BTC Leads and Airdrops Make It Rain

GM, Anon! It appears that the market is on the rise once more. Could this signal that we're emerging from the recent downturn and heading towards new all-time highs? We certainly hope so! In the meantime, airdrops are in full swing, adding to the excitement in the crypto ecosystem across the board. Let’s dive in!

State Of the Market

Project Updates: Within the Ethereum ecosystem, some significant developments have emerged. Notably, the Ethereum experiment ERC404, blending NFTs and crypto, has gained considerable traction, boasting $87M in trading volume. 

• Additionally, prominent bots like BananaGunBot have integrated support for ERC404, signaling growing adoption. 

• Meanwhile, the Ethereum Dencun upgrade has gone live on Holesky, introducing "proto-danksharding" to enhance scalability and reduce transaction costs for layer-2 blockchains.

• In a bid to enhance scalability and explore new avenues for growth, the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) has expressed openness to constructing its layer 2 solutions. ENS director Khori Whittaker underscores the organization's commitment to intensive research and development efforts, with a particular focus on Optimism and other layer 2 solutions.

• Elsewhere in the DeFi space, dYdX has unveiled its ambitious 2024 product roadmap, centered on three core areas: permissionless market, core transaction enhancements, and UX/onboarding updates. This roadmap includes plans for instant liquidity through LP Vaults, scalable oracles, and the implementation of cross-margin and isolation margin features.

• EigenLayer has reopened uncapped restaking deposits, coinciding with a surge in market capitalization, while Dymension gears up for its imminent mainnet launch.

• On the accessibility front, MetaMask has expanded its functionality to allow users to purchase cryptocurrencies directly through Robinhood, aiming to streamline the crypto acquisition process for its users.

• In terms of innovative advancements, 0xngmi has introduced smolrefuel for gasless swaps, offering a convenient solution for users navigating gas fees. Additionally, Helium Mobile has been added to Coinbase Assets Roadmap.

• Frax has recently launched Fraxtal, its Layer 2 network, alongside various partner applications, marking a significant expansion in its ecosystem. Concurrently, Ondo Finance has broadened its offerings by introducing its US Treasury-backed stablecoin to the Sui blockchain. These developments highlight a growing trend of financial innovation and blockchain interoperability, with Frax enhancing its network capabilities and Ondo Finance leveraging new blockchain platforms to extend the reach of its stablecoin.

• However, not all news is positive, as Polygon Labs has announced a 19% reduction in its workforce, citing the need for "enhanced performance." Furthermore, the 3AC Founders-Backed Exchange OPNX is set to cease operations by February 14, marking the end of its tenure as a hybrid bankruptcy claims platform and crypto exchange.

Inflows & Outflows: Last week, digital asset investment products received significant inflows totaling $708M, bringing the year-to-date inflows to $1.6B and total global assets under management to $53B. 

• Bitcoin dominated the inflows, comprising 99% of all flows, with Solana also seeing notable inflows of $13M. 

• The focus remained on the US, with newly issued ETFs averaging $1.9B inflows over the last four weeks, totaling $7.7B since launch. 

• However, there were minor outflows from short-bitcoin products totaling $5.3M. 

• Despite this, trading volumes in ETPs fell compared to the prior week, but remained well above the average in 2023. 

• Regionally, the US saw $721M inflows, with significant reductions in momentum of outflows from incumbent issuers observed in recent weeks. 

• Additionally, blockchain equities experienced $147M outflows from one issuer, while other issuers saw $11M inflows.

In January, the crypto venture capital space saw a total of 113 publicly disclosed investment projects, marking a 10.8% increase from December 2023 and a 1.8% increase from January 2023. 

• Among various industries, DeFi accounted for approximately 19% of financing, while infrastructure projects constituted about 12%, NFT/GameFi and CeFi each represented around 12% and 6%, respectively, and L1/L2 made up roughly 4%. 

• The total fundraising amount for the month reached $650M, showcasing a 28.6% decrease from December 2023 but a 3.2% increase from January 2023. 

• Notable funding rounds included HashKey Group's Series A funding, Core Scientific's successful equity offering, Flowdesk's Series B round, and Sygnum's strategic financing round. 

• Other significant investments were made in projects like Portal, Polymer Labs, Ingonyama, Axiom, Kiln, and SkyArk Chronicles, illustrating the diverse range of initiatives garnering investor interest in the crypto space.

Airdrops

• This week, DYM, a token recently launched on Binance and subsequently listed on major exchanges like Kucoin and Bybit, has been the talk of the town as it continues to reach new highs. However, the project faced a hiccup during its mainnet launch due to a consensus issue with its primary validator, Chorus One.

• Stride has also garnered attention with its airdrop targeting Celestia stakers, demonstrating the strategic importance of engaging with active blockchain communities.

