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In a research report released on July 18, 2024, Thor Hartvigsen, a crypto researcher, strongly cautioned against the investment strategy of purchasing high-beta altcoins within the Ethereum ecosystem as a leveraged tactic, particularly with the forthcoming launch of the spot Ethereum ETFs in the United States.

Hartvigsen’s analysis titled “ETH Beta – a Recipe for Disaster?” provides an analysis of whether buying ETH-correlated altcoins, commonly referred to as ‘ETH betas,’ constitutes a good investment strategy. These assets, including tokens like OP, ARB, MANTA, MNT, METIS, GNO, CANTO, IMX, STRK (all L2’s), MKR, AAVE, SNX, FXS, LDO, PENDLE, ENS, LINK (all DeFi) PEPE, DOGE (all memes), SOL, AVAX, BNB and TON (alternative L1’s) are traditionally viewed as offering leveraged exposure to movements in Ethereum’s price, assuming a higher volatility relative to Ethereum itself.

The report dissects several critical areas: price performance comparison between these altcoins and Ethereum, their correlation and beta coefficients relative to Ethereum, and their risk-adjusted returns measured by the Sharpe ratio. The researcher highlights the inherent risks and inefficiencies in banking on these altcoins for enhanced Ethereum exposure.

Why Buying ‘Ethereum Beta’ Altcoins Is Generally A Bad Idea Discussing price performance, Hartvigsen points out, “The TOTAL3 (altcoin market cap) against the ETH market cap is at around 1.48. Since 2020, this chart has only been this low on a few rare occasions, signaling the outperformance of ETH against most alts.” This historical context sets a grim precedent for those hoping for altcoin outperformance concurrent with Ethereum’s growth. The researcher elaborates that despite periodic recoveries at these levels, the overarching trend has been one of decline—a troubling signal for altcoin investors.

“Notably, not a single L2 token has outperformed ETH YTD, with the best performing token, GNO, up 34%, whereas ETH has seen a 44% gain. Worst performers include MANTA, STRK, and CANTO, all down more than 60% this year,” Hartvigsen stated. With regard to the top alternative L1’s, AVAX is the only one down on the year vs ETH. “Of the 8 DeFi tokens in this basket, 3 have outperformed ETH, namely PENDLE (+254%), ENS (+163%) and MKR (+78%). The remaining 5 are all down on the year with FXS as the worst performer down 73%,” the researcher added.

Meanwhile, memecoins have been the best bet this year so far. “This can also be seen in the performance of the largest Ethereum-native memecoins. PEPE is the largest gainer of the sample, up +708% while SHIB is up 74% and DOGE 31%,” according to Hartvigsen.

The correlation section of the report digs deeper into the relationship these altcoins have with Ethereum. “The sample of altcoins has not been chosen at random but consists of tokens usually assumed to be correlated with the performance of ETH,” Hartvigsen explains.

He further notes that “Correlation between ETH and ETH is obviously perfect and therefore is 100%. The alts most correlated with ETH are GNO, SNX, METIS, AAVE, and ARB.” However, despite some tokens showing a decent correlation with Ethereum, the researcher cautions that these do not necessarily guarantee similar performance outcomes, especially in this crypto cycle.

Correlation to ETH | Source: X @ThorHartvigsen In terms of beta, which measures the volatility of an asset compared to the market, the findings are telling. “From this analysis, it’s clear that only a few alts have a high beta coefficient in relation to ETH, namely PEPE, METIS, ENS, and PENDLE,” Hartvigsen states. This suggests that while certain altcoins exhibit higher volatility and thus potential for greater returns relative to Ethereum, they also carry a proportionately higher risk.

Altcoin beta relative to ETH | Source: X @ThorHartvigsen The calculation of the Sharpe ratio, which provides a measure of risk-adjusted return, brings another dimension to the analysis. Hartvigsen remarks, “The Sharpe ratio calculations underscore the volatility-adjusted returns of these altcoins, which have varied significantly. This is critical as investors often overlook the increased risk these ‘ETH beta’ assets carry.”

Wrapping up his findings, Hartvigsen offers a clear verdict: “Buying these altcoins as a way to get leveraged exposure to Ethereum is, in my opinion, a foolish game as you’re taking on a lot of additional risk you might not be aware of. If you’re looking for leveraged ETH exposure, simply putting on a 2x ETH long on e.g., Aave is more sensible.” He emphasizes that such a strategy ensures a 100% correlation and a beta value of 2, without the unnecessary complications.

