Another multi-million dollar piece of digital land has changed hands as metaverse virtual real estate prices continue to skyrocket. The latest chunk of virtual property cost its new owners a staggering USD 2.3m worth of ethereum (ETH).
The official Axie Infinity site tweeted:
One crypto sector is defying an overall market correction with explosive rallies in six notable altcoins.
While Bitcoin (BTC) continues to struggle below the $60,000 level, altcoins pertaining to gaming and virtual reality are pulling off parabolic gains.
Virtual world blockchain Decentraland (MANA), which is the 31st largest crypto asset on the market, is currently up 38% in the last 24 hours, continuing its rapid growth that began late last month. At time of writing, MANA is up over 600% in the last 30 days.
Also turning heads is metaverse platform The Sandbox (SAND), which is currently up over 136% over the last 7 days, and 48% in the last 24 hours. SAND‘s gains come alongside a surprise announcement of a partnership with fashion giant Adidas.
The Ethereum-based play-to-earn platform Gala appears to be the most outperforming at time of writing. GALA is currently up over 300% in the last 7 days, and 26% in the last 24 hours. It’s exchanging hands at $0.47.
Joining the crypto gaming bull run is decentralized social gaming platform UFO Gaming (UFO). Built on the Ethereum network, the project has created a “Dark Metaverse” where users can create their own clans, own and trade virtual land, and earn crypto or non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
UFO is up 118% in the last 7 days, and 369% over the last 30. It is currently trading at $0.000053.
Decentralized NFT-focused gaming studio Illuvium (ILV), is outpacing most of the market as well. At time of writing, Illuvium’s ILV token is currently valued at $1,477.43, up 43% in the last week and 24% over the last day.
Finally, metaverse gaming launchpad Starlink (STARL) is joining in on the sector’s rapid growth. While STARL had been trending down for a week or so, it has since recovered its losses and is up 2% over the last week, but over 500% in the last 30 days.
Bitcoin and most major altcoins are struggling to find bullish momentum, a possible signal that prices could continue to erode.
Bitcoin (BTC) and most major altcoins continue to be pinned below their respective overhead resistances, indicating that bears are selling on rallies.
According to Ki Young Ju, CEO of on-chain analytics firm CryptoQuant, “whales are depositing Bitcoin to exchanges.” Curiously, the outflows from the exchanges have also continued and due to this, the reserves are still hovering close to their lowest levels since mid-2018.
In a somewhat contradictory report, Glassnode said that long-term holders may be “reducing their spending, and thus are more likely to be adding to positions, not exiting them.”
While Bitcoin has been in a corrective phase in dollar terms, it has proven to be a savior of purchasing power for Turkish investors. While the lira continues to lose value in 2021, Bitcoin in lira terms has regularly been hitting new all-time highs and it crossed 700,000 lira on Nov. 23.
Let’s study the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out whether it is time for a rebound or could the correction deepen further?
The bulls are attempting to arrest the correction near $55,000 but the bears are not willing to relent. Bitcoin’s relief rally on Nov. 23 turned down from $58,000, indicating that bears are attempting to flip this level into resistance.
The moving averages have completed a bearish crossover and the relative strength index (RSI) continues to languish in the negative territory, signaling that bears have the upper hand.
If the price slips below $55,317, the selling may intensify and the BTC/USDT pair could drop to the $52,500 to $50,000 support zone. The bulls are likely to defend this zone aggressively but the subsequent rebound may face selling at the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) ($60,084).
This negative view will invalidate if the price turns up from the current level and breaks above the downtrend line. The pair could then attempt to resume the uptrend.
Ether (ETH) rebounded from close to the neckline of the developing head and shoulders (H&S) pattern on Nov. 22. The rebound off the neckline reached the 20-day EMA ($4,337) on Nov. 23, which is acting as a strong resistance.
If the price turns down from the current level and breaks below the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) ($4,169), the bears will again attempt to pull the ETH/USDT pair below the neckline. If they succeed, it will complete the bearish pattern, which has a target objective of $3,047.
Conversely, if bulls push the price above the 20-day EMA and the resistance at $4,451, it will suggest that the selling pressure may be reducing. The pair will then attempt to rally to the overhead resistance zone at $4,772.01 to $4,868. A break and close above this zone will signal the resumption of the uptrend.
Binance Coin (BNB) turned down from $605.20 on Nov. 21 and dipped back below the 20-day EMA ($584). However, the bears could not take advantage of this weakness and sink the price to the 50-day SMA ($532).
This indicates that bulls are accumulating at lower levels. The buyers tried to clear the overhead hurdle on Nov. 23 but the bears again defended this level aggressively. The price is currently hovering near the 20-day EMA.
If the price turns up from the current level and breaks above $605.20, the BNB/USDT pair could attempt to challenge the resistance at $669.20. If this level is crossed, the pair could retest the all-time high at $691.80.
