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Analysts say Ethereum price must hold this key level to avoid a capitulation-level move

Traders identify key support and resistance levels that Ethereum must hold as ETH price trades at levels not seen since July 2021.

The crypto market experienced another day of pain on May 12 as the fallout from the Terra's LUNA and UST failure continues to ripple across the ecosystem.

While the coverage for UST and its impact on Bitcoin (BTC) have been extensively covered over the past few days, the pullback has also had a significant impact on the price of Ether (ETH) as traders hastily exited the market.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the past seven days of selling dropped Ether to $1,701, a price not seen since July 2021.

ETH/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

Here’s a look at what several analysts are saying about the outlook for Ethereum and what support and resistance levels to keep an eye on.

Ether needs to reclaim $2,250

The overnight plunge to the low $1,700 range was documented by crypto analyst and pseudonymous Twitter user ‘Rekt Capital’, who posted the following chart outlining the major support and resistance zones for Ether.

ETH/USD 1-month chart. Source: TradingView

Rekt Capital said:

“If Ether isn't able to rebound strongly from here so as to Monthly Close above the black ~$2,250 level above, the ~$1,720 will reveal weakness and may not hold price.”

Should a further breakdown in price occur, Rekt Capital indicated that the blue zone on the chart is the “ next major support sub ~$1720,” which is located near $1,350.

Bouncing off the 2021 summer lows

Insight into what Ether's price action may look like should it head lower was provided in the following tweet by ‘Crypto Feras’, who mused that just a few weeks ago it sounded crazy to talk about Ether falling to these levels.

ETH/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

Crypto Feras said:

“Technically Ether is bouncing off its 2021 summer lows (outperforming Bitcoin so far). The bounce areas are either this $1,700 - $1,800 [range] or we [are] gonna have to test [the] $1,400 zone.”

Related: How long will the crypto bear market last? Raoul Pal's macro analysis

Possible short-term retest of $1,550

A longer-term view of the Ether's price action was discussed by market analyst Caleb Franzen, who suggested that a “bearish” breakdown below a major trendline.

ETH/USDT 1-week chart. Source: Twitter

Franzen said:

“Very possible that we retest the January 2018 highs, around $1,550, in the next 24 hours. If/when we break below that former resistance level, that's another bearish signal.”

The overall cryptocurrency market cap now stands at $1.219 trillion and Ether’s dominance rate is 19.2%.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Terra contagion leads to 80%+ decline in DeFi protocols associated with UST

Projects associated with Terra suffer losses of more than 80% as contagion spreads. Meanwhile, Maker (DAI) gets a boost as traders look for other decentralized stablecoin options.

The knock-on effect of the collapse of Terra (LUNA) and its TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin have spread wide across the cryptocurrency market on May 11 as projects with any kind of association with the DeFi ecosystem have seen their prices hammered. 

The forced selling of the Bitcoin (BTC) holdings backing a portion of UST also influenced BTC's current drop to $29,000 and analysts fear that DeFi platforms that have liquidity pools primarily comprised of UST and LUNA will collapse. 

LUNA, ANC, ASTRO and MARS in USDT pairings. 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Terra-based protocols suffer

Projects with the direst of outlooks are those that are hosted on the Terra protocol including Anchor Protocol (ANC), Astroport (ASTRO) and Mars Protocol (MARS).

As shown in the chart above, Anchor Protocol (ANC), Astroport (ASTRO) and Mars Protocol (MARS) saw their token prices plummet more than 80% since May 4 when LUNA price first started to correct.

The protocols in question are all DeFi-focused, meaning that they had heavy integration with UST as the main stablecoin for their liquidity pairs as well as LUNA as a major source of value locked on their smart contracts.

As long as UST remains off its $1 peg and LUNA trades down 98% from where it was just 7 days ago, it is unlikely that these protocols will be able to bounce back and recover from today's fallout.

