The Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) has fallen to a record discount of -60% as fears over liquidations mount.
The discount to net asset value (NAV) had been between -25% and -35% up until early November when FTX collapsed. It has since plummeted to its lowest-ever level this week.
The Ethereum Trust is the firm’s second-largest, with $3.7 billion in assets under management (AUM). It holds around 3 million ETH, which is about 2.5% of its total market capitalization.
The ETHE fund is down 69% over the past year, according to Grayscale, but it has gained 49% since its inception in December 2017.

Every Grayscale trust and their respective premium % pic.twitter.com/TYQf5FmeXt
— db (@tier10k) January 3, 2023

Grayscale Liquidation Fears Mount
The asset manager’s flagship

On Dec. 27, licensed trademark attorney Mike Kondoudis revealed the latest crypto trademark applications from Fidelity Investments.
There were three applications filed broadly covering Metaverse technologies and services, NFTs and marketplaces, virtual land, and cryptocurrency trading.
The first relates to digital media and NFTs, and the second is the provision for an online marketplace for the sale of NFTs.

#Fidelity has plans for the metaverse!
The company has filed 3 trademark applications covering▶️ NFTs + NFT Marketplaces▶️ Metaverse Investment Services▶️ Virtual Real Estate Investing▶️ Cryptocurrency Trading… and more!#NFTs #Metaverse #Crypto #Web3 #Defi #Finance pic.twitter.com/op9fg80e7z
— Mike Kondoudis (@KondoudisLaw) December 26, 2022

Crypto Trademarks Sought

In a market outlook report published on Dec. 20, Coinbase Institutional stated that the crypto winter will extend well into 2023, especially for altcoins.
Company analysts expect digital asset selection will transition towards “higher quality names” like Bitcoin and Ethereum. This is based on several factors, such as sustainable tokenomics, the maturity of respective ecosystems, and relative market liquidity.
They were not confident that altcoins would see much momentum next year.
“We think investors’ willingness to accumulate altcoins has been severely impacted by the deleveraging in 2022 and may take many months to fully recuperate.”

Required reading: Our institutional research team is out with their 2023 Crypto Market Outlook. We give our view on three key themes for

Crypto and Bitcoin markets are heading for a lull period if the on-chain activity is anything to go by. In its last weekly on-chain report for the year, analytics provider Glassnode reported that Bitcoin annualized realized volatility has been the lowest since October 2020.
The metric matches similar low volatility levels at the previous cycle bottom in late 2018.
Futures volumes are also severely depressed at multi-year lows, it stated, adding:
“This shows the massive impact of tightening liquidity, widespread deleveraging, and the impairment of many lending and trading desks in the space.”
The FTX implosion has doused the fires of futures markets, and open interest (OI) has slumped as a result. OI is a measure of the number of futures or options contracts that are held

Bitcoin and crypto markets are a full year into bear territory, and it has been about that time when the cycle bottom occurs.
During the previous bear market, it came in December 2018, a year after the Bitcoin price peak. This time around, BTC has fallen 75% from its peak a year ago, and bottom signals are mounting up.
On Dec. 6, Capriole Fund founder Charles Edwards took a deep dive into the on-chain data. He discovered that there were several signals suggesting it could be the best time to buy Bitcoin.

Bitcoin Bottom Signal Series.
A thread of on-chain signals which suggest the Bitcoin bottom is in, or very close. In my opinion, these are the most important on-chain metrics today. Based on Bitcoin’s 13 year history, they are telling me this is an extraordinary

On Nov. 13, the Kraken exchange announced that it has been in contact with law enforcement regarding the accounts held by the bankrupt FTX group.
It added that it had frozen any accounts linked to FTX, Alameda, and its executives to protect their creditors. Kraken said that its own clients are not affected, and the exchange maintains full reserves.
The exchange is ranked nineteenth largest by 24-hour volume, according to CoinGecko.

