Bitcoin Flipflops; MATIC, LINK Surge as Dim Market Action Continues

Bitcoin saw a surge in value later on Wednesday, following the revelation that the U.S. job growth over the past year (up to March 2024) had been revised downward by 818,000 jobs compared to the initial report.

As a researcher, I’ve been tracking recent developments, and here’s what I’ve found: Reports suggest that Robert Kennedy Jr. might withdraw from the 2024 presidential race by the end of this week. Interestingly, there are indications he might endorse Republican Donald Trump, who has expressed strong support for cryptocurrency as a potential President. Betting markets on Polymarket are showing a high probability of approximately 94% that this event could transpire – a significant shift from earlier predictions this week.

Initially, the price increase was temporary, but it didn’t last long. Traders swiftly cashed out, causing Bitcoin to plummet down to around $59,900. However, it rebounded during Asian trading on Thursday, reaching over $60,800, which resulted in a slight recovery for the overall market.

In simpler terms, Alex Kuptsikevich from FxPro stated that the value of the crypto market did not exceed $2.15 trillion and instead dropped by 2.3% to about $2.1 trillion, which is close to where it was on Tuesday. From a technical perspective, Bitcoin has moved downwards again after another attempt to cross its 50-day average, remaining within this range for the past six days.

“Apparently, there was a strong preference for alternative investments like gold among institutions yesterday,” he commented further. Gold reached new peaks on Tuesday due to a weakened U.S. dollar and increased purchases from risk-averse investors who opted for safer assets.

The flow of funds into Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) listed on U.S. stock exchanges stayed subdued yesterday, registering just $39 million in total inflows. This minimal increase suggests that professional investors are not showing significant new interest in Bitcoin, which could potentially lead to downward pressure on its price.

The liquid CoinDesk 20 (CD20) index, which tracks the largest tokens by market cap, rose 1.54%.

LSD on track to doubling

Approximately one year ago, HashKey Capital predicted that the total value locked in Ether Liquid Staking Derivatives would nearly double from around $22 billion (as of August 2023) to approximately $44 billion by August 2025. As we reach the midpoint of this forecasted period, it appears that they are accurately predicting the trend.

Based on information from DeFiLlama, the Total Value Locked (TVL) in Ether LSD reached an impressive $36.25 billion, and Lido accounted for about 70% of this market.

Although Ethereum prices have been fairly stable, the desire to stake Ethereum is growing rapidly, reaching a record high of approximately 7,400 validators in the waiting queue, as stated by HashKey Capital analysts in a note to CoinDesk. However, the annualized staking yields have remained steady at around 3.5% for the past four months, resulting in a scenario where there are many more potential validators eager to join, but the rewards are not significantly increasing.

In the last twelve months, analysts have observed a substantial expansion in Ethereum staking and liquid staked derivatives (LSDs), even amidst hurdles concerning incentives and Ethereum’s future position within its own ecosystem.