The Interblockchain Communication Protocol also took a hit

Assets in the Cosmos ecosystem were also hard hit by UST's collapse. ATOM and other tokens like Mirror Protocol (MIR), Osmosis (OSMO) and Kava that utilize the Interblockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) corrected sharply due to their integration with Terra.

ATOM/USDT vs. KAVA/USDT vs. MIR/USDT vs. OSMO/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The price declines for these assets was less extreme that those hosted on the Terra protocol, but their proxy to Terra has not protected them from contagion.

Related: LUNA meltdown sparks theories and told-you-sos from crypto community

Maker benefits from the volatility

Maker (MKR) is the one bright spot to emerge in trading on May 11 as crypto traders now find themselves embracing Dai (DAI) as the "best" decentralized stablecoin option in the market.

MKR price spiked 124% in trading on May 11, going from a low of $1,025 to an intraday high of $2,299 before settling back down to $1,278.

MKR/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

As the market digests the current correction and news of fund and protocol collapses emerge, it will be interesting to see how other stablecoin protocols like Frax Share (FXS), USDD and mStable (MTA) perform and whether or not crypto traders will shy away from these projects for more centralized options.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Vector Finance (VTX) TVL hits a record high as the Curve Wars shift to Avalanche

The total value locked on Vector Finance hit a new high after the protocol integrated multiple stablecoins in the Avalanche ecosystem in order to become the network's largest liquidity hub.

The battle to attract stablecoin liquidity has been a trending theme across the cryptocurrency landscape for the past year, especially as decentralized finance users have come to realize the hefty APY that can be earned on dollar-peg assets.

While Curve Finance remains the undisputed leader in interest bearing stablecoin liquidity pools, several new entrants have begun to climb the ranks, including Vector Finance (VTX), a protocol that enables Avalanche network users to generate boosted yields on their stablecoin positions.

Data from CoinGecko shows that the price of VTX recently underwent a trend reversal as its price climbed 52% from a low of $0.39 on May 1 to a daily high of $0.60 on May 4.

VTX/USD 2-hour chart. Source: CoinGecko

Here’s a look at the factors that have helped spark a reversal in VTX price and point to an increase in the utilization of the Vector Finance protocol.

Total value locked hits a new high

One sign pointing to increased inflows to Vector Finance is the rise in the total value locked (TVL) on the protocol, which reached a new all-time high of $405.15 million on May 4 according to data from Defi Llama. This is notable due to the fact that it came during a time of widespread weakness across the cryptocurrency market. 

Total value locked on Vector Finance. Source: Defi Llama

The rise in TVL comes as the platform integrated new pools fromTrader Joe, which offer a maximum yield of 69.6% for deposits of JOE/USDC liquidity providers.

Vector also offers single staking capabilities for VTX, Platypus Finance and JOE with yields of 12.8%, 144.9% and 117% respectively.

Single staking yields on Vector Finance. Source: Vector Finance

Related: Avalanche (AVAX) loses 30%+ in April, but its DeFi footprint leaves room to be bullish

Vector finance also added support fo Frax Shares, MIM and UST, with yields ranging from 7.3% to 15.1%.

Stablecoin yields on Vector Finance. Source: Vector Finance

Yields for USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) range from 5.1% to 8.0%, while wrapped DAI (DAI.e) deposits can earn 3.1%.

Vector is also focused on accumulating voting power within the Platypus and Trader Joe ecosystems by offering yields of 137.3% for xPTP-PTP deposits and 129.4% for zJOE-JOE deposits.

Vector LP pool yields. Source: Vector Finance

Users who opt to provide liquidity in these pools can earn an additional 136.9% APY on top of the yield earned by staking the individual PTP and JOE tokens on Vector Finance.

Another perk attracting liquidity could be the bonus yield of up to 70% for VTX holders who chose to lock their tokens for 16 weeks.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Markets are weak, but ALGO, FXS and HNT book a 20%+ rally — Here’s why

Algorand, Frax Share and Helium staged brief double-digit rallies in an otherwise stagnant market, thanks to a major partnership and new project developments.

