Crypto Daily Sentiment, Vibe, Topics of the Day -
Monday, March 7th:
Bitcoin bearish underside retest of 40k - very weak and sells off, closes ~ 37k. Eth dips ~2400
Lots of increased bearishness on the timeline
Evmos fumble continues - unfortunate because you only get one first impression - source
Coinbase blocks 25,000 addresses and people get spooked over Biden executive order which was already known but the language might change from stablecoin regulation to something about sanctions and national defense? - source
Sudden Convex unlock last week due to contract vulnerability. Question, will those who had expected to be locked for 4 years get sudden opportunity to sell? Monitor price - source
Everyone still talking about skyrocketing commodities - nickel in particular shot up 90% based on Russia supply concerns
Charles Hoskinson under fire for fibbing about not dropping out of a Ph.D. program - source
Timeline feels hostile
Tuesday, March 8th:
Bitcoin stayed in a tight range ~ 37-39k. Eth 2500-2600 Bearish timeline today
Avalanche came out big dickin’ with $290 million incentive fund for Subnet adoption. DFK - source
Evmos announces several days delay to address technical issues, postmortem to follow - source
Odd coins like knc, waves pumping. Random shitcoin memecoins also pumping and dumping - harsh out there
People continue speculating on how financial restrictions and sanctions on Russia will affect crypto.
Emergence of privacy narrative talk after privacy coins xmr, zec, scrt pump - ft. Barry Silbert vs. Satsdart. Others say privacy coins pumping is bad news bears
Wednesday, March 9th:
Bitcoin bashes past 40k and settles at around ~ 42k. Eth to 2700. All it takes is a little green and CT practically starts creaming itself.
Luna is performing like a beast - ATH on usd, btc and eth pairs. Do Kwon frisky on the TL
Reminder: CPI print coming Thursday - expect volatility
Near chart is also looking interesting. Juno and Osmo performing very strong still but doesn’t get as much attention
Justin Tron crazy article comes out - source
Evmos hopes successful relaunch can recapture lost initial hype - still undetermined - source
Biden executive order mostly a nothingburger. No new regulations. It was merely an order that directed agencies to study the impact of cryptocurrency on financial stability and national security and future CBDC - all that worry on the timeline for nothing - source
Thursday, March 10th:
Bitcoin lost the 40k level, bummer. Eth falls to 2500-2600 range.
Etherrocks getting some attention on the TL - been a minute since they’ve been brought up
The United States announced the CPI in February was 7.9%, which continued to hit a new high in 40 years. Inflation is likely to accelerate further in the coming months as Russia and Ukraine push up crude oil and other commodity prices - causes darth maul candle on bitcoin chart
Ledgerstatus recreates dance - lol - source
BAYC mysteriously announces going to KYC holders? - source
Polygon down for several hours - source
Metis been getting attention
Friday, March 11th:
Bitcoin jumps to 40k due to positive shift in Ukraine talks news - then sells off. Closes meh ~ 38.7k. Eth cucked in 2500-2600 range. People keep pointing out a huge uptick in bitcoin shorts
Luna faces heavy resistance at $100 zone and sells off.
Hedge fund Fir Tree bets big with short of stablecoin Tether - source
Lowcap defi protocol Deus on Fantom has been ripping all week
Fantom Foundation finally clarifies language around Andre leaving, 25 projects won’t be terminated, just handed over to current teams. Nothing new, just officially saying - source
First Yuga Labs, the creator of BAYC, faces backlash for KYC restrictions. Yuga Labs acquires CryptoPunks from and Meebits IP from Larva Labs and gives commercial rights to the community. Price pumps - very controversial still - source - possible outcomes
Saturday, March 12th:
Bitcoin in a tight compressed range ~ 38-39k. Eth same range 2500-2600.
Luna taking a breather after its run. Avax slumping - Subnet incentive announcement didn’t pump price. Near daily chart flirting with being good or bad. Waves and Rune have been having a pleasant week. Imx chart uptick - getting a lot of usage and adoption but horrible tokenomics.
Juno gov vote dramarama, whale vs shrimps - messy story. Price finally starts to dip at first and then crashes - source
You've heard of ratioing..... new trend is just completely stealing someones tweet and getting more likes
Miladies mint starts blowing up on the TL
Sunday, March 13th:
Bitcoin stays in tight compressed range. Eth tight compressed range. Luna showing resilience at resistance. Near still holding 200 day ema. Zec still having a go.
Everyone keeps mentioning how quiet the TL is and devoid of crypto content
Expectation for FOMC fed rate hike this week is 25 bps
EU parliament vote on revised MiCA draft as early as Monday - source
Gate.io to stop operating in US and other countries
Reminiscences of an Anon: Weekend Thoughts
Weekend Epilogue. Bitcoin refuses to give us a good ol’ fashioned pumperino, entrenched betwixt the 37-42k region whilst the majority of alts look horrid. CryptoPunks and Meebits IP acquired by Yugalabs from LarvaLabs controversy - pretty nutters. Looks like somebody forgot to tell Luna we’re in a bear(ish) market - strong performer into heavy resistance. Fir Tree hedge fund to short Tether on Evergrande speculations - what dey doing over der? Expectation for FOMC fed rate hike is 25 bps. European new MiCA regulatory provision new wording would impose constraints of PoW networks, vote upcoming this week. You see the LedgerStatus dance vid? Polygon goes down issues. Miladies mint getting attention. Justin Tron article - dude is wild. Avalanche Big Dick $290 million Subnet incentive fund comes out - no price pump tho :/ Evmos contract bug, still up in the air what’s next - merp. Y’all notice people talking about Metis too? Why are privacy coins pumping? CPI 7.9% - prob gonna get worse :) Biden Executive Order twasn’t anything to worry about - nothingburger but upcoming regulatory fuckery is still afoot. This week funds raised over $1.82 billion in fresh capital. Gate.io to stop operating in US and other countries. There’s been more regulatory and political developments. A shit ton of MeTaVeRsE news - buzzword, has been and probs will be, and where all the big money wants to be apparently.
