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Paxos Halts BUSD, Bitcoin’s Taproot Welcomes Over 76K NFTs, and More!
Markets crumbled in its first week after US regulators cracked down on Paxos, ordering it to halt minting BUSD. Bitcoin and Ethereum decreased by almost 6% and 10%, respectively, over the past week. Headwinds have affected Avalanche and Optimism the most, decreasing by 15.6% and 27%, respectively. What may be contributing to Optimism’s drop is the surprise token airdrop launched by the network on February 9, sending 11.7 million governance tokens to more than 300,000 wallets to distribute 19% of its initial governance token supply, as Ethereum’s scalability solution targets wider adoption to compete with its rival, Arbitrum. Maker DAO’s native token MKR was the biggest winner in last week’s rally, declining by 2.7%. The DAO’s resistance could be attributed to its blue-chip lending protocol, Spark Protocol, which it announced last week to compete with Aave. The DAO also integrated Chainlink for its DAI stablecoin, which is expected to accrue flows with the potential growth of investors’ appetite for decentralized stablecoins in light of the recent regulatory crackdown.
Figure 1: Weekly TVL and Price Performance of Major Crypto Categories
Source: 21Shares, CoinGecko, DeFi Llama. Data as of February 13 (close price).
Key takeaways
• Paxos halts BUSD minting in compliance with the Securities and Exchanges Commission in the latter’s latest series of crackdowns on unregistered securities.
• The Zhejiang testnet successfully simulated staked ETH withdrawals, and developers set February 28 as the target date for Sepolia.
• Aave’s decentralized stablecoin, GHO, is live on Ethereum’s Goerli testnet, while Tether’s USDT gains market share over USDC and BUSD.
• Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade soars in adoption and opens the door for Bitcoin-native NFTs.
Spot and Derivatives Markets
Figure 2 – Total Bitcoin Liquidations
Source: Coinglass
Over the past week, we have seen the largest long squeeze in months of over $530M liquidated on Binance, OKX, and Bybit. This dynamic is an indication that there were more funds betting on Bitcoin, and the recent negative rally disappointed their positions on the back of the series of regulatory crackdowns on crypto companies in the US.
On-chain Indicators
Figure 3: Bitcoin Taproot Adoption
Source: Glassnode
Figure 3 shows that Taproot adoption surpassed 5% for the first time on February 1 and reached 17.68% on February 9. The sudden rise in Taproot adoption is attributed to the launch of a project called Ordinals, which enables Bitcoin-native NFTs. Created by Casey Rodarmor, Ordinals embed image-related data into the Bitcoin blockchain using the input field in Taproot transactions. The Taproot upgrade, activated in November 2021, makes it cheaper to store arbitrary data and allows users to store as much data as they like in a single transaction, as long as they pay for it and the total block size remains under 4MB. Before Taproot, one had to use multiple transactions or inputs to store large amounts of data.
The introduction of NFTs on Bitcoin can expand its use cases beyond a store of value asset and, perhaps more importantly, drive more demand for block space. The latter would increase fees, which would be a net positive for the long-term security of the network, especially as the emission of new BTC will end in 2140.
Next Week’s Calendar
Source: TradingView
From the Press
On February 8, we released the Global Crypto Classification Standard (GCCS) in partnership with CoinGecko. The term ”cryptocurrency,” still widely used, is a misnomer as cryptoassets can vary dramatically in nature, both as it relates to the asset (token) itself and the protocol behind it. The GCCS uses three levels of categorization to demystify the misconceptions around cryptoassets and shed light on commonalities and differences of this burgeoning asset class.
Read our full report here
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.
Dogecoin’s performance and staying power across multiple market cycles suggest it is not “just another one of those memecoins”.
Over the past decade, DOGE has outperformed even Bitcoin, delivering over 133,000% in returns, nearly 1,000x BTC’s gains in the same period. Despite deep drawdowns during bear markets, Dogecoin has shown remarkable structural resilience.
Following each major rally, it has consistently formed higher lows, a pattern of long-term appreciation and compounding strength.
Historically, Dogecoin has closely mirrored Bitcoin’s movements, often peaking a few weeks after. While 2024 saw Bitcoin dominate headlines following landmark ETF approvals, DOGE still followed its trajectory, though it has yet to stage its typical delayed breakout.
As macro uncertainty continues to fade and momentum returns to the market, retail participation is likely to accelerate, setting up conditions in which Dogecoin has historically thrived.
At the same time, regulatory clarity around Dogecoin has improved. The SEC recently confirmed that most memecoins are not considered securities, comparing them to collectibles. Additionally, they clarified that proof-of-work rewards, like those earned from mining DOGE, also fall outside that scope. These developments further legitimize Dogecoin’s role in the ecosystem, potentially setting the stage for its next paw up, especially as it now holds a firm base around $0.17, nearly 3x its pre-rally level before reaching a new all-time high in the last cycle.
In addition to its long-term performance, Dogecoin stands out as an asset that behaves asymmetrically, offering investors a rare source of uncorrelated returns across both traditional and crypto portfolios. With an average correlation of just 15% to major assets, DOGE’s price action remains largely detached from broader macroeconomic trends, reinforcing its value as a true diversification tool.
Dogecoin demonstrates significant independence within the crypto market, with its correlation to Bitcoin at only 31% and to Ethereum at 37%. This divergence stems from unique capital flow dynamics, where higher-beta assets like DOGE tend to rally after blue-chip crypto assets reach major milestones.
While Bitcoin slowly evolves into a digital store of value and Ethereum powers decentralized infrastructure, Dogecoin remains largely a cultural asset, thriving on narrative momentum and crowd psychology, offering explosive upside when risk appetite surges.
For investors seeking an upside without mirroring the behavior of core holdings, Dogecoin offers a compelling case. Its ability to decouple from market trends while tapping into more speculative surges makes it a powerful, though unconventional, addition to a portfolio with wildcard potential.
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.
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