Firinne Capital

#Ethereum, the world's second-largest #blockchain, has long struggled with scalability. As transaction fees on the network soared, Layer-2 (L2) solutions such as Arbitrum, Optimism, and more recently Base, sprung up to offer users lower costs and faster transactions. These once fledging L2s have matured and risen meteorically in the last two years. Active addresses today on Ethereum account for just 20% of the broader network. What does this mean for Ethereum? #digitalassets https://lnkd.in/e7cc2FNc

The ebullience in the #digitalassets market from the November 2024 US elections has given way to profit taking and navel gazing. #BTC peaked at just around $109k in mid-January but is currently struggling to get back to its six-figure status. #Ethereum, the OG of smart contracts, even has many of its long-term HODLers questioning if its original visionaries have lost their way. Then there’s the long tail of over 17,000 other tokens listed on coingecko. How should we make sense of all of this?

Crypto Comes in From the Cold If there is no such thing as a dull year in #crypto, then 2024 certainly was no exception. It was another year of strong performance for Firinne Capital but also another year of many dramatic twists and turns. It was the year which finally saw #bitcoin cross the much anticipated 100K mark, a US presidential candidate taking time out of his campaign to market his own NFT collection, and a crypto based prediction market “out predicting” all the media experts and correctly forecasting a Trump victory. https://lnkd.in/eSsdQkXa

Bangkok Meets Ethereum: My DEVCON 7 Experience Firinne Capital’s Victor Li, CFA Li traveled to Thailand last month to attend DEVCON. In his words, “Few events capture the evolving ethos of the #blockchain world quite like DEVCON … DEVCON 7 offered more than technical discussions; it was a showcase of the #Ethereum ecosystem’s ambition to redefine trust, security, and #decentralization.” https://lnkd.in/ebVkNtrz

Bangkok Meets Ethereum: My DEVCON 7 Experience Firinne Capital’s Victor Li, CFA Li traveled to Thailand last month to attend DEVCON. In his words, “Few events capture the evolving ethos of the #blockchain world quite like DEVCON … DEVCON 7 offered more than technical discussions; it was a showcase of the #Ethereum ecosystem’s ambition to redefine trust, security, and #decentralization.” https://lnkd.in/ebVkNtrz

The US November 5 election was a step change in many ways, not the least of which for the #cryptoasset market and ecosystem. With a decisive majority of the popular and electoral votes, Donald Trump will resume his second term as the 47th President of the United States. Along with Republican control of the Senate and the House, cryptoasset denizens are expecting sweeping support in the form of clearer and friendlier regulations, broader awareness, and speedier adoption by the general populace. Adding to this, the Federal Reserve lowered benchmark rates by 25 bps on November 7. It is no surprise that we are seeing expectations and prices running hot. #bitcoin #ethereum Firinne Capital https://lnkd.in/eCvyzJpE

Markets which serve the dual purpose of allowing monetization and the extraction of hidden knowledge are known as prediction markets. Although betting on headline events is nothing new, where prediction markets really come to the fore is when combined with the properties of #blockchain technology. Namely the decentralized, anonymous, and fully permissionless world enabled by blockchain transactions is ideal for the full power of prediction markets to be unfurled. #digitalassets #cryptoassets https://lnkd.in/eH5CvfvF

The approval and launch of #Ethereum spot #ETFs in the US in the second half of July was a major milestone for the broad adoption of #digitalassets. The volatility that ensued a week later in early August was a reminder that #crypto markets trade 24/7/365 and constantly price in new information. Not paying attention is a source of risk and missed?opportunities. https://lnkd.in/e7wFs4-C

This week’s cool, damp weather belies the buzz of activity at the Science of Blockchain Conference taking place here in NYC. Academics, builders, and investors all came together to hear about developments in blockchain scaling and security. Similarly, recent macro events from the weaker US July jobs report to the unwind of the JPY carry trade spilled over to the crypto markets and the dampened investor sentiment. However, the sharp drawdown belies the strengthening fundamentals for #cryptoassets that have been developing over the past several months. The approval and trading of both the #BTC and #ETH spot #ETFs in January and July have raised investor awareness and paved the way for easier and broader adoption. Political winds have shifted positively for cryptoassets, and this will possibly result in more favorable legislation in 2025. The CME Fed Watch indicating a high probability that the US Fed will cut rates by 50 bps and the Bank of Japan taking a more cautious approach to raising rates altogether foretell a more benign environment for long duration risk assets. And let’s not forget that the cryptoasset infrastructure and protocol builders remain hard at work. Cryptoasset valuations for quality chains and protocols look attractive here. What do you think? Firinne Capital