Happach Kasan

– Data from DeFi total value locked (TVL) aggregator DefiLlama shows that the Optimism chain recorded positive inflows in 27 out of the last 30 days.
– This resulted in a $119 million increase in Optimism’s TVL, representing about 18.3% of the chain’s entire stablecoin market capitalization.
– USD Coin (USDC) made up 47.2% of Optimism’s stablecoin market cap and Optimism’s TVL has recorded an overall increase of 7.56% in the last seven days and 38.17% in the previous month.

Data from the decentralized finance (DeFi) total value locked (TVL) aggregator DefiLlama shows that the Optimism chain recorded positive inflows in 27 out of the last 30 days. This inflow resulted in a $119 million increase in Optimism’s TVL, representing about 18.3% of the chain’s entire stablecoin market capitalization. The only days in the last month when Optimism did not have a positive inflow were Jan. 1, Jan. 3, and Jan. 17, with the chain losing about $7.43 million from its stablecoin valuation.

At the beginning of the year, Optimism’s stablecoin market cap stood at $539.19 million. But by Jan. 31, following the sustained positive inflow, the chain’s stablecoin holding was valued at $651.01 million, representing more than 77% of its total value locked. DefiLlama’s data also showed that 47.2% of Optimism’s stablecoin market cap was made up of USD Coin (USDC), which has proven to be the most dominant stablecoin across other chains as well.

Stablecoins play a critical role in the growth and success of the DeFi industry as they provide users with a reliable and stable store of value. This is particularly important when dealing with DeFi products such as yield farming and liquidity mining, as these activities often involve locking up funds for extended periods of time and require users to maintain a stablecoin store of value.

In addition to the positive stablecoin inflows, Optimism’s total value locked (TVL) has also recorded an overall increase of 7.56% in the last seven days and 38.17% in the previous month, according to another crypto data aggregator, CoinMarketCap. This shows that Optimism is continuing to experience steady growth as more and more users flock to the platform to take advantage of its various DeFi products.

Overall, Optimism’s sustained positive inflows and increasing TVL is a positive sign for the DeFi industry as a whole. As more users continue to flock to platforms such as Optimism and take advantage of the various DeFi products available, the industry is likely to experience further growth and success.

• Signature Bank has addressed false statements made by the Wall Street Journal in their Jan. 23 article about U.S. Home-Loan Banks helping Crypto Lenders stem outflows.
• Signature Bank clarified that it does not offer crypto lending services and is not suffering from a liquidity crunch due to massive fund outflows.
• Signature Bank noted that the loan obtained from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLB) is part of its routine operations, not a result of a liquidity crunch stemming from massive crypto outflows.

Signature Bank, a New York-based full-service commercial bank, has addressed false statements made by the Wall Street Journal in their Jan. 23 article titled „U.S. Home-Loan banks Help Crypto Lenders Stem Outflows.“ The bank clarified that it is not a crypto lender and is not suffering from a liquidity crunch due to massive fund outflows.

In its press release, Signature Bank noted that the headline of the WSJ article falsely referred to it as a „crypto lender,“ when in reality the bank does not lend in the crypto space, nor does it have loans that are backed by crypto assets. The bank further noted that its relationships with clients in the crypto space are limited to US dollar-denominated deposits only.

The bank noted that the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York (FHLB) has been acting as its liquidity partner for the past two decades and that the reported loan obtained from the latter is part of its routine operations, not a result of a liquidity crunch stemming from massive crypto outflows.

The bank concluded the press release by reiterating that it does not offer crypto lending services and its loan from the FHLB is part of its regular operations. It further noted that its relationships with clients in the crypto space are limited to US dollar-denominated deposits only.

Signature Bank’s press release effectively addressed the false statements made by the Wall Street Journal. It clarified that it does not offer crypto lending services and is not suffering from a liquidity crunch due to massive fund outflows. The bank’s relationships with clients in the crypto space are limited to US dollar-denominated deposits only, and the loan obtained from the FHLB is part of its routine operations.

