Crypto Labs Market Watch for Apr. 22nd
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1. BlackRock Bitcoin ETF hits 69 days of inflows on ‘4/20’ halving day
Bitcoin memes keep flowing as one of the year’s biggest success stories adds to the sense of fate around the 2024 halving.
Bitcoin is supplying some classic memes this week — and it goes beyond the “4/20” halving date.
Thanks to the success of the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), market observers are celebrating a halving which has been “almost too perfect.”
A meme-filled Bitcoin halving
BTC price action may be firmly sideways this halving, but its timing is giving some a feeling that it was all meant to be.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Eric Balchunas, a dedicated ETF analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, revealed a curious halving day coincidence.
Not only did the seminal event hit on April 20 — “4/20,” a key meme date in itself — but the largest United States spot Bitcoin ETF sealed 69 days of straight inflows.
“It’s a little too perfect,” Balchunas summarized.
The Bitcoin ETFs have seen a marked slowdown in inflows since hitting their peak in March. Despite this, BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), the largest ETF by assets under management, has yet to see a single day of outflows.
2. Wealth management firms to boost Bitcoin ETF holdings — Bitwise CEO
The forecast mirrors the growing demand for ETFs, as evidenced by recent positive inflows in the U.S. Bitcoin ETF market.
Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley has predicted that wealth management firms will increase their Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in terms of holdings. The prediction comes at a time when Bitcoin ETFs are expected to gain even more traction after the halving.
Horsley’s prediction aligns with the broader market belief that there is increasing demand for ETFs, given that Bitcoin investments in the United States exchange-traded funds (ETFs) market recorded a net positive inflow right before the Bitcoin halving day following five consecutive days of drain.
BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is closing the gap with Grayscale’s, standing just $2 billion shy. This positions BlackRock to potentially surpass Grayscale as the world’s largest Bitcoin fund. Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) experienced a 68-day period of value decline, shedding nearly $16 billion and reducing its assets to $19.4 billion.
3. Memes are creating a ‘Cambrian explosion’ of crypto onboarding: Base creator
Memes on Base have helped to onboard thousands of people to the layer-2 network and will be key for the next million, says Base creator Jesse Pollak.
Base creator Jesse Pollak believes memes will be key to onboarding millions of users to his Coinbase-adjacent layer-2 network, which has already tripled in total value locked (TVL) since March.
During a memecoin hackathon in New York on April 20, Pollak said memes are an important part of the on-chain economy, adding that he is “excited to see more based memes proliferate to help bring the world on-chain.”
“There’s been a ton of energy on Base,” said Pollak, adding:
“One thing that has really stood out to us is that we’re seeing these memes today onboard thousands and thousands of people into this new economy.”
The growth in memecoins and transactions on Base surged following the Ethereum Dencun upgrade in mid-March, which reduced fees on layer-2 networks.
As a result, Base’s TVL has surged almost 250% since the beginning of March, hitting an all-time high of $1.61 billion on April 21, according to DefiLlama.
4. Swiss Bitcoiners renew efforts to orange-pill the country’s central bank
The Bitcoiners will first need to convince 100,000 Swiss nationals to sign the petition that would kick off a referendum — a threshold that plagued their first attempt back in October 2021.
Several Swiss-based Bitcoiners are renewing attempts to get the Swiss National Bank to hold Bitcoin (BTC) in its reserves by holding a referendum to change the country’s constitution — but they will need to convince more than 100,000 locals to sign a petition first.
Adding Bitcoin to the central bank’s reserves would help protect the country’s “sovereignty and neutrality” in an increasingly uncertain world, said Yves Bennaïm, founder and chairman of 2B4CH, a not-for-profit think tank that is leading the charge.
“We are in the process of completing the organizational preparations for the committee and preparing the documents that must be submitted to the State Chancellery in order to start the process,” Bennaïm told Swiss news outlet Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ) on April 20.
However, 100,000 signatures from Swiss nationals are needed within 18 months for a referendum to be held on issues brought about by Swiss nationals or groups — a threshold that plagued 2B4CH’s first attempt in October 2021.
2B4CH first launched the “Bitcoin Initiative” around that time, stating its mission was to add Bitcoin as a reserve currency to Article 99–3 of the Swiss Federal Constitution.
Switzerland boasts a population of 8.77 million, meaning about 1.15% of locals will need to sign the petition.
5. Tether issued on TON blockchain at a ‘great start,’ says CEO — Now at $60M
Tether announced its collaboration with the TON Foundation just two days earlier at the Token2049 event in Dubai, with $60 million of USDT now issued on the blockchain.
$60 million worth of Tether has already been issued on The Open Network (TON) since it began supporting the blockchain on April 19, making it the 11th-largest blockchain for Tether out of 16.
On April 19, the stablecoin issuer announced a collaboration with the TON Foundation at the Token2049 crypto conference in Dubai that would see Tether begin to be minted on TON.
The firm also revealed it has launched the gold-pegged Tether Gold (XAUT) stablecoin on TON as well.
The Open Network team said that cross-border payments were instant, free and as easy as sending a text message to Telegram’s 900 million users in a post on X.
Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino commented in a post on X on April 21 that Tether had made a “great start” with $35 million USDT issued on TON.
However, according to the Tether Transparency report, the authorized supply issued on TON has grown to $60 million as of 11:30 pm UTC on April 21.
6. ‘Penny hasn’t dropped’ for Australia’s next crypto unicorns — Coinbase APAC MD
Coinbase APAC managing director John O’Loghlen says Australian policymakers and TradFi firms simply haven’t woken up to the level of innovation emerging out of the country’s crypto sector.
Australia is primed for its next wave of crypto “unicorns” — startups with a billion-dollar valuation — but not until there is more regulatory clarity around crypto, according to Coinbase’s APAC managing director John O’Loghlen.
“I don’t think the penny’s dropped in Canberra or on the high street in terms of just how much great human capital there is in Australia,” O’Loghlen told Cointelegraph — referring to policymakers and large institutional players.
“It’s really important that we get this clarity in legislation around digital assets so that the sector can be properly funded and give the VC community and other investors certainty around it so that we can keep building the next Illuvium or Immutable.”
While O’Logheln acknowledged there while there had been some regulatory advancements — including the Treasury’s October 2023 consultation paper and an informal regulatory meeting with policymakers at the Blockchain APAC Summit in March — he says it’s still lagging behind a huge uptick in retail and institutional demand for crypto.
According to a 2024 investor survey from Australian crypto exchange Independent Reserve, approximately 27.5% of all Australians — 7.15 million people — now own cryptocurrency. The survey found that 35% of all Australian crypto investors put around $500 per month into digital assets.
Crypto Labs Team
April 1st, 2024
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