February proved to be a recovery period for the industry with a healthy momentum observed for both DeFi and the NFT space. Crypto enjoyed an upswing as investors regained an appetite for risk, outside of traditional asset classes.
The Ordinal Inscription on Bitcoin brought waves of discussion to the community, essentially dividing users on the utility of the blockchain. Nonetheless, it is heartening to witness it evolve and embrace new demands for block space.
Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade in March has dominated the headlines, as it will allow ETH stakers to remove their staked ETH. A snapshot of the current Liquid Staking Derivative (“LSD”) landscape reveals Lido’s consistent market dominance but also the emergence of new innovative protocols in the ecosystem.
Dominance of Ethereum in DeFi still remains although total value locked (“TVL”) continues to increase across the top blockchains such as BNB Chain and Tron. Meanwhile, the Layer-2 narrative is in full swing, with leading optimistic roll ups, Optimism and Arbitrum gaining significant traction.
While NFT trading volume has increased due to the highly anticipated Blur airdrop, it remains to be seen how trading volume will look when airdrop incentives taper. Separately, the NFT lending landscape has hit all-time highs in its demand and TVL, and looks to be gaining ground as holders seek ways to unlock liquidity of their assets.
In terms of returns, several coins have exhibited strong price actions, largely driven by idiosyncratic factors specific to each chain. We go into more details in this report.
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