Crypto Assets Weekly Report: Bitcoin Achieves Largest Monthly Rise in Three Years

Layer 2 Overview:

Last week, the overall Layer 2 ecosystem showed positive growth, with Starknet experiencing the most significant increase of 15.67%. The total locked value of projects such as JOJO, VaultCraft, Basemax, XY Finance, and Nostra, (TVL), exhibited particularly impressive growth.

LSD Sector Overview:

In the field of liquid staking derivatives (LSD), both the amount of Ethereum deposited and the total amount withdrawn have risen, but the increase in withdrawal amount is greater, reaching 2.88%. In terms of market share, mainstream LSD projects have all seen significant growth, with wstETH showing the most notable increase, reaching 16.28%.

RWA Sector Overview:

Last week, the market value of real-world assets (RWA) grew by 13.85%, with a 24-hour trading volume increase of 43.93%. RWA tokenized treasury rose by 1.6%, and the value of tokenized US Treasury bonds increased by 0.08%. Notable growth tokens include $DEXTF, $LMR, and $BST, while tokens such as $BRTR, $LNDX, and $SOB experienced significant declines.

Main Topic

Macro Overview:

• Performance of US Stocks and Crypto Assets Market

This week's focus events:

• Bitcoin recorded the largest monthly rise in three years

Weekly Recommended Projects:

• OpSec

Key Investments This Week:

• Octav (400 million USD )

• BounceBit(600 million USD)

• READYgg (400 million USD )

Twitter Hot Topics:

• AI+DePIN

• Aark Project

• Modular Architecture

• Gearbox Protocol

• TON Ecosystem

Macro Overview

This week, the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Index rose by 1.33% and 2.06%, respectively. Key economic data to watch in the coming week include the S&P Global Services PMI, ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI, Spring Economic Forecast Report, ADP Employment Report, and the Bank of Canada's interest rate decision.

Focus Events This Week

Bitcoin records largest monthly rise in three years

Bitcoin ( BTC ) is creating its strongest monthly closing performance since December 2020. Although the price is close to historical highs, analysts believe that this round of the bull market has not yet peaked. As the largest crypto asset by market capitalization, Bitcoin has achieved an astonishing 44% rise in February, breaking through the $50,000 and $60,000 thresholds for the first time in years, and reaching a high of $64,000 on Wednesday. This rally started after a brief pullback following the debut of the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF at the end of January, when the price briefly fell below $40,000.

Bitcoin is expected to set a historical highest monthly closing price. To achieve this goal, it needs to exceed $61,357 before midnight Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC ), which is the closing price from October 2021, close to the peak of the previous market cycle. As of the time of writing, BTC is trading at approximately $61,200.

The cryptocurrency market performed strongly overall in February, with the CoinDesk 20 index (CD20) rising by more than 40%. The governance token of the decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI), the decentralized storage network Filecoin's FIL, and the popular meme token Dogecoin (DOGE) were the best performing assets in CD20, all rising more than BTC.

Although the price of Bitcoin has approached historical highs, some analysts are still optimistic about its further rise potential.

"We haven't even touched the heights this bull market could reach." Alex Thorn, head of research at Galaxy, stated in a market analysis released on Thursday. He believes that the U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF is a "game changer" that provides stable and recently accelerating demand for BTC. Meanwhile, about 75% of the Bitcoin supply is controlled by long-term holders, who have not shown a willingness to sell at current price levels so far.

Analysts at IntoTheBlock pointed out that the on-chain transaction volume on the Bitcoin network and retail investors' interest in Crypto Assets are still far below the levels seen during previous peaks. Analysts at Swissblock stated in a report on Thursday: "The sustained buying pressure, along with strong bullish signals from technical indicators and moving averages, suggests that BTC is likely to continue its upward momentum."

Weekly Recommended Projects

This week, we focus on OpSec, a decentralized physical infrastructure network utilizing AI technology ( DePIN ) cloud computing platform.

Traditional internet infrastructure is often controlled by centralized entities, which may pose risks of censorship and manipulation, undermining users' freedom on the web. To address this issue, OpSec offers a secure, efficient, and decentralized cloud computing platform based on blockchain technology and combined with artificial intelligence.

OpSec currently provides the following major solutions:

• OpSec Cloudverse: Includes three components: Nodes, VPS, and GPU. Users can deploy management nodes to enhance network security and decentralization; VPS is used for node operation and computation; while also providing decentralized GPU solutions.

• OpSec Network: Combining AI and a modular architecture to enhance scalability, security, and flexibility. Utilizing POS and POC( cloud proof) mechanisms to strengthen network security while establishing consensus based on cloud resource capabilities, thereby reducing development costs.

• CloudSec: Improving online privacy and security through decentralized network architecture. Supports anonymous communication with multi-node routing and onion routing technology, increasing the difficulty of data tracking.

