Tezos, the self-amending proof-of-stake blockchain, and an Ethereum competitor, recently implemented its latest upgrade via Nairobi. In a release, the 14th network improvement went live at block #3,760,129, tagging along platform enhancement and the simultaneous unveiling of the Tezos Ecosystem DAO.

Even so, while the upgrade is bullish for network users, there was no significant impact on XTZ prices. As of writing, XTZ, the native currency of the Tezos network, has been lower in the past 24 hours and is yet to reverse June 2023 losses.

The Nairobi Upgrade

The Nairobi upgrade was the network’s 14th update and a collaborative effort by numerous teams and has introduced several mainnet enhancements that could improve user experience. Teams include Nomadic Labs, Marigold, TriliTech, Oxhead Alpha, Tarides, DaiLambda, and Functori.

Key improvements tagged by the Nairobi upgrade include enhanced transaction throughput meaning transactions can now be processed faster, and transaction fees will be lower. With this release, the Tezos protocol is faster, as its throughput has increased eight times. This improvement applies to various operations such as transactions, smart contract calls, Smart Rollup maintenance operations, and management operations.

Moreover, the blockchain now also supports Smart Rollup functions. With new functions and internal Layer-2 messages, Tezos can synchronize rollup kernels seamlessly with future Tezos protocol upgrades. Specifically, the blockchain has also improved its terminology for better communication and understanding. For faster consensus, the upgrade enhances the speed of pre-attestation propagation.

Tezos Ecosystem DAO

The Tezos community welcomes the Tezos ecosystem DAO to streamline on-chain funds deployment and treasury management for vital initiatives within the Tezos ecosystem.

With its launch, the decentralized automated organization (DAO) allows community members to submit funding requests for Tezos-related initiatives. These requests undergo curation, voting, and distributing XTZ. The DAO will be transparent, ensuring all activities are publicly visible to enhance trust and accountability within the community.

Initially, the DAO is governed by a three-out-of-five multi-sig setup, with participating organizations like Trilitech, Tezos Foundation, and Tezos India Foundation holding the keys.

Despite all these changes, XTZ prices remain under pressure and trail the performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum. As of writing on June 26, XTZ is changing hands at $0.80, up 13% from June 2023 lows. However, even with optimistic traders, XTZ bulls have failed to push prices above $0.95, marking June 2023 highs.

Overall, the cryptocurrency market appears to be bottoming up but is yet to close above crucial liquidation levels marking complete reversals from 2022 pits. XTZ remains bearish, down 45% from February highs, as prices are $0.10 away from December 2022 lows.

Feature Image From Canva, Chart From TradingView

Crypto investment products are once again proving their market allure, with inflows hitting their highest level since July 2022. European asset management firm, CoinShares, noted an influx of $199 million just last week, signaling revived interest from investors in the crypto space.

The surge is seen as a correction, compensating for almost half of the outflows observed in the preceding 9 weeks. CoinShares attributed the surge to recent filings for physically backed ETFs from high-profile issuers. Particularly, the crypto market is evidently witnessing a rebirth of enthusiasm as global asset management giants, such as BlackRock, file for spot Bitcoin ETFs.

Bitcoin Takes The Lion’s Share

In this wave of increased inflows, Bitcoin emerged as the undisputed front-runner. Bitcoin-centric investment products saw inflows of $188 million last week, according to CoinShares.

On the other hand, short-bitcoin continued its trend of nine consecutive weeks of outflows, reaching $4.9 million. These contrasting trends are a testament to Bitcoin’s persistent allure amid market fluctuations.

Ethereum also registered inflows, albeit at a comparatively lesser scale of $7.8 million. CoinShares’ data implies a currently subdued investor appetite for Ethereum as compared to Bitcoin.

Notably, despite the Bitcoin and Ethereum domination, there’s a visible, albeit “very minor”, flow towards alternative cryptocurrencies, such as XRP and Solana. This points to a diverse market interest, even if it doesn’t match the scale of the major cryptos.

