Blockchain

In a bold move amidst the cryptocurrency market’s recent volatility, US-based trading platform Robinhood has significantly increased its Shiba Inu (SHIB) tokens holdings. 

Despite the native token of the Shiba Ecosystem experiencing a downturn, Robinhood has added over 800 billion SHIB tokens to its portfolio.

Robinhood’s SHIB Portfolio Hits The Trillions

On August 30, crypto data tracking platform Arkham Intelligence revealed that Robinhood ranked as the fifth-largest holder of Ethereum (ETH) and owned 34.086 trillion SHIB tokens, valued at approximately $279.85 million.

While the broader cryptocurrency industry faced a decline, retail investors saw an opportunity to accumulate assets during the price drop. Between August 31 and September 13, Robinhood’s hot wallets witnessed an influx of 877 billion SHIB tokens. 

One of the brokerage’s known wallets added 579.7 billion SHIB, bringing its total Shiba Inu holdings to 8.02 trillion tokens.

This increase indicates a 2.58% rise in Robinhood’s SHIB holdings, bringing the total from 34.086 trillion to 34.936 trillion as of the current date. Remarkably, just 35 days prior, Robinhood held a mere 20 trillion SHIB tokens, equivalent to around $197.40 million. This surge represents a 74.8% growth in the platform’s Shiba Inu portfolio.

Overall, as Robinhood continues to expand its involvement in the cryptocurrency market, particularly with its increased SHIB holdings, it remains to be seen how this strategy will unfold amidst the ongoing market fluctuations. 

The platform’s move to bolster its Shiba Inu portfolio suggests a long-term outlook and confidence in the prospects of the token and the Shiba Ecosystem.

Shiba Inu’s Layer-2 Solution Hits Impressive Milestones

Shibarium, the highly anticipated layer-2 scalability solution of the Shiba Inu ecosystem, has reached significant milestones, demonstrating its potential. 

The latest data showcases the notable progress of Shibarium, including total blocks, transactions, wallet addresses, and daily transaction volume.

Currently, Shibarium boasts a total of 631,140 blocks. Each block represents a collection of transactions within the Shiba Inu ecosystem. This figure highlights the active usage of the layer-2 solution.

The total number of transactions conducted through Shibarium has reached a remarkable 2,610,228. Moreover, Shibarium has also witnessed a surge in wallet addresses. Currently, there are 1,245,886 wallet addresses within the ecosystem. 

Daily, Shibarium processes an average of 200.88K transactions. This transaction volume further reinforces the layer-2 solution’s ability to handle a substantial load of transactions efficiently. 

Despite the positive developments within the Shiba Inu ecosystem and the growing trust from more holders, the SHIB token has only shown profits over the past 24 hours, currently trading at $0.00000740.

However, it is crucial to note that SHIB has experienced significant losses over longer time frames. Notably, it has declined by 7.5%, 28%, and 38% over the fourteen-day, thirty-day, and year-to-date periods.

In the near term, if the token continues to generate profits in the coming days, it may encounter resistance at the $0.00000756 level, presenting a potential obstacle to further price appreciation.

Conversely, if SHIB fails to maintain its current level and continues on a prolonged downward trend, there is a possibility that the token could retrace to its all-time low of $0.00000563. 

This scenario becomes more likely if its last support floor at $0.00000642 does not hold, and positive news regarding the ecosystem and the overall crypto market fails to spur a recovery.

The future trajectory of the crypto market remains uncertain, and it is yet to be determined whether a recovery or further decline reminiscent of the crypto winter is on the horizon.

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com 

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75% of all fiat volume in Binance, the largest cryptocurrency exchange by client count, is dominated by the Turkish Lira (TRY). At this rate, Kaiko, a blockchain analytics firm, confirms that the Turkish Lira is the most preferred currency, pointing to a shift in the global dynamics, especially regarding crypto adoption. 

Turkish Lira Popular Fiat In Binance

As of September 14, 75% of all fiat volume was in Turkish Lira, ahead of the Euro and Brazilian Real (BRL). In the past three years, an unidentified cryptocurrency has gained popularity over traditional fiat currencies.

From 2021, TRY’s use was among the lowest, with the Euro and BRL being popular. However, the trend changed in 2022 as adoption spiked, pushing the currency to the top in 2023.

