Resurgence of 'degenerate behavior' is behind 2023's crypto rally

Episode 6 of Season 5 of The Scoop was recorded remotely with The Block's Frank Chaparro and eGirl Capital Co-Founder Hedgedhog.

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Since the start of 2023, the total crypto market cap has risen over 20%, and daily exchange volume has nearly tripled, according to data from The Block Research. 

In this Market Pulse edition of The Scoop, The Block's VP of Research Larry Cermak and eGirl Capital's Hedgedhog discuss the dynamics shaping the crypto market's current rally, and explain why they aren't holding out hope for a sustained uptrend.

According to Cermak, crypto is lacking a strong enough narrative to be able to break free from broader macro uncertainty.

"I think the biggest difference is that right now we don't really have anything to kind of drive the rally to have legs under it, and I think there's still a lot of uncertainty in the macro markets," he said.

Hedgedhog shares Cermak's doubts about the current trend, noting how quickly retail market participants have begun displaying risk-on behavior: 

"We're seeing a lot of degenerate behavior coming back really quickly — Canto and all these new NFTs, and there are new Ohm forks … people haven't really learned anything, and they're really risk-on already."

During this episode, Chaparro, Cermak, and Hedgedhog also discuss:

• How traders are positioning for Ethereum's Shanghai upgrade
• Why the NFT market is set to decorrelate from crypto
• A look inside the centralized exchange turf war

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