Cosmos Hub


                    
                    The new testnet is one of the few networks that uses Solana’s Sea Level Virtual Machine (SVM).
                    Developers may soon be able to port Solana Web3 apps to the Cosmos ecosystem, bringing new users to these apps and providing a greater variety of uses for Cosmos blockchains. According to a March 30 announcement from the developer of Cosmos-based network Injective (INJ), the team has released a layer-2 testnet that utilizes Solana’s Sea Level Virtual Machine (SVM). This means that some Solana developers can now test their apps for use in the Cosmos ecosystem without needing to change the programming language or tooling used.In a conversation with Cointelegraph, a representative from Injective said the name of the new network is “Cascade” and that it uses optimistic rollup technology.According to the announcement, the new layer was created with the help of Eclipse, a company that provides customized zero-knowledge and optimistic rollups for developers.Eric Chen, co-founder and CEO of Injective Labs, stated that the integration should help both the Solana developer community and Cosmos users:“This new SVM rollup for the Cosmos IBC world will not only empower developers from Solana to deploy their DApps on Injective, but it will also create more opportunities for users to experience the best Web3 DApps in one integrated network.”Injective stated that the testnet is currently private, but it is “offering a limited number of spots exclusively to select Solana developers” beginning on March 30.The number of active Solana developer teams increased over 1,000% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2022, according to a report by Alchemy. The network features several apps with over 2,000 unique users, including the nonfungible token marketplace Magic Eden and DeFi protocol MeanFi, according to Web3 analytics company DappRadar.However, Solana Web3 apps are written for use with the Solana SVM, which is used by few networks other than Solana itself. This makes it difficult for Solana developers to port their apps to other networks without extensive rewriting.Related: Formfunction to shutter marketplace amid Solana NFT slumpEclipse also created an SVM rollup for Polygon on February 23.Cosmos is a group of interconnected blockchain networks developed using the same consensus engine and software development kit. They are connected through the Cosmos Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC), and assets on one network can be transferred to others within the Cosmos ecosystem. Injective is one of the networks that make up this ecosystem, and the new SVM rollup is a layer-2 of Injective.Injective Labs isn't the only company trying to make Solana apps compatible with Cosmos. Nitro Labs also announced the development of an SVM rollup for the Sei network in September and released a decentralized exchange for its testnet in February.The Cosmos ecosystem has been growing over the past two years. On March 11, Cosmos Hub governance approved the V9-Lambda upgrade that begins to implement Interchain Security (ICS), allowing members of the ecosystem to share validations resources. On March 29, Circle announced that it will launch USDC for Cosmos via the Noble Network.

Injective launches layer-2 testnet for Solana-based apps in Cosmos

Osmosis outcompetes Uniswap in terms of the number of active developers on the network. Volume on the Osmosis DEX falls and activity on the Cosmos Hub network takes a hit. Cosmos Hub has been struggling to compete with other major ecosystems on many fronts. Interestingly, Osmosis (one of the most popular DEXs on the network) […]

Osmosis outperforms Uniswap in active developers’ count; what’s next?

