The DeGen Bible to Financial Freedom - Vol. 7

Week 1 Aug - 5 Aug 2022

If the Matrix can resurrect for a 4th episode, why not the crypto market? - Mars Captain

🧠 Observations

• 1 month of absolute horizontal development data-wise. Total MC small pumping to 1T+. 🎉
• A week of hacks, but the market doesn’t react. 👀
• NFT, Metarvese, and crypto markets turning the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. When I get more time, I shall study their correlations. ❤️
• USDC MC is moderately declining + DAI MC keeps pumping = risk-on crypto assets spring? 🤔

💵 Stablecoin & Market Landscape

(Last 7 day average) Stablecoin market share remains EXTREME high in reference to the total crypto market capitalization. 15.59% of stablecoin (150.8B) on 1.12T crypto market.

Stablecoin % stayed high throughout the last 7 days, now at 15.59%. Flattening trend continues🙍‍♂️
Reminder: Mid-NOV 2021, this percentage was around 4ish% with a 3T total MC. Now we are at 15ish% with a 1ishT total MC.

Now at 1.12T, the trendline looks the 800ish B was the bottom by far, and it has been mostly flat on the 1T level. 👀
Reminder, June 2022 witnessed a bottom of 800ish B MC vis-a-vis the market’s top in NOV 2022 at 3T.

Decoupling correlation US Stock x Crypto by CaptainMars on TradingView.com

Dropped to 0.5ish end of this week. Scroll down and read the Kraken July report, you can have a better idea about the correlation. Captain doesn’t like boomers and the stock market. I am full on crypto. 👊

The insight here is that BTC has been stable whereas ETH is not. A lot of hype and first mover advantage for Ethereum in the smart contract L1 space, what if BTC catches up with its lightning network, and maybe STACKS? LOL 😃

• Wait, but BTC is the gold standard and ETH is the oil in Web 3. Corporate marketing people, can you study and DYOD before just riding on the hype of crypto?🤔
• This might mean 1) crypto’s too complicated for noobs, so web 3 is sexier, cox there’s no scam, no rug pull in web 3 and 2) Facebook led web 2 giants want people to know they will lead in web 3, continuing their existing advantage. God, I hate this! 💢

🔢 Index

OK, dropped back from 42 to 31. Business as usual 😊

Wait, it dropped this week? When you have BlackRock and the lightening network cointunes to expand, CBBI you drop??? 💥

📰 Current affairs

Bitcoin:

MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin Maximalist CEO Saylor Hands Job to Deputy, Takes Executive Chairman Role

Saylor says he plans to focus on buying bitcoin, leaving MicroStrategy’s software business in the hands of the new CEO.

CoinDeskNelson Wang

Ethereum:

Ether Flips Bitcoin in Options Market for the First Time

Put-call ratio has dipped to a yearly low, indicating bullish momentum, Deribit’s Luuk Strijers said.

CoinDeskOmkar Godbole

Prominent Chinese Ethereum Miner Wants to Resist Merge, Create Fork - Decrypt

Chandler Guo is attempting to fork Ethereum and maintain a proof-of-work version of the network that he’s calling ETHPOW.

DecryptSander Lutz

Layer 1s & DeFi:

Starfish Finance IDO — The Starfish Spaceship Lands on Tokensoft Planet

LFG Starfishes, the wait is finally over! The older the wine, the better it tastes; good things are worth your time and patience. Our team…

MediumStarfish Finance

Tether says that it holds no Chinese commercial paper

Stablecoin issuer Tether said today — seemingly for the first time — that it holds no Chinese commercial paper.

The BlockCrypto lending platform Hodlnaut halts withdrawals and is working on a recovery plan

Socios Owner Invests $100M in FC Barcelona’s Web3 Efforts

Chiliz has acquired a 24.5% stake in Barca Studios, the Spanish soccer giant’s digital-content creation arm.

CoinDeskJamie Crawley

Crypto Bridge Nomad Exploited for $190M in ‘Frenzied Free-for-All’ - Decrypt

The bug in an upgrade to the Nomad protocol allowed anyone with the know-how to nab funds, draining the bridge of roughly $190 million.

DecryptJason Nelson

Alchemy expands its infrastructure into Polkadot ecosystem via deal with Astar

The partnership will help fulfill the scaling need of dApps on Astar, a parachain that operates a smart contract platform on Polkadot.

The BlockFTX says Ethereum merge shouldn’t affect ether derivatives trading

Meta expands posting digital assets on Instagram across 100 countries

Meta’s move now brings digital collectibles, particularly non-fungible tokens, closer to mainstream social media use.

The BlockMoonbirds ruffles some holders’ feathers with abrupt copyright switch

NEAR Protocol discloses breach of email and SMS data tied to user wallets

NEAR Protocol revealed a data breach that exposed user wallet recovery details, including email and phone numbers.

The BlockFTX says Ethereum merge shouldn’t affect ether derivatives trading

Crypto Firm Chiliz Nabs $100M Stake in FC Barcelona’s Digital Studio - Decrypt

Chiliz has acquired nearly a quarter of FC Barcelona’s Barça Studios, enabling the club to build better NFT and metaverse projects.

