Aave, the largest decentralized lending protocol, has proposed reducing its exposure to governance risks within the Ethereum layer-2 network, Scroll’s ecosystem.

The initiative, submitted on Sept. 11 by the Aave Chan Initiative (ACI), comes amid mounting instability in Scroll’s decentralized governance model.

The proposal outlines several defensive measures to protect Aave’s users and liquidity pools. These include raising the reserve factor for all listed assets to 90%, lowering supply caps to existing levels, and cutting borrowing caps for all borrowable assets.

According to ACI, these steps will help contain exposure to Scroll-based assets, reinforce protocol safety through conservative risk parameters, and ensure Aave can respond swiftly if governance disruptions escalate.

ACI pointed out that the proposal’s implementation will proceed through the Direct to AIP process, which allows for faster deployment of urgent changes.

Data from DeFiLlama shows that Aave currently holds about $6 million in total value locked (TVL) on Scroll, making it the chain with one of its smallest liquidity pools.

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Scroll’s DAO issues

The urgency of Aave’s proposal stems from internal turmoil at Scroll’s decentralized autonomous organization (DAO). Scroll announced earlier in the day that it had halted new proposals within its DAO as part of a plan to redesign governance.

Scroll said the decision would allow experimentation with governance models emphasizing efficiency, effectiveness, and alignment. The team also stressed that the pause aims to safeguard stability in the short term while laying the groundwork for sustainable growth.

Meanwhile, Scroll stressed that proposals that have already been approved will proceed. However, fresh submissions will be paused until the new structure is introduced.

This move comes after leadership turbulence within the DAO. Olimpio, a Scroll delegate, confirmed that the DAO’s lead, known as Eugene, resigned earlier in the week.

According to Olimpio, this departure has left the community facing uncertainty, with several proposals now stalled. These include a treasury management initiative, the formation of a governance council, and a test of a DAO timelock mechanism.

The Nasdaq-100 index was recently down by as much as 23% from its all-time high, placing it in bear market territory. Global trade tensions, which were sparked by a series of tariffs President Donald Trump enacted on imported goods from the United States’ major trading partners, have rattled the markets. Investors often trim their exposure to stocks during uncertain situations and flock to the safety of assets like cash instead.

But not every company is directly affected by the simmering trade war since tariffs are typically imposed on physical imports. Netflix (NFLX 5.36%), for instance, sells subscriptions to its streaming platform for access to movies and TV shows. As digital products, they’ve been exempt from the tariffs so far.

Moreover, Netflix operates in over 190 countries so its revenue base is extremely diversified, which will provide some insulation if any governments decide to penalize digital goods. In fact, the company released its financial results for the first quarter of 2025 on April 17, and management didn’t change its full-year forecast at all despite the lingering macroeconomic uncertainty.

Netflix stock is only down 8.6% from its all-time high as of this writing, so it’s doing far better than the broad market amid the recent turmoil. Here’s why investors with a spare $1,000 — money they don’t need for near-term expenses — might want to invest in Netflix right now.

Image source: Netflix.

Netflix dominates the streaming industry

Netflix had 301.6 million paying subscribers at the end of 2024. The company decided to stop reporting those numbers each quarter because it wants investors to focus on its financial metrics instead. But Netflix remains the world’s largest streaming service by far. Amazon Prime is in a distant second place with an estimated 200 million subscribers, and Walt Disney rounds out the top three with 124.6 million subscribers for Disney+.

Netflix generated a record $10.5 billion in revenue during the first quarter of 2025, which was up 12.5% from the year-ago period. That growth rate represented a deceleration from the prior few quarters, but it actually exceeded management’s 11% growth forecast thanks to higher-than-expected revenue across both subscriptions and advertising — the latter of which has become a key point of focus on Wall Street.

The company introduced a new ad-supported subscription tier in late 2022 at a much cheaper price point than its regular memberships. For U.S. subscribers, it costs just $7.99 per month as of this writing, compared to $17.99 per month for the standard tier and $24.99 per month for the premium tier. However, unlike standard and premium subscribers, each ad-tier subscriber could become more valuable over time as businesses ramp up their marketing spending on the platform.

Netflix said its advertising revenue doubled in 2024, and it expects a similar result in 2025. The company rolled out its own ad-technology platform called Netflix Ads Suite in the U.S. on April 1, which will eventually allow businesses to measure the performance of their marketing campaigns with a high degree of accuracy, and also target specific audiences. These capabilities will make Netflix a more attractive destination for advertisers.

