Weekly Beluga Insights

In truly historic fashion, not only did the spot Bitcoin ETF finally get approved and go live for trading on Thursday, but it did over $1B in trade volume in the first 5 minutes. While BTC price didn’t pump quite as much as we thought it might having topped out at $49,000, it is extremely encouraging to see so much interest from the traditional side of the market. It is now as easy to buy Bitcoin as it is to buy any stock, a huge win for the crypto industry. Many believe this marks the start of a massive bull run, especially with the Bitcoin halving approaching in April, so be sure to keep up with Beluga’s insights to stay on top of the market!

Major Movers of the Week

• Bitcoin (BTC) +4.48%

• Ethereum (ETH) +19.93%

• Solana (SOL) -2.02%

• Polygon (MATIC) +10.57%

• Optimism (OP) +21.85%

What We’re Watching

In Beluga’s opinion, the BTC ETF is a massive win for the entire market. There have certainly been a few main winners, however, and this is where we’re looking to determine where the next flow of funds will be. Perhaps unsurprisingly, after BTC ripped on ETF approval news it has retreated a bit to the $46,000 market at time of writing. On the flip side, Ethereum has been in only-up mode climbing towards $2,700, its highest price since May of 2022.

As we have mentioned before, ETH is the natural next target for an ETF being the second largest crypto currency by a good margin. Crypto is a narrative driven market, and with BTC having completed its narrative arc in the short term we believe attention now shifts towards ETH. As for timeline on an ETF we have no idea, however the ground work and precedent has now been set which should make the progression much faster than what we saw with Bitcoin.

After having DCA’d into ETH for the last year or so, we are now looking to Ethereum’s Layer 2 networks as the main beneficiaries of ETH going up. Names like Arbitrum (ARB), Optimism (OP) and Polygon (MATIC) have been around for some time and remain three of the largest L2’s by usage and TVL. An interesting trend in the last year, however, has been L1 networks transitioning to be ETH L2’s in order to take advantage of the liquidity within the ecosystem. Perhaps the most exciting of these is Mantle (MTL), which sits at ~$2.5B market cap after hitting ATH levels on Thursday. What makes Mantle so interesting is its origins as the chain for ByBit, a top perpetuals exchange. Because of this history, it has a lot of interest from big traders as well as the connections to make key partnerships.

To put it simply, we’re bullish ETH right now. The narratives are lining up as we have massive inflows coming from traditional finance, and the ETH ecosystem has sat dormant for far too long.

Quick Quips: Catch Up on What You Missed

• Bloomberg’s Balchunas ETF Commentary

• Blackrock Sets Sights on ETH ETF

• Hacked SEC Twitter Account Posts ETF Approval Too Early

• Vanguard does not list BTC ETF for Trading

• DAO tries to buy too much of a Memecoin

Weekly Beluga Podcast

This week’s episode is a bit longer than usual, packed with insights from industry veterans!

Chart of the Week

The below chart looks at Gold’s parabolic run after finally having a spot ETF - awfully similar to that of Bitcoin…

Did you Know?

Vitalik Buterin first had the idea for Ethereum after setting out to create a better economic system for his favorite game at the time, World of Warcraft.

Disclaimer
The content on this site is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. While Beluga strives to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information, there may be discrepancies when comparing our data to that of financial institutions, service providers, or specific product websites. Always consult with a professional before making any financial decisions.