Metaverse, metaverse, metaverse, web3 and NFTs.. I’ve been constantly reflecting on this topic. It’s where all the fuckin’ money keeps flowing - check the metaverse and raises section, every major brand and company is seemingly coming out with their own NFT set, filing patents or somehow trying to associate their name with metaverse this or that. This week we again continue to witness the curious trend of companies and firms seeking to expand into virtual worlds and capital continuing to flow into crypto in a bid to enhance brand presence and capture a segment of the potentially lucrative “metaverse” sector. The crypto funding game continued to heat up this week as massive mega rounds and funds raised over $1.82 billion in fresh capital, up 36% from $1.34 billion from last week. The total money invested this week came from about 30 deals and funds. Honestly, it’s all buzzwords left and right these days and I don’t know if anyone knows exactly what the endgame is. The overvaluation for some projects is simply mind boggling. The tokenomics for most of these gamefi/metaverse projects looks horrid and retail has consistently been rinsed at the expense of VC and early backers. A tweet from Hsaka this week has been reverberating in the back of my mind, “The base layer could deviate from its cannibalistic ecosystem only for so long.” He was referring to the Solana ecosystem and how the predatory and terrible tokenomics of ecosystem projects has burned users and retail in such a way that will leave the Solana ecosystem perhaps needing time to heal from such cannibalistic behavior. Let’s also not forget the centralized nature of Solana but right now this is just about price.
Again, no one really even knows yet what metaverse is supposed to mean, what it will look like or whether we can make money from it? On a related note, this year will see many more metaverse tokens with high fully diluted values and massive unlocks that are bound to send prices down to the depths of Tarturus as well, right? Investors getting unlocked tokens in the upcoming months while they’re already up multiple x’s. I may not be the biggest fan of metaverse stuff but I can only state what I see developing in front of me. At this point in time, the majority of interest by large players is definitely focused on gaming, nfts and metaverse, however most projects have terrible tokenomics. I’ll be curious to see what happens with some of the high emission, high FDV coins. Everyone has their own opinions on whether any of this is good, bad or will go to zero but for now, this is the game as it’s developing.
I’m always looking for active crypto people to put our minds together. Apes strong together.
You can reach me on twitter: https://twitter.com/TheoDelarosa_
- Time moves differently in crypto. Crypto is an intricate game filled with various players operating across multiple time frames and with varying agendas. How you should read the information contained herein, or anything in crypto for that matter. Doubt everything in crypto. Crypto is a cruel, harsh, zero sum game. A majority of people will lose money. There’s cool tech, cool people and cool visions but there’s criminals, scammers and grifters as well. There’s shilling, hyped narratives, lofty promises and wild overspeculation. Participating in financial markets is brutal. The pieces are pretty much always stacked against you. There are players playing this game with vastly more resources and experience. A vast majority of things around here are going to part people with their money. Accept the game for what it is. Study it, learn from it and make moves accordingly. Protect yourself. Be vigilant. Be wary. Day in, day out, the pieces are moving all across the board. Sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Here’s a glimpse of what has happened so far in the past few days in our little crypto bubble -
Chain News:
Bounce Finance & Syscoin, Crossing Paths and Expanding Defi. Syscoin has already been fully implemented within Bounce Finance’s Auction and OTC protocols, which also grants projects intrigued by Syscoin a launchpad to begin their journey. Going forward organizations will continue working closely together to onboard their NFT and DAO ecosystem-building tools to NEVM as they transition it to ZK-Rollups, and eventually, Validium - source
On Friday, Do Kwon, founder and CEO of Terraform Labs (TFL), which develops the blockchain ecosystem consisting of Terra Luna (LUNA) and the TerraUSD stablecoin (UST), announced that TFL had donated 12 million LUNA ($1.1 billion at the time of publication) to the Luna Foundation Guard (LFG). LFG launched in January to grow the Terra ecosystem and improve the sustainability of its stablecoins. Kwon noted the funds, denominated in LUNA, will be burned to mint UST to grow the LFG's reserves - source
THORChain spikes by 34% after activating synthetic assets. Crypto synthetics or synths are derivative tokens of other digital assets that are pegged to the value of the underlying collateralized asset such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH). In THORChain’s variation, the project has opted to back its synths with 50% of the underlying asset and 50% in RUNE. The activation went live and synthetics such as sBTC and sETH are now able to be traded on the network - source
COTI Releases 2022 Roadmap: Plans to Focus on Becoming a Robust Payments Layer One. COTI revealed that it is building a Layer 1 with its DAG-based Trustchain. It also plans to build the necessary tools required for mass adoption by providing wallets, banking solutions, processing tools, etc. With the help of the MultiDAG 2.0 layer, COTI intends to issue more tokens on top of its Trustchain enabling developers, merchants, and enterprises to issue tokens with features such as scalability, high throughput, cost-effectiveness for payments like COTI Pay Business. COTI also revealed that it will launch Cardano’s first-ever stablecoin Djed on testnet in Q1. After an external security audit is performed and the results are received, it will be deployed to the mainnet, which is slated for Q2 - source
BNB Chain announced the projects to be incubated in MVB IV: StarSharks, SubDAO, PearDAO, Cosmic Guild, GAT Network, Hashflow, Ceek. The seven projects will now receive a series of incubation support - source
The Ethereum L2 protocol zkSync has been upgraded to version 2.0, which supports paying gas fees with any ERC20 token, not only ETH. Users can apply for test coins on the test network to experience - source
Ethereum L2 Optimism introduced Cannon as its next-gen fault proof. Its initial implementation by geohot became the first public fault proof implementation that can run an EVM-equivalent L2. It also enables the theoretical minimum calldata gas costs - source