Live programming could fuel the next phase of growth

The surest way to grow advertising revenue is to keep users engaged for longer periods of time. The more time each subscriber spends on Netflix each day, the more ads they will see and the more money the company will make. Live programming is a powerful tool in that regard because sporting events like boxing and football can run for several hours at a time.

Netflix exclusively aired both NFL games live on Christmas Day in 2024, attracting about 30 million viewers each, making them the most streamed games in the sport’s history. The average NFL game runs for over three hours, which is longer than what the average user spends watching Netflix each day (two hours). In other words, live sports have the potential to drive above-average engagement from subscribers, and Netflix plans to show both NFL games on Christmas Day again in 2025.

Netflix also aired the Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul boxing match in November, which was a raging success. There was a female boxing match on the undercard between Katie Taylor and Amanda Serrano, which became the most watched women’s sporting event in U.S. history. Netflix will host their rematch in July.

The company expects to spend a record $18 billion to produce and license content during 2025, which is far more than any of its competitors. Nevertheless, it remains the only pure-play streaming platform generating profits at the moment, which is a key benefit of its enormous scale. That also means Netflix is able to outbid its peers for blockbuster live events going forward.

Netflix stock isn’t cheap, but its valuation might be justified

Netflix generated $6.61 in earnings per share (EPS) during the first quarter of 2025, which was a 25% increase from the year-ago period. With trailing-12-month EPS of $21.16, its stock trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 49.1.

That isn’t cheap considering the Nasdaq-100 trades at a P/E ratio of 27.2, but Netflix’s valuation might be justified considering its incredible track record and future growth potential. According to Wall Street’s average estimate (provided by Yahoo! Finance), Netflix could grow its EPS to $25.31 this year before reaching $30.15 in 2026, making its P/E ratio appear far more attractive on a forward-looking basis:

Data by YCharts.

But the biggest rewards for investors will be realized long term. Netflix estimates its addressable market is worth $650 billion across streaming subscriptions, advertising, gaming, and more, and the company had only captured 6% of it at the end of 2024. Simply put, it has a long runway for continued growth.

Although Netflix stock is down just 8% from its all-time high, this could still be a great opportunity for investors to take a long-term position.

April 21st Bitfinex alpha | Bitcoin resilience amid the market turmoil

Bitcoin has shown remarkable resilience in recent years during one of the most intense periods of macroeconomically driven uncertainty. Despite a 32% drawdown from January high, BTC still stands alongside the historic mid-cycle retrace of the previous bull market. Importantly, US equities and Treasury have experienced the extreme volatility reflected in VIX, spikes above 40 for the first time in over five years, but Vitocoin has recovered above 16% from its low, surpassing most traditional risk assets.

This rebound comes along with a push of gold to an all-time high of over $3,300 per ounce, reinforcing the growing narrative of Bitcoin being evolving into a digital macro hedge. Both assets are considered valuable global neutral storage amid globalization, trade disputes, and capital flights from volatile stock markets. Recent Price Actions further support this paper. April 2 – or Liberation Day – Bitcoin behaves more like gold than stocks, showing strong recovery momentum from the low markets, whilst lower markets continue to struggle with tightening down and policy uncertainty.

BTC/USD 4H chart. (Source: Bitfinex)

In fact, the US economy in particular recognizes that it is in a sensitive and increasingly unstable position as trade policy uncertainty, inflation risks and consumer behavior converges. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has expressed a cautious stance on interest rates and highlighted the need for more data amid growing market uncertainty caused by new tariffs and restrictions on Chinese imports.

Import prices have fallen conservatively, mainly due to lower energy costs, but this decline is expected to be short-lived. Recently imposed tariffs and weakening of the US dollar could lead to higher import inflation in the coming months. These rising costs have already been kept to consumers, showing a sharp 1.4% increase in retail sales in March. This is evidence that Americans are rushing to buy ahead of the expected price rise, and see more of the defensive response than signs of recovery. The weakening of inflationary pressures and consumer sentiment could quickly turn households into saving on spending.

Import price index and US dollar index

Last week, the crypto landscape saw a wave of adoption and innovation in a variety of areas. Tether has made a strategic investment in Fizen, a fintech company focusing on independent wallets and digital payments, with the aim of bringing Stablecoins like USDT into everyday use through user-friendly tools such as QR codes and card readers. The move reflects the driving force of a wider industry to make digital assets more accessible, especially for unbanked communities around the world. Meanwhile, canary capital has submitted to the US SEC to launch a tron-based ETF that includes some of its larger plans to expand its crypto investment products amid a more favorable regulatory environment. Panama City has announced that it will accept Bitcoin, Ethereum, USDC and USDT on the public sector front for taxes and local government fees.

