Weekly Beluga Insights

A monster of a week for crypto comes to end today as we’ve seen billions in short positions get liquidated. Bitcoin’s rapid move back over $100k yesterday sent the rest of the market ripping, with the surprise biggest-winner being Ethereum which has gained 30% in the last 48 hours. After trading under $1,600 only 2 weeks ago, ETH has risen to $2,338 making it the largest weekly gain for the asset since the bull run of 2021. While certainly a big piece of this move was due to Bitcoin breaking 6 digits once again, it seems the two major catalysts were 1) the Pectra upgrade and 2) Blackrock’s meeting with the SEC. Without getting too technical, Pectra introduced two major upgrades to the EVM: the first increases the size of “blobs" which are essentially bundles of transactions which L2’s use to scale, and the second enables Ethereum wallets to become smart contracts.

The second, arguably more important catalyst has to do with today’s meeting between BlackRock and the SEC regarding staking for the Ethereum ETFs. Original Ethereum ETF applications were forced to drop staking due to SEC guidance, however it seems with a new sheriff in town it might finally be time. There is certainly nothing official yet, however after the meeting BlackRock updated the language of their S-1 filing to allow in-kind redemption in the future. This is a great step on the way to full approval of staking within the ETFs, and clearly the market agrees.

Major Movers of the Week

Public Trading Wallet Update

I’m happy to report that given over a third of our Beluga portfolio is allocated into Ethereum and Ethereum betas, we’re looking at a roughly ~15% gain since our last update on Friday. To quickly reiterate the catalysts we discussed above, a smooth technical upgrade for ETH in combination with renewed institutional interest has led to the biggest pump we’ve seen in years. Ironically, Optimism remains the biggest pain point for our portfolio, even after this recent move for the Ethereum ecosystem. OP was once a darling of Crypto Twitter, however, and I think if we really do see ETH run once again, OP will catch some very positive tailwinds.

With renewed attention on Ethereum’s ecosystem, I also expect DeFi as a whole to work its way back into the spotlight. After all, ETH is the home of DeFi and when ETH pumps we tend to see the coins within the ecosystem pump as well. We still haven’t made a trade in months at this point, but it looks like our strategy of sitting on our hands and waiting for blue skies to return is paying off. The macro condition remains incredibly volatile so we’ll have to keep an eye on things… but from where I’m standing, it doesn’t look like this positive momentum is stopping any time soon.

Tweet of the Week

Turns out your favorite influencer is just as clueless as you are

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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.

Will McKinnon is the Head of Content for Beluga and has spent every day for many years trading coins. For that reason there are too many to name, however his largest holdings by a significant margin are Ethereum and Bitcoin. NFA DYOR

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