On the contrary, if the price sustains below the 20-day EMA, the bears will again try to pull the pair to the 50-day SMA. A break and close below this support could signal the start of a deeper correction.
Solana (SOL) broke below the 20-day EMA ($219) on Nov. 22. The bulls pushed the price back above this level on Nov. 23 but could not sustain the higher levels. This indicates that bears are defending the 20-day EMA.
The bears will now try to pull the price to the support line of the symmetrical triangle. This is an important level for the bulls to defend because a break below it could tilt the advantage in favor of the bears. The SOL/USDT pair could then start its downward move to $153 and later to $140.
Alternatively, if the price turns up and breaks above the resistance line, it will signal that bulls have the upper hand. The pair could then rally to the all-time high at $259.90 where the bears are expected to mount a stiff resistance.
Cardano (ADA) turned down from the 20-day EMA ($1.90) on Nov. 21 and the bears have pulled the price below the critical support at $1.70 on . If bears sustain the price below $1.70, the selling momentum may pick up.
The downsloping moving averages and the RSI near the oversold zone indicate that bears are in control. The ADA/USDT pair could now drop to the strong support at $1.50 where the buyers are expected to step in.
On the upside, the bulls will have to push and sustain the price above the 20-day EMA to indicate that the selling pressure may be reducing. The trend may turn in favor of the bulls on a break and close above the downtrend line.
Ripple (XRP) rebounded off the psychological support at $1 on Nov. 23 but the bulls have not been able to push the price to the 20-day EMA ($1.10). The shallow bounce indicates that bears continue to sell on every minor relief rally.
The bears will once again try to sink and sustain the price below the strong support at $1. If they manage to do that, the selling could accelerate and the XRP/USDT pair could drop to the critical support at $0.85.
The downsloping 20-day EMA and the RSI in the negative zone suggest that the path of least resistance is to the downside. This negative view will invalidate if the price rises and breaks above the 50-day SMA ($1.12). That could open the doors for a possible rally to $1.24.
Polkadot (DOT) rebounded off the uptrend line on Nov. 23 but the bulls could not sustain the higher levels. The price has again turned down and dropped to the uptrend line.
The frequent retest of a support level tends to weaken it. The moving averages have completed a bearish crossover and the RSI is below 40, indicating that bears are in command.
If the price breaks and closes below $37.53, the DOT/USDT pair will complete a bearish H&S pattern. The pair could then start a deeper correction toward $26.
Conversely, if the price rebounds off the current level, the bulls will make one more attempt to overcome the barrier at $43.56. If they can pull it off, it will signal that the sellers may be losing their grip.
Dogecoin (DOGE) bounced off the critical support at $0.21 on Nov. 23 but the long wick on the day’s candlestick suggests that bears continue to sell near the downtrend line.
The DOGE/USDT pair broke below the $0.21 support on Nov. 24 and the bears will now attempt to pull the price to the critical support at $0.19. This is an important support for the bulls to defend because if it cracks, the pair could plummet to $0.15.
The downsloping 20-day EMA ($0.24) and the RSI below 37 indicate that bears have the upper hand. The first sign of strength will be a break and close above the downtrend line. That will indicate a possible comeback by the bulls.
The bulls failed to push Avalanche (AVAX) above the all-time high at $147 on Nov. 22, indicating that bears are aggressively defending the overhead resistance. This may have prompted profit-booking from the short-term traders.
The AVAX/USDT pair has started a correction that could find strong support in the zone between the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $112.63 and the 20-day EMA ($103).
If the price rebounds off this zone, it will suggest that sentiment remains positive and traders are buying on dips. The bulls will then make one more attempt to push the pair above the all-time high and resume the uptrend.
Alternatively, a break and close below the 20-day EMA will signal that supply exceeds demand. The pair could then drop to the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at $91.39.
Crypto.com Coin (CRO) has been in a strong uptrend for the past few days. The vertical rally has pushed the RSI close to 90, indicating that the rally is overheated in the short term. This could result in a minor correction or consolidation for a few days.
The up-move may witness profit-booking near the psychologically important barrier at $1. If that happens, the CRO/USDT pair could start a correction. The first major support on the downside is the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement level at $0.73.
Generally, vertical rallies are followed by sharp declines. If the price breaks below $0.73, the correction may extend to the 61.8% retracement level at $0.59. Conversely, if the price bounces off $0.73, the bulls will make one more attempt to resume the uptrend.
The attack is the latest in a long string of exploits targeting users on Discord with fake “stealth” NFT drops.
Hong Kong-based gaming and venture capital company Animoca Brands and subsidiary Blowfish Studios have promised users that they will repay 265 ETH (US$1.1 million) stolen in a fraudulent nonfungible token (NFT) sale on D`iscord.
