Only Polygon will survive?

Welcome to The Daily Moon. Bybit has struck an agreement with the Ontario regulators. The crypto exchange is giving up ~$2.5 million of its revenue as settlement. It will neither accept any account requests nor offer new services to Ontario residents. All of this to placate Canadian watchdogs in hopes of a future licence.

Polygon Is Winning

Polygon’s native token MATIC doesn't care about the bear. The token has seen a sharp rebound of ~60%. Sharks and whales have triggered a bull run of sorts, accumulating the token in bulk. Is it the beginning of a pump, or is there more to this enthusiasm?

The pump The whales are loving the MATIC. Over the past 24 hours, Polygon and MATIC emerged as the most traded and purchased token on its blockchain. The top 100 whale wallets brought 30,000 MATIC tokens worth about $15,000.

Holders with 10,000 to 10 million MATIC have also aggressively added this coin to their crypto holdings over the past 6 weeks. Collectively, they have increased their MATIC holdings by almost 9%.

The heartFor now, it seems one reason MATIC could be hot is that it has a very strong green mining core. Reports show that Bitcoin mining generates ~23 million metric tons of CO2 every year.

Polygon, meanwhile, has partnered with the on-chain carbon market KlimaDAO to offset its carbon emissions. The firm bought tokenised carbon credits worth $400,000 and then retired them. This represents about 104,794 tonnes of greenhouse gas. It’s the sum total of all CO2 emissions in the network. This makes it cheaper to mine MATIC, hence building a margin.

The privacyPolygon also offers users the opportunity to verify their identity without losing anonymity. This means improved privacy and better voting experiences for DAOs.

But does all of this point to a reason ‌Polygon and MATIC are hot? Keep a close eye on its prices. That will tell the story.

A Rough Voyage

The downstream effects of the crypto crash are now playing out. Another lender, Voyager Digital, is in trouble. For one, Three Arrows Capital (3AC) owes it $311 million in Bitcoin and $350 million in USDC.

No investor likes knowing nearly insolvent debtors. And Voyager Digital’s share price dropped ~60%. But Sam Bankman-Fried is trying to rescue the company via a $500 million loan.

Dire times FTX’s Bankman-Fried is now the largest shareholder at Voyager, with a ~12% stake. To be fair, Voyager was running out of options, considering 3AC will almost surely default on the $25 million repayment. Voyager is getting ready to sue.

Familiar storyTo preserve cash, Voyager has brought down its daily withdrawal limit to $10,000 from $25,000. Currently, the platform has $3.4 billion in assets, out of which $2.4 billion has been loaned out. Voyager’s first quarter earnings have also not inspired much confidence, with losses of $61.5 million.

Regulators Closing In

Global regulators never really turned their attention away from crypto. The current downturn is giving more excuses to crack a whip. Singapore’s monetary authority has vowed to go hard on any bad behaviour. Others are not far behind.

A big noIt’s not just Singapore saying it won't be friendly to an unreal economy. Chinese regulators in Shenzhen have warned that crypto and allied businesses are illegal in the mainland.

That’s not all. The overseas staff of Chinese crypto firms may also face legal risks. Crypto transactions have been banned in China since September 2021.

Brace for impactBigger regulatory crackdowns are being advised. ECB President Christine Lagarde wants regulations for crypto staking and lending. That’s because Europe’s Markets in Crypto-assets Regulation are still two years away.

The US is not far behind. Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has called for increased crypto regulations amidst record inflation.

India’s FII Winter

It’s not just crypto. Indian stocks are also seeing a bear market, thanks to foreign investors pulling out. Since October 2021, FIIs have withdrawn ~Rs 2.1 trillion from Indian equities. And the exits continue.

Driving out Sensex is down ~10.5% since the beginning of the year. The impact has been more pronounced because of FIIs selling off. To be fair, India isn’t solely responsible.

1. The Russia-Ukraine war is causing oil prices to rise.

2. Inflation has increased globally.

3. The Indian rupee has fallen against the US dollar.

It is a vicious cycle. FIIs are worried about the Indian currency’s depreciation and selling stocks. In response, the rupee slides steeper.

Recovery isn’t happening ‌soon, experts say. This is especially after US Fed chair Jerome Powell admitted that recession is a possibility.

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Who are we? There is a lot happening in our world. Everything has layers, and each layer has to be carefully peeled so you, the reader, know how the world of money is changing every day. That’s our promise. Help you unpeel the onions, which are the public markets in the US, India, and crypto, so that you know just a little more.