Bitfinex Weekly Briefing (0905-0911)
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Max Keidun, CEO of custodial bitcoin exchange Hold Hodl, is working with Casa, Blockstream, Bitfinex and others to launch a new lending platform, Debifi, scheduled to launch next year. Debifi will allow users to borrow long-term loans in stablecoins and fiat currencies using Bitcoin as collateral.
https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/09/03/theres-a-new-platform-for-bitcoin-backed-borrowing-and-its-courting-banks-to-lend/
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Bitfinex Announces Support for Ethereum Mergers
Bitfinex is proud to announce that it will support the Ethereum Merge Event expected to occur between September 10th and 20th, 2022.
The merger marks the transition that ethereum will undergo from its current proof-of-work (PoW) consensus mechanism to a proof-of-stake (PoS) model.
The move to PoS was one of the most important milestones in the original Ethereum roadmap.
We will keep customers updated on the status throughout the process.
https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/827
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Bitfinex Alpha | Can Cryptocurrencies Survive Market Uncertainty?
"It's inflation, dumbass!" - We slightly quote former US President Bill Clinton's strategist James Carville on the US economy. His point is that nothing else matters except the economy, and policymakers are now doing the same with inflation.
September is heading into a pivotal month: markets focus on the upcoming Federal Open Market Committee meeting in a few weeks and key economic reports due in between. The self-proclaimed "data-driven" Fed appears to be focused on one thing only: getting inflation back into its 2% target range.
Digging into the details of the plethora of economic reports released over the past seven days, it is clear that despite rising interest rates, consumption of services is also rising, while consumption of goods is starting to fall. However, the US labor market remains as strong as ever. Potentially to the chagrin of investors in risk assets, the Fed said it could inflict more pain on some businesses and households until inflation is brought under control. However, as the August PMI survey showed, the pricing sub-index was lower in August, while wages were still growing - an early sign of a possible soft landing for the Fed, but there is still a glimmer of hope.
However, for trading assets, more certainty is required. Stocks have been tumbling, and September will likely continue to be volatile. In the bond market, the two-year note was also at a 15-year high amid rising interest rate expectations.
Meanwhile, in crypto news, the industry's push and pull continues. Meta announced that it would allow U.S. owners of NFTs to upload them to their Facebook and Instagram accounts, while the FBI warned investors of the risks of investing in DeFi platforms. Solana-based exchange OptiFi lost $661,000 in USDC, and Microstrategy co-founder Michael Saylor was indicted for alleged tax fraud. Tether also asked the court to remove a controversial law firm from legal action it faces.
On-chain, there are signs of a revival in NFTs and DeFi, while small retail wallets and large whales continue to accumulate Bitcoin — though the latter are also taking profits. As discussed last week, miners are not selling as much as they did before. If they turn around at all and stop, it would be a very positive sign for Bitcoin.
Finally, for our learning section, we'll focus on El Salvador, which this week celebrated its one-year anniversary of making BTC legal tender through the Bitcoin Law. It's a bold and visionary move that could make countries like El Salvador and cities like Lugano, Switzerland, the standard that others will eventually follow.
https://blog.bitfinex.com/bitfinex-alpha/bitfinex-alpha-is-crypto-proving-to-endure-market-uncertainty/
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On-Chain Data Suggests Bitcoin Is Still in Accumulation Phase Despite Macro Risks
Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH) are seeing growth in the number of addresses currently holding the two cryptocurrencies, market analysts at cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex said in a note Monday.
Holders' balances have reached a record 12.92 million bitcoins, with more than 60% of bitcoin stored in addresses that have held those spot positions for more than a year, analysts said. They added that the number of addresses holding between 1 and 10 bitcoins is around 750,000 and counting.
