Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.05.21

🔥 ETH is officially a deflationary asset
🤯 Chainlink building a revolutionary bridge
🕹 Stacked adds one-of-a-kind NFT gaming index

📉 Ethereum EIP-1559 now live & burning ETH supply 📉

For months, the hype about EIP-1559, an Ethereum improvement built into the London upgrade, was all about gas prices.

Gas is currently sitting 45 gwei which, while not stellar, isn't too bad either. But really, the focus on gas costs post EIP-1559 was misguided since the BIG story is that ETH is now a deflationary asset.

In a nutshell, EIP-1559 is slowing the rate of ETH release into the circulating supply. At the same time, a mechanism for burning ETH from the supply is counterbalancing inflation, and sometimes surpassing that it to actually DEFLATE the ETH supply.

It hasn't even been 24 hours since the London upgrade successfully dropped and already, nearly 3,000 ETH has been burned.

Want to watch ETH being burned by the block? Check out this live dashboard tracking the action —> etherchain.org/burn 🔥

🌉 Chainlink wants to bridge ALL blockchains 🌉

Composability is a super important yet poorly understood DeFi concept. Basically, composability in DeFi refers to interoperability between different protocols, like Curve, Aave, and Sushi.

Take Convex Finance for example. Convex is built on Ethereum and gives Curve liquidity providers boosted CRV rewards when they deposit LP tokens on its platform.

Right there, you have stacked plug & play integration amongst Ethereum applications resulting in creative & profitable possibilities for users.

What if you wanted to experience the same level of composability between Ethereum and Solana apps? Right now, you can't do that because Ethereum & Solana can't communicate — yet.

Today, Chainlink announced a bridge called the Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP) that aims to make different blockchain protocols interoperable.

The key idea is that once blockchains sign on to the CCIP standard, they can work with each other. Chainlink cofounder Sergey Nazarov explains:

“Just the same way that different applications on Ethereum use each other, now, different applications across different chains can use each other."

For instance, in a CCIP world, DeFi apps on Solana can accept Polkadot, Ethereum, or BSC tokens as collateral, and vice versa. Clearly, the DeFi game is only beginning to heat up 😎

🕹 Stacked adds one-of-a-kind NFT gaming index 🕹

We heard NFTs are kind of a big deal.

So, we took the liberty of working with @fitchinverse, one of the world's foremost NFT experts, to create a truly gifted array of large + small cap tokens providing exposure to NFT game markets and digital land.

Dubbed the NFT Gaming Stack, you can set this index up for yourself within minutes in the Stacked Marketplace.

Right now, the NFT Gaming Stack is holding a bullish basket of AXS, ENJ, GHST, MANA, and SAND.

Axie Infinity is approaching 1 million users, The Sandbox is partnering with Jack Ma owned companies, and Facebook is betting its future on the metaverse.

In other words — please, think twice before fading this index 💪

Try the NFT Gaming Stack along with countless others by getting started for freeee right here 👉 stackedinvest.com👈

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.09.21

🙀 Crypto amendment shot down at last minute
🎯 BTC rallies above $46K, is $50K+ next?
🎨 Why NFTs are bigger than DeFi right now

🤬 Crypto amendment shot down by Sen. Shelby of Alabama 🤬

Tense weekend-long negotiations over the future of crypto in America fizzled in the final hour. Sen. Shelby of Alabama prevented a vote on proposed amendments to the language used in the bill drawn up by a bipartisan coalition of senators.

The amendments would have narrowed the definition of crypto brokers to specifically indicate exchanges, not miners/validators/blockchain developers. But now that Sen. Shelby has nixed the amendment just ahead of Tuesday's vote on the $1T infrastructure bill, America may have just given up rights to the next greatest tech revolution of our lifetimes.

At this point, the only hope remaining for the amendment proposed by Sen. Wyden, Lummis, and Toomey, is if Shelby, an old conservative Republican with deep ties to the banking industry, changes his mind before tomorrow's vote.

Otherwise, because of the broad vagueness of who is/isn't a broker, the crypto industry is likely to build from friendlier countries with fewer tax and surveillance clauses than the US.