Romanian central bank approves blockchain firm Elrond, a blockchain firm focused on distributed applications, to buy Twispay. Elrond's main goal is to implement Twispay's e-money license for issuing stablecoins that can be used in the European Union. Twispay provides an international payment solution supporting multiple fiat currencies and integrating various payment methods. By acquiring Twispay, Elrond is making a strategic move to establish itself as a bridge between traditional finance and the cryptocurrency industry. The acquisition also puts Elrond in a strategic position to offer an infrastructure for faster and cheaper payment solutions. The main goal is to leverage Twispay's e-money license for issuing stablecoins that can be used in the EU, both for personal and business use for payments and value transfer, as well as potentially for official use at institutional level - source
The HBAR Foundation, a philanthropic and independent subsidiary of distributed ledger firm Hedera Hashgraph, has announced the launch of the environmentally-conscious Sustainable Impact Fund (SIF), conceived to foster the development of climate-conscious solutions within the Hedera ecosystem. The first recipient, a Welsh blockchain company called DOVU, has been granted an undisclosed portion of the $100 million treasury to pursue their open-source Guardian technology to develop publicly transparent mechanisms, such as their audit trail, to verify carbon-offsetting data - source
Crypto market-making firm GSR has partnered with Chainlink to contribute price data to decentralized oracle networks (DONs) to be used within decentralized finance (DeFi) and smart contract applications, highlighting that the blockchain industry is moving forward to interoperability and more cross-platform compatibilities. As a result of the collaboration, developers will have access to GSR's analytics data to be applied in use cases that depend on the aggregation of crypto market data sources such as yield products, prediction markets, options and futures and algorithmic stablecoins. Apart from this, the announcement also mentions that the collaboration will allow the creation of various other data products to be used within the DeFi landscape - source
Ethereum's 'consensus layer' contract hits 10M ETH staked accounting for about 8.4% of the current circulation of Ethereum. According to data, at least 66% of these funds were deposited by exchanges and staking services, rather than individual stakers. The largest deposited volume comes from Lido (22%), Coinbase is runner up with 15%. The migration to proof-of-stake consensus appears to be progressing well by all numerical accounts, potentially signifying anticipatory demand for the networks long-awaited upgrade. In late January this year, the Ethereum Foundation published an alteration to the network's terminology, with the initial proof-of-work blockchain, or Eth1, now being referred to the execution layer, and the upcoming proof-of-stake blockchain, or Eth2, now known as the consensus layer - source - 2nd
Ethereum L2 protocol StarkWare is raising a new round of financing at a valuation of $6 billion, with more than $100 million in financing. dYdX, Sorare, and Immutable X are built on StarkWare. The round has still not closed and will likely be for at least $100 million. The Netanya-based company raised $50 million at a $2 billion valuation last November, meaning it is set to triple its valuation over several months - source
The Polkadot project Astar Network said that Microsoft and Astar Network will cooperate on the Astar incubation program. Selected technology projects will have exclusive access to the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub. Microsoft will provide a wide range of resources, including marketing support and mentorship network to selected startups in the Astar Incubation Program to help them succeed in the global market - source
Nodle wins Polkadot's 11th Parachain Slot Auction with 2,475,500 DOT locked. This is the last Auction for the second batch of Polkadot. The second batch had a total of 6 auctions, and the winners were Efinity, Centrifuge, Composable Finance, HydraDX, Interlay and Nodle - source
Hubble Exchange, a decentralized platform for trading perpetual futures on the Avalanche blockchain, announced today the raise of $3.3 million led by investor Framework Ventures. Aiming to be the leading protocol for trading perpetual futures, Hubble Exchange released its testnet in October and plans to launch on the Avalanche mainnet in April. Other investors include Lemniscap, Blizzard (the Avalanche Ecosystem Fund), GSR, Trader Joe, and Finlink Capital, as well as a host of angel investors, including Aave founder Stani Kulechov - source
Another major esports team has signed a partnership in the crypto world, as Misfits Gaming Group today revealed a multi-year partnership with Tezos. But unlike many crypto/esports deals that are largely focused on sponsorship activations, this alliance also will see Misfits launch and support blockchain games via a new Tezos-powered platform. Misfits Gaming, which competes in top games like League of Legends and Call of Duty, will also rebrand its $10 million MSF/IO gaming incubator program as the MSF Tezos Incubator Hub. The renamed initiative will expand beyond its current focus on gaming and esports startups to also invest in startups building on Tezos - source
An address containing around $200 million worth of BTC has been activated for the first time in 11 years. A Satoshi-era bitcoin address holding 489 coins has been activated after over 11 years. The last time a transaction occurred at the wallet was in 2010, when the BTC in it was worth $50 - source
Fantom-based algorithmic assets protocol Fantasm Finance was exploited for over $2.6 million worth of crypto early on Thursday, with the stolen tokens swapped for ether using privacy protocol Tornado Cash. Hackers were able to mint XFTM, a representation of Fantom’s FTM on Fantasm, by using a small amount of Fantasm’s FSM tokens. The hackers started with 50 FTM, gradually using larger amounts to swap over 2.8 million XFTM in total, Alpha Finance lead engineer Nipun Pitimanaaree explained in a tweet after examining blockchain records. The stolen funds were later swapped for over 1,007 ether (ETH) – about $2.6 million at current prices – using privacy protocol Tornado Cash, which allows for anonymous token swaps - source
Crypto platform LA Token has become the latest exchange to launch its own blockchain with the LACHAIN network. It hopes to give its users access to decentralized finance (DeFi) products and a bridge between other networks. The layer-1 Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible and WebAssembly (WASM)-compatible LACHAIN went live on Thursday to help LA Token capitalize on expected future growth in demand for token bridges between networks. LA Token was launched in 2017 in the Cayman Islands. LACHAIN is entering a highly competitive ecosystem of similar networks. Other centralized exchanges with their own blockchain networks include Crypto.com’s Cronos and KuCoin with KCC. Currently, BNB Smart Chain - source
Layer-2 Ethereum scaling solution Polygon has not produced a new block for over several days, with developers attributing the issue to a technical upgrade on the network. On Thursday at 4:20 pm UTC, Polygon network developers notified users on the project’s forum that there would likely be downtime starting at about 5:50 pm UTC due to maintenance required on one of the network’s three layers. A recent upgrade is thought to have caused an error in the network’s ability to achieve consensus. The team also assured users that all funds and data on-chain are safe - source
