The DeGen Bible to Financial Freedom - Vol.26

Week 3 Apr -  10 Apr 2023

Boring markets test the faithful - Mars Captain

🧠 Observations

• The only remarkable trend in the last three weeks is the decline of stablecoin market cap. But with such a relatively small total crypto market cap. Captain thinks people just swapped their stables (like Binance & USDC hodlers) to BTC mostly. We don't see any hype on Ethereum, despite the imminent Shanghai Upgrade. If I might refresh our subscribers' memory, post-LUNA crash summer 2022, the market pattern was highly identical to the current one, difference this time is the BTC emphasis.
• So, there is a lot new stuff to explore in the BTC ecosystem. Captain likes Stacks, but don't forget Interlay on Polkadot, despite there is a lot of disappointment and inflated developer activities in the Kusama realm. In a way, we might see all the DeFi, NFT, Metaverse and whatever initiated in Ethereum a prelude/experiment of what's gonna happen in BTC.  
• A Turbulent week is starting, US CPI, Ethereum Shanghai upgrade, Chicago CME interest change, notably FED's March meeting minutes will be released. Not an easy week post-Easter.
• But wait, don't forget the dragon in the East is hosting (another) week of Web3 events in Hong Kong after a month of events with more exhibitors than participants.🥱🥱🥱 (Seriously, you fomo into that 💩?)

💵 Stablecoin & Market Landscape

• Stablecoin market share remains high in reference to the total crypto market capitalization. 10.8% of stablecoin (132.9B) on 1.23T crypto market.

Reminder: Mid-NOV 2021, this percentage was around 4ish% with a 3T total MC. Now we are at 10ish% with a 1ishT total MC.

• Now at 1.23 T.  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

• Oil has penetrated every corner of the modern industrial world. Looking at oil price is as interesting as looking at fear index.

• Actually, the bigger picture is the declining overall volume on NFT trades. It is the end of a generation, jpegs evaluated at millions of dollars.

• Not gonna play my smartass here. I quote BTC magazine's original statement, "It’s worth pointing out the historical correlation between ISM PMI and SPX year-over-year performance (another leading indicator of economic recession). Historically, traditional markets have bottomed after the ISM PMI has bottomed out."

• There is a lot of going-ons in the BTC ecosystem these days. This SEAN times volume covers a lot of BTC stuff and they all look very interesting and somehow you can see a similar pattern of the ETH-led NFT summer in 2021.  

🔢 Index

• It's been stagnant on the 60 level for 3ish weeks. As per other market data points. If it doesn't break 🔼, it will soon ⏬.

• Again, another stagnant data point. Wen breaks?

📰 Current affairs

Starfish Finance:

Prediction Market — The First Game of Starfish’s Entertainment-Fi

Play to earn?

MediumStarfish 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 Thesis Becomes Amazon Best Seller - Decrypt

An MIT thesis on Bitcoin’s cyber-security potential penned by a U.S. Space Force major has gained traction on Amazon as a best seller.

DecryptAndré Beganski

MicroStrategy Buys Another 1,045 Bitcoin for $23.9M

The company now holds 140,000 bitcoin worth about $4 billion.

CoinDeskOliver Knight

Hidden Inside MacOS, the Bitcoin White Paper

Satoshi’s vision exists in every version of MacOS from Mojave to Ventura, but is not in the older High Sierra (10.13) or earlier.

CoinDeskSam Reynolds

ETH

Let's wait for the Shanghai upgrade in two days.

Layer 1s/ Major DeFi

PancakeSwap DEX Launches Version 3 on BNB Chain and Ethereum

V3 brings four different trading fee tiers: 0.01%, 0.05%, 0.25% and 1%, compared with V2’s single level of 0.25%.

CoinDeskShaurya Malwa

Coinbase wants devs to build inflation-pegged ‘flatcoins’ on its new ‘Base’ network

Coinbase is calling on developers to work on four “critical” areas of its on-chain ecosystem, including an inflation-pegged “flatcoin,” a reputation protocol, a limit order book exchange, and tools to secure the DeFi ecosystem.

CointelegraphBrayden Lindrea

Uniswap volume beats Coinbase and registers its best month since 2022

Uniswap’s spot volume jumped above $70 billion in March — its highest point since January 2022.