• Tether (USDT), the dominant stablecoin, has blown past leading payment operators, Visa and Mastercard, surpassing both in transaction volume processed.
• According to a tweet from USDT handled around $18.2 trillion worth of transactions in 2022, while Mastercard processed $14.1 trillion and Visa processed $7.7 trillion.
• Despite the overall challenges faced by the cryptocurrency market in 2022, the increasing use of stablecoins highlights the continuous growth of the blockchain industry.

Tether (USDT) has recently achieved a major milestone in the cryptocurrency space, surpassing both Mastercard and Visa in terms of transaction volume processed. According to a tweet from USDT, the stablecoin handled around $18.2 trillion worth of transactions in 2022, while Mastercard processed $14.1 trillion and Visa processed $7.7 trillion. This data was sourced from Coingecko and Mastercard and Visa’s respective websites.

The news of this milestone comes as a major achievement in the cryptocurrency space, as it indicates the increasing use of stablecoins. Despite the overall challenges faced by the cryptocurrency market in 2022, the increasing use of stablecoins highlights the continuous growth of the blockchain industry. The use of USDT provides users with the ability to benefit from blockchain technology’s improved speed and privacy.

However, the news has been met with mixed reactions on Twitter, with some pointing to „fake volume“ and „wash trading“ to dismiss the validity of the data. Many users in the cryptosphere distrust tether, citing a lack of transparency in the company’s operations. The company is responsible for regularly issuing large sums of money on the blockchain, with many accusing it of printing money at will. While tether has addressed these concerns, it has also failed to undergo a public audit to confirm that its USD reserves match the USDT in circulation.

In October 2021, USDT released a report confirming that its reserves were backed by the USD at a rate of 1:1. The report was conducted by a leading law firm and provided a level of transparency that has been lacking in the past.

Despite the mixed reactions, USDT’s milestone is an important step in the adoption of blockchain technology and the growth of the cryptocurrency industry. Stablecoins are a key component of the crypto space and their increasing use is a sign of the industry’s increasing maturity. As more people look to benefit from the advantages provided by blockchain technology, USDT’s success is likely to be replicated by other stablecoins.

• A polygon whale sold $7.7 million of MATIC in one transaction on January 8.
• The whale’s address has sent a total of $49.78 million to Binance and $88.67 million to Crypto.com.
• The price of MATIC has increased by about 3.5% over the last 24 hours and the 24-hour transaction volume is currently around $500 million.

On January 8, a polygon whale — cryptospeak for large holder — moved $7.7 million worth of polygon (MATIC) to world’s top cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The whale’s wallet sent nine million MATIC to an address controlled by Binance and the address still holds over 27.46 million MATIC worth almost $24 million. This is far from the whale’s November all-time high of $75 million.

The whale’s address has mainly been depositing to Binance, depositing a total of $49.78 million so far. In addition, the address has withdrawn a cumulative total of $88.67 million from Crypto.com and $97.52 million from Binance.

The news of the whale’s transaction comes as Polygon has recently overtaken BNB chain (BNB) as the most used smart contract blockchain in terms of transaction volume and Mastercard recently announced a partnership with the platform.

The price of MATIC has increased by about 3.5% over the last 24 hours and the 24-hour transaction volume is currently around $500 million. The market was able to absorb the whale’s massive transaction without any major price movements.

The whale’s activities come as a reminder of the power of large holders in the crypto market and that whales can still make big moves without having a major influence on the market. With the market currently on a bullish trend, it is likely that we will see more big moves from whales in the coming days.

• El Salvador made several landmark announcements to invest in Bitcoin and set course to fully adopt it as legal tender in 2022.
• Despite these efforts, the crypto bear ruthlessly gnawed 2022 crypto predictions by institutions, Nations, and some influential people.
• El Salvador suffered a sizeable loss due to unrealized investments in Bitcoin, proving the predictions wrong.

