The DeGen Bible to Financial Freedom - Vol.23

Week 15 Mar -  20 Mar 2023

There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen - Mars Captain

🧠 Observations

• Fear & Greed index summarises more than what we think, so we are in greed territory now, are you sure you want to continue FOMO?
• Media VS Fundamentals, we have seen this throughout 2021-2022, and the same patterns still repeats in 2023. Which side shall retail investors take? Captain is old school. So, fxxk the media (precisely left-wing, Anglo-Saxon, Bloomberg, Ex-this, Ex that, whatever ones like SBF we kn0w.)  
• The FED will not be hesitant on their hammer, unless they are just a corporation, not a government. Running a state and running a business are two very different things. Don't be confused.

💵 Stablecoin & Market Landscape

• Stablecoin market share remains high in reference to the total crypto market capitalization. 11.12% of stablecoin (134.4B) on 1.2T crypto market.
• Every 1% decline of stable MC translates into 3-4$ total MC growth. 11-12% was 2022 summer level.

Reminder: Mid-NOV 2021, this percentage was around 4ish% with a 3T total MC. Now we are at 12ish% with a 1ishT total MC.

• Now at 1.2T.  Still hanging around on the 1T level. Going steady.

Reminder, June and Nov 2022 witnessed a bottom of 800ish B MC vis-a-vis the market’s top in NOV 2021 at 3T.

Infographics

FED balance sheet increase

• This is something worrying... They literally undid what they have done in the last 6 months amidst the FTX saga & inflation.
• Moral of the story is that, neither FTX or inflation did they care as much as their bank pals. There is no way they can stop the inflation with such a move... Steady, lads.

🔢 Index

• I don't think we had been here during 2022 summer's the Merge hype. This is definitely too high for the current price level.
• A TL:DR action would be sell when this index's in green if you bought in the red. Not Financial advice though, LOL

• Happy to see people paying attention back to BTC, though am still not convinced that this price level can sustain.

📰 Current affairs

Starfish Finance:

Starfish Finance II - Attack of the (Dapp) Clones

Far beyond Earth and millions of miles past the moon, there’s a planet where Decentralized Finance (DeFi) and NFT-Fi meet on an interoperable network. First observed in 2022, the world known as “Starfish Planet” is home to degens, hodlers, frens and a starfish named Sean.

CoinDeskCoinDesk Staff

Starfish Finance: A cross-chain DeFi, NFT-finance platform on Astar Network, a Polkadot parachain

Starfish Finance is a pioneer project in the Astar incubation project and the first decentralized finance (DeFi) and nonfungible token (NFT) finance platform on Astar Network.

CointelegraphCointelegraph

BTC

Europol shuts crypo tumbler ChipMixer, seize $46m in bitcoin

Authorities seized over 1900 bitcoin and allege the platform facilitated $3.8 billion in money laundering over its existence.

The BlockInbar Preiss

Bitcoin Dominance Reaches 9-Month High

The bitcoin dominance rate has climbed amid increasing turbulence in crypto markets, and more lately as the price of bitcoin also reached a nine-month high.

CoinDeskLyllah Ledesma

Balaji Srinivasan Says Hyperinflation Happening Now — Makes Million-Dollar Bets on Bitcoin Price Exceeding $1M in 90 Days – Economics Bitcoin News

Balaji Srinivasan says hyperinflation is happening now. He is making million-dollar bets that bitcoin will rise to $1 million in 90 days.

Bitcoin NewsKevin Helms

ETH

Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade to Enable Withdrawals Set for April

Ethereum’s next major software upgrade, which could make crypto’s biggest commercial highway more attractive to investors and developers alike, will take place around April 12.

BloombergOlga Kharif

Layer 1s/ Major DeFi

Binance Will Convert $1B Worth of BUSD Stablecoin to Bitcoin, Ether, BNB and Other Tokens

Binance tapped into its Industry Recovery Initiative funds to cover the move.

CoinDeskShaurya Malwa

Crypto’s Latest Stablecoin, Called HOPE, Started by Ex-Babel Finance CEO Flex Yang

The token will serve as the native stablecoin for the new Hope ecosystem, which is focused on bringing traditional-finance users to the crypto market.

CoinDeskShaurya Malwa

Stablecoin issuer CNHC raises $10 million in funding led by KuCoin Ventures

CNHC Group, the issuer of the CNHC stablecoin that is pegged to the offshore Chinese yuan, raised $10 million in funding.