At press time, ETH traded at $3,439.

ETH rises above the 0.618 Fib, 1-week chart | Source: ETHUSD on TradingView.com Featured image created with DALL·E, chart from TradingView.com

CANTO Price Surges by 13.5% as Developers Promise Network Outage Fix

Canto, built on the Cosmos blockchain, experienced an outage that halted the chain’s operation. The stoppage occurred after its Callisto upgrade on Saturday.

On August 11, Canto developers announced on their official X page that the chain had a consensus issue, which affected its operation. They calmed the situation by announcing that an upgrade to address the issue would be carried out on Monday, August 12 at 12:00 UTC.

The developers, in response to the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that might have arisen because of the operational stoppage, assured their users that their funds were safe and would be accessible for user operations as soon as the chain resumed.

Canto Price Action Remains Positive Short-Term, Sees Double-Digit Increase The price of the CANTO token fell on Sunday by 11%, following the news; before that, it had been trading sideways since Tuesday, August 6. However, it has risen more than 30% today, which could be a positive sentiment toward the assurance about fund security and the upgrade plan by Canto developers.

Photo: TradingView

Despite the ongoing recovery and price surge today, Canto remains in a strong downtrend when the price action is observed from a broader perspective. Three different price action metrics indicate that the current bullish move may only be a retracement (corrective move) rather than a total trend change. The price is still below the 50-day and 200-day simple moving averages, which could potentially serve as resistance to price growth in the medium term.

In addition, the price is trading under a descending triangle channel, which has been both support and resistance since March. The consolidation experienced within the past few days has been at the base of the pattern.

We could see a bounce to the top of the channel within the next few days before the downward move continues. However, a breakout above the top of a descending triangle pattern will be interpreted as a super bullish signal, which could propel Canto’s price to heights not seen in the past few weeks and months.

Canto Developers Seem to Be Handling It Well The Canto blockchain outage is not the first in the crypto ecosystem. These blockchain breakdowns also have various effects on the affected community and can be caused by software upgrades, just like in the case of Canto, hardware failure, cyberattacks, or venom governance issues. The effect can lead to delayed transactions or a total halt.

For example, Stacks nodes had around 9 hours of disruption, which affected the functionality of applications that depend on its blockchain in June. Following this, it dipped by close to 50% in just 3 weeks.

The aftermath of these outages has been largely dependent on how the developers managed them. With the bullish move (+30% spike today) that Canto is experiencing, it could be said that the developers and community are handling the situation well.

Disclaimer: Coinspeaker is committed to providing unbiased and transparent reporting. This article aims to deliver accurate and timely information but should not be taken as financial or investment advice. Since market conditions can change rapidly, we encourage you to verify information on your own and consult with a professional before making any decisions based on this content.

Altcoin News, Cryptocurrency News, News

Temitope is a writer with more than four years of experience writing across various niches. He has a special interest in the fintech and blockchain spaces and enjoy writing articles in those areas. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in linguistics. When not writing, he trades forex and plays video games. 

Temitope Olatunji on X

CANTO was outperforming the broader market at press time. The recent outage on the Canto blockchain sparked concerns. CANTO was up 40% despite a series of outages that have rocked the network in the last few days. The chain went down on Sunday, the 11th of August, but developers later deployed a fix that brought it back online for around 90 minutes before halting again.

Per Canto Explorer, the last block production happened on 12th August at 14:02 UTC. The developers attributed the outage to “unforeseen secondary effects” caused by a recent network upgrade.

The team announced that block production will resume on 13th August once a new patch is deployed.

While such network outages tend to hurt prices, CANTO is witnessing a major rebound. The token is one of the top performers in the market in the last 24 hours amid rising interest and high volumes

What’s driving the rally?  CANTO was trading at $0.064 at the time of writing after registering an over 40% gain. Data from CoinMarketCap showed that trading volumes have increased by 87%, likely driven by high buying pressure.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) line was tipping north, showing a rise in buying momentum as the market becomes more bullish. The RSI crossing above the signal line further portrayed a buying signal.

The Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) has been making higher lows despite being in negative territory. This indicates that buying pressure is beginning to outweigh the selling pressure. However, buyers need to provide more support to sustain the uptrend.