A new community proposal was introduced in the Uniswap governance forum to deploy the protocol on the Celo blockchain, which is a mobile-first, carbon-negative and Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible network. The new proposal was created on behalf of Blockchain at Michigan, and in partnership with the Celo Foundation and the Celo Climate Collective. Once passed, Uniswap will be accessible to nearly six billion mobile phone users. Currently, MetaMask mobile app enables using Uniswap or other decentralized exchanges via an in-app browser. The Celo foundation will commit $10 million of CELO in Uniswap-specific user incentives and grants along with $10 million in financial incentives for Uniswap specifically, The main focus of deployment would be the introduction of green asset liquidity pools with natural capital-backed assets such as tokenized carbon credits. The foundation also plans to introduce nature-backed assets issued on Celo like land and forests in near future - source
The Juno network of the Cosmos ecosystem released a governance proposal today that aims to reduce the number of giant whales holding over 3 million JUNO tokens (total value of $120 million) to 50,000. Related to the Japanese Cosmos community. Most likely no “insider info” to game the airdrop. Community pooled funds and one individual seems to have kept a very lucrative airdrop. And the biggest problem is that they did not let know about or distribute the airdrop to the rightful people. Causing a lot of controversy - source - twitter explanation
Astral Money, a payment solution, launches a new debit card that will make it possible to spend the native TerraUSD (UST) stablecoin in Great Britain and in countries of the European Union - source
Katana, a yield generation protocol for Solana, has raised $5 million in a seed round led by Framework. Katana looks to revolutionize asset management and become the de facto yield generation layer for DeFi Investors: Electric Capital, Alameda Research, Amber Group, Solana Ventures, QCP Capital, and others. The funding will be used to rapidly scale the organization and build out the dream team for growing Katana into a yield generation powerhouse. Hiring across all business verticals - source
In a vote taking place this week, crypto investment firms Polychain Capital and Arca are proposing yield cuts to the Anchor Protocol, the largest decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol in the Terra blockchain ecosystem. Anchor Protocol advertises a 19.5% yield and has grown its coffers to $12.7 billion in total value locked (TVL), a trajectory some analysts and traders see as unsustainable. The proposed yield cuts will decrease Anchor’s payout by between 2 percentage points and 9.5 percentage points of annualized yield for users who deposit more than 100,000 UST - source
Another ecosystem integration. ORBS token is now available on FantomFDN via Multichain Cross-Chain Bridge. Multichain supports ORBS bridging between these networks: Ethereum, BNB Chain, Avalanche & now Fantom, which makes it a powerful tool for ORBS holders to navigate the DeFi ecosystem - source
Synthetix has announced the launch of the first synthetic commodities on L2 Optimism: Gold and Silver, in addition to voting on other metals, agricultural products, energy products. Synthetic assets simulate the price of other assets - source
Game and NFT L1 Enjin announced the launch of its parachain Efinity on Polkadot, and more than 100 projects are currently committed to building on Efinity. The first version of Efinity focused on core functionality and chain stability - source
The current staking rate of the Avalanche has reached 50.65%, and it will continue to increase in the future. 50.3% of the validator are located in the United States, and 64.5% of the validator nodes are using Amazon Cloud Services - source
Tim Harrison, a director at IOHK, revealed that over 500 projects are currently building on Cardano. The majority of them are supposedly in the NFT space. Back in September 2021, Cardano went through one of the most important mainnet upgrades called Alonzo. It was part of the development cycle of Cardano known as the Goguen era and the most important part of it was the integration of smart contracts. Since then, the network went through other important upgrades and saw important developments being made. One of them was the first scaling solution based on ZK Rollups – Orbis - source
News:
Fir Tree Capital Management is making a substantial short wager on Tether, the stablecoin that’s under intense scrutiny from regulators. The $4 billion hedge fund, founded by Jeff Tannenbaum, constructed a way to short Tether in an asymmetric trade. China’s real estate sector is in crisis, led by China Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted property developer that is heading toward a government-driven restructuring. While Tether has said it doesn’t own Evergrande paper, Fir Tree expects that some of the paper it does own will lose value, causing a potentially large drop in the reserves it holds, the investors said - source
Tron Founder and Poloniex investor Justin Sun Rebuts Bombshell Accusations About Poloniex made by The Verge as "fabricated storytelling." The damning report, published today, accuses Sun of using TRON and Poloniex for a slew of misdeeds, including business practices that could potentially be illegal. The article, "The Many Escapes of Justin Sun," was written by Christopher Harland-Dunaway - source
Yoon Suk-yeol, a conservative South Korean presidential candidate, has prevailed in that country's national election. Yoon Suk-yeol pledged to deregulate South Korea's crypto sector. Among the specific measures he proposed was easing tax requirements on crypto investment profits - source
JustCarbon, Likvidi Launch Blockchain Markets for Carbon Credits. The ventures aim to bring cryptocurrency benefits to natural CO2-removal processes. The two companies join a growing band of institutions exploring how blockchain technology can be used to improve environmental management. China introduced a carbon trading system last summer, and late last year the University of Cambridge said it was working on a similar project, looking to develop a blockchain-based market for trading carbon credits that will support reforestation projects to preserve biodiversity through the Cambridge Centre for Carbon Credits. Likvidi is working with DAO Maker. The platform will run on Avalanche. JustCarbon has also partnered with NFT Design Works - source
Binance unveils plans for world domination by buying up companies in every sector. While crypto exchanges have previously plastered their logos on stadiums and stolen the show at the Super Bowl, acquiring such a significant stake in a legacy media company like Forbes positions Binance as a serious player in acquisitions and investments. This announcement comes not long after Binance’s monumental $200 million investment in publisher Forbes, in early Feb - source