While top coins retraced a bearish trend and lost most of their weekly gains, Cosmos (ATOM) held on by 18.29% last week. Besides ATOM’s 1.0% price decline on March 12, it recorded successive rallies over the past seven days.  The token scored notable price gains on March 10 and 11, then from March 13-15, bringing it to its current price of $12.59. But ATOM has recorded a 0.73% price loss in the last 24 hours. Factors Sustaining Cosmos (ATOM) Price Rallies Economic Factors Earlier this week, the crypto market saw a brief relief from a long-running bearish trend caused by fear and uncertainty among investors. Even while three top US banks faced turmoil, cryptocurrency prices soared with improved sentiment pushing the global market cap by nearly 9%.  Related Reading: Bitcoin Price Set To Rally As Macro Backdrop Is Perfect, Here’s Why This was partly due to the reassurance from the US Fed’s interference to calm the situation. The Federal Reserve announced a Bank Term Funding Program to assist troubled banks in settling aggrieved customers.  Furthermore, the long-awaited February CPI report came out on March 14. The CPI data came out slightly lower than January CPI, similar to economists’ predictions. Hence many cryptocurrency prices, including ATOM, soared on March 14.  However, there is still uncertainty in the market as investors anticipate the Federal Reserve meeting on March 21. It would determine the next basis point for an interest rate hike. Ecosystem Developments Besides market sentiment, ATOM’s 18% weekly gain is higher than most coins’, as some have surrendered theirs to the bears. The latest version of Cosmos SDK could influence ATOM’s price since it opens the ecosystem to high-performance applications. Cosmos touted its new SDK v0.47 (Twilight) as the world’s most used blockchain-building framework. According to its tweet, Twilight comes with a boost in SDK performance and functionality. On March 16, Cosmos Hub tweeted that it upgraded to V9 (Lambda Upgrade) on Wednesday, March 15, while urging users to anticipate another update called Neutron. The report disclosed that Lambda functions as a replicated security on Cosmos Hub and would see the onboarding of consumer chains to the blockchain. The Lambda hub is sparking bullish sentiment for the Cosmos crypto community and might be responsible for ATOM’s price performance. Cosmos (ATOM) Might Be Gearing Up For Another Rally ATOM price is down by 0.73%, with a 31.57% decline in trading volume. This suggests that most of ATOM’s gains came from the previous days’ rallies. But the loss is slight and hasn’t reached an alarming rate yet. This trend indicates the coin might recover the value lost over the past 24 hours. ATOM is still in an uptrend today, despite recording a slight pullback. Cosmos has posted three previous green days forming higher highs on the daily chart and confirming the uptrend. Also, ATOM is in the upper channel of the Bollinger bands, which suggests that the asset is overbought and might retrace soon.  Related Reading: US Fed To Launch FedNow In July, Countering Ripple? ATOM has fallen below the 50-day SMA, hinting at a short-term retracement to the downside. But its price above the 200-day Simple Moving Average (SMA) shows a long-term bullish signal. Featured image from Pixabay and chart from TradingView.com

Cosmos (ATOM) Holds 18% On Weekly Chart While Major Coins Lost Profits

Validators on the Cosmos Hub network will earn more tokens as it welcomes the Lambda V9 upgrade Validators currently stake over 60% of ATOM’s current market cap The Cosmos community has voted in favor of a proposition known as prop 187, which has the potential to benefit ATOM stakers and holders. Due to sufficient votes, […]