When writing on September 14, Binance remains the most popular cryptocurrency exchange, supporting over 380 coins. At the same time, the crypto exchange supports over ten fiat currencies, of which other coins, besides those mentioned above, include the Nigerian Naira, GBP, and the Australian Dollar (AUD). 

Looking at statistics, USDT, TUSD, and FUSD pairs are among the most liquid. This observation has been confirmed by Kaiko data, which shows that fiat trading on Binance had contracted by over 95% from 2021 when prices of top crypto assets peaked. By November 2021, Bitcoin prices had soared to nearly $70,000, lifting trading volumes in fiat and stablecoin pairs.

USDT And Stablecoins Still Reign Supreme

CoinMarketCap data reveals that the BTC/USDT pair is the most liquid, with the average daily trading volume exceeding $986 million when writing. On the other hand, the BTC/TUSD attracts over $486 million in trading volume. 

This development highlights the level of liquidity of stablecoins and how they are entrenched in crypto trading. For example, the processing of fiat deposits or withdrawals on Binance can range from hours to days, depending on the method used.

Unlike fiat currencies, stablecoins are more fluid and can be transferred within seconds. For instance, USDT, the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap, is available in over five blockchains, with Ethereum and Tron emerging as the most popular minting platforms. 

Following the delisting of USDC, BUSD volumes spiked. However, the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) directive, barring Paxos–the then issuer–from minting new tokens, saw activity shrink as USDT cemented its position. TUSD and FUSD activity on Binance remains high, as data shows.

A recent survey by KuCoin, a crypto exchange, reveals that over 50% of people in Turkey own crypto. The Turkish government has also been experimenting with a central bank digital currency (CBC), the Digital Lira.

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In the months leading up to the Litecoin halving in August, the price of the blockchain’s native LTC token was continuously on the rise. This renewed interest in investors who rushed back into the token and eventually pushed its price above $100. That is until the actual halving event rolled around, turning it into a “buy the rumor, sell the news” scenario. Since then, it has been a downward spiral for the token and the pain may not be over.

Litecoin Volume Slumps Post-Halving

Litecoin volume since the halving was completed has been less than expected. While investors expected rising demand for the LTC token with the diminished supply rate, the opposite has been the case. Instead, the daily trading volume of the cryptocurrency continued to slump.

In the last day, the Litceoin daily trading volume fell another 23%. This brought its daily volume to $255 million, a significantly low figure compared to the $500 million daily volumes that the cryptocurrency was recording leading up to the halving.

Just like the trading volume, the price of LTC has also plunged significantly. From its pre-halving peak of $112, the altcoin has fallen over 50% to its current level just above $60. This means that the asset has lost all of its gains accumulated between June and July 2023, just one month after the halving was completed.

So rather than being a bullish event as initially expected, the halving has proven to be more bearish than most. It also did not help that it took place during the bear market and LTC has fallen rapidly alongside larger assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Will LTC Fall Continue To $50?

At the current rate, the forecast does not look too good for the LTC price. Litecoin has understandably seen a 3% increase in the past day as Bitcoin recovered above $26,000. But this does not look sustainable by its current metric.

The first indicator of this is that falling daily trading volume means that interest in the asset is waning. As investors move to other assets they believe provide better prospects, this will affect the LTC price and could trigger further downside from here. Add to this that the coin’s price is below its 50-day and 100-day moving averages and it spells a recipe for disaster.

If LTC bulls are unable to hold support above $60 and it falls once again as it did on September 11, then $50 becomes a very possible landing point. Such a decline would put it back at November 2022 levels and signal a prolonged bear trend for the digital asset.

At the time of writing, LTC price is still sitting above $62 but the tug-of-war for control between bulls and bears continues to rage on.

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Friend.tech, a decentralized social network, has witnessed a sharp resurgence barely two weeks after critics pronounced the platform dead. The platform is enjoying renewed user interest, with its total value locked (TVL) surpassing $20 million a few days ago.

Thanks to this growing momentum, Friend.tech has seen its trading volume and platform fees rise to new peaks.