Large-cap cryptocurrency continue to slump as investors await comments from the Federal Open Markets Committee regarding the exact size of the next interest rate hike.

There are, however, a few bright spots in the market and select altcoins managed to post double-digit gains in trading on Tuesday thanks to a big-time partnership announcement and cross-protocol collaborations that led to a spike in demand.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that three of the biggest gainers over the past 24-hours were Algorand (ALGO), Frax Share (FXS) and Helium (HNT).

Algorand

The pure proof-of-stake blockchain network had perhaps one of the most notable partnership deals for a crypto project in recent months after this week's announcement that it had been selected as the official blockchain of FIFA, the globally recognized international governing body for football.

ALGO was trading at a price of $0.58 prior to the announcement and the price proceeded to rally 28% to a daily high of $0.743 as news of the collaboration spread across the crypto ecosystem.

ALGO/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

At the time of writing, ALGO is trading at $0.673, representing a 16% gain on the 24-hour chart.

In addition to the FIFA announcement, Algorand has been expanding its ecosystem by launching decentralized finance and nonfungible token protocols on the network. The project also launched a blockchain-based card game called Aegir Tactics and a real estate tokenization platform called Vesta Equity.

Frax Share

Frax Share, the native token of the Frax protocol, is the first fractional-algorithmic stablecoin project to launch in the cryptocurrency ecosystem and today the asset staged a 23% rally despite the wider market being in a downtrend. 

FXS price staged a 23% rally from $21.89 on May 2 to $26.94 on May 3 after a 200% increase in its 24-hour trading volume.

FXS/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The sudden turnaround in FXS price comes as the popularity of 4pool, a new Curve Finance stablecoin liquidity pool that was developed by Terra, began gaining momentum as it deploys on Fantom, Arbitrum and other networks.

4pool is composed of the TerraUSD (UST), FRAX, USD Coin (USDC) and Tether (USDT) stablecoins and it is designed to help concentrate stablecoin liquidity across 4pools located on every major chain through the Curve protocol.

Related: ALGO price in danger of 25% correction despite Algorand–FIFA partnership hype

Helium

Helium is a decentralized blockchain network for Internet of Things (IoT) devices and it is powered by a global system of low-power nodes run by miners.

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for HNT on May 1, prior to the recent price rise.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. HNT price. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for HNT spiked to a high of 79 on May 1, around 13 hours before the price increased 20.35% over the next day.

The gains for HNT followed a developer announcement detailing plans to implement Helium 5G data transfer rewards. This will enable 5G hotspot operators to earn HNT when a compatible 5G device sends data over the network by connecting with the users' hotspot.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Record-high surge in Ethereum Name Service domains triggers 90% rally in ENS

ENS price gained 90%+ after the protocol surpassed 1 million registered domain names in April.

A handful of industries and tech workers are shifting from Web2 to Web3 and with this move, awareness of blockchain technology is also spreading.

Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is one project that is looking to help facilitate Web3 adoption by making it easier for Dapp users to interact with the Ethereum network. This is accomplished through the creation of human-readable Ethereum addresses that can be converted into the normal machine-readable alphanumeric codes.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $14 on April 26, the price of ENS has surged 91.75% to a daily high at $27.65 on May 2 amidst soaring 24-hour trading volume.

ENS/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

Three reasons for the recent price turnaround for ENS include the sudden increase in demand for 3 and 4 digit ENS domains, a new record high number of domain registrations in April and a rise in protocol revenue that has helped increase the funds available to the ENS decentralized autonomous organization (DAO).

Demand for 3 to 4 digit domains soars

The sudden rise in the price of ENS began on April 26 and this move coincided with a surge in the demand for  3 and 4 digit ENS domain names which possibly became the focus of the nonfungible token (NFT) community.

Daily ENS registrations. Source: Dune Analytics

Along with new registrations, secondary sales for ENS names on OpenSea reached a peak 446 Ether worth of volume in the last week.