Identifying Proposal 187’s full impact on Cosmos validators, ATOM holders


                    
                    Cosmos governance has approved the v9-Lambda upgrade, including interchain security and possibly kicking off a “virtuous real yield cycle.”
                    The Cosmos community has approved a vote to add “replicated security (RS)” to its chain, with 99.99% of votes in favor of the motion. The much-awaited upgrade is set to go live on March 15, 2023, with the v9-Lamba upgrade. RS is the first version of Cosmos’s Interchain Security (ICS) feature, allowing blockchains in the Cosmos ecosystem to share validation resources for improved security. Only protocols approved by Cosmos governance will be added as consumer chains in the upcoming update. Eight consumer chains are potential candidates for selection, including Neutron, PolymerDAO, Duality, Stride, Simply Staking, FairBlock and Comdex.Cosmos’s interchain security could start a virtuous real yield cycle The Replicated Security feature will distribute up to 25% of the consumer chain fees to Cosmos Hub stakers. The protocols can also allocate a portion of token inflation and revenue streams to Cosmos (ATOM) stakers. The ICS implementation allows consumer chains to focus entirely on the growth of the network’s economy, as Cosmos Hub’s validators provide reliable security against 51% attacks and double-spending. This will bring additional yield to ATOM stakers and allow consumer chains to optimize for growth. The staking reward for ATOM after adjusting for inflation is 6.82%, with 24.37% annual returns. The additional consumer chain yields will improve ATOM holders’ annual yield, encouraging more buying and staking activity.Cosmos staking rewards inflation adjustment. Source: Staking RewardsNeutron is a smart contract platform that will likely be the first consumer chain to use the new ICS feature. Avril Dutheil, general manager of Neutron, told Cointelegraph:“As a result [of RS], Neutron does not have to inflate the Neutron (NTRN) supply continuously to keep validators honest or pay staking yield to governance participants since they do not contribute to securing the network.”Dutheil added, “Instead, NTRN can afford to have a fixed supply, a release schedule indexed on on-chain activity and constant buy-and-burn pressure from Neutron’s three streams of revenue.”This will allow the consumer chains to focus on the blockchain’s real yield and bring additional yield to ATOM stakers as the price increases. Consequently, high yields for staking ATOM will motivate more users to purchase and stake ATOM. Hence, potentially giving rise to a virtuous investment cycle in the Cosmos ecosystem. Bullish Cosmos ecosystem growth appearsThe Cosmos ecosystem has grown significantly in the last two years as more chains use the Cosmos-SDK and Tendermint consensus mechanism to spin up application chains. Implementing improved cross-chain features like RS will allow blockchains to benefit from the liquidity in the Cosmos ecosystem.Circle’s announcement of a native USD Coin (USDC) blockchain on Cosmos will likely be a potent catalyst to improve the ecosystem’s liquidity. Dutheil mentioned multiple decentralized stablecoin projects like Agoric’s Inter Stable Token (IST) and Kujira’s USK, which look to replicate the success of Ethereum-based decentralized stablecoins on Cosmos. It will also help establish ATOM as a reliable collateral and improve its value proposition. Dutheil added,“Whether or not these decentralized alternatives will succeed in scaling their offering across the Interchain remains to be seen, but at least the building blocks are there to finally bring a well-integrated DeFi ecosystem to Cosmos.“Technically, the ATOM/USD pair has formed a bullish ascending triangle pattern since forming the June 2022 lows at $6. A breakout from the triangle around the $14 and $15 resistance levels could see the asset tap 2022 bearish breakdown levels around $33, with a slight chance of tapping the all-time highs around $46. However, the bullish thesis would be invalidated if the price breaks an falls below the triangle’s base, currently hovering around $10. CryptoQuant data shows that ATOM’s relative strength index and Stochastic indicator are in the oversold category, suggesting a possible trend shift.ATOM/USD weekly price chart. Source: TradingViewWhile a bullish ATOM thesis looks plausible, its realization will depend on the usage and whether or not consumer chains can bring meaningful returns to ATOM stakers.The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.


ATOM bulls watch closely as Cosmos interchain security prepares for March 15 launch

Cosmos Hub ranks number one in terms of cost to become a validator Despite the low costs, the number of stakers on Cosmos Hub declined According to new data shared by Polkadot Insider, Cosmos Hub has the lowest cost threshold required to become a validator. This, because it only takes 1 ATOM to become a […]

Cosmos Hub’s low barrier to becoming a validator could have these effects

Osmosis made improvements to its protocol, however, its TVL declined. Despite Osmosis’ decline in TVL and revenue, Cosmos Hub remained unaffected On 2 March, Messari revealed Osmosis‘ plans to integrate Bitcoin [BTC] into its network for additional security. Osmosis is a major part of the Cosmos [ATOM] ecosystem, and improvements in the Osmosis protocol could […]

Will ATOM be affected with Osmosis’ move to Bitcoin? Assessing…

Cosmos Hub witnessed a decline in staking activity. However, development activity increased as Cosmos provided incentives. Cosmos Hub lost stakers on its network over the last week. However, with Cosmos [ATOM] increasing its focus on development activity, it could regain the interest of stakers and bring them back to the network. Is your portfolio green? […]

