11/14 -11/20

GM and welcome to another CoinStats Scoop! 💫 Here’s an overview of this week’s edition:

• Market update and highlighting the numerous positive developments in recent weeks
• Updating you on the impactful news and developments of the week
• Reading & emphasizing the importance of embracing the long term view of crypto
• Highlighting the ongoing institutional adoption despite turbulent markets
• An overview of our NFT product Midas & the future impact and growth of NFTs
• Takeaways of the week & things to watch moving forward

Market Overview

Until this weekend, it was a relatively quiet week in crypto. As the weekend approached, the rumor mill starting operating in high gear as market participants across the crypto ecosystem increased their worry of FTX-induced contagion. Despite the worries, BTC and ETH remained relatively stagnant with BTC clinging to 16k and losing ~0.5% this week while ETH gave back some of its recent strength to close the week down ~7%.

In the face of another week resulting in prices that trickled downwards, the fundamentals of crypto remained strong as always. Institutional adoption once again accelerated (which we’ll cover more in depth below) and several positive developments have occurred as a result of FTX’s centralized collapse that strengthen crypto’s eventual future including:

• SOL developers and ecosystem participants continue to push forward, shedding the toxic overhang of FTX/Alameda
• Centralized exchanges and protocols continue to update their proof of reserves and provide greater clarity into their holdings
• DeFi’s adoption accelerates as users seek non-centralized alternatives
  • Uniswap (UNI) reaches a new all-time high in users
  • DeFi protocols such as FXS, DYDX, ACX, SNX, AAVE, CRV, COMP, MKR, and LDO have seen user growth of greater than 30%
  • Self custody wallet solutions such as Ledger, Trezor, and Gnosis Safe are experiencing new all-time high metrics
• Macroeconomic improvements that we talked about last week continue to provide a better picture for risk assets across all asset classes

Further exemplifying the flight to decentralized crypto protocols are the tokens that provided positive returns in the face of BTC and ETH ticking lower. While most of the market was down this week, DeFi and decentralized trading venue tokens such as GMX (+12.5%), SNX (+5%), and YFI (+5%) outperformed the market.

These tokens appreciating reiterates the fact that despite FTX’s monumental, centralized failure, DeFi once again worked without interruption as expected. The market may take some time to digest recent events, but it’s important to remember that regardless of all the noise, DeFi and crypto at large continues to operate as it was built to do. The blockchains of ETH, BTC, SOL, MATIC, and all others continue to produce blocks and verify transactions while their DeFi protocols continue to operate seamlessly. 😎  There may be some bumps and bruises along the way, but there’s no going back on what has been and what will be built in crypto that will empower and reward the next generation of users. 😤

News & Developments