Daily News | Alameda Once Minted 39.55 Billion USDTs, Crypto Venture Funding Dropped By 63% in Q3, NFT Trading Volume Fell 37% Month on Month in September

Crypto Daily Digest: Alameda once minted 39.55 billion USDTs; NFT trading volume fell 37% month on month in September

Conor Grogan, the director of Coinbase, stated in a social media article that on chain data shows that Alameda once minted 39.55 billion USDTs, which accounts for 47% of USDT’s current circulation supply. A previous report by Protos estimated this number to be approximately $36.7 billion, and Conor Grogan updated this data by discovering additional wallets.

According to data provided by SBF, the number of USDTs cast by Alameda exceeds its asset management scale during the peak period of the crypto market. However, obtaining information about redemptions is challenging, partly because Tether seems to be coordinating destruction work offline.

According to Bloomberg, the crypto option trading platform Deribit plans to launch more crypto option trading. Deribit’s Chief Business Officer, Luuk Strijers, stated that starting from January next year, they will support options trading for Solana (SOL), Ripple (XRP), and Polygon (MATIC).

Luuk Strijers also stated that in the future, they plan to apply for a cryptocurrency broker license from the European Union (EU) and consider relocating the company from Panama to Dubai with regulatory approval. It added that Deribit has 115 employees and plans to hire an additional 12 employees.

According to Bloomberg, data from research firm PitchBook shows that global venture capital for crypto startups in Q3 fell to its lowest level since 2020, a 63% decrease from last year. This quarter, venture capital firms only invested $2 billion globally in the crypto sector, which is only a small portion of their investment during the cryptocurrency boom.

PitchBook analyst Robert Le said, “We can no longer see large transactions. The smaller size of transactions is one of the driving factors behind the overall decline in investment trading.” The large fundraising activities during the crypto bull market have benefited companies such as FTX, OpenSea in the NFT market, and Yuga Labs, the founder of NFT.

Now, the retreat of venture capital may force companies already cutting costs and layoffs to make difficult choices. Robert Le said, “If crypto startups are unable to raise a round of funds, or even if their valuations decrease, they will either go bankrupt or be acquired at much lower valuations.”

In the first half of this year, the operating profit of South Korean cryptocurrency operators increased by 82% to 227.3 billion won, and deposits increased by 11% to 4 trillion won. Despite the increase in platform profits, transaction volume decreased by 1.3% monthly to 2.9 trillion won. In addition, the number of cryptocurrency traders has also decreased by 210000 to 6.06 million. Over 67% of individual traders hold virtual assets worth less than 500000 Korean won.

On October 23, approximately 100 million DOTs locked in Polkadot‘s first batch of Crowdloans will be unlocked. In response to this unlocking and also to better adapt to the future situation of Polkadot 2.0, the community has launched the 166th governance referendum, proposing to slightly increase the ideal staking rate of the Polkadot network, which is expected to increase from 52.5% to 60%, so that the network can accommodate new DOTs entering the staking system after unlocking without reducing the staking reward.

This proposal has now entered the public voting stage, with a current approval rate of 99.4%. If the vote is successfully passed, it is expected that this adjustment will be executed two days before the unlock date.

In September, NFT trading volume reached $224 million, a decrease of 37% month on month, marking the seventh consecutive month of contraction in trading volume. Monthly trading volume has fallen to a two-year low. In addition, the total number of transactions in the NFT market increased slightly in September, from 483,000 to 504,000.

Today’s Main Token Trends

BTC

The overall structure still resembles an inverse head and shoulders bullish pattern. After a short-term breakthrough at $27,282, BTC continued to retrace. This week, it is expected to retest the $26,920 support level, indicating a need for consolidation. The key support level to watch is at $25,280, and it’s worth noting that Bitcoin might establish an independent trend.

UFT

Recently, there were speculations in the market regarding DWF and its role in UFT. In the short term, UFT has broken the overall downtrend and made multiple attempts to hold above $0.2470. If the uptrend continues, it may target $0.2991 and $0.3398. It’s advised to closely monitor the $0.2470 support level.

MKR

MKR, a leading concept coin in the RWA sector, dropped below the $1,370 support level in the short term. This week, it is expected to retrace towards the $1,305 support level. Long-term positioning suggests maintaining stability at $1,305, with the potential to initiate a slow bullish trend, aiming for previous highs at $6,319 and a top target of $19,249.

Macro: The Israeli-Palestinian conflict amplifies market sentiment, and the Federal Reserve may instigate speculation on interest rate cuts

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is still ongoing, and the US stock market opened low and rose high last night. After opening low, all three major US stock indices closed higher, with the Dow Jones Index rising 0.6%, the S&P 500 Index rising 0.6%, and the Nasdaq Index rising 0.4%. The rise of the US stock market is of great significance in influencing the recovery of risk appetite in the global market (Monday was just a bit of risk aversion, not a complete panic).

The US dollar index shifted from positive to negative and closed slightly lower. Gold prices rose 1.1% to a one-week high. If the situation in the Middle East further escalates, it may move towards $1900. The oil price surged by over 4% and closed near the day’s high. The impact of geopolitics on financial markets is usually brief, but crude oil is an exception.

The reason for driving low and leaving high last night may be related to the speeches of two Federal Reserve officials. Dallas Fed Chairman Logan stated that the surge in US bond yields may mean a reduction in the need for further interest rate hikes. Jefferson, the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that although the inflation rate was still too high, he was concerned about the potential inhibitory effect of the rise in the yield of US treasury bond bonds on the economy, and officials could act cautiously when assessing the degree of additional policy tightening that might be necessary.

What sets this speech apart from the past is that the Fed is rescuing the bond market, and the recent fluctuations in bond yields have exceeded the scope that can be explained solely by understanding the Fed’s policies. Within one day, the two Fed officials expressed the same opinion, both of which were aimed at the recent soaring yield of US treasury bond bonds. Obviously, it was inspired or prepared to save the recent decline of the US treasury bond bond market. Since the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points in July, the yield of long-term US treasury bond bonds has risen by a full percentage point, which is a big increase for a large market.

Jefferson is a less prominent official within the Federal Reserve, and his past speeches have had little impact on the market. Since taking office as the governor of the Dallas Fed last year, Logan has mostly supported interest rate hikes, but now she has changed her tune - note that Logan is one of the more influential voices in the Fed system in the financial markets.

It is currently unclear whether the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can escalate the situation. We have not seen the actions of other Arab countries around us. If the future Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues for a long time, this situation will spread to neighboring countries and regions. Therefore, we hope to quell it as soon as possible and bring peace to the world. After all, the war is really cruel, and ultimately the people will bear all the pain and suffering.