🚀 BTC on a mission to $50K+? 🚀

Bitcoin definitively broke through $45K resistance as all eyes turned to digital assets with US congress intensely debating a controversial crypto bill.

The notion that there's no such thing as bad publicity applies here, as mainstream media mentions of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general are at all time highs. Even though the crypto amendment was eventually shot down by a lone senator, BTC has handsomely profited from the spotlight.

A downward line of resistance holding BTC below $45K marked a line in the sand which, if broken, could send BTC sailing as high as $90K before the year's end. Sure enough, Bitcoin punched through the line in style, hurtling all the way to $46K before pulling back slightly.

With the BTC weekly printing solidly above the downward line of resistance, it's now up to bulls to keep the momentum through to $48K — a staunch line of defense for the bears🐻

🔪 PsychoBot ETH is finally here! Free for the first 200 — be quick! 🔪

Legendary crypto trader AltcoinPsycho just dropped his ETH trading bot on the Stacked Marketplace. The original PsychoBot is one of our most popular — and profitable — trading bots ever, so we're SUPER excited for this.

After 3 months of private testing, PsychoBot ETH has a 55% win rate + 153% ROI 👏👏

This bot is EXCLUSIVE and capped to the first 200 users on a first come first serve basis. The best part? It's FREE for the first 30 days with code ETH30.

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Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.12.21

🧲 The beginning of Up Only season?
🤷 Why crypto doesn't care about congress
🤝 Stacked + FTX debut auto compounding returns for lenders

🚀 All crypto markets getting SENT 🚀

After tense weeks in which crypto was in the crosshairs of US congress and regulators, traders have released a sigh of relief in the form of massive green candles everywhere.

As pointed out in our previous update, BTC firmly broke above the weekly downward line of resistance and is now sailing toward its next test at $48K.

ETH is outperforming BTC by quite some margin at +29% this week. That's well within mooning territory and has much to do with EIP-1559 turning ETH into sound deflationary money. Since the upgrade, nearly 30,000 ETH has been burned from the supply 🔥

Want to watch ETH become ultra sound money? Well then look no further than this sleek dashboard —> ultrasound.money

Similarly, DeFi is climbing nonstop & has added $35 billion total value locked since mid July. FWIW, DeFi's all time high is $90B TVL. Right now we're sitting at a solid $80B TVL — we wouldn't bet against a new DeFi ATH incoming this month.

And that all brings us to...the NFT market. Crypto Punk trading volume in the last 7 days alone is $110M+ with Bored Apes, ArtBlocks, and Meebits not too far behind.

All in all, the crypto market is back above $2 trillion and looks primed to climb higher 📈

😼 Why crypto doesn't care what US congress thinks😼

If Bitcoin rallying above $46K immediately after Senator Shelby of Alabama shot down the crypto amendment didn't quite spell it out, allow us.

Crypto doesn't care about US congress. Why? Because these are decentralized networks, unstoppable assets, and a global community.

We all know the US government is vying for backdoor control of blockchains. The Blockchain Caucus co-chair, US Rep. Bill Foster, said giving the US gov a backdoor is key to acceptance amongst regulators.

Clearly, that isn't going to happen. What's more, it really doesn't matter.

Whether old men in congress approve or not, digital assets will continue trading on uncensorable decentralized exchanges. Developers will continue building decentralized finance protocols and tools that give us what the bankers never could — financial freedom.

So, in this game, the real loser is the US economy shutting its doors to the crypto revolution. We're standing at the forefront of a technological tidal wave. Governments can either ride that wave or fight it, but we all know what happens if you do the latter 🌊

💸 Stacked launches auto compounding returns for FTX lenders 💸

If you've been lending on FTX Exchange, you've probably wished for a way to auto compound gains instead of tediously doing so yourself.

At Stacked, we're crypto traders, farmers, and investors too, so we go through the same feels as everybody else — which is why we built the ultimate tool for auto compounding FTX lending returns 😎

All you have to do is connect to FTX Exchange, click the Lending tab in your Stacked Dashboard, then lend from your FTX-connected Stacked account.

From that moment on, your returns start auto compounding while you sleep 🛌 If you're an FTX.us user, we're launching the same feature for you very soon.