Friend.tech Continues Resurgence With New Trading Volume Peak

Decentralized application (dApp) Friend.tech has witnessed significant activity in the past few days. This has been reflected in the social media platform’s daily active users, which grew to nearly 16,000 on Wednesday, September 13.

As a result of this upward trend, Friend.tech also reached its highest trading volume of $18.51 million on Wednesday, according to Dune Analytics data. The platform recorded $1.9 million in capture fees, representing another all-time high on the same day. 

Dune data dashboard revealed that fees on Friend.tech accounted for more than 35% of the gas cost on the Base blockchain on September 13. 

Moreover, the population of traders on the decentralized application experienced a significant increase, with unique buyers surpassing 155,000. Meanwhile, the number of unique sellers climbed above 75,000 on Wednesday.

As of this writing, Friend.tech has a total value locked of nearly $34 million, according to DefiLlama. This figure represents an almost 30% rise in the past 24 hours.

Here Are Possible Reasons For Friend.tech’s Recovery

Friend.tech went live on Coinbase’s Ethereum layer-2 network, Base, in August. The decentralized application allows users to trade “keys” of X (formerly Twitter) accounts and interact with social media personalities in a closed, group chat format.

Following its launch, Friend.tech gained prominence within a short span. However, activity on the platform slumped abruptly before the end of August, with its trading volume nosediving by 94% at some point.

Fortunately, Friend.tech appears to have recovered from the decline. Although there is no evident catalyst for the platform’s latest activity surge, various theories have emerged from different angles of the crypto community. 

Notably, a recent TokenTerminal report proposed that several factors may be responsible for Friend.tech’s growth. Specifically, the blockchain analytics site highlighted that Friend.tech has no direct competitor, with X (a Web2 application) being its closest rival.

Additionally, the report pointed to the social media platform’s strategic takeoff, which coincided with the public mainnet launch of Base. TokenTerminal suggested that the timing of Friend.tech’s launch was to maximize activity on both the dApp and blockchain.

Another possible reason for the latest resurgence was explained by popular crypto trader Hsaka. According to the trader’s post on X, the platform’s total value locked soared since users discovered they could receive rewards for depositing crypto assets.

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In recent developments, Binance.US, the American affiliate of cryptocurrency giant Binance, is engulfed in a storm of legal challenges and a wave of executive departures. 

Binance.US Rocked By Legal Woes And Executive Exodus

As regulatory scrutiny intensifies, key risk and legal executives have chosen to part ways with the company, adding to the growing list of personnel changes within its ranks.

Following this trend, according to a Wall Street Journal report, Krishna Juvvadi, the head of legal, and Sidney Majalya, the chief risk officer, have also decided to leave Binance.US. 

These departures come in the wake of CEO Brian Shroder’s recent exit, further exacerbating the leadership vacuum at the company. Earlier this week, Binance.US announced the departure of CEO Brian Shroder and disclosed plans to reduce its workforce by approximately one-third, amounting to over 100 job cuts. 

These moves underscore the operational challenges faced by the company following legal action taken against it by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ)

Norman Reed, the general counsel who joined Binance.US in December 2021, will serve as the interim CEO, taking over from Shroder. However, Binance.US has not provided any specific reasons for Shroder’s departure.

The legal troubles for Binance and its subsidiaries intensified when the US SEC filed a civil complaint in June. The complaint accuses Binance and its founder, Changpeng Zhao, of creating Binance.US as part of a deceptive scheme to evade US securities laws designed to protect American investors.

While Binance and Binance.US maintain that they operate separately, the legal challenges faced by the global exchange have had a ripple effect across its affiliated entities. 

The departure of key executives, including Mayur Kamat, the global head of product, and Patrick Hillmann, the chief strategy officer, further underscores the turbulent environment within the company.

As the departures of high-ranking executives continue to disrupt Binance.US, the firm’s spokesperson has emphasized the need to ensure uninterrupted customer service while operating as a crypto-only exchange. 

Nevertheless, the ongoing legal battles and the departure of experienced leaders present significant challenges for Binance.US as it seeks to navigate the complex regulatory landscape and regain stability.

Binance.US will have to address the legal allegations against it and make strategic decisions to rebuild its leadership team, strengthen compliance measures, and restore trust among regulators, investors, and users. The outcome of these efforts will undoubtedly shape the future trajectory of the exchange and its ability to operate within the highly regulated US crypto market.