Cosmos [ATOM]: Is it the right time to short? Analyzing…

Cosmos Hub is set to undergo its Rho upgrade today, which will be executed at block height 14099412. The update will add a global fee module which will improve the security of the Cosmos Network.
The upgrade will be the last major upgrade before the eagerly anticipated Replicated Security release.
Rho Upgrade Set For Launch
The Cosmos Hub, the main chain of the Cosmos ecosystem, is all set for the Rho network upgrade, scheduled for mainnet launch on Thursday, the 16th of February, 2023. The upgrade will be executed at block height 14099412 and is the last major upgrade on the network before the release of the highly anticipated Replicated Security. The upgrade will begin laying the groundwork for the upcoming Interchain Security system, set to be released in the first quarter of 2023.
However, the Hub team has cautioned users that they could face some downtime during the execution of the upgrade.
What Is The Rho Upgrade?
The road to Rho has been a long one. Over the course of its development, the future set for Rho had seen continuous change. The Rho upgrade was initially intended to ship with Cosmos SDK v0.46, along with improvements in Groups and Governance. However, thanks to several contributing factors, it was decided that the upgrade would ship with the Cosmos SDK 0.45 release line. Furthermore, a number of features from the Cosmos SDK v0.46 release line will show up in future Cosmos Hub releases.
The current Rho upgrade consists of several minor improvements, along with an extensive update to testing infrastructure. It also includes the addition of a new Global Fee module, which TGrade has developed. This Global Fee software module will enable the collection of transaction fees from users around the globe. According to a statement by Cosmos, the aim of the upgrade is to improve the overall security of the Cosmos Network by reducing the likelihood of validators colluding with each other or misbehaving.
The successful implementation of the Rho upgrade will clear the path for Replicated Security, which will see the addition of a host of consumer chains into the Cosmos ecosystem. Users looking for more information and wishing to get up to speed with the upgrade process can do so through the Cosmos GitHub page.
The Cosmos Ecosystem
The Cosmos ecosystem consists of over 200 blockchains where developers can build and deploy application-specific chains. The Cosmos Network relies on several core technologies and frameworks, such as Tendermint Consensus and the Cosmos Software Development Kit. Through these technologies and frameworks, it is able to create individual chains such as Kava, Injective, Osmosis, Thorchain, Evmos, and Canto. Furthermore, the chains are connected with one another through the Cosmos Hub and the Inter Blockchain Communication (IBC) communication protocol.
Interchain Security
As mentioned earlier, the Rho upgrade creates the groundwork for the Interchain Security update, which is slated for release during the first quarter of 2023. The update will enable individual chains in the Cosmos ecosystem to secure themselves using the same security validators that help run the Cosmos Hub, which acts as a hub for other blockchain networks in the ecosystem and enables interoperability and cross-chain communication.
Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

Cosmos Hub To Initiate Rho Network Upgrade Today

Osmosis boosts Cosmos’ performance and ATOM’s value. ATOM saw its volume go down but the development activity increased. Osmosis, a DEX on the Cosmos Hub protocol observed improvements over the last few days. It outperformed other players such as Avalanche and Optimism in terms of daily activity, reaching around 50,300 daily users according to the […]