Want to try the auto compound feature out for free right here, right now? 💰Try Stacked for 30 days FREE💰

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.16.21

🚀 Solana giga pumps into top 10 tokens
🤷‍♂️ When Polkadot parachains?
🤑 $50K BTC is the target, but greed levels high

📈 Solana is giga pumping — but why? 📈

Solana ($SOL), AKA Sam Bankman-Fried's favorite blockchain platform, is up nearly 100% in the past 14 days and is now a top 10 token by market cap.

As one of Ethereum's top competitors, it's no wonder people are into SOL, but the current run is incredible by any standard. What's fueling the rise?

If you're like the rest of us, you start looking for news when a token pumps this hard. After all, some event, like a network upgrade, has to be behind the move, right?

In Solana's case, there isn't one update or announcement moving SOL. Rather, it's general enthusiasm for the project coupled with big moves in the DeFi sector.

Mango Markets, a Solana-based decentralized exchange touting lightning fast on-chain trading, raised $70 million in exchange for MNGO, its governance token. The Mango Markets effect on Solana's DeFi total value locked has been substantial — Solana now boasts nearly $2B TVL.

$2B is a long way from Ethereum's $80B+, but it's a strong start showing plenty of user demand for Solana. It also happens to be the most DeFi use anywhere outside of Ethereum.

So, suppose you consider that Cardano ($ADA) is currently sitting in the #3 market cap position without even having smart contracts enabled. In that case, the ongoing SOL value re-rating looks less bubbly.

⚡️ Is Polkadot parachain release incoming? ⚡️

Polkadot parachain slot auctions were touted as coming AFTER Kusama held its own auctions and implemented them successfully.

Well, Statemine, Karura, Moonriver, Shiden, Khala, and Bifrost are running live on Kusama after easily completed parachain auctions, meaning Polkadot should be all clear. But Gavin Wood, amongst other Polkadot devs, have been quiet about when Polkadot parachains are coming.

Polkadot envisions itself hosting billions, even trillions, in on-chain value. Given such lofty ambitions, you can't blame the team for working to guarantee network stability before going live with parachains.

This tweet by Polkadot plainly states that pending an external audit and the first successful Kusama auction + parachain launch, Polkadot is ready. Both conditions have now been exceeded, but there are still crickets from Polkadot 🦗

However, according to this blog post, one the above conditions are met, it's essentially fair game for DOT governance members to enact an on-chain vote that enables parachain auctions.

In other words, Polkadot parachains might launch any day now. We think they'll probably coincide with a rebrand currently underway by Koto. Once parachain auctions are announced, we expect $DOT tokens will experience a re-rating similar to the current $SOL run.

💰 $50K BTC is the target, but greed levels are high💰

Leveraging market sentiment to inform your crypto trading decisions is a time-tested strategy employed by even the most sophisticated traders.

Sentiment has, time and time again, proven itself a worthy indicator of potential market moves to both the upside and downside.

Currently, the BTC Fear & Greed Index is registering a 72. That's score sits firmly in greed territory and has two noteworthy aspects:

👉 It's acted as a stubborn line of resistance in the past
👉 Greed is approaching ATH levels, usually a bearish signal

A potential conclusion to draw from current market greed paired with BTC's inability to conclusively break $48K resistance is the market might cool off soon. Periods of intense greed upward BTC volatility tend to break downwards but this time might be different.

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.18.21

🤑 Market update: JPEG flippers lead the way
😅 Sushi's Miso platform narrowly avoids $350M hack
👀 Robinhood earning call reveals incredible stat

🎨 For traders, NFTs are the new altcoins 🎨

OpenSea, the definitive NFT marketplace, has just recorded $1 billion in trading volume for August alone — and the month isn't even finished.

The platform's year to date trading volume is up well over 76,000% to indicate the insatiable appetite out there for NFTs. As NFT hype continues exploding past every available metric in existence, it's clear not everyone is in it for the art.

Have you checked in on your favorite Crypto Twitter traders lately? If Punks, Penguins, and Squiggles are clogging your feed, just know those names aren't new altcoins — they're NFTs going for beaucoup bucks.

