By Sam Boughedda
A Citi analyst said in a note to clients Thursday that they believe crypto contagion appears to have ceased.
The analyst, writing a note on the overall crypto market, told investors the recent crypto market news flow has raised the specter of contagion into broader financial markets. However, they do not think it is likely given crypto's size relative to other asset classes.
"In any case we think crypto market contagion fears have likely peaked," said the analyst. "stETH returning towards parity is an indicator of declining liquidity stress and a driver of recent ETH performance. Stablecoin outflows have lessened and the Coinbase premium is moving back toward historical levels (albeit currently still at a discount)."
Citi believes crypto "remains too small and siloed" compared to financial markets for contagion to spread meaningfully.
"Stablecoin & ETF outflows have begun to show signs of stabilizing, with the Coinbase discount also normalizing. Crypto remains too small to meaningfully affect financial markets — Standing at $990bn vs $34tn of the US equity market, crypto market stress is unlikely to spillover to broader financial markets, indeed they are likely dealing with similar challenges (growth, inflation and financial tightening)."