{"id":26360,"date":"2022-08-18T20:42:40","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T20:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/?p=26360"},"modified":"2022-08-18T20:42:40","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T20:42:40","slug":"crypto-bulls-comeback-here-are-factors-driving-up-institutional-interest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/?p=26360","title":{"rendered":"Crypto bulls\u2019 comeback? Here are factors driving up institutional interest"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

Hello! Welcome back to Distributed Ledger, our weekly crypto newsletter that reaches your inbox every Thursday. I\u2019m Frances Yue, crypto reporter at MarketWatch, and I\u2019ll walk you through the latest in the digital asset market. <\/p>\n

Find me on Twitter at @FrancesYue_<\/a> to send feedback, or tell us what you think we should cover. You can also reach me through email<\/a> to share your personal stories with crypto.<\/p>\n

\n
Crypto in a snap<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Bitcoin
\n BTCUSD<\/a>
\n lost 3.9% over the past seven days, and was trading at around $23,297 on Thursday, according to CoinDesk data. Ether
\n ETHUSD<\/a>
\n declined 2.6% over the seven-day stretch to around $1,865. Meme token Dogecoin
\n DOGEUSD<\/a>
\n gained 10.9% while another dog-themed token, Shiba Inu
\n SHIBUSD,<\/span><\/a>
\n advanced 19.7% from seven days ago. <\/p>\n

Crypto Metrics<\/strong> <\/h6>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n Biggest Gainers <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n Price<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n %7-day return<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n Chiliz <\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $0.22<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n 43.6%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n Celsius Network <\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $2.91<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n 25%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n Shiba Inu<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $0.00001<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n 15%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n LEO Token<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $5.34<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n 13.4%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n EOS<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $1.45<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n 13%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n <\/td>\n\n <\/td>\n\n Source: CoinGecko as of Aug. 18<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n Biggest Decliners<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n Price<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n %7-day return<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n BitDAO<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $0.51<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n -30.7%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n The Graph <\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $0.12<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n -18.1%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n Maker <\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $920.5<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n -17.5%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n Synthetix Network<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $3.49<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n -16.9%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n THORChain<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n $2.49<\/p>\n<\/td>\n\n -14.9%<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\n <\/td>\n\n <\/td>\n\n Source: CoinGecko as of Aug. 18<\/em><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n
Crypto bulls\u2019 comeback? <\/h6>\n

After months of muted activity in the crypto market, there have been some signs that institutional and retail interests are picking up, prompting some investors to ask if the worst is already behind.\u00a0Bitcoin is up 24% from its June low, but still down 50% year to date, according to CoinDesk data. <\/p>\n

Blackrock
\n BLK,<\/span><\/a>
\n the world\u2019s largest asset manager, last week launched a spot bitcoin private trust, available to U.S. institutional investors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, we are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients in how to efficiently and cost-effectively access these assets using our technology and product capabilities,\u201d the company said in a blog post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the lending activity in the crypto space has seen a bounce, Luke Farrell, crypto trader at GSR, said in an interview. Starting June, lending activities were almost \u201cshut down to zero,\u201d as the digital asset industry battled with contagion when crypto hedge fund Three Arrows and lender Celsius went into bankruptcy, according to Farrell. \u201cLenders across the spectrum, from DeFi pools to big lenders like Genesis really had no appetite to lend.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the last two weeks, we\u2019ve seen a pickup of that rate. They have gone up naturally because of the halt in credit but you\u2019re seeing new money being willing to be deployed,\u201d Farrell said. Still, the interest rates are \u201cnot that high relative to where they could be,\u201d according to Farrell.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me that shows a lot of a lot of capital on the sideline wanting to deploy into yield type strategies or things that can generate a yield or income that was a little bit more market neutral bias, rather than just buying tokens,\u201d Farrell noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In fact, with the Ethereum \u201cMerge\u201d coming up, \u201cthere\u2019s clear institutional and whale interest and accumulation,\u201d according to Tom Dunleavy, senior research analyst at Messari. The \u201cMerge\u201d is a highly-anticipated upgrade that will transition Ethereum from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake, a consensus mechanism that is much more energy efficient, and will pave the way for the blockchain to be cheaper and more productive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to blockchain data, the number of addresses holding over 100 ether, 1000 ether and more than 10,000 ether have seen a sharp rise, Dunleavy noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some traders have been borrowing ether with anticipation of a Ethereum hard fork. In late July, Ethereum miner Chandler Guo proposed to fork, or split the chain, with one that continues to be based on the proof-of-work consensus mechanism. If it happens, all ether holders will receive an equal amount of the new tokens on the forked chain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPresumably there will be some sort of value in that,\u201d Dunleavy said. \u201cSo holding native ether going into the Merge, if you assume there\u2019ll be some value from the fork, is a strategy I think a lot of people are pursuing through these lending protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the retail side, investors are not as active in the Ethereum \u201cMerge\u201d trades. The amount of addresses holding between 0.1 ETH and 1 ETH have remained flat for July and August, Dunleavy noted.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, meme coins rallied, which some attributed in part to the comeback of retail interests. I\u2019ve written more about it here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hear from Mike Novogratz at the\u00a0Best New Ideas in Money Festival<\/a>\u00a0on Sept. 21 and Sept. 22 in New York. The Galaxy Digital CEO has ideas about navigating the crypto winter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Genesis cuts 20% workforce<\/strong><\/h6>\n

