The DeGen Bible to Financial Freedom - Vol.45

Week 8 September -  15 September 2023

KBW, Token 2049, Arthur Hays is the party king - Mars Captain

🧠 Observations

• Captain doesn't have much to comment on this boring market. FTX liquidation? Friend Tech? CPI? Looks like even the crypto media doesn't care about this market. Key data points are as dead as price actions. We have no more scandals to dig, Binance FUDs are so lame.
• Ecosystem development-wise we can see interesting trends in Solana and Ton. While layer twos struggle to onboard new users and enter in a cut-throat competition.What Solana and Ton are doing is at least refreshing. More DYOR needs to be done there.
• Big events often rotate to the Asian sphere in the last quarter of the year. We have KBW, Token 2049, and upcoming Hong Kong Fintech week. The only thing that we can see apart from the usual faces everywhere is the come-back of King Arthur and his partying skills. Ultimately that's a key difference compared to the boomer economy.

💵 Stablecoin & Market Landscape

• Stablecoin market share remains high in reference to the total crypto market capitalization. 11.3% of stablecoin (123.9B) on 1.09T 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 1.09T.  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

• This is interesting. Captain agrees that Etheruem doesn't have any narratives except becoming faster and cheaper. And indeed, degens wouldn't care about centralisation or whatever. What's crucial is how to moon and lambo.
• So, Matrixport is hinting that the next EIP-4844 upgrade "might" renew the interest of coin value. In a way, there is no other way to fight layer twos given the status quo. Ethereum's going lower gas fee is a corollary for layer twos to generate further adoption.

• NFT bear market, memecoin speculation going down, and layer 2s are lowering the transaction costs. Ethereum's first inflationary moment in the last 9 months. Hein ah, this is deep bear market, boyz.

• Trading volume is getting down to the 2019 level while price levels and innovation landscape have evolved significantly over the years. The next 100B level trading volume will be make crypto as solid as Himalayas.

• USDC is coming to NEAR natively.
• Sweat Economy about to land in the US market.
• Mr.Beast's new community consumables are launching on NEAR.

• Is this buy signal?

🔢 Index

• Korean Blockchain Week, Token 2049, and CPI as expected, in a week dipped to 30 and raise back to 45. So is life in crypto.

Perhaps from the next volume onwards, we should just rely on CBBI. Fear Index doesn't seem as good reference these days.

📰 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

BTC

Coinbase CEO Confirms Exchange Will Support Lightning, Which Dramatically Speeds Up Bitcoin Payments

Brian Armstrong, while announcing the decision, calls BTC “the most important asset in crypto.”

CoinDeskHelene Braun

ETH

Layer 1s/ Major DeFi

Kraken gradually rolling out PayPal deposits in UK and Europe

Kraken is gradually rolling out support for EUR and GBP deposits via PayPal for users in the UK and Europe, according to a source.

The BlockJames Hunt

Hyped Telegram bot Banana Gun’s team dumps treasury after token bug

After the Banana Gun team saw the bug, it sold its treasury, sending the token to near zero price — promising a relaunch with an airdrop.

The BlockTim Copeland

Brian Armstrong says bitcoin is ‘most important asset in crypto’, confirms Coinbase Lightning integration

Brian Armstrong said bitcoin is the “most important asset in crypto” while confirming Coinbase’s decision to integrate the Lightning Network.

The BlockJames Hunt

Southeast Asia super-app Grab adds support for web3 services

Users of the Grab super-app can now set up a web3 wallet, win blockchain-based rewards like NFTs and more on the platform.

The BlockMK Manoylov

Decentralized Exchange Sushi Expands to Aptos Blockchain

Sushi has more than seven times the amount of value locked than the entire Aptos blockchain.

