Decentral Block Post

Polygon’s native token (MATIC) experienced a 16.4% rally that coincided with the launch of Polygon 2.0 Goreli testnet on Oct. 4. However, the resistance at $0.60 proved stronger than anticipated, and was followed with a 10.6% decline over the six days leading into Oct. 10.

This decline was exacerbated by negative news regarding the departure of a key co-founder and weak activity in Polygon’s zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup subnet.

MATIC’s price has wiped out previous gains from the early October rally, erasing the bullish momentum driven by the expectations of the protocol’s upgrades.

Rallies tend to follow mainnet and protocol updates

Polygon 2.0 is a network of ZK-based layer-2 chains, unified via a novel cross-chain coordination protocol. Polygon’s 2.0 scaling technology was unveiled in June 2023 as a plan for a scaling ecosystem consisting of four layers: staking, execution, interoperability, and proving. Each of these layers contributes to creating an interconnected ecosystem of chains that facilitate secure, fast, and extremely cost-effective transfers.

Among the benefits of Polygon 2.0 are enhanced security and privacy through ZK proofs, full compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), and instant cross-chain interactions without requiring additional security or trust assumptions. It's worth noting that the project is continuing to develop its ZK-STARK-based layer-2 solution, Miden.

Blockchain data flagged by Coinbase director Conor Grogan indicates that Alameda Research redeemed over $38 billion for Tether (USDT) tokens in 2021 despite not having the equivalent assets under management.

According to Grogan, the total value of USDT creation was higher than Alameda’s total assets on its books at the height of the wider cryptocurrency market bull run in 2021.

Grogan also suggests that FTX ordered USDT redemptions were likely to have been from Alameda’s tokens, totalling 3.9 billion USDT. The majority of this redemption amount was carried out during the collapse of the Terra Luna algorithmic stablecoin.

In Jan. 2021, former Alameda co-CEO Sam Trabucco weighed in on prevailing reports of significant USDT mints carried out by Tether and gave inside insights into how Alameda profited off arbitrage opportunities relating to the value of USDT to various trading pairs across different exchanges.

Trabucco described how the premium in which USDT trades to $1 was typically volatile given that Bitcoin to USDT trades resulted in a slight deficit in basis points when compared to BTC/US dollar trades.

Bitcoin (BTC) ground higher on Oct. 10 after the start of legacy market trading saw “de-risking” take over.

Bitcoin price preserves weekly support

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView showed BTC price stability returning ahead of the Wall Street open.

Bitcoin bulls had lost their footing as the week began, with BTC/USD heading to $27,300 before reversing to trade near $27,700 at the time of writing.

“Overall there's been a lot of market de-risking into $27.4K - $27.3K,” popular trader Skew wrote in part of X analysis at the time.

“Important area now because losing that level would take prices back to 1W demand. More importantly, around here into tomorrow buyers need to establish price control for a move higher.”

Nonfungible token (NFT) platform OpenSea says it is unaware of any evidence pointing to a former employee being involved in the infamous AnubisDAO rug pull in 2021 following new accusations on social media. 

In an Oct. 6 thread on X, the anonymous account NFT Ethics tagged OpenSea asking them to respond to its accusations that their former head of ventures Kevin Pawlak is linked to the pseudonymous identity “0xSisyphus" and was involved in "various dubious business dealings."

Both NFT Ethics and blockchain analytics account Lookonchain alleged that 0xSisyphus, and thus Pawlak, played a key role in hyping the AnubisDAO project to investors, shortly before the project transferred the freshly-raised funds to a series of external wallets.

The thread by NFT Ethics attempted to explain that Pawlak’s alleged role in the AnubisDAO rug pull was premeditated with other developers and laundered the proceeds through the memecoin Pepe (PEPE).

However, an OpenSea spokesperson told Cointelegraph that they were unaware of Pawlak’s involvement in any such activities, but also noted that Palwak had a “limited scope” while working at the company.

Solana (SOL) price experienced a 20% gain between Sept. 28 and Oct. 6, but is the rally a tandem move with Bitcoin (BTC) price or is it being driven by other factors. Prior to the price breakout, or perhaps, it’s recovery, SOL faced a turbulent period after a U.S. court approved the sale of $1.3 billion in SOL from the bankrupt exchange FTX.

