Cryptocurrency markets saw another week of consolidation following the market’s long-awaited recovery last week.
While Bitcoin (BTC) remained above the key psychological level of $90,000, investor sentiment continued to be dominated by “fear”, with a slight improvement from 20 to 25 during the week, according to CoinMarketCap’s Fear & Greed. hint.
In the broader crypto space, Ether (ETH) treasury trading appears to be easing, as monthly acquisitions of Ethereum digital asset treasuries (DAT) have fallen 81% over the past three months from the August peak.
Nonetheless, the largest Ether holding company, BitMine Immersion Technologies, continued to amass ETH, while other treasury companies continued their fundraising efforts for future acquisitions.
Investors are also awaiting the decision on key interest rates at the next meeting of the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, in order to provide more clues on monetary policy through 2026.
Markets are pricing in an 87% chance of seeing an interest rate cut of 25 basis points, up from 62% a month ago. according to to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.
Ethereum Treasury Trade Unwinds 80% as Handful of Whales Dominate Buying
Ethereum Treasury trading appears to be unfolding as monthly acquisitions continue to decline from the August peak, although the largest players continue to accumulate billions in Ether offerings.
Investments in Ethereum DATs have fallen 81% over the past three months, from 1.97 million Ether in August to 370,000 ETH in November, according to Bitwise, an asset management company.
“ETH DAT decline continues,” wrote Max Shennon, senior research associate at Bitwise, in a Tuesday job.
Despite the slowdown, some companies with strong financial backing continued to accumulate the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency or raise funds for future purchases.
BitMine Immersion Technologiesthe largest Ether holding company, has accumulated approximately 679,000 Ether worth $2.13 billion over the past month, reaching 62% of its goal of accumulating 5% of the ETH supply, according to data from the Strategic reserve.
BitMine holds an additional $882 million in cash according to the data aggregator, which could signal increased Ether accumulation.
Citadel causes uproar by urging SEC to regulate tokenized DeFi stocks
Market maker Citadel Securities has recommended that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission tighten decentralized finance regulations regarding tokenized stocks, sparking backlash from crypto users.
Citadel Securities told the SEC in a letter On Tuesday, DeFi developers, smart contract coders and self-custody wallet providers are not expected to receive a “broad exemption” to offer trading in tokenized US stocks.
He argued that DeFi trading platforms likely fall under the definitions of “exchange” or “broker-dealer” and should be regulated by securities laws if they offer tokenized stocks.
“Granting a broad exemption to facilitate the trading of tokenized stocks via DeFi protocols would create two separate regulatory regimes for trading the same security,” he argued. “This result would be the exact opposite of the “technology neutral” approach taken by the Exchange Act. »
Letter from Citadel, written in response to the SEC seeking comment on how it should approach regulation tokenized shareshas garnered considerable backlash from the crypto community and organizations advocating innovation in the blockchain space.
Arthur Hayes warns Monad could 99% collapse, calls it high-risk ‘VC currency’
Crypto veteran Arthur Hayes has issued a warning regarding Monad, saying the recently launched layer 1 blockchain could plunge by as much as 99% and end up as another failed experiment driven by venture capital hype rather than real adoption.
Speaking on Altcoin Daily, the former head of BitMEX describe the project as “another high FDV, low float VC coin,” arguing that its token structure alone puts retail traders at risk. FDV means Fully diluted valuewhich is the market value of a crypto project if all its tokens were already in circulation.
According to Hayes, projects with a large gap between FDV and circulating supply often experience early price surges, followed by massive sell-offs once the initiated tokens are unlocked. “It’s going to be another bear chain,” Hayes said, adding that even if each new part gets a first pump, that doesn’t mean it will develop a lasting use case.
Hayes said that most new Layer 1 networks ultimately fail, and only a few are likely to remain relevant in the long term. He identified Bitcoin, Ether, Solana (GROUND) and Zcash (ZEC) as the small group of protocols he hopes will survive the next cycle.
Last year, Monade raised $225 million in funding from venture capital firm Paradigm. The layer 1 blockchain went live on Monday, accompanied by an airdrop of its MON token.
$25 Billion Crypto Lending Market Now Led by “Transparent” Players: Galaxy
The crypto lending market has become more transparent than ever, led by companies like Tether, Nexo, and Galaxy, and just reached an overall loan portfolio of nearly $25 billion outstanding in the third quarter.
The size of the crypto lending market has grown by over 200% since the start of 2024, according to at Galaxy Research. Its latest quarter places it at its highest since its peak in the first quarter of 2022.
However, it has yet to regain its peak of $37 billion at the time.
The main difference is the number of new centralized finance lending platforms and much more transparency, said Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy.
Thorn said on Sunday that he was proud of the chart and the transparency of his contributors, adding that it was a “big change from previous market cycles.”
Portal to Bitcoin Raises $25M, Launches OTC Atomic Desk
Native Bitcoin Interoperability Protocol Portal to Bitcoin has raised $25 million in funding as part of the launch of what it describes as an atomic over-the-counter (OTC) trading desk.
According to an announcement shared Thursday with Cointelegraph, the company raised $25 million in a round led by digital asset lender JTSA Global. The fundraising follows previous investments from Coinbase Ventures, OKX Ventures, Arrington Capital and others.
Alongside the new funding, the company rolled out its Atomic OTC desktop, promising “instant, trustless cross-chain settlement of large block transactions.” The newly deployed service reminds crosschain atomic exchanges powered by THORChain, Chainflip and more Bitcoin-systems-oriented systems such as Liquality and Boltz.
What sets Portal to Bitcoin apart is its focus on the Bitcoin-anchored crosschain OTC market for institutions and whales, as well as its technology stack. “Portal provides the infrastructure needed to make Bitcoin the settlement layer of global asset markets, without bridges, custodians or wrapped assets,” said Chandra Duggirala, founder and CEO of Portal.
DeFi Market Overview
According to data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView, most of the 100 largest cryptocurrencies by market cap ended the week in the red.
The Canton token (CC) fell 18%, marking the biggest decline of the week in the top 100, followed by the Starknet token (STRK), down 16% on the weekly chart.
Thank you for reading our summary of this week’s most notable DeFi developments. Join us next Friday for more stories, ideas and information about this dynamically evolving space.
