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What happened today?

Not much has changed in the market since our last update Monday, however a headline that just hit the tape at time of writing seems to have sparked some life into things: the first filing to convert an Ethereum ETF to allow for staking has been registered by 21Shares. Ethereum staking offers a dynamic yield usually around 3-5% APR based on a few factors such as network activity the total amount staked, so baking this into an ETF could offer a meaningful boost to demand. So far there has been a positive reaction to the news with ETH bouncing about 7% in the midst of market weakness, however the deadline for this filing is in Q3 so nothing is final by any means.

Speaking of ETFs, something to keep an eye on is which coin will get the next approval. A year ago after the Ethereum ETF was approved hypothesized that Litecoin would be next, which Bloomberg analysts now give a 90% chance of happening. LTC has been very strong throughout the last few weeks so it’s clear the market agrees. While an ETF is objectively a ‘good’ thing for LTC, we’re not yet sure what normie demand for this asset could be like. We’ve already seen far fewer inflows for ETH versus BTC, but could LTC break the trend?

Trading Talk

Despite the continued abysmal performance of most alt-coins, the Beluga Wallet has held up pretty strong. Notably BEETS is still the largest underperformer, however I think this is just a product of the attention cycle in a low-liquidity environment. The launch of Sonic was, frankly, underwhelming, and so BEETS didn’t see the huge liquidity influx we thought it might. This seems to be finally changing, however, as Sonic entered became a top 20 chain by TVL (Total Value Locked) this week. As we’ve mentioned prior, this is a key metric to track as liquidity flows from chain to chain and especially for a Liquid Staking Protocol like Beethoven.

Something else to watch is the performance of Plume, as 90%+ of new coin launches in the last year have gone horribly. Plume, on the other hand, has shown a lot of strength since our entry 2 weeks ago. If RWAs (Real World Assets) do end up being the next big narrative in the alt-sector, Plume is well-positioned to be a leader there given all their partnerships and onboarded institutions even prior to mainnet launch. With that said, it’s hard to know just how popular it will be given the chain itself isn’t fully live yet. We expect the launch to be in the next few weeks however, so we’ll update our readers on what they need to know when the time comes.

Tweet of the Day

Real.

Biggest Headlines

The Beluga intern has been hard at work gathering all the most important crypto news stories so you have them in one place!

The Majors

• ETH Jumps on Cboe and 21Shares’ Ether ETF staking filing

• Goldman Sachs gobbles up Bitcoin and Ethereum as crypto ETF holdings soar past $2 billion

Alt Coins and Stocks

• Robinhood’s crypto revenue soars 700% in Q4, driving record profit

• Franklin Templeton expands money market fund to Solana ahead of rival BlackRock

Regulatory

• What the SEC’s truce with Binance means for Coinbase and other crypto lawsuits

New Launches

• Audius launches Solana token airdrop for artists as music streams top 250 million

Free BONK Report from Fundstrat Research

Interested in learning how the institutions are looking at your favorite memecoins? Download a free report from Fundstrat Research on BONK and the memecoin landscape below!

Recent Beluga Content

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