A sharp spike in stock markets has bogged down in indecision over the past few days, keeping investors in the crypto market from buying as well. The total crypto market cap declined 1.6% to the $956 million mark and the Fear & Greed Index dropped 3 points to 23 - the “extreme fear” zone.

Bitcoin has lost 1.9% over the past 24 hours, trading just below $20K at the time of writing. However, the Non-Farm Payrolls (NFP) announcement today could trigger a volatile episode for BTC that could resolve its range tightening and establish a directional bias. At the same time, the altcoin scene is also relatively calm, with XRP pushing towards $0.5 and being the best performer of the top alternative coins by means of total market capitalization.

Institutional interest in the digital assets sector remains strong despite concerns of a crypto winter, according to Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley (MS). There are more than 180 active crypto exchange-traded-funds (ETFs), exchange-traded-products (ETPs) and trusts. Half of these products have launched since the “bitcoin bear market,” Morgan Stanley said in a research report on Thursday.

MakerDAO, the world’s largest decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol, announced on Thursday a plan to invest $500 million in short-term US treasury bonds and investment-grade corporate bonds.

The plan, which was approved by MakerDAO members in a community-wide, months-long vote - will see $400 million of the organization’s asset reserves put towards US treasury bonds, and $100 million invested in corporate bonds. A pilot transaction of $1 million has already been completed, with the rest to soon follow.

“The 80-20 split between treasuries and bonds remained the favored approach during the voting process,” said MakerDAO Growth head Nadia Alvarez in a statement. “This showcases the opportunity associated with the move, and seeing such adamant support from the community is very exciting.”

In other news,

• Visa partners with FTX to offer debit cards. Read More
• Grayscale’s New Co-Investment Vehicle Aims to ‘Capture the Upside of Crypto Winter’. Read More
• Binance-Backed BNB Smart Chain Paused Over Potential Multi-Million Dollar Exploit. Read More
• Web3 VC Berkwood Capital Raises $30M to Invest in Growth-Stage Startups. Read More
• Mastercard launches a new crypto fraud protection tool . Read More

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According to a filing lodged with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Fidelity planned to launch an Ethereum index on October 4, 2022. As per the filing, a minimum investment accepted from an outsider interested in the security is $50,000. At the time of writing, the fund had just over $5 million worth of assets.

As explained by a report published by Barron’s Advisor, the new security, which is also known as the Fidelity Ethereum Index Fund, is not an exchange-traded fund (ETF). Instead, the ethereum index fund is said to be structured as a “traditional limited partnership.”

Commenting on the revelations that Fidelity had launched an ETH-based index fund less than two years after it launched a similar fund for bitcoin, a spokesperson for the investment company reportedly said; “We have continued to see client demand for exposure to digital assets beyond bitcoin.”

In other news,

• More than 30% of Canadians plan to purchase crypto by 2024 — OSC head. Read More
• Namibia’s central bank says Bitcoin can be accepted as payment. Read More

Despite rubbing the elites the wrong way, Bitcoin has proven to be a net positive in El Salvador. Since adopting BTC as a legal tender in 2021, the central american nation appears to be a target for smear campaigns in the mainstream media that seem designed to paint its economy as a rapidly declining one. However, this is the truth of the country’s performance in the past year:

While this is impressive, it's important to not only be discerning in consumption of the mainstream narrative, but also cautious of creating a new elite. As institutional interest and resources pour into the crypto space, we're gradually entering into a space in which web3 ideals are less emphasized and a new elite is forming.

Understanding the implication of changes to the biggest networks is one way to prevent a gradual migration of the same problems faced in web 2. Critical debates surrounding the true consequences of events such as the Ethereum Merge and the expansion of Bitcoin's lightning network should be encouraged.