BTC is currently trading around $16,300 and ETH around $1,200. Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are BSV, STX, and FTM. The global crypto market cap is ~$859B, down ~2.2% over the last day. DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$41b and BTC dominance is around 40%.
Risk aversion returns as equities and crypto simultaneously head lower following mass protests in China over Covid-zero policies and authoritarianism. An apartment fire sparked the unrest as Covid-zero policies reportedly prevented firefighters from quickly reaching the scene. Ten people died as a result, sparking the protests challenging the CCP in what’s being described as the largest mainland protest since Tiananmen Square. Beyond China, the week features numerous speeches from key monetary policy officials, including Powell, Lagarde, and Bailey. Powell’s speech on Wednesday is expected to signal a reduction in the magnitude of rate hikes ahead, guiding investors towards a 50 bp hike in December. On the data front, major releases include Germany and Eurozone CPI coming on Tuesday and Wednesday and U.S. Nonfarm Payrolls on Friday, among numerous other data releases throughout the week.
Notable news includes: Starling Bank banned all crypto-related transactions citing ‘high risk’; Aave paused 17 lending markets for ERC-20 tokens following an attempted exploit; Bitcoin Core 24 went live, introducing a new controversial replace-by-fee logic; Aragon Project increased its ETH treasury allocation by $20m to increase censorship resistance in the wake of FTX; Argentina’s Ripio crypto exchange entered the U.S. market; WBTC briefly depegged before approximately returning to parity; Fenix Games raised $150m to support its blockchain gaming endeavors; ETH staking-as-a-service startup Kiln raised ~$18m; and, a Harvard research paper argued that countries facing risk of sanctions should add an allocation to bitcoin.
