The DeGen Bible to Financial Freedom - Vol.28

Week 18 Apr -  24 Apr 2023

Back to the basics, $BTC to da moon - Mars Captain

🧠 Observations

• The US regulation landscape worsens, not just to crypto actors, but among the roles of institutions/regulators. Coinbase's potential move away from the US soil might challenge Binance or reshape CEX ecosystem. Let's see.
• Indeed, Captain has been negligent on the meme side of the moon. The $PEPE hype this week has awaken the team to DYOR. $BTC started as a meme and became the king. To be a legendary king, you have to be a viral anti-establishment totem to build your empire. Good lesson for $SEAN.
• Be attentive to the Ordinals NFT & the collapse/decline of blue chip NFT & NFT marketplaces might signify a shift of NFT market from Ethereum to Bitcoin. Unisat wallet & Magic Eden's Ordinal collection is not to be overlooked.

💵 Stablecoin & Market Landscape

• Stablecoin market share remains high in reference to the total crypto market capitalization. 10.8% of stablecoin (131.7B) on 1.21T 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 1.21T.  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

• Mass withdrawal =/= dump pressure.
• Indeed, we need to think of Kraken's got hammered by the SEC and the majority of the withdrawal from Kraken is likely to be restaked in other protocols.

• Follow the BTC God and you will be among the Gods.

• Shall we still follow this chain? Same as XRP, they should be buried, but for some reasons they are still around. As long as you reach top 100, you are always under the spotlight.

• One of the rare crypto projects with a real world usage and a happy marriage between the tokenomics and telecommunication industry, despite controversies of founding members' lavish life style.
• Migration to Solana, delisted from Binance, but still having a stack of funds raised from the bull market. Can Helium be revived?

• Might not be crypto relevant, but this is problematic.
• To be fair, Captain doesn't think that income inequality is as much as a big deal since human societies have mostly been feudalistic in nature which the aristocracy took it all and the rest of the people were mere slaves and peasants. Nonetheless, people could own their land and relatively freely circulated to other lands for less oppressive regimes. (This is debatable though.) Now, people are trapped in developed economy mindset, which your job pays for the transport and food, and Netflix and Instagram more importantly. Which way is better off? It's worth thinking.

🔢 Index

• Small correction over the weekend and dragged index lower. Still quite high in Captain's option.

• Going flat on CBBI, healthy status. Let's hold on tight.

📰 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

A reliable pattern or an illusory correlation?

If history repeats, bitcoin would peak around May 20 at $45,000. Let’s look at some clues from the past.

A reliable pattern or an illusory correlation?

Bitcoin Fans Salute Billionaire Saylor, $0.006 at a Time

Michael Saylor has netted literally dollars’ worth of bitcoin ever since MicroStrategy adopted the Lightning Network.

BlockworksDavid Canellis

Lesser-Known Bitcoin Indicator Signals Onset of Major Bull Run

The “reserve-risk” indicator has been historically reliable.

CoinDeskOmkar Godbole

ETH

One million ether has been withdrawn since Ethereum’s Shanghai hard fork

Deposited ether since Ethereum’s Shanghai hard fork went live, meanwhile, stands at 373,040 — creating a net staking balance of -646,210.

The BlockAdam James

Layer 1s/ Major DeFi

Scroll Aims to Be the Turtle That Wins the Ethereum Scaling Race

This decentralized, global team of developers is ignoring the urge to be the first to scale Ethereum. For its holistic approach to building broadly and transparently, Scroll is one of CoinDesk’s Projects to Watch 2023.

CoinDeskDanny Nelson and Sam Kessler

Tether market cap eyes record high after regaining 65% stablecoin dominance

The market capitalization of Tether is nearly a billion dollars away from reaching a new lifetime peak.

CointelegraphYashu Gola

Societe Generale launches CoinVertible euro stablecoin on Ethereum

One of the world’s largest banks is launching its own Euro based stablecoin as the European Union passes crypto laws.

The BlockAdam Morgan McCarthy

Decentralized Wireless Project Helium Begins Move to Solana Blockchain

The change aims to make Helium faster and cheaper to operate.

CoinDeskDanny Nelson

Borrowing Crypto With DeFi? TransUnion Shares Real-world Credit Scores

TransUnion is paying close attention to the crypto ecosystem, now connecting DeFi protocols with real-world credit scores.

BlockworksShalini Nagarajan

Twitter

NFTs

Asprey and Bugatti Partnering to Create Phygital Egg Collection

Asprey and Bugatti are partnering to create a phygital egg collection. Details inside.

Lucky TraderJulian Son

Sotheby’s to Auction CryptoPunk, Other NFTs Owned by Bankrupt Three Arrows Capital - Decrypt

Fine art auction house Sotheby’s announced Wednesday that it will sell NFT artwork seized from bankrupt hedge fund, Three Arrows Capital.

