Polygon’s zkEVM magic

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Polygon’s zkEVM mainnet update influences network activity positively

Key points:

• The Etrog upgrade for Polygon zkEVM introduced support for extra pre-compiled smart contracts.

• MATIC's price experienced an 11% surge in the past week.

News - Polygon recently announced a new update that went live for zkEVM, which might have a positive impact on the L2 (Layer 2) performance in the coming days. It was called ETRGO upgrade and was live on the mainnet at the time of writing, following a 10-day timelock for upgrading the network.

L2 network’s performance - Examining Artemis' data, AMBCrypto found that the L2's network activity has gone down in recent days. In fact, zkEVM witnessed a significant drop in daily active addresses last week, leading to a decline in daily transactions, thus, indicating reduced network usage.

Additionally, the captured value for Polygon zkEVM showed less favorable results, with fees and revenue decreasing last week. Despite these challenges, Polygon zkEVM demonstrated resilience in the DeFi sector, with its Total Value Locked (TVL) experiencing an uptick in the past few days.

How did MATIC react to all this? MATIC exhibited bullish price action, surging by over 11% in the last 24 hours. At the press time, it was trading at $0.895, boasting a market capitalization exceeding $8.5 billion. Despite its sustained growth in terms of price, MATIC faced prevailing bearish sentiment on the social front, indicated by the declining weighted sentiment indicator.

Avalanche Stablecoin market cap surges, but key metrics show mixed signals

Key points:

• Avalanche experienced a significant influx of capital flowing into its network due to stablecoin popularity.

• The value of AVAX witnessed a surge, rising by more than 5%.

News - Avalanche has achieved a notable milestone in its stablecoin market capitalization, reaching a level unseen in months. However, the impact on other crucial metrics within the ecosystem paints a somewhat mixed picture.

As of press time, the stablecoin market cap on Avalanche was registered at around $1.15 billion, marking a significant jump from the previous $1 billion mark and reversing a decline observed since November 2023. This sharp increase over the past 48 hours suggests a notable influx of cash into the Avalanche ecosystem.

How was the network affected? Despite the surge in stablecoins, the Total Value Locked (TVL) within the ecosystem hasn't seen a proportional rise. While there has been an increase, it's more moderate compared to the stablecoin growth, currently standing at around $888 million. Similarly, Avalanche's trading volume hasn't shown any significant recent movements, hovering around $150 million in the last 24 hours. Further, network inflows remain relatively low at around $3.8 million.

On a brighter note, Avalanche's price has been on an upward trend for the past eight days, successfully surpassing its resistance level on February 9th. At the time of writing, AVAX was trading at around $41.3, marking an increase of over 4%.

Crypto exchange Coinbase rockets 37% as Bitcoin pumps and Q4 expectations rise

Key points:

• Coinbase shares have experienced a significant surge leading up to its upcoming fourth-quarter earnings call on Thursday.

• Analysts anticipate robust trading volumes for the quarter, contributing to the positive momentum in Coinbase's stock.

News - Coinbase's stock grew by 37% in the last week, aligning with a significant Bitcoin surge. Analysts anticipate robust figures as the company discloses its fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

According to data, analysts collectively project a substantial revenue increase of approximately 22% from the third quarter, reaching $825 million in the fourth quarter.

This growth is expected to be fueled partially by impressive trading volumes, with analysts forecasting nearly a doubling from $76 billion in Q3 to an estimated $142.7 billion in Q4.

Competitor analysis - On February 13, competitor Robinhood reported a substantial overall revenue increase for the fourth quarter, driven by a surge in crypto trading revenue. Robinhood's Q4 revenue marked a 24% year-on-year increase, supported by $43 million in crypto trading revenue, reflecting a 10% year-on-year growth.

Will this growth be sustained? Despite these positive trends, there is skepticism regarding Coinbase's growth. In a January 22 investor note, JPMorgan analysts predicted a decline in Coinbase's share price for the year. They attributed their expectations of Coinbase's poor performance to an "underwhelming" start to spot Bitcoin ETFs trading.