• Meanwhile, "Heroes of Mavia," a Binance-backed project, celebrated a milestone of 1M downloads with a significant airdrop, showcasing the impact of such campaigns on user acquisition in the gaming sector.

• Eigenlayer's decision to remove caps on its staking pools, coinciding with TVL surpassing $3B, has generated anticipation for the project's future, illustrating how airdrops can bolster visibility and attract liquidity. 

• Wormhole's surprise airdrop announcement came as surprise with the snapshot already having being taken.

• The recent rush to order the Solana phone underscores the growing interest in leveraging blockchain functionality in everyday devices, while the airdrops associated with owning the mobile device highlight a novel approach to incentivize adoption and loyalty among users.

• Degen stands out for its targeted approach to rewarding Farcaster users.

•  While the Pyth Network's second phase of token airdrops supports over 160 decentralized applications, signaling a commitment to ecosystem development. 

Bitcoin Daily

Bitcoin is currently in the process of trying to regain control over the trendline that was recently breached, a trendline that has been in place for the past three months.

Should Bitcoin successfully reclaim this trendline, it could pave the way for another upward movement towards the 48k level.

However, there is a high likelihood that Bitcoin might face rejection at this critical juncture, leading to a continuation of the ongoing downward trend.

In terms of potential correction targets, analysts have identified several key levels:

• T1: 36k, which corresponds to the 0.382 Fibonacci retracement level.

• T2: 33.5k, representing another crucial support level.

• T3: 31.8k, derived from previous market structure and serving as a significant area of interest for traders and investors alike.

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Top 4 Airdrops on SEI You Shouldn't Miss

Everything you need to know about farming airdrops on SEI is covered in this thread 🧵👇

SEI has experienced significant price growth in the last few months, evolving into a mature network with valuable protocols. We've shared detailed research on this matter; make sure to check it out before diving into the airdrop details.

By the way, bookmark the first tweet as you'll need it to check the thread a few times to be able to complete the tasks and receive the airdrops.

1. Starting with the first airdrop on SEI, $PALLET, which will be the @Pallet_Exchange token. Pallet Exchange is a leading NFT marketplace on SEI where you can earn points by buying NFTs.

• To participate, install Compass or Keplr wallet, and then send $SEI to your wallet address using CEXs. After depositing SEI, you can start farming $PALLET, buy different types of NFTs, and aim for high trading volume to earn more points. You can buy/sell the collections on Pallet easily. 

• Website: https://pallet.exchange/collections

• Check out the leaderboard and more details here:

https://pallet.exchange/leaderboard

2. @Kawafinance: One of the major DeFi protocols on SEI, an omnichain money market enabling users to borrow/lend assets and earn yields (currently only supporting SEI). Over $4.7 million has been supplied on Kawa, with $1.55 million borrowed.

• Website: https://beta.kawa.finance/ (The dapp is still in the beta phase)

• Start depositing and borrowing SEI to accumulate points.

  

3. @YakaFinance: A decentralised exchange (DEX) and Launchpad on SEI, dropping a token called $YAKA.

To participate:

• Go to (https://app.yaka.finance/#/airdrop) and connect your wallet.

• Click on Faucet.

• Switch your network to testnet.

• Make swaps and add liquidity.

• Create a referral link and refer friends for extra points.

4. @Silo_Stake: A liquid staking project on SEI allowing you to stake your SEI and receive iSEI.

• Increase your chance of receiving the airdrop by staking through their platform.

• Website: https://app.silostaking.io/

• This project is similar to JITO, an LSD project on SOL, which airdropped close to six figures to its early adopters.

Blue Chip and Majors Overview

Dymension (DYM)

Dimensions highly anticipated airdrop took place on Tuesday with the network’s mainnet going live. The airdrop saw Dymension distribute $390M  worth of DYM tokens among early users and select communities. What’s more, the DYM token surged in value following the launch of the mainnet. DYM has registered a staggering increase of 72% over the past 24 hours, according to data sourced from CoinGecko. The token is trading at an all-time high of $6.10, beating its previous all-time high of $6.08, set barely 24 hours earlier.

Solana (SOL) 

Solana has been in the news for two major reasons over the past week. The protocol’s active users hit an all-time high on the 31st of January, reaching 875,940 active users. This was the highest since the protocol’s inception in 2020. However, the other reason is nothing to cheer about, as Solana faced its first major outage of 2024, with the network going down for 5 hours. The freeze triggered a drop in the price of the SOL token, which dropped by 4% in the hours after the freeze. In the days leading up to the outage, SOL was trading above the $100 mark.