DecryptAndré Beganski

NFTs & Metaverse:

Tiffany’s Reveals First NFTs—at $51,000 Each - Decrypt

The company’s upcoming sale of 250 limited edition NFTs, each priced at 30 ETH, is scheduled to begin August 5.

DecryptAndré Beganski

Gucci now accepts ApeCoin through BitPay

The move is the latest in a series of crypto initiatives from Gucci, which has a team dedicated to web3 initiatives and gaming.

The BlockMorgan Stanley job posting points to wide-ranging crypto plans

NFT Exchange Magic Eden Expands to Ethereum

The leading Solana-based non-fungible token platform is taking another swing at OpenSea and embracing Ethereum’s top-heavy NFT ecosystem.

CoinDeskEli Tan

College textbook maker Pearson eyes NFTs to claim a cut of second-hand sales | Engadget

Apparently, a $300 required textbook isn’t enough of a grift..

Engadget

Macro Economy & Regulations:

US antitrust watchdog sues to stop Facebook from monopolizing the metaverse

“Meta would be one step closer to its ultimate goal of owning the entire ‘Metaverse,’” the FTC’s complaint says.

The Block[email protected]

‘Bitcoin Valley’ Hub Launches In Honduras

The private initiative launched in the town of Santa Lucia, Honduras, aims to spur bitcoin adoption and invite more tourism to the region.

Bitcoin Magazine - Bitcoin News, Articles and Expert InsightsNamcios

Vitalik: Metaverse ‘Is Going to Happen’ but Meta’s ‘Will Misfire’ - Decrypt

The Ethereum creator said corporate attempts at the metaverse will fail because “it’s far too early to know what people actually want.”

DecryptAndré Beganski

Crypto Wallet Maker Ledger Seeks New Funding at Higher Valuation

Ledger, which makes hardware wallets for crypto investors, is in talks to raise at least $100 million in a funding round that will give it a higher valuation than what it commanded at its most recent financing, according to people familiar with the plans who declined to be identified discussing conf…

BloombergGillian Tan

SEC charges Forsage founders, promoters in $300 million crypto Ponzi scheme lawsuit

The Securities and Exchange Commission charged 11 people from Forsage.io in a $300 million global crypto pyramid and Ponzi scheme.

The BlockChristiana Sciaudone

FTX gets green light to operate fully in Dubai

FTX Exchange FZE, a subsidiary of FTX Europe, won approval from Dubai’s VARA agency to operate in the jurisdiction.

The BlockBitMex’s Greg Dwyer changes plea to guilty in criminal proceedings

How China’s fashion brands are taking on Web3

Local designers are embracing the metaverse, but their approach is different from Western brands.

Vogue BusinessCondé Nast

Singapore’s Central Bank to Consult Public on Stablecoin Regulations

The MAS is reviewing rules to deal with the risks of stablecoins, the minister in charge of the bank said.

CoinDeskSandali Handagama

Voyager CEO Dumped $31M Stock as Shares Hit Record Highs: CNBC

Voyager CEO Stephen Ehrlich bagged big profits as the company’s stock soared in the spring of 2021 alongside bitcoin and ether.

BlockworksShalini Nagarajan

Bank of England Raises Interest Rate by Most Since 1995

At 1.75%, the rate is now the highest since the start of the global financial crisis in late 2008.

CoinDeskJamie Crawley

Binance Joins Argentina’s Crypto Prepaid Cards Boom

Local exchanges Lemon Cash, Buenbit and Belo have introduced similar offerings in recent months.

CoinDeskAndrés Engler

BlackRock to Offer Crypto for Institutional Investors Through Coinbase Prime

The asset management giant and the crypto exchange have partnered to broaden access to crypto among institutional investors.

CoinDeskBrandy Betz

Interesting Tweets:

Research Reports & Videos (DYOR):

An expert explains what is — and isn’t — the metaverse

The Block sat down with Matt Ball, author of a new book: The Metaverse: And How it Will Revolutionize Everything.

The BlockMoonbirds ruffles some holders’ feathers with abrupt copyright switch

https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2022/07/emerging-giants-in-asia-pacific.pdf?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=221385565&utm_content=221385565&utm_source=hs_email

Vulnerabilities in Cross-chain Bridge Protocols Emerge as Top Security Risk - Chainalysis

Following last night’s exploit of the Nomad Bridge, Chainalysis estimates that $2 billion in cryptocurrency has been stolen from cross-chain bridges across 13 separate hacks so

Chainalysis, Inc.Chainalysis Team

The right to never be forgotten

How blockchains square with privacy

The Pull RequestAntonio García Martínez

Kraken Intelligence’s July 2022 Market Recap & Outlook

DocSend

DocSend

The Case for the Next Bull Run

5 key crypto themes that could lead the next bull run.

BanklessBankless

Understanding “Native” Stable Coins

With all of the recent bridge hacks (the Horizon Harmony Bridge hack hit me particularly hard) it’s important to understand a little bit…

MediumSamichpunch

Master of Anons: How a Crypto Developer Faked a DeFi Ecosystem

The Macalinao brothers used a web of bogus identities to create the illusion of a dev community, juicing value on the Saber protocol and Solana blockchain. Now they’re moving to Aptos.

CoinDeskDanny Nelson and Tracy Wang