The DeGen Bible to Financial Freedom - Vol.27

The DeGen Bible to Financial Freedom - Vol.27

Week 11 Apr -  17 Apr 2023

Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. - Mars Captain

🧠 Observations

• Shanghai upgrade is finished, Ethereum has no more narrative now. Even Vitalik is not shilling anything on Ethereum development. Who/what will lead the next narrative in the rest of 2023?
• FOMC is around the corner again. Coin Bureau's warning a potential real estate market collapse in the US. Though Captain doesn't think it would happen, it's still a risk not to overlook as crypto will react to all macro market conditions.
• Still connecting the dots between CBBI, stablecoin MC % and other market sentiment data points. It seems likely that this small recovery of he crypto market is reaching the end?
• People should keep their mind clear, Web3 is another word for crypto. Calling whatever crypto web3 as if there is a new economy isn't accurate for our industry. Captain advises every Starfish subscriber to be wary of any government-led initiatives in crypto, or web3. They are not here to help, same as their anti-drug, anti-humantrafficing, anti-this & anti-that is just to_____. 💰💰💰. I let you fill in this blank.

💵 Stablecoin & Market Landscape

• Stablecoin market share remains high in reference to the total crypto market capitalization. 10.05% of stablecoin (132.4B) on 1.31T 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 1.31T.  Still hanging around on the T level. Grown 30% since January 2023.

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

• That's a terrible landscape if that's the development of NFT and Metaverse whatever. Even for a bear market, DeFi's development has been more active than the JPEGs.

• This infographics says a lot about the world of crypto. You need one Elon Musk to counter all the influence combined elsewhere. This should be classroom material.

• This might be bullish for Chinese stocks?
• Nah, real crypto OGs are mostly Chinese, this is something for the crypto market.

• Matrixport has been doing pretty good research, mainly focused on BTC, pretty impressive about their pure analysis since Q4 2022. Even the SBF saga didn't undo their prediction. Good work to follow, fishes.

• Quoting K33 research, "BTC’s current drawdown and recovery cycle is remarkably similar to the pattern seen in the 2018-19 bear market in terms of length and trajectory. If history repeats BTC will peak around May 20 at $45,000." 🤔

• Kraken got fined by SEC, not just for money, but also they have to stop this staking business. This is such a shame, and when you look at this post-Shanghai upgrade landscape, the SEC really cut a bloody arm off Kraken...

🔢 Index

• It has been in greed for a month, and the price level has become stagnant.
• If we look at the current market as a small bull one without referencing to the 2021's hyper bull, this data point represents a cycle top.

• Same as fear index, CBBI has been stagnant, so it's almost 1/2 of the ATH total MC. Same as BTC's price. In this perspective, current cycle top isn't an unconvincing thesis.

📰 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

Coinbase CEO says Bitcoin Lightning is ‘something we’ll integrate’

Coinbase may integrate Lightning into its trading platform, according to CEO Brian Armstrong, who has considered the idea of supporting a Bitcoin scaling solution since 2016.

CointelegraphBrayden Lindrea

Former PayPal president’s startup is building tools to make using Bitcoin’s Lightning Network easier.

Lightspark revealed its product suite, which could also provide an alternative to 24/7 trading that ended with the demise of Silvergate and Signature banks.

The BlockFrank Chaparro

ETH

Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade Is Complete, Starting New Era of Staking Withdrawals

The upgrade on the blockchain, also known as “Shapella” was triggered at 22:27 UTC, and the network is now processing withdrawal requests.

CoinDeskMargaux Nijkerk

Layer 1s/ Major DeFi

SushiSwap hacked, Head Chef says ‘revoke all chains’

The exploit involves the RouterProcessor2 contract — which PeckShield and SushiSwap Head Chef Jared Grey recommend revoking on all chains.

The BlockAdam James

Ethereum Layer 2 Network zkSync Era Jumps to Nearly $250M in Locked Value

More than 7 million transactions have been conducted on the network since launch, which can process 3.5 transactions per second, data shows.

CoinDeskShaurya Malwa

MakerDAO’s Endgame Is Making Some Delegates Uneasy

The upcoming transition to metaDAOs and a change in MKR tokenomics via the MakerDAO Endgame plan continues to draw concerns.