]]> https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitfinex-alpha-bitcoin-resilience-amid-the-market-turmoil/feed/ 0 32220 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-recovery-shows-resilience-amid-macro-turmoil-but-momentum-faces-resistance-at-92k/ https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-recovery-shows-resilience-amid-macro-turmoil-but-momentum-faces-resistance-at-92k/#respond Tue, 22 Apr 2025 05:32:09 +0000 https://earlybirdsinvest.com/bitcoin-recovery-shows-resilience-amid-macro-turmoil-but-momentum-faces-resistance-at-92k/

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Given the continued volatility in the general crypto market, several major digital assets such as Ethereum and Bitcoin experienced a decrease in investor participation. As a result, the two crypto giants were faced with significant selling pressure, with ETH recording more losses than Bitcoin.

Ethereum Outpaces Bitcoin In Recent Losses

Over the last few days, Ethereum and Bitcoin have struggled with notable bearish pressure that has hampered their upward movements. During this volatile period, seasoned market expert and host of the Crypto Banter show, Kyle Doops, has outlined substantial losses in both assets as observed in the 6-Hour Rolling Losses metric.

Ethereum’s value has declined more precipitously than that of several of its competitors, triggering selling pressure among investors. During the recent sell-off, Ethereum holders have locked in $564 million in losses, highlighting growing investor caution and a shift in market sentiment. 

According to the expert, this is one of the worst losses ETH investors have experienced since the 2023 bull began. The notable losses raise concerns about ETH’s short-term resilience and future performance as volatile market conditions constantly affect investors’ confidence in the altcoin.

Kyle Doops highlighted that while losses are decreasing, this could imply that the market is adjusting to lower pricing. With the market adapting to lower price conditions, the market expert is confident that capitulation is still present.

In another X post, Kyle Doops reported that Bitcoin is navigating rough waters as it suffers significant losses amid persistent market turbulence. This huge loss has also triggered speculations about the sustainability of BTC’s renewed upward trend to key levels like $85,000.

Data from the expert reveals that investors of the largest cryptocurrency asset experienced about $250 million in realized losses in just 6 hours after last week’s sharp drop. In the current market cycle, this loss is one of the biggest so far.

However, looking at the chart, each leg down is exhibiting less pain, which suggests that sellers might be running out of ammo. As key technical resistance levels continue to hinder BTC’s uptrend, the future of the flagship asset is becoming increasingly uncertain.

Where One Of ETH’s Strongest Support Lies

ETH has made a brief rebound to the $1,600 mark after a sudden drop on Wednesday. Delving into the price action, Ali Martinez, a crypto analyst, has underlined a crucial support zone for Ethereum, where significant investor interest was seen in spite of continued price fluctuation.

While the altcoin slowly rebounds, Ali Martinez highlighted that the $1,528.50 is a key support level in its price dynamics. This is due to the notable accumulation around this level. On-chain data shows that about 2.61 million wallet addresses purchased more than 4.82 million ETH in this zone, making it a robust area of support against downside pressure.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from Tradingview.com

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The alleged scammer behind the ZKasino rug pull has reportedly lost over $27 million in a high-risk Ethereum trade as crypto market turbulence continues to catch overleveraged traders.

On April 7, blockchain analytics platform Onchain Lens revealed that the scammer had exited a 20x leveraged long position on ETH using the Hyperliquid trading platform.

The setback is believed to have stemmed from Ethereum’s recent price correction amid the broader market slump triggered by the US deciding to implement reciprocal tariffs on 180 countries.

According to CryptoSlate’s data, Ethereum fell almost 20% over the last 24 hours to as low as $1415 before attempting a recovery above $1500. ETH was trading at $1537 as of press time.

Many in the crypto space view the ZKasino scammer’s recent trading loss as a “dose of karma.”

The scammer’s loss echoes a case from March 31, when the hacker behind the $9.6 million ZkLend exploit lost 2,930 ETH to a phishing site mimicking Tornado Cash. That individual had also ignored a bounty offer from ZkLend.

Zkasino scam

The funds used in the trade are believed to stem from an earlier exploit tied to ZKasino, which occurred in 2024. The platform faced widespread backlash after executing a rug pull that drained nearly $33 million worth of Ethereum from users.

ZKasino’s move triggered intense criticism across the industry. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin criticized the project, claiming its use of “ZK” branding was misleading and solely based on its deployment on zkSync.

