Firstly, let’s examine the trading activities of Bitcoin ETFs. According to Farside Investor data, on March 6th, Grayscale’s GBTC funds continued to Flow out significantly, reaching $386.6 million; Meanwhile, Fidelity Bitcoin spot ETF (FBTC) inflow was $12.9 million, Bitwise Bitcoin spot ETF (BITB) inflow was $18.6 million, and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin spot ETF (ARKB) inflow was $23.3 million.
The online payment platform Alipay has cooperated with the smart contract blockchain platform Avalanche to create a voucher plan supported by Web3 technology. On March 20, Avalanche announced that Alipay+D-store, Alipay’s sub_script_ion solution, and its cooperative e-wallet were using Avalanche to implement the coupon program supporting Web3.
The plan allows consumers to obtain vouchers through mini-games. After completing the game, customers can claim coupons in their electronic wallets. It is said that these coupons can enable users to get up to 50% discounts at over 500 milk tea shops.
These coupons are supported by the Avalanche subnet, which is built and managed by AvaCloud. According to Avalanche, these coupons are designed to enable Alipay and other brands to “experience solutions supported by Web3 technology” - “POC will allow Alipay, D-store and other brands to test Web3 solutions, including how to help businesses establish new forms of interaction with users, help retain users and create new sources of income.”
In addition, Avalanche also said that the plan allows Alipay to use blockchain-supported functions and digital collections to cooperate with other brands.
On-chain data shows that an unknown trader made a profit of $8.9 million in less than an hour by trading Shroom meme coins within the same block where the developer increased liquidity.
The Room token was launched on Raydium on March 20 as a meme coin with a mushroom theme without potential utility or intrinsic value. Since its launch, the token’s price has fallen by more than 70%, and its current market value is $11.88 million.
However, the trader was accused of “insider trading” because his trading timing was too special, and he easily maximized profits. X user Blockchain Maxi believed, “This is what we call insider trading. You can never win with memecoin, and don’t even try it.” Anonymous trader Bull.Bnb replied to the same post, “That’s the developer himself.”
Anyway, memecoin continues to attract the interest of retail investors. According to CoinMarketCap data, the recently launched Meme token Book Of Meme (BOME) has increased by over 1,100% on the weekly chart, becoming the 130th largest token with a market value of $617 million.
Regarding NFTs, on March 20, the second most expensive CryptoPunk in history was sold for 4,850 ETH, valued at $16.42 million. CryptoPunk #7804 is among the nine so-called “AlienPunks” among 10,000 NFT collections. It defeated the auction of CryptoPunk #3100 on March 4 for 4,500 ETH ($16.03 million).
The most expensive CryptoPunk is still CryptoPunk #5822, sold on February 12, 2022, for 8,000 ETH and valued at $23.7 million.
The crypto market has rebounded significantly, with BTC returning to $68,000 and SOL returning to above $190. Meanwhile, the US stock market also saw a significant rise. Federal Reserve Chairman Powell stated that it may be appropriate to start relaxing policies at some point this year, but the outlook remains uncertain. According to the prediction of the Policy Path Chart, there may be three interest rate cuts this year, which could drive the market up significantly.
Regarding market hotspots, POLYX and ONDO in the RWA sector have surged. RWA is a relatively new concept in the cryptocurrency market that has not yet been widely hyped up. Meanwhile, the Meme concept sector led the market’s growth, with FLOKI and PEPE rising significantly. In a bull market, tokens in the Meme sector often have high elasticity. In addition, Runstone also saw a significant increase, driving the rise of BTC ecosystem coins such as STX and RIF.
On the global market side, the Federal Reserve announced that it will continue to cut interest rates by 75 basis points this year, exceeding the 50 basis points investors have hoped for. The market has responded positively to this signal. The latest yield of a two-year treasury bond is 4.59%, and that of a 10-year treasury bond is 4.26%. The S&P 500 index (.SPX) closed at a historic high, with European and American futures rising in Asian trading.
On Wednesday, the three major Wall Street stocks closed 0.9% to 1.2% higher, while the yield of treasury bond bonds and the dollar fell. This combination should indicate an early rise in Asia.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the Federal Reserve is about to decide to slow down the pace of balance sheet reduction, which may allow it to cut more bond expectations than before.
Powell said at a press conference after the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, “It is appropriate to slow down the pace of the final election as soon as possible.” He did not provide a specific timeline for the decision, only stating that officials were discussing the issue. He noted that the central bank continues to make efforts to reduce its holdings, commonly known as quantitative tightening (QT).
quantitative easing (QE) has led to the Federal Reserve holding assets more than doubling, reaching $9 trillion by the summer of 2022. The Federal Reserve began reducing its asset size in March 2022 and began reducing its asset size in March 2022. The strong interest rate hike aims to bring the high inflation rate back to the target of 2%.
Before the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, the vast majority of economists expected the QT reduction process to begin in June and end early next year.
Regarding commodities, Brent crude oil futures remained stable at $86.34 per barrel.
Regarding gold price, lower interest rates lower the opportunity cost of holding unprofitable gold and put pressure on the US dollar, making gold more suitable for investors holding other currencies. Spot gold rose 0.8% to $2,203.84 per ounce after hitting a historic high of $2,222.39. US gold futures rose 2.1% to $2,206.30.