Bitcoin sentiment ticks up

Since reaching above $24,000 the other night, Bitcoin has settled closer to $23,500. BTC fell 1% over 24 hours to right around that mark, as of Friday morning at 7:50 a.m. (EST). At the same time, positive signals are abundant:

• The largest crypto, for all of its newfound glory, still remains below its 200-day moving average. "As we get nearer to that 200-day, it's a huge fundamental catalyst," Mark Connors, head of research at 3iQ, told CoinDesk.
• BTC was said to be on course to form a "golden cross" of average price points, often a vivid bullish trend indicator, when BTC's 50-day simple moving average moves above the 200-day.
• Funding rates – of BTC futures contracts – get tapped into by analysts in search of a pulse; and there’s bullish news in this vein as well. As of yesterday, the annualized BTC perpetual funding rates across major exchanges was 8.491%, the highest since Dec. 3, 2021, according to Glassnode. The higher the funding rate, the "more excited traders are about price prospects" and thus more willing to pay a premium to keep their upside bets open," CoinDesk explained.

Avalanche has notched one of the best weeks among Top 30 digital assets. But as of Friday morning its native token was faltering. Relative to yesterday at 8:15 a.m. (EST), AVAX lost 5%, declining to about $21.31, per CoinGecko.

Alongside majors and a bevy of other altcoins, AVAX surged Wednesday into Thursday following the Fed chair's remarks that its campaign to tame inflation is having an impact. Macro tailwinds keep brewing, and altcoins like AVAX will take them in their stride. Since Jan. 1, AVAX has doubled.

On Tuesday came word that Avalanche had partnered with Intain, a structured finance platform connected with several billion dollars' worth of digital marketplace deals; AVAX rallied nearly 20% after the announcement (Cointelegraph).

AVAX now eyes a breakout above $22.75, with $30 beckoning after that. When we checked the 17th-largest crypto again at about 8:25 a.m. (EST), we saw more sliding: AVAX was $21.28.

Still, AVAX has gained 18% in the past seven days.

Forget FTX, venture capitalists can't keep their hands off crypto projects. Obviously, centralized exchanges are no longer in fashion, but as far as DeFi and crypto infrastructure goes, it's full speed ahead, sort of. Okay, not quite.

For January, Messari counted 74 crypto VC projects. That's 55% fewer than the number of projects observed in January of 2022. Deployments last month totaled $570 million. That's 90% lower compared to the VC showering seen at the start of '22 (CryptoNews).

Still, despite continued post-FTX shockwaves and regulatory recoil, crypto infrastructure attracted $350 million in January.

Startups such as QuickNode and Blockstream garnered $69 million and $125 million, respectively.

According to industry titan Andreessen Horowitz, blockchain developers tend to embrace periods of darkness as a noise-free lull in which to innovate, boosting behind-the-scenes optimism among big-money backers.