In response to the backlash, ZKasino promised to refund investors’ funds while claiming it acted in users’ interests by converting the ETH to ZKAS tokens and locking them under a 15-month vesting schedule.

However, the promised refunds have not materialized as of press time.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands’ Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) later arrested a 26-year-old man suspected of involvement in the scheme. Authorities seized digital assets, luxury cars, and real estate worth approximately $12.2 million.

Mentioned in this article

On April 2, President Trump announced sweeping tariffs on America’s trading partners, which will increase the cost of physical goods coming into the country. The president’s goal is to encourage more companies to manufacture products domestically to drive job creation, but there is likely to be significant economic pain in the short term, especially as other countries are expected to respond with tariffs of their own.

Netflix (NFLX -6.63%) and Spotify (SPOT -9.84%) operate two of the world’s largest streaming platforms, and they could be great stocks to buy in the face of a potential trade war, for a few reasons:

• Digital goods aren’t impacted by tariffs (at least not yet, but this might be a future risk).
• Both companies have extremely diversified revenue streams because they operate in more than 180 countries worldwide.
• Both charge a relatively small monthly fee to hundreds of millions of customers, so tariffs probably wouldn’t raise prices enough to trigger mass cancellations.

Both Netflix stock and Spotify stock are down 13% from their all-time highs amid the volatility in the broader market, but they are actually outperforming the Nasdaq-100 technology index, which has plummeted by almost 17% from its high. Since it appears likely that trade tensions will persist for the foreseeable future, here’s why investors with a spare $1,500 (money they don’t need for immediate expenses) might want to buy one share of Netflix and one share of Spotify.

Image source: Netflix.

The case for Netflix

Netflix is the world’s largest streaming platform for movies and TV shows, with 301.6 million subscribers as of the end of 2024. It’s far ahead of Amazon Prime with an estimated 200 million subscribers (although Amazon doesn’t separate Prime subscribers from Prime Video users), and Disney‘s Disney+, with 124.6 million subscribers.

Netflix offers three subscription tiers: Standard with ads ($7.99 per month), Standard without ads ($17.99 per month), and Premium ($24.99 per month). The ad tier, which was introduced in November 2022, has been a massive success because of its cheap price point. In the fourth quarter of 2024, it accounted for 55% of all of Netflix’s signups in countries where it’s available. The number of subscribers using this plan also soared by almost 30% compared to the third quarter just three months earlier.

Ad-tier subscribers also become more valuable for Netflix over time, because as the membership base grows, the company can sell more advertising slots to businesses. Plus, the more time each subscriber spends on the platform each day, the more ads they see and the more revenue Netflix earns. The company said its advertising revenue doubled in 2024, and management expects it to double again in 2025.

Netflix is trying to accelerate that trend by investing heavily in live content because it keeps people engaged for longer periods of time. For example, it exclusively showed both Christmas Day NFL games last year. Each match typically runs for over three hours, so any subscriber who watched one of them from start to finish was on Netflix for much longer than the average member, who normally spends two hours on the platform per day.

Netflix generated a record $39 billion in total revenue in 2024. That translated to $8.7 billion in net income, which was a whopping 61% increase compared to 2023. Netflix remains one of the few pure-play streaming platforms generating consistent profits, despite outspending all of its peers to create and license content, which is a huge benefit of the company’s scale. Management expects to spend $18 billion to expand its slate during 2025, which could further extend its advantage over the competition.

Netflix stock trades at a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 46.2 as of this writing, which isn’t necessarily cheap considering the Nasdaq-100 trades at a P/E ratio of 29.2. However, the stock is below its five-year average P/E ratio of 50.2, so investors have typically paid a premium for Netflix because of its growth and its dominant position in the streaming industry.

Plus, Wall Street’s consensus estimate (provided by Yahoo! Finance) suggests Netflix will grow its earnings per share (EPS) to $30.18 during 2026, which places its stock at a forward P/E ratio of 30.2. In other words, the stock would have to climb by 66% over the next two years just to trade in line with its five-year average P/E ratio of 50.2. That could be especially likely if Netflix becomes a tariff safe-haven for investors:

NFLX PE Ratio data by YCharts.

The case for Spotify

Spotify is the world’s largest music streaming platform. At the end of 2024, it had 425 million free users who are monetized through advertising, and 263 million Premium subscribers who pay a monthly fee for an ad-free experience. Paying users are far more valuable because they account for 87% of the company’s total revenue, so Spotify invests heavily in its platform to convince as many free users to become subscribers as possible.

