5 April 2024
Macro/TradFi
Spot BTC ETF flows were shaky at the start of the week, with ARKB even seeing more outflows than Grayscale for the first time ever. However, they improved as the week progressed, and recorded net inflows on every day except Monday.
Sony Bank, the banking arm of the Japanese conglomerate, has started a proof-of-concept to issue a fiat-pegged stablecoin on the Polygon blockchain.
Crypto
L1/L2:
The community-focused, Layer-3 network, Degen Chain, launched last week and became the first major L3 to enter the market. In terms of architecture, it is an Arbitrum Orbit chain which settles to Base and uses AnyTrust for data availability.
DeFi:
Ethena launched its $ENA token via airdrop. Ethena Labs airdropped 750M tokens (5% of supply) and is currently trading with a US$18.4B FDV.
Interoperability hub, Picasso Network, has launched their Ethereum to Cosmos IBC connection. This means that Ethereum users can now transfer assets and data natively to the Cosmos Hub, Polkadot, and Kusama via IBC.
Wormhole went live with their $W token airdrop. 617M tokens were airdropped to nearly 400K wallets, with the token currently trading at a US$11.5B FDV.
EigenLayer AVS, Gasp, has raised a US$5M round to further build out their cross-chain swap protocol.
Stablecoin:
Ripple has announced plans to launch a USD-pegged stablecoin. The coin will be “100% backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. government Treasuries, and other cash equivalents” and set to be launched later this year.
Agora has raised a US$12M seed round, with plans to issue their $AUSD stablecoin. Their reserve fund will be managed by VanEck and consist of cash, Treasury bills, and overnight repos.
Other:
Bitkraft Ventures, a games investor, has raised US$275M for their third gaming fund.
Ellipsis Labs, a crypto exchange developer, has raised a US$20M Series A round.
Planet Mojo, an Animoca-backed games studio, has closed a US$10.5M strategic funding round.
Gomble Games, a web3 gaming studio, has raised a US$10M funding round.
Zeus Network, a Solana interoperability layer, has raised a US$8M round at a US$100M valuation.
Web3 AI firm, Raiinmaker, has raised a US$7.5M seed round to build decentralized AI tools and web3 infrastructure to back sports, gaming, and entertainment projects.
Latest Binance Research Publications
Check out our latest publications:
Explore our Binance Research website for more project and macro research.
For more frequent market updates and insights, follow us on Twitter @BinanceResearch.
Have a minute? Please share with us any feedback you may have via this form.
That’s a wrap!
Binance Research
About Binance Research: Binance Research is the research arm of Binance, the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange. The team is committed to delivering objective, independent, and comprehensive analysis and aims to be the thought leader in the crypto space. Our analysts publish insightful thought pieces regularly on topics related but not limited to, the crypto ecosystem, blockchain technologies, and the latest market themes.
General Disclosure: This material is prepared by Binance Research and is not intended to be relied upon as a forecast or investment advice, and is not a recommendation, offer or solicitation to buy or sell any securities, cryptocurrencies or to adopt any investment strategy. The use of terminology and the views expressed are intended to promote understanding and the responsible development of the sector and should not be interpreted as definitive legal views or those of Binance. The opinions expressed are as of the date shown above and are the opinions of the writer, they may change as subsequent conditions vary. The information and opinions contained in this material are derived from proprietary and non-proprietary sources deemed by Binance Research to be reliable, are not necessarily all-inclusive and are not guaranteed as to accuracy. As such, no warranty of accuracy or reliability is given and no responsibility arising in any other way for errors and omissions (including responsibility to any person by reason of negligence) is accepted by Binance. This material may contain ’forward looking’ information that is not purely historical in nature. Such information may include, among other things, projections and forecasts. There is no guarantee that any forecasts made will come to pass. Reliance upon information in this material is at the sole discretion of the reader. This material is intended for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice or an offer or solicitation to purchase or sell in any securities, cryptocurrencies or any investment strategy nor shall any securities or cryptocurrency be offered or sold to any person in any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation, purchase or sale would be unlawful under the laws of such jurisdiction. Investment involves risks.