Big names like @HsakaTrades & Three Arrows Capital's @zhusu are buying NFTs heavily for both short flips and long term investments. After watching Crypto Punks go from little-known crypto art to NYC billboards, Sotheby's auctions, and 40 ETH price floors, it's impossible NOT to search for the next big thing.

Some are eyeing at Larva Labs' (creators of Crypto Punks) other project Meebits. However, for now, Pudgy Penguins and Axie Infinity are hogging the spotlight.

👨‍💻 White hat hacker saves Sushi from losing $350 million👨‍💻

White hat hackers have made quite a few headlines lately. A white hat is a hacker who discovers vulnerabilities in code, then alerts the team about them before malicious hackers exploit them.

Late last week, a white hat hacker exploited Poly Network for roughly $600 million in tokens across three blockchains. As of yesterday, all the funds have been returned to a multisig wallet co-owned by the Poly team.

Now, another white hat hacker going by the name samczsun (works for Paradigm VC as a researcher) has just saved decentralized exchange Sushi from being exploited for $350 million.

As samczsun puts it, they noticed the massive $350 million raise for BitDAO on Sushi's MISO platform and dug into the code. Sure enough, they found a major flaw in the code putting ALL of the funds at risk of being stolen.

They alerted the Sushi team who quickly went about patching the flaw and securing the fortune. All in all, samczsun went from discovering the exploit to working with the team on a fix within five hours flat.

You can read samczsun's riveting write up of the events on the Paradigm blog.

🎯 Robinhood earnings call drops an incredible statistic 🎯

Robinhood just had an Q2 earnings call wherein they shared all the usual stuff — earnings, and so on. Nothing fun in and of itself, except for the insights about crypto trading.

In Q2 alone, 51% of Robinhood's $451 million revenue was generated from crypto trading. Apart from being a great sign of adoption, the amount is significant because in Q1, crypto trading only made up 17% of revenue.

Moreover, just a year ago, crypto trading accounted for a mere $5 million in revenue. Robinhood says this year's surge was caused in large part by DOGE trading, but something else caught our eye...

During Q2, the majority of new Robinhood clients did crypto trades — not equities 🔥 Is this the flippening no one is talking about?

It👏 just👏 might👏 be

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.25.21

🎢 After pullback, BTC bounce in progress
💎 Incentive programs launches $AVAX +500%
🤹 Fidenza NFT buyers turn 0.5Ξ into 1,000Ξ

🎢 BTC is bouncing after harsh pullback🎢

BTC had an exhilarating run as of late, pushing from $28K lows to just over $50K in a matter of weeks. So, when prices whipped back under $48K last night, the correction felt acceptable.

Consider that just before BTC went under $48K support, the Fear & Greed index registered an extreme greed score of 79. At this same point only one month ago, the index was showing a fear score of 26.

Clearly, BTC is pinging around between extreme poles, a signal that we’re likely to land somewhere in between. As we outlined in previous updates, BTC usually needs to decisively punch through resistance, otherwise, excessively leveraged traders get twitchy.

With the amount of greed still hanging in the market, you can count on copious amounts of irresponsibly long degens ready to bail at the first sign of trouble. In other words, this isn’t the moment to try and be a hero — let’s ride out the current indecision and see where the monthly close takes us.

💎 First Solana, now Avalanche is up 500%💎

It’s officially layer one blockchain season in the crypto world. After Solana (SOL) & Terra (LUNA) went on face-melting runs, Avalanche (AVAX) is joining their ranks in what can only be termed SoLunAvax szn.

Congrats if you were amongst the lucky ones to roll your SoLuna profits into AVAX — that was a bold move requiring a deft understanding of how assets are related. Having a feeling for which coins pump together is a subtle craft few possess.

However, had you been paying attention to Avalanche, the move up comes as no surprise. The pecking order of layer one blockchains goes:

Ethereum —> Polkadot —> Solana/Cosmos —> Avalanche/Algorand —> Harmony/Holochain/Near

That order isn’t set in stone but is how things stand now. Solana is set in fierce competition with Ethereum and, to that extent, has had hackathons, very public marketing strategies, and DeFi platforms go live.