The bankruptcy court has taken measures to ensure that the liquidation of FTX assets won't become a burden for the crypto market, demanding the sale to occur through an investment adviser in weekly batches in accordance with pre-established rules.

Following the initial impact, which drove Solana's price down to a 2-month low of $17.34 on Sept. 11, some degree of confidence among bulls emerged as it re-established the $20 support on Sept. 29. This movement coincided with a successful upgrade to version 1.16, boosting the SOL token by 16% over the next 7 days.

Solana's rally was also supported by growth in decentralized applications (Dapps) usage and increased nonfungible token (NFT) volumes. Solana's price is now attempting to establish a $23 support and consolidate its position as the fifth-largest cryptocurrency (excluding stablecoins) by market capitalization, surpassing Cardano's $9.22 billion.

Solana’s DApp and NFT market activity surges

When analyzing networks focused on Dapp execution, the number of active users should be a top priority. Therefore, one should begin by quantifying the addresses involved with smart contracts, which serve as a proxy for the number of users.

Decentralized social media (DeSo) application Stars Arena has caused a major uptick in activity on Avalanche’s C-chain network.

As network activity increased, so did the price of the network’s native AVAX (AVAX) token, which has gained more than 8% in the last 24 hours. 

Launched in late September, the Friend.tech-inspired Stars Arena has seen the total number of daily transactions on the Avalanche C-chain — the blockchain component specifically designed for running smart contracts on Avalanche — grow by more than 186% over the past two days.

The Stars Arena application has grown rapidly as well, with more than 10,000 unique active wallets on the platform. Over the course of the past 2 days, the platform has witnessed more than $3.26 million in total trading volume and a little over 462,000 transactions, according to data from DappRadar.

Meanwhile, data from DefiLlama shows that the platform has exceeded $1 million in total value locked (TVL). This however, still pales in comparison to Friend.tech, which commands some $44.27 million in TVL.

United States 10-year Treasury yields soared above 4.8% on Oct. 3, their highest level since 2007. DoubleLine Capital CEO Jeffrey Gundlach said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the spread between the 2-year and 10-year Treasury yields has narrowed from 109 basis points a few months ago to 35 basis points. He cautioned that this “should put everyone on recession warning.”

Arthur Hayes, former CEO of crypto exchange BitMEX, warned in a recent X thread that the government will have to print money to save the bond market as a faster bear steepener — a condition where long-term interest rates rise more quickly than short-term rates — will cause firms to collapse. Some investors believe that this could trigger a cryptocurrency bull market.

It also looks like the institutional investors have started to warm up to cryptocurrencies. CoinShares’ latest Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report shows inflows of $21 million into digital asset investment products for the first time in six weeks.

In this uncertain macro environment, let’s take a look at the charts to determine the next potential move.

Bitcoin price analysis

Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $28,143 on Oct. 2 but the long wick on the candlestick shows the bears are aggressively selling at higher levels. The bears tried to build upon their advantage on Oct. 3 but the bulls held their ground at $27,160.

The Open Network (TON), a decentralized blockchain platform originally designed by Telegram, has secured major funding from the venture arm of the cryptocurrency exchange MEXC.

TON has raised an eight-figure investment from MEXC Ventures, a subsidiary of MEXC’s global cryptocurrency exchange MEXC, the firm announced on Oct. 4. In conjunction with funding, MEXC and the TON Foundation have entered into a strategic partnership aiming to promote global Web3 accessibility by lowering the barriers of entry.

As part of the deal, MEXC crypto exchange will provide marketing services and promotion for the TON-based projects listed on their platform. The firm is also set to launch a TON collateral lending service and eliminate trading fees for the TON token. "The previous cost was the same for most cryptocurrencies on their exchange," TON Foundation’s director of growth Justin Hyun told Cointelegraph.

Additionally, MEXC Ventures will continue funding TON-based mini apps in addition to ongoing support of TON-based projects like the autonomous protocol Megaton Finance, the GameFi platform TONPlay, Fanzee and Sonet. MEXC and the TON foundation are also discussing potential funding for Wallet on Telegram, Hyun said in a statement to Cointelegraph.

With the support of MEXC Ventures, TON Foundation aims to increase the adoption of the Web3 ecosystem within the Telegram messenger, Hyun said. He stated:

In 2021, Ardana Labs claimed it would provide an innovative stablecoin platform for the Cardano network. The new project, called “Ardana,” would allow investors to lock up crypto collateral and mint fiat-pegged stablecoins, including a U.S. dollar-based token called dUSD. It raised $10 million from investors that year, but it suddenly closed up shop in November 2022, citing “funding and project timeline uncertainty.” 