Despite the recent news, Binance Coin (BNB) has remained relatively unaffected and has experienced minimal impact on its price. The token has closely followed the overall market trend, exhibiting a slight uptick of 0.5% over the past 24 hours.

Featured image from iStock, chart from TradingView.com

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Amid the bullish predictions that have popped up over the last few weeks for the XRP price, the most recent one stands out. The forecast which was presented by pseudonymous crypto analyst and XRP maxi known as Lord XRP, will put the altcoin on par with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum if it becomes a reality.

Analyst Puts XRP Price At $10,000

In a post shared on the X (formerly Twitter) platform, the crypto analyst presents a situation that could see the XRP price rise as high as $10,000. The visual shared puts the XRP market cap in contrast to mainstream payment processing companies dominating the traditional finance sphere.

Such comparisons are not new given that Ripple, the company behind the XRP token, is looking to disrupt the payments sector using blockchain technology. The company is expecting to facilitate faster and cheaper transactions, something that has been repeatedly presented as a bull case for the XRP price.

$10’000 per #XRP is possible pic.twitter.com/aJ8FxrHBIz

— Lord XRP (@Bitforcoinz) September 10, 2023

The chart shows the all-time high market cap of XRP which was $30 billion in 2018 compared to the transactions carried out by payments giants such as Western Union ($80 billion) and SWIFT ($5 trillion). It also highlights the $577 billion in non-cash transactions carried out globally each year.

If Ripple is able to capture a good chunk of this payments market share, then the analyst believes that it is possible for the XRP price to rise as high as $10,000 per token.

Lord XRP is not the only one who has made ultra-bullish predictions for the altcoin, although it is certainly the highest by a mile. Wells Fargo Manager Shannon Thorp has also predicted that the XRP price could reach as high as $500 as Ripple begins to capture more market share in the cross-border payments space.

From the 2023 New Value Report by #Ripple

$250T is expected by 2027 just in cross-border payments!

A $500 XRP price just doesn’t seem like enough to facilitate that amount. $xrp #xrpisnotasecurity pic.twitter.com/HvIIp0vIiD

— Shannon Thorp (@thorpshannon87) September 11, 2023

Is Such A Price Point Possible?

While investors could be giddy to see such price predictions, it does not make them feasible and the evidence lies in the supply of XRP. With a 100 billion total supply, a $10,000 price point would put the market cap of XRP at over $100 trillion, which is actually impossible given that the total crypto market cap is sitting at only $1 trillion.

To put this in perspective, the gold market cap, which happens to be a rather unlimited resource, was only at a $12.7 trillion market cap at the end of 2021. Bitcoin which is the pioneer cryptocurrency, topped out at a $1.27 trillion market cap during the 2021 bull market.

If there was a burn mechanism that drastically reduced the XRP supply over the next few years, then a $10,000 price point could be possible. However, with no burn mechanism and such a large supply still being available, a double-digit price point would be a call for celebration among the community.

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Bitcoin has observed a surge towards the $26,700 level in the past day. Here’s what on-chain data says regarding whether this rise would stay.

Bitcoin Has Broken The $26,700 Level During The Past Day

After a long run of stagnation around and below the $26,000 level, Bitcoin finally seems to be making a steady run above it, as the cryptocurrency has now breached the $26,700 mark.

With this latest rise, BTC is up about 4% during the past week, making the coin the best performer among the top 10 assets by market cap in the sector. After seeing so many fragile attempts at recovery in recent weeks, though, Bitcoin investors might be doubtful whether this rise is here to stay.

On-chain data might provide some hints about this. First, here are how the support and resistance levels look like from an on-chain perspective, according to data from the market intelligence platform IntoTheBlock:

Generally, investors tend to buy more at their cost basis (the price at which they bought their coins) whenever the price dips back to their cost basis from above.

As they had been in profits before this dip, they may believe that the price would rise shortly and that their cost basis could be a profitable entry point for further accumulation.

On the other hand, investors in loss might look forward to the price reaching their cost basis to sell and exit. This can provide resistance to the asset if many investors have the same cost basis as the price it’s trying to test from below.

