[21-28 June 2024] DigitalX Weekly Crypto Update: Market Trends and Analysis

Weekly Price Action

*All figures below are in USD unless otherwise specified.

This week in crypto...

• Asset managers update proposals for Ether ETFs, eyeing July launch
• Zodia Custody partners with 21Shares for crypto ETP custody services in Europe
• RWA platform Swarm Markets to offer tokenised gold via NFTs as MiCA stablecoin rules begin
• Standard Chartered to launch spot trading desk for Bitcoin and Ether: Bloomberg
• Investcorp and Securitize launch fund tokenisation partnership
• Big banks rush in to test ECB’s wholesale distributed ledger tech
• Nubank brings Bitcoin Lightning to its 100M Latin American customers
• Ethereum ETF process is ‘going smoothly’, says SEC’s Gensler

1?? Closing the Gap

This week in markets the spread between the performance of the S&P 500 and Bitcoin, or what we refer to as closing the gap, has widened to 22%, from 19% last week.

2?? The Big Shift - The transition to Web3

Swarm Markets will let users buy NFTs, which represent ownership of physical gold. The Berlin-based real-world asset (RWA) tokenisation platform plans to hold the gold bars in a London-based Brink's vault. Users will be able to swap the NFTs on a peer-to-peer basis via Swarm's decentralised over-the-counter platform after passing know-your-customer (KYC) and anti-money laundering (AML) processes. According to its website, Swarm maintains over $14.6M in total value locked on its protocol. In addition to gold, the platform offers tokenised public company stocks and US Treasury Bonds.

3?? Store of value > Medium of exchange > Access to credit

Alternative asset manager Investcorp and Securitize have inked a partnership to develop fund tokenisation opportunities. The two firms will initially develop tokenised funds within Investcorp's Strategic Capital Group (ISCG), which has $1.5B AUM and launched in 2019. This partnership allows qualified investors to tap into GP staking strategies via Securitize's tokenisation tech, boosting access to burgeoning private markets with the efficiency of blockchain.