Genesis receives court approval to liquidate $1.3B in Grayscale GBTC shares

Key points:

• As part of efforts to compensate investors, a bankruptcy judge has granted permission to Genesis to liquidate its holdings.

• $1.3 billion worth of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares will be sold.

News - In a Zoom hearing on February 14th held at the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Sean Lane approved Genesis Global Holdco to liquidate approximately $1.3 billion worth of Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) shares, a step taken as part of the broader initiative to reimburse investors.

What does this mean? This order permits Genesis to sell a portion of its investments from Grayscale. According to court filings from February, it was disclosed that Genesis held an estimated $1.6 billion worth of shares encompassing GBTC, Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE), and Grayscale Ethereum Classic Trust (ETCG).

Events that led to this - On January 10, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenlit the transformation of Grayscale's GBTC into a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, allowing listing and trading on U.S. exchanges. This approval, shared with offerings from 10 other asset managers, is expected by Genesis to streamline the redemption of shares in cash.

More stories from the crypto ecosystem

• Litecoin's robust mining statistics do not protect LTC.

• Looking at the influence of the Polygon Foundation on the growth of MATIC

• What are the implications of Bitcoin under $50K for Long-Term Holders

• Ethereum: How whale movements could lead to elevated ETH prices

• Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson cautions against ‘legacy-eating’ cryptos

Did you know?

• In Vietnam, Crypto Café lets you ditch loyalty points and earn "Coffee Coin" with every purchase. This crypto token fuels your caffeine habit, unlocking discounts, merch, and even trading on exchanges.

• In 2021, Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, sold an NFT of his very first tweet for a whopping $2.9 million.

• In Iceland, a company is using geothermal energy from a volcano to power its Bitcoin mining operations, showcasing the potential for greener mining practices.

Top 3 coins of the day

Bitcoin (BTC)

Key points:

• BTC’s price surged as it pushed past the $50,000 mark.

• The velocity of BTC plummeted, showing reduced frequency in terms of transactions.

What you should know - BTC inspired massive optimism in the markets recently after it broke past the $50,000 level. After the 28th of November, investors’ accumulation of BTC was found to be rising, despite the price fluctuations, the overall trend remained bullish. This was proven by the multiple higher highs and higher lows indicated on the price chart above. The CMF (Chaikin Money Flow) also registered a notable spike. A rising CMF indicates increased buying pressure and suggests a strengthening inflow of money into the market, potentially signaling positive momentum. Well, a large part of this price movement could be influenced by institutional investments made by ETF issuers.

Cardano (ADA)

Key points:

• ADA’s price grew by 10.27% over the last week.

• The total number of ADA holders fell, reflecting a fall in interest in ADA from existing holders.

What you should know - Since testing the support level of $0.472, the price of ADA witnessed a surge in terms of price movement, growing by 22%. Despite the large spike in ADA’s price, the move wasn’t significant enough to establish a bullish trend. The price movement over the last month exhibited multiple lower lows and lower highs, which were indicative of a bearish trend. If ADA manages to retest the already weakened $0.60 resistance levels, there maybe a chance of a reversal in the future. On the contrary, the RSI (Relative Strength Index) for ADA continued to rise, implying that there was relatively high bullish momentum around ADA, at the time of writing, and a trend reversal could be on the cards soon.

Monero (XMR)

Key points:

• XMR’s declined by 1.09% in the last 24 hours.

• The volume at which XMR was trading had also fallen by 1.71%.

What you should know- The surge in BTC’s price inspired a surge in price across multiple coins in the crypto sector. However, XMR was one of the few coins that failed to attract many investors. One of the reasons for the negative sentiment around XMR was its recent delisting on the Binance exchange which caused the price of XMR to fall by more than 20%. After this, the price of XMR demonstrated a bearish pennant. When a bearish pennant emerges, it signifies that the market is undergoing a consolidation phase following a substantial downtrend. This consolidation suggests a brief period of indecision among market participants, as prices move in a narrow range within the confines of the pennant. Coming to the indicators, it was seen that the OBV (On Balance Volume) continued to grow. It signaled that the buying pressure for XMR had remained the same.