Kraken has spoken with law enforcement regarding a handful of accounts owned by the bankrupt FTX Group, Alameda Research and their executives. Those accounts have been frozen to protect their creditors.
Other Kraken clients are not affected. Kraken maintains full reserves.
— Kraken Exchange (@krakenfx) November 13, 2022

Several respondents to

The crypto contagion has continued this year, with FTX compounding matters this week. This has put the spotlight on transparency, especially for centralized crypto exchanges.
Data oracle provider Chainlink has been promoting its proof-of-reserve tools, which could solve the transparency issues currently plaguing the industry.
In a tweet on Nov. 11, the Chainlink team asked if crypto will continue to repeat the mistakes of the traditional black-box financial industry.

#Crypto is at a crossroads.
Will crypto continue to repeat the mistakes of the traditional black-box financial industry? Or will a better system emerge?
A better system is possible, & Proof of Reserve is one way #Chainlink is providing the transparency that users demand.
🧵👇
— Chainlink (@chainlink) November

On Oct. 26, crypto giant Binance announced Binance Oracle, a new service that will source, verify, and feed off-chain data to smart contracts running on the BNB Chain.
The company claims that the Oracles will provide a “more reliable, secure, and accurate data sourcing solution for smart contracts.”
The new service, which launches this month, will enable existing Web3 dApps and BNB Chain partners to access oracle data sources. The company confirmed that more than ten projects had already integrated with the Binance Oracle network.

New product: #Binance Oracle – Enriching the #BNB Chain Ecosystem.https://t.co/31tVtxMSa9
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) October 26, 2022

Competing With Chainlink?
Chainlink is currently the industry standard provider for decentralized data

On Oct. 27, Ripple released its Q3 Markets Report stating that its holdings of XRP have dropped below 50% for the first time.
The company proudly stated that it is becoming more decentralized contrary to what critics have claimed. It said the ownership of XRP is not an indicator that Ripple controls XRP Ledger (XRPL).
“The XRP Ledger (XRPL) uses Federated Byzantine Consensus to validate transactions, add new features and secure the network, which means that each validator node gets one vote regardless of how much XRP they own. Ripple currently operates 4 out of 130+ validator nodes on the XRPL.”
However, the fact remains that a centralized company still holds and controls half of the token supply, which amounts to around 50 billion XRP. In the third quarter, it released 3

On Oct. 27, the portfolio and asset manager published its “2022 Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study,” an annual report shedding light on the crypto industry from an institutional perspective.
The research revealed that the market is now well-positioned to weather the macroeconomic headwinds it has faced in recent months. Fidelity Digital Assets President, Tom Jessop, commented:
“We believe that digital assets fundamentals remain strong and that the institutionalization of the market over the past several years has positioned it to weather recent events.”

The results are in! The Fidelity Digital Assets 2022 Institutional Investor Digital Assets Study reveals new insights into investor perceptions and adoption of digital assets across the U.S., Europe, and Asia:

On Oct. 20, Oanda announced cryptocurrency trading services for its American market designed to give investors easy access to crypto alongside their existing forex portfolios.
It is the latest traditional finance company to enter the crypto space. However, the move comes in the depths of a bear market when demand is low.
The technology has been developed in partnership with the Paxos Trust Foundation, a regulated blockchain infrastructure firm.

Crypto trading now available through OANDA! 🙌
Find out more about the benefits of trading cryptocurrency with OANDA ➡️ https://t.co/Qlfvukz7lp#OANDA #SmarterTrading #Crypto pic.twitter.com/ReIdEUyS8S
— OANDA (@OANDA) October 20, 2022

Institutional Interest
U.S. customers will now be able to trade crypto through the Paxos itBit

The minable version of Ethereum has garnered a lot of attention since it spawned as a hard fork this time last month. In a move remnant to the 2017 genesis of Bitcoin Cash (BCH) from its big brother, EthereumPoW may have started another fork war between proponents of each respected network.
The fork was spawned by former Ethereum miner and ICO investor Chandler Guo, who tweeted on Oct. 14 that more than 100 projects have been launched on the network in just a month.