The amount of liquidity being sucked into Solana DeFi like Mango Markets, Raydium, Serum, and FTX makes it essential for Avalanche to move now or be left behind.

In response, Avalanche announced Avalanche Rush, a $180 million liquidity mining program. So far, Sushi, Curve, and Aave have stepped up by launching markets on the platform, drawing in deep liquidity that’s also helping to revive Pangolin DEX (Avalanche’s Uniswap fork).


🤹 But do you own a Fidenza?🤹

The NFT market is on FIRE.

Flipping JPEGS is, in several respects, more fun than trading altcoins. Technical analysis, Crypto Twitter charts, and faceless coins all go out the window when you’re absorbed with discovering the incredible visuals and price floors of NFTs.

Not to mention the gains have been far juicier for anyone paying strict attention to the latest drops — especially those on Art Blocks.

Just a few months ago, NFT platform Art Blocks released a series by generative artist tylerxhobbs titled Fidenza. At the time, several of the pieces in the Fidenza run sold for as low as 0.58Ξ.

However, fast forward a mere two months, and Fidenza #313 has just sold for a staggering 1,000Ξ (~$3.2M). The original buyer profited nearly 2,000x on their original investment...so, the next time you’re complaining about NFT minting fees, it’s probably better to just ape 🦍

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.26.21

🧐 After DeFi & NFTs, what’s next?
✈️ DAG into top 100 on USAF partnership
🔒 BTC locked in $43K to $50K range

🧐 Are DAOs the Next Big Thing in crypto?🧐

Former BitMex CEO and all-around chad Arthur Hayes once said the exceptional investor invest in heretical themes, and sells once those themes become orthodox.

In the last two years, DeFi stole the limelight from ICO-era utility tokens. Then, NFTs stole the show from DeFi.

When they first appeared, both DeFi and NFTs were heretical themes. Who would deposit liquidity in a decentralized protocol? Who would spend valuable ETH on a JPEG?

But now, DeFi is so orthodox that TradFi institutions embrace it. Ditto NFTs, with Sotheby’s, Visa, Budweiser, and even Arizona Ice Tea jumping onboard.

It’s at this moment the exceptional investor asks themselves: what’s the next heretical theme? The answer is DAOs.

Short for Decentralized Autonomous Organizations, DAOs are poised to take the hype mantle over from NFTs. As NFT floors continue rising to levels that price out everyone but whales, fractionalized ownership via DAO-organized collective purchasing power becomes an obvious high IQ move.

However, DAOs aren’t just about fractionalizing shares of CryptoPunks. They’re humanity’s most powerful-ever tool for aligning economically empowered communities around shared interests.

It’s easy to imagine a near-future in which DAOs bootstrap liquidity for funding long-term strategies, such as pro-crypto legislation, climate defense, or anything else the community finds valuable.

As a DAOs treasury grows, the members governing it become increasingly powerful, which in turn propels the value of DAO-issued assets, like NFTs with governance rights attached.

Are you more of a visual learner? Check out Nouns DAO for a great example of how DAOs are shaping the future.


✈️ $DAG flying under the radar despite military contract✈️

Constellation (DAG) is a horizontally scaled blockchain platform geared toward enterprises interested in building blockchains and/or crypto assets. It uses a technology called Hypergraph to make transactions infinitely scalable yet nearly free.

After a rough couple of years, DAG has started printing in earnest and has just reached the top 100 tokens by market cap. While the rest of the market is busy playing hot potato between SOL, LUNA, and AVAX, DAG has flown completely under the radar.

Clearly, layer one blockchains and NFTs are notable trends throughout this market cycle. But it looks like DAG’s status as an L1 chain is going unrecognized, though not for much longer.

Earlier today, the Constellation team let slip that they’ve earned a contract with the US Air Force to provide blockchain security for sensitive military data. Essentially, Constellation will secure data between the Department of Defense and aircraft during live missions.

If the US military believes Constellation & blockchains at large are secure enough to handle such sensitive data, then it’s a reaffirmation at the highest levels that blockchain is the future infrastructure for all the world’s data.

🔒 BTC stuck ranging between $43K & $50K🔒

BTC put bears on notice after running to $51K last weekend. But a change of fortune has BTC on the backfoot & struggling to reclaim the all-important $48K level.