In the above infographic, the various price levels and the investor concentrations at them are displayed. When IntoTheBlock posted it, the price had been trading at $26,100.

The cryptocurrency is currently mowing through the $26,100 to $26,900 range, which holds the cost basis of a decent amount of investors. Should the asset’s attempts fail, though, the $25,300 to $26,100 range should provide plenty of support, as it currently has a thick concentration of holders.

Bitcoin Exchange Inflows Have Occurred Throughout The Last Month

However, one sign that may be concerning for the asset is that the whales have been making significant deposits to exchanges during the past month, as analyst James V. Straten has pointed out.

The above chart shows the data for the Bitcoin exchange netflows only for transfers worth at least $10 million. This graph shows that the metric has mostly had a positive value throughout the past month, meaning that large entities like the whales have been constantly moving coins into these platforms.

As one of the main reasons these investors may transfer to exchanges is for selling purposes, this could indicate that these holders have been preparing for a selloff.

It remains to be seen whether these Bitcoin whale exchange inflows would lead to this short-lived rise or if the market would bash through the selling pressure.

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The potential Solana (SOL) liquidation from failed exchange FTX has become a focal point for traders and crypto investors. The speculation and accompanying FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) surrounding the potential sell-off have amplified market uncertainties.

A recent court approval paved the way for the embattled exchange FTX to liquidate $3.4 billion in diverse digital assets. This move, announced by Judge John Dorsey, has set off a whirlwind of debates, especially regarding Solana, one of the assets in FTX’s portfolio.

Diving Deep: FTX’s Solana Holdings And Potential Impact

Among FTX’s vast portfolio, a prominent $1.16 billion is in Solana (SOL). When pitted against FTX’s overall liquid cryptocurrency assets worth $3.4 billion, SOL forms a hefty chunk, over one-third.

FTX’s potential dumping of SOL and its conceivable effect on centralized exchanges has led to increasing debates about its potential price impact on the token. However, crypto analyst MartyParty has ventured into the heart of the discussion, trying to clear the air.

The analyst shed light on FTX’s SOL position in a revealing tweet. Highlighting the intricacies, the analyst stated that many of these holdings, linked to FTX’s sister company Alameda, consist of staked SOL tokens. These, crucially, remain locked until 2025.

This is Alamedas Solana wallet which has the rights to the 26,740,743 staked $SOL from 2025-2028.

This wallets keys will be sold in the FTX liquidation. Not the $SOL which cannot be unlocked until 2025-2028.

As Ive been posting for weeks – FTX/Alameda only hold 7m $SOL and… pic.twitter.com/WeIkCKf2Ek

— MartyParty (@martypartymusic) September 13, 2023

As a result, any immediate liquidation involving these tokens remains off the table. MartyParty also emphasized that the imminent FTX liquidation is solely for selling the wallet keys, not the wallet’s contents.

Understanding The True Scope Of The Sale

Further clarification by MartyParty indicates that when the staked tokens are set aside, FTX and Alameda only hold 7 million SOL and Wrapped SOL (wSOL). These are already slated for pre-sale to the Solana Foundation.

In MartyParty words, “There is no more Solana to sell.” When viewing this in light of Solana’s daily trading volume, which fluctuates between 350 million and 450 million tokens, it’s evident that the market can comfortably absorb the FTX liquidation without significant disruption.

To provide perspective, even a total liquidation of FTX’s SOL holdings at the current market rate would tally up to $128.6 million. Not to mention, the weekly sell-off cap set at $100 million further ensures market stability, according to MartyParty.

MartyParty concluded his deep dive by emphasizing that no liquidation event in the past has significantly shaken the crypto market. It’s a “narrative spun to spur sales, with exchanges often capitalizing on the panic to buy low and sell high.”

Meanwhile, over the past 24 hours, Solana has been bullish. The asset is currently up by 4% with a market price of $19.05, at the time of writing.

Featured image from iStock, Chart from TradingView

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Listen up, degens

Summer’s out, and it is time to gear up for another season of Web3 and NFTs. Team VESA has enjoyed the refreshing (too much so at times) weather of our native Finland and some interesting connections and projects have immediately sprouted. Currently, VESA is in Switzerland for a top Web3 conference with the fastest growing crypto ecosystem in the world, Crypto Oasis, but more on that a little later.