El Salvador, the bitcoin haven, has been the country that was directly affected by the crypto bear in 2022. The nation’s leaders, including the President and his finance minister, took bold steps and led the country to make a huge bitcoin bet. Starting the year off with several landmarking announcements and setting course to fully adopt the coin as the legal tender, El Salvador began building a bitcoin city, issued bitcoin bonds, increased their bitcoin bags, and invested in other major things that influenced crypto adoption- all in hope that bitcoin price would rise and bring them a lifeline.

However, the crypto bear had other plans. Despite the efforts of El Salvador, the market proved difficult to play out how they would have wished owing to a series of nukes hitting the crypto space and global financial landscape all year. This caused the predictions of 2022 to be brutally disproved, with El Salvador suffering a sizeable loss from unrealized investments in Bitcoin.

The market’s unpredictability proved to be a lesson to many, as the ‘crypto masters’ were proven wrong. This lead to a greater appreciation of the volatility of the crypto market and how difficult it can be to predict its movements. As a result, El Salvador has had to rethink their plans going forward and look for other ways to invest in digital assets.

• Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, recently expressed confidence in the future of Solana’s platform.
• This followed an on-chain decline in activity on the platform and a 93% crash in the value of its native token, SOL.
• Despite the negative sentiment, some analysts are calling for a bottom in the value of SOL and the broader cryptocurrency market.

The cryptocurrency world is abuzz with news of Vitalik Buterin’s recent expression of confidence in the future of Solana’s platform. Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, has emphasized the thriving Solana developer community, which he believes will allow the platform to recover from its recent struggles.

Solana is a smart contracting platform that was once referred to as the „Ethereum killer“. However, the platform has been struggling after on-chain activity rapidly declined in 2022. This decline has been linked to the collapse of Alameda Research, a trading firm associated with the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. As a result of FTX’s and Alameda Research’s collapse, the value of Solana’s native token, SOL, has fallen to multi-month lows and developers and projects have migrated to competing networks like Ethereum and Polygon.

Buterin’s recent expression of confidence in the future of Solana has generated some optimism about the platform’s recovery. Buterin has pointed to the platform’s earnest smart developer community who now have an opportunity to build since the bear market has chased away „awful opportunistic money people“. Despite the negative sentiment, some analysts are calling for a bottom in the value of SOL and the broader cryptocurrency market.

The future of Solana remains uncertain, however. The platform will need to attract new developers and projects in order to fully recover and build a sustainable ecosystem. Additionally, SOL needs to regain investor confidence and recover to pre-collapse levels in order to be successful.

Only time will tell if Vitalik Buterin’s confidence in the Solana platform will be warranted. In the meantime, cryptocurrency investors and developers should remain cautious and monitor the platform’s progress in order to ensure a successful recovery.

• Unknown wallets moved 218 million XRP tokens, or around $73 million, through three large transfers.
• The transactions occurred between cryptocurrency exchanges and were flagged as „unknown“.
• Ripple took 1 billion XRP out of escrow on January 1.

Recently, Whale Alert reported three massive transfers of XRP tokens from unknown wallets to cryptocurrency exchanges. The combined value of these transactions totaled 218 million XRP tokens, which is the equivalent of around $73 million. The first two transfers were sent from a wallet connected to the American-based Bittrex exchange to a wallet associated with the Bitstamp exchange, with the amounts being 40 million XRP and 30 million XRP respectively. The third and largest transaction was for a whopping 148.7 million XRP, and was sent from a single anonymous wallet to Bittrex via the Binance exchange.

The large movements of XRP tokens come shortly after Ripple, an American-based financial services company, took 1 billion XRP out of escrow on January 1. This is part of their plan to promote the usability of their token in the mainstream crypto market. It’s unclear if the unknown entities behind the large transfers of XRP are connected to Ripple, or if they have any affiliation with the firm.

The amount of XRP tokens moved in these transactions is staggering and indicates that there is still strong demand for the cryptocurrency. As Ripple and XRP continue to make strides in the crypto space, it will be interesting to see if these unknown entities continue to move large amounts of XRP tokens between exchanges. Only time will tell if these movements are part of a larger strategy, or simply a one-off transaction.