Some analysts suggested that the demand for shorter ENS domains could be connected to NFT investors who prefer the shorter tag that reflects the token-ID of their NFT, but at the moment this is an unproven theory.

Record domain registrations in April

The sudden surge in registrations at the end of April capped off a record month for the project which saw 162,978 new domain registrations according to data from Dune Analytics.

Monthly domain registrations. Source: Dune Analytics

The record month of growth for ENS also helped push the total registration past the 1 million mark for the first time in history.

At the time of writing, the daily mint count for May 2 stands at 48,702 and there have been a total of 1,063,982 ENS domains minted by 393,894 unique participants since the project launched.

Related: The concept and future of decentralized Web3 domain names

Increasing protocol revenue

As a result of the renewed interest in ENS domains, the protocol saw its second highest monthly revenue at $7,838,962 generated from registrations and renewals.

Monthly registration/renewal revenue for ENS. Source: Dune Analytics

That makes a total yearly revenue of $42,767,760 for the protocol, which is ultimately redirected back into the project's treasury to be used by the ENS DAO.

According to ENS, the primary purpose of registration fees is to “prevent the namespace from becoming overwhelmed with speculatively registered names.” A secondary function of the fees is to provide enough revenue to the ENS DAO to fund the ongoing development and improvement of ENS.

All ENS token holders have the option to participate in governance votes through the DAO.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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What are the most bullish cryptocurrencies to buy right now? | Find out now on The Market Report

On this week’s episode of “The Market Report,” Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss the most bullish cryptocurrencies at the moment.

The Market Report with Cointelegraph is live right now. On this week’s show, Cointelegraph’s resident experts discuss what they believe are the top three most bullish coins one should take a closer look at.

But first, market expert Marcel Pechman carefully examines the Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) markets. Are the current market conditions bullish or bearish? What is the outlook for the next few months? Pechman is here to break it down.

Next up: the main event. Join Cointelegraph analysts Benton Yaun, Jordan Finneseth and Sam Bourgi as each makes his case for the most bullish cryptocurrency right now. First up, we have Bourgi with his pick of Dogecoin (DOGE), which is incredibly popular mostly because of personalities like Elon Musk and Mark Cuban. There is even speculation that there will be some kind of DOGE payment integration with Twitter. The technicals of the coin are positive as well, and who doesn’t like a meme that has the potential to make you money?

Yuan is up next with his pick of Ripple’s XRP, which has always been in the top 10 cryptocurrencies. Ripple’s primary goal is to replace the SWIFT payment system via minimal transaction fees and incredibly fast confirmations. A tall order to fill, but one that could have a lot of potential upside for the project. It also has many strategic partnerships with governments across the globe and is already used by giants such as Santander and Bank of America.

In the third spot, we’ve got Finneseth with his pick of KAVA, the native token of the Kava platform, which is focused on decentralized finance applications. Kava is a layer-1 blockchain that claims to combine the speed and interoperability of Cosmos with the developer power of Ethereum. More than 15 projects have already been deployed on the Ethereum co-chain, including Ren, Wing Finance and WePiggy. An added bullish benefit is that staking KAVA can earn up to 35.44% APY. All three choices seem pretty strong to win the live poll at the end of the discussion, so stay tuned till the end to find out which option comes out on top.

After the showdown, we’ve got insights from Cointelegraph Markets Pro, a platform for crypto traders who want to stay one step ahead of the market. The analysts use Cointelegraph Markets Pro to identify two altcoins that stood out this week: NEXO and SWINGBY.

Do you have a question about a coin or topic not covered here? Don’t worry. Join the YouTube chat room, and write your questions there. The person with the most interesting comment or question will be given a free month of Cointelegraph Markets Pro, worth $100.

The Market Report streams live every Tuesday at 12:00 pm ET (4:00 pm UTC), so be sure to head on over to Cointelegraph’s YouTube page and smash those like and subscribe buttons for all our future videos and updates.

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here and during the show are the analysts’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.

