Metaverse, Layer 1 Cryptocurrencies Jump as Grayscale Updates 'Assets Under Consideration'

Digital asset manager Grayscale Investments announced that it is currently reviewing 25 new cryptocurrencies, including some high-profile Layer 1 and Metaverse cryptocurrencies.

If selected, the firm would likely launch a trust focused on the specific cryptocurrency, akin to its Grayscale Bitcoin Trust or its Grayscale Chainlink Trust, for example.

These include ALGO (Algorand), ATOM (Cosmos), AXS (Axie Infinity), DCR (Decred), EGLD (Elrond), ENJ (Enjin), FTM (Fantom), GALA (Gala), SCRT (Secret Network), SAND (Sandbox), STX (Stacks), VET (VeChain), and YGG (Yield Guild).

Grayscale noted that not every asset under consideration would be turned into one of its investment products. The firm also said that it might explore additional assets.

"The process of creating an investment product [...] is a complex, multifaceted process. It requires significant review and consideration and is subject to our internal controls, custody arrangements, and regulatory considerations, among other things," the Connecticut-based firm said in a blog post.

Despite Grayscale giving no guarantees, several cryptocurrencies reacted positively to the news, posting double-digit gains.

Layer 1, metaverse jump amid Grayscale hint

Cosmos (ATOM) and Fantom (FTM) are among the biggest gainers of the day, jumping 15.3% and 19% in the last 24 hours, respectively.
However, not all of this bullish action is specifically related to Grayscale's announcement.

ATOM, which last week hit a new all-time high of $44.45, has been on a surge for the past few days amid the growing interest for the broader Cosmos ecosystem.

One possible reason for that is the upcoming launch of EVMOS. This EVM-compatible protocol will allow assets and projects running on the Ethereum blockchain to migrate to the Cosmos ecosystem.

The Fantom ecosystem, which recently overtook the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) to become the third-largest crypto protocol in decentralized finance (DeFi), is booming too, as products and high yield rewards are fuelling the growth of the network.

"Many projects like Radial, veDAO, and 0xDAO came up with liquidity mining launches that vampire attacked other protocols to gain TVL. These projects share a lot of resemblance to DeFi summer projects in 2020," crypto research firm Delphi Digital said on Tuesday.

In DeFi, a vampire attack is a common term describing an event a protocol offers superior incentives to make users move their deposits from one platform to another.

According to analysts, "mercenary capital came over to Fantom to yield farm these projects as they were providing incredible yields on single-sided staking."

Fantom Network's DeFi Ecosystem Is Now Crypto's Third-Largest

With over $12.2 billion total value locked (TVL) across its ecosystem, Fantom has overtaken the Binance Smart Chain (BSC) to become the third-largest crypto protocol in decentralized finance (DeFi), according to data from DefiLlama. Fantom belongs to the new generation of proof-of-stake blockchains looking to compete with Ethereum by solving scalability problems like the cost of transactions, throughput, and time to finality. For example, Fantom’s distinguishing feature is that a transaction nee...

Tokens for metaverse startups The Sandbox (SAND), Axie Infinity (AXS), and Yield Guild Games (YGG) have all posted double-digit gains too.

SAND is up 8.6% in the last 24 hours, AXS has soared by 9.2%, while YGG is up 8.3% over the same span.