ALSO: Five CoinDesk journalists offer their takeaways from Consensus 2023. They found an industry still filled with optimism but also realistic about the challenges ahead, most notably, regulatory uncertainty. Source
Just over two weeks have passed since Ethereum’s Shapella upgrade on April 12, 2023, which occurred at block height 6,209,536, enabling stakers to withdraw for the first time. At the time of the upgrade, slightly over 8 million ethereum was locked into liquid staking protocols. Since then, over 400,000 ether, valued at $763 million, has been added to 17 liquid staking platforms. Ethereum Liquid Staking Platforms Continue to Swell As of today, April 30, 2023, the total value locked into liquid staking protocols such as Lido Finance, Coinbase’s Wrapped Staked…
The Ether (ETH) price has held above $1,820 for the past three weeks, despite facing a 13.7% correction between April 18-21. Still, analyzing a broader time frame provides a more constructive view, as ETH gained 20.8% in three months while the S&P 500 stock market index stood flat. However, according to ETH options and futures metrics, the gains were not enough to make professional investors bullish. Worsening macroeconomic conditions have driven cryptocurrencies’ positive momentum in 2023, including the ongoing banking crisis. According to Arthur Hayes, former CEO of crypto derivatives…
Through the first eight days after the upgrade, investors withdrew some 900,000 ETH in staking rewards. Meanwhile, staking deposits totaled some 667,000 tokens, which was six times larger than the amount deposited during the last eight days before allowing withdrawals. Source BringsETHEtherEthereumInflowRecordShanghaiStakingupgrade CryptoX Portal
The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was recently trading at around $27,350, down 0.4% in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. BTC dropped below $28,000 on Friday afternoon, part of a two-day slide that followed a week above $30,000. At one point, bitcoin was changing hands near $27,100. Source
The Ether (ETH) price has struggled to sustain the $1,850 support since April 21, the same level it held before the rally toward $2,100 initiated on April 13. Investors have reason to question whether there are buyers, considering the 13.5% price correction in six days and the $548 million in leveraged futures longs liquidated between April 19 and April 21. Firstly, the regulatory environment seems to have gotten stricter for centralized exchanges. Dubai-based Bybit, for instance, announced that all users must complete Know Your Customer (KYC) identity verification for order execution…
Crypto markets have been showing weakness in the past few days as concerns around sticky inflation, stock market earnings and looming recession have dragged prices lower, Edward Moya, senior market analyst of foreign exchange market maker Oanda, said Thursday on CoinDesk TV. Source
Ethereum’s highly anticipated tech update, often referred to as the Shanghai or Shapella upgrade, starting April 12 enabled withdrawals of some 18 million tokens, worth $35 billion, previously locked up in staking contracts. After the upgrade, ETH’s price rallied to $2,100, its highest level in 11 months, defying earlier concerns the unlocking could lead to significant selling pressure and a price crash. The token recently has dropped below $1,900, aligning with a broader crypto market decline. Source
Open interest in CME futures has risen to the highest level since March 2022, indicating an influx of institutional traders to the crypto market. Source
Over the course of the marathon hearing, Gensler fended off questions about whether his agency was pushing too hard on proposed rules, providing too little time for public feedback on these rules, how it was approaching crypto companies hoping to operate in the U.S. and a host of non-crypto questions, including proposed disclosure requirements around climate change and audit trails. Source