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News

Markets

Bitcoin Hits 9-Month High Above $27,500

Largest Cryptocurrency Continues To Outperform As Dominance Rises Above 45%

By Aleksandar Gilbert

As crypto markets surge Friday — their fourth daily rally this week — Bitcoin continues to outperform and briefly topped $27,500 for the first time since June 2022.

Heading into the weekend, Bitcoin is up nearly 10% since yesterday and more than 35% over the past seven days.

Meanwhile, Ether has rallied 27% over the past week and is trading above $1,800 for the first time since September 2022.

Bitcoin’s share of the crypto economy is also at a six-month high, accounting for 46% of the industry’s global market capitalization.

Read the full story in The Defiant

Prediction Markets

Betting Market for Arbitrum Airdrop Surges Before Announcement

By Owen Fernau

A key indicator shows traders started aggressively betting Arbitrum’s ARB token would be airdropped hours before the token distribution was announced.

On March 15, a day before the airdrop went public, traders on prediction market Polymarket started placing more bets that the airdrop would happen before March 31. “Yes” shares spiked as high as $0.72 after sitting as low as $0.17 cents four days previously.

The bets are sparking speculation that there may have been traders who knew of the airdrop announcement before the general public and were able to profit from that information.

Read the full story in The Defiant

Layer 2

Daily Layer 2 Transaction Count Soars To Record 1.54M

Ethereum Scaling Solutions Surpass Mainnet By 48%

By Samuel Haig

Activity on Layer 2 networks has surged to new all-time highs, with combined L2 activity beating out mainnet Ethereum transaction volume by 48% on Thursday.

More than 1.54M transactions were executed on Layer 2 networks in the past day, compared to 1.04M on Ethereum, according to Orbiter Finance. L2 transactions previously peaked at 1.52M on Feb. 22.

The data shows that Ethereum users are increasingly migrating onto Layer 2 scaling solutions, which offer faster and cheaper transactions compared to Ethereum’s mainnet. 

Read the full story in The Defiant

DeFi

MakerDAO Doubles Down On US Treasuries

Strategy Helped DeFi Lender Weather The Bear Market By Generating Yield On Reserves

By Aleksandar Gilbert

MakerDAO, the decentralized organization that runs the Maker protocol, voted this week to invest up to $750M in U.S. Treasuries. The measure passed with three-quarters of the votes cast in favor.

The yield earned from Treasuries and other real-world assets has cushioned an otherwise dramatic drop in revenue at Maker.

The move could more than double Maker’s exposure to U.S. Treasuries; in October, the DAO voted to invest up to $500M in U.S. Treasuries and corporate bonds.

Read the full story in The Defiant

Regulation

Crypto Banking

Lobbying Group Hunts For Proof That Feds Are Targeting Crypto

Blockchain Association Requests Information From US Banking Regulators

By Aleksandar Gilbert

Speculation that the U.S. government has launched a coordinated attempt to “un-bank” crypto companies is running rampant following last month’s flurry of regulatory missives and lawsuits.

According to one industry lobbying group, it’s just that — speculation. But a little sunshine might help to prove that.

The Blockchain Association has sent open records requests to the Federal Reserve, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, in an attempt to determine whether regulators have instructed banks to close crypto companies’ accounts or otherwise create an environment that is hostile to the industry.

Read the full story in The Defiant

Defiant Video

Weekly Recap

🚨Arbitrum Airdrop Is Confirmed!

Podcast Video

How To Decentralize a Fortune 500 Company