First, it’s time to give a shoutout to a friend who is a fellow pioneer in the scene with a sold out project VESA is an advisor for.

Link to project

Selling out was just the beginning.

Fusing art, culture, music, gaming, film, and AI, ‘SYNTHTOPIA’ is a creation of DESTABILIZED, an art collective founded by creative industry veteran ‘QVANTVM‘, with contributions from Scott Page, renowned for his work with Pink Floyd, and a network of strong partners who have contributed to award-winning AAA games, music, and films, from Cyberpunk 2077 to Batman, Warner Bros, HBO, Universal, Netflix, and Disney.

SYNTHTOPIA Rewards
Of course, the project offers a range of rewards to its holders, categorized into different tiers based on the number of NFTs held – from TRAILBLAZER (1-4 NFTs) to PROMETHEUS (200+ NFTs).

Each tier unlocks a unique set of benefits including but not limited to discounts on merchandise, special roles on Discord, exclusive access to events, earning passive income, and having a major influence over the project’s direction. For example, TRAILBLAZER holders can access discounts and participate in airdrops and raffles, whereas PROMETHEUS holders can receive signed designer toys, lifetime free access to all events, and the opportunity to co-create projects or influence the direction of major endeavours.

Other notable privileges for intermediate tiers include:

Executive producer credits for music/film
Major involvement in project direction
Character voice roles for movies and animations
Collaborative opportunities with top-tier artists in the ecosystem
The potential to become a project advisor
Masterclasses from creative talent
All-expense-paid trips to live shows
Passive income from merchandise, video streaming, IP licensing
Unique 1/1 art pieces tailored for the collector
Token airdrops from the Synthtopia ecosystem (third party)
Music team collaborations
More dynamic utilities TBA

More links on the project:

Website:
www.synthtopia.world
Discord:
https://discord.com/invite/cErcnDh2YM
The very cool Live performance from ETH Toronto:
https://www.youtube.com/live/UnIZlFrFWIY?si=js0D6SgRUVw1BRtm&t=23105

VESA and QVANTVM are good friends and have collaborated on many projects. The soundtrack on VESA’s intro video was composed by QVANTVM.

Switzerland ongoing right now

Crypto Oasis home

SWISS WEB3 EVENT

Back to Switzerland. The ongoing Swiss Web3 Fest has established Switzerland as another Dubai-esque sizzle spot for all things Web3 and it was an honour to see how this maiden voyage to Switzerland facilitated a fantastic next chapter of VESA Digital, which is the Mirrors series

Main player in the Swiss Web3 Fest is Arte Marketplace by Tokengate, an NFT platform associated with Crypto Oasis and the larger Arte community.

Arte Marketplace is a highly curated platform that leverages the ecosystem. VESA’s new collection, Mirrors, is now featured on the platform, ready to be discovered.

Check out Mirrors on the front page of Tokengate here.

“Arbiter” is a motion artwork and now available as a 1/1 for 3.2424ETH
Collect here

Mind-Lama is an edition of 10 only available for 0.2919ETH
Collect here

THE MIRRORS SERIES

The Mirrors started its lore at the Museum of the Future where it was the most collected artwork of the exhibition.

A familiar face joining the Swiss Web3 Fest is Thomas Cermac from Cermac-Eisencraft gallery in the Czech Republic.

His gallery that stands for impeccable taste and vision has represented VESA for a while now, and will soon be hosting the brand-new Mirrors- series at its location.

More info on the Mirrors series here

HER EXCELLENCY AND THE FINN TEAM 

One of the most prestigious fine art events in Finland, the Night of the Arts, took place again mid-August. VESA exhibited notably at the event and one of our most treasured friends and patrons, Her Excellency Amna Fikri, the UAE Ambassador of Finland, attended the event called “Art Before AI”

Her Excellency enjoyed the virtual reality version a selection of the Veena Malik project.

The entire Finn Team was also in attendance. Anita ‘Krypto Granny’ Kalergis, Pekka Kelkka aka Papa Blockchain and Elias Ahonen are all Finnish Web3 professionals, who most of the year influence in Dubai, so this was a rare treat.