BlockworksBessie Liu

Binance’s US Exchange Says Bye-Bye to TRON’s TRX Token

Binance US will delist TRX and SPELL on April 18 as they “no longer meets our high standards,” the exchange said

BlockworksShalini Nagarajan

Unstoppable Games will launch Web3 sci-fi MMO Influence on Starknet

Connect with top gaming leaders in Los Angeles at GamesBeat Summit 2023 this May 22-23. Register here. Unstoppable Games announced it will launch its Web3 science fiction massively multiplayer online (MMO) game called Influence on the Starknet platform for the Ethereum blockchain. StarkWare, creator…

VentureBeatDean Takahashi

Uniswap’s iOS app launches on Apple App Store

Uniswap’s wallet app is now officially available on Apple’s App Store after it was delayed for unspecified reasons.

The BlockMichael McSweeney

Solana’s Crypto-Ready ‘Saga’ Smartphone Goes on Sale May 8

The Saga aims to put crypto in people’s pockets, where the rest of the digital world has already gone.

CoinDeskDanny Nelson

Real-World Tokenization Is Surging as TradFi Grows More Receptive to Blockchain

A number of banks and other big brands want to bring more efficiency to their transactions.

CoinDeskJocelyn Yang

Twitter

NFTs

Borrowing Against NFTs Is Now a $1 Billion Industry—What’s Next? - Decrypt

Since volumes for borrowing against NFTs crossed $1 billion, many are left wondering: Who’s using their jpeg as collateral in this market?

DecryptLiam J. Kelly

Macro econ/ Regulations

Hong Kong reiterates cryptocurrency regulation commitment at city’s largest Web3 show

At Hong Kong’s Web3 Festival, Financial Secretary Paul Chan says financial system must be protected in Web3, while SFC official says DeFi platforms may require a licence.

South China Morning PostMatt Haldane

Japan Approves Web3 White Paper to Promote Industry Growth in the Country

The document proposes more tax reforms, clearer accounting standards and a DAO law.

CoinDeskLavender Au

How banks are eyeing deposit tokens for B2B payments - Ledger Insights - blockchain for enterprise

Deposit tokens or commercial bank money tokens involve banks issuing tokens directly onto non-bank blockchain networks

Ledger Insights - blockchain for enterpriseLedger Insights

China’s ‘Credit Impulse’ Is Picking Up. Here’s Why It Matters to Bitcoin

Credit impulse, an indicator introduced by former Deutsche Bank economist Michael Biggs, measures the change in new credit issued as a percentage of the gross domestic product.

CoinDeskOmkar Godbole

Hong Kong’s ZA Bank wants to be the go-to bank for crypto startups

Hong Kong-based ZA Bank is now allowed to serve as the settlement bank for regulated web3 companies in the city.

TechCrunchRita Liao

Twitter partners with eToro to show real-time stock and crypto information

Twitter has partnered with the investment platform eToro to show real-time information about stocks and crypto prices.

TechCrunchIvan Mehta

Research reports/videos (DYOR)

‘We made close to $1 million’: Inside the murky world of airdrop farming

Crypto airdrops are again providing big rewards, largely to those gaming the system. That’s as long as they don’t get caught.

The BlockTim Copeland

The making of Binance’s CZ: An exclusive look at the forces that shaped crypto’s most powerful founder

How China’s hardball startup culture, Canada’s Asian immigrant community, and “Rich Dad Poor Dad” helped Changpeng Zhao become a mild-mannered but sharp-elbowed competitor.

FortuneJeff John Roberts

Towards AMM 2.0: Creating an Ecosystem for Advanced AMM Applications (AAA)

Automated Market Makers (AMMs) have revolutionized the way we trade cryptocurrencies by providing an automated way to buy and sell assets…

MediumAlexEuler

MiCA: What Europe’s New Crypto Rules Mean for the Industry - Decrypt

The European Union will soon usher in a suite of new crypto rules called MiCA. But what are they and what does it mean for the industry?

DecryptAlys Key

Powell’s Trouble With the Curve

Macro Update: Why The Fed’s Ignoring the Market’s Signals

EspressoTD

A ‘Super App’ May Be Web3’s Super Power

Elon Musk has a vision to turn Twitter into an all-in-one app, like WeChat. Turns out, permissionless and composable crypto platforms together form something better than the sum of its parts.

CoinDeskGalen Moore