March Crypto Market Catalyst: NVIDIA AI Summit Approaches, ARB Faces Largest Token Unlock
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March Crypto Market Catalyst: NVIDIA AI Summit Approaches, ARB Faces Largest Token Unlock
This week has been absolutely amazing.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsBy: The DeFi Investor
Translation: TechFlow
In this article, we will cover:
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5 major crypto catalysts in March
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This week’s on-chain Alpha
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Latest DeFi news
5 Major Crypto Catalysts in March
Crypto had an amazing week.
Less than two years after the FTX collapse—one of the largest financial implosions in modern history—BTC hit $69,000 for the first time in three years.
Congratulations to all of you who believed in this industry when mainstream media called it a scam.
The best part of the bull market will begin later in 2024, when altcoins start to surge. This year will be full of opportunities for narrative traders.
In this article, I’ll go over several major crypto events expected this month:
1. Ethereum's Dencun Upgrade – March 13
As you may already know, Dencun will significantly reduce Ethereum L2 transaction fees by lowering the “rent” that L2s pay to inherit Ethereum’s security.
This will be a massive win for the Ethereum ecosystem and is expected to drastically lower L2 transaction costs.
If the upgrade meets expectations, we might see the rise of a new narrative around Ethereum and established Ethereum L2s.
2. NVIDIA AI Conference – March 18
There’s no doubt that AI has been the top-performing narrative over the past few months.
Historically, crypto AI tokens perform extremely well ahead of (and sometimes during) major AI conferences, so this is worth noting.
We’re in a massive AI bubble right now, with significant hype around AI and crypto AI projects. I expect this excitement won’t fade anytime soon.
Interestingly, teams from NEAR Protocol and Render Network will be attending the NVIDIA conference.
If you want to explore the biggest crypto projects from the AI space, check out this excellent AI x Crypto protocol guide by Hoeem.
3. Fantom’s Sonic Upgrade – March or April
Sonic has been in development for a long time.
In short, it’s a major network upgrade that will significantly increase network transaction throughput and reduce Fantom’s storage requirements by up to 90%.
Sonic promises over 2,000 transactions per second (TPS) and approximately 1-second transaction finality, while maintaining EVM compatibility.
With the launch of Sonic, Fantom hopes to make a strong comeback.
The Fantom team has also confirmed that a stablecoin and an airdrop campaign will launch alongside Sonic.
It will be interesting to see what their airdrop looks like.
4. FOMC Interest Rate Decision – March 19–20
Interest rate decisions can have a massive impact on markets.
On March 19, the U.S. will decide whether to raise rates, hold steady, or cut interest rates.
The most likely outcome is “no change.” Still, I think it’s worth watching this event.
Later this year, rate cuts are expected to begin.
5. ARB’s $2.2 Billion Token Unlock – March 16
Approximately $2.2 billion worth of ARB tokens—76% of ARB’s current circulating supply—will unlock in a few days. This is one of the largest crypto unlocks of 2024.
All tokens will be distributed to the team and investors.
Unlocks of this size typically hurt token prices.
However, it also depends on whether the Arbitrum team decides to announce something significant before the unlock date.
Arbitrum is set to roll out several major upgrades soon, such as Stylus.
That said, those are all the major crypto events I’m watching this month.
Historically, BTC has averaged a +12.2% return in March. Here’s hoping for another bullish month.
On-Chain Alpha
Eigenlayer Surpasses $11 Billion TVL, Becomes Third-Largest DeFi Protocol
How crazy can the restaking narrative get?
Since the beginning of 2024, Eigenlayer’s TVL has surged from $1 billion to $11.2 billion.
This could make Eigenlayer the fastest-growing protocol in DeFi history.
Coinbase Enters Top 50 Apps on App Store
This is the first time since early 2022.
Retail investors are clearly starting to come back.
Historically, when Coinbase becomes the number one app on the App Store, it’s time to take profits—but we still have a long way to go before that happens.
Latest Developments in DeFi
Injective launched inEVM, the first EVM capable of achieving true composability across Cosmos & Solana. It will use Celestia for data availability.
Ondo Finance launched Ondo Global Markets, a platform offering native access to traditional securities for on-chain users.
Avalanche released Teleporter, a new protocol enabling seamless connectivity between any EVM chains within the Avalanche network. Teleporter aims to fundamentally improve cross-chain user experience.
Telegram announced it will share ad revenue with users, with payments settled on the TON blockchain. Ad revenue sharing begins in March.
Metis L2 announced its shift to EigenDA for low-cost data availability.
Aurelius Finance, an innovative lending protocol on Mantle, launched a points program.
Astar zkEVM has gone live, becoming the first L2 to integrate Polygon AggLayer. The integration will enable cross-chain transactions between Astar and Polygon zkEVM.
Lyra Finance’s roadmap has been revealed, with the team announcing increased focus on pushing the options narrative.
Popular web3 chat solution Beoble launched its token BBL.
Hashflow Aggregator+ has launched on Arbitrum.
Frax Finance’s Fraxtal L2 bridge is now live.
Parallel Network, the first omnichain L2 with unified liquidity and native yield, launched its early-access testnet. The protocol also announced an airdrop.
Taiko L2 announced a $15 million Series A funding round ahead of mainnet launch. Taiko is an Ethereum L2 project with a strong focus on decentralization.
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The DeFi Investor