Source: Tradingview The formation of the falling wedge pattern further suggests the continuation of the uptrend as prices recover from the recent pullback that saw the price plunge to $0.036 on August 12.

If the price breaks out above the upper trendline of the falling wedge, CANTO will target the 1 Fib level ($0.12). Conversely, if the uptrend fails, the token will likely drop to the 0.236 Fib level ($0.0116).

Community raises concerns Helius Labs CEO, Mert Mumtaz, has called out the Canto network team over the lack of community engagement.

“[I don’t care] if you go down but you have a duty to the people holding funds on your chain to keep them informed,” he stated.

Analyst Marty Party on X also noted that the network has been witnessing a slump in on-chain activity, posing a significant challenge to its future growth.

Data from DeFiLlama shows that the network’s Total Value Locked (TVL) has dropped from over $200 million in March last year to $14 million. The declining TVL points towards reduced demand and confidence in the project.

Source: DeFiLlama

CANTO Tops Daily Gainers Amid Market Momentum

KEY TAKEAWAYS

CANTO trades at approximately $0.013 with a market capitalization of nearly $4 million, representing a 99% decline from its all-time high of $0.77 reached shortly after launch. The Canto blockchain operates as a Layer 1 EVM-compatible chain offering decentralized exchange, lending, and stablecoin tools as Free Public Infrastructure with zero protocol-level rent extraction. Circulating supply stands at 608 million tokens against a total supply of one billion, and daily trading volume recently reached $200,000, a 13% increase signaling renewed but modest interest. Price predictions diverge sharply: DigitalCoinPrice projects $0.0313 by year-end 2026, Bitget models show $0.01078 by September 2026, while CoinLore’s outlier model suggests $1.83 over the same horizon. Institutional interest in the distinct Canton Network, an enterprise blockchain backed by DTCC and Goldman Sachs, should not be confused with the separate Canto Layer 1 DeFi chain despite similar naming. Small-cap Layer 1 tokens present a valuation puzzle that standard crypto analysis struggles to solve. CANTO, the native token of the Canto blockchain, trades at roughly $0.013 with a fully diluted valuation near $6.8 million, according to CryptoTechGuide’s analysis. That places it outside the top 3,000 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. 

Yet the chain’s architecture is unusual: it delivers core DeFi primitives, including a decentralized exchange, a lending market, and a decentralized stablecoin as public goods, charging no protocol fees, according to Canto’s official documentation. 

This article examines whether CANTO’s free infrastructure model can attract sufficient development according to activity and capital to justify a recovery from its 99% drawdown, and why the institutional blockchain narrative surrounding the separately named Canton Network does not directly apply.

How Canto’s Free Public Infrastructure Model Differs from Competitors Most Layer 1 blockchains generate revenue by extracting fees from DeFi applications built on top of them. Canto inverts this model. Its core DEX, lending protocol, and NOTE stablecoin operate as Free Public Infrastructure, meaning the protocol itself does not charge rent on these services, according to Tracxn’s company profile.

Co-founders Arijit Pingle and T K Kwon designed the chain to eliminate the value extraction that characterizes most DeFi ecosystems.

Original analysis: this zero-rent model creates a paradox for token valuation. Traditional DeFi tokens derive value from protocol revenue, governance power over fee switches, or staking yields funded by inflation. CANTO strips away the first two and relies on validator staking and network usage fees alone. 

That makes CANTO closer to a pure infrastructure bet than a cash-flow asset, which partly explains why its market cap has compressed to under $5 million even as the chain continues to operate. The comparison that matters is not to Ethereum or Solana but to public utilities: essential, underpriced, and difficult to monetize.

The chain’s EVM compatibility gives it a technical advantage over non-compatible alternatives, allowing developers to deploy existing Solidity code without modification. The RSI sits near 31, placing CANTO in neutral territory that historically favors buyers over extreme oversold conditions, according to CryptoTechGuide data.

Why Canton Network Is Not the Same as Canto A common source of confusion in institutional crypto circles involves the Canton Network, an enterprise blockchain backed by DTCC, Goldman Sachs, BNP Paribas, and Bank of America. Canton processes more than one million transactions daily and settles roughly $9 trillion in monthly volume, according to BlockMedia reporting from OFF 2026. 