OpSec Cloudverse provides solutions to fundamental problems with existing blockchain infrastructure. Currently, many blockchain nodes are hosted on centralized cloud services, which pose potential risks. Cloudverse achieves automated node management and deployment through globally distributed cloud services, addressing node dependencies and security concerns. OpSec has established partnerships with multiple blockchain networks, including Bittensor, Venom, Taiko, Optimism, Celestia, and others.

The native token of OpSec, $OPSEC, will be issued on Ethereum with a total supply of 100 million coins. It is primarily used for network staking, paying transaction fees, node operation rewards, and governance voting.

As a DePIN provider, OpSec utilizes advanced AI technology to build, maintain, and operate blockchain infrastructure, ensuring the security and privacy of applications.

Our Perspective

OpSec represents the current popular AI + DePIN narrative. The total market value of the DePIN market is currently around $23 billion, with a total trading volume of $1.9 billion, showing significant recent growth. According to Messari's prediction, the DePIN industry is expected to reach a scale of $3.5 trillion in the next four years, with huge potential for growth.

The complementary advantages of the combination of AI and DePIN: DePIN provides decentralized storage and computing resources to meet the large-scale computing demands of AI models. Decentralized nodes can offer hardware, computing power, and training data to earn rewards, similar to Bitcoin mining. AI can intelligently manage the resources of the DePIN network, optimize resource allocation, and automatically execute complex operations such as network maintenance, thereby improving network efficiency.

Currently, there are several AI+DePIN projects such as Flux, Node AI, and EMC Protocol. OpSec, as a cloud computing service, mainly targets the B-end and provides decentralized node services for infrastructure projects like Layer 1 public chains.

OpSec has been launched on networks such as Taiko, Linea, Zora, Optimism, Starknet, and Celestia, with multiple partners waiting to go live. Recently, it also collaborated with Commune AI and Dmail Network to launch the V2 beta version, and sponsored the Eth Denver conference, demonstrating a proactive approach to expanding market influence.

Overall, OpSec provides a secure, efficient, and decentralized cloud computing platform for hosting blockchain applications and offers a variety of tools to enhance Web3 capabilities. By optimizing platform performance, security, and privacy through AI, it provides innovative solutions for Web3 users, developers, and builders.

Key Investment This Week

Octav

Octav is a free, anonymous, and customizable data analysis platform designed to analyze decentralized finance ( DeFi ) investment activities. Users can access comprehensive DeFi portfolio information, such as cost basis, profit and loss ( P&L ), and other data.

BounceBit

BounceBit is a native BTC staking chain that protects network security by staking Bitcoin and BounceBit tokens. This project is supported by CEFFU(, formerly known as Binance Custody) and Mainnet Digital, for the secure storage of Bitcoin. Its PoS mechanism introduces a dual-token staking system, utilizing the native BTC security that is fully EVM compatible.

READYgg

READYgg is building social game infrastructure for the Web3 creator economy. The project is dedicated to creating mobile-first Web3 tools and technologies to democratize game creation. RGN aims to coordinate the economic interests between developers, creators, and players, creating a sustainable, long-term distributed gaming ecosystem and creator economy.

Protocol Dynamics

• Worldcoin token price fell by 5% due to Musk suing OpenAI.
• Delta upgrade leads to reduced on-chain fees in the Optimism ecosystem.
• StarkWare announces the launch of a new open-source zero-knowledge prover Stwo.
• SynFutures launched the V3 version on the Blast mainnet and announced a points program; plans to launch tokens this year.
• Robinhood wallet integrates Arbitrum, supporting token exchange

Industry News

• According to BBC reports, Nigeria demands a compensation of 10 billion USD from a certain trading platform.
• The asset management scale of a certain asset management company's spot Bitcoin ETF has exceeded 10 billion US dollars.
• The Bank for International Settlements has released regulatory recommendations on global stablecoin arrangements.
• The total locked value of decentralized lending has surpassed 30 billion USD for the first time since mid-2022.
• Attorneys General from 8 states in the U.S. jointly submitted an amicus brief questioning the SEC's authority in the Kraken lawsuit.

Twitter Hot Topics

This week's Twitter hot topics include:

• The trend of integrating AI and DePIN technology
• Aark Project Latest Progress
• Modular Blockchain Architecture Development
• Gearbox Protocol Ecosystem Update
• Recent developments in the TON network

Important Events Next Week

• March 5th S&P Global Services PMI Final Value (2 February )
• March 5 ISM Non-Manufacturing PMI(2 )
• March 6 ADP employment change ( February )
• March 6th, Bank of Canada interest rate decision
• March 7th, the number of initial jobless claims in the United States
• March 8, US non-farm payroll changes (2 December )

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