Assessing the role of Osmosis in ATOM’s near-term price journey


                    
                    ATOM gained 50% in January and while the wider crypto market could remain bullish for some time, does the Cosmos ecosystem have strong enough fundamentals to support further upside?
                    In September 2022, Interchain Foundation, the team behind Cosmos’ development , introduced the Cosmos ATOM 2.0 whitepaper. The document proposed significant changes to Cosmos’s design, including a tokenomics upgrade to fund the Cosmos ecosystem development and reduce ATOM inflation.While the whitepaper launch acted as a bullish catalyst for ATOM price, the community vote to pass the proposal eventually failed, primarily because of its enormity. Some community members wanted to take a measured approach to each development feature listed in the whitepaper, starting with Interchain Security in Q1 2023.Interchain Security will enhance the value accrual position of ATOM as a modular chain. New blockchains will be able to borrow the security from it and pay Cosmos Hub validators. Despite the rejection of the Cosmos 2.0 whitepaper, the team continues to work on the upgrades mentioned in it. The other improvements in tokenomics will be introduced as a separate proposal to the Cosmos community.The first week of February witnessed a technical bullish breakout in ATOM’s price. If buyers continue to accumulate, there’s a solid chance of a short-to-medium trade rally.Interchain Security to bring more value to ATOM stakersThe Interchain Security implementation remains the most crucial breakthrough in accruing value to ATOM holders. The feature will allow independent blockchains, called consumer chains in the Cosmos ecosystem, to rent security from the validators of Cosmos Hub. Existing Cosmos SDK-based blockchains can choose to be consumer chains too. This will bring additional staking rewards for ATOM holders.The Cosmos team concluded its developers campaign called “Game of Chains” to test consumer chains before rolling out the mainnet version of Interchain Security. They will implement this feature in Cosmos’s Lambda upgrade (v9) some time in February.Number of blockchains that are part of IBC. Source: Interchain FoundationDevelopment of Cosmos ecosystem and IBC expansionOne of the most prominent consumer chains will be the introduction of Cosmos-native USDC by Circle. The stablecoin will enhance the liquidity of Cosmos’s DeFi ecosystem. The Cosmos SDK is used to construct many popular blockchain and cryptocurrency projects, such as Binance DEX, Kava, Terra and more recently, dYdX. Until now, ATOM didn’t accrue any value from this implementation. However, slowly this will change with Interchain Security and other developments with cross-chain implementation.The Inter Blockchain Communication (IBC), which enables interoperability between Cosmos-based blockchains, showcased impressive growth in 2022. Moving forward, the project’s team will implement the Interchain Scheduler, providing an open and transparent MEV marketplace for cross-chain transactions. It will look to standardize ATOM as the default gas token for IBC transfers, though the fees can be paid in multiple tokens.Number of blockchains that are part of IBC. Source: Interchain FoundationIn the future, the IBC will help the Cosmos ecosystem expand to other blockchains, such as Ethereum, Near, and Polkadot, improving liquidity and traffic with it. The change in ATOM’s tokenomics with Interchain Allocator to fund ecosystem growth and eventually reduce inflation will also be implemented in time.Related: Injective launches $150M ecosystem fund to boost DeFi, Cosmos adoptionSince the beginning of 2023, ATOM’s price has increased by 61%, which can be partly attributed to the broader rally in the crypto market. Nevertheless, the gains were still larger compared to Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH), which gained 48.10% and 43.20%, respectively.Coinglass data shows a steep spike in the open interest (OI) volume for ATOM futures orders to $92 million from $65 million, setting the token up for increased volatility. The funding rate and long vs. short ratio suggest that the interest was primarily in long orders. An over-leveraged futures market can provide headwinds for buyers as sellers will look to run the stops of long players.Open interest volume for ATOM. Source: CoinglassThe weekly chart of ATOM/USD broke above the 50-period exponential moving average (EMA) at $14.20. The metric has acted as a pivotal level for trend reversals. If the price closes above the 50-week EMA at the end of February’s first week, technical buyers will look to accumulate ATOM for a swing trade.The bulls will target the resistance levels at $17.20 and $25.20 if the uptrend continues. On the downside, long term support lies at $6.50 and $3.10.ATOM/USD weekly chart. Source: TradingViewThe Cosmos community has long anticipated the Interchain Security feature. Thus, the token has a higher chance of sustaining its breakout, at least leading up to the launch. The growth and the proportion of yield it brings will either keep the bullish momentum alive before the Interchain Foundation moves to the next update or see a fading momentum until the proposal to improve ATOM emissions is finally passed by the community.The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.