now more than 100 project at ethw in one month https://t.co/hzArydXQR7
— Chandler Guo (@ChandlerGuo) October 13, 2022

Hunger for mining chains
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has tried to push Ethereum Classic as the network for miners, but Guo maintains that it has no ecosystem. The early support by

Defying a trend of decreasing NFT sales, award-winning actor Sir Anthony Hopkins has sold out his debut collection, “The Eternal Collection,” in just seven minutes.
The record sale was announced by NFT design agency Orange Comet Inc. on Oct. 14. The firm, which worked with the octogenarian actor on the digital artwork, claimed that it was the fastest sellout in OpenSea history.
The collection was originally announced in mid-August to celebrate the actor’s long and diverse career.

THE ETERNAL COLLECTION SOLD OUT IN LESS THAN 7 MINUTES 🎭
THE FASTEST SELL OUT IN @opensea HISTORY 😮‍💨
Thank you @AnthonyHopkins✌🏽 pic.twitter.com/KYH0T1hXeu
— Orange Comet (@OrangeCometNFT) October 13, 2022

Gone in Seven Seconds
The Eternal Collection features 1,000 unique images and animations

Company founders Ola Muse and Karthik Kalyanaraman left Coinbase in August. It only took them two months to raise and close the seed round, which was led by Redpoint Ventures with participation from Mysten Labs and Howard University.
Their firm, Scale3, is an infrastructure startup that focuses on supporting blockchain node operators. Node operation is a complex process that needs highly technical support and rapid response when problems arise.
As the Web 3 infrastructure expands, constant node monitoring and support will be necessary, a niche that this company aims to fill, according to the announcement.

1/ Hello world! We’re a web3 infrastructure company building developer tools. We’re excited to announce (a) our first product – Autopilot, a platform to monitor and

When stablecoins are sent to exchanges in large quantities, it is usually a signal that institutions are preparing to buy. It has not happened yet, as stablecoins such as USDC have been leaving exchanges as the bear market deepens.
On Oct. 8, CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju observed that 94% of the USDC supply is off exchanges, and a large portion of it is held by traditional finance institutions.
“The next Bitcoin parabolic bull run might begin when massive USDC flows into exchanges,” he noted.

The next #Bitcoin parabolic bull run might begin when massive $USDC flows into exchanges.
For now, 94% of the USDC supply is outside exchanges, some of which are owned by TradFis like BlackRock, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, etc.
They’ll move when they get orders from their clients.

A SEGA licensed digital collectible card game, being developed and operated by Japanese blockchain game developer double jump.tokyo, is expected to be released on the Oasys HOME verse L2 network.
According to the Sept. 27 announcement, the theme of the Web3 trading card game is derived from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms mythology. It uses the intellectual property of the SANGOKUSHI TAISEN franchise, which was originally published by Tokyo-headquartered SEGA back in 2005. The strategy arcade game was extremely popular in Asia at the time.

We are excited to announce officially @oasys_games was chosen for the first blockchain game by @SEGA !!🔥The game will be developed and operated by @doublejump_en, expected to be released on @homeverse_games !
For details, please check

The US Internal Revenue Service is ramping up its efforts to collect taxes from crypto traders regardless of a 70% market slump.
The tax department has obtained a court order authorizing summons for records of US taxpayers that failed to report transactions and pay taxes on crypto profits.
Specifically, the IRS will issue what is known as a “John Doe summons” requiring MY Safra Bank to provide crypto transaction data for customers of the SFOX cryptocurrency broker that used the bank. According to the Department of Justice, SFOX has over 175,000 users and more than $12 billion in transactions since 2015.
Small Fry First
The revenue department has identified at least ten crypto traders and investors that used the broker and failed to report their transactions. What stands

Industry analytics firm DappRadar has just released a report on the situation, and it doesn’t look pretty. On May 13, the firm reported that DeFi’s total value locked (TVL) is down more than 40% over the past seven days.
It stated that the slump had been caused by investors flipping tokens into stablecoins in preparation to cash out into fiat. However, the massive slump in token prices would also have impacted TVL, a dollar-based figure.
At the time of writing, DappRadar was reporting a nominal TVL of $83.4 billion, a dump of 48% since the beginning of the year.