The contagion from some major crypto companies\u2019 collapse is not over. Genesis, one of the largest crypto lenders, said it has laid off 20% of its workforce. The company\u2019s chief executive Michael Moro is also stepping down<\/a>, while the company\u2019s chief operating officer Derar Islim will assume the role as interim CEO, according to a statement. <\/p>\n

Genesis earlier filed a $1.2 billion claim against Three Arrows, which is being liquidated, while Genesis\u2019s parent company Digital Currency Group assured the entire claim.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Crypto companies, funds <\/h6>\n

Shares of Coinbase Global Inc<\/strong>.
\n COIN<\/a>
\n went down 3.6% to $82.37 on Thursday, and they were down 2.06% over the past five trading sessions. Michael Saylor\u2019s MicroStrategy<\/strong> Inc.<\/strong>
\n MSTR<\/a>
\n declined 1% Thursday to $321.95, while the shares went down 4.6% over the past five days.<\/p>\n

Mining company Riot Blockchain Inc<\/strong>.
\n RIOT<\/a>
\n shares dropped 1.4% to $8.23 Thursday, and lost 13.5% over the past five days. Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings Inc.<\/strong>
\n MARA<\/a>
\n edged up 0.5% to $15.53, with a 9.7% loss over the past five days. Another miner, Ebang International Holdings Inc<\/strong>.
\n EBON<\/a>
\n saw shares down 4.5% to $0.53 on Thursday, for a 6.4% decrease over the past five days.<\/p>\n

Overstock.com Inc.<\/strong>
\n OSTK\u2019s<\/span><\/a>
\n shares tanked 4.8% to $30.55. The shares traded 1.6% lower over the five-session period.<\/p>\n

Shares of Block Inc. <\/strong>
\n SQ,<\/span><\/a>
\n formerly known as Square, declined 0.9% to $79.66 and were down 7.3% for the week. Tesla Inc<\/strong>.
\n TSLA<\/a>
\n shares edged lower 0.1% to $910.65, up 5.9% over the past five days. <\/p>\n

PayPal Holdings Inc.<\/strong>
\n PYPL<\/a>
\n picked up 1.2% to $100.57, up 1.5% over the five-session stretch. Nvidia Corp.<\/strong>
\n NVDA<\/a>
\n shares added 2.3% to $187.53, looking at a 4.5% gain for the past week.<\/p>\n

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.<\/strong>
\n AMD<\/a>
\n shares advanced 2.4% to $100.60 on Thursday, 2.5% higher from five trading days ago. <\/p>\n

Among crypto funds, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF<\/strong>
\n BITO<\/a>
\n rose 0.5% to $14.38 Thursday, while its Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF<\/strong>
\n BITI<\/a>
\n dipped 0.4% to $33.50. Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF<\/strong>
\n BTF<\/a>
\n added 0.2% to $8.94, while VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF<\/strong>
\n XBTF<\/a>
\n traded 0.2% higher to $22.60. <\/p>\n

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust<\/strong>
\n GBTC<\/a>
\n advanced 1.8% to $15.23. <\/p>\n

Must Reads <\/h6>\n<\/p><\/div>\n


\n
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Hello! Welcome back to Distributed Ledger, our weekly crypto newsletter that reaches your inbox every Thursday. I\u2019m Frances Yue, crypto reporter at MarketWatch, and I\u2019ll walk you through the latest in the digital asset market. Find me on Twitter at @FrancesYue_ to send feedback, or tell us what you think we should cover. You can […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26361,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[40],"tags":[211,2842,62,273,274,101,1430],"class_list":["post-26360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-market-analysis","tag-bulls","tag-comeback","tag-crypto","tag-driving","tag-factors","tag-institutional","tag-interest"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/1660855357_social.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26360"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26362,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26360\/revisions\/26362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/egrowonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}