Are Cosmos’ ecosystem growth and roadmap enough to sustain ATOM’s current 50% monthly rally?

Terra’s Mars Protocol launch boosts Cosmos Hub’s DeFi potential. However, there was declining revenue and staker interest in Cosmos network despite TVL growth. In an announcement on January 20, Terra [LUNC] stated that it would launch its lending protocol, known as Mars Protocol, on Cosmos Hub‘s network. This move could have a positive impact on […]

Cosmos Hub reaps the benefits of Terra’s new update – Here’s how


                    
                    Traders are contemplating what will happen to ETH price and staked Ether derivatives after the next network upgrade opens withdrawals for stakers.
                    The crypto market witnessed the DeFi summer of 2020, where decentralized finance applications like Compound and Uniswap turned Ether (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) into yield-bearing assets via yield farming and liquidity mining rewards. The price of Ether nearly doubled to $490 as the total liquidity across DeFi protocols quickly surged to $10 billion.Toward the end of 2020 and early 2021, the COVID-19-induced quantitative easing across global markets was in full effect, causing a mega-bull run that lasted almost a year. During this time, Ether’s price increased nearly ten times to a peak above $4,800. After the euphoric bullish phase ended, a painful cool-down journey was exacerbated by the UST-LUNA crash which began in early 2022. This took Ether’s price down to $800. A ray of hope eventually arrived in the third quarter as the market experienced a positive rally led by the Ethereum Merge narrative.The shift to an environmentally-friendly proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism was a big step forward. The event also reduced Ether inflation post-merge. During a lead-up to the Merge on Sept. 15, 2021, ETH peaked at over $2,000. However, the bullish momentum faded quickly, turning the Merge into a buy-the-rumor and sell-the-news event.A similar bullish opportunity could be brewing in Ether as the upcoming Shanghai upgrade scheduled for March 2023 grabs the market spotlight. The upgrade will finally enable withdrawals from Ethereum staking contracts, which are locked presently. The upgrade will significantly reduce the risk of staking ETH.It will provide an opportunity for liquidity staking protocols to grow. The governance tokens of some of these protocols have jumped since the start of the new year as hype builds around. There’s a possibility that the upgrade can push these tokens toward last year’s Merge highs. Moreover, Ethereum’s staking space is still in its early stages, providing a market opportunity for the growth of these protocols.The percentage of staked Ether is lowCurrently, 13.18% of Ether’s total supply is staked on the Beacon Chain, which is low compared to other proof-of-stake (PoS) chains like Cosmos Hub (ATOM) with a staking ratio of 62.5%, Cardano (ADA) with 71.8%, and Solana (SOL) at 71.4%. The reason for Ethereum’s low staking ratio is that the staked Ether is locked in its current state, but this will change in March.Ethereum has the lowest staking ratio compared to other L1 blockchains. Source: Staking RewardsThe upcoming Shanghai upgrade will include a code known as EIP 4895 that will allow Beacon Chain staked Ether withdrawals, enabling a 1:1 exchange of staked Ether for Ether. Ethereum’s staking ratio should reach parity with other leading PoS networks after this update. A significant portion of which will likely move to liquid staking protocols.De-risking of liquid staking derivativesLiquid staking protocols like Lido and Rocket Pool let Ether holders stake without running a validator node. Since Ether is pooled, a single user doesn’t have a minimum threshold of 32 ETH (worth around $40,000) for staking. People can stake fractions of Ether, reducing the entry barrier for staking.The protocols also enable liquidity provision for staked assets, which would otherwise be locked in the staking contracts. The DeFi contracts give a derivative token (for instance, Lido’s stETH) in exchange for staked Ether on the proof-of-stake (PoS) network. A user can trade with stETH while earning yields from the staking contract.As Ethereum’s staking ratio increases after March’s update, the use of liquidity staking protocols will likely increase with it. Currently, the liquid staking protocols account for 32.65% of the total