Distributed Ledger: Here’s why retail investors will come back to crypto, despite Fed rate hikes, says chief executive at eToro

Crypto in a snap

Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
+0.02%
has lost 5% over the past seven days, recently trading at around $39,930, according to CoinDesk data. Ether
ETHUSD,
+0.10%
was down 3.1% over the seven-day stretch to around $3,013. Meme token Dogecoin
DOGEUSD,
-0.23%
logged a 1.5% loss while another dog-themed token, Shiba Inu
SHIBUSD,
-0.16,
traded 8.7% higher from seven days ago.

Crypto Metrics

Return of retail traders?

Trading volume for bitcoin has been sluggish for the past few weeks, especially with those from retail traders, as the Federal Reserve tightens its easy monetary policy by raising interest rates and looking to reducing its balance sheet.

The 7-day average bitcoin trading volume stood at $2.8 billion on Tuesday, the lowest level since December 2020, according to Arcane Research. 

However, the market will see a comeback by retail interest, especially from Millennials, according to Lule Demmissie, chief executive at social trading platform eToro. Though the Fed tightening could “slow things down” in the interim, “you only need one other new disruption for people to realize, you know, capital markets is the best game and it’s the best game in town,” Demmissie told Distributed Ledger in an interview last week.

“I think the only thing that would worry me is if we had like enduring 1970s levels of inflation and then we have stagflation, because then that could make some of the investors a little jittery,” Demmissie said.

“But I think the memory of ’08 is seared in every Millennial’s mind,” Demmissie said. “What happened was in a way they saw the world ended, according to every news channel, and then the next year, the markets returned with 37% returns.”

‘Dorsey’s first tweet’ NFT

A crypto entrepreneur, who bought the non-fungible token, or NFT, of Twitter
TWTR,
-1.68%
 cofounder Jack Dorsey’s first tweet for $2.9 million, hoped to resell it for $48 million. But when the initial deadline he set expired on Wednesday, the highest bid stood at less than $300. 

Sina Estavi, chief executive at Malaysian crypto project Bridge Oracle, relisted the NFT, which he bought in March 2021, at marketplace OpenSea for roughly $48 million last week. In the 2006 tweet, Dorsey wrote “just setting up my twittr.”

However, as of Wednesday, the deadline Estavi initially set, he only received seven total offers that range from 0.09 ETH, or $274, to 0.0019 ETH, or $5.80, according to a report by CoinDesk. 

Estavi doesn’t seem discouraged. “The deadline I set was over, but if I get a good offer, I might accept it, I might never sell it,” he told CoinDesk. More bids have come in since Wednesday, with the highest one offering 3.3 ETH, or about $10,048.

Read more: Buyer of Jack Dorsey’s ‘first tweet’ NFT wants to sell it for $48 million, but only saw a highest bid of $270. He called on Elon Musk

Crypto consumer products?

Many digital asset companies are looking to launch more consumer-facing products, as demand grows, according to Stan Miroshnik, co-founder and partner at crypto-focused private equity firm 10T Holdings. “There’s been a lot of focus on how we take the yield that’s available in the space and deliver it to consumers in an easy way,” Miroshnik told MarketWatch in an interview recently. 

Miroshnik mentioned examples where some crypto companies allow users to lend, borrow crypto, or use crypto as collateral to raise mortgages, which “is now becoming a thing, because as some people have these digital assets, they don’t want to sell them and pay taxes, or they just believe they will be more valuable over time, but there are real life concerns,” Miroshnik said.

Still, regulation remains a problem. In September, Coinbase dropped its plan to launch a program that would have allowed users to earn interest by depositing cryptocurrency, after the crypto exchange said earlier it received a lawsuit threat from the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Robinhood lists Shiba Inu

Brokerage app Robinhood
HOOD,
-4.29%
has listed the popular meme token Shiba Inu, months after its supporters called for the move, along with tokens of decentralized lending platform Compound, blockchains Polygon
MATICUSD,
-0.01%
and Solana
SOLUSD,
+0.01%.
 

It adds to Robinhood’s existing listings of seven cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, bitcoin cash
BCHUSD,
+0.33%,
bitcoin SV
BTCSVC,
+0.02%,
dogecoin
DOGEUSD,
-0.23%,
ether
ETHUSD,
+0.10%,
ethereum classic
ETCUSD,
+0.11%,
and litecoin.

Read: Shiba Inu jumps over 20%, as Robinhood lists the meme token

Crypto companies, funds

Shares of Coinbase Global Inc.
COIN,
-4.85%
traded down 4% at $148.62 on Thursday. It has fallen 10.6% over the past five trading sessions. Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy Inc.
MSTR,
-3.10%
lost 2.3% on Thursday to $452.86, while it was down 2.3% over the past five days.

Mining company Riot Blockchain Inc.
RIOT,
-6.50%
shares dropped 5.6% to $15.12, and it was down 13.2% over the past five days. Shares of Marathon Digital Holdings Inc.
MARA,
-4.80%
were down 5.2% to $21.13, with a 11% loss over the past five days. Another miner, Ebang International Holdings Inc.
EBON,
-4.55%,
gained 0.5% to $1.11, with a 6.4% loss over the past five days.

Overstock.com Inc.
OSTK,
-5.00%’s
shares were down 5.8% to $38.07. The shares have declined 6.6% over the five-session period.

Shares of Block Inc.
SQ,
-3.76%,
formally known as Square, fell 3.2% to $122.07, with a 3.1% loss for the week. Tesla Inc.
TSLA,
-3.66%’s
shares declined 3.4% to $987.24 while its shares lost 6.6% for the past five sessions.

PayPal Holdings Inc.
PYPL,
-2.72%
lost 1.6% to $103.46, while it was down 8.5% over the five-session stretch. Nvidia Corp.
NVDA,
-4.26%
lost 2.8% to $215.80, while was looking at a 10.85% loss over the past five trading days.

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
AMD,
-4.79%
lost 3% to $94.78 on Thursday, while it lost 8.7% from five trading days ago.

Among crypto funds, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF
BITO,
-3.08%
lost 2.8% to $24.94 Thursday, while Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF
BTF,
-3.14%
was down 2.8% to $15.47. VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF
XBTF,
-3.08%
declined 2.8% to $39.10.

Grayscale Bitcoin Trust
GBTC,
-2.36%
traded 2.9% lower to $28.35.

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