Paxos secures approval from Singapore’s financial regulator. The stablecoin issuer said the regulatory approval would help support its partners in expanding services into Asia, As of December 2021, Singapore’s monetary authority reportedly denied regulatory approval for 103 out of 170 license applications from crypto firms seeking to operate in the country. However, companies including Bitstamp Limited, Coinbase Singapore and Gemini Trust are listed as having been granted an exemption from holding a license - source
FTX and Alkemi add to the list of 14 crypto companies partnered with Verite, including Coinbase, Circle, Hedera Hashgraph, Ledger, Solana Foundation and more. Verite is a set of shared decentralized identity protocols — developed by Centre — to empower crypto-centric individuals and businesses by granting total control of personal information. Verite protocols are designed to help people and businesses keep track of their personal information and provide total control over how businesses use this information in the crypto economy. Verite makes this possible by allowing users to cryptographically prove claims about their identities and carry those claims in the same crypto wallets where they store their digital assets - source
Cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin, along with the Stacks Accelerator and Stacks Foundation, announced on Thursday the start of the “Bitcoin Odyssey,” a one-year commitment among investment firms to invest $165 million in inventive solutions to help drive Bitcoin (BTC) adoption. The Bitcoin Odyssey is funded by Digital Currency Group, GBV Capital, White Star Capital and GSR, among other organizations, to respond to the rise in interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) and new technological capabilities made possible with Stacks. Stacks 2.0 is a layer-1 blockchain with a built-in bridge to Bitcoin. The Bitcoin Odyssey will select projects focused on Bitcoin and Stacks, as well as solutions across Web3, such as the Metaverse, blockchain-based play-to-earn gaming, DeFi, NFTs and decentralized autonomous organizations, along with CityCoins, government technology and other fields - source
FTX Hires Steve Sadin of WB Games as Head of Gaming Partnerships. Gamers will keep assets from blockchain games “for decades,” and FTX won't support any “pump-and-dump projects,” he told Decrypt. “There needs to be a great design, a passion for making [and] operating games, and a demonstrated commitment to doing what it takes to make a game successful for the long term, or we’re just not going to be interested.” - source
Crypto Sleuthing Firm Chainalysis Launches 'Sanctions Screening Tools' for DeFi, DAOs. An on-chain oracle and a public API aim to help decentralized projects better track crypto wallets and ensure regulatory compliance. “As countries around the world continue to leverage economic sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, decentralized Web3 groups like DEXs, DeFi platforms, DAOs, and dapp developers are searching for lightweight tools to help them and their customers comply with sanctions policies,” Chainalysis said in a statement - source
Financial services company Stripe is once again embracing the world of crypto. Today, the global payments giant launched its crypto services, offering businesses the ability to use Stripe as a payment method for crypto and NFT transactions. Stripe is offering payout services for Web3 companies as well as know-your-customer (KYC) and fraud prevention. To facilitate its Web3 services, Stripe announced that it has deals in place with FTX, FTX U.S., Nifty Gateway, Just Mining, and Blockchain.com. It also launched its own NFT collection called Cube Thingies as a part of today's announcement, with proceeds going to the healthcare nonprofit Watsi - source
EBay Shows Investors Digital Wallet as It Explores Crypto and Other Payment Options. The ecommerce site began enabling NFT sales last year. The CEO of online marketplace eBay, Jamie Iannone, has been toying with the idea of adding cryptocurrency payment options to the ecommerce site for a while. But the firm stopped short of announcing any moves at its 2022 Investor Day Thursday - source
Sebastien Vachon-Desjardins, 34, from Quebec, was accused of carrying out dozens of ransomware attacks between April and December 2020, according to the Department of Justice. Some $28.2 million in bitcoin was seized by Canadian officials in early 2021 in connection with the investigation. “As exemplified by the seizure of cryptocurrency by our Canadian partners, we will use all legally available avenues to pursue seizure and forfeiture of the alleged proceeds of ransomware, whether located domestically or abroad,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr - source
Dubai‘s authority approved the virtual assets law and established the Dubai Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority, according to Mohammed bin Rashid, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - source
Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has added his voice to the chorus of people asking a New York court for leniency in the upcoming sentencing of former Ethereum developer Virgil Griffith. Griffith was arrested in November 2019 after giving a presentation on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology at a North Korean crypto conference in April of that year. He was charged with violating U.S. sanctions law and, in September 2021, pleaded guilty in an agreement with federal prosecutors that could see him serve up to 6.5 years in prison - source
The U.K.'s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has warned that any crypto ATMs operating in the country are illegal and must be shut down. Operators must be registered with the FCA to offer ATM services and comply with money laundering regulations, the FCA said in a statement on Friday. As none of the 27 fully registered crypto firms have been approved to offer ATM services, any crypto ATMs in the U.K. are operating illegally. According to data by Coin ATM Radar, there are 81 bitcoin ATMs/tellers in the U.K. - source
Netflix Documentary Trailer On QuadrigaCx Is Out. The biggest Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaCX stole over $250mil in cash and crypto from users. CEO was apparently the only one with the private keys to the main wallet "accidentally" died in India as per report - youtube
Citi’s co-head of digital assets leaves to launch crypto startup. Alex Kriete, co-head of digital assets at Citi, is leaving the bank after less than a year in the role. Kriete had spent more than 11 years at Citi and was appointed to oversee its newly formed crypto division in June last year, initially as co-head of digital assets alongside Greg Girasole. Kriete was made a director in January. In forming its new crypto division last year, Citi followed in the footsteps of rivals Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, both of which have rolled out products to help wealthy clients tap the crypto market - source
