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Bitfinex Alpha | More Rate Hikes Are Coming Amid Crypto Market Volatility
Ideally, the inflation scenario is a "soft landing". The economy is resilient and growing as inflation slows. However, the possibility of a U.S. rate hike continued to loom over markets after more signs of accelerating inflation and strong consumer spending emerged in February. The S&P 500 lost half of its gains in January last month as investors reassessed their expectations. Bond markets have also changed their minds on rate hikes after initially being optimistic in January that the Fed would soon pause.
Regardless of whether the Fed can achieve a soft landing, the apparent stickiness of inflation points to a tough run for the US economy in 2023. While we expect more rate hikes to come, the tightening of monetary policy by the Federal Reserve last year is starting to work on the economy. Short-term rates are now significantly higher than long-term rates, evident in the deep inversion of the yield curve. This affects businesses because it increases borrowing costs, and the latest ISM report provides evidence of the impact of rising credit costs on contraction in manufacturing.
Consumers are also losing confidence in the economy as both businesses and consumers are squeezed. Consumer confidence remained below the range that indicates economic health, pointing to a prolonged slowdown. The longer and longer the Fed allows interest rates to remain high, the more pain we expect the economy will suffer.
In the cryptocurrency market, we expect increased volatility in the short term. The total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies fell below the psychologically important $1 trillion mark following sharp falls in bitcoin and ethereum prices over the weekend. Market dynamics continue to be dominated by futures markets, with much larger liquidations – over $210 million in just one day – and volatility looks set to persist.
TrueUSD (TUSD) became the fifth largest stablecoin, with Binance minting 130 million TUSD in a week. Meanwhile, ethereum developers prepare for the final trials of the Shanghai upgrade, which will allow the release of ETH locked in pledges.
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Bitfinex Lists CryptoGPT's Native Token $GPT
Bitfinex announced that it will be one of the first exchanges to list $GPT. GPT is a native token based on Ethereum Layer 2 CryptoGPT, a blockchain dedicated to artificial intelligence development and decentralized artificial intelligence and data markets.
Launched after the popularity of ChatGPT, CryptoGPT is a crypto ecosystem designed to collect data for AI development. CryptoGPT recognizes that the growing value of data is critical to the further development of AI, and it aims to provide customers with an opportunity to earn cryptocurrency by sharing their anonymized data using encrypted zero-knowledge proof technology. This is designed to protect user anonymity while capturing necessary data points for building AI models in manufacturing, biotech, education and other industries.
The purpose of decentralized applications is to build on the CryptoGPT ecosystem, and CryptoGPT offers its GPT token as payment for the data received from users while using these centralized applications. GPT is a multipurpose token that can be used as gas fees for transactions made on the CryptoGPT blockchain. GPT tokens can also be used for liquidity management such as buyback or burning.
GPT deposits opened on March 9, and trading will start on March 10, supporting USD and USDt trading pairs.
https://blog.bitfinex.com/media-releases/bitfinex-to-list-cryptogpts-native-gpt-token/
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Bitfinex Supports Stargate Finance ($STG) Contract Replacement
Bitfinex announced that it will support the contract conversion of Stargate Finance (STG), which is expected to take place on March 15, 2023. The proposed reissue of STG aims to reduce the risk of illegal STG transfers from potentially compromised wallets.
Please note: Bitfinex only supports STG on the Ethereum network (ERC-20).
https://www.bitfinex.com/posts/894
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Bitfinex Lists the Innovative DeFi Protocol Onomy Protocol (NOM)
Bitfinex announced the launch of Onomy Protocol (NOM), an interoperable layer protocol. Onomy is an ecosystem aiming to merge Forex and Decentralized Finance (DeFi).
Onomy is a multi-chain Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) ecosystem vertically integrated in its infrastructure, including Onomy's Layer 1 and Arc Bridge Hub. Applications include a hybrid order book and automated market maker (AMM) decentralized exchange (DEX), a non-custodial multi-chain mobile wallet, and a stablecoin issuance protocol.
Bitfinex will open NOM deposits and withdrawals from March 13, 2023, and trading will begin on March 15. NOM tokens will be tradeable against US dollars (NOM/USD) and Tether tokens (NOM/USDt).
