Cryptocurrency daily summary:
Trump's support for cryptocurrency has caused a surge in related memes
Rising fees put pressure on Uniswap frontend
AgriDEX raises $5 million and announces airdrop plan
Let’s first look at the trading activities of Bitcoin ETFs. According to Farside Investor data, on May 9, Grayscale Bitcoin Spot ETF (GBTC) continued to see an outflow of US$43.4 million. At the same time, Fidelity Bitcoin Spot ETF (FBTC) saw an inflow of US$2.7 million, Bitwise Bitcoin Spot ETF (BITB) saw an inflow of US$6.8 million, and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin Spot ETF (ARKB) saw an inflow of US$2.2 million.
Politically themed memecoins have performed well after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump made comments about cryptocurrencies, with Trump-related memecoin MAGA surging 78% on May 9 (MAGA refers to Trump's popular political slogan - "Make America Great Again"). Donal Tremp (TREMP) has risen 79.5% in seven days and more than 100% in the past 24 hours. BODEN (a token that spoofs Biden's name) has also seen some gains.
The popularity of these political memes is because on May 8, Trump gave a speech at a dinner for NFT holders in Florida. He expressed his support for cryptocurrency. When asked whether his campaign would accept cryptocurrency donations, Trump said yes and "he will make sure of that." He also pointed out that the current US President Biden and his government are opposed to the cryptocurrency industry, while he himself supports it. And said that if you support cryptocurrency, you should vote for him.
In short, the tokens related to these two candidates have shown considerable popularity, standing out in the relatively sluggish crypto market in the past two days.
The Uniswap frontend is experiencing pressure, primarily due to a mid-April adjustment by Uniswap Labs to increase swap fees on its interface from 0.15% to 0.25%. This change affected the majority of users who trade using the Uniswap web interface and wallets, although not all users were affected.
The fee adjustment stems from Uniswap receiving the Wells Notice from the SEC. In response to the warning from the SEC, Uniswap Labs believes that it only operates a website that allows people to access the Uniswap protocol - a set of smart contracts, and that decentralized exchanges of cryptocurrencies should not be subject to conventional securities regulation.
The increase in fees has had an impact on the popularity of the Uniswap interface, with the Uniswap frontend’s share of DEX activity falling to 30% in April, down from 35.8% in March.
However, while the Uniswap labs interface has been affected, there are still other ways to trade using Uniswap, including using aggregators, alternative user interfaces, or trading directly through smart contracts. Despite some challenges, Uniswap is still one of the most popular DEXs.
AgriDex, a Solana-based platform focused on the tokenization of agricultural products, has announced that it has successfully raised $5 million in a pre-seed round. London-based AgriDex said on Thursday that tech venture capital firm Endeavor Ventures led the round, with participation from African Crops Limited, Oldenburg Vineyards, and former Goldman Sachs and Citadel executive Hank Oberoi.
AgriDex allows agricultural products to be tokenized and supports the trading of these tokenized commodities. On AgriDex, each transaction is recorded in the form of minted NFTs, which permanently record all products, pricing, payments, and other details. AgriDex plans to first tokenize and list agricultural products such as sugar, grains, and cocoa, and said it will support the listing of more commodities in the future by working with new partners and investors.
Co-founder Duckworth said AgriDex plans to launch its platform and token AGRI in the third quarter of this year. The total token supply is 1 billion, of which 50 million are for airdrops. The company plans to sell its tokens publicly at a price of $0.10 per token.
There has been follow-up progress on the previously reported address poisoning attack incident - on May 3, a user transferred 1,155 wBTC worth $71 million to a suspected poisoning attack address. Poisoning attackers often use vanity services or create a large number of digital wallets to make the fake address look very similar to the victim's wallet, thereby diverting the transfer from the original target to the wrong address.
On May 9, the incident had a new development. The attacker contacted the victim, asked for his Telegram, and sent more than 51 Ether (about $151,600). According to the on-chain data of the blockchain tracking platform Etherscan, the poisoning attack scammer sent a message to the victim twice: "Please leave your TG and I will contact you."
