Introduction

The market fluctuation remained relatively stable over the past week. However, with the increase in funds flowing into BTC spot ETFs, traditional financial institutions joining the Blackrock ETF, BTC leverage decreased , and the positive impact of the upcoming BTC halving, bullish sentiment in the market has been steadily increasing.

1、Investment and Financing Observations

Last week, a total of 42 investment and financing events occurred in the cryptocurrency market, representing a year-on-year increase of 35.4%. However, the total funding volume amounted to $228 million, marking a year-on-year decrease of 22.1%.

In the DeFi sector, 11 investment and financing projects were announced.Among them, Ellipsis Labs, the developer of the Solana ecosystem DeFi protocol Phoenix, secured a $20 million Series A funding round led by Paradigm.

In the blockchain gaming sector, 7 investment and financing projects were disclosed. Singapore-based Web3 gaming startup Gomble Games raised $10 million in funding, with participation from Binance Labs and others.

In the infrastructure and tools sector, 13 investment and financing projects were announced. Blockchain firm XION completed a $25 million Series A funding round, with participation from Animoca Brands, Multicoin, and others.

Other areas such as Web3/crypto also saw 11 financing projects. IoTeX, an IoT blockchain platform, raised $50 million in funding, with participation from Amber Group and others.

Comparing week-over-week data, the number of cryptocurrency market investment and financing transactions saw a significant increase, although the total funding volume slightly decreased. Investment and financing activities were concentrated in the infrastructure sector, with OKX Ventures particularly active, focusing mainly on infrastructure projects.

XION:

XION is a modular universal abstraction layer built specifically for consumer adoption, developed by Burnt. XION aims to eliminate technical barriers to entry for consumers through a toolkit that includes seamless fiat onramps and offramps, direct credit card purchases, familiar Web2 logins, mobile-friendly secure account abstractions, and zero gas fees. The company stated in a release that it is the first platform enabling developers to “build, deploy, and scale consumer-facing Web3 products from scratch” and the first blockchain to use USDC (a fully reserved digital dollar) as its primary transaction currency.

GOMBLE:

GOMBLE is the cryptocurrency arm of 111%, a mature game studio specializing in casual gaming. GOMBLE’s mission is to onboard the global 2 billion casual gamers into the web3 market. Its goal is to provide an accessible GX with exciting upside potential and dynamic driven by competition-based tokenomics.

Raiinmaker

Web3 AI company Raiinmaker completed a $7.5 million seed round of financing, led by Jump Capital and Cypher Capital. Raiinmaker is building decentralized AI tools and web3 infrastructure to support sports, gaming, and entertainment projects. Users can train AI through their iOS or Android phones and receive rewards proportional to their impact on the AI models. It is understood that Raiinmaker plans to launch its mainnet in April 2024, with its native token COIIN to follow shortly thereafter.

2、Industry Data

Smart Money Flowing into ENA and USDe

Last week, in addition to projects in the LRT track continuing to receive increased holdings from Smart Money, new projects receiving increased holdings were mainly ENA and USDe. Especially after ENA went live, it saw a 7-day increase of up to 119.5%, with a market capitalization of $1.63 billion and a fully diluted valuation (FDV) of $17.512 billion.

What can be observed is that ENA has a significant amount of holdings from venture capitalists (VCs) and well-known Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), and even with the substantial price increase, these VCs have not sold their holdings. The main driving force behind the rise in ENA’s price is the narrative of being a “stablecoin disruptor” supported by the concept of decentralized stablecoins, electronic dollars, and the endorsement of Arthur Hayes.

The USDe created by Ethena enables Ethereum to transform into a global internet bond through Delta neutral positions on stETH, becoming the first fully supported, on-chain, scalable, and censorship-resistant form of currency in the cryptocurrency space.

We can anticipate Ethena’s market potential with the addition of USDe, but since this concept is relatively novel, investors should exercise caution when entering the market.

Trading volumes for both Centralized Exchanges (CEX) and Decentralized Exchanges (DEX) have reached record highs simultaneously.

The latest data from The Block reveals that in March, the total spot trading volume on Centralized Exchanges (CEX) amounted to $2.48 trillion, approaching the levels seen in November 2021 ($2.56 trillion). Among them, Binance’s spot trading volume surpassed $10 trillion, reaching $1.13 trillion, with a market share of 45.56%, representing a month-over-month increase of 123%.