Some investors blamed the loss on the “crypto winter” of 2022, during which many legitimate projects went bust from lack of funding in the extended bear market. However, new evidence from Web3 risk-management platform Xerberus suggests there may be more to the Ardana story than just fundraising issues.

According to Xerberus, Ardana executives likely transferred 80% of the project’s funds to a personal wallet after first attempting to obscure the transactions by sending some through centralized exchanges. The transfers were allegedly conducted by CEO Ryan Motovu or some other C-level team member. Once the funds were in this wallet, the executives made a series of bad crypto investments, Xerberus alleges. These investments resulted in a loss of approximately $4 million, shortening the runway for the project and ultimately leading to its collapse.

Ardana’s rise and fall

Ardana was first announced in the summer of 2021, and by October 2021, it had raised $10 million from venture capital firms CFund, Three Arrows Capital (3AC) and Ascensive Assets. Thanks to its successful fundraise and the prominence of its backers, some investors came to believe that Ardana’s upcoming token, DANA, would deliver outsized market gains.

The following month, Ardana announced that it was also partnering with Near Protocol to create an asset bridge between Cardano and Near.

Cryptocurrency assets experienced inflows for the first time in six weeks during the week of Sep. 22-28, according to the latest Digital Asset Fund Flows Weekly Report from European digital assets management firm CoinShares.

Bitcoin was the biggest gainer with inflows in the amount of $20.4 million for the week.

Solana took second with $5 million as the only other asset to show inflows. Per CoinShares, this is its 27th week of inflows with only four weeks of outflows for 2023, making it “the most loved altcoin this year.”

On the flip side, Ethereum experiences outflows in the amount of $1.5 million. This marks its seventh consecutive week of outflows and, according to CoinShares, solidifies its status as “the least loved altcoin.”

Related: CoinShares says US not lagging in crypto adoption and regulation

The United States legislators in the House and Senate came to a temporary agreement on Sep. 30 and averted a government shutdown for 45 days. This news could have acted as a catalyst for Bitcoin’s (BTC) sharp rally on Oct. 1. Additionally, the historically strong performance of Bitcoin in October could have boosted sentiment further.

The U.S. stock markets are also in a sweet spot in October. Data from the Stock Trader’s Almanac shows that the S&P 500 Index (SPX) has risen by an average of 0.9% in October, between 1950 and 2021. However, it does not mean that the bulls can be carefree because the stock market weathered one of its worst declines in the Black Monday crash in October 1987.

While a short-term up-move is possible in the cryptocurrency markets, it is unlikely to start a runaway rally. Higher levels are likely to witness profit-booking as the skyrocketing U.S. dollar index (DXY) could keep the bulls on the edge of their seats.

What are the important overhead resistance levels in Bitcoin and altcoins that may attract sellers? Let’s analyze the charts to find out.

S&P 500 Index price analysis

The S&P 500 Index plunged below the formidable support at 4,325 on Sep. 22. That completed a bearish head and shoulders pattern, indicating the start of a downward move.

Bitcoin (BTC) is attempting to trade above $27,000 which is a positive sign. In the past few days, Bitcoin’s price held up above $26,000 in adverse conditions when the United States dollar index (DXY) was rising sharply and the S&P 500 index (SPX) was plunging. This suggests that selling dries up at lower levels.

The decision by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission to delay the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETFs) ahead of schedule also did not dent prices. This indicates that the market participants are taking a longer-term view on Bitcoin. Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart believes that an early decision was taken by the regulator as there is a risk of a U.S. government shutdown on Oct. 1.

Bitcoin’s resilience over the past few days seems to have boosted trader’s sentiment. That helped start a recovery in most major altcoins, which are trying to climb above their respective resistance levels.

Could Bitcoin extend its up-move in the near term and will that start a revival in the crypto space? Let’s study the charts of the top 10 cryptocurrencies to find out.

Bitcoin price analysis

After struggling for several days, the bulls finally propelled Bitcoin above the moving averages on Sep. 28. The bulls are currently trying to thwart attempts by the bears to yank the price back below the 20-day exponential moving average ($26,534).