The DeGen Bible to Financial Freedom - Vol.36

Week 21 Jun -  30 Jun 2023

NFT NGMI - Mars Captain

🧠 Observations

• SEAN Times celebrates its first year anniversary!
• Significant and coordinated dumping pressure on the blue chip $BAYC NFT series signals the start of the NFT market collapse? (The decline has been on for a year, and now we are at the collapse moment.) Captain is not optimistic about a rebounce moment. Essentially, the NFT narrative is a lightyear speedy way to form an IP and foster a community. What else can you spin off from there? Game-Fi? Metaverse?
• Azuki stabbed the NFT further by draining holders another 40M $USD. Note that we are still in the bear market. Which blue-chip NFT project still has hope? Ummmm, Doodles?
• Stables gonna depeg, it's inevitable.
• Don't forget that we will have another highly anticipated rate hike in July FOMC.

💵 Stablecoin & Market Landscape

• Stablecoin market share remains high in reference to the total crypto market capitalization. 10.49% of stablecoin (1128.9B) on 1.22T 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 1.22T.  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

• In a way, it shows how dominant the market is by the developed West, where the affluent can afford to take the summer off. Captain never buys the ascension of the East thinking.

• The interesting thing about this graph is the proportion of recurring users, while we only see a declining of new users. NFT's narrative is in an inertia moment. No new concept, no new users, only same speculative holders.

• BlackRock's $BTC ETF application decision making date will coincide with the next halving?
• How long has the deep state been planning this?

• Looking at the new L2 eating into the pie, we also need to ask the question whether the cake has becoming bigger or remained the same size. In Captain's impression, it has remained the same size.
• So the other side of the story is that Optimism and Arbitrum are losing popularity. (Though maybe temporarily)

• The miner capitulation a while ago crushed the mining industry. They are quite resilent in a way.
• Tough business and it's time to think ahead for the post-2024 halving landscape.

🔢 Index

• Matrixport is still quite bullish on $BTC, but Captain thinks that it needs to do lower before it goes higher. This level is still a bit high for the market situation.

• CBBI is rising to 30ish. This is a very good indicator for the market in general.

📰 Current affairs

Starfish Finance:

Chapter 2— Flip Your Zero to Become A Hero

A flip a day keeps the bill away.

MediumStarfish Finance

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

Play to earn?

MediumStarfish Finance

Starfish Finance is Live on Arbitrum for its new chapter in Entertainment-Fi

Starfish Finance is listed officially on the Arbitrum portal. https://portal.arbitrum.io/?search=starfish to check out Starfish Finance

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 Dominance Rises To Highest Level In Over Two Years

Whales Have Accumulated $3.5B Of BTC Since April: Santiment

The DefiantSamuel Haig

Bitcoin Cash Sees Largest Bets in 2 Years as BCH Doubles in a Week

Technical improvements and a listing on EDX Markets have likely fueled trading interest in bitcoin cash tokens.

CoinDeskShaurya Malwa

MicroStrategy buys another 12,333 bitcoins for $347 million

Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy purchased an additional 12,333 bitcoins for a total of $347 million in cash.

The BlockYogita Khatri

ETH

Ethereum Scanner Etherscan Adds OpenAI-Based Tool to Analyze Smart Contract Source Code

The tool is meant for informational purposes only, Etherscan said.

CoinDeskEliza Gkritsi

Layer 1s/ Major DeFi

Frax Finance plans to launch its own L2 by end of year

The Frax team is most well known for frxETH, a loosely pegged algorithmic ETH stablecoin.

BlockworksBessie Liu

Curve Looks To Expand crvUSD Collateral Assets

DAO Is Voting On Onboarding wBTC and Native ETH

The DefiantSamuel Haig

Binance starts whipping up Bitcoin Lightning Network nodes

Binance confirmed Tuesday it has started running nodes on the Bitcoin Lightning Network as part of plans to integrate it.