CoinDeskOliver Knight

zkSync Airdrop Farmer Deploys 21,877 Wallets

Determined zkSync Era Airdrop Opportunist Launched Private DEX and Token To Trade Between Over 20,000 Wallets

The DefiantSamuel Haig

Lightscale launched Kroma mainnet, Ethereum Layer 2

Wemade subsidiary Lightscale successfully launched Kroma mainnet, its Ethereum Layer 2. As a part of WEMIX mega ecosystem strategy, Kroma will function as a channel that can bring users, holders, and assets on Ethereum to WEMIX ecosystem.

website Logo

Coinbase is stopping ‘all services’ for Indian users

“Please note that you will be able to access Coinbase.com or Coinbase app until September 25, 2023 and should withdraw funds held in your account by such date,” the email sent on Sunday said. ET has seen the email.

Economic TimesApoorva Mittal

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s X account was hacked and followers were duped out of $700,000 for fake NFTs

Buterin has 4.9 million followers on Twitter, and a fake post asked people to connect their digital wallets to a link that led to the theft.

Markets InsiderPhil Rosen

Chinese fintech giant Ant Group launches overseas blockchain brand ZAN

Ant Group said ZAN will focus on serving institutional and individual clients in overseas markets including Hong Kong and Singapore.

The BlockTimmy Shen

PayPal Introduces On and Off Ramps for Web3 Payments

PayPal can now be easily integrated in wallets, NFT marketplaces, and decentralized applications (dApps) in the U.S. as a seamless way for consumers to buy and sell supported crypto.

PayPal Newsroom

Chat giant Telegram joins crypto wave with TON Space wallet - to launch globally in November

This significant development aims to shift users towards self-custodial wallets, granting them greater control over their digital assets.

Vulcan PostZafirah Salim

Twitter

NFTs

NFT Community OnChainMonkey Spends Over $1 Million USD to Migrate the Entire Digital Art Collection from Ethereum to Bitcoin

Metagood, the creators of OnChainMonkey (OCM), are the first to move a 10,000 NFT collection, OCM Genesis, from Ethereum, the nominal home of smart co

OnChainMonkey Genesis NFT Collection (Photo: Business Wire)

Sports Platform Sorare Unveils 3D Digital Football Player Cards with AR Integration, Launches Virtual Treasure Hunt

Non-fungible token (NFT)-based fantasy game and marketplace Sorare has announced its 3D digital football player cards with integrated augmented reality (AR) capabilities.

Cryptonews

Mila Kunis’ Stoner Cats NFT Project Sued by SEC, Settles for $1 Million - Decrypt

The creators of NFT-based cartoon series Stoner Cats will pay a civil fine and establish a fund to reimburse investors, as well.

DecryptAndrew Hayward, Pedro Solimano

Macro econ/ Regulations

Individual loses $24 million in likely crypto phishing attack

An individual has seemingly lost $24 million in crypto assets, with on-chain data pointing to a phishing attack as the likely cause.

The BlockVishal Chawla

Thodex cryptocurrency boss jailed for 11,196 years in Turkey for fraud

Faruk Fatih Ozer was found guilty of defrauding millions of dollars from investors in his collapsed Thodex platform.

BBC NewsBBC News

Sony Unveils Plans To Develop Blockchain

Sony Network Communications and Startale Labs To Build Infrastructure Supporting Sony’s Web3 Ambitions

The DefiantSamuel Haig

Research reports/videos (DYOR)

Circle wanted to create a financial revolution. Instead, it’s losing the stablecoin wars to Tether

Inside Jeremy Allaire’s quixotic journey to build the future of money.

FortuneLeo Schwartz

2023-09-03 plastic money

Coinbase CEO on company’s next steps, why crypto will be a ‘hot topic’ in 2024 WH race

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong (COIN) is shedding a little light on what his company is working on next. Armstrong tells Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi about the company’s recently launched Base layer 2 blockchain network and things like flatcoin, which he says Coinbase isn’t working on ye…

Yahoo FinanceBrian Sozzi

Oil Prices Jump As Russia And Saudi Arabia Extend Cuts | OilPrice.com

Oil prices jumped dramatically on Tuesday morning as Saudi Arabia extended its production cuts and Russia extended its export cuts.

OilPrice.comMore Info