Beating Congestion
Bitcoin continued to edge higher, making steady progress through the congestion area between $16,100-17,150. The risk on sentiment shows no sign of abating and the trend higher is therefore expected to remain in place.
With that in mind, the aggregate open interest (OI) rose yet again to a new record high and continuing with the recent theme, the OI increase was led by stablecoin margined futures as opposed to Bitcoin margined products.
As a result, the market is in a much healthier condition than it would have been if the said transition into stablecoin margin products did not take place. Not every venue offers stablecoin margined products and something to keep in mind is the provision of such products for alt coins and not just Bitcoin.
In the Markets
Focus on the Hashrate
Looking at the network metrics and the hashrate has stabilised following the recent upside in the wake of a sharp mining difficulty adjustment lower and also as miners transitioned their ASIC hardware to coal-powered northern regions like Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang following the end of the rainy season in China’s Sichuan province.
The focus may be on Bitcoin and its looming re-test of an all-time high but elsewhere in the market, another theme looks set to be emerging and that is a heated battle for LPs by DeFi based venues. More details will follow this week.
Crypto AM: Longer Reads
Crypto AM: Market View in association with Ziglu
Crypto AM: Technically Speaking in association with with Zumo
Crypto AM: Talking Legal in association with INX
Crypto AM: Inside Blockchain with Troy Norcross
Crypto AM: Definitively DeFi
Crypto AM shines its Spotlight on ByteTree Asset Management
Crypto AM: Industry Voices