The BlockFrank Chaparro

TrueUSD Depegs on Binance.US, Drops to 80 Cents Against Tether

TUSD trades at a discount versus Tether as former FTX auditor Armanino’s rebranded outlet The Network Firm’s association with TrueUSD raises alarm bells on Crypto Twitter.

CoinDeskOmkar Godbole

StarkEx Layer 2 records $1 trillion in on-chain trading volume since June 2020

The StarkEx Layer 2 network has recorded over $1 trillion in on-chain trading since its launch in June 2020.

The BlockVishal Chawla

Twitter

NFTs

Solana NFT Activity Doubles In May

Average Daily Transactions Hit 60,000

The DefiantSamuel Haig

Loyalty, Memberships and Ticketing: How NFTs Will Bring About Mass Adoption

The conversation around NFTs has shifted from speculation to utility. Now, major players have opted to use NFTs to power loyalty, membership and ticketing services, signaling positive signs for mass adoption.

CoinDeskCam Thompson

Azuki NFT collections ends Elemental mint with $37.5 million

The mint, which for the first 20 minutes was only open to Azuki or BEANZ holders, minted all 10,000 NFTs before it opened to the public.

The BlockMK Manoylov

Macro econ/ Regulations

Deutsche Bank applies for digital asset license with German regulator: Bloomberg

Deutsche Bank AG is seeking regulatory approval to operate a custody service for digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.

The BlockJames Hunt

Crypto is sweeping South and SE Asia. Here’s why it matters to the rest of the world

Five countries in South and Southeast Asia now rank in the global top 10 for cryptocurrency adoption, embracing DeFi and defying government attempts to discourage crypto use. Is this a harbinger of larger trends to come?

Yahoo FinanceRonghui Gu

Hong Kong can draw on Japan, Singapore’s lead for its crypto efforts, says government study

A Hong Kong government study noted how other regions are adopting web3 technology and how the region can follow in their footsteps.

The BlockBrian McGleenon

HSBC Hong Kong now lets customers trade bitcoin and ether ETFs

HSBC Hong Kong, the region’s largest bank, now allows customers to trade bitcoin and ether ETFs listed on Hong Kong’s stock exchange.

The BlockYogita Khatri

Crypto’s Most Powerful Woman Speaks Out as Crisis Rocks Binance

Behind the scenes, Yi He is an influential power broker in the $1.2 trillion crypto market. Now, the firm she helped start with Changpeng “CZ” Zhao is under threat from regulators.

BloombergMuyao Shen

Research reports/videos (DYOR)

France’s Markets Regulator Backs Global Rules for DeFi

The AMF wants industry stakeholders to contribute to a discussion about its views on supervising DeFi, DAOs and associated risks.

CoinDeskSandali Handagama

School kids are stealing millions of dollars of NFTs — to buy Roblox skins

Those using NFT drainers like Inferno and Venom for phishing attacks have caused a total of $73 million of damage.

The BlockTim Copeland

Notion – The all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, wikis, and databases.

A new tool that blends your everyday work apps into one. It’s the all-in-one workspace for you and your team

Notion

UN Warns of AI-Generated Deepfakes Fueling Hate and Misinformation Online - Decrypt

The United Nations has expressed particular concern over the role of AI-generated deepfakes in conflict zones.

DecryptJason Nelson

Flashbots co-founder warns of challenges beyond MEV bots in farewell

Flashbots co-founder Alex Obadia is departing the company. He’s also got a fresh warning.

The BlockNathan Crooks

Deeper dive on cross-L2 reading for wallets and other use cases

Startup Kaito Gets $87.5M Valuation in New Funding to Build AI Search Engine for Crypto

The search engine combines real-time data with large language models like ChatGPT.

CoinDeskEliza Gkritsi

It Will Get Harder to Detect Deepfakes: Secta Labs CEO - Decrypt

While deepfakes are easy to detect today, Marko Jak says, “We’re getting into an era where we can no longer believe what we see.”

DecryptJason Nelson