Daily Market Update: October 23, 2023

October 23, 2023

BTC is currently trading around $30,500 and ETH around $1,650.  Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are INJ, FTM, and AAVE.  The global crypto market cap is $1.20T, up 1.9% over the last day.  DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$39b and BTC dominance is around 52%.

Equities are down and Bitcoin is up 3% from Friday’s close amidst rising interest rates and continued geopolitical uncertainty.  Investors will focus on several key central bank and economic data releases this week, including the Bank of Canada meeting on Wednesday, the ECB meeting and US 3Q GDP on Thursday, and US PCE inflation on Friday.  In addition, several large tech companies report earnings this week, including Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft.

Notable news includes: Hong Kong’s SFC and HKMA released new virtual asset guidelines for intermediaries, enabling a wider range of users to access products; Thailand delayed plans to distribute $280 in digital baht to all citizens over the age of 16 until 2024; a Singapore court authorized a freeze order to be attached to a wallet as a soulbound NFT; the US SEC secured a default judgement against Thor Technologies and its CEO for allegedly offering unregistered securities; SBF’s trial will reach its final stage over the next few days with the prosecution scheduled to rest its case on Oct 26; FTX creditor claims breached the $0.50 mark; the Genesis bankruptcy is reportedly at an impasse; Binance halted its Visa debit card service in Europe amid regulatory concerns; a Lightning Network security researcher resigned over concerns about a new potential vulnerability that might require changes in Bitcoin itself to fix; new evidence surfaced showing Bitcoin pioneer Hal Finney was running a 10 mile race when Satoshi Nakamoto responded to emails and transacted in bitcoin, arguing that Finney is not the anonymous creator of Bitcoin; Bitcoin rig manufacturer Bitmain announced plans to launch miners for privacy-focused blockchain Aleo; Tether revealed plans for real-time updates of the reserves backing USDT; NFT sales in 3Q hit their lowest point since 2020; DeFi yield aggregator Yearn introduced new tokenomics; and, Uniswap founder Hayden Adams burned 99.9% of HayCoin, which he created in 2019 to help test Uniswap.

Sign up to conveniently receive GSR crypto content in your inbox.

Authors:
Matt Kunke, Research Analyst | TwitterTelegramLinkedIn
Brian Rudick, Senior Strategist | TwitterTelegramLinkedIn

This material is provided by GSR (the “Firm”) solely for informational purposes, is intended only for sophisticated, institutional investors and does not constitute an offer or commitment, a solicitation of an offer or commitment, or any advice or recommendation, to enter into or conclude any transaction (whether on the terms shown or otherwise), or to provide investment services in any state or country where such an offer or solicitation or provision would be illegal. The Firm is not and does not act as an advisor or fiduciary in providing this material.  GSR is not authorised or regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority.  The protections provided by the UK regulatory system will not be available to you. Specifically, information provided herein is intended for institutional persons only and is not suitable for retail persons in the United Kingdom, and no solicitation or recommendation is being made to you in regards to any products or services. 

This material is not a research report, and not subject to any of the independence and disclosure standards applicable to research reports prepared pursuant to FINRA or CFTC research rules. This material is not independent of the Firm’s proprietary interests, which may conflict with the interests of any counterparty of the Firm. The Firm trades instruments discussed in this material for its own account, may trade contrary to the views expressed in this material, and may have positions in other related instruments.

Information contained herein is based on sources considered to be reliable, but is not guaranteed to be accurate or complete. Any opinions or estimates expressed herein reflect a judgment made by the author(s) as of the date of publication, and are subject to change without notice. Trading and investing in digital assets involves significant risks including price volatility and illiquidity and may not be suitable for all investors. The Firm is not liable whatsoever for any direct or consequential loss arising from the use of this material. Copyright of this material belongs to GSR. Neither this material nor any copy thereof may be taken, reproduced or redistributed, directly or indirectly, without prior written permission of GSR.