Market Signal 1 October 2024: BTC Stalls as Market Awaits Powell’s Speech and Key Economic Data

Update 1 Oct 2024 • Reading Time 4 Minute

Reading Time: 4 minutes

After a strong week, BTC and most other cryptocurrencies seem to be losing steam. BTC, which was trading around $66,000, has pulled back to the $64,000 level as of Monday (30/9). Most altcoins mirrored BTC’s correction, falling between 2-6%.

The market appears to be entering a wait-and-see mode as many economic data releases and events are scheduled for this week. The market’s primary focus is on Jerome Powell’s speech, expected to provide clues about the Fed’s plans.

Additionally, important data such as the ISM Manufacturing Index, employment, and unemployment data will be released mid-week. The results of this data will influence the likelihood of another 50 basis point interest rate cut in November.

The Pintu Academy team has compiled valuable insights from several crypto projects. We analyze that information to determine its potential impact on various asset prices. Will these be bullish or bearish catalysts? Find out in the following article.

It should be noted that all information in this Market Signal is intended for educational purposes, not as financial advice. Do your own research before making any financial decisions!

Thorchain (RUNE) ➡️ Bullish 🚀

After a prolonged process, the new Thorchain DeFi ecosystem, resulting from a collaboration with Kujira, is set to be launched soon. While there is no exact launch date yet, it is rumored to happen in October.

V50 upgrade + IBC + WASM is as close as 2 weeks away. Max 3 weeks.

Then we full launch the App Layer.

Then @ninerealms_cap and our new “RUJI core” team go all-in on
– DLP
– yield streaming
– chains
– integrations.

THORFi base layer will get sunsetted and myself and…
— JP.THOR | ACEL (@jpthor) September 27, 2024

According to a tweet by Thorchain founder Jpthor, the new Thorchain DeFi ecosystem will feature yield streaming, a Decentralized Liquidity Program (DLP), and cross-chain integration. In this new ecosystem, the RUJI DeFi product is expected to have faster market access and lower base layer risk.

On September 14th, the Kujira community officially approved the merger with Thorchain under the Rujira Alliance. The alliance aims to build a new application layer on Thorchain's cross-chain liquidity protocol. The combination of the two is expected to bring significant power to dominate the DeFi market.

This news can potentially be a positive catalyst for the RUNE token price in the short term. In the past seven days, the price of RUNE increased by 23.24% when it reached Rp 85,558. However, the price of RUNE has since corrected and is currently trading around Rp 78,347.

Avalanche (AVAX) ➡️ Uncertain⚖️

Avalanche is set to undergo its biggest update yet with the Avalanche9000 upgrade. While there hasn’t been an official announcement regarding the exact launch date, it’s rumored to occur in October.

Retro9000: Up to $40m in retroactive grants for Avalanche L1s 🔺

This new grant program aims to reward developers who contribute to the testnet and launch their project on mainnet, empowering developers to do what they do best–innovate and build.

More on Retro9000 👇 pic.twitter.com/qNXzosMV14
— Avalanche 🔺 (@avax) September 26, 2024

With the Avalanche9000 upgrade, the security, scalability, and performance of the Avalanche blockchain will be significantly improved, especially for developer teams building Layer 1 (L1) chains.

On their official website, the Avalanche team explains that this update will make it easier for developers to customize the blockchain infrastructure. With reduced technical complexity and economic barriers, it is expected that more L1 projects will be launched on the Avalanche blockchain.

The Avalanche9000 upgrade also aims to attract more development teams to the Avalanche ecosystem through various incentives and rewards. The update will also include a testnet environment that allows developers to experiment with their ideas before launching them on the mainnet.

EigenLayer (EIGEN) ➡️ Uncertain⚖️

EigenLayer is set to lift transfer restrictions on EIGEN tokens on September 30, 2024. This will allow users who received EIGEN through airdrops to determine the value of their holdings. Additionally, EIGEN holders can trade and transfer their staking rewards.

The next major step in the evolution of EIGEN is coming soon!

Transfer restrictions on the EIGEN token are expected to be removed on September 30th, 2024.

Please note that if your EIGEN is currently staked, there is a 7-day withdrawal period for unstaking EIGEN.

To learn more… pic.twitter.com/hPTsdKFVPI
— Eigen Foundation (@eigenfoundation) September 23, 2024

However, the EigenLayer team has cautioned that currently staked EIGEN tokens have a 7-day unstaking period. Therefore, EIGEN holders who have staked their tokens cannot sell them immediately.

According to DefiLlama data, EigenLayer currently has a Total Value Locked of over $12 billion, making it the second largest in the DeFi sector. With the lifting of these restrictions, EigenLayer could face significant selling pressure at launch.

Selling pressure from EIGEN token holders could decrease EigenLayer’s TVL and increase EIGEN’s circulating supply. If not matched by high demand, this could lead to a short-term correction in the price of EIGEN.

Fantom (FTM) ➡️ Uncertain⚖️

This week, Fantom just kicked off their Sonic Arcade campaign program. It is an airdrop program that distributes 200 million $S tokens to all participants. Users only need to play the game with no fees and bridging.

Participants interested in joining Sonic Arcade can go to the Soniclabs Arcade page and play the games on the website. Three games can be played: Plinko, Mines, and Wheel.

Before starting the game, users must first add Sonic Testnet to their Web3 Wallet. Once connected, earn $TOKEN tokens via the faucet provided. Each game requires 1 $TOKEN to play, and users can request as many as 420 $TOKEN each week. After that, play the game to earn points towards the $S airdrop.

You can get the complete guide through Ansem's (@blknoiz60) tweet here.

Token Unlock Agenda This Week

Pintu Academy will feature a list of protocols for token unlocks this week. Here is the list:

Protocol Name	Token Unlock Schedule	Total of Token Unlock	Token Unlock Value	Token Unlock Allocation
Sui (SUI)	01 October 2024	64,19 million SUI	$108,49 million	Investor dan early contributor
Ethena (ENA)	02 October 2024	428 million ENA	$158,14 million	Ecosystem development
Immutable X (IMX)	04 October 2024	32,47 million IMX	$57,80 million	Ecosystem and projects development

Source: Token Unlock

Furthermore, some other protocols that will conduct token unlock this week are Zeta Chain (ZETA), Neon (NEON), Cardano (ADA) and dYdX (DYDX). Notably, the total token unlock value this week exceeded $454 million.

In general, the token unlock agenda will increase the supply in circulation. If the holder of the unlocked token decides to sell their holdings and there is no offsetting demand, the token price will likely plummet. The greater the number of tokens unlocked, the greater the potential pressure generated.

However, a well-planned token unlock schedule can also strengthen the sustainability of a project. As the protocol evolves, token unlocks can motivate team members, boost community engagement, and promote ecosystem growth.