The fraudulent minting event occurred at approximately 3 AM AEDT on Nov 19 on the Phantom Galaxies Discord server. It saw 1,571 fake minting transactions over the course of about three hours.
Phantom Galaxies is an upcoming Australian game being developed by Blowfish Studios. The Phantom Galaxies Discord server has 94,000 members.
In an increasingly common occurrence on Discord, hackers gained control of the official Phantom Galaxies server by using a malware bot that compromised the Admin account’s two-factor authentication. Once in control of the Discord server, the hackers banned all staff, advisor, and community moderator accounts.
The hackers then began posting announcements, claiming that the game was launching an immediate surprise “stealth” NFT minting event. Users were directed to a fraudulent “Phantom Galaxies NFT minting platform,” which charged users a 0.1 ETH “minting fee.”
Chairman of Animoca Brands Yat Siu warned followers about the fraudulent NFT drop in a tweet at around 4AM AEDT Nov. 19.
At 5:22AM he posted another tweet, saying that affected customers will be “appropriately compensated.” This has since been confirmed in a Nov. 24 release from Animoca, which stated that details regarding compensation will be announced shortly.
“Woodz,” a Californian project manager for an upcoming NFT project called Terra Obscura lost $1000 USD to this attack. They told Cointelegraph they realized they’d been scammed shortly after ‘minting’ two non-existent NFTs:
“As I was doing it, it seemed a bit off. The gas was unusually low and the contract looked different. I knew something was wrong but not sure what.”
Woodz added they “don’t normally just click links,” but fell into the hacker’s trap because of the way the announcement was positioned inside the official announcement channel.
The attack on Phantom Galaxies comes after a similar recent attack on Nov. 11 involving famed NFT artist, Beeple. Users thought they were signing up for a very affordable NFT drop, timed to coincide with his second Christie’s auction.
The perpetrator impersonated one of the channel admins and the Beeple Announcements Bot to promote a fake NFT drop from Beeple on Nifty Gateway. Beeple has since removed links to the Discord from his Twitter profile, and other links to the server no longer appear not to work.
According to an Oct. 21 report by cyber security company RiskIQ, Discord is becoming an increasingly popular platform for cybercriminals. RiskIQ researchers uncovered 27 unique malware types hosted on Discord’s CDN servers.
In April, Talos Intelligence similarly found that hackers were increasingly using platforms like Discord to take advantage of users who were at home due to global COVID-19 restrictions.
“Attackers are leveraging collaboration platforms, such as Discord and Slack, to stay under the radar and evade organizational defenses,” it wrote at the time.
Bitcoin is struggling to recover above $57,500 against the US Dollar. BTC is declining and could accelerate lower below $55,000 in the near term.
Bitcoin price attempted another upside break above the $58,000 resistance zone. However, BTC failed to gain strength for a clear move above the $57,500 and $58,000 levels.
A high was formed near $57,850 and the price started a fresh decline. There was a break below the $57,500 and $57,200 levels. The bears pushed the price below the 50% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $55,362 swing low to $57,850 high.
Bitcoin is now trading below $57,500 and the 100 hourly simple moving average. There is also a crucial bearish trend line forming with resistance near $57,300 on the hourly chart of the BTC/USD pair.
An immediate support is near the $56,300 level. It is close to the 61.8% Fib retracement level of the upward move from the $55,362 swing low to $57,850 high. The first major support is now forming near the $56,000 level. The main breakdown support is still near the $55,500 level.
Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com
A downside break below the $55,500 level could spark more losses. In the stated case, the price might even decline below the $55,000 level. The next major support could be near the $53,200 level.
If bitcoin stays above the $55,500 support, it could attempt a fresh recovery wave. On the upside, an initial resistance is near the $57,000 level.
The first key resistance is near the $57,500 level and the trend line zone. The next major resistance sits near the $57,850 level and the 100 hourly simple moving average, above which the price might rise towards the $59,200 level.
Technical indicators:
Hourly MACD – The MACD is now gaining pace in the bearish zone.
Hourly RSI (Relative Strength Index) – The RSI for BTC/USD is below the 50 level.
Major Support Levels – $56,000, followed by $55,500.
Major Resistance Levels – $57,200, $57,500 and $58,000.
Cardano has been making important changes to its blockchain since the launch of smart contracts capability. This had brought with it an increased usage and thus needed to be more scalable to accommodate this increase. Since the launch in September, there have been a number of improvements to the network and the latest is the increase in the block size.
Cardano, in a recent blog post, announced that they were increasing block size by 12.5% to make room for the increased traffic that is expected on the network. The 8KB increase will see the total block size now at 72KB and will allow more transactions to be fitted in a single block. This will allow more transactions to be processed per second, greater data throughput, in turn providing greater capacity for its users.
