Welcome to our August 2023 monthly crypto market recap!

August arrived as a month of intense volatility, casting a shadow of uncertainty over the crypto market. The landscape witnessed a tumultuous ride, with the majority of altcoins experiencing significant losses, mirroring the downward trajectory set by BTC’s precipitous drop during the period.

In the wake of this market upheaval, despite the bullish momentum brought by the news of Grayscale’s victory over the SEC, only a handful of tokens within the top 100 managed to secure noteworthy gains, with few even posting positive returns.

Adding to the complex narrative is the prevailing air of uncertainty, amplified by macroeconomic turbulence. The Chinese economy grapples with worsening conditions, marked by deflation and a series of missed loan payments from various conglomerates. Concurrently, the credit ratings of US debts experienced a downgrade, further exacerbating global economic unease.

Amidst this intricate landscape, an intriguing observation emerges: the winners of this tumultuous month lack a unified catalyst that spans across different tokens. Instead, gains appear to be isolated, intricately linked to specific developments inherent to each project.

Join us for our comprehensive monthly market recap, where we explore the highs, lows, and key narratives that shaped the crypto market in August! Stay informed with our comprehensive monthly market recaps at Treehouse Insights and our daily market analysis with Treehouse Daily, providing you with valuable insights and analysis to navigate the dynamic world of cryptocurrencies!

Rollbit (RLB) ⏶167.60%

Rollbit Coin ($RLB) is the native token of the Rollbit gaming platform, which features casino games like roulette and blackjack. Initially debuting on Solana, Rollbit transitioned to Ethereum in late June. Uniquely, the $RLB token follows a deflationary model, removing fees and staking rewards from circulation. While the token has a fixed supply of 5B, over 3B tokens are already active in the market. Interestingly, Rollbit didn’t launch an ICO for $RLB, but rather distributed the entire supply through airdrops. Additionally, Rollbit enables users to trade over 20 top cryptocurrencies without a bid-ask spread and offers remarkable leverage of up to x1000, enhancing their stance in the cryptocurrency trading space.

On August 8th, Rollbit’s founder, @Lucky_Rollbit, unveiled revised tokenomics for the $RLB token. “Lucky” has announced that 30% of all fees generated from crypto futures, 20% from sports betting, and 10% from casino games would be used to purchase RLB on the open market and be burned. In specific, Rollbit’s revenue crossed over $17 million in the past 30 days across these services. This introduces a robust burn mechanism fueled by significant portions of platform revenue. A live tracker on Rollbit’s website shows the efficacy of this mechanism; it has successfully eliminated nearly 2 billion tokens from circulation.

THORChain (RUNE) ⏶50.74%

$RUNE is the native token of the ThorChain decentralized liquidity protocol which enables the exchange of crypto assets across multiple networks without relying on any bridging solutions. As a critical component of the THORChain ecosystem, $RUNE serves as both a staking and security asset. Users can stake $RUNE to gain rewards by joining network security, where $RUNE acts as collateral to deter malicious actions.

THORChain’s ultimate ambitions are to develop seamless inter-blockchain swaps, positioning the platform as a potential leader in decentralized cross-chain solutions.

$RUNE’s surge in August arrives in tandem with the release of Streaming Swaps on August 2nd on THORSwap, the front-end built on top of THORChain’s DEX infrastructure. Streaming Swaps effectively breaks down large cross-chain swaps into smaller ones (sub-swaps) over an extended period of time, ensuring comparatively lower slippage/fees to both DEX and CEX competitors, whilst maintaining the practice of anonymity and emulating the feeling of single transactions that elevate UX. By offering itself as a highly cost-efficient service for large swaps, THORChain has been able to position itself as a highly favorable provider for major market players, attracting more users and greater liquidity. Immediately following the announcement, $RUNE surged by roughly 53% to $1.42, indicating highly positive sentiment towards this development.

Following the product release of Streaming Swaps, THORChain also delivered a new Lending Protocol on August 21st which features 0% interest through bonded liquidity, no liquidations through dynamic market rates, and no expiry through overcollateralization. This lending protocol uses $RUNE as equity for lending, and when paired with product development throughout August that seeks to expand the adoption of THORChain, collectively contributes to upward pressure on the token.

TON (TON) ⏶22.50%

The Telegram Open Network (TON) is a decentralized and open internet L1 network, originally developed by the Telegram team to be highly scalable to serve a variety of secure products and services on the Telegram app. With Telegram itself being the original inspiration for TON, and development serving to elevate the foundations of the app with blockchain technology, all of Telegram’s 700 million monthly active users (2022) are able to be onboarded instantly and seamlessly through an in-built wallet.