At press time, bitcoin is trading at around $19,700, down 0.3 percent over the past 24 hours.
https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/09/05/bitcoin-in-accumulation-phase-despite-macro-headwinds-on-chain-data-indicate/
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Bitfinex Securities 1st Anniversary: Highlights and Outlook
A year ago, Bitfinex Securities became one of the first security token platforms to receive a license to list and trade tokenized securities. Since then, the team has been leveraging its industry-leading experience, knowledge and trading engine to provide modern traders with a unique way to access tokenized stocks, bonds and investment funds. We've done a lot of work and achieved a lot, but first, let's review some basics.
On September 6, 2021, Bitfinex Securities Co., Ltd., a provider of blockchain-based investment products, launched a regulated investment exchange, Bitfinex Securities, at the Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), aiming to increase exposure to a large number of financial Accessibility of assets. Offers products for members looking to diversify their investment portfolio.
The platform is designed to raise capital for issuers seeking to publicly trade their tokenized securities through an easily accessible "trade-on" process. For the industry, this meaningful step broadens access to a variety of innovative financial products, including blockchain-based stocks and bonds, as well as investment funds.
With 365 days a year, 24/7 trading and real-time settlement, the Bitfinex securities platform provides investors and issuers with liquidity and efficiency advantages over traditional capital markets. Today, the platform successfully deploys leading-edge technology to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and optimize financing success rates, thereby providing our investors with access to low-cost, high-performance, and global securities trading markets.
Since launch, we have successfully executed our first primary offering and initiated secondary trading of our first asset, the Blockstream Mining Note (BMN).
We are also proud to represent the digital asset industry and join over 3,000 participants from 70 countries at AIFC's flagship finance and capital markets conference - Astana Finance Days.
We've achieved a lot, but we're just getting started. Over the next year, we aim to expand Bitfinex Securities' presence in Astana International Financial Center (AIFC) and other jurisdictions, expand our tokenization capabilities, continue to grow headcount, and bring more high-quality assets to market . are you ready?
https://blog.bitfinex.com/bitfinex-securities/bitfinex-securities-1st-anniversary-highlights-and-outlook/
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Bitfinex Lists Chain (XCN) in Pursuit of Vision for a Smarter, More Connected Economy
On September 8, 2022, Bitfinex (bitfinex.com), the most advanced digital token trading platform, will list the governance and utility asset Chain (XCN) chain protocol, which aims to establish an encrypted ledger system to make financial services smarter and safer and more connected.
As an Ethereum-based blockchain infrastructure provider, Chain seeks to solve problems associated with the traditional financial system by deploying decentralized ledger technology and cloud infrastructure.
Chain's clients include Visa, Nasdaq, and Citigroup, and has raised $4,400 from Khosla Ventures, RRE Ventures, Thrive Capital, and strategic partners including Visa, Nasdaq, Citi, Capital One, Fiserv, and Orange Ten thousand U.S. dollars.
As a digital token designed for holders to vote on community-driven initiatives and protocol improvements, XCN enables users to leverage Chain's network and products. Chain's main products include Sequence, a billing and revenue management system that allows companies to record asset sales on the blockchain, and RPC/API (Remote Procedure Call API), which allows builders to develop coding and Products, such as Ethereum.
“We are delighted to welcome Chain and XCN to our thriving digital token ecosystem,” said Paolo Ardoino, Bitfinex CTO. “We anticipate significant interest in XCN from the exchange’s growing client base.”
The Chain has a circulating supply of 21 billion XCN and a total supply of 53.5 billion XCN.
https://blog.bitfinex.com/media-releases/bitfinex-to-list-chain-xcn-with-its-vision-for-smarter-more-connected-economy/
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What the Ethereum Merger Means for Layer 2 Solutions
Bitfinex CTO Paolo Ardoino believes that the Ethereum merger will not have any impact on L2, as the merger itself will not immediately address scalability solutions. He told Cointelegraph that even after the completion of the third phase of ethereum’s transition, when it becomes massively scalable, layer-two protocols will still find a place in the ecosystem. He explained:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/what-the-ethereum-merge-means-for-the-blockchain-s-layer-2-solutions