Keep in mind that a year ago, Cardano only averaged 10,000 transactions per day. Now, a year later, this number has risen significantly to more than 200,000 and climbing. A 12.5% increase in block size may not seem large by the average margin but is important to accommodate for this increased usage.
ADA drops to $1.77 | Source: ADAUSD on TradingView.com
Another factor that warrants the increase in block size is the anticipation of DApps that are expected to launch on the blockchain soon. Since Cardano already has smart contracts capability, it is only a matter of time until developers begin deploying their apps. This anticipated rise in traffic has made increasing block size important for the network.
Block size was not the only thing that got a boost. Cardano also increased Plutus script memory units by transaction. In another 12.5% expansion, the Plutus script memory units per transaction is now 11.25 million.
In the blog post, John Woods, Director of Cardano Architecture, explained that this change was brought about due to growing demand from developers. It will help developers in their journey as they test and deploy their DApps on Cardano.
“An increase in Plutus memory limits means that they can develop more sophisticated Plutus scripts, or that existing scripts will be able to process more data items, increase concurrency, or otherwise expand their capabilities.”
Woods notes that this is only a first in a series of changes that will take place to expand the real-world capabilities of Plutus scripts.
The changes in block size and Plutus script memory units by transactions will be implemented slowly. Cardano has adopted a ‘slow and steady’ mechanism going forward with the changes. Although this may look to be moving too slow for some, a 12.5% increase shows that the developer is not rushing to make changes that would adversely affect the network.
Bitcoin has surged to a record high of $68,999 on numerous exchanges as global fears mount around the inflation of the US Dollar.
It was revealed today that US inflation had hit 6.2%, which was the highest it has been since 1990.
This caused an instantaneous flurry of buy orders across all cryptocurrency markets, as Bitcoin broke above the $67,000 level of resistance with consummate ease.
At the time of writing it is trading at $68,550 as speculators begin to mull over the prospect of Bitcoin hitting a stunning $100,00 valuation before the end of the year.
However, as levels of euphoria and optimism begin to peak, it’s worth noting that Bitcoin is reaching its all-time high in terms of open interest, which is a result of increased amount of leverage entering the market.
Open interest typically gets flushed when there is an uneven ratio on either side in what is often called a “long squeeze” or “short squeeze”.
From a technical perspective, Bitcoin has several levels of support at $63,000, $59,500 and $56,400, all of which may need to be tested before an eventual move to $100,000 comes to fruition.
In order to reinforce the bullish narrative around Bitcoin, it needs to avoid a weekly close below $63,000 as that would stifle the momentum established this week.
Understanding the available data and current standings for different types of liquid DOT among the most advanced DeFi projects on Polkadot.
A crowd loan is a Polkadot (DOT) crowdsourcing event in Polkadot that allows the community to support project bids in upcoming parachain slot auctions. Users contribute DOT, receive rewards in project tokens and get their DOT back in two years (a standard slot lease duration). This mechanic helps projects raise substantial capital in DOT tokens that may even exceed a few hundred million in dollar notion value.
The obvious downside for users is the need to lock their DOT for two years where they don’t have access to their liquidity during this lockup period.
In mainstream finance, there are private companies and initial public offering (IPO) lockup agreements. The lockup agreements prohibit company insiders — including employees, their friends, family and venture capitalists — from selling their shares for a set period of time. These shares are “locked up” to ensure that their owners don’t enter the public market too soon after the public offering.
To work around restrictions on lockup stocks, people could enter arrangements where they lock in their gains or even get some money in advance toward the day they can sell their holdings. Corporate lawyers started prohibiting these arrangements because they would create unnecessary market pressure and, in some cases, introduce the legal risks that lockups intend to avoid.
Fortunately, this scrutiny has nothing to do with the blockchain realm that is not restricted by the concerns of private lawyers. We may very well create claim rights on the locked assets by issuing a special type of derivative tokens that represent these rights on the underlying principal assets.
Derivative tokens are usually minted at a 1-to-1 ratio for the locked tokens. They can be issued by a liquid staking provider if users send initial assets to their custodian address or the target staking protocol may send derivative tokens directly to every depositor to simplify accounting. The latter mechanism is widely used in Ethereum-based automated market makers (AMMs) and pooled lending protocols that issue liquidity pool tokens — e.g., AAVE, Compound, or Curve.
In any case, there is always a clear arbitrage between the market and the eventual custodian. Every user can claim underlying at some point by submitting derivative tokens back to the staking protocol. If the arbitrage is immediate, the ratio between derivative tokens and locked assets nears 1-to-1. Otherwise, it may deviate depending on how fast the underlying can be unlocked.