The BlockYogita Khatri

Arbitrum to Airdrop New Token and Transition to DAO

The long-awaited ARB token will grant holders the ability to vote on changes to the leading Ethereum layer 2 network.

CoinDeskSam Kessler

Tether’s Stablecoin Market Cap Now Double USDC After SVB Chaos - Decrypt

Several key metrics indicate the Tether (USDT) stablecoin is emerging as a key winner from the recent chaos in crypto markets.

DecryptAndrew Asmakov

TrueUSD Moves $1B in Reserves To The Bahamas After U.S. Banking Failures - The Defiant

The company behind TrueUSD, the fifth-largest stablecoin, moved $1B of the company’s reserve assets to a Bahamas-based financial institution citing the tumultuous state of the U.S. banking sector on Wednesday.

The DefiantSamuel Haig

Internal war breaks out at DefiLlama as ‘rogue’ employees reject token plan

Team members of DefiLlama are attempting to fork the blockchain data platform after pushing back on an ‘ongoing attempt to launch a token.’

The BlockKari McMahon

Twitter

NFTs

Meta announces plans to stop working on NFTs

Meta is ditching its NFT plans to prioritize on other means of helping creators and businesses connect with and monetize userbases.

The BlockAdam Morgan McCarthy

‘Game changer’: Amazon’s rumored NFT platform embraced by Blur, OpenSea and Orange Comet

Executives at Blur, OpenSea, Orange Comet and Magic Eden are generally bullish amid speculation Amazon is getting into selling NFTs.

The BlockRT Watson

Salesforce Taps Into NFTs Through Suite of New Web3 Products

The cloud services giant is helping companies integrate NFTs to deepen their relationships with customers.

CoinDeskCam Thompson

Doodles Is ‘No Longer an NFT Project,’ Co-Founder Says

Jordan Castro, aka Poopie, explained in a tweet the brand is “growing into a company with the goal of becoming a leading media franchise.”

CoinDeskRosie Perper

Macro econ/ Regulations

Crypto Faces a Banking Crisis. For Some, It’s a Conspiracy

The collapse of crypto-friendly Silvergate and Signature Bank has left the industry scrambling to find anyone willing to work with them.

WIREDCondé Nast

LinksDAO Wins Bid to Buy Scottish Golf Course, CEO Says - Decrypt

The Web3 golf community claims that it is following through with its original plan to buy a real-world golf course.

DecryptJason Nelson

Crypto Twitter Thinks the Fed’s $297B Balance Sheet Expansion Is ‘QE’, but It’s Not

According to some observers, the latest expansion in the central bank’s balance sheet is not outrightly stimulative like the one seen following the coronavirus-induced crash of 2020.

CoinDeskOmkar Godbole

Coinbase’s proposed overseas trading venue would offer derivatives: Sources

Coinbase has briefed market-making and trading firms about the plans to roll out the platform in an offshore jurisdiction in a move that will pit it against rival Binance, which dominates the space.

The BlockChristiana Loureiro

Microsoft testing crypto wallet in its web browser Edge: Bleeping Computer

Tech giant Microsoft is working on a non-custodial crypto wallet for its web browser Edge, Bleeping Computer reported Friday, citing testing of the new feature.

The BlockYogita Khatri

Tron’s Sun also wants to buy struggling Credit Suisse to turn it into “crypto-friendly” bank

“I would like to propose my own offer of $1.5 billion to acquire Credit Suisse and integrate it into the Web3.0 world,” he wrote Sunday in a thread on Twitter.

The BlockNathan Crooks

Research reports/videos (DYOR)

Can AI make secondhand luxury shopping easier?

AI startup Sociate has developed a new generative chatbot that aims to improve the shopping experience, which is rolling out with resale platform Hardly Ever Worn It. Despite advances, the tech remains a hard sell.

Vogue BusinessCondé Nast

Crypto Long & Short: Finding Alpha in AI-Related Crypto

Artificial Intelligence may be a theme worth exploring – potentially transformative in the way that cryptocurrencies have been.

CoinDeskGlenn Williams, Nick Baker and Joe Orsini

Kaiseki

(Any views expressed in the below are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor…

Entrepreneur's HandbookArthur Hayes