As such, BTC has re-entered the chop zone — a price range with extreme magnetism between several potential supports and resistances. Without a significant break to the upside soon, the likelihood that BTC crabs sideways within the range before plummeting grows.

An important level to watch is $43K should BTC get that low. Earlier this year, BTC tapped $57K before falling to $43K. Then, it bounced hard before going on to a high of $63K.

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 08.31.21

🔥 L1 chains keep mooning, DOT & KSM next?
⚔️ NFT price floors correct slightly
🎨 Why hype for 1/1 NFTs is building

🎲 L1 chains keep mooning — are DOT & KSM next in line?

Layer 1 blockchains Solana, Terra, Cardano, and Avalanche have pumped for weeks, only hitting the brakes temporarily before launching again.

What’s driving the bullishness behind the ongoing L1 chain renaissance?

During the earlier phase of this year’s bull market, layer two scaling solutions like Polygon, Optimistic, and Arbitrum were the main focus of a community seeking cheaper fees and faster transactions.

But now, L1 chains themselves are back in the spotlight as traders bet on every chain not called Ethereum in hopes that they can produce the developer/end-user experiences we’ve all been waiting for.

Solana’s ecosystem is growing, Avalanche launched a $180M incentives program, and Cardano promises to finally switch on smart contracts.

Polkadot (DOT) and Kusama (KSM) were notably silent through the rush on L1 tokens until today. Both are seeing double-digit % gains as Kusama’s next round of parachain auctions goes live, giving speculators the impression that Polkadot’s parachain launch is imminent.

Should expectations about Polkadot parachains continue building, a large wave of profits from SOL, LUNA, ADA, and AVAX trades might flow toward DOT & KSM.

📉 NFT market corrects amidst signs of froth

So far in August, NFT collections and projects have gone up in a more or less vertical line. Anyone who bought even a semi-respectable drop over the last few months is likely in heavy profit.

It comes as no surprise, then, that an NFT price floor correction is not a matter of if, but when. After all, CryptoPunks floor went from ~30 ETH to ~137 ETH in a matter of 10 days.

Today, trading volumes for Art Blocks, Bored Apes, Mutant Apes, CryptoPunks, Meebits, and newcomer Creature World are all down significantly, with Meebits taking the cake at -77%.

If you subscribe to the view that CryptoPunks = BTC for the NFT market, the current floor at 115 ETH is hovering near the psychological 100 ETH hurdle. However, given that many NFT collections are in the hands of diamond-handed DAOs, NFTs might face limited downside compared to utility tokens.

🎨 Why hype for 1/1 NFTs is building

Even if 10,000 series NFT projects are seeing a slowdown in trading volume, that doesn’t tell the whole story for the blazing NFT market.

1 of 1 NFTs found primarily on Foundation, SuperRare, and Zora are seeing increased interest as NFT collectors look to original works limited to single editions.

Foundation, in particular, crossed the $100M sales mark while SuperRare monthly sales went from $4M in July to $22M in August. Their sales volume still pales in comparison to OpenSea, which recently crossed $1 billion — but still, it’s a start.

Collecting NFTs has much to do with acquiring rarity, just as collecting anything always has. A 10,000 CryptoPunk collection is scarce compared with the demand for them, but nothing says rare quite like 1 of 1 does.

The switch toward 1 of 1 collecting might have started with a generative artist from Panama.

Itzel Yard, who goes by @ix_shells on foundation, became the highest-selling female NFT artist when her piece Dreaming At Dusk sold for a cool $2 million.

Now, demand for her art is visibly growing, evidenced by the steady increase in asking prices for her secondary market-listed work.

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 09.03.21

🤾 Send all markets: BTC prints $51K
😧 Uniswap under SEC investigation
👉 This is why Loot NFTs are mooning

🧲 BTC tags $51K as crypto markets get SENT

It’s a rare day when everything across the board well and truly goes for it.

Well, today was one of those days.

Bitcoin printed $51K and Ethereum hit $4K in the midst of an NFT rush. At the same time, layer one blockchain tokens like SOL, DOT, KSM, AR, FTM, and ATOM continued seeing a positive re-rating by investors + traders alike.