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Here are 3 ways hodlers can profit during bull and bear markets

The bull market may be over, but that doesn’t mean traders have to stop investing. Here are a few ways to invest in crypto even during a bear market.

For years, cryptocurrency advocates have touted the world-changing capability of digital currency and blockchain technology. Yet with the passing of each market cycle, new projects come and go, and the promised utility of these “real-world use case” projects fails to satisfy.

While a majority of tokens promise to solve real-world problems, only a few achieve this, and the others are mere speculative investments.

Here’s a look at the three things cryptocurrency investors can actually “do” with their coins.

Lending

Perhaps the simplest use case offered to cryptocurrency holders is also one of the oldest monetary applications in finance: lending.

Ever since the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector took off in 2020, the opportunities available for crypto holders to lend out their tokens in exchange for rewards have multiplied.

Blue-chip DeFi protocols like Aave, Maker and Compound offer reasonable yield on stablecoins, and lesser-known protocols often offer higher rewards in an effort to attract liquidity.

Recently, the crypto lending field has expanded into realms that are typically dominated by traditional finance. This is especially true for real estate, where a number of experimental cryptocurrency-based mortgage and listing platforms are making headway.

Platforms like Vesta Equity and the newly launched USDC.homes offer crypto holders the opportunity to collateralize their assets to obtain a mortgage or lend them out to aspiring home buyers in exchange for long-term yield.

Stablecoin farming

Another way to put the hodl bag to use is by farming stablecoins. The cryptocurrency market is well known for its high volatility and high-risk trades, but earning a yield on stablecoins is a safer way to grow a portfolio without the downside risk of investing in Bitcoin (BTC) and altcoins.

In bull and bear markets, liquidity is required for DeFi protocols to function properly, and the integration of stablecoins on centralized and decentralized exchanges has helped the market mature and stay sufficiently liquid.

Platforms like Curve Finance, Beefy Finance and Trader Joe offer yield on stablecoin liquidity pools, and rates can reach as high as 20% APY.

Related: Bipartisan bill to give CFTC authority over exchanges and stablecoins

No-loss token offerings

Another way to “use” cryptocurrency is by participating in the no-loss token offerings launching across the ecosystem.

An example of a no-loss token offering is the parachain auctions that occur on the Polkadot and Kusama networks. In this type of protocol launch, investors interested in supporting a project can lock up DOT or KSM for a specified period of time as a form of collateral backing for the project.

Contributors receive the native token of the newly launched protocol In exchange for locking their investment in the project’s smart contract. After the designated lock-up period is complete, the total balance of tokens is returned to the contributor, meaning they retain their original holdings while also adding new assets to their portfolio.

Lockdrops are another example of this type of no-loss token offering. One was recently employed during the launches of Astroport and Mars Protocol.

Lockdrops have also been referred to as airdrops because they technically don’t help projects raise funds, rather they require some level of commitment for future use from token recipients. While airdrops just distribute tokens to users who opt-in, lockdrops require interested parties to commit to locking up some liquidity that can be utilized by the project during its initial launch.

The Astroport launch involved a novel liquidity bootstrapping phase where contributors could provide liquidity pool pairs in exchange for a higher reward level. Upon lockup, a one-time lockdrop reward is distributed to participants to hold, trade or use to provide liquidity.

Liquidity providers also receive trading fees and other incentives depending on the liquidity pool they are in as a way to improve the opportunity cost of providing that liquidity.

Once the agreed-upon lockup period is complete, users are free to remove the liquidity.

No loss token offerings give long-term crypto holders a chance to earn tokens for newly launched protocols in exchange for yield and a choice of what token they would like to accumulate as a reward.

Want more information about trading and investing in crypto markets?

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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ApeCoin (APE) hits a new all-time high ahead of this week’s Otherside land auction

APE price continues to hit new all-time highs as BAYC, MAYC and NFT investors prepare for the highly anticipated Otherside land auction.

