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Industry Insights/news
11 May 2023

The Friday Focus - Issue 85

More Q1 results, operational trouble for Binance, and brief problems for the Ethereum network. This, and more, in the Friday Focus.
Friday Focus Cover page
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Top stories

  • Q1 result publications: Rising crypto prices positive, but miners struggle
  • Binance halted Bitcoin withdrawals twice - plan changes
  • Unexplained problem disrupts transaction finality on Ethereum
We are in the midst of the Q1 results publication season. We have summarized this week's publications in the table below. The rising crypto prices in Q1 generally led to better results, but miners struggle massively with increased competition and repercussions from last year's downturn.   
FF issue 85 table picture
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Binance halted withdrawals of Bitcoin twice in the last week, citing network congestion. The congestion was, in reality, temporarily higher transaction fees due to the BRC-20 and ordinal hype competing for block space. So unlike on most highways, Binance could have paid its way out of the queue but chose not to. Withdrawals have resumed, and Binance is now changing its fee policy for Bitcoin withdrawals and planning to integrate the Lightning Network. Since "The merge," the Ethereum network is split into a consensus layer (beacon chain) and an execution layer (the "old" Ethereum Mainnet). On Thursday, transaction finality on the Ethereum network was briefly disrupted due to an unexplained problem with the beacon chain.Other NewsWe bring you some amusing crypto celebrity news to round off this week's newsletter. Or, everyone does not find this funny, as disgraced Three Arrows founder Su Zhu has obtained a restraining order due to Twitter harassment from another partly disgraced crypto founder, Arthur Hayes (Bitmex). With that, we wish you a great weekend!
From our Analysts
Worrying memecoin rally as BTC reigns stableThe on-chain fees on Bitcoin surged over the past week. We elaborate on why, its short-term implications on the market, and how this may lead to increased selling pressure from miners onwards.Further, we explore some interesting short-term developments in the perp OI following the Monday market headwinds.
Ahead of the curve (8)
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Read the full report here.
Weekend Reading
The Denominator by Arthur HayesThe economics of nightclubs and national banking systems have a lot in common.2016 - How The DAO Hack Changed Ethereum and CryptoThe $60 million hack in 2016 led to a controversial revision of the blockchain, and was a factor leading to the ICO boom starting the following year, argues David Z Morris. This feature is part of our “CoinDesk Turns 10” series.
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