PDAXScope: SHIB, WIF Climb 60%; Impending Altcoin Season

(March 4) Check out other fresh news in the crypto world in today’s issue of the PDAXScope. 📰

Crypto News:

SHIB, WIF Climb 60% as Shorts Lose $50M Betting Against Meme Coins

Pepe (PEPE), the frog-themed meme token on Ethereum, was up as much as 100% to set record highs. WIF, the dog-themed token on Solana that was issued in November was up as much as 80% to become one of the first prominent meme tokens to cross the $1 price mark. Bullish bets on DOGE set a record on Thursday with $1 billion in opened positions. Nearly 70% of those betting were longs, or on the continued growth of the tokens. Open interest in PEPE, SHIB, BONK and FLOKI has similarly grown multifold to a cumulative $1.5 billion in the past few days, Coinglass data shows. A rise in futures bets indicates new money entering the market.

Meme Coin Rally May Signal Impending Altcoin Season; This Is the Sign to Watch

Bitcoin (BTC), the largest and oldest cryptocurrency, has been leading the digital asset rally of late, but there are early signs of a so-called "altcoin season" impending, when smaller tokens are outperforming. Popular dog-themed tokens dogecoin (DOGE) and shiba inu (SHIB) booked 40%-50% gains this week, while newer entrants like pepe coin (PEPE) bonk (BONK) and dogwifhat (WIF) doubled or more in price during the same period. The key signal to look for to confirm the start of a period of altcoin outperformance is ETH's clearing the $3,500 price threshold, Swissblock said.

Global News:

Wall Street is worried about NYCB’s loan losses and deposit levels as stock sinks below $4

Regional lender New York Community BanK finds itself in an apparently worsening predicament just as the anniversary of last year’s banking turmoil nears. Shares of the troubled lender plunged 25% on Friday to below $4 apiece after NYCB restated recent quarterly earnings lower by $2.4 billion, formally replaced its CEO and delayed the release of a key annual report. In a remarkable reversal of fortunes, a year after deposit runs consumed regional lenders including Silicon Valley Bank, NYCB — one of the perceived winners from that period after acquiring a chunk of the assets of Signature Bank following government seizure — is now facing existential questions of its own.

Wall Street hunts for more AI gold after Nvidia’s soaring rally

Money managers are scrambling to cash in on the stock market’s interest in artificial intelligence, as a stunning rally by Nvidia sparks a search for other companies that are capitalizing on the technology. Shares of Nvidia - whose chips are the gold standard in the AI industry - are up about 60% this year after tripling in 2023. The run has pushed its market value to roughly $2 trillion, making it the third-largest U.S. company by market cap after Microsoft and Apple. I.e. Bido’s fund retains a large holding in Nvidia, but has branched out into other AI plays, including rival chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices and MongoDB, whose database products could be in high demand as AI is poised to change data infrastructure needs.

Local News:

Three tycoons sign $3.3-billion energy deal

In a surprise move, the country’s three power giants have forged a $3.3-billion (P184.89 billion) deal to jointly launch the Philippines’ “first and most expansive” liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility in Batangas province to boost energy security and promote “cleaner” energy. Meralco PowerGen Corp. (MGen), Aboitiz Power Corp. and San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp. (SMGP) announced their landmark agreement on Sunday morning. Under the deal, MGen, led by businessman Manuel Pangilinan as chair, and AboitizPower will invest in SMGP’s 1,278-megawatt (MW) Ilijan gas-fired power plant and a new 1,320-MW facility slated for completion by the end of the year.

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