The nonfungible token (NFT) and Metaverse sectors have been the bright spots in an otherwise sideways crypto market in 2022 and proof of this comes as the APE token hit a new all-time high at $22.60 on April 28.

The steady bullish momentum for APE is, in large part, due to the upcoming The Otherside land auction being held by Yuga Labs and Animoca Brands in conjunction Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT project on April 30.

APE/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

The Otherside launch will consist of a Dutch auction-style sale and only Know Your Customer (KYC)-approved wallets will be allowed to participate in the sale of the first 100,000 land parcels. All sales will be paid for using APE, which is clearly helping to drive demand for the token higher as interested parties accumulated the token in anticipation of the sale.

Related: ApeCoin price breakout stalls after $2.4M BAYC NFT robbery — What's ahead?

Wallets that already hold a BAYC or Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) NFT will be able to claim a land parcel for free for 21 days after the auction without needing to be KYC-approved to claim.

Ongoing governance votes within the ApeCoin community have also helped increase demand for APE, a clear demonstration that BAYC and MAYC holders are looking to get more engaged with the direction the ecosystem will take in the years ahead.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Synthetix (SNX) rallies in anticipation of L2 Curve Wars and Optimism airdrop announcement

SNX price got a boost after the project geared up for participation in the L2 Curve Wars and Optimism airdrop hunters engaged with the protocol.

Layer-two (L2) solutions for the Ethereum (ETH) network have grown in prominence over the last year because of the need for scalable networks that offer low-fee transactions and led to numerous projects that built cross-chain bridges with competing blockchain networks. 

One project that has benefitted from the growth of the L2 scaling solutions is Synthetix (SNX), a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that enables the creation of synthetic assets and offers exposure to derivatives and futures trading on blockchain.

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that since hitting a low of $4.44 on April 11, the price of SNX rallied 52.6% to hit a daily high at $6.78 on April 26 before a widespread market downturn dropped it back down to $5.90.

SNX/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TradingView

While the majority of the market is down, there are potential catalysts for SNX price to see further appreciation.

Launch on Optimism

One of the biggest developments for the Synthetix protocol was its launch on Optimism, a L2 network which is making waves this week thanks to an airdrop announcement. SNX staking began on Jan. 16 and as the network grows, speculators are giddy at the prospect of future airdrops and staking incentives.

Most recently, Synthetix used its launch on Optimism to get more involved in the “Curve Wars” and currently, it is offering the highest bribe to get veCRV voters to incentivize voting for the sUSD Curve pool.

Synthetix has also partnered with Lyra Finance (LYRA) to offer 12,000 SNX and 50,000 LYRA per week as an added incentive for veCRV voters.

L2 airdrop season could be a catalyst for SNX

A second reason the price of SNX has the potential to see further appreciation is traders' expectation that an airdrop season for L2 protocols could occur.

There has been a significant amount of speculation that Optimism and Arbitrum, two of the most popular L2 networks in the crypto ecosystem, would eventually airdrop their protocol tokens to early adopters of the networks.

This speculation became reality after Optimism released the initial details of the Optimism Collective, a “large-scale experiment in digital democratic governance” that is “built to drive rapid and sustainable growth of a decentralized ecosystem.”

Along with the launch of the Optimism Collective comes the launch of the OP governance token, of which 5% of the initial supply will be airdropped to early adopters. For those who did not qualify for the first airdrop round, there is still a chance to qualify for future airdrops by being active on the network using protocols like Synthetix.

With Synthetix offering futures trading on Optimism, the protocol could benefit from users seeking ways to be active on the network and this could increase demand for SNX.

On top of the potential to receive an OP airdrop, SNX holers have also been lured to Optimism by the 81% staking rewards currently being offered by the protocol.

Related: Optimism-based projects spike on rumors of token airdrop

Climbing user base and volume transacted

Further evidence of the rising popularity of Synthetix can be found looking at the platform's metrics on Optimism, which have been steadily increasing for the past month according to data from Dune Analytics.