VESA and the rest of the Finn Team want to thank Her Excellency for visiting the exhibit and sharing the evening with us. 

WEB3 PLANS OF THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF FINLAND

A fresh connection that kindled soon after returning to Finland courtesy of another Finnish Web3 enthusiast, Sointu Karjalainen, was meeting Johanna Eiramo, the Director of the Digital National Gallery in Finland.

Johanna said that the iconic National Gallery is interested in energising its massive catalogue of works, digitizing, and possibly turning them into NFTs.

We touched upon how these iconic institutions already have precious physical real estate and presence in the real world but are now turning their attention to their presence in the Metaverse and how to utilize technology going forward.

We enjoyed the exhibit on the day and look forward to seeing what the future holds for this collaboration.

VESA did a presentation at Sointu’s web3 gathering in Tampere in October

THE DEEPEST WISH

On a rare occasion, passion and profession collide. A community that has been incredibly important for team VESA is ISKCON, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and especially our local Helsinki temple.

During the biggest celebration of the year, the Sri Krishna Janmashtami, VESA presented a work called The Deepest Wish, portraying some of the spiritual themes paramount to a path of God consciousness.

The objective was to auction the 1/10 artwork and donate the proceedings to the temple, since they had been struck with a large bill for the temple’s electrical repairs.

To our great delight, after being introduced to the stage by the temple president Tapo Divyam Das, Mr. Veer Ji Wangoo immediately bought the 1/10 artwork and we got to connect with him off stage.

Hopefully this project continues to serve the community and give thanks to God who ultimately gives us the talent and intelligence to pursue these extraordinary life paths.

Let’s spring into this new season with energy,

More on the Swiss Web3 journey soon,

Keep your flag high,

Lotta for
V E S A
Crypto & NFT Artist
All links to physical, NFTs, and more below
http://linktr.ee/ArtByVesa

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Data shows the Ethereum leverage ratio has been going up recently, something that may lead to higher volatility for the asset’s price.

Ethereum Estimated Leverage Ratio Has Risen To 23% Now

As explained by an analyst in a CryptoQuant Quicktake post, the Ethereum leverage ratio is pointing at increased risk in the market. The “estimated leverage ratio” (ELR) refers to the ratio between the Ethereum open interest and derivative exchange reserve.

The former of these, the “open interest,” keeps track of the total amount of positions that are currently open in the ETH futures market, while the latter metric, the derivative exchange reserve, simply measures the number of tokens sitting in the wallets of all centralized derivative exchanges.

The ELR basically tells us about how much leverage the average user on the futures market is currently opting for. When this indicator has a high value, it means that the open interest has a significant value compared to the exchange reserve, and so, the average contract is going for a high amount of leverage.

On the other hand, low values imply that the futures market users aren’t willing to take risks at the moment as they haven’t taken any significant amount of leverage.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Ethereum ELR over the last few years:

Historically, whenever the ELR has gone up, the price of the cryptocurrency has become more likely to show volatility. This is due to the fact that a higher amount of leverage means that the average contract becomes more likely to get liquidated.

A large amount of liquidations happening at once can lead to chaos in the market, and since this is more likely to happen when the ELR is high, the price can naturally have a greater chance of turning volatile.

As displayed in the above graph, the Ethereum ELR had risen to some high values in August. As it usually plays out, this overleveraged market condition resulted in sharp price action for the asset, which, in this case, occurred in the form of a steep crash from the $1,800 level to the $1,600 level.

The ELR quickly cooled down to relatively low values with the crash, as the positions with the most leverage were weeded out. For a while, the metric moved sideways at these lows, but recently, the indicator has once again started to rise.

At present, the metric has a value of 23%, which isn’t as high as the pre-August crash value, but is still notable nonetheless. Huobi, Derbit, and OKX appear to have a disproportionate amount of leverage as compared to the wider sector, as the ELR for the platforms is currently 88%, 73%, and 43%, respectively.

“When ELR increases, volatility tends to follow the same path,” notes the quant. “In this sense, Ethereum may be heading towards a period of increased turbulence.”

ETH Price

Ethereum had declined towards $1,500 at the start of the week but has since made recovery back above the $1,600 mark.

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