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First Mover Americas: This Year's Top Performers and What Comes Next
The latest price moves in crypto markets in context for Dec. 21, 2023.
Updated Mar 9, 2024, 5:43 a.m. Published Dec 21, 2023, 1:01 p.m.
This article originally appeared in First Mover, CoinDesk’s daily newsletter, putting the latest moves in crypto markets in context. Subscribe to get it in your inbox every day.
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Layer-1 blockchain Solana led the way in 2023 in terms of token price gains, with other altcoins , and Helium’s (HNT) following closely behind. Solana, which began its sharp increase in mid-October, has risen over 700% since the start of the year. HNT also made considerable gains, climbing 500%. Most of the advance came this month, following the company’s move into the mobile space. For Avalanche, there have been a number of institutional partnerships that helped lift the token some 300% year-to-date. Looking forward, analysts pointed to tokenization of real-world assets as a booming segment to watch. Chris Newhouse, a former derivatives trader and the founder of Infiniti Labs, said the “Decentralized Physical Infrastructure (DePIN) narrative” will continue to be a hot topic, with tokens such as RNDR and HNT recently outperforming the market. DePINs use cryptocurrency tokens to incentivize building of real-world infrastructure.
More than $1 billion in assets belonging to the founders of the bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) have been frozen by a British Virgin Islands court, according to the firm's liquidators, Teneo Restructuring. The worldwide court order, issued Monday, applies to founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies as well as Davies' wife, Kelly Chen, Teneo said in an email. 3AC filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy in July last year after the collapse of stablecoin issuer Terra caused irrecoverable losses. Teneo has been seeking $1.3 billion and included Chen in the order to use all available avenues to maximize returns to creditors, whose claims total more than $3 billion. Zhu, jailed for four months in Singapore in September for failing to help wind up 3AC, is expected to be released this month for good behavior.
Bitcoin neared the $44,000 level early Thursday and reversed some losses, which were caused by the sudden drop in U.S. stocks on Wednesday. The S&P 500 index fell 1.42% Wednesday, hurting riskier assets such as bitcoin. Some analysts pointed out that a correction was overdue as market indications were in overbought territory and the expiry of a certain type of options created selling pressure. Bitcoin and trending tokens such as Solana’s SOL and Avalanche’s AVAX took a hit after the broader market plunge but climbed in early Asian hours on Thursday. SOL extended gains to 15% in the past 24 hours, and the advance from a multiweek rally to over 55%.
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- Grayscale’s Bitcoin Trust Fund (GBTC) discount to net asset value (NAV) is holding near the narrowest since August 2021.
- The discount widened slightly to 7.90% on Wednesday
- The discount has been shrinking as a result of optimism that a bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) will be approved in the U.S.
- GBTC is the world’s largest bitcoin investment vehicle and has traded at a discount since February 2021 and hit record lows of nearly 50% in December last year.
- Source: ycharts
- Lyllah Ledesma
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What to know:
- As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
- GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
- Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
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Japan’s Higher Rates Puts Bitcoin in the Crosshairs of a Yen Carry Unwind
A stronger yen typically coincides with de-risking across macro portfolios, and that dynamic could tighten liquidity conditions that recently helped bitcoin rebound from November’s lows.
What to know:
- The Bank of Japan is expected to raise interest rates to 0.75% at its December meeting, the highest since 1995, affecting global markets including cryptocurrencies.
- A stronger yen could lead to de-risking in macro portfolios, impacting liquidity conditions that have supported bitcoin's recent recovery.
- Governor Kazuo Ueda indicated a high probability of a rate hike, with officials prepared for further tightening if their economic outlook supports it.
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