In August, Telegram Bots came into the public eye and stormed the crypto space, with prominent applications such as UniBot reaching astronomical prices of $236.98 on August 16th (ATH) since its gradual rise from early July of roughly $30. As these narrative shifts gained momentum, this increased attention towards Telegram-based innovations indirectly benefited the value of $TON due to being the original development by the Telegram team with more robust fundamentals.

Lately, on August 18th, TON also announced the release of Telegram Apps (tApps) Center, a means of formalizing the evolution of Telegram Bots by offering a catalog showcasing the entire ecosystem across multiple chains. By embracing applications of all corners of the Telegram landscape, this has worked to facilitate value accrual back to the TON ecosystem which has manifested in price appreciation of $TON. Since the announcement on August 18th, $TON has increased by 14%, underscoring how both narrative and product intertwine to generate interest and adoption of TON.

Hedera (HBAR) ⏶6.73%

Hedera Hashgraph is a Layer 1 network designed to facilitate transactions and application deployment through a consortium of businesses overseeing the platform. This network employs unique design choices with restricted participation of approved nodes that enable rapid transaction finality and reduced potential for transaction state changes. Hedera Hashgraph employs a patented algorithm called Hashgraph, where nodes constantly communicate to process transactions efficiently whereby the speed of verifying transactions goes up as more transactions are added to the network. The network is governed by the Hedera Governing Council, featuring prominent companies such as IBM and Alphabet, to manage software, allocate funds, and ensure legal compliance. The HBAR token is integral in this ecosystem, enabling transactions for participants and applications within the Hedera network.

HBAR’s exceptional performance this month can largely be attributed to an external factor: the Federal Reserve’s instant payment system, FedNow, has highlighted Dropp, a micropayments platform built on Hedera Hashgraph, on its Service Provider Showcase section on the website. Dropp, a micropayments platform built on Hedera Hashgraph, empowers merchants to accept cost-effective payments using HBAR, leveraging regulated banking technology to minimize transaction fees. Following this news, the price of HBAR surged by 15% in under 4 hours and reached a peak of nearly 40% the following day.

Although HBAR has established successful partnerships in recent months, such as FreshSupplyCo and the South Korean bank Shinhan Bank, it is important to note that the Federal Reserve explicitly stated that it “does not support or endorse any showcase providers, and the inclusion or exclusion of a provider should in no way imply any recommendation or endorsement by FRFS.” Consequently, the potential impact of the Federal Reserve on the cryptocurrency market, especially concerning Hedera, remains uncertain. Investors should exercise caution and prudence when interpreting this narrative.

Closing Remarks

Despite the market turbulence witnessed in August, our optimism for the remainder of the year remains steadfast. While the month’s volatility may have shaken confidence, we recognize the resilience of the crypto landscape and anticipate positive developments ahead.

Simultaneously, our hopes are buoyed by the potential approvals of multiple BTC spot ETFs and the ongoing applications for ETH futures ETFs, especially with Grayscale’s victory over the SEC paving the way for BTC ETFs. These regulatory strides are indicative of increasing acceptance and integration of cryptocurrencies into traditional financial systems, setting the stage for broader market maturation.

Zooming out to a macroeconomic perspective, the downward trend in inflation is a welcome sign. The impact of rate hikes is finally beginning to manifest, suggesting a possible easing in the near future. This broader economic context further fuels our positive outlook, as it aligns with the potential for stabilized market conditions and renewed investor confidence.

In conclusion, while August’s challenges tested the market’s mettle, we remain hopeful and resolute in our belief that the upcoming months hold promise for recovery, regulatory advancements, and improved macroeconomic conditions. Our commitment to navigating these dynamic landscapes and providing insightful analysis remains unwavering. Stay tuned for our continued exploration of the ever-evolving cryptocurrency realm with the Treehouse Daily Newsletter and Treehouse Insights Research!

Disclaimer

This publication is provided for informational and entertainment purposes only. Nothing contained in this publication constitutes financial advice, trading advice, or any other advice, nor does it constitute an offer to buy or sell securities or any other assets or participate in any particular trading strategy. This publication does not take into account your personal investment objectives, financial situation, or needs. Treehouse does not warrant that the information provided in this publication is up-to-date or accurate.

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March 2023 Market Recap

Authors: Eddy Song, @kingste35849292 and @Web3Geee

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