerating despite the top-line jobs number coming in below expectations. As a result, investors are primed to expect a further 25bp hike at this month’s FOMC meeting.

Regards institutional adoption, last week BlackRock, whose decision to file an application for a spot Bitcoin ETF in the US sparked the crypto rally, refiled its application after the SEC expressed concerns over the initial filing. The SEC was concerned the application did not name the underlying market in the SSA (surveillance sharing agreements) and BlackRock included Coinbase in their resubmitted application to assuage their concerns. Separately, CEO Larry Fink last week expressed his view that “crypto is digitalizing gold”, essentially embracing one of the most popular and long-standing narratives about crypto.

The standout performer over the week was Solana, a constituent of the Top 10 PoS and Top Blockchains CTIs, whose price rallied more than 6%. The idiosyncratic price move followed the news that Coca-Cola in Serbia was collaborating with  SolSea – a Solana blockchain-based NFT platform- to distribute limited edition of NFTs to attendees of the EXIT music festival. The move was seen as a vote of confidence in the Solana ecosystem, whose reputation was dented last year because of its strong association with disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Finally, on the regulation front, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) announced measures to ring fence crypto retail assets (assets held in trust and operationally independent custody). They also banned crypto lending and staking for retail clients.

Sources: Trakx, Coingecko, Alphavantage

Market Trends

• Nasdaq refiles BlackRock's bitcoin ETF application with SEC: Reuters.
• Larry Fink says Bitcoin is ‘digitalising gold’ in another sign BlackRock is all-in on crypto: DLNews.
• Gemini sues Digital Currency Group and CEO Barry Silbert over Genesis Capital insolvency: Cryptoslate.
• Coca-Cola Serbia Unveils NFTs on Solana’s SolSea: CryptoTimes.
• Singapore's MAS Orders Crypto Firms to Keep Customer Assets in a Trust by Year-End: Coindesk.

Trakx News

• Ryan Shea was quoted in the article “Crypto exchange guardrails are coming whether Gary Gensler wins his crusade or not” in DLNews.
• Lionel Rebibo attended the “Paris Finance Forum”, Paris Europlace’s annual event, last Wednesday (5 July).

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.