WhaleFin Weekly — ETH Outperforms BTC, Stablecoins Grow Stronger & More CBDCs

Read about the most recent trends and updates in the crypto industry.

Ethereum Outperformed Bitcoin 2X Over Past 4 years

• Data on the four-year Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for Ethereum and Bitcoin shows that Bitcoin recorded a CAGR of 34.1%. Over the same time period, Ethereum’s CAGR comes in at 66.3% (Glassnode).
• Bitcoin’s peak CAGR was in 2014, while Ethereum peaked on October 20, 2019.
• Compound Annual Growth Rate measures the rate of return for an investment — such as a mutual fund or bond — over an investment period, e.g., five or 10 years.

Source: Crypto Slate

Over 70% Of Bitcoin Millionaires Were Wiped Out Over Three Quarters in 2022

• The number of Bitcoin millionaires fell by 70.23% in the Q3 of 2022.
• This was primarily a result of the bearish price of Bitcoin.
• At the end of Q3 of 2022, the number of Bitcoin wallets with over $1 million totaled just 29,497. 4,102 of these wallets had a balance greater than $10 million (BitInfoCharts).

Source: Finbold

Ukraine, Indonesia, and Russia Led Crypto Adoption in Q3

• Ukraine, Indonesia, and Russia saw the highest rates of crypto user growth in Q3 of 2022
• Their level of crypto adoption rising by 143.17%, 115.59%, and 88.28%, respectively.
• The United States retained its position as the largest crypto market, and India claimed second place with an adoption rate increase of 10.40%.
• Indonesia moved from fifth to third place, with traffic surging by 115.59%.

Source: Crypto Potato, DappRadar

Terra Founder Do Kwon Faces New $57M Lawsuit

• Terraform Labs founder Do Kwon, along with the Luna Foundation Guard and Terra founding member Nicholas Platias, are facing a fresh $57 million class action suit from aggrieved investors in Singapore.
• The lawsuit was filed by 359 Terra investors in Singapore’s high court on September 23.
• They argue that Kwon, Platias, and the LFG made fraudulent claims regarding the ecosystem’s so-called algorithmic stablecoin, TerraUSD (UST).
• They argue it was not “stable by design” as stated, and unable to maintain its US Dollar peg.

Source: cryptonews.com

Meta’s Metaverse Losses Top $9.4 Billion for the Year

• Facebook’s parent company, Meta, reported that its metaverse division Reality Labs posted a $3.7 billion loss in Q3 of 2022.
• That brings Reality Labs’ year-to-date losses to $9.4 billion.

Source: Cryptonews.com

Doge and Shib Soar Ahead of Elon Musk’s Twitter Purchase

• Dogecoin and Shiba Inu soared ahead of the news that Elon Musk would finalise his purchase of Twitter last week.
• The acquisition of the company costed Musk $44 billion.

Source: The Block

Thailand Central Bank to Launch CBDC Pilot, Central Bank of Turkey to Launch a CBDC in 2023

• The Bank of Thailand is continuing to develop a CBDC but needs to “ensure it offers additional benefits to the financial system with good risk management.”
• Several commercial banks had also developed a retail CBDC. None of them had actually launched one yet, though.
• At the same time, Turkey’s Presidential Annual Program for 2023, presented on Monday by the Presidential Strategy and Budget Directorate, touched upon the creation of a central bank digital currency.

Source: Bitcoin.com, The Bangkok Post

Russia to Allow International Crypto Payments?

• A draft law designed to regulate the mining of digital coins in Russia would also legalize the use of cryptocurrencies in cross-border settlements.

Source: CoinDesk

UK Stablecoin Rules Receive Approval by Lawmaker Committee

• UK lawmakers recently agreed on new rules for stablecoins, and the government promised to consult on further crypto regulations and a digital Pound in the coming weeks.
• Lawmakers are now studying government proposals to regulate stablecoins.

