Gate.io Blog Daily News | BTC Exceeding $53K, Meta Mask Monthly Active Users Approaching a Historic High, BTC's Holdings and Hoarding Set a New Record

Daily News | BTC Exceeding $53K, Meta Mask Monthly Active Users Approaching a Historic High, BTC's Holdings and Hoarding Set a New Record

01 January 08:00

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## Crypto Daily Digest: Meta Mask's monthly active users are approaching a new historical high, BTC's holdings and hoarding of coins reached a new historical high
Cryptocurrencies are back on the rise. According to Gate.io market data, <a href="/price/bitcoin-btc" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Bitcoin</a> once exceeded $53,000 per coin, marking the first time since December 2021. It has risen by 1.17% in 24 hours and is now quoted at $52,069. <a href="/price/ethereum-eth" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Ethereum</a> has returned to above $3,000 since April 26, 2022, with a 24-hour increase of 3.43%. The current price is $3,009.

On February 21, according to market data, the ETH/BTC exchange rate rebounded above 0.057, with a rise of 7.3% in the past three days. According to Coinglass data, the entire network has sold out $280 million in the past 24 hours, with multiple orders selling out accounting for 71.6%.

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has issued a circular on the sale and distribution of tokenized products, setting out the expected regulatory standards that the Authority must comply with when authorized institutions sell and distribute tokenized products to customers. The Monetary Authority believes that it is now time to provide guidance on activities related to tokenization products, provide clear regulatory requirements for the banking industry, support the industry in continuing to innovate and realize the benefits that tokenization can bring, and take appropriate safeguard measures from the perspective of consumer/investor protection.

As a general principle, the current regulatory regulations and consumer/investor protection measures regarding the sale and distribution of a certain product also apply to the product sold and distributed in the form of tokenization, because its terms, characteristics, and risks (excluding risks caused by tokenization itself) are similar to those of the relevant product. In addition to general principles, accredited institutions should implement consumer/investor protection measures related to due diligence, disclosure, and risk management for tokenized products.

On February 21, Bloomberg analyst Eric Balchunas posted on social media that the total trading volume of nine US Bitcoin spot ETFs yesterday was approximately $2 billion, the highest since the first day of listing. VanEck's HODL, Wisdom Tree's BTCW, and Bitwise's BITB all broke their respective daily trading records, with a total trading volume of $2 billion, placing them in the top 10 ETFs and top 20 stocks.

On February 20, according to Arkham monitoring, Grayscale transferred 2912.272 BTCs worth approximately $152 million to the Coinbase Prime address at 22:21 today. In addition, Grayscale transferred 820.4 bitcoins to a new address, which is suspected to be the new hosting address of Grayscale.

According to Scopescan monitoring, the top 10 STRK holders control 69.15% of the total supply of STRK tokens. Previously, it was reported that Teneo, the liquidator of Three Arrows Capital, is the ninth largest holder of STRK tokens and has received 134.18 million STRKs.

Previously, it was reported that Wintermute is suspected to be a market maker of STRK tokens, having received 2 million STRKs and deposited 500,000 STRKs into Binance; Teneo, the liquidator of Three Arrows Capital, received 134.18 million STRKs, making it the ninth largest holder. <a href="/price/flow-flow" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Flow</a> Traders or another market maker for STAK, with a market-making quantity of 5 million pieces. AmberGroup is also suspected to be a market maker for STRK, with a market-making quantity of 1 million coins.

On February 21, according to data from Starknet blockchain browser Voyager, over 343 million STRK airdrops were received, accounting for approximately 58% of the total share of this airdrop (approximately $586 million).

If you miss the Starknet airdrop, you can learn about the 40 million STRK incentive program.

It is reported that the Starknet Foundation has launched the "Starknet DeFi Spring" program, which will last for six to eight months and distribute 40 million STRKs to participants in the DeFi protocol. The plan determines and allocates rewards every two weeks and is expected to continue until October 2024.

The AMM protocols Ekubo, MySwap, Nostra and Haiko in the Starknet ecosystem can all earn STRK rewards by providing liquidity. Stark DeFi is a comprehensive DeFi solution on Starknet, offering a variety of products including AMM, limited order protocols, and more. Starknet DeFi plans to provide lending services, and SithSwap has completed a seed round of financing, which will start on March 21. The participation protocols include zkLend, Vesu, Nimbor, Carmine, and ZKX, adding new vitality into the Starknet ecosystem.

With the continuous improvement of DeFi yield and FOMO sentiment among major project parties, the monthly active users of Meta Mask have rebounded to over 30 million, approaching a historical high.

On February 21, Meta Mask, a crypto wallet application, announced that its current number of active users is almost the same as during the previous bull market peak. The number of active users per month increased by 55% within four months, jumping from 19 million in September last year to over 30 million in January this year. It is reported that Meta Mask's monthly active data reached a historic high in January 2022, with a monthly active user count of 31.7 million.