In some respects, DeFi tokens are all that’s missing from the run. They’re in the green, to be sure, but their gains pale in comparison to L1 chains. However, Solana DeFi projects are getting time in the sun, with MNGO, REN, and RAY running the charts.

On the NFT side, NFT platforms are performing strongly as expected. While bigger projects like THETA, ENJ, AXS, and CHZ have cooled slightly, smaller-cap projects are flourishing. SAND, UOS, ILV, NFTX, and DG are all posting a minimum +20% increase.

Going back to market leaders BTC and ETH, both met heavy resistance at $51K and $4K respectively. With Labor Day weekend in the US beginning, a lull in trading action might be on the cards.

Should BTC retrace as far back as $46K this weekend, and considering BTC typically underperforms in September, expect a deeper pullback to set up a very bullish autumn.

🙀 The SEC is investigating Uniswap

Earlier this summer, SEC chief Gary Gensler made it abundantly clear he has no idea what DeFi is about. To prove the point, the SEC is now investigating Uniswap DEX.

More accurately, the SEC is investigating Uniswap Labs — in other words, the team behind Uniswap. That’s worrying on several levels, but above all, the SEC wants data on how people use Uniswap to trade/invest and how Uniswap markets its exchange.

It’s likely the UNI governance token is also making the SEC uncomfortable. The token enables holders to govern a vast multi-billion dollar cross-border exchange & might someday entitle them to revenue share.

The funny thing is, if Gensler knew the first thing about DeFi, none of this would come as a surprise, nor would it be cause for stifling American technological innovation.

However, in all likelihood, the unfriendly and unnerving environment around blockchain startups being cultivated by the US government will likely push teams abroad. The result? A net negative for American tech entrepreneurship, intellectual labor, and a lost foothold in the future of the web.

👩‍🏫 What are Loot NFTs? They’re weird — but definitely cool

Loot NFTs have stormed to the top of NFT sales charts but hardly anyone understands what they are. Neither did we at first — until we looked deeper.

Created by Dom Hofmann, Loot NFTs are nothing more than random text lists of future/fantasy adventure gear. Once more to be completely clear...if you buy a Loot NFT, all you’re getting is a randomly generated list describing imaginary, well, loot.

So why are they selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars each? Because Loot collectors are betting the lists will come together to describe an NFT/blockchain/metaverse game of the future built in real-time by communities.

Some have called Loot NFT Improv — a description both apt and exciting.

What will Loot become? No one really knows, but the point is collectors get to decide. Until now, NFTs/collectibles/games were premade, meaning the universe had been decided by creators ahead of time.

Loot = collectors ARE creators. Is this a paradigm in the NFT world? Probably, yes. At least Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin thinks so, saying the Loot project “has it right.”

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 09.07.21

✂️ BTC gets a $10K haircut
🙅‍♀️ Cardano smart contract testnet fail
💥 Steph Curry is the new face of FTX

🥊 BTC loses $10K in a single candle

Every now and again, BTC is subject to what's called a flash crash.

For the uninitiated, a flash crash is an absurdly aggressive price drop usually triggered by an overleveraged market. They’re always harrowing to witness, and definitely a rush.

The lead-up to today’s flash crash saw market-wide bullishness with peak vibes going off everywhere you looked.

❌ Reese Witherspoon tweeted about buying ETH
❌ NFTs punched way above their weight on OpenSea
❌ El Salvador sat on the brink of BTC adoption
❌ Apes longing longs driving an overheated market

All of that, paired with BTC unable to convincingly pierce resistance, led us to speculate in our previous update that the market would imminently correct. Now that we’ve seen some of the froth come off, where to from here?

Analyst dave the wave impressively called this BTC top — along with the two previous ones. His view is BTC is following a fractal from earlier this year and was due for a drop. His view corresponds with that of S2F boss Plan B who earlier this summer called for $43K BTC in September.

