Crypto Index Tracker – Crypto Markets Surge on Ruble Collapse

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The start of the week has seen crypto markets surge as the ruble plunged upon news of the US and allies imposing stricter sanctions. This suggests the apparent increased demand for crypto could be a result of Russians looking to ditch the ruble in favor of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

This week, we also add a new index to our tracker – a privacy coin Index. Bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies operate on a public blockchain where all transactions and senders/receivers can easily be viewed.

Privacy coins obscure transactions on the blockchain in order to maintain the anonymity of its users and their activity. One criticism of privacy coins is that they more easily facilitate money laundering and other criminal activity, so they are the subject of much debate.

We see gains across all our indices this week. Our smart contract index is up 22%, followed by our DeFi and new privacy coin index, which are up around 20% each. Bitcoin and the metaverse index are up 17% and 11%, respectively.

• Smart contract platform index – Terra (LUNA) is up the most at a staggering 82%, and EOS (EOS) is up the least at 9%. Ethereum (ETH) is up 13%.
• DeFi index – Terra (LUNA) leads gains in this basket too – up 82%. Meanwhile, PancakeSwap (CAKE) is the only coin in this basket that has registered losses – it’s down one percent.
• Metaverse index – Ultra (UOS) is up the most at 17%, and Aavegotchi (GHST) is flat on the week.
• Privacy coin index – Keep Network (KEEP) is up the most at 46%, and Secret (SCRT) is up the least at
  three percent.
• Bitcoin index – This is up 17%.

What are in the five indices?

Here are the indices in more detail.

• Bitcoin – The OG of crypto markets deserves its own category and is in many ways the true benchmark for any other crypto market.
• Smart contract platforms – After Bitcoin, the big innovation was to have blockchains that were more programmable. These could host smart contracts or decentralized applications and have allowed the emergence of the metaverse and DeFi. Ethereum (ETH) is the most popular version of a smart contract platform. As well as Ethereum, we also include some key competitors. The constituents of this index are Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), Solana (SOL), Fantom (FTM), VeChain (VET), Terra (LUNA), EOS (EOS) and Chainlink (LINK). We also include Polkadot (DOT), which allows interoperability between blockchains and the use of smart contracts via parachains.
• Metaverse – Coins associated with the creation of a virtual space/digital world on the internet using a combination of augmented reality, virtual reality and social networks. The constituents of this index are Axie Infinity (AXS), The Sandbox (SAND), Decentraland (MANA), Enjin Coin (ENJ), Aavegotchi (GHST), Terra Virtua Kolect (TVK), Ultra (UOS), Phantasma (SOUL), RedFOX Labs (RFOX) and Gala (GALA).
• Decentralized Finance (DeFi) – Financial services built on top of blockchain networks with no central intermediaries. This can be a very broad category, so we narrow this down to platforms that focus on lending/borrowing, yield farming, automated market making and decentralized exchange tokens/coins that obscure transactions on the blockchain in order to maintain the anonymity of its users and their activity. The constituents of this index are Aave (AAVE), Compound (COMP), Uniswap (UNI), Yearn.finance (YFI), Loopring (LRC), PancakeSwap (CAKE), Maker (MKR), 1inch (1INCH), Thorchain (RUNE) and Terra (LUNA).
• Privacy coins – The constituents of this index are Monero (XMR), Zcash (SEC), Dash (DASH), Verge (XVG), Horizen (ZEN), Beam (BEAM), Secret (SCRT), Decred (DCR), Keep Network (KEEP) and Dusk Network (DUSK).

Disclaimer

The commentary contained in the above article does not constitute an offer or a solicitation or a recommendation to implement or liquidate an investment or to carry out any other transaction. It should not be used as a basis for any investment decision or other decision. Any investment decision should be based on appropriate professional advice specific to your needs.

Bilal Hafeez is the CEO and editor of Macro Hive. He spent over twenty years doing research at big banks – JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank and Nomura – where he had various ‘global head’ roles and did FX, rates and cross-markets research.

Featured Image: Shutterstock/Relight Motion/Sensvector

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