The Daily: Crypto asset manager says 'post-US election honeymoon is over,' AI agent token prices break down and more

I hope you had a good weekend, folks! Prices still can't catch a break, but here's your chance to grab one of your own and get caught up on all the latest crypto news.

In today's newsletter, CoinShares says the "post-U.S. election honeymoon is over" as macro and monetary policy weighs heavy on crypto fund flows, AI agent token prices break down, Tether plans to move to El Salvador and more.

Meanwhile, MicroStrategy is still buying, picking up another 2,530 bitcoin for $243 million, bringing its total holdings to 450,000 BTC. 

Let's get started.

'Post-US election honeymoon is over'

Global crypto investment products attracted modest net inflows of $48 million last week as macro and monetary policy reasserted themselves, according to asset manager CoinShares.

• The week had gotten off to a good start, with crypto funds attracting nearly $1 billion.
• However, the subsequent release of new macroeconomic data and the Federal Open Market Committee's latest meeting minutes signaled a stronger U.S. economy and a more hawkish Fed, leading to outflows of $940 million in the latter half, Head of Research James Butterfill noted in a Monday report.
• "This suggests that the post-US election honeymoon is over, and macroeconomic data is once again a key driver of asset prices," Butterfill said.
• Bitcoin-based funds led the flows, adding $214 million, despite witnessing the largest net outflows later in the week, and remain the top performer so far this year at $799 million in net inflows.
• Ethereum-based products weren't so fortunate, suffering net outflows of $256 million for the week.
• "We believe [this] is attributed to the broader tech sell-off rather than any specific issue with the asset," Butterfill said.

AI agent token prices experience hard reset

AI agent tokens have gone from dominating market mindshare to being dumped on the proverbial crypto scrap heap in the space of a week, with prices halving in some cases .

• The native token of ai16z, which supports a DAO-run venture fund and the Eliza OS agent framework, saw its price drop 55% over the past seven days to a market cap of $1.1 billion.
• Similarly, the token of Virtuals protocol, which allows users to create decentralized AI-driven digital assistants, dropped 48% to a market cap of around $2.5 billion.
• Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb Qureshi recently criticized the current status of the niche as being more like chatbots with memecoins attached than actual AI agents, predicting their novelty would fade despite the initial hype.

Tether poised to relocate to El Salvador

Tether, the world's largest stablecoin issuer, is "about to complete all formalities" to relocate to El Salvador after acquiring a Digital Asset Service Provider license in the country that became the first to adopt bitcoin as legal tender in 2021.

• "El Salvador is rapidly establishing itself as a global hub for digital assets and technology innovation," Tether said Monday. "With its forward-thinking policies, favorable regulatory environment and a growing Bitcoin-savvy community, the country has become an ideal destination for companies leading the digital finance revolution."
• Tether aims to enhance financial inclusion by promoting bitcoin and stablecoin adoption in underserved regions via its El Salvador operation.
• The news comes just a week after Bitfinex Derivatives announced a similar decision.

MoonPay acquires Helio in $175 million deal

MoonPay acquired Solana payments app Helio in a deal worth $175 million, according to Fox Business.

• Founded in 2022, Helio helps over 6,000 merchants to accept payment in cryptocurrencies like BTC, ETH and SOL, handling over $1.5 billion in transactions and integrating with platforms like Discord, WooCommerce and Shopify, MoonPay said in a statement.
• The acquisition aligns with MoonPay's strategy to become a leading bridge between fiat and crypto payments, building on prior integrations and partnerships with PayPal, BitPay and Onramper.
• Ripple's recently launched RLUSD stablecoin can also now be purchased using MoonPay.

Azuki-backed Animecoin unveils tokenomics

Animecoin, the cryptocurrency project backed by Arbitrum and the Azuki NFT series, has unveiled the tokenomics for its upcoming Anime token, which is expected to launch this month.

• Some 50.5% of its 10 billion total supply is allocated to the community, including 37.5% for Azuki NFT holders and 13% for "community cultivation."
• The project aims to unite anime's "fragmented" culture of 1 billion fans into a community-owned ecosystem powered by the AnimeDAO.

In the next 24 hours

• U.S. PPI data are due at 8:30 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
• U.S. FOMC member John Williams will speak at 3:05 p.m.
• EigenLayer is set to unlock 1.29 million EIGEN tokens, worth $3.6 million, representing 0.61% of the circulating supply.

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