The Battle of Resistance.
Crypto Market Review (24/06 — 24/07 — 2023)
Last month, Binance’s SEC purge survival and BlackRock’s ETF spot application were key fundamental news that helped maintain crypto’s positive momentum. This month XRP’s lawsuit win has continued the industry’s frenzy, helping giant BTC maintain its break above the $29k resistance region.
However, when new highs are hit, old traders get set to take profits. This is my crypto market review for the month of July, highlighting major events that have played their role in driving cryptocurrencies to the price points they are at today.
COIN TRACK.
Despite having a choppy chart, bitcoin maintained stability above its 29k resistance region, showing its strength against the bears at that point. With most time spent above $30k, it is safe to say that $BTC is gradually regaining lost percentages from its previous ATH ($60k+). Some analysts have predicted it rallies for a little longer, before another significant pump (or dump) may happen.
Gaining over 100% and reaching a 20 months high, XRP was the biggest mover this month, after news of a US federal high court declared XRP free of the SEC’s “security” allegation. The news reintroduced a bullish sentiment in the market, and many traders anticipated XRP crossing $1.
Ecosystem chains ETH, SOL and Matic were not left out as they all gained following XRP and BTC’s stead, but were also subject to resistance pressure at their respective price points.
DEFI THIS MONTH.
Down about 2% from the previous month, the TVL across all DeFi protocols sits at about $43bn+. This indicates that DeFi has been through its own resistance battle this month, but is maintaining its strength as well.
With Liquid Staking trending in the market, top DeFi platforms have funneled resources into various LSTs including stETH, mSOL, and other forms of stTokens. This has shaped the impression of liquid staking being a necessary “next step” for staking and crypto adoption. Leading the liquid staking narrative is top staking platform Lido, with over $14bn staked in ETH, MATIC, SOL, and DOT.
Another new concept is the tokenization of Real World Assets (RWAs), which was also a hot topic this month. After the collateralization of a Phillipe Patek wrist watch with a DeFi lending platform, several DeFi protocols have come up to begin and discuss the concept of tokenizing RWAs. Example of such is RWA DAO, which is built on Tron by Tron Network’s CEO Justin Sun. RWA DAO provides an avenue for crypto investors to earn rewards on the staked tokens, and the opportunity to invest in RWAs through the DAO. It was also the highest DeFi gainer, raising over $416M from its investors during its capital rounds.
In all, the DeFi sector is poised for an impressive run, with top TVL for the month coming from lending, collateralization(CDP), and RWA protocols.
Top gainers in TVL includes: Lybra Finance, Curve USD, Morpho Labs, and stUSDT.
Source: DeFi Llama.
NEWS AND EVENTS.
Filled with hacks, fundraisers, and real life security issues, the crypto sector was agog with activities that endangered both lives and onchain assets.
- Hacks and exploits.
Multichain has suffered an exploit resulting in over $100M stolen from its bridge. This happened after rumors of the team being involved in suspicious transactions was announced via Twitter.
Now, the Chinese Police has arrested the CEO of the company, and more rumors of the hack being an inside job has began to spread.
Other protocols including AzukiDAO, Poly Network, etc also suffered exploits resulting in over $200M.
- Polkadot and Polygon network propose a V2 upgrades to their networks.
During the Polkadot Decoded event, Gavin Wood, founder of Polkadot explained the need a V2 upgrade to the network, citing particular issues in the Parachain model that limited optimal performance. Read official announcement here.
Popular ETH based L2, Polygon, has also proposed a V2 upgrade, focusing on expanding features like interactivity, governance and community engagement. In a thread published on Twitter, Polygon Labs announced its new model, highlighting its upgrades in governance and community engagement in treasury management.
- Gary Gensler continues his crypto witch hunt.
After failing to indict Binance, and the more recent ruling in favor of XRP, Gary isn’t backing down. Much recently, there has been speculation about an appeal from the SEC to resume its petition against XRP.
This persistent attack from Gary-led SEC has roused more uproar in the ecosystem, as top crypto projects are now worried about expanding into the USA.
- Increased rate in attacks on crypto millionaires.
The Canadian police has released a warning to crypto investors living in the country considering a worrying trend of home invasions and attacks on crypto millionaires in the country. This has come after a second string of attacks and deaths of crypto investors in their homes, raising worry about their online and offline safety. Crypto blog “Bitcoin News” reports here.
Conclusion.
Regardless of onchain and IRL thefts, crypto is poised for a major action. The battle of resistances has positioned several key tokens in a favorable region for a major pump. And as the new month is upon us, we expect to see moves that will result in either a bullish or bearish performance.
