TLDR 📃

• We think Phantom Wallet will give MetaMask a run for its money by supporting Ethereum with a friendlier user experience.
• Interesting tidbit: Ethereum's revenue growth reminds us of Amazon's early success.
• ETH price has been stable, but brace yourself for a drop to $1,400  –  soon.
• In DeFi, smaller networks like zkSync and StarkNet are catching up. Don’t miss out like you did with Arbitrum.

Disclaimer: Not financial or investment advice. Any capital-related decisions you make are your responsibility and yours only.

Time to stop using MetaMask? 🦊

Everybody knows MetaMask is the top Web3 wallet, but let's be real – its user experience isn't the best. It's kinda complicated. It looks weird. It feels clunky. But hey, it works, so we all use it.

1/ Phantom multichain is rolling out today! 🥳

Now you can use @ethereum, @0xPolygon, and @solana without switching wallets.

With support for multiple secret recovery phrases, it’s easy to import all of your wallets in seconds.

Compatible everywhere with a MetaMask button. pic.twitter.com/wbvwmZ1ZlJ

— Phantom (@phantom) May 1, 2023

Phantom is the go-to wallet for Solana users and it's super-friendly. Give it a try and see if it floats your boat. We're gonna test it with Ethereum this week.

Analysing the numbers ➗

All right, friends, it’s time to look at the numbers. First up, let's see what’s happening with prices.

Price chart 📉

Honestly, we can’t add much to what we says in our last update. Nothing's changed. I mean, ETH is still at the same price as last week, right? 😄

We're still watching the $1,850 level closely. It will hold or it will break, and that will decide ETH's next move.

If you ask us, we think there's a good chance of the price dropping to $1,700 first and then maybe $1,400 after. That seems more likely than seeing ETH miraculously break through $2,000 again. It could happen, but we don’t see it.

Staking data

We forgive you for being tempted to skip this section. Yes, "staking data” sounds like it’s going to be dull. But hold on, it's actually super-important for long-term holders. 

A healthy staking situation means the network is secure. And when more ETH is staked, there's less of it circulating, which means less available to sell. Combine that with demand, and you've got a recipe for soaring prices in the next run.

Staked ETH is at almost 20 million, which is about 15% of the total supply. 

Many thought the percentage of staked ETH would drop when withdrawals opened up with the Shanghai upgrade, but it actually went up. It's slowly getting closer to our prediction  –  "30% of the ETH supply being staked," remember?  –  which should help boost the price.

And check this out: 97.5% of current stakers aren't planning to withdraw anytime soon. That's a seriously impressive retention rate.

Ethereum revenue 💸

Here’s another bullish number for ETH holders:

Check this out: Ethereum's revenue keeps growing, even with all the price uncertainty. 

Jeff Bezos made a memorable comment when asked about Amazon's early days. He said that every business metric was going up except for the stock price. But as long as they kept building, the stock would eventually reach its true value, which was on the rise. We think the same thing is happening with ETH right now.

Balance on exchanges 💱

Less supply on exchanges means there's less available for sale, which is good news for investors. Plus, when the balance drops, it often means people have been buying on exchanges and moving their crypto to cold storage. So how do things look right now?

This year, the balance on exchanges has dropped by 1.4 million ETH (around $2.5 billion). In April, the decrease was much smaller  –  just 67K ETH. This hints at a slowdown in buying, which is contributing to market uncertainty.

Ethereum ecosystem 🌐

DeFi

Here's the one table you need to see to understand the state of decentralised finance on Ethereum:

As you can see, established networks like the main chain (Ethereum L1), Arbitrum, and Optimism have seen practically no change in TVL (total value locked). But the smaller players are booming, with both zkSync and StarkNet seeing a 10% increase despite the boring climate.

Look, when ecosystems are small and activity starts to rise, you want to keep your ear to the ground and try as many things as possible. This puts you ahead of others by identifying opportunities early (look at GRAIL on Arbitrum as an example of how it pays to be early) and by securing a ticket to any airdrops that might arise.

For more details, check out our DeFi and Layer-2 digests!

NFTs

Last week, Mad Labs saw their floor price go all the way up to 84 SOL, starting from a 6.9 SOL mint price. Yes, we just mentioned SOL in the Ethereum digest; the irony isn’t lost on us. But the point we’re trying to make is that NFT minting and selling is provably a good strategy, even in this environment.

Sooooo, we worked hard and did a lot of digging to bring you a curated list of the top 12 upcoming NFT mints. All of which you can read in our NFT digest.

Cryptonary’s take 🧠

All right folks, let's sum up what we’re seeing with Ethereum today. 

We've got a bit of a mixed bag. 

On one hand, the fundamentals are looking pretty solid for the long haul. We've got staking numbers on the rise, revenue increasing, and smaller DeFi networks making waves. So, there's plenty to be excited about in the long term.

Then there’s the short-term picture. Technicals are hinting that ETH might be in for a bit of a bumpy ride, possibly dropping to $1,400. 

Remember, the crypto world is always full of surprises.

What should you take away from all this? Keep a close eye on those fundamentals – they're showing promising signs for Ethereum down the road. But don't get too comfy just yet, because the short-term technicals suggest we’ll see some twists and turns along the way.