SummaryThe MVIS Smart Contract Leaders index rose 4% this month, with most of the gains happening in the last week. Ethereum led the sector, up 14%, largely due to short covering.Interestingly, since the September merge, an increasing proportion of Ethereum outstanding has either been locked in smart contracts (DeFi, +$3b since the merge) or staked to the Beacon chain (+$1.3B).October saw the launch of Aptos (APT), the latest high-profile attempt to build a monolithic blockchain promising a better mix of speed & cost than Ethereum.The MV Infrastructure Applications Leaders Index rose 10% in October, led by continued relative strength from Quant Network (+26%) and Polygon’s MATIC token (+15%).In October, crypto asset prices traded in a tight range, with Ethereum outperforming major stock indices, bonds & most commodities (except heating oil & gasoline).Crypto asset prices traded in a tight range in October, with Ethereum especially outperforming major stock indices, bonds & most commodities (except heating oil & gasoline), even as value stocks beat growth stocks for the month. The most likely reasons for digital assets’ positive performance were 1) the U.S. dollar DXY index fell in October for only the second month in the last ten months; 2) Elevated short interest and a strong equity market prompted more than $2b in leveraged short ETH & BTC positions to be liquidated on major exchanges during a three day p...