Source: BeInCrypto

Thailand and Hungary Partner to Promote Blockchain Fintech

• The Thai Fintech Association and Hungary’s Blockchain Coalition have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to support the introduction of new technologies to their financial markets, including blockchain.

Source: Bitcoin.com

MakerDAO Votes to Custody $1.6 Billion in USDC With Coinbase

• Coinbase will store $1.6 billion worth of MakerDAO’s USD Coin (USDC) treasury with its institutional-grade service.
• The DAO will earn up to 1.5% rewards on the funds.

Source: Decrypt

Sushi DAO Agrees to Implement a New Corporate Legal Structure

• Sushi DAO will split its protocol governance and administration among three new entities.
• These entities, based in Panama and the Cayman Islands, will act as a new legal structure for the project.

Source: Coindesk

Compound Pauses YFI, ZRX, BAT, and MKR Supply to Protect Against Potential Exploits

• The DeFi app Compound has paused the supply of four prominent tokens to protect users against a potential market manipulation attack.
• This new type of exploit has seen over $100 million in stolen funds in October 2022 alone.
• Tokens 0x (ZRX), Yearn Finance (YFI), Basic Attention Token (BAT) and Maker (MKR) will no longer be lent to users on Compound v2, the protocol’s latest version.

Source: The Block

• Scammers Spread Fake Reddit NFTs on OpenSea
• Lucerne Festival (Switzerland)Launches its Debut NFT Collection
• Warner Bros’ DC Launched Collectible Superman Comic NFTs
• Madonna’s “Mother of Creation” NFT has Raised 309 ETH to Donate to Three Women’s and Children’s Charities
• New York Knicks Drop ‘New York Forever’ NFT Collection on Coinbase

Regulation for DeFi is Coming — SBF

• SBF, CEO of FTX, and Eric Voorhees, CEO of ShapeShift, discussed topics related to regulatory policy on a podcast hosted by Bankless.
• SBF stated that he is in favor of strengthening the supervision and scrutiny of stablecoins.
• The goal would be to effectively audit stablecoins to confirm that they are sufficiently backed by fiat or other assets.

Source: CoinDesk

TradFi Regulations Could Be Applied to Crypto— CFTC

• Cristy Goldsmith Romero, a commissioner at the CFTC stated:

“Crypto presents many similar financial stability risks as the traditional financial system.”

• According to Romero, we may just need clearer guidelines rather than an entirely new set of rules.
• In the meantime, more clarity from Congress is needed to outline which government agency should be responsible for regulating digital assets.

Source: CoinDesk

Bitcoin Could Rally to $63K— Matrixport

• According to the latest forecast from Markus Thielen, Head of Research and Strategy at Matrixport, it may be the right time to be greedy in the crypto market.
• He states that Bitcoin price could find relief and soar to $63,000 by March 2024.
• This prediction corresponds to the date at which Bitcoin is likely to undergo a mining reward halving — a mechanism that reduces the pace of supply expansion by 50% roughly every four years.

Source: ODaily

Smartphones will be Replaced by Metaverse Experiences in the Future — Nokia CTO

• Nishant Batra, Chief Strategy Officer and Chief Technology Officer of Nokia, said that the company believes smartphones will be replaced by metaverse experiences in the future.
• He looks forward to the development of the metaverse in 2030.

Source: Royals Blue

• BTC held above $20k this week, and the total crypto market cap was up by 8.25%.
• BTC continued to flow out of exchanges, while the stablecoin buying power increased. BTC supply held by long-term holders reached an ATH, weighing 72% of total BTC supply.
• On the macro side, after two quarters of negative growth, the US GDP increased by 2.6% in Q3, the highest since the Q4 of 2021. This positive news could indicate to the Fed (U.S. Federal Reserve System) that the economy is in good shape, and that they can keep up the pace future rate hikes. All eyes are on the Nov 2nd FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting.

Weekly High

• BTC: $21,085
• ETH: $1,665

Weekly Low

• BTC: $19,157
• ETH: $1,322

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