Stripe, a financial services and software as a service (SaaS) company, now supports crypto businesses: exchanges, on-ramps, wallets, and NFT marketplaces. Not just pay-ins but payouts, KYC and identity verification, fraud prevention, and lots more - source
Jamaican central bank to airdrop Jam-Dex CBDC to early adopters. “Jamaica Digital Exchange”. The first 100,000 Jamaican citizens to use the country’s new central bank digital currency (CBDC) known as Jam-Dex will be given a free $16 payment in the hopes of promoting widespread adoption. Approximately 17% of the Jamaican population is currently unbanked. While social media users postulate about government motives, the Observer points out that remaining unbanked is both costly and time-consuming for poorer Jamaicans. It is hoped that this new payment incentive, among others, will encourage low and middle-income citizens to join the national banking system - source
Amid global businesses boycotting the Russian residents over military conflict in Ukraine, some companies in the cryptocurrency industry stand up for the rights of non-sanctioned Russian citizens. Bitfinex, an affiliate firm of the world’s largest stablecoin provider, Tether (USDT), will not unilaterally freeze the accounts of ordinary Russian customers as part of the global sanctions unless it's forced to do so - source
The U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied NYDIG and Global X’s applications to list spot bitcoin exchange-traded-funds (ETFs), according to separate filings dated March 10. The SEC had extended its review period to receive and review comments on NYDIG’s spot ETF product, and now concluded it didn’t meet sufficient criteria, citing concerns around fraud, manipulation and valuation methodology. The rejections come as no surprise as SEC Chair Gary Gensler has indicated multiple times that he prefers to see a bitcoin futures ETF over one that holds bitcoin directly. The SEC has recently rejected applications for spot bitcoin ETFs from Fidelity, First Trust, Kryptoin, Van Eck and WisdomTree - source
A federal judge in West Palm Beach, Florida, ruled that Craig Wright must pay an additional $43 million to W&K Info Defense Research, a company that he and David Kleiman co-founded more than a decade ago. According to the court, Wright had unlawfully seized intellectual property belonging to the joint venture over the years - source
The Bank of Israel published draft regulation of anti-money-laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) risk management for the banks facilitating crypto-to-fiat transactions. The move hints at the Israeli government’s preparations to legalize and regulate the relationship between banks and virtual currency service providers (VASPs). The document cites the customers’ increased involvement with digital assets as the rationale for the new policy. The regulator emphasizes the “high potential risk” of digital asset transactions due to the anonymity of digital wallets and stresses the need to establish mechanisms of money identification - source
Coinbase doubles down on its efforts to diversify revenue streams away from trading frees. Those that qualify for the beta launch will be contacted by email. As Coinbase looks to distance itself from transaction-based revenue, the exchange has begun recruiting the first customers for Coinbase One, a subscription service that comes with $0 trading fees. Perks of the subscription also include up to $1 million in account protection and 24/7 phone support. A spokesperson from Coinbase declined to reveal the price, which will be billed monthly. Coinbase One is currently in its beta launch - source
Payments firm Block is planning to include a fingerprint sensor in its forthcoming crypto wallet design, according to a Friday product update. The wallet won't have a display since users will have "the ease of placing a finger on the sensor rather than manipulating tiny, failure-prone buttons on a difficult-to-read screen," as the update puts it. Instead, customers will utilize the mobile app for inputs. Block said it plans to share more on the screen-less experience in a future post. Still, the firm said it's aware that some users might want more than a fingerprint standing between a transfer. As Block builds the wallet, it says it will evaluate additional access methods that customers could choose - source
Limiting Proof-of-Work Crypto Back on the Table as EU Parliament Prepares Virtual Currencies Vote. A provision looking to force proof-of-work cryptocurrencies like bitcoin to switch to the more environmentally friendly proof-of-stake consensus mechanism is in a draft of MiCA up for a parliamentary vote on Monday. A previous draft of the MiCA framework contained a strongly worded provision that proposed a prohibition of crypto services that rely on environmentally unsustainable consensus mechanisms starting in January 2025. But the provision was later scrapped following industry backlash. The latest draft of the European Union's (EU) proposed legislative framework for governing virtual currencies, Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA), still contains a provision that could limit the use of proof-of-work cryptocurrencies - source
Crypto exchange Gate io will stop operating in these countries: United States, Bangladesh, Venezuela, Singapore, Malaysia, Ecuador, Canada, Bolivia, Syrian, China, Malta, Cuba, Iran - source
Metaverse:
Yuga Labs acquires CryptoPunks and Meebits IP and gives commercial rights to the community. This means that they now own the brands, copyright in the art, and other IP rights for both collections, along with 423 CryptoPunks and 1711 Meebits. By handing over these rights, they’re further aligning CryptoPunks and Meebits with the web3 ethos, and we expect a wide-range of third party developers and community creators to incorporate CryptoPunks and Meebits into their web3 projects. Affected by BAYC's acquisition of CryptoPunks and Meebits' IP, the floor price of Meebits soared by 60% to 6.5 ETH; the floor price of CryptoPunks increased by 11.3% to 74.79 ETH - source
Some in the NFT community fear the market top may be in after Tai Lopez, the controversial entrepreneur and social media star, famous for his oddball marketing tactics, launched his own NFT project. The NFT project is dubbed the “OG (original garage) Social Club” and pays homage to his highly memed-on ad from 2015 in which Lopez flaunted his Ferrari and the 2000 new books in his garage to promote his business courses of allegedly dubious value. The NFTs come in three levels of rarity, including the silver "Mentorship" cards, gold "Mastermind" cards, and black "1 on 1 Mentorship" cards which all provide access to an online social club and varying levels of access to Lopez himself - source
Alibaba has reportedly suspended more than 680 users from its NFT marketplace Jingtan for using massage guns and computer software to spam the purchase process to buy nonfungibles on the platform. The accounts accused of spam buying have received one-year suspensions, with Jingtan labeling the activity “cheating” and in violation of its user policy - source
