Block 1: Essential news
 
Binance US struggles to find banking partners
 
Following the collapse of Signature and Silvergate banks, Binance US is struggling to find a new bank to store its customers' funds. In fact, the current cryptocurrency situation in the US makes banks reluctant to partner with Binance. The exchange platform is currently using a temporary solution with an undisclosed third-party asset manager to handle fund transfers. Binance's reputation is being undermined by complaints from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and regulatory uncertainty in the US. It is facing accusations of insider trading, opaque trading and false audits. This makes the global environment hostile for the cryptocurrency sector.
 
Cryptocurrency prices land on Twitter
 
Twitter is partnering with trading platform eToro to make it easier for its users to trade crypto-currencies and stocks. The "$cashtags" feature will display real-time price data. Users will be able to click on a "view on eToro" button to buy or sell cryptocurrencies or stocks. This collaboration reflects, in part, Twitter users' interest in the financial markets and cryptocurrencies. Above all, this development is part of the transformation of Twitter initiated by Elon Musk. Dogecoin, which is considered the Twitter CEO's favourite cryptocurrency, rose more than 5% in the minutes following the announcement.
 
Towards a reopening of FTX?
 
FTX's lawyers recently announced that the US platform could reopen in the coming months, after recovering $7.3 billion in cash and crypto liquid assets. Two options are being considered: return some of the funds to the damaged customers or reopen the platform and offer a share of FTX as compensation. The news sent FTT's share price up more than 120% in 90 minutes. However, caution is advised as the company's disastrous management is still under investigation and its ultimate fate is still unknown.
 
Block 2: Crypto Analysis of the week
 
Expected since 2020, the Ethereum update, named Shapella, was successfully deployed this week. While some analysts saw a "sell the news" scenario in their crystal ball, ETH decided to break out the champagne and hit an eight-month high, trading above $2,000 for the first time since last summer.
ETH/USD
MarketScreener
While the fate of Ethereum is still unpredictable, thanks to Shapella, ETH holders can now withdraw the tokens they had sequestered, considered by some to be a long-lost treasure, in an Ethereum deposit agreement.
 
Many of these dedicated validators have been tied hand and foot by escrowing their ethers since 2020, as well as those who have joined in the meantime, in order to secure the network, including contributing to the blockchain's proof-of-work to proof-of-stake transition in September 2022, in exchange for a 4-5% annual return.
 
Now validators can withdraw their loot. Have they done so in a big way? Not really. On the contrary, deposits have exceeded withdrawals on the staking services, which proves the confidence of investors in Ethereum.

Even with over 18 million ETH (equivalent to $34 billion) locked up before the update, we did not see a flood of sales. The majority of ETH validators were swimming in the red before the event, making it doubtful that they would take their losses.
 
In reality, it is not the ETH token exchanges that are the real headliners, but their doubles, LSDs: liquid staking derivatives - not to be confused with the hallucinogenic drug made from lysergic acid. These LSDs, which are considered to be liquid derivatives, are presented as an alternative to traditional staking. These products allow users to trade a proxy ETH (a liquid ETH representing the sequestered ETH) while continuing to receive staking rewards, thus doubling their holdings for a fee.
Liquid stETH
Hextrust
With this liquid staking process, you deposit your ETH on a custodial or non-custodial platform that remains yours, and in exchange you have a brand new Coinbase stETH, rETH or cbETH to play with. However, good old ETH has always traded slightly above the price of specific LSDs, reflecting the price differential often seen between a managed investment fund and its underlying assets (credit the increased risk and fees).
 
The largest and best known protocols are Lido, Rocket Pool, Frax and Stakewise, and the question after Shapella is what role these protocols will play. Since January, Lido, the largest LSD protocol, has seen money flows soar 92% to $11.3bn, while its decentralisation-obsessed rival, Rocket Pool, has jumped 112% to $1.2bn, according to DeFi Llama. Not to mention their respective tokens, LDO and RPL, which have risen 138% and 120% since the beginning of January, according to CoinGecko.
 
Now, after this update, depositors can convert back to native ETH in a very short time. Thus, liquid staking could experience significant volatility in the coming months, as after Shapella, the market is likely to reassess the overall size of the staking market and the positioning of players, institutional, professional and retail.
 
Ultimately, the Shapella update demonstrates that Ethereum developers are able to build a successful real-time network. With LSDs, stakers benefit from new and less restrictive financial opportunities after Shapella, which will probably encourage more and more investors to dive into the Ethereum ecosystem. As the saying goes, "fortune favours the bold", but it is also wise to remember that the cryptocurrency market can be as unpredictable as the weather, as the year 2022 has reminded us.
 
As the sun sets on the Shapella update and Ethereum's ecosystem continues to grow, one thing is certain: the market's second-largest blockchain in terms of capitalisation is a constantly evolving machine. Nevertheless, its path remains difficult to predict in the medium/long term. Here, the only constant is change.

Block 3 : Gainers & Losers

 

MarketScreener

Block 4 : A few things to read

Crypto VC funding slows down(The Information)

The real costs of the digital Bitcoin race (The New York Times)

New York Times' skewed exposure of Bitcoin mining reveals blatant bias (CoinDesk)