The banking default risk in the United States started spreading to European banks, taking down Credit Suisse with a takeover by UBS. However, for the second consecutive week, the crypto markets performed in the opposite direction of the macro headwinds. Bitcoin was the biggest winner of last week’s rally, increasing by 15.5%, while Ethereum increased by 3.9%. The biggest losers were Polygon (-6.72%), Maker (-26%), and Lido (-13.86%), which announced it would launch withdrawals of staked ETH by mid-May, two weeks after Ethereum’s Shanghai upgrade.
Figure 1: Weekly TVL and Price Performance of Major Crypto Categories
Source: 21Shares, CoinGecko, DeFi Llama. Close data as of March 20.
Key takeaways
• Crypto’s market cap increases by 8.5%, despite the looming default crisis in traditional finance.
• Lido Finance anticipates mainnet withdrawals by mid-May; National Australian Bank conducts its first Cross Border transaction using its own stablecoin on Ethereum
• Saudi Arabian NFT marketplace “Nuqtah” raises seed funding from Animoca Brands and Polygon.
Figure 2: Bitcoin Options Open Interest By Expiry
Source: Coinglass.com
Spot and Derivatives Markets
Demand for Bitcoin options contracts has increased to levels we haven’t seen since 2021, inching close to $12B on March 19 alone, with Deribit enjoying the lion’s share of ~$10B. This could mean a trend of allocating investments in cryptoassets as a hedge against inflation and the default contagion risk going around in the banking sector.
On-chain Indicators
Figure 3: Ethereum’s Network Value to Transactions Ratio
Source: Glassnode
Analogous to the price to earnings for stocks, the Network Value to Transactions (NVT) Ratio can help track the realized valuation levels of an asset. As shown in Figure 3, an NVT ratio as high as 300 indicates that Ethereum may be overvalued since the network value, or market cap, is higher than the transaction volume. Whereas downtrends like the one seen in 2017 indicate that transactions are outgrowing the network value and investors may be buying Ethereum at a discount. Although the chart above indicates that the market cap outweighs the volume of transactions on the network, historically speaking the second-largest cryptoasset by market cap is still in a healthy valuation range.
Each week the 21Shares Research team will publish our data-driven insights into the crypto asset world through this newsletter. Please direct any comments, questions, and words of feedback to research@21shares.com
Disclaimer
The information provided does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction. Some of the information published herein may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax or other advice and users are cautioned to base investment decisions or other decisions solely on the content hereof.
First Trust Vest Nasdaq-100® Moderate Buffer UCITSETF – March Class A Accumulation (FTMQ ETF) med ISIN IE0006S0EBF2, är en aktivt förvaltad ETF.
Den börshandlade fonden följer Nasdaq 100:s utveckling och använder FLEX-optioner i ett försök att skydda investerare mot de första 15 % av förlusterna varje år. Buffertstrategin har nackdelen att eventuella värdevinster är begränsade.
Den börshandlade fondens totala kostnadskvot (TER) uppgår till 0,90 % per år. Utdelningarna i ETFen ackumuleras och återinvesteras.
Denna ETF lanserades den 24 mars 2025 och har sitt säte i Irland.
Investeringsmål
Investeringsmålet för FT Vest Nasdaq-100® Buffer ETF – March (”Fonden”) är att sträva efter att ge investerare avkastning (före avgifter och kostnader) som matchar prisavkastningen för Invesco QQQ Trust SM, Serie 1 (”Underliggande ETF”), upp till ett förutbestämt uppåtriktat tak på 18,22 %, samtidigt som det tillhandahåller en buffert (före avgifter och kostnader) mot de första 10 % av förlusterna i den underliggande ETFen, under perioden från 24 mars 2025 till 20 mars 2026.
Det betyder att det går att handla andelar i denna ETF genom de flesta svenska banker och Internetmäklare, till exempel Nordnet, SAVR, DEGIRO och Avanza.
“Bitcoin hitting $100,000 once again isn’t just a milestone: it’s a loud confirmation that crypto is entering a new era,” says Duncan Moir, President at 21Shares. “Over the past weeks, we’ve witnessed Bitcoin break away from traditional markets and carve out its place as a standalone asset class. This decoupling from equities shows investors are no longer treating Bitcoin as just a speculative play—it’s becoming a strategic allocation and a store of value.”
A new chapter for digital assets is unfolding, and Bitcoin is leading the way.
Research Newsletter
Each week the 21Shares Research team will publish our data-driven insights into the crypto asset world through this newsletter. Please direct any comments, questions, and words of feedback to research@21shares.com
Disclaimer
The information provided does not constitute a prospectus or other offering material and does not contain or constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction. Some of the information published herein may contain forward-looking statements. Readers are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties and that actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. The information contained herein may not be considered as economic, legal, tax or other advice and users are cautioned to base investment decisions or other decisions solely on the content hereof.
GLOBAL X EURO STOXX 50 Covered CallUCITSETFinvesterar i de 50 största börsnoterade företagen från Europa och säljer samtidigt köpoptioner på dessa aktier. Fonden genererar intäkter från premierna vid försäljning av optionerna. I sin tur är uppåtpotentialen begränsad om aktiekurserna stiger, eftersom optionerna kan utnyttjas.
Franklin US Mega Cap 100 UCITSETF investerar i de 100 största börsnoterade företagen i USA, såsom Apple, Nvidia eller Microsoft.
Xtrackers MSCI EMU UCITSETFinvesterar i aktiemarknaderna i de tio länderna i Europeiska ekonomiska och monetära unionen (EMU). Företag från Frankrike (32,5 %) och Tyskland (29,4 %) är starkast representerade.
Xtrackers MSCI World Screened UCITSETF investerar i stora och medelstora företag från 23 utvecklade länder världen över, med vissa företag undantagna baserat på ESG-kriterier.
Produktutbudet inom Deutsche Börses ETF- och ETP-segment omfattar för närvarande totalt 2 420 ETFer, 200 ETCer och 257 ETNer. Med detta urval och en genomsnittlig månatlig handelsvolym på cirka 23 miljarder euro är Xetra den ledande handelsplatsen för ETFer och ETPer i Europa.