This concept opens up an emergent market for many decentralized finance (DeFi) projects. You may already see quite a few of them bringing liquidity for various types of collateral, active stakes in proof-of-stake (PoS) protocols and other non-fluid assets. For instance, Lido has absorbed over $6.7 billion worth Ether (ETH) staked in Ethereum 2.0 (which is almost 19% of all ETH staked in Ethereum 2.0 deposit contract). Marinade Finance managed to get over $1.6 billion worth of Solana’s SOL locked via its protocol on Solana.
The success of liquid staking providers is highly dependent on the potential size of locked assets and the activeness of investors they target.
The design of Polkadot crowdloans quite naturally marries with liquid staking too. The anticipated volume of liquidity to be locked in crowdloans may reach 20% of the DOT supply (which comes to an impressive eight billion U.S. dollars). Secondly, crowdloan participants are usually the most active investors who always look for maximizing their gains. Liquid staking seems to be an attractive opportunity for them.
Certainly, the most advanced DeFi teams of Polkadot are already leveraging this use case. Each of them has introduced its version of liquid DOT that is minted on their chains at a 1-to-1 ratio for initial DOT locked via their platforms. This is what these projects are currently offering for their users:
Liquid staking is pretty much an excellent opportunity for Polkadot-based DeFi projects to boost their total value locked (TVL) significantly from the get-go. Liquid DOT will be the liquidity that sticks with them for the whole parachain lease period of two years.
Major market players could not miss this opportunity as well. For instance, there is a liquid DOT introduced by Binance, called BDOT, and the exchange plans to make use of that liquidity both in trading and speculation. But, we will be considering only liquid staking by ecosystem projects, so Binance USD (BUSD) and wrappers on other exchanges will be out of our today’s scope.
Before we delve into the actual mechanics behind each setup, let’s consider some numbers we’ve gathered as of November 15 at 9:00 pm UTC:
As we can see, definite leaders here are Parallel and Acala. Acala handles this huge amount thanks to its primary positioning as a top project in the ecosystem. Parallel managed to get a good head start by offering to DOT contributors bonuses in Parallel’s native token PARA, as well as special bonuses from supported projects.
Equilibrium has also announced additional bonuses in its native token EQ on every DOT locked via its xDOT platform. Besides bonuses, the project has launched a referral program that allows earning EQ on every stake to xDOT via referral links.
As such, crowd loan investors can enjoy an exclusive opportunity to earn regular crowd loan rewards while keeping their DOT liquid and get extra rewards from liquid staking on top. Seems like these pleasant additional benefits may even increase over time as competition between liquid staking providers is heating up.
Now that we looked at the landscape, let’s have a look at each project in greater detail.
Users will contribute DOT using Acala’s Liquid Crowdloan DOT (lcDOT) option in Acala’s crowd loan. Contributions go to the Acala proxy account managed by the Acala Foundation. Users receive 1 lcDOT for every 1 DOT locked. Users will also receive Acala’s native tokens (ACA), though it’s not clear if those will be attributed to initial DOT contributors or lcDOT holders. For now, lcDOT supports contributions only for one project, Acala.
lcDOT can be used as collateral for minting the Acala dollar decentralized stablecoin (aUSD). Also, it will likely be listed on their Uniswap-like AMM for pairs with DOT and Liquid DOT (LDOT).
At first, Acala will be collecting DOT on a proxy account controlled by a multisignature wallet from the Acala Foundation. When the Acala parachain is live, the ownership of the proxy account will be transferred from the multisig to the Acala parachain account that is fully trustless and controlled by Acala’s on-chain governance.
Despite a substantial 80%+ share of whales and institutions, that confirms the Pareto rule once again, we see an impressive number of contributions from retail users. Furthermore, there is no other option to contribute to Alcala’s crowd loan on its website, rather than lcDOT. Given the outrageous 27 million DOT collected during its crowd loan, this retail activity is quite expectable.
Users will contribute DOT using Parallel’s cDOT mechanics. Parallel supports multiple projects and offers extra bonuses both in PARA tokens and from their “partner” projects to users participating in crowdloans via cDOT.
Parallel’s cDOT tokens will be launched when Parallel secures a parachain slot. These tokens will be used inside Parallel’s DeFi system as collateral to borrow stuff or as a lending asset on their compound-like money market protocol.
The technical setup is similar to all of the above where initially, there will be a multisig custody of user contributions that will vote for other projects collectively. There is no open information on the multisig participants at the time of writing.
It is quite predictable that most of DOT are staked for Parallel. Their website doesn’t offer any other options to participate in their crowdloan but cDOT.
It remains unclear how Parallel is going to support Moonbeam crowdloan purely from a technical perspective, as Moonbeam’s parachain doesn’t include a multisignature pallet for now. It may be even impossible to distribute Moonbeam’s crowdloan rewards in GLMR, Moonbeam native token, that will arrive at Parallel’s address managed under multisignature permissions. Despite that, the amount of DOT they collected for Moonbeam is impressive.
