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Cryptoassets of the Month: FTM, SOL, and More
Every month, 21Shares research team will present the cryptoassets of the month that increased or dropped in value by more than 15%. With a data-driven approach, we highlight the most important developments and events causing price movements.
Figure 1: 30-Day Performance: Cryptoassets of the Month vs. Traditional Asset Classes
Data Source: 21Shares, CoinMarketCap, and Yahoo Finance, from 31-Dec-2022 to 31-Jan-2023 (Close Price)
Fantom (FTM)
Fantom’s native token FTM rose 169.45% over the past month as efforts concentrated on increasing developer traction. On January 19, Fantom released a decentralized funding system to finance new projects, dubbed the ”Ecosystem Vault,” which will accrue 10% of all transaction fees on the blockchain. Projects can apply for funding by submitting a governance proposal, which has to receive at least 55% approval via an on-chain vote. In the last 30 days, the Fantom blockchain has generated $158.78k in transaction fees, which translates to ~$1.9 million annually. Assuming revenue remains the same, projects building on the Fantom network could receive ~$190k in funding during the coming year.
Solana (SOL)
Solana (SOL) rallied 140.46% in January. In our December issue, after SOL closed the month below $10, we argued that ”despite recent challenges, Solana has retained a loyal base of developers committed to its long-term success.” According to Electric Capital’s Developer Report – of the ecosystems with more than 1,000 monthly active developers as of December 2022 – Solana was the fastest-growing, registering a 74% increase over the previous year. This trend is incredibly bullish for Solana’s ecosystem, as developer engagement is an early and leading indicator of potential value creation. In retrospect, SOL’s capitulation in December 2022 is likely to be remembered similarly to ETH’s $80 moment in December 2018.
Aave (AAVE)
Aave (AAVE) rallied 59.72% over the past month. On January 27, Aave Protocol V3 was deployed on the Ethereum mainnet. Aave V3 offers innovative risk mitigation features like ”Isolation Mode,” improved capital efficiency via ”E-Mode,” and a 25% reduction in transaction costs. Aave V3 was first deployed in March 2022 across six networks, including Polygon, Arbitrum, and Optimism. Regarding ecosystem traction, Lemon – a mobile wallet with more than 1.7 million users in Argentina and Brazil – integrated Aave’s smart contracts on January 24, allowing users to deposit their tokens into the protocol and earn seamlessly on their wallet interface.
Bitcoin (BTC)
Bitcoin traded up 39.84% over the past month in a spot-driven rally that lifted crypto’s total market cap above $1 trillion. BTC dominance rose to 41%, up from ~38% in December and reaching its highest level since July last year. On January 13, BTC broke above the 200-day moving average (MA) for the first time in 381 days. In the previous bear market in 2019, it took BTC 386 days to trade above the 200-day MA, after which it soared by ~165% from ~$4.9k on April 2 to ~$13k on June 26. Coincidentally, BTC’s market value to realized value (MVRV) ratio also broke above the ”1” mark on January 13. The last time this happened was in March 2020, marking the beginning of the previous cycle’s meteoric bull run.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum traded up 32.57% over the past month. ETH’s net issuance since the Merge turned negative for the second time on January 15 (122 days after the switch to PoS), alongside an increase in the amount of ETH burned, a sign that the cryptoasset’s prospects as a deflationary asset depend heavily on network usage. In addition, the amount of ETH deposited for staking surpassed 16 million on January 12. Lido, a liquid staking protocol, had the largest share with ~29% of total staked ETH and almost 120k unique depositors as of January 31. Finally, Ethereum still has the most vibrant developer ecosystem, with more than 5,700 monthly active developers as of December 2022, a ~5x increase from 2018.