Report: Axie Infinity accounted for nearly two-thirds of blockchain-game NFT transactions in 2021. In second and third place were sports highlights marketplace NBA Top Shot with $827 million and community gaming platform Loot with $242 million, respectively - source
Token Traxx Rewards Music Creators, Curators and Collectors. A team of British music industry experts has built an NFT marketplace that aims to revolutionize how musicians get paid—and reward music fans, too - source
Warner Bros. is Creating 6 Million DC Comics Trading Cards With Redeemable NFTs. The “hybrid” card packs will be priced from $5 to $120, with buyers using an app called Hro to access their physical cards' NFT. Cartamundi, a card and board game company, will design the cards, which will feature 155 different superheroes. The NFTs are being minted on the Ethereum sidechain Immutable X. Warner Bros. also plans to issue a few limited-edition cards using imagery and characters from the latest DC Comics film, "The Batman," starring Robert Pattinson - source
FTX Europe, the European affiliate of crypto exchange FTX, is partnering with an electro-music festival called Tomorrowland to integrate web3 features into the festival. The collaboration will allow Tomorrowland Winter festival attendees to collect the first 1,500 of a total of 6,500 NFTs as part of a broader festival experience. The partnership will explore things like the application of Web3 and blockchain technology including NFTs for music, ticketing and art, events in the metaverse, and cryptocurrency payments. The announcement signals the next culture-focused initiative pursued by FTX. In recent months, FTX has made significant moves into sports and fashion and luxury - source
Z Holdings, the internet arm of Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, reportedly plans to launch an NFT marketplace this year as part of efforts to meet its mid-term revenue targets. Z Holdings’ NFT mall could come as early as this spring with the marketplace poised to attract users from 180 countries. As part of the plan, Z Holdings aims to expand the user base of its PayPay fintech unit to 90 million. Z Holdings’ NFT push is yet another example of SoftBank solidifying its investment presence in the web3 space. In November, SoftBank led a $93 million funding round for blockchain gaming platform The Sandbox while also investing $150 million in South Korean metaverse platform Zepeto - source
BAYC said the P2E blockchain game developed in partnership with AnimocaBrands will begin the first phase, but stressed the need for KYC. BAYC previously stated that it would consider issuing Tokens in the Q1 of 2022, but it seems unlikely at present. - source
Italian clothing brand Diesel is set to debut its new non-fungible token (NFT) project dubbed the “D:VERSE” on the Rarible marketplace on March 12. The collection is based on the brand’s showpieces from its autumn and winter 2022 collection. In an attempt to give customers a more digital experience, Diesel is the latest fashion brand to jump on the NFT bandwagon. Italian luxury fashion house Prada and sportswear giant Adidas joined forces to launch an NFT project built on the Polygon network in January - source
Morgan Stanley (MS) predicts the total NFT market will grow to $300 billion by 2030. The report identifies luxury brands such as Gucci, Balenciaga and Kering as in the best position to profit from digital collaborations in the metaverse. Luxury fashion brands have already been making millions of dollars from auctioning off NFTs. In September, Italian haute couture label Dolce & Gabbana launched its first NFT collection, Collezione Genesi, which fetched approximately $5.65 million in a sale - source
Skechers, the world's third-largest sneaker brand, has announced the construction of an experience store on Fashion Street Estate in the Decentraland. Skechers leased the equivalent of 5,000 square feet of space on virtual land owned by Metaverse Group. "Our collaboration with Skechers marks a pivotal evolution in our Metaverse strategy. This partnership establishes our subsidiary, Metaverse Group, as one of the first virtual landlords to successfully lease out its Metaverse real estate,” commented Andrew Kiguel, Tokens.com CEO and Metaverse Group Executive Chairman. “We not only own valuable virtual real estate but also generate recurring revenue, similar to landlords in the physical world and online advertising platforms such as large search engines and social media networks.” “Our Decentraland agreement is an investment in our future,” said Michael Greenberg, president of Skechers. “We look forward to embarking on this virtual era, and exploring creative ways for our brand to engage with new customers and audiences as we launch the new Skechers experience.” - source
Beverage company Almond Breeze has announced a new NFT drop, which aims to capitalize on the success of ‘ape NFTs.’ The announcement arrives at a time when many brands are developing new and innovative ways of finding niches in the metaverse. Starting next week, the beverage company will launch 1,000 free non-fungible tokens (NFTs), each of which includes an artistically-rendered ape hand gripping a carton of Almond Breeze Blended with Real Bananas. The collection will include three randomly-selected NFTs that will come with a free one-year supply of Almond Breeze Blended with Real Bananas. In an effort “to support the next generation of growers,” Almond Breeze says that 5% of each NFT resale will be donated to the Future Farmers of America
Private label ETF issuer Exchange Traded Concepts is planning to launch an index-tracking ETF that targets NFT companies.The ETF, which tracks a Fount Investment Company index, is designed to track the performance of businesses that develop, manufacture, distribute or sell products or services in token technology subindustries - source
Defi:
Concentrator, a yield enhancer for LP's on Convex launched. Boost your $cvx yields by ~50%, while farming and HOLDING $cvxCRV. Maximize your yield while building your exposure to the Curve & Convex ecosystem - source
Swivel Governance Token is now live. $SWIV. Swivel is the decentralized protocol for fixed-rate lending and tokenized cash-flows. Currently live on Mainet - source
DAOs:
Bitclout (DESO) launches a new platform called (DAO,DAO). DAODAO is the platform that makes creating a DAO as easy as setting up a social media account, and that makes investing in a DAO as easy as sending an email - source
The popular video subscription platform OnlyFans says it donated 500 ETH (roughly $1.3 million) to UkraineDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization raising funds to support Ukraine during its war against Russia - source
Raises:
Upstream, the DAO creation platform, has raised a $12.5M Series A, led by Boldstart Ventures. Investors: Ibex Investors, Tiger Global, Vayner Fund, Fenbushi Capital, Panoramic Ventures, Alpaca VC, Human Ventures, Blumberg Capital, The Medici Group, and others. Upstream has also announced the public launch of its Upstream Collectives platform