Interestingly enough, the picture is very similar to Acala’s. Parallel even has one single mega-contribution of 1.5 million DOT from a single address that pledged DOT for Astar, Clover, Moonbeam and Parallel.
Users will contribute DOT using Bifrost’s SALP protocol. SALP supports several projects which are technically suitable for handling multisig transactions. Bifrost offers its users two types of tokens: vsBond and vsToken. vsBonds are tied to particular projects and allow to collect crowd loan rewards.
They are tradeable on the “buy-in-price” pending orders exchange. vsTokens, on the other hand, are not tied to any particular project and allow users to redeem DOT at the end of the lease period when combined with corresponding vsBonds. vsTokens trade in a Bancor and 1-to-1 peg pool at maturity. vsBond and vsTokens may also be used inside Bifrost’s DeFi ecosystem.
Technically, the solution is similar to Acala’s. Initially, until Bifrost is not a parachain, they will use a multisig address controlled by Bifrost. After the project wins a parachain slot, the multisig control will be passed over to the parachain account. A prerequisite for that is the flawless functioning of Polkadot’s XCM protocol.
Astar is the clear beneficiary here specifically thanks to the single fat stake of 300,000 DOT. This money comes from DFG, a venture capitalist (VC) firm that contributed to Astar’s crowd loan via Bifrost’s liquid DOT solution.
Similar to Acala and Parallel, the Pareto rule perfectly works here as well, as the share of institutions hovers around 80% of the total DOT stake. Though in the Bifrost case, whales largely dominate over retail and average investors compared to the first two projects.
Users contribute DOT via Equilibrium using its xDOT. Equilibrium supports projects that are technically capable of handling multisig transactions. Equilibrium also reportedly offers Ledger support for users who will contribute to Equilibrium via the xDOT platform.
There will be one xDOT token for different projects available while Equilibrium will be handling xDOT and project tokens separately. Equilibrium will price xDOT on a special purpose-yield AMM and promises to issue these tokens first in Genshiro (their Kusama-based canary network). Then, xDOT will be launched in Equilibrium once the project obtains a parchain slot on Polkadot. xDOT use cases on Genshiro include borrowing, lending and using them as margin to trade.
Equilibrium’s technical solution uses a multisignature wallet as well. It’s noteworthy that keys of this multisig are held by known VCs including Signum Capital, DFG, Genesis Block Ventures and PNYX.
It is quite expectable that the stake for Equilibrium as an xDOT originator overtakes most others. Like in Bifrost, Astar keeps a leading position and this most likely testifies the efficiency of Astar’s business development efforts and its partnership bonuses.
Opposed to Bifrost, the activity of retail users in xDOT prevails over other groups of investors. The project has yet to onboard as many institutions, based on the numbers above. However, Equilibrium’s bonus program that accrues extra EQ tokens on DOT contributed via xDOT may become quite attractive to large stakeholders.
Now that we’ve looked into each project in greater detail, we might still want to clarify some other questions. The first natural one is what additional utility projects are offered on their liquid DOT, as users may essentially want to do something with their liquidity. Otherwise, what’s the real use of it?
This largely depends on the feature set of the underlying projects. Another aspect is how fast they will be able to interconnect with other projects that might be willing to support those tokens. We can judge initial use cases on a project-by-project basis from the information we acquired above.
It looks like there are potential use cases for liquid DOT, and its further acceptance across the ecosystem will largely depend on the success of business development efforts. The one who manages to persuade other ecosystem participants to use their liquid DOT will benefit the most in the long run.
The next question is related to the redistribution of bonuses. If users contribute via liquid DOT mechanics, will they be entitled to the bonuses projects offer for “classical” trustless contributions?
There is not much info circulating about this right now, but from what we know, Acala will offer all of the bonuses it offers to its regular participants. Parallel has talked at least with two projects to offer extra crowd loan bonuses while Equilibrium and Bifrost will most likely be able to support the common bonus structure of crowd loans. However, this can drastically change further as nothing prevents Equilibrium or Bifrost from making similar arrangements with projects running their campaigns.
Last but not least, how secure is the technical setup? Given the number of hacks in DeFi, this question becomes crucially important.
The approach here is similar across the board: a custodian address for DOT managed under multisignature permissions at the start. And, it’s a reasonable solution, as multisigs have become a golden industry standard for secure asset storage. Once the project issuing liquid DOT becomes a parachain, the setup will become fully trustless.
Liquid DOT is a beautiful mechanism to unleash the liquidity of locked-up DOT that has attracted the attention of multiple projects in the ecosystem. However, all of them offer somewhat similar technical solutions.
The extent to which these different liquid DOT variations (lcDOT, cDOT, vsBond, or xDOT) will successfully mature largely depends on the business strategies those projects will undergo and how much utility they can provide to their DOT derivatives.