Last year, the company launched a feature powered by artificial intelligence (AI) called AI Playlist, which is only available to Premium subscribers. It allows users to type in a prompt — whether it be a feeling, a movie, a color, or even an emoji — and it will produce a list of songs to match. It’s a creative way to keep users engaged, and perhaps explore music they wouldn’t have otherwise considered.

Spotify is also focused on growing its content catalog beyond music. It’s already one of the world’s largest platforms for podcasts, but it also entered the audiobook space in 2022 to expand its user base. Free users can’t access audiobooks at all, but Premium subscribers can listen to 15 hours worth of content each month for no extra charge — yet another way the company is enticing users to pay.

Spotify generated $17.3 billion in revenue during 2024, an 18% year-over-year increase, marking an acceleration from the 13% growth it delivered in 2023. Thanks to careful expense management, the company also delivered $1.2 billion in net income. It was the first profitable year in Spotify’s history, and the result was a big positive swing from the $587 million net loss it generated in 2023.

Since profitability is still new for Spotify, the traditional P/E ratio isn’t a good way to value its stock. Instead, we can use the price-to-sales (P/S) ratio, which divides the company’s market capitalization by its annual revenue. It currently stands at 6.8, which is near the highest level in Spotify’s history as a public company, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad buy right now.

SPOT PS Ratio data by YCharts.

A few years ago, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek issued a forecast suggesting the company’s revenue could hit $100 billion by 2032. A year later, he followed that up by predicting Spotify’s user base could surpass 1 billion by 2030. If those estimates come to fruition, investors willing to hold Spotify stock for the next five to seven years could be getting an absolute bargain by buying it today. If we assume global trade issues will persist for the next few years, owning this stock sounds like an even better idea.

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The XRP Open Interest (OI) has declined severely, losing over $3 billion in almost three months. This sharp reduction indicates a waning confidence among traders and investors in XRP’s short-term outlook. Moreover, the decline in Open Interest comes as the market experiences significant volatility and instability. 

XRP Open Interest Takes Major Hit

According to Coinglass data, XRP’s Open Interest from January 2025 to date has gradually decreased in significant portions. The on-chain data analytics platform revealed that the XRP Futures Open Interest on exchanges surged around January 18 to $7.87 billion. Various exchanges, including leading names like Binance, Bybit, Bitget, and others, contributed to this massive increase. 

Following its $7.87 billion surge in January, the XRP Futures Open Interest began to decline each month. At the beginning of February, it faced a significant drop to $5.94 billion, marking a 24% decrease from its initial high. While OI experienced a slight recovery in the following days, it eventually recorded an even deeper decline to $3.01 billion on February 28.

Currently, the Open Interest is sitting around $3.22 billion, reflecting a decrease of over 50%. Although this is a slight increase from its previously stated low, the cryptocurrency has still lost approximately $4.62 billion in less than three months.

In addition, the XRP Futures Open Interest on Binance has also taken a hit. On January 17 2025, the Open Interest on Binance had skyrocketed to $1.62 billion, marking a high for XRP this year. Despite this surge, XRP’s OI has fallen to $619.8 million, reflecting a loss of over $1 billion. 

Notably, several factors may have contributed to this deep decline in XRP’s Open Interest. The recent market turmoil and the cryptocurrency’s subsequent price correction have fueled uncertainty over its prospects. With the downturn, the XRP price is trading at $2.28, marking a 15% decline over the past month.

Typically, Open Interest represents the total capital invested in open positions in the market. A sharp drop in OI suggests that traders are closing their positions without opening new ones, potentially indicating reduced trading activity and waning interest. 

Analyst Predicts A Price Surge To $10

While XRP faces limitations due to its decline in Open Interest and broader market conditions, a technical analyst identified as ‘Steph in Crypto’ on X (formerly Twitter) has shared a chart predicting a surge in the cryptocurrency. According to the analyst, the price is gearing up for a surge above $10 soon.

The analyst’s ambitious prediction is based on the recent formation of a Golden Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) Cross on the price chart. Steph presented a chart with a green box showing XRP’s price action in 2024, which saw a decline followed by a rally. The second box illustrates the cryptocurrency’s movement in 2025. If history repeats, the analyst believes that the altcoin may break out upwards again after its current consolidation phase.

Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from Tradingview.com

Editorial Process for bitcoinist is centered on delivering thoroughly researched, accurate, and unbiased content. We uphold strict sourcing standards, and each page undergoes diligent review by our team of top technology experts and seasoned editors. This process ensures the integrity, relevance, and value of our content for our readers.