On February 21, according to Crypto <a href="/price/quant-qnt" target="_blank" class="blog_inner_link">Quant</a> data, Bitcoin hoarding addresses received 25300 BTCs yesterday, setting a new historical high. According to the founder of Crypto Quant, Ki Young Ju, the filtering requirements for the "coin hoarding address" data include no outbound transactions, balances exceeding 10 BTC, excluding addresses belonging to CEX or miners, having received two or more transfers, and addresses where the most recent transaction occurred within the past 7 years.

According to Glassnode data, in the past 30 days, the Bitcoin community has actively increased its holdings, with a monthly total balance change of 111,000 BTCs, reaching a high since October 2023. This is the highest increase in holdings since Bitcoin soared from $25,000 to $40,000.

Further research on specific group behaviors has found that whale entities holding 1,000 to 10,000 bitcoins have accumulated approximately 236,000 bitcoins within 30 days, leading the way in accumulation activities. Meanwhile, in the past month, "Super Whales" holding 10,000 or more bitcoins have distributed about 50,000 bitcoins, while the exchange's net outflow of bitcoins is about 50,000.

## Macro: The three major stock indexes collectively closed lower, the Fed may cut interest rates in June
On Tuesday, the US dollar index broke below the 104 mark, hitting a new low in over a week before rebounding and ultimately closing down 0.181% at 104.06. The yield of US treasury bond bonds fell back, with the benchmark 10-year US bond yield closing at 4.275% and the two-year US bond, which is most sensitive to the policy interest rate of the Federal Reserve, closing at 4.613%.

Boosted by the decline in the US dollar and US bond yields, spot gold rose for the fourth consecutive trading day, reaching the 2030 level at one point and closing up 0.32% at $2024.32 per ounce; Spot silver fluctuated near the 23rd level and ultimately closed up 0.13% at $23.01 per ounce.

According to analysts, international crude oil has started a correction, partly due to traders taking profits after the strong rise in oil prices so far this month. WTI crude oil fell 1.33% to $77.11 per barrel; Brent crude oil closed down 1.03% at $82.46 per barrel.

The three major US stock indexes collectively closed lower, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.17%, the Nasdaq falling 0.9%, and the S&P 500 index falling 0.6%.

The decline of the US stock market is closely tied to the heartstrings of the world. The next steps of the global market will be influenced by the future trends of the US stock market. Last night, the Dow Jones index in the United States fell nearly 0.2%, the S&P 500 index fell 0.6%, the NASDAQ index fell 0.9%, and Nvidia, which has always been popular in the market, also experienced a decline. Its market value evaporated by $78 billion, marking the largest single day market value drop on record for the company.

Today's highly anticipated Nvidia financial report was released, and the market expects its fourth quarter revenue to exceed $20 billion, more than three times the same period last year's $6.05 billion. Filling expectations ahead of schedule is not a good thing, as there is a risk of selling facts after the release of this financial report. If the US stock market falls tonight due to Nvidia's financial report, the probability of a pullback will exceed 50%.

There have been increasing reports of interest rate hikes recently, so don't overlook the risk of the market going extreme in the short term. In addition, the market has not yet fully digested the expectation of delaying interest rate cuts, and it is important to recognize the reality. Currently, according to macro market expectations, the first interest rate cut in 2024 has been postponed to June or even July, so the market will not be so optimistic until then.

Although the macro level of the US stock market has been affected, this impact can be ignored for the crypto market. Let's look at the data: the total trading volume of 9 US Bitcoin spot ETFs is about $2 billion, the highest record since the first day of listing. VanEck's HODL, WisdomTree's BTCW, and Bitwise's BITB all broke their daily trading records, with a total trading volume of $2 billion, placing them in the top 10 ETFs and top 20 stocks.

The passage of Bitcoin spot ETFs has brought convenience to traditional investors, allowing traditional institutions to enter the crypto world smoothly. Therefore, regardless of macro-level changes, the bull market of cryptocurrencies and other cryptocurrencies cannot be changed. Even if the real bull market is halved and interest rates are lowered, the current market enthusiasm only increases and does not decrease.

In addition, a weak majority of economists surveyed by Reuters have indicated that the Federal Reserve will lower the federal funds rate in June, and they have also stated that the greater risk is that the first rate cut will be later than expected rather than earlier than expected.

A survey conducted by Reuters since September last year unanimously predicts that the first rate cut will occur around the middle of this year. However, the market's expectations have been postponed from March to May, and it is believed that June is the most likely time for the first rate cut.

In a Reuters survey conducted from February 14 to 20, 86 of 104 economists stated that the Federal Reserve would lower the federal funds rate in the next quarter (currently between 5.25% and 5.50%), similar to last month's survey.

But 53 of 104 people believe that the Federal Reserve will most likely cut interest rates for the first time in June, while the other 33 believe it will be in May. The rest of them have scheduled their first interest rate cut in the second half of 2024. No one predicted a rate cut in March; in the last survey, 16 people made this prediction.

<div class="blog-details-info">
<div>Author:**Byron B.**, Gate.io Researcher
<div>Translator:Joy Z.
<div class="info-tips">\*This article represents only the views of the researcher and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
<div>\*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.
</div>

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Daily News | BTC Exceeding $53K, Meta Mask Monthly Active Users Approaching a Historic High, BTC's Holdings and Hoarding Set a New Record

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