Bitcoin and most major altcoins have turned down from their respective overhead resistance levels, indicating that the short-term sentiment has turned negative.
Bitcoin (BTC) continues to be pinned down below $60,000, indicating that higher levels are attracting selling from traders.
The S&P 500 made a new all-time high on Nov. 22 due to reports that United States President Joe Biden had renominated Jerome Powell to serve a second term as the Federal Reserve chair. This news also boosted the U.S. dollar currency index (DXY) to its highest level since July 2020.
Usually, sharp gains in the DXY are inversely correlated with Bitcoin and the same can be seen in November of this year as well. While the DXY is up about 2.3% in November, Bitcoin is down roughly 5.5% during the same period.
Independent market analyst, TechDev, said Bitcoin’s performance in 2021 is following the price action of 2017 but with a lag of 5–8 days. If the correlation continues, the eagerly awaited blow-off top phase in Bitcoin is likely to occur.
Could the current fall be the final dip before the resumption of the uptrend or is the decline the start of a sharper correction? Let’s study the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.
Bitcoin’s recovery from $55,600 on Nov. 19 reached the 50-day simple moving average (SMA) ($60,350) on Nov. 20 but the bulls could not clear this hurdle. This indicates that bears are attempting to flip the 50-day SMA into resistance.
The moving averages are about to complete a bearish crossover and the relative strength index (RSI) is in the negative territory, suggesting that the path of least resistance is to the downside.
If the price turns down and breaks below $55,600, it will indicate the start of a deeper correction to the $52,500 to $50,000 support zone.
This negative view will invalidate if the price turns up from the current level and breaks above the downtrend line. Such a move will indicate that the correction may be over.
The BTC/USDT pair could then start its northward march toward the overhead resistance zone at $67,000 to $69,000.
Ether’s (ETH) relief rally from the Nov. 18 intraday low at $3,956.44 rose above the 20-day exponential moving average (EMA) ($4,364) on Nov. 20 but the bulls could not sustain the higher levels. The bears pulled the price back below the 20-day EMA on Nov. 21.
The ETH/USDT pair dropped to the 50-day SMA ($4,240) on Nov. 22 but the long tail on the candlestick indicates that bulls are defending this support. If buyers drive the price above $4,451, the pair could rally to the 61.80% Fibonacci retracement level at $4.519.78 and then to the 78.60% retracement level at $4,672.93.
On the contrary, if the price turns down from the current level, the bears will again try to sink the pair below the 50-day SMA. If they succeed, the pair could drop to $3,956.44. A break and close below this level will complete a head and shoulders pattern. The pair could then drop to $3,400 and eventually to the pattern target at $3,047.
Binance Coin (BNB) rebounded off the 50-day SMA ($526) on Nov. 19 but the bulls could not extend the relief rally above the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level at $602.40.
The bears pulled the price below the 20-day EMA ($585) on Nov. 22. If the price sustains below the 20-day EMA, the bears will make one more attempt to sink the BNB/USDT pair below the 50-day SMA. If they succeed, the pair could slide to $485.40.
Conversely, if the price turns up from the current level and breaks above $605.20, it will suggest that bulls are back in the game. The pair could then rally to the overhead resistance zone at $659.50 to $669.30.
The flattish 20-day EMA and the RSI near the midpoint do not give a clear advantage either to the bulls or the bears.
Solana’s (SOL) bounce off the 50-day SMA ($198) hit a strong hurdle at the downtrend line on Nov. 21, indicating that bears continue to sell on rallies.
The price action of the past few days has formed a symmetrical triangle pattern suggesting a balance between supply and demand. This equilibrium will shift in favor of the bulls on a break and close above the resistance line of the triangle. The SOL/USDT pair could then retest the all-time high at $259.90.
Alternatively, if the price sustains below the 20-day EMA, the pair could drop to the support line of the triangle. The bears will have to sink the price below this support to gain the upper hand. The pair could then drop to $153.
Cardano (ADA) rose above the breakdown level at $1.87 on Nov. 20 but the bulls could not push the price above the 20-day EMA ($1.95). This suggests that sentiment remains negative and traders are selling on rallies to the 20-day EMA.
The price dipped back below $1.87 on Nov. 21 and the bears will now attempt to sink the ADA/USDT pair below $1.70. If they manage to do that, the selling could intensify and the pair could drop to $1.50.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns up from the current level and breaks above the 20-day EMA, the pair could rally to the downtrend line. A break and close above this resistance will indicate that the correction may be over.
Ripple (XRP) rebounded off the strong support at $1 on Nov. 19 but the recovery attempt faded at $1.10, indicating that demand dries up at higher levels.