The improved market sentiment is also persuading investors towards multi-asset investment ETPs. These ETPs saw an inflow of $8 million last week, which further emphasizes the ongoing diversification of investor interests in the crypto asset class.

Record High For Crypto Assets Under Management

With the increased inflows, the total assets under management (AUM) across fund managers have now also reached $37 billion. This is the highest level noted since before the collapse of Three Arrows Capital. It underscores not just the resilience of the crypto market, but also the continued faith that investors place in it.

It is worth noting that alongside the surge in crypto investment inflows, the crypto market particularly large crypto assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum has seen a rebound from its losses amid the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit against Binance and Coinbase.

In the past day, Bitcoin experienced a slight dip of 0.6%, but its trading price continues to hover above the recently regained $30,000 benchmark. The past week has seen an addition of over $70 billion to Bitcoin’s market cap, boosting it from a low of $514 billion the previous Monday to exceed $580 billion today.

Meanwhile, Ethereum has been on the fence in the last 24 hours with no significant movement. The second-largest asset by market cap currently has a daily trading volume above $8 billion and a market cap of $226 billion.

Featured image from Unsplash, Chart from TradingView

On-chain data shows that the Bitcoin exchange whale ratio has taken a plunge recently. Here’s why this may be bullish for the asset’s price.

Bitcoin Exchange Whale Ratio Has Registered A Sharp Decline Recently

As pointed out by an analyst in a CryptoQuant post, the selling pressure in the market may be diminishing right now. The “exchange whale ratio” is an indicator that measures the ratio between the sum of the top ten Bitcoin transactions to exchanges and the total exchange inflow.

Generally, the 10 largest transactions to exchanges are coming from whale entities, so this metric can tell us how the inflows of these humongous holders compare with that of the entire market.

When the value of this ratio is high, it means that the whales are making up a large part of the total inflows currently. As one of the main reasons why investors deposit to exchanges is for selling-related purposes, this kind of trend can be a sign that this cohort may be taking part in mass dumping right now.

On the other hand, low values of the indicator imply the whales are contributing a relatively healthy portion toward the inflows at the moment. Since these large investors aren’t selling significantly more than the rest of the market during such periods, the price of the cryptocurrency can feel a bullish effect.

Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the 72-hour simple moving average (SMA) Bitcoin exchange whale ratio over the past several months:

Looks like the 72-hour SMA value of the metric has taken a deep hit in recent days | Source: CryptoQuant

As displayed in the above graph, the 72-hour SMA Bitcoin exchange whale ratio has plummeted recently, implying that the whale deposits have dropped relative to the rest of the market.

Before this plunge, the indicator had been in an overall uptrend since March, suggesting that these humongous investors were possibly slowly ramping up their selling.

During the recent period when the asset’s price was struggling, the metric had surged to around 0.88, meaning that around 88% of the total exchange inflows were coming from this cohort alone.

Following the latest rapid decline, however, the 72-hour SMA Bitcoin exchange whale ratio has dropped to around 0.80. Interestingly, this drawdown in the indicator has come while the coin has seen a sharp rally that has now taken the price above the $30,000 level.

Usually, whales may ramp up their selling a little during such periods, as at least some of these large investors might be enticed by the profit-taking opportunity. Since that doesn’t seem to have occurred yet, it may be a sign that these holders believe that there is more to come for this rally.

From the chart, it’s visible that the indicator also saw a sharp plunge following the FTX collapse, which allowed the cryptocurrency to bottom out and eventually build up toward the rally.

The current relatively low selling pressure from the whales may potentially allow the price of the cryptocurrency to grow in a similar fashion as well (which would only be, of course, given that the metric continues to be at these low values in the near future).

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $30,400, up 15% in the last week.

BTC has stagnated since the sharp climb | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView

Featured image from iStock.com, charts from TradingView.com, CryptoQuant.com