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BEQUANT Crypto&Coffee
The global stocks surged higher yesterday despite mounting concerns that Donald Trump will seek to undermine the results when they are finalised. The president’s campaign has already filed multiple lawsuits in critical swing states, including Pennsylvania and Georgia. Mr Trump has also called for a recount in Wisconsin. Elsewhere, Bitcoin also traded higher, in part benefiting from the aforementioned controversial rhetoric by the President, but also in the wake of the news that Ethereum 2.0’s deposit contract went live, which also resulted in an aggressive rally by Ethereum through the $400 level. The upside by Ethereum has since subsided somewhat, while Bitcoin has continued to edge higher, topping out just above $14,500 in early European trade. It is worth pointing out that despite the ongoing grind higher, the total open interest (OI) rose only marginally yesterday. Similarly, Ethereum OI rose marginally from $1.0bln to $1.1bln. Signs of bullish sentiment appears to be much more evident in the options market where the skew has shifted aggressively lower, Ethereum and Bitcoin alike. Given the aforementioned bullish development by Ethereum, it will be particularly interesting to see how the market tackles it, especially as Bitcoin continues to grind higher and the calls for the re-test of an all-time high grow louder. Of note, the genesis time for Eth 2.0 was first set for Jan. 3, the 12th anniversary of the launch of the Bitcoin network. The date has been moved, the GitHub file shows, to Dec. 1. Staking rewards are reasonably high compared to other investments coming in between 8%–15% annually. Block rewards are calculated using a sliding scale based on the total amount of ETH staked on the network. Said otherwise, if the total amount of ETH staked is low, the reward (interest rate) is high, but as the total stake rises, the reward (interest) paid out to each validator starts to fall.
The development in itself is very bullish for Ethereum, although it was somewhat overshadowed by the focus on the elections in the US. But it isn’t just Ethereum that will likely benefit from further progress but broader ecosystem and in particular DeFi and DEX related tokens. This is especially the case given the recent slide in valuations, with the likes of Uniswap and many others posting heavy losses in the wake of much more contained activity across DEXes. The question is, does Bitcoin continue to outperform or some capital rotates into Ethereum and DeFi/DEX ecosystem – expect another wave of demand for lending and leverage.
In terms of other news flow, CoinDesk writes that Russian hydropower giant has opened Bitcoin mining farm. En+ and BitRiver have partnered to run a new farm, with En+ holding a 80% stake and BitRiver 20% in the joint venture. The venue, located not far from BitRiver’s existing site, will initially offer 10 megawatts of power for miners who would choose to keep their ASICs there, with the potential to expand to 40 megawatts. Of note, BitRiver owns the largest mining venue in Russia, hosting about 100 megawatt worth of clients’ ASICs on a farm near the Bratsk hydropower plant in Siberia. The firm is also looking to expand to neighboring regions with the blessing of the local authorities.