The downsloping 20-day EMA ($1.12) and the RSI in the negative territory indicate that bears have the upper hand. If the price breaks below $1, the selling could pick up momentum and the XRP/USDT pair could drop to $0.85.
Conversely, if the price rebounds off the current level and rises above the moving averages, it will indicate that bulls are aggressively defending the support at $1. The pair could then start its northward march toward $1.24.
Polkadot (DOT) rebounded off the uptrend line on Nov. 18 but the relief rally is facing resistance at the 50-day SMA ($42.96). This indicates that bears are attempting to flip the 50-day SMA into resistance.
The moving averages are close to completing a bearish crossover and the RSI is in the negative zone, indicating that bears are in control. If the price breaks and closes below the uptrend line, the DOT/USDT pair could drop to $32 and then to $29.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price turns up from the current level and breaks above the moving averages, it will suggest that bulls continue to buy on dips. The pair could then rally to the overhead resistance zone at $47.83 to $49.78.
The long wick on Avalanche’s (AVAX) Nov. 21 candlestick shows that traders booked profits near the 200% Fibonacci extension level at $146.18. Lower levels attracted buying and the bulls attempted to resume the uptrend on Nov. 22.
The buyers will have to push and sustain the price above $147 to signal the resumption of the uptrend. The AVAX/USDT pair could then rally to the 261.8% Fibonacci extension level at $175.58.
While the upsloping 20-day EMA ($100) suggests that bulls are in command, the RSI above 81 indicates that the rally may be overheated in the short term.
If the price turns down from $147, short-term traders may rush to the exit. That could pull the price down to $123. A break below this support could signal the start of a deeper correction to $110 and then to the 20-day EMA.
Dogecoin’s (DOGE) rebound off the strong support at $0.21 on Nov. 19 fizzled out at $0.23. This weak relief rally indicates that demand dries up at higher levels.
The downsloping 20-day EMA ($0.24) and the RSI in the negative territory indicate that bears have the upper hand. If sellers pull the price below $0.21, the DOGE/USDT pair could drop to the critical support at $0.19.
Contrary to this assumption, if the price again rebounds off the current level, the pair could rise to the downtrend line. The bulls will have to push and sustain the pair above this resistance to signal that the correction may be over.
SHIBA INU (SHIB) turned down from the 20-day EMA ($0.000049) on Nov. 20, indicating that the sentiment has turned negative and traders are selling on rallies to the overhead resistance levels.
The bears are attempting to sink the price below the 50-day SMA ($0.000043) and the 78.6% Fibonacci retracement level at $0.000040. If they manage to do that, the SHIB/USDT pair could plummet to $0.000027, completing a 100% retracement.
The downsloping 20-day EMA and the RSI in the negative zone indicate that bears have the upper hand. Contrary to this assumption, if the price rebounds off the current level, the bulls will try to push the pair above the 20-day EMA and start an up-move toward $0.000057.
People are looking for alternatives to Ethereum and Avalanche’s cheap and fast blockchain offers an enticing alternative.
Avalanche, a high-speed low-cost blockchain that wants to take on Ethereum, has made its way into the top ten coins by market capitalization.
The coin’s now worth $134.74 and has a market capitalization of $30.19 billion. It set its all-time high earlier today when it peaked at $146.22.
Avalanche rose to the top 10 position eight hours after Zhu Su, the CEO of Singaporean crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, tweeted that he had “abandoned Ethereum despite supporting it in the past”.
Three Arrows has invested heavily in Avalanche, similar to how Sino Global Capital and FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried invested in Solana, another Ethereum rival. Together with Polychain Capital, Three Arrows led a $230 million funding round in Avalanche in September.
“Ethereum has abandoned its users despite supporting them in the past. The idea of sitting around jerking off watching the burn and concocting purity tests, while zero newcomers can afford the chain, is gross,” he tweeted today.
“Users are livid that they’re promised a vision of the future, then told that they have to pay $100-1k per tx to enjoy it, and then get told some tales about how they should’ve been smart enough to buy ETH at $10,” he wrote. Su’s first tweet attracted 13,353 likes.
Zhu put his money behind his words when his firm moved about $78.35 million ETH to crypto exchange FTX. Often, people move funds to exchanges in order to sell them.
While it costs up to $100 and takes a few minutes to swap a coin on Ethereum-based decentralized exchange Uniswap, transaction fees on Avalanche usually cost under a dollar and settlement is near-instant.
To do this, Avalanche splits the work across three blockchains, known as X, C and P.
Avalanche’s C-Chain supports smart contracts, just like Ethereum, and decentralized finance protocols on the network currently handle some $12.5 billion, according to DeFi Llama. Ethereum’s DeFi protocols manage $174 billion.
While Avalanche still has a ways to go before it topples Ethereum, which currently has a market capitalization of $515 billion, it’s well on its way.
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