Table of Contents
In this report:
- Week in Review - BTC to hit $1 million in the next 90 days?
- Top 100 Gainers (7-days): Flare (FLR) +21% (7d)
- Small Cap Gainers (30-days): Real Estate (Blockchain) (EKTA) +428% (30d)
- Monthly Altcoin Pick - The Altcoin Pick for March will be released next week!
What Happened This Week?
The top crypto stories this week:
- BTC to $1 Million (in 90 days): A multi-million dollar online wager has been made by the former Coinbase CTO, betting that Bitcoin will hit $1 million in the next 90 days.
- Do Kwon Arrested: Do Kwon, co-founder and CEO of Terraform Labs was detained and arrested in Montenegro on Thursday and is currently awaiting his extradition.
- Blackrock & Fidelity expanding into Crypto: With over $14 trillion in assets under management, Fidelity and BlackRock are quietly expanding into crypto.
The Outlook for March
March continues to be a full-on rollercoaster. Earlier this week, the former Coinbase CTO wagered a multi-million dollar bet that Bitcoin will increase to over $1 million dollars over the next 90 days. He argues the million-dollar valuation of Bitcoin will be fueled by the banking crisis and resulting hyperinflation.
If you haven't been keeping up with the recent news, here is a short recap. This has been one of the craziest periods for the markets in over a decade. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), Silvergate Bank and Signature bank all collapsed, marking the second and third-largest bank failures in U.S. history. To mitigate any further losses, the Feds injected 2T dollars into the banking sector - with both the crypto and stock markets responding positively.
It should also be noted that these banks, SVB, Silvergate and Signature were also crypto-friendly banks and many believe this was a measure taken by the Biden administration to quietly ban crypto, dubbed - Operation Choke Point 2.0.
With all this banking turmoil, investors were expecting the Federal Reserve to stop raising the interest rate. However, on Wednesday interest rates were increased by another 25 basis points.
On Friday, there were renewed fears the banking contagion has reached Europe, as shares of Deutsche Bank fell sharply, as a result of a steep rise in the cost of financial derivatives pegged to the bank (also known as credit default swaps).
With a looming financial crisis, investors will be looking toward safe haven investments. These have traditionally been gold, silver, and other precious metals. It's likely Bitcoin will be added to this list.
While it does seem rather implausible that Bitcoin will exceed $1 million in the next 90 days, you should be aware that two of the world's largest financial institutions (Blackrock & Fidelity), with a combined $14 trillion in assets under management are quietly expanding into the cryptocurrency space.
Until now, the big question was where would the investment into the crypto sector come from. With Blackrock and Fidelity developing the capacity to invest in the crypto sector, it would only take an investment of a small fraction of their total assets under management to trigger the next bull market.
Crypto Market at a Glance:
Bitcoin & Ethereum Price Movement
Bitcoin has decreased 0.2% in the last week, currently trading at $27,347 (90-day high of $28,434). In the last 90 days, Bitcoin has increased by 62.8%.
Ethereum has decreased 3.92% in the last week, currently trading at $1,726 (90-day high of $1,840). In the last 90 days, Ethereum has increased by 42.9%.
Global cryptocurrency market capitalization is above the trillion dollar mark, sitting at $1.141T.
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Top 100 Gainers - Last 7 Days
Over the last 7 days, the biggest gainers (within the top 100):
Flare (FLR) 21% - Ranked #88
Flare is an EVM-based Layer 1 blockchain designed to allow developers to build applications that are interoperable between multiple blockchains. Flare provides decentralized access to high-integrity data, offering a new wealth of use cases and monetization models.
XRP (XRP) +19.4% - Ranked #6
XRP was created by Ripple Labs in 2012 and is designed to facilitate cross-border payments by enabling banks and other financial institutions to settle transactions quickly and securely.
One of the key features of XRP is its speed. Transactions can be settled in just a few seconds, which is much faster than traditional payment methods. This makes XRP an attractive option for cross-border payments, which can take several days to clear using traditional methods.
Overall, XRP is a digital currency that is designed to make cross-border payments faster, cheaper, and more efficient. XRP is also one of the few recognized ISO 20022 compliant crypto coins.
Nexo (NEXO) +13.4% - Ranked #92
Nexo is a blockchain-based lending platform that offers users instant cryptocurrency-backed loans. Users deposit an accepted token — such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), Litecoin (LTC) or XRP (XRP) — as collateral to receive a loan in the form of a fiat currency or stablecoin.
Nexo has a native token, NEXO, that when locked in the platform grants users benefits such as discounts on interest accumulated on loans and the opportunity to receive interest payments on funds deposited. Token holders also receive dividends from Nexo's profits.
XDC Network (XDC) +12.7% - Ranked #82
The XDC Network (formerly called XinFin Network) is an enterprise-grade, EVM-compatible blockchain equipped with interoperable smart contracts.
XDC is a highly optimized, bespoke fork of Ethereum, the XDC Network reaches consensus through a delegated proof-of-stake (dPoS) mechanism, which allows for two-second transaction time, near zero gas fees, and over 2,000 transactions per second (TPS).
Do You Own a Hardware Wallet?
If you own crypto, you need a hardware wallet. Period. Hardware wallets (also known as cold storage devices) are the best devices to keep your crypto investments safe and under your personal custody.
Ledger supports more cryptocurrencies than any other wallet on the market. This means if you have a portfolio with a bunch of exotic altcoins (especially small-caps), then Ledger is the best wallet to keep your portfolio secure.
Store +1,000 Cryptos in a Single Wallet.
Biggest Small Cap Gainers in the last 30 days
Every week we review and analyze low-market-cap cryptos looking for the next low-cap gem and every month we research the cryptocurrency marketplace for the next successful cryptocurrency project and announce it to our subscribers as our Monthly Altcoin Pick.
The best-performing cryptocurrency projects fall within the nano & micro-cap projects.
Best Performing Small Cap projects (30 days):
- EKTA +428% - Real Estate on the Blockchain (Nano-Cap)
- BCP +384% - Social Media Content Platform (Nano-Cap)
- VBG +213% - Web3.0 personal homepage (Micro-Cap)
- KAS +141% - Fastest layer-1 in the world (Small-Cap)
Monthly Altcoin Pick:
Next week we will be releasing our Altcoin Pick for March. If you would like access to this and prior Altcoin Picks, please consider becoming a member.
Our Altcoin Picks for the prior months can be found here.
If you would like to support this publication and have access to member benefits, such as our monthly Altcoin Pick, signup here.
Thanks and appreciation to all our members!
Until the next report,
Richard
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