Curve's CRV Tokens Are the Hot Play So Far in 2022

Bitcoin little changed, trading around $46,500

The latest moves in crypto markets, in context Edited by Omkar Godbole January 4, 2022 Sponsored by     If you were forwarded this newsletter and would like to receive it, sign up here.  Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. Here's what's happening this morning: Market Moves: With bitcoin looking anemic so far this year, the action is in Curve's CRV tokens. Technician's Take: Ether sets up for potential bullish crossover. And check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Today's show will feature guests: Marieke Flament, CEO, NEAR Foundation Ronnie Moas, founder and director of research, Standpoint Research Kavita Gupta, Delta Blockchain Fund founder, Delta Blockchain Fund Market Moves Bitcoin was little changed early Tuesday, changing hands around $45,528, in an anemic start to the year, especially compared with the big rally in early 2021.    One token that was seeing action was CRV, the governance token of decentralized exchange (DEX) Curve.Fi. The token is extending its five-month winning streak as the battle between DeFi protocols for control leads to a demand-supply imbalance.   CoinDesk data shows CRV has gained 23% this month, with prices rising 12% to $6.56 in the past 24 hours. The token rallied 127% in the final quarter of 2021 even as market leader bitcoin rose just 5%.   As of Tuesday, about 86% of the token's $3 billion supply is locked up in various DeFi, or decentralized finance, protocols, according to CoinMarketCap. The declining liquidity could be attributed to DeFi protocols competing to accumulate CRV to influence the decision-making at the DEX in a way that benefits them the most.   "An increasingly large amount of CRV is being locked up as veCRV, which has the effect of offsetting some of the supply emissions," Jason Choi, general partner and head of research at Spartan Capital, said in an email. "Protocols like Convex are locking up almost 50% of all veCRV, as other protocols are accumulating CVX, the token to Convex. In other words, more and more protocols are building off of Curve, and an entire ecosystem is emerging, engaged in the so-called Curve Wars." Read More: CRV Extends Rally as 'Curve Wars' Intensify Cosmos-Based Exchange Osmosis Crosses $1B in Locked Value By Shaurya Malwa   Osmosis, the first decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Cosmos network, crossed $1 billion in total value locked (TVL) on Monday night, data from trackers show.   Osmosis tokens (OSMO) surged 13% to $7.78 in the last 24 hours, reaching new highs and crossing the November 2021 high of $6.80, as per data from CoinGecko. OSMO holders can stake their tokens to receive yields and rewards, and participate in platform governance to suggest measures for growing the protocol.   Osmosis has caught on recently amid revived interest in blockchains apart from Ethereum, which is expensive to use and has relatively slower transaction times. Daily average trading volumes on Osmosis grew from $4.1 million in July 2021 to $46.6 million in December 2021, data from analytics tool Token Terminal show. Read More: Cosmos-Based Exchange Osmosis Crosses $1B in Locked Value A Message from Grayscale Ready to explore the metaverse?   Analysts predict that the metaverse could be a trillion-dollar revenue opportunity across advertising, social commerce, digital events, hardware, and developer/creator monetization.* This creates a unique investment opportunity in the new digital economy.   Grayscale gives investors a way to access the early opportunity of the Metaverse through Grayscale®' Decentraland Trust by investing in MANA, Decentraland's native token. Decentraland is one of the leading metaverses built on the Ethereum blockchain.    Invest in the metaverse with Grayscale** Learn more here     *The Metaverse Report 2021 **Private placement available to accredited investors only Crypto Prices Bitcoin (BTC) See the latest price here Ether (ETH)  See the latest price here The following are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 digital assets over the past 24 hours: Biggest Gainers: Asset Ticker Returns Sector Internet Computer ICP +17.5% Computing Cosmos ATOM +8.1% Smart Contract Platform Chainlink LINK +7.8% Computing Biggest Losers:  Asset Ticker Returns Sector Bitcoin Cash BCH −2.2% Currency Cardano ADA −1.6% Smart Contract Platform Stellar XLM −1.6% Smart Contract Platform Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive, and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges.  Technician's Take by Omkar Godbole Ether's MACD histogram suggests potential for bullish crossover Ether's daily chart with MACD histogram (Source: TradingView) A potential bullish crossover on the momentum indicator MACD histogram suggests scope for a price bounce. A breakout from the declining narrowing price channel, if confirmed on a UTC close basis, may bring more chart-driven buying pressure. A Message from Horizen Happy Holidays from the Horizen Team! Join our holiday giveaway to win some $Zen   Horizen is the zero-knowlege network of blockchains powered by the largest and most decentralized node system. Its blockchain deployment protocol, Zendoo, is live on mainnet as of Dec 1st 2021!   Zendoo enables developers and businesses to deplot provate and public blockchains with unmet scalability, flexibility, and throughput to support any real-world needs.  Latest Headlines Binance Invests $12M in Liquidity Platform WOO Network Grayscale Adds Flexa's AMP to DeFi Fund, Removes BNT, UMA In Quarterly Rebalancing Kevin O'Leary-Backed DeFi Platform WonderFi to Purchase Bitbuy for $162M in Cash, Shares Estonia Regulator Says No Plans to Ban Crypto ASIC Maker Canaan Signs Multiple Deals For Expansion in Kazakhstan Bitfarms and Marathon Digital Both Mined Over 3K BTC in 2021 European Markets Regulator Seeks Feedback on Regulation of Tokenized Securities Garry Kasparov: Crypto Means Freedom Introducing CoinDesk's new Digital Asset Classification Standard, which was created in response to the significant growth of the number and types of digital assets offered in the market and the realization that traditional classification standards used for equities and other asset classes could not be adapted accurately to classify digital assets. Read more about DACS. ICYMI In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:   Crypto Markets Update and Outlook, Layer 2 Solutions to Improve Ethereum Performance   "First Mover" dives into crypto markets on the first day stock markets open in the new year. Joining us to discuss the general 2022 crypto outlook, questions about the inflation-hedge narrative, correlation to the stock market, volatility, DeFi and more is Greg Magadini, CEO of Genesis Volatility. Also, Jan Hartmann of Banxa Labs on the progress in deploying Layer 2 solutions to lower Ethereum gas fees and speed up transaction times. Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.  First Mover A newsletter from CoinDesk Were you forwarded this newsletter? Sign up here.  Copyright © 2021 CoinDesk, All rights reserved.  250 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10003, USA Manage your newsletter subscriptions  |  Unsubscribe from all CoinDesk email