Synthetix protocol metrics. Source: Dune Analytics

As shown in the graphic above, the number of unique traders on the protocol has been climbing since launching futures trading in mid-March and the protocol has handled nearly $1.59 billion in total volume.

VORTECS™ data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro began to detect a bullish outlook for SNX on April 23, prior to the recent price rise.

The VORTECS™ Score, exclusive to Cointelegraph, is an algorithmic comparison of historical and current market conditions derived from a combination of data points including market sentiment, trading volume, recent price movements and Twitter activity.

VORTECS™ Score (green) vs. SNX price. Source: Cointelegraph Markets Pro

As seen in the chart above, the VORTECS™ Score for SNX climbed into the green zone and hit a high of 77 on April 23, around 39 hours before the price spiked 28% over the next day.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Here’s why the growth of token staking could be bullish for Lido (LDO)

A renewed focus on decentralization, the steady growth of DeFi’s liquid staking sector and investment from institutions could benefit LDO token in the long-term.

Liquid staking has grown in popularity over the past year thanks in part to the launch of the Ethereum beacon chain and the inability of ETH stakers to withdraw their tokens until the full launch of the consensus layer

As a result, Lido (LDO) has established itself as a leader in the liquid staking sector. Lido is one of the main staking protocols for several popular tokens and it allows token holders to earn an extra yield by putting their staked assets to work in decentralized finance (DeFi).

LDO/USDT 4-hour chart. Source: TradingView

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView shows that the price of LDO trended higher throughout the month of March and then entered a consolidation period in early April. Currently, the wider market is in a sharp downtrend, but the growth of the staking sector and upcoming Ethereum "merge" could still lead to bullish outcomes for LDO.

Expanding liquid staking options

LDO price reversed trend toward the end of February and this was in part due to the addition of Polygon (MATIC) liquid staking to the Lido protocol, which was developed in conjunction with Shard Labs.

At the time of writing, there is more than $14.5 million worth of MATIC staked on Lido and it is earning a 8.7% yield. The protocol currently allows staking of ERC-20 MATIC tokens and stakers receive stMATIC in return, which can be utilized in DeFi protocols on the Ethereum and Polygon network.

The addition new assets, as well as an increase in the amount of Ether staked on Lido sent the total value locked on the protocol to a record-high $20.83 billion on April 5 and currently this figure stands at $18.3 billion according to data from Defi Llama. 

Total value locked on Lido Finance. Source: Defi Llama

New partnerships and integrations increase Lido's marketshare

Investments from institutions and integrations with other protocols also paint a bullish picture for LDO. The project recently received a $70 million investment from Andreessen Horowitz’s firm a16z firm.

Along with the $70 million investment, a16z also revealed that it would be staking a portion of its Ether holdings on the platform as a way to help reduce some of the operational complexities for institutional investors.

Lido also benefited from multiple integrations throughout March and April, including staked Ether (stETH) being added to the lending pools on AAVE. Staked Solana (stSOL) was also integrated on multiple platforms in the Solana ecosystem, including Raydium, Friktion Finance and multiple protocols adding support for staked Terra (stLUNA).

Related: The many layers of crypto staking in the DeFi ecosystem

Enhancing decentralization could attract investors

Another factor that could help boost the forward outlook for LDO is the developers' focus on enhancing the decentralization of the protocol.

One step in this process is the adoption of Distributed Validator Technology (DVT), which groups validators into independent committees that propose and attest to blocks together as a way to help reduce the risk of an individual validator underperforming or misbehaving.

This helps to simplify and speed up the process of adding new node operators (NOs) because new operators can be paired with a group of majority trusted NOs to help decrease potential risks.

A second improvement includes the ability to stake based on a Node Operator Score which is derived from several metrics and this helps provide an incentive to operators to maintain optimal performance.

One final improvement is the creation of new mechanics such as longer time-locks and giving veto rights to a quorum of stETH holders as a way to mitigate the risk of governance capture to prevent unplanned changes to Lido.

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