According to CCData, the derivatives trading volume on Centralized Exchanges (CEX) in March also increased by 86.5%, reaching $61.8 trillion, marking another all-time high. However, as the spot market remains active, the proportion of derivatives trading volume has decreased to 67.8%, the lowest level since December 2022.

Additionally, according to the latest data from DeFiLlama, the total decentralized exchange (DEX) trading volume reached $2679.38 billion in March, hitting a record high and representing a 126% increase compared to February ($1180.63 billion).

With a Staggering Yield of 1313% for MemeCoin, it Appears That the Market Trend May Continue.

According to CoinGecko data, MemeCoin leads the cryptocurrency asset yield rankings with an impressive 1313% return rate, securing the top position. RWA follows with a 286% return, ranking second, while AI ranks third with a 222% return. DeFi, DePin, Layer1, blockchain gaming, and Layer2 occupy the fourth to eighth positions, respectively.

According to data from TheBlock, the recent meme market surge has propelled MemeCoin’s market capitalization to over $65.4 billion, doubling its total market value since 2024. With increasing attention on MemeCoin and more developers and users joining the ecosystem, the meme coin market is expected to persist for the foreseeable future.

With the meme market heating up, following Solana and Base, Binance and Fantom have recently joined the fray:

- On April 2nd, BNB Chain announced the launch of the “Meme Innovation Battle” event, with a prize pool of up to $1 million.

- Fantom Foundation director Andre Cronje also announced on X platform that they are in the process of creating a framework for launching, supporting, and nurturing community-safe meme coins on Fantom.

The Total Value Locked (TVL) in the Liquidity Staking track has surpassed $9 billion, with Renzo experiencing a 20% increase in the past 7 days.

According to DeFiLlama data, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in Ethereum liquidity restaking protocols is currently $9.127 billion. The top three protocols in terms of TVL are:

The rapid increase in Renzo’s Total Value Locked (TVL) in recent days can be attributed to the unrestricted deposits offered by Renzo, providing users with a smooth pathway for participation. Additionally, users can simultaneously earn multiple rewards in the form of EigenLayer and Renzo tokens, further incentivizing participation.

Regarding Renzo

Renzo is a re-staking protocol based on EigenLayer, abstracting the complex process of re-staking for end-users. Stakeholders do not need to worry about active selection and management of operators and reward strategies. ezETH is Renzo’s liquidity re-staking token, automatically earning rewards and ensuring liquidity. ezETH allows users to participate in DeFi while retaining re-staking rewards. The current valuation of the Renzo project is estimated to be around $100–200 million.

3、VC Holdings

Note: The above data is from https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/ , and the statistical time is 20:00 on April 8, 2024 (UTC + 8).

4、This Week’s Focus

April 8th

April 9th

April 10th

April 11th

April 12th

April 13th

5、Conclusion

Last week witnessed a significant increase in investment and financing activities, driven by traditional financial institutions joining Blackrock’s ETF, along with record-high trading volumes on both CEX and DEX platforms. Coupled with the astonishing returns of MemeCoin and industry momentum, the entire cryptocurrency market is becoming increasingly diverse and dynamic.

This week, with the halving approaching and the influence of BNB Chain and Fantom joining the fray, the market will likely continue to be dominated by BTC and MemeCoin. The popularity of MemeCoin is expected to continue to soar. Profit-taking by BTC miners and long-term holders may be delayed, adding further uncertainty to the market.

On a macro level, US non-farm payroll data for March far exceeded expectations, posting the largest increase since May last year, with the unemployment rate dropping to 3.8%, stronger than expected. Additionally, the US 10-year Treasury yield touched 4.4% for the first time since the end of November last year, indicating the market’s pricing of a delay in the Fed’s first rate hike until September 2024. The combination of bullish sentiment in the cryptocurrency market and these macroeconomic factors may continue to support a stable and slow growth trend over the next three months.

However, investors still need to remain vigilant, particularly regarding regulatory concerns and potential profit-taking, which could lead to unexpected reversals in the market.

Note: All of the above opinions are not investment advice. If there are any inappropriate points, please feel free to leave a message to correct them.

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