The DeGen Bible to Financial Freedom - Vol.24

Week 21 Mar -  27 Mar 2023

The point of inflection. Steady, lads!  - Mars Captain

🧠 Observations

• Captain believes the market has bottomed and entered a stable status. The first time after the start of Russo-Ukrainian war a year-ish ago.
• Bitcoin trading, dominance, all metrics look healthy. Plus, narrative of a failing banking system is going strong. Once you go BTC, you never go back.
• Bullish on major Layer 1s and blue chip DeFi projects. After all, it is by far the ONLY viable business model in crypto. Meme coins would be the second. All NFT and metaverse WOKE stuff can go third. But whatever pro-regulation rubbish advocates and snitches should go south like the banking system. Choose your DYOR friend carefully, like SEAN is a good fren because SEAN is in the first category.

💵 Stablecoin & Market Landscape

• Stablecoin market share remains high in reference to the total crypto market capitalization. 11.43% of stablecoin (133.7B) on 1.16T crypto market.

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 1.16T.  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

• Bitcoin domainance represents a lot about current market landscape.
• Oops, last time it was pre-the-Merge moment when it rose over 42%. In 3 weeks time, there will be Shanghai upgrade. Does this dominance imply more for Etheruem than Bitcoin?

• USDC is the foundation of the DeFi world. So, when the depeg happens, everyone naturally flows to Uniswap to get rid of their USDC.
• Zooming out, Uniswap's trading volume is comparable to Coinbase, meaning DeFi will simply get more and more popularity. The next bull will see some significant upside for blue-chip DeFi protocols.

• This is so embarrassing for those who promoted the Chinese retail entry via Hong Kong's seemingly crypto friendly framework. Crypto is still largely an American-driven thing, shall we say? Those who said the Chinese were buying should be unfollowed immediately.
• Again, when we DYDR, we are still doing it with English media. Sorry, ser, please don't FOMO China.

• Arbitrum and Layer 2s are hot. Zooming out, there is still a distance between them and Etheruem, though it's definitely something interesting to look at Arbitrum's ascension. Does it remind you of Polygon's narrative around 2 years ago?

🔢 Index

• 🤔 BTC pumped almost unilaterally for 1 month. Altcoins haven't got the pump yet. And Fear index holding not bad. Still a bit high, but looking steady now.

• Very good indicator that BTC is coming back. 7 points higher than last week. At least this is a sign of the bear is dead, though bull hasn't returned.

📰 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

Bitcoin Soars 30% Over the Week as Global Banks Roil - Decrypt

The leading cryptocurrency is trading at its highest level this year, with some experts predicting further bullish price action.

DecryptAndrew Asmakov

Crypto Enthusiasts Rush to Promote Bitcoin’s ‘Safe Haven’ Status Amid Banking Crisis - Decrypt

“Orange-pilled” investors and a change at the Fed could boost Bitcoin’s role as a store of value, commentators said.

DecryptMat Di Salvo, Alys Key

ETH

MetaMask adds EIP-4361 so users can securely log into websites with its crypto wallet

The use of Sign In with Ethereum or EIP-4361 or is expected to provide MetaMask users with a self-custodial alternative to centralized identity providers on web services.

The BlockVishal Chawla

Layer 1s/ Major DeFi

EOS Network Ventures Commits $20M to Build Dapps and Games on EOS Blockchain

The commitment comes ahead of next month’s launch of EOS Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

CoinDeskShaurya Malwa

Aave Community Rallies Behind Proposed Metis Deployment - The Defiant

Metis Offers $3M In Liquidity Mining Incentives

The DefiantSamuel Haig

USDT Stablecoin Payments Launch on Telegram - Decrypt

Telegram users can now send each other Tether via the app’s wallet function—along with Bitcoin and Toncoin.

DecryptMat Di Salvo

DeFi Llama Team Resolves Conflict Over Token Plans - The Defiant

Forked Domain Redirects To Original Website

The DefiantOwen Fernau

Twitter

NFTs

NFT Marketplaces Battle for Bitcoin Ordinals Mindshare

Ordinals infrastructure is taking shape, with multiple marketplaces now servicing the budding Bitcoin digital collectible community.

BlockworksBessie Liu

Magic Eden launches Bitcoin marketplace as Ordinal inscriptions continue to grow

Magic Eden, one of the largest cross-chain NFT platforms, launched a Bitcoin marketplace for digital artifacts as Ordinals continue to grow

TechCrunchJacquelyn Melinek

Macro econ/ Regulations

How Realistic Is Former Coinbase CTO’s $2 Million Bitcoin Wager on US Hyperinflation? - Decrypt

Two skeptics take Balaji Srinivasan up on his bold bet that the price of Bitcoin would reach $1 million in three months.

DecryptAndré Beganski

SpankPay Adult Industry Crypto Payment Service Shuts Down - Decrypt

The “safe haven” monetization platform has constantly faced resistance from traditional payment processors.

DecryptJason Nelson

Circle Seeks to Register in France, Ramping Up European Play

The stablecoin issuer wants to expand European operations and prepare for new reserve requirements under the EU’s MiCA law.

CoinDeskJack Schickler

What Wednesday’s Fed interest rate decision means for crypto

Here’s what Wednesday’s Fed interest rate decision means for crypto, and why the dot plot is so important.

The BlockAdam Morgan McCarthy

Do Kwon Arrested in Montenegro: Interior Minister

The suspect was detained at the Podgorica airport with falsified documents, said Filip Adzic.

CoinDeskParikshit Mishra and Jack Schickler

Binance Users in China, Elsewhere, Evade KYC Controls With Help of ‘Angels’: CNBC

Some Binance employees and volunteers shared tips on forging bank documents, falsifying addresses or hiding the country of origin to secure a Binance debit card, CNBC reported, citing Binance-controlled Chinese-language chatrooms, whose messages it translated.

CoinDeskGreg Ahlstrand

Three important crypto stories to look out for this week

Polygon launches zkEVM mainnet beta, Metaverse Fashion Week returns and Australia kicks off its CBDC pilot.

The BlockInbar Preiss

Research reports/videos (DYOR)

Can ChatGPT Really Replace Crypto Audits? Not Yet, Say Researchers - Decrypt

A recent Coinbase experiment that used ChatGPT for a token audit has shed light on how close the bots are to joining the security stack.

DecryptLiam J. Kelly, Ryan Gladwin

Did The Government Start A Global Financial Crisis In An Attempt To Destroy Crypto?

six weeks later, operation chokepoint 2.0 has brought crypto to its knees… along with america’s entire financial system

Pirate WiresNic Carter