The BlockAdam Morgan McCarthy

Internet Computer Issues ‘Liquid Bitcoin,’ for Faster, Cheaper BTC Transactions

ckBTC brings layer-2 capabilities to Bitcoin, while also ensuring greater security and decentralization than other BTC-pegged tokens, developers say.

CoinDeskShaurya Malwa

LayerZero Funding Round Hits $3 Billion Valuation With Backing from Christie’s, Samsung - Decrypt

The development team behind LayerZero has landed funding from a wide-range of investors, including those outside the world of crypto.

DecryptLiam J. Kelly

Twitter’s Dogecoin rally: One trader made $1.1 million in 30 minutes

A trader who goes by the moniker “Tree of Alpha” made over $1 million from Dogecoin trades after Twitter changed its logo to the dog.

The BlockYogita Khatri

Twitter

NFTs

Amazon NFT Marketplace Could Feature Beeple, Pudgy Penguins

Amazon NFT marketplace could feature names familiar to crypto natives, including Beeple and Pudgy Penguins, according to a private deck.

BlockworksMichael Bodley

Yuga Labs Joins Gucci to Announce Otherside-Themed Jewelry - Decrypt

3,333 KodaPendants will come with a unique silver Gucci necklace and other digital perks.

DecryptSander Lutz

Magic Eden Rolls Out Bitcoin Ordinals NFT Creator Launchpad

After releasing a Bitcoin NFT marketplace in March, the company is expanding its resources for creators to securely mint their inscriptions before selling to collectors.

CoinDeskCam Thompson

NFT Airline Tickets Are Beginning to Take Off

Customers of Buenos Aires-based Flybondi now have the option to activate NFT versions of their tickets via tech that uses Algorand.

BlockworksBen Strack

Ralph Lauren Goes Crypto, Airdrops NFT Invites to Miami Party

Ralph Lauren is Web3 now, sending invites for a private party with Ethereum NFTs and accepting crypto at one of its stores.

BlockworksShalini Nagarajan

And the Winner of Metaverse Fashion Week 2023 Is... - Decrypt

Last week’s event plummeted in attendance from 2022. But it may have offered clues towards a path forward for brands in the virtual realm.

DecryptSander Lutz

Macro econ/ Regulations

Alchemy Pay Raises $10M at $400M Valuation to Push South Korean Expansion Plans

The funding came from DWF Labs, its eighth investment of $10 million or more in the last six weeks.

CoinDeskJamie Crawley

Dogecoin Soars After Twitter Replaces Its Blue Bird Logo With the Token’s Dog

In the past Twitter CEO Elon Musk has shown himself to be a fan of the meme coin.

CoinDeskStephen Alpher

Swiss Bank PostFinance to Roll Out Bitcoin, Ethereum Services for Clients - Decrypt

PostFinance is rolling out a range of crypto services through a new partnership with digital assets bank Sygnum.

DecryptAndrew Asmakov

Peer-to-Peer Bitcoin Exchange Paxful to Suspend Operations

A message from co-founder and CEO Ray Youssef cited key staff departures and regulatory challenges.

CoinDeskStephen Alpher and Helene Braun

North Korea’s ‘Malicious Cyber Activities’ Deeply Concerning, Say US, Japan, South Korea: Report - Decrypt

High-level diplomats have urged the global community to ensure the repatriation of all North Korean nationals working abroad.

DecryptAndrew Asmakov

Research reports/videos (DYOR)

ON #163: NFT Lending

Coverage on BendDAO, Arcade.xyz, and more.

OurNetworkSpencer Noon 🕛

From dYdX to GMX: What Derivatives DEXs Have and Have Not Achieved - The Defiant

“There are no solutions, only trade-offs”

The DefiantMomir Amidzic

Fraud Shop Genesis Market Shut Down and Sanctioned by OFAC

Notorious fraud shop Genesis Market was shut down by law enforcement and sanctioned by OFAC in April 2023. Read to learn more.

ChainalysisChainalysis Team

From Nakamigos to Magamigos: The Tricky Relationship Between the Meme Economy and NFTs

Speculative NFT project Nakamigos has recently broken into the NFT spotlight, spawning copycat projects such as Magamigos and Nakamigas that capitalize on the trend. But while meme projects may offer short-term gains, they rarely offer long-term value and ought be scrutinized.

CoinDeskCam Thompson and Rosie Perper