An overview of what is happening in the crypto markets, summarised daily by Crypto Finance AG Senior Trader Patrick Heusser in the market commentary.
Market commentary
Good Morning!
There are a couple of hot topics today worth highlighting.
1. FTX acquires Blockfolio
This is a pretty bold move if you ask me - also due to the hefty price tag. However, it might unlock the flow floodgates for FTX and their DEX project Serum powered on the Solana blockchain. I am only speculating here, but they might try integrating direct trading ability into Blockfolio. This would enable millions of users to trade on FTX and Serum (their DEX) straight from their smartphones. With the already announced hire of the former Robinhood head of crypto Sina Nader they gave a clear signal that FTX aims to become the "Robinhood" of crypto.
The market reacted pretty aggressively to the news, with FTT, SRM, and SOL tokens all bouncing back strongly after yesterday's broad market sell-off.
2. The DeFi hype seems to be stimulating a closely linked ecosystem/service provider: the Melon Protocol
In a nutshell, Melon is an open-source protocol that enables the setup and management of pooled digital assets on-chain. By automating the back and middle office processes through the use of smart contracts, Melon enables asset managers and fund sponsors to create their own tokenised investment vehicles.
The MLN token did a 10x between July and August alongside the DeFi hype. I wonder if they will be able to call the shots, or have the capability to keep up with, e.g. yearn.finance, which offers a similar service to Melon via their Vault application. A next step for further improvement is already in the making with the MIP7 proposal. In short, they want to change the tokenomics to be able to align with the potential growth of Melon's platform.
All in all, this space has enormous potential, but like every new invention (especially in crypto) it will require some fine tuning and a touch of increased seniority. Some initial hurdles have already been cleared: by AaveAave (LEND), who received an E-Money licence from the UK regulator (FSA).
3. CoinFLEX will offer perpetual futures with physical delivery
This announcement was missed by the retail community. But this makes sense because when you read the Medium article, you will see that it seems to be quite a difficult product to understand. If you want to trade the physical delivered perpetual future, you need to be familiar with the repo market. In the traditional world, this only applies to institutionals. My guess is that they want to ride the wave of more institutionals coming into the crypto space. But they are probably too early and will need to overcome the biggest obstacle any exchange faces with a new product: liquidity.
