Crypto Market Relief Rally

Over the past week, the crypto market has experienced a significant relief rally off the back of a large market downdraw due to geopolitical tensions. The initial negative impact on Bitcoin, triggered by the outbreak of war between Israel and Iran has begun to subside. Despite retaliatory actions from Israel, the perception is that the initial market reaction to the news was an overreaction, and as the conflict shows signs of de-escalation, investor confidence is returning, encouraging re-engagement with risk-on assets.

Adding to the optimism was the successful Bitcoin halving event on Saturday the 20th, which saw the reward for mining a block halved from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC. Historically, such halving events have been catalysts for bullish cycles in the crypto market, and there is a strong belief that this reduction in block reward will drive Bitcoin, and the broader crypto market, to new uncharted levels.

Bitcoin Price (12th April – 23rd April)

  • We saw Bitcoin drop as low as $59.6k this week before rallying back to 67k today, marking a 12% increase.

The crypto fear and greed indicator still indicates that we are in a greed phase which supports the change to a more bullish sentiment based on the lower rating of 67 last week. Furthermore, we note that institutional adoption is at its highest with many smaller firms gaining exposure to Bitcoin through Blackrock’s ETF. With this, the Bitwise CEO predicts wealth management firms will increase their Bitcoin ETF holdings and expect them to gain even more traction now that the halving is complete.

Fear & Greed Index

  • Current Market Sentiment is in the Greed phase, with a level of 71. This rebound suggests a return of bullish sentiment among investors, indicating a growing confidence in the market’s prospects as many investors are taking advantage of the current market conditions.

Market Narrative Changes

The market sentiment is noticeably more bullish, with a general shift in market narratives. Interest in AI tokens, which had been quite strong, is beginning to stabilise, while decentralized finance (DeFi) is experiencing a resurgence, reaffirming its position as the leading narrative within the crypto ecosystem. Another narrative we continue to see thriving is Real World Assets (RWA) which is being led by Ondo Finance. These two narratives have caught our attention this week as DeFi protocols such as decentralised perpetual markets like dYdX take advantage of volatile conditions and earn significant revenue for their holders through liquidations and transactions.

As we head into this relief rally, two cryptocurrencies that look particularly promising are Ondo and Stacks.

Ondo has shown strong performance recently, especially after the resurgence of the Real World Asset narrative, which gained traction after strong support from Larry Fink, the CEO of Blackrock. The protocol currently offers the tokenisation of U.S. Treasury bills and provides a stable, high-quality USD yield accessible to everyone. We believe this project contains so much potential as it gives everyone the chance around the world to gain exposure to highly traded traditional assets such as treasuries with zero default risk as they are government backed. The potential of Ondo extends far beyond its current offerings, as it could revolutionise access to a variety of traditional assets on the blockchain, such as real estate, hedge funds, and the S&P 500, thanks to the security of government-backed treasuries that have zero default risk.

While the Ondo token primarily serves as a governance token at present, the possibility of introducing revenue sharing for token holders could significantly increase its value. Despite a recent dip from $1.06 to $0.775, Ondo remains a strong token with very high growth potential.

Ondo Price (12th April – 23rd April)

The integration of the Nakamoto Upgrade on Stacks has significantly enhanced its appeal as a platform for developers, particularly by paving the way for decentralised finance (DeFi) opportunities on Bitcoin. Stacks is recognised as the most mature and advanced Bitcoin layer 2 solutions, and this upgrade is set to propel the decentralised financial narrative within the Bitcoin ecosystem. The Nakamoto Upgrade improves network security through Bitcoin finality, and enhances both speed and transaction efficiency between the Bitcoin and Stacks ecosystems. This development opens up a huge amount of previously untapped capital tied up in Bitcoin, allowing investors to utilise this capital for decentralised applications. By facilitating these capabilities, Stacks is positioning itself as a top prospect by leveraging Bitcoin’s security and liquidity for the expanding world of DeFi and we see expect this to grow at exponential rates.

Stacks has recovered extremely well from the recent market downturn. It has risen over 50% from the lows on the 13th and is currently trading at $3.13 at a $4.4 billion market cap, positioning itself in the top 25 tokens.

Stacks has shown remarkable strength after recent market downturn, recovering significantly by climbing over 50% from its lows on the 13th. Currently trading at $3.13 with a market capitalisation of $4.4 billion, Stacks has solidified its position within the top 25 tokens.

Stacks Price (12th April – 23rd April)