The Nordic-based financial technology firm – Lunar – closed a $77 million financing round. The organization reached a valuation of $2 billion and introduced a cryptocurrency trading platform. The Danish company Lunar secured a $77 million Series D-2 funding round, bringing the series’ total to $310 million. The company's new blockchain arm will explore how both crypto and blockchain technology can benefit its existing offering to customers. The investment was led by prominent financial backers such as Heartland, Kinnevik, Tencent, and IDC Ventures - source
Bessemer Venture Partners, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, announced on Wednesday a $250 million investment fund for entrepreneurs in the decentralized tech space. The fund has a specific focus for individuals working in consumer crypto, or those working to increase widespread adoption of decentralized technology in areas such as gaming, marketplaces or the metaverse, web3 infrastructures like wallet services and smart contracts, and decentralized finance (DeFi). Bessemer has also launched BessemerDAO, a tool for community engagement and product development among entrepreneurs in the web3 industry - source
CK Zheng — formerly the global head of valuation risk at European investment bank Credit Suisse — is targeting a $200 million fundraise for a new crypto hedge fund.The Wall Street vet has joined forces with Felix Xu and Yemu Xu to launch ZX Squared Capital, which will deploy strategies in crypto options to help deliver better returns with less volatility. In sum, the pitch to investors is that it can reduce the volatility of the underlying market to 30% to 40% compared to bitcoin's volatility of more than 80%, The crypto options market has grown by nearly 10x since 2020, according to data compiled by The Block. Since the start of 2022, the bitcoin options market has turned over more than $7 billion across venues ranging from CME Group to Deribit - source
Digital real estate platform Roofstock closed a $240 million Series E equity financing round, achieving a valuation of $1.94 billion. The Roofstock platform enables the $4 trillion fragmented, cottage industry of single-family rentals or "SFRs" to become a relevant asset class. Since it was founded in 2015, the platform has facilitated more than $5 billion in transaction volume, half of which came in the last year, according to a company statement, The firm has also been open about its potential application of blockchain, particularly the possible tokenization of real-world assets, something it discussed publicly last year - source
Prestigious Princeton University has launched an initiative to study the "decentralization of societal power" through blockchain technology in an effort to explore the vast depths of it’s social capabilities. For the launch, Bloomberg reported that Princeton’s Venture Forward campaign received $20 million in donations from high-profile alumni Peter Bridger from Fortress Investment, Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, Pantera Capital CEO Daniel Morehead, and Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz. The initiative is designed to study the ways in which modern technology, especially blockchain, can interfere with and change social norms, just as other technologies such as the printing press and the internet have in the past. This is the second time in as many weeks Princeton has revealed its ongoing involvement in the blockchain industry. On March 2, a partnership with Metaverse and NFT project Radio Caca (RACA) and Princeton’s Blockchain Society - source
Calendar:
Macro Schedule
Upcoming unlocks - vestlab.io
U.S. Economic Calendar - Marketwatch
FOMC 2nd meeting - March 15th-16th - source
El Salvador’s initial $1 billion bitcoin bond issue will take place - March 15th-20th
Avax Summit Conference March 22nd - 27th, 2022 - source
Evergrande, $2.025bn principal payment deadline - March 23rd
US Tax return ~ April 18th
Data:
Blockchain gaming enthusiasts bought and sold $5.18 billion worth of NFTs last year, spread across 20,986,532 sales. In addition, there were a total of 112 blockchain games and 1.88 million active wallets. Based on analysis by NonFungible, these statistics accounted for 2.18% of the world's total gaming market in 2021 - source
On-chain data suggests Binance has seen some sharp growth in its Bitcoin dominance over the past couple of years, leading to the crypto exchange now holding more than 22% of the total reserve. According to the latest weekly report from Glassnode, the crypto exchange now holds 22% of the total exchange reserve, a pretty significant amount.The crypto exchange's BTC balance now stands at 22.6% of the total exchange supply, meaning it holds around 577k BTC today - source
Ukrainian crypto trading rose by 107% since the conflict began. Furthermore, the collapse of the Ruble and the increasingly dysfunctional banking system in Russia has prompted a 231% rise over the same period - source
Close to 2 million ETH has been burned since the activation of EIP-1559. This has caused Ethereum’s annualized inflation rate to dip lower than Bitcoin’s for most of the past 7 months - source
According to Whale Alert, more than 35,000 BTC were transferred from Coinbase to multiple unknown addresses, value of over $1.3 billion. Combined with historical similar transfer behaviors, this large-amount transfer is likely to be an internal wallet arrangement - source
IntoTheBlock pointed out that currently over 99% of all Bitcoin volume comes from transactions of over $100k. Since the Q3 of 2020, institutional dominance and structural changes have accelerated, proportion of large-value transactions remained above 90% - source
Put/call ratio on a decline after hitting 6-month high in February - source
According to Nansen, both the NFT-500 index and the NFT-BlueChip10 index have fallen by more than 30% in USDT-standard value in the past month - source
New Listings:
Maiar has announced Itheum (ITHEUM) token sale on its launchpad. Hard Cap: $2,000,000. Offered tokens: 50,000,000 ITHEUM. Price: $0.04. KYC: March 9-25. EGLD Staking snapshot: March 25. Buy lottery tickets: March 26. All participants claim unspent EGLD: March 28 - source
Binance will list Kadena (KDA) and will open trading for KDA/BTC, KDA/BUSD and KDA/USDT trading pairs on March 11 - source
CoinList has announced the Tribal Token Sale. Option 1: March 17, 17:00 UTC. Price: $0.55. Min/max: $100 min, $500 max. Lockup: 1-year lockup followed by a 6-month linear release. Supply: 39M. Option 2: March 17, 22:00 UTC. Price: $0.4. Min/max: $100 min, $500 max. Lockup: 1-year lockup followed by a 12-month linear release. Supply: 25M The registration deadline is March 15 - source
Binance Futures will launch Coin-Margined ICX and ALGO perpetual contracts with up to 20x leverage. March 14th & 15th - source
Disclaimer: none of this is finanshy advice. These are just my thoughts, observations and things that have crossed my eyes during the past few days. Use this as an overview of the market sentiment, always do your own research, practice risk management, remember to stay hydrated and touch grass. Crypto is a cruel, harsh, zero sum game. Protect yourself.