The cryptocurrency market has turned slightly bullish, with Bitcoin (BTC) recording another historic high of $67,276 yesterday. While writing this article, Bitcoin was trading at $65,213, reflecting a gain of 2.3% in the last 24 hours. Ethereum (ETH) was trading at $4,223.96, an increase of 9.60% in the same period. XRP had gained 4.70% to trade at $1.15.
Major altcoins, which have gained ground in the past 24 hours, include Dash (DASH-$203.53, 5.90%), Dogecoin (DOGE, $0.2550, 5.10%), IOTA (IOTA-$1.30, 5.70%), Internet Computer (ICP, $47.57, 8.50%), Solana (SOL, $187.20, 19.80%), Cosmos (ATOM, $36.04, 6.10%), Tezos (XTZ-7.20, 5.40%), Polygon (Matic, $1.56, 7%), Bitcoin SV (BSV-$175.98, 3.70%), Stellar (XLM-$0.3942, 6.70%), Tron (TRX-$0.1037, 3.30%), Uniswap (UNI, $27.41, 5.80%), Bitcoin Cash (BCH, $645.66, 5.10%), EOS (EOS-$4.87, 9.10%), VeChain (VET, $0.1256, 2.20%), ChainLink (LINK-$27.77, 6.70%), Cardano (ADA, $2.24, 6.80%) and Polkadot (DOT, $44.25, 6.90%).
Private sector initiatives
Binance sponsors SS Lazio Football Club jersey in a €30 million deal
Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of trading volume, has ventured into the sports fan token market by sponsoring the shirt of Italy’s SS Lazio football club in a €30 million (~$35 million) agreement. The sponsorship contract is valid for two years with provisions for an extension by another year.
In contrast to non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which are more or less souvenirs, fan tokens are more akin to digital currencies and often offer some ‘value,’ such as enabling fans to participate in voting and other prominent events.
The Lazio agreement is yet to be revealed in full. “The collaboration with Binance will enable us to expand our digital footprint and interact with fans and supporters from all around the globe never seen before,” Lazio President Claudio Lotito stated.
Binance is drawn to fan tokens because they change hands frequently. The trading levels are said to be greater than NFTs. As per CryptoSlam, the value of all transacted NFTs – spanning games, art, avatars, and sport – was $2.6 billion in the past 30 days, in contrast with $4.40 billion for all fan tokens, which mainly represent soccer teams, excluding one or two.
ViacomCBS signs a strategic deal with Recur
Media firm ViacomCBS, which owns Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon, MTV, and many more popular intellectual assets, has inked a strategic deal with non-fungible token (NFT) platform Recur to roll out digital collections in the spring of next year.
Notably, Nickelodeon is popular among youngsters, while Paramount owns several well-known collectible brands, including Transformers and Star Trek.
Regarding the NFT initiative, Co-CEOs of Recur, Trevor George and Zach Bruch, said, “ViacomCBS is one of the first major media and entertainment companies to enter the metaverse in a significant way.[…] Our chain agnostic approach will provide fans the widest range of utility as well as unprecedented access to their favorite shows and franchises.”
Broadly speaking, the debut of ViacomCBS’s NFT underscores the pattern of media companies venturing into the digital asset sector to introduce new products and services.
Daiwa Securities and Nomura each acquire a 5% stake in ODX
Daiwa Securities and Nomura have each acquired a stake of 5% in the Osaka Digital Exchange (ODX), which is developing a platform for trading security tokens. In January, the plan to create the ODX marketplace was disclosed, with SMBC and SBI holding 40% and 60% share, respectively. The latest media release pegs SBI’s stake at 70% and SMBC’s holding at 20%.
Currently, the company has a capitalization of four billion yen ($35 million). ODX will begin facilitating stock trading in the spring of next year, and security token offerings (STO) will follow soon. Future plans include listing tokenized securities backed by real estate and even project funding. Notably, a blockchain framework will be used to record all the transactions.
Two weeks ago, MUFG revealed details regarding a platform, which uses its blockchain framework Progmat to retain securities records. The ODX marketplace is hosted on the aforesaid platform, developed by the Security Token Research Consortium.
From a legal point of view, the ODX is fundamentally a Proprietary Trading System (PTS) and not a stock exchange. The PTS shares some parallels with the US Alternative Trading Systems (ATS).
Miscellaneous
The DeFi sector surpasses $200 billion in total value locked
The decentralized finance (DeFi) sector has surpassed $200 billion in TVL (total value locked). As per data provided by DeFi tracker DeFiLlama, the amount locked in various protocols is twice the figure recorded in the final week of June. Notably, the Ethereum blockchain, which accounted for 98% of TVL in January, has declined to 68.50%. It is followed by BSC (Binance Smart Chain), Solana, Terra, Avalanche, and Fantom.
TVL reflects the dollar value of crypto tokens locked in various DeFi protocols, including lending and trading platforms. The reported figure is not accurate as trackers can technically count the same token multiple times.
In value terms, at $140 billion, projects on Ethereum blockchain represent the majority of the DeFi industry’s TVL. Interestingly, the figure reported by DeFi Pulse, another DeFi tracker, is roughly 55% less. Binance follows Ethereum blockchain with $18.50 bln in TVL. Solana takes the third position with $11.70 billion.
Disclaimer: Any financial trading analysis offered here is our opinion and is not intended as advice or direction for investors. We cannot guarantee the success of any trades made as a consequence of this article, and we encourage traders to incorporate a strong money management strategy to limit losses when they enter the markets. Please use this article as part of your own research before formulating strategies prior to trading.
