The Weekly Wrap - Inflation, Futures, Payments and Polkadot Auctions
Nov 12, 2021 - 3 min read
1. US. Inflation hits 31-year high
The Facts:
- The consumer price index published by the U.S. Labor Department increased in October by 6.2% from a year ago.
- This is the 5th straight month of inflation rate being above 5%.
- Global News sees several factors hitting consumer wallets: (a) Persistently higher inflation, triggered by a faster-than-anticipated but uneven economic recovery, (b) trillions of dollars in pandemic-related government stimulus.
Why it’s important:
- Increased inflation is conflicting with the Fed tapering measures.
- The question is when and how quickly inflation rate will decrease again and how high it will go until then.
2. Futures on BTC and ETH show high dynamics in open interest
The Facts:
- ETH futures have hit a new all-time high at $13.37bn in aggregated open interest, compared to $1.51bn one year ago (+885%).
- Open interest for BTC futures sits at $24.53bn, just short of its April high at $27.38bn.
Why it’s important:
- Open interest in a futures market refers to the total value of unsettled trading contracts. A rise suggests that new money is entering the market.
One of the key dynamics driving interest in ETH is the much-anticipated migration to Ethereum 2.0. BTC had to stomach the mining migration out of China in spring 2021 – and recovered since then.
I think it’s reasonable to own it as part of a diversified portfolio…
3. Several payment processors announce support for Bitcoin Lightning
The Facts:
- Notable mentions are Real Estate giant La House, which is aiming to enable lighting payments, Mastercard, who is bringing Bitcoin payment cards to Asia Pacific and PayPal, who is planning to increase its crypto offerings.
- Bitcoin Suisse has enabled lighting payments this week, being the first provider in Switzerland.
Why it’s important:
- With crypto currencies being officially recognized as legal tender in certain jurisdictions, and merchants accepting crypto payments, accessibility to suitable payment solutions is key.
- According to Arcane Research, the Lightning Network capacity has increased by more than 181% YTD.
4. The first Polkadot Parachain auctions are live
The Facts:
- On November 11th the first of the long anticipated parachain auction was launched.
- Acala and Moonbeam are the frontrunners competing for the first slot, with a combined amount of $1.8bn committed.
- A total of $2.5bn has been committed by 10 projects for the first 5 slots in the first day of the auction.
Why it’s important:
- DOTs allocated to parachain auctions are locked up for 96 weeks and therefore removed from the circulating supply during that period.
- The committed DOT currently make up 5.35% of the circulating supply. High demand upcoming auctions could see that number increasing.
Number of the Week
OpenSea becoming the first NFT platform to reach the milestone in all-time volume. (via dappradar)
In other news
- Miami to distribute yield on MiamiCoin to citizens. (via CoinDesk)
- Solana to be integrated into Brave Browser. (via Brave)
- Growth of DEXs outshines CEXs. (via Cointelegraph)
Bitcoin Suisse