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First Mover Americas: Ether's Net Issuance Points to Supply Squeeze Ahead, Waves Hits Record High
The latest moves in crypto markets in context for March 29, 2022.
Updated Apr 14, 2024, 10:52 p.m. Published Mar 29, 2022, 1:04 p.m.
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Here’s what’s happening this morning:
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- Market Moves: Calm in credit markets likely helps bitcoin and equities look through sustained rise in bond yields.
- Featured stories: Ether's net issuance points to supply squeeze ahead.
And check out the CoinDesk TV show “First Mover,” hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time.
- Ben Gagnon, chief mining officer, Bitfarms
- Jeff Dorman, chief operating officer, Arca
- Robert Bogucki, managing director and global co-head of trading, Galaxy Digital
Market Moves
By Omkar Godbole
Both crypto and stock markets continue to overlook a sustained rise in bond yields, and that resilience perhaps stems from the calm in credit markets.
"There’s no stress in credit markets, so until that happens, you’ve got to sit on the bid, really," David Belle, founder of Macrodesiac.com and U.K. growth director at TradingView, tweeted. Credit markets had turned jittery following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Bitcoin remained on the hunt for the 200-day average placed at $48,250, after it narrowly missed testing that critical technical resistance level on Monday.
The futures market exhibited a bullish tone, with the one-month contract listed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange trading at an annualized premium of 6%, the highest since mid-December, according to data provided by Skew. The dollar value locked in the CME-based open futures contracts rose above $3 billion for the first time this year. The exchange is considered a proxy for institutional activity.
Premium on other exchanges remained under 5%, signaling a lack of conviction among retail traders about bitcoin's price rally.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency and the native token of Ethereum's blockchain, topped $3,450 for the first time since Jan. 6.
Programmable blockchain Terra's LUNA token hit a record high of $105.91. "Sentiment for LUNA has grown in the past month largely due to the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG), a Singapore-based nonprofit that is purchasing over $3 billion worth of bitcoin as an additional layer of security for UST, Terra's decentralized dollar-pegged stablecoin," CoinDesk's Shaurya Malwa noted.
From a technical analysis perspective, the focus was on LUNA's ability to keep gains above the $100 mark. In recent weeks, the token has failed multiple times to establish a foothold above that psychological level.
WAVES, the native cryptocurrency of Waves blockchain, which enables users to create and launch custom digital tokens, surged over 50% to a record high of $52. The surprise launch of Waves Labs, a U.S-based venture to support, develop and incubate commercial opportunities for the Waves blockchain, likely lifted the token higher.
"Waves Labs is a key component of the Waves plan to grow exponentially in 2022. Despite a period of record growth of our ecosystem, Waves still remains relatively unknown in the U.S. crypto space. With the founding of Waves Labs, the ecosystem fund, and the extremely talented team in place, I do not doubt that Waves will reach mass adoption in 2022 and beyond,” Sasha Ivanov, founder of Waves, said in a press release.
WAVES has rallied more than 300% this month to top the list of best performing cryptocurrencies with market values of at least $1 billion.
Other significant gainers of the day were RUNE, LRC, FIL and ETC.
Latest Headlines
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- WisdomTree Launches Crypto ETPs for Solana, Cardano, Polkadot in Europe
- Terra’s LUNA Set New Highs of Nearly $106
- Ex-Employee Claims Liquid Global Exchange 'Scapegoated' Her for $90M Hack
Ether's Impending Supply Squeeze
By Omkar Godbole
Ether's net daily emission, or the daily supply adjusted for the number of tokens burned, appears to be trending south, providing bullish cues to the native token powering Ethereum's blockchain.
Data tracked by IntoTheBlock shows ether's net issuance declined by 2,960 ETH to 6,170 ETH on Monday, the lowest daily figure since Feb. 24. The metric has dived out of an uptrend.
"After peaking on March 12, the net daily emissions appear to be decreasing as the demand for the network increases," IntoTheBlock said in a broadcast on the Telegram messaging app. "ETH has not had a deflationary day since Feb. 2, but this might change soon."
A continued decline in the issuance could accelerate ether's rally. The cryptocurrency has risen nearly 40% to $3,470 in two weeks, thanks to optimism surrounding the impending merge of Ethereum's proof-of-work and proof-of-stake chains.
"The approach of Ethereum’s merge is galvanizing interest in the potential impact on ETH’s price," Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at CoinDesk's sister company Genesis Global Trading, said in an email.
Ether's pace of supply expansion has slowed since the Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)-1559 was implemented in August. The upgrade introduced a mechanism to burn a portion of fees paid to miners. Since then, more than 2 million ETH – worth over $5.78 billion – have been destroyed, leading to a net supply reduction of 65.2%, according to data source Watch the Burn.
Read more: Traders Bet on Ether Staking After Ethereum 2.0 Upgrade
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
What to know:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Coinbase CEO says Big banks now view crypto as an ‘existential’ threat to their business
Brian Armstrong returns from World Economic Forum with message: traditional finance is taking crypto seriously
What to know:
- Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said a top executive at one of the world’s 10 largest banks told him crypto is now the bank’s “number one priority” and an “existential” issue.
- At Davos, Armstrong highlighted tokenization of assets and stablecoins as major themes, arguing they could broaden access to investments for billions while threatening to bypass traditional banks.
- He described the Trump administration as the most crypto-forward government globally, backing efforts like the CLARITY Act, and predicted that AI agents will increasingly use stablecoins for payments outside conventional banking rails.
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