staked Ether. Due to the benefits mentioned above, their market share should remain near or above current levels after the Shanghai upgrade.The governance tokens of liquid staking protocols could also benefit from their increased locked value, similar to DeFi tokens, which benefited from a rise in total locked value (TVL) in the latest bull run.How are LSD governance tokens performing ahead of Shanghai?Lido DAO (LDO)Lido DAO is the leader of the liquid staking space with higher annual yield and market share than other protocols. Lido commands 88.55% of the total staked Ether in these protocols. Let's take the amount of staked Ether as a proxy for evaluating the protocol. We again find that Lido has the most competitive market capitalization to staked Ether ratio.Source: Coingecko, Dune AnalyticsThe weak point of the project’s token economics is that LDO is a governance token. It doesn’t entitle holders to a share of the generated yield or fees. Moreover, the token has additional inflation from investor token unlocking until May this year.LDO 4-hour price chart. Source: TradingViewTechnically, the LDO token broke above the short-term resistance of around $1.17 with significant buying volume. Bulls will likely target $1.80, capitalizing on the hype around the Shanghai upgrade.The token is heavily shorted in the futures market after the recent 26% rise in its price since Jan. 1. The funding rate for LDO perpetual swap turned negative with a large magnitude, providing an opportunity for a further uptrend in a short-squeeze. The current support levels for LDO are $1.17 and $1.Rocket Pool (RPL)Rocket Pool is similar to Lido, albeit smaller in size. The market capitalization to the staked Ether ratio of the platform is five times larger than Lido, which likely makes it overpriced.Nevertheless, the RPL token has additional utility besides governance as an insurance token for users. Node operators stake RPL as insurance, where users receive the staked RPL in case of losses due to the operator's fault.The Ethereum Merge high of RPL in September 2021 was $34.30. Since the start of 2023, its price has increased by 10%, last trading at $22.40. If buyers are successful in building support above the $20 level, there's a possibility that RPL can reach last year’s high of $30, which was attained around the Ethereum Merge.Ankr (ANKR)Ankr is a blockchain infrastructure provider which offers API endpoints and runs RPC nodes besides staking solutions. Similar to LDO, ANKR is only used for governance purposes. The token’s price has stayed relatively flat over the last few days. The market capitalization to the staked Ether ratio of Ankr is on the higher side at par with Rocket Pool, which is a negative sign.Still, if the hype around Shanghai upgrade increases, ANKR can reach August 2021 highs of $0.05. The recent breakdown level of $0.03 will act as resistance for buyers. Currently, the token is trading around $0.015.Stakewise (SWISE)Stakewise offers the highest staking yield of 4.43%. Its governance token is comparatively less inflated than RPL and ANKR in the market capitalization to staked Ether ratio, making it cheaper than RPL and ANKR. However, the token distribution is adversely skewed towards private investors and the founding team, which have 46.9% of SWISE’s total supply. According to data from Nansen, wallets identified as “smart money” have been slowly accumulating SWISE since April 2021.Smart wallet holdings of SWISE tokens. Source: NansenThe Ethereum Merge high for SWISE was $0.23, which will be the likely target for buyers. The support lies near 2022-lows around $0.07. Shared Stake is flagged red because the protocol was suspected of an insider exploit, which caused a 95% decline in the token’s price in June 2021. The high staking return of the Shared Stake compared to others is also an eyebrow-raising detail to take note of. On the other hand, Cream Finance has discontinued its Ether staking service.The upcoming Ethereum Shanghai upgrade provides an opportunity for the liquid staking space to grow. Lido DAO is the clear leader in this space with an optimum market price. The de-risking of ETH staking and hype around the event could translate to a series of rallies that could push the price of LDO and other liquid staking protocols back to their Merge highs from last year.The views, thoughts and opinions expressed here are the authors’ alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.