Of course, this amount is far lower than the amount lost, so the victim continues to demand the other party to return 90% of the funds, and the subsequent development is still unclear.
Market trend:
BTC performed strongly in the market, rebounding to $63,400 at one point, leading the overall cryptocurrency market to rebound, accompanied by a general rise in altcoins. In terms of macroeconomics, the US stock market performed positively, and the latest unemployment data was lower than expected, strengthening the market's expectations for a recent interest rate cut.
Market hot spots:
1. Ton Ecosystem and Notcoin Project Launch: Notcoin, a game meme project under the Ton ecosystem, has recently been launched on major trading platforms. This project allows users to obtain tokens by clicking mining on their mobile phones. Notcoin claims to have more than 30 million users and 5 million daily active users. It was 100% fully circulated when it was launched, and the market expected market value was about US$1 billion. The rapid launch of NOT by trading platforms may be due to the huge user base behind it.
2. Continued rise of AI concepts: Following the current market trend, AI-themed tokens such as$ARKM 、$RNDR ,WITH,$LPT , AKT and TURBO have all achieved significant price increases. This reflects that AI and Meme concepts continue to dominate the current cryptocurrency market.
3. Political events affect the market: Recently, Donald Trump announced that his presidential campaign will support cryptocurrency. This news triggered a surge in the prices of Trump-related concept tokens such as TREMP and MAGA. This shows how political events and personal influence can significantly impact the market performance of a specific cryptocurrency in a short period of time.
With the rise of Bitcoin and major altcoins, the overall sentiment in the crypto market is relatively optimistic. However, investors should pay attention to possible market fluctuations, especially when political events and macroeconomic data are released. Investors are advised to continue to monitor the trends of AI and Meme-related projects, while paying attention to global macroeconomic conditions and policy changes, so as to adjust investment strategies in a timely manner.
Macro: Dow Jones rises for seven consecutive days, employment data boosts expectations of rate cuts, and global markets are optimistic
All three major U.S. stock indexes rose on May 9. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher on Thursday, marking the benchmark index's seventh consecutive day of gains, as positive news from weekly initial jobless claims data raised new hopes for interest rate cuts.
Initial claims for state unemployment benefits rose by 22,000 to a seasonally adjusted 231,000 in the week ended May 4, according to the Labor Department, beating expectations. Job growth slowed in April and job openings fell to a three-year low in March, leading investors to expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates twice this year, compared with traders' previous expectation of just one cut.
Specific stock index performance: the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.85%, the S&P 500 rose 0.51%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.27%.
Asian stocks rose on Friday, May 10, and are on track for a third straight week of gains, while the dollar was on the back foot. The MSCI Asia Pacific stock index rose 0.66% and is on track to rise nearly 1% this week, achieving its third consecutive week of gains. Japan's Nikkei 225 rose 1.6%. Chinese blue-chip stocks rose 0.14%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose 1.4%, hitting an eight-month high in early trading.
Japanese consumer spending fell for the 13th straight month in March as households slowed again, posing a challenge for policymakers who want to see continued economic growth driven by strong wage increases and solid consumer spending. Real wage growth is a prerequisite for further rate hikes by the central bank.
Sterling was steady at $1.2515 after hitting a two-week low of $1.2446 on Thursday, after the Bank of England paved the way for rate cuts as early as next month. The euro held onto its 0.3% overnight gain against the dollar to trade at $1.0778 as expectations around U.S. interest rates continued to cause volatility in the dollar. The single currency was on track for a fourth straight week of gains against the dollar.
Markets will be closely watching next week's U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for April for signs that inflation has resumed its downward trend and is approaching the Federal Reserve's 2% target rate.
Traders currently expect the Fed to cut interest rates by 47 basis points this year, well below the 150 basis points they expected by early 2024.
As for commodities, oil prices rose, with U.S. crude up 0.63% at $79.76 a barrel and Brent crude up 0.54% at $84.33.
Spot gold rose 0.3% to $2,352.92 an ounce.
