15 March 2022 Bitcoin & Crypto

Crypto Index Tracker: DeFi and Privacy Coins Lead Gains

By Bilal Hafeez and Dalvir Mandara
3 min read

Crypto markets have been choppy over the past week. Several regulatory news headlines contributed to the moves. President Joe Biden signed an executive order on cryptocurrency policy which is designed to support ‘responsible innovation’ and MEPs in the EU voted against a proposed bill to limit proof-of-work based cryptocurrencies. These are positive signs for crypto, but it still seems unable to shrug off its correlation to equity markets amid the Russia-Ukraine tensions.

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As for the specific coin performance, we see variation across sectors. Our DeFi Index and our Privacy Index are up the most at around 10% each (Charts 1 and 2). Our Bitcoin Index and our Smart Contract Index are up 4% and 2%, respectively. Lastly, our Metaverse Index is the only one to have registered losses week on week – it’s down 3%.

Smart Contract Platform Index. Terra (LUNA) is up the most at 21% and Fantom (FTM) is down the most at 18%. Ethereum (ETH) is up 4%.
DeFi Index. Thorchain (RUNE) is up the most at a staggering 70%. Meanwhile, PancakeSwap (CAKE) is down the most at 5%.
Metaverse Index. Axie Infinity (AXS) is up the most at 3% and RedFox Labs (RFOX) is down the most at 13%.
Privacy Index: Zcash (SEC) is up the most at 35% and Keep Network (KEEP) down the most at 6%.
Bitcoin. This is up 4%.

What Are in the Four 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 decentralised 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).
Decentralised Finance (DeFi): financial services built on top of blockchain networks with no central intermediaries. This can be a broad category, so we narrow this down to platforms that focus on lending/borrowing, yield farming, automated market making and decentralised exchange tokens. 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: coins that obscure transactions on the blockchain to maintain the anonymity of its users and their activity. The constituents of this index are Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Dash (DASH), Verge (XVG), Horizen (ZEN), Beam (BEAM), Secret (SCRT), Decred (DCR), Keep Network (KEEP), and Dusk Network (DUSK).

Dalvir Mandara is a Quantitative Researcher at Macro Hive. Dalvir has a BSc Mathematics and Computer Science and an MSc Mathematical Finance both from the University of Birmingham. His areas of interest are in the applications of machine learning, deep learning and alternative data for predictive modelling of financial markets.

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.

(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.)

Your comments

Akshay Rajat says:

16th March 2022 at 1:15 pm

Suprising that the metaverse index is down, I thought Yuga labs acquisition of Crypto Punks would spark a breakout in metaverse coins this week.

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Crypto Index Tracker: DeFi and Privacy Coins Lead Gains

What Are in the Four Indices?

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.

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Crypto Index Tracker: DeFi and Privacy Coins Lead Gains

What Are in the Four Indices?

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.

Enter your email to read this Macro Hive Exclusive

Your comments

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