• Ethereum (ETH) - Ethereum jumped past $2400 as building bullish momentum took the asset past the $2380 zone. ETH’s recent gains can be credited to two major events, as it emerged that the supply of staked Ethereum tokens hit 25% on Thursday. This is a critical milestone for ETH as the staked supply represents ETH removed from circulation. The second catalyst is the amendment of spot Ethereum ETF filings by Ark Invest and 21 Shares, sparking anticipating of an imminent approval. However, the past 24 hours have seen the price remain unchanged, even as the Dencun upgrade went live on the Holesky testnet on Wednesday. ETH has been stuck between $2200 and $2400 since the 23rd of January. In fact, the token has registered an increase of just 1.0% over the past week.

• Monero (XMR) - Things have gone from bad to worse for Monero as the XMR token plummeted by around 30%, falling to a 20-month low after it emerged that Binance would be delisting the token from the 20th of February. Monero slumped to as low as $114 before falling further, dropping to $101.65, and recovering. Currently, XMR is trading at $133.

• Banana Gun (BANANA) - Banana Gun has seen considerable bullish activity over the past 30 days, registering a considerable increase. BANANA has seen an increase of almost 87% over the past 30 days, going from $8.60 to its current price of $17.10.

• Bittensor (TAO) - Following Vitalik Buterin’s comments, Bittensor (TAO) registered a considerable increase over the past month. TAO hit another all-time high on the 6th of February when it reached $516. However, the token’s price has dropped since, falling just over 9% in the past 24 hours. The TAO token is currently trading at $439.

• Jupiter (JUP) - Jupiter has seen a considerable slump since making its much-hyped debut of the JUP token through its airdrop. The token is currently trading at around the $0.55 mark, an increase of 6% over the past 24 hours. Make no mistake, interest in the JUP token is high, thanks to major strides being made by Jupiter in the DeFi sector.

• Pyth Network (PYTH) - Pyth Network recently kicked off the second phase of its airdrop, which will see PYTH tokens distributed to over 160 DeFi applications. The PYTH token has nearly doubled after bottoming in early January when the price hit $0.23. Since then, PYTH has reported an increase of 89% and is currently trading at around $0.49. However, some analysts have predicted that PYTH risks a 10% price correction.

• Ethereum Name Service (ENS) - The native token of the Ethereum Name Service, ENS, has been quite bullish over the past month, registering an increase of 55%. The token has been one to watch after its partnership with domain name registrar GoDaddy, which has had a positive impact on the price. The token is currently trading at $21.05.

• Stride (STRD) - Stride has made a series of major announcements over the past couple of weeks, such as its partnership with dYdX and the airdrop of 5M STRD tokens to stTIA holders. The token’s price has also been on the up since the beginning of February. In fact, STRD has gained over 75% over the past couple of days, and is currently trading just under $6.

• Pendle (PENDLE) - On the 2nd of February, Pendle was testing the resistance at $2.54, and it was predicted it could see a move to $3.19. This gave investors a sweet buying opportunity. That prediction came true on the 7th of February when PENDLE surged to its all-time high of $3.30. However, the price has since dropped, with the token down 7% over the past 24 hours and currently being traded at $2.91.

• OKT Chain (OKT) - The OKT Chain was last in the news in December 2023, when it surged by 80% in 24 hours due to heightened interest from the inaugural inscription-minting event hosted on the OKT chain. However, since then, the token has been on a downward trajectory, with its price more than halved since the heady days of December 2023. OKT token is currently trading at $16.44.

• Space ID (ID) - Space ID has seen a remarkable surge of over 80%, driven by the news of Upbit introducing a Korean won trading pair for the ID Coin. This has led to considerable optimism and investor interest, pushing the token’s price past $0.5. The surge in price can be attributed to the anticipated surge in demand from the Asian market following Upbit’s announcement.

Smart Money Movements

• We've observed a notable shift in smart money activity recently, transitioning from LBP Meta to ERC404 meta. Over the past week, smart money addresses have shown significant engagement with ERC404 tokens, particularly with $PANDORA leading the pack, attaining a market cap of $200M.

• $PANDORA currently stands as the favored token among smart money players, owing to its association with the ERC404 standard. This standard, although unofficial and experimental, aims to blend the attributes of fungible tokens and NFTs, garnering attention and adoption.

• Another interesting token within the ERC404 narrative is $MNRCH, which has caught the interest of numerous smart money addresses.

• In contrast, smart money has divested from $RSTK, a pioneering restaking protocol constructed on EigenLayer.

• Additionally, smart money activity has been detected in My Pet Hooligan NFTs, a gamefi project that gained traction following the launch of $KARRAT.

• Furthermore, noteworthy activity has been observed on Hyperliquid, with several smart money addresses interacting with it, likely in anticipation of an upcoming airdrop, contributing to heightened engagement and interest.