Invictus Capital: Weekly Wrap 03.09
By: Dean Adair
Tags: Financial Services, Fintech, Invictus Capital, Crypto, Blockchain News

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Ether, the crypto market’s second largest asset by market capitalization, surpassed $3,500 for the first time since May on Thursday. The asset has since rallied to ~$4,000 amid growing interest for blockchain-based digital assets known as non-fungible tokens which are accelerating the deflationary token burn mechanic. Ether isn’t the only alt coin rallying this past week with the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency, ADA, topping $3 for the first time following the blockchain platform’s test net release on Thursday. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has begun testing the $50k region again, with the current price trend driven mostly by spot purchases. This is in stark contrast to when the price was previously at this level, whereby much of the demand was driven largely by leverage trading. This contrast in market conditions makes for a much more resilient market structure, leaving many erring on the side of the bull as the market gains momentum heading into the weekend.

It was a record-breaking week in the Decentralized Finance (DeFi) space as the total locked value within the DeFi ecosystem reached an all-time high at $173 billion. DeFi is a broad term that refers to projects that aim to decentralize traditional financial activities, such as trading, lending, payments, and asset management, the majority of which are enabled through the Ethereum blockchain. DeFi has now expanded onto other blockchains such as Solana, Polygon and the Binance smart chain, all of which have started to generate significant traction thanks to their lower fees and improved efficiency. Another crypto milestone was reached by Uniswap, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) — recently surpassing Coinbase in daily trading volume for the first time. It proved to be a turbulent week as according to a Wall Street Journal article, the SEC has begun an investigation into the startup behind Uniswap. The investigation is still in its early stages and may not yield any formal repercussions. However, it does signal a fundamental shift in how regulators may approach the DeFi space in this rapidly evolving market. The article follows an announcement by the SEC Chairman Gary Gensler stating that DeFi projects aren’t immune from regulatory scrutiny.

Traditional markets had a solid week, with global equities rallying alongside gold after the weekend was spent digesting Fed Chairman Powell’s Jackson Hole speech, with the S&P500 reaching all-time highs, again. Strong European inflation readings and PMIs also helped support a bullish narrative, despite the ongoing drag that the COVID-19 Delta variant is exerting on economic activity. Good performance in the West masked worrying signs in China’s gargantuan corporate debt market, with the country’s second largest property developer, Evergrande, facing potential insolvency that has seen officials halt trading of their bonds. This, combined with Chinese PMI readings that indicate a slight contraction in economic activity over August, suggest trouble may be brewing in the world’s manufacturing capital.

Around the time of publication, the much-anticipated non-farm payroll numbers were released — with a shocking miss to the downside, rattling markets as it suggests that there may be more serious labor market mismatches, implying a slower-than-forecast recovery. The market digested this to mean a more dovish Fed, with the dollar taking a dive alongside surging gold and crypto prices, as bets on stagflationary conditions (stagnant economic activity alongside elevated levels of inflation) grow. Bond yields also spiked, with inflation fears driving a sell-off in US Treasuries.

Indicators (27 August — 03 September)

The Invictus Podcast: Episode 1

The Inaugural Invictus Podcast is live! Our traders chatted to Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex and Tether about BFX spot market dominance, matching engines and whether NFTs could be used as margin.

Watch the video here.

Invictus Extends $5K Friday Giveaways

Invictus Capital is excited to extend $5K Fridays, a series of giveaways to celebrate the performance of the C10 fund.

Invest in C10 before 23:59 UTC on Thursday, 09 September 2021 to stand a chance to win your share of $5,000!

Read more in the article here.

Borrow Against Your Crypto With Peace of Mind

Crypto users can now, for the first time, borrow against their crypto secure in the knowledge that their investment will not get liquidated. Invictus Alpha (the trading company of Invictus Capital) has engineered a new product that is offering users the opportunity to borrow USD-based stablecoins (or BTC and ETH) against BTC and ETH with no risk of liquidation.

Check out the article here. To inquire, please complete this form.

Invictus Yield Vault

The Invictus Yield Vault allows qualifying lenders the opportunity to lend a minimum amount of $50,000 BTC, ETH and/or Stablecoins for highly competitive interest rates to Invictus Alpha, Invictus Capital’s trading division.

To view our rates and contact our Vault team, please visit our landing page.

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