🔥 Total value locked in key lending protocols is dropping as investors started flipping tokens to stablecoins with the intention of cashing out to fiat. @terra_money @AaveAave
➡️ Read More:

The policymaker has continued to stake a claim for the crypto asset industry for his agency tasked with regulating securities in the United States.
According to Gensler, cryptocurrencies should be regulated the same way as securities. In a speech on reducing risk and increasing transparency of derivatives at the International Swaps and Derivatives Association Annual Meeting on May 11, he said:
“Most crypto tokens involve a group of entrepreneurs raising money from the public in anticipation of profits — the hallmark of an investment contract or a security under our jurisdiction,”
Security or Not Security
Gensler is angling for full control over the regulation of the crypto sector, which is likely to result in harsh restrictions for companies and investors in the country.

According to a forecast on the crypto industry released on April 20 by research firm Insider Intelligence, nearly 34 million Americans will own cryptocurrency by the end of the year. That equates to around 10% of the population, though the company reported a higher figure of 12.8%, possibly taking the adult population figures into account rather than the total.
The researchers predicted that the number of U.S. adults who own and use crypto for payments will double digits by 2023. It added that 3.6 million Americans would use digital assets as a payment method at some time this year.
Crypto Adoption Surging
Crypto payments will surpass $10 billion in total transaction value globally for the first time in 2022, the forecast informed. According to the figures, this is an

The United Arab Emirates national carrier has announced that it will be launching collectible and utility-based NFTs, with the first project already underway.
In an announcement on April 14, Emirates stated that it will be launching NFTs and “exciting experiences in the Metaverse” for its customers and employees.
Sheikh Ahmed Al Maktoum, Emirates Chairman and Chief Executive, said that the region was already a leader in the digital economy:
“Dubai and the UAE are blazing the way in the digital economy, having a clear vision supported by practical policies and regulatory frameworks in areas such as virtual assets, artificial intelligence, and data protection.”
Flying into the Metaverse
The company also stated that its Emirates Pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai site will be

On March 8, Cega Finance announced that it had raised $4.3 million in a seed round led by Dragonfly Capital Partners. There was also participation from various DeFi and crypto VCs, including Pantera Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Alameda Research, and Solana Ventures.
The platform, founded by former UBS derivatives trader Arisa Toyosaki, now has a valuation of $60 million. Cega aims to build the next evolution in DeFi derivatives by introducing “exotic derivative capabilities” to the space, according to the announcement.
Exotic DeFi Products
The team at Cega wants to explore the relatively untapped market of DeFi derivatives which traditionally includes products such as futures, options, and leverage.
The Solana-based platform currently offers basic call/put options with

Mexican senator for the State of Nuevo León, Indira Kempis, has stated that she wants to make the country second after El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin. However, the chances of this actually happening are slim at best.
Speaking to local media this week, she noted that she aims to promote the use of Bitcoin in the country and use her political position to achieve that goal.
“We need bitcoin to be legal tender in Mexico, because if it is not so, if we do not make that decision as El Salvador did, it is very difficult to take action.”
During the interview with Diario El Salvador, she added that El Salvador is “undoubtedly becoming the most important hub or laboratory in the world about the future with bitcoin.”

🌎 #Bitcoin
«El Salvador se está convirtiendo en el hub más

Speaking to CNBC on Jan. 11, the billionaire investor said he looks for utility when researching crypto investments. He followed up with “tokens trading are the least important part of crypto” in a Tuesday tweet.
Decentralized platforms leveraging smart contract technology and DAOs are his preferred choices, he stated.

