Trading Desk Market Update: 2/10

February 10, 2022

BTC is currently trading around $43,700 and ETH around $3,150.  Notable gainers in the last 24 hours are SLP, THETA, and CEL.  The global crypto market cap is $2.08T, down 1.8% over the last day.  DeFi Total Value Locked is ~$210b and BTC dominance is around 42%.

The US Consumer Price Index rose 7.5% year-over-year in January, while core inflation, which removes volatile food and gas prices, rose 5.9%.  Annual inflation for both headline and core grew faster than expected and were the highest readings since 1982.  Fearing the potential for more aggressive monetary policy tightening from the Fed, US markets opened down, while the US 10-year treasury yield hit 2.00% for the first time since 2019 and cryptocurrency prices dipped on the news. 

Elsewhere, the EU is weighing potential metaverse regulation; The Central Bank of Kenya is seeking public input on a potential CBDC; El Salvador plans to issue its first bitcoin bond next month; Blackrock plans to offer crypto trading to its clients; MUFG has introduced a blockchain-based system for issuing and managing stablecoins pegged to the yen; Samsung’s new Galaxy S22 smartphone will have a new wallet function reportedly allowing users to store crypto; and Binance is investing $200m into Forbes to promote crypto knowledge.

In NFT/metaverse news: Alfa Romeo is building NFTs into its newest hybrid car to record vehicle data; Tencent has been approved by the UN to lead a project examining a standard technical and security framework for NFTs; FarmVille developer Zynga announced plans to release its first NFT game later this year; Gucci has bought virtual land in The Sandbox; McDonalds has filed a trademark for a metaverse-based virtual restaurant; and, Shiba Inu announced plans for a doggy version of the metaverse.

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