DecryptAndré Beganski

NFT Marketplaces Sales, Users Drop to Lows Not Seen Since 2021, Dune Data Shows

According to multiple dashboards compiled by researchers on analytics platform Dune, OpenSea and Blur are experiencing notable losses in both daily users and sales.

CoinDeskRosie Perper

Bored Apes, CryptoPunks Fall Below $100K as NFT Momentum Stalls - Decrypt

“Blue chip” NFT projects are losing value as some trading metrics across NFT marketplaces fell to nearly two-year lows.

DecryptSander Lutz

Mattel Marketplace Lets You Trade Barbie and Hot Wheels NFTs Peer-to-Peer

Mattel debuts new marketplace trading feature alongside launch of fifth series of its popular Hot Wheels NFT Garage

BlockworksJames Cirrone

Macro econ/ Regulations

FTX Crypto Exchange Restart Plan Draws Possible Bid From Tribe Capital

(Bloomberg) -- FTX’s potential plan to reboot its crypto exchange has attracted interest from Tribe Capital, a venture firm that invested in the platform before FTX collapsed and is now considering a fresh capital injection to jump-start the effort.Most Read from BloombergWorthless Degrees Are Creat…

Yahoo FinanceYueqi Yang and Jeremy Hill

Gemini names APAC CEO, opening India office

The firm has big plans for Asia as it names a regional CEO and says it’s planning to open an office in India.

The BlockYogita Khatri

Dutch Court Agrees to Free Tornado Cash Dev Alex Pertsev Pending Trial - Decrypt

The developer of coin mixer Tornado Cash, Alex Pertsev, is set to be released on bail after nine months in detention without a trial.

DecryptAndrew Asmakov

Bitcoin Thief Once Worth $3.4 Billion Gets Year in Prison

A Georgia man who stole more than 50,000 Bitcoin from the Silk Road drug-trafficking site before his cache hit $3.35 billion in value was ordered to serve a year and a day in prison.

HT TechBy:BLOOMBERG | Updated on: Apr 17 2023, 08:14 IST Share Via

U.S. bipartisan stablecoin bill to allow central bank money for non-bank issuers - Ledger Insights - blockchain for enterprise

A U.S. Bill will allow stablecoin issuers access to central bank money. Regulators have 90 days to respond to applications

Ledger Insights - blockchain for enterpriseLedger Insights

Coinbase CEO won’t rule out relocating company away from US | Mint - Mint

Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. may consider moving its headquarters outside the US unless the country changes its approach to regulation, Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong said. Crypto exchange Coinbase Global Inc. may consider moving its headquarters outside the US unless the country c…

Business Telegraphbusinesstelegraph

‘Pepe the Frog’ Meme Coins Rocket as Crypto Twitter Moves Over Dogecoin Obsession

Some early users have turned a few hundred dollars to six figures on the latest meme obsession.

CoinDeskShaurya Malwa

Hong Kong Court Recognizes Crypto as Property

Crypto has been classed as property in Hong Kong during a case regarding digital assets still held by defunct exchange Gatecoin.

BlockworksSebastian Sinclair

Euro-pegged Stablecoin From Societe Generale in the Works

In the case that the stability mechanisms are threatened, EURVC holders would have the ability to redeem their collateral.

BlockworksBessie Liu

Subscribe to read | Financial Times

News, analysis and comment from the Financial Times, the worldʼs leading global business publication

Financial Times

Research reports/videos (DYOR)

‘Pepe the Frog’ Meme Coins Rocket as Crypto Twitter Moves Over Dogecoin Obsession

Some early users have turned a few hundred dollars to six figures on the latest meme obsession.

CoinDeskShaurya Malwa

PEPE Holder Turns $250 into $1M in Four Days. But Can They Sell It? - Decrypt

A memecoin investor has turned $250 into $1.02 million—but liquidity issues could prevent them from realizing that profit.

DecryptRyan S. Gladwin

An MEV trading bot is making sandwiches, spending millions on gas

A Subway-themed MEV trading bot earned about $700,000 in profits using a “sandwiching” technique on decentralized exchanges.

The BlockVishal Chawla

‘Sandwich bots’ filch millions off unwitting investors during meme coin rally

Soaring values of meme coins such as PEPE is providing cover for cunning traders to manipulate transactions.

DL NewsTim Craig

He Started Resy: Now He Wants You to Take Restaurant NFTs Seriously

Blackbird, a new loyalty platform backed by Resy co-founder Ben Leventhal, is coming for New York restaurants

Eater NYLuke Fortney

Exit Liquidity

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

MediumArthur Hayes