Thomas Chou, head of Asia-Pacific growth at the Canton Foundation, stated at the On-chain Finance Forum in Seoul on May 15 that institutional investors have shifted from asking what blockchain is to discussing how to deploy it in practice.

Tharimmune, Inc. rebranded to Canton Strategic Holdings on February 18, 2026, trading under the ticker CNTN on NASDAQ, and secured a $55 million registered offering to support the Canton Network’s validator infrastructure, according to AInvest reporting. 

This institutional adoption story belongs to the Canton Network, which is architecturally distinct from Canto’s Layer 1 DeFi chain. Investors are confusing the two, misallocating capital based on headlines that apply to a different project.

Price Predictions and Technical Outlook Forecast models diverge dramatically on CANTO’s trajectory. Bitget projects a price of $0.01078 by September 2026, representing a modest 2.12% ROI from current levels, according to Bitget’s prediction page.

DigitalCoinPrice is more optimistic, projecting that CANTO could reach $0.0346 by year-end 2026, according to DigitalCoinPrice. CoinLore’s algorithmic model stands as an extreme outlier at $1.83, which would represent a 180,000% increase and appears disconnected from current on-chain fundamentals.

The wide variance in predictions reflects the inherent difficulty of modeling micro-cap tokens. At a $4 million market cap, a single whale transaction can move CANTO’s price by double digits. Daily trading volume of $125,000 to $200,000 provides minimal liquidity for institutional-sized positions. 

The 50-day simple moving average at $0.0041 and the 200-day SMA at $0.0063 both sit below the current price, suggesting a tentative recovery from multi-month lows. But 33% monthly volatility demands disciplined position sizing.

Regulatory Implications Canto’s Free Public Infrastructure model may offer a regulatory advantage. Because the core protocols do not extract fees, they resemble public goods more than securities-generating platforms. The SEC’s ongoing deliberation over which DeFi protocols constitute securities could spare fee-free infrastructure from enforcement action.

However, no specific regulatory guidance addresses this distinction, and the broader institutional DeFi regulatory landscape remains in flux under the GENIUS Act framework.

What Could Drive CANTO Higher or Lower The bull case requires development according to adoption on Canto’s EVM infrastructure, measurable growth in total value locked, and a post-halving alt-season that lifts micro-cap Layer 1 tokens.

The bear case is simpler: continued low volume, absent development, and capital consolidation into larger chains like Ethereum and Solana, which dominate institutional attention according to FinanceFeeds’ crypto index analysis. No scheduled catalysts are on the immediate horizon, making CANTO a thesis-dependent position rather than an event-driven trade.

FAQs What is CANTO’s current price and market cap?
CANTO trades at approximately $0.013 with a market capitalization of nearly $4 million and a circulating supply of 608 million tokens as of June 2026.

What makes Canto different from other Layer 1 blockchains?
Canto provides its core DeFi tools, including a DEX, lending protocol, and stablecoin as Free Public Infrastructure, charging no protocol-level fees on usage.

Is Canton Network the same as Canto blockchain?
No, Canton Network is a separate enterprise blockchain backed by DTCC and Goldman Sachs for institutional asset tokenization, architecturally distinct from the Canto DeFi chain.

What is the highest price prediction for CANTO in 2026?
CoinLore’s algorithmic model projects $1.83, an extreme outlier, while more conservative models from Bitget project approximately $0.01078 by September 2026.

How much has CANTO fallen from its all-time high?
CANTO has declined by approximately 99% from its all-time high of $0.77, reached shortly after the chain launched during the Layer 1 narrative boom.

What is CANTO’s daily trading volume?
Recent daily trading volume ranges between $125,000 and $200,000, which is insufficient for large institutional positions but represents a 13% recent increase in activity.

Does CANTO have upcoming upgrade catalysts?
No major scheduled upgrades or partnerships have been publicly announced for the Canto chain, making the token a thesis-dependent long-term position rather than an event-driven one.

References Canto.io: Official Canto Layer 1 Blockchain Documentation Tracxn:  Canto Company Profile, Team, Funding and Competitors BlockMedia/BloomingBit: Canton Network Says Institutional Blockchain Adoption Has Begun, OFF 2026 CryptoTechGuide: CANTO Price Prediction 2026: Layer 1 Potential Analysis