Tokens trading are the least important part of crypto. Being able to create businesses on decentralized platforms leveraging smart contracts, validators, DAOs and more, create a unique ability to offer more efficient biz processes and disrupt industries. https://t.co/qHrse3S7fQ
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) January 11, 2022

NFT and Ethereum Maxi
He told CNBC that this mantra also applies to everyday investors and what they should look for when considering

Speaking at CNBC’s Delivering Alpha conference on Sept. 29, a16z partner Katie Haun said the U.S. should look towards China for what not to do.
She was referring to Beijing’s incessant crackdowns on the crypto industry and any activities related to the trade of digital currencies.
In her view, financial regulators in the U.S. should be doing the exact opposite, but at the moment, it appears they are following in China’s footsteps with moves to over-regulate crypto rather than ban it outright.
“This is an opportunity for the United States, because we should be doing the exact opposite in my mind in this realm of what China is doing,”
Don’t Follow China
Haun, who currently manages Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto investments, predicted that China will “tie trade, tie loans, tie

Portfolio manager at Los Angeles-based TCW Group, Bryan Whalen, has stated that crypto investors are asking big institutions for loans against their digital assets.
The comments came at a Morningstar Investment Conference this week, according to Bloomberg. Whalen went on to indicate that:
“The market is starting to knock on the doors of big institutions, even in the bond world.”
Borrowers issue bonds to raise money from investors who are willing to lend them money for a certain amount of time. Crypto assets are now becoming a form of collateral for bond markets, it seems.
“What I’ve found has crept our way is incoming inquiries about the question of lending against crypto,” the asset manager added.
Legitimizing Crypto
TCW’s fixed-income group oversees around $225 billion,

JPMorgan Chase and Deutsche Bank are among the financial institutions that are opposing the new rules that would require them to set aside a dollar in capital for every dollar of Bitcoin they own.
The rules were proposed in June by a group of global central bankers and regulators known as the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision (BCBS).
The Global Financial Markets Association, which includes the two banks and 5 industry associations, published a letter this week, according to reports. In it, they argued that cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin should not face such strict capital requirements.
1,250% Crypto Risk Factor
Banking regulators have cited the same tired reasons for their continued crypto scrutiny: money laundering and terrorism financing.
The banks and trade

As regulatory pressure mounts in the U.S., policymakers are putting stablecoins at the top of their agendas.
Citing “people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg has reported that officials are crafting a policy framework set to be released in the coming weeks. Their primary concern is ensuring that investors can reliably move money in and out of tokens, it added.
The anonymous insiders are worried that a “fire-sale run on crypto assets could threaten financial stability and that certain stablecoins could scale up dangerously fast.”
Strengthening Regulatory Efforts
The Financial Stability Oversight Council is also preparing a formal review into whether stablecoins pose an economic threat.
The officials are focusing on how stablecoin transactions are processed and settled

Bitcoin prices are skyrocketing at the moment, with the digital asset surging as high as $40,000 on some exchanges. Futures prices went even higher with BTC tapping $48,000 on Binance futures.
BTC futures, Binance – Tradingview.comAccording to Tradingview, Bitcoin has cranked 14% over the past 6 hours. It has currently retreated to trade at $38,300 at the time of press, after a gain of 7% over the past 24 hours.
The massive momentum began early on Saturday when Bitcoin broke out of a trading range at around $32K to push up to a two-week high over $34K. It continued to build from there culminating in the massive spike within the past hour or so.
Bitcoin Shorts Liquidated
Bitcoin prices have now moved above the 50-day moving average and are targeting resistance at around

In early Sunday trading, BTC prices had fallen to their lowest levels for over 11 weeks, hitting $46,700 before a minor recovery.
The last time Bitcoin dropped to these levels was at the end of February during the second major correction of this ongoing rally. A rebound off that bottom sent prices above $60K for the first time in the two weeks that followed.
Later today, Bitcoin is going to close another weekly candle. In case the candle closes at those levels, this will become the worst weekly close since February 22nd, when BTC ended the week at $45,240, according to Bitstamp. Two weeks ago the weekly candle closed at $49,200, which the current lowest week close since February.
Second ‘Lower Low’ For Bitcoin
This time around, things feel slightly different and the