As a reminder, Plan B’s S2F model is predicting $100K BTC at a MINIMUM before 2022. We tend to believe it 😎

😅 Cardano’s smart contracts fail in testnet

Cardano’s Alonzo testnet was supposed to be the showcase moment for the platform’s smart contract capabilities. Despite being several years late to the smart contract game, Cardano CEO Charles Hoskinson has defended the platform, saying several years were needed to make them bulletproof.

However, with the launch of Minswap, the first dApp on the Alonzo testnet, the frailty of Cardano’s smart contracts was immediately apparent. Minswap was quickly forced to shut down its testnet after a matter of hours when several users interacted with its smart contracts at once.

The Minswap teamed pointed to a “concurrency” issue that restricts the number of transactions per block to one, hence why several interactions were enough to render Minswap unusable. For reference, allowing concurrent interactions with the same smart contract (i.e., >1 txs) is a feature by design of other blockchains, like Ethereum, hosting high-volume DeFi applications.

Cardano uses a modified version of Bitcoin’s UTXO to track user funds that Satoshi likely never envisioned being used as the basis of high throughput concurrent transaction processing. In contrast, both Ethereum, Solana, and nearly all other layer one blockchain platforms use an account-based model enabling multiple users to interact with fully on-chain decentralized apps simultaneously.

At the moment, the Cardano community is calling the concurrency issue FUD. But with smart contracts going live to Cardano mainnet on Sept. 12, the world will know soon enough whether Cardano has a real issue on its hands — or not.

🎤 Steph Curry is OFFICIALLY an FTX ambassador

First, Steph Curry bought a Bored Apes Yacht Club NFT. Minds were blown 🤯

Then, Curry followed up with dropping into the BAYC Discord, asking Crypto Twitter for financial advice — and finally, becoming an FTX ambassador and equity holder.

Those are serious moves into the crypto space from an NBA legend prone to making the right calls. It also comes on the heels of FTX’s previous ambassador + equity deal with Tom Brady.

Clearly, FTX recognizes crypto has long had a marketing problem. Despite the abundant wealth within our ecosystem, getting crypto out front and center amongst the masses has been trying.

FTX’s strategy of partnering with some of the most visible athletes in the world is not only bold but seems to be working, too. Just months ago, FTX was at best a top 15 spot exchange. Now it’s entrenched in the top 5 along with Binance, Coinbase, Huobi, and Kraken 😤

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 09.10.21

✂️ Solana is the real deal
🙅‍♀️ Bored Ape NFT collection nabs $24M
💥 Mastercard takes big step toward crypto

🤴🏻 Solana gains clout and value — how high can it go?

The Solana hype has hit new levels in terms of price AND mindshare. Let’s address both.

Last night, SOL crossed the $200 barrier with absolute ease. It’s clear buyers are targeting much higher, and they’re not wrong. Looking just ahead of SOL on the charts, BNB and ADA are still billions ahead, giving Solana bulls clear targets.

If you’re looking for a parallel, look to the BNB run earlier this year. From January to May, BNB melted upwards, going from $40 to $661. Where will SOL stop? For clues, let’s turn to the mindshare aspect.

The early narrative around Solana was its connection to/support from the Sam Bankman-Fried FTX + Alameda empire. If you’re growing a new crypto ecosystem, it obviously doesn’t hurt to have staunch support from someone in possession of a money cheat code.

After all, who can forget this EPIC tweet that captures SBF’s conviction 😂

Since then, Solana matured, held hackathons, raised $300M, and started hosting DeFi apps/protocols like Mango Markets, Raydium, and Solanart. Suddenly, investors realized there’s finally a live alternative to Ethereum.

What’s more, Solana development is mostly done in Rust, a widely-used programming language. Compared to Ethereum’s esoteric Solidity lang, Rust is already part of many a dev’s skillset — especially those building on Polkadot.

The excitement surrounding Solana has led to a breakdown in blockchain maximalism as the true beginnings of a multichain future appear. If SOL bulls take aim at the #3 spot inhabited by ADA, prices will reach well north of $300.

🦍 Sotheby’s Bored Ape YC sales smashes estimates

Sotheby’s highly anticipated auction of 101 Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs sold for $24M, decimating the firm’s $16M estimate. At about $250K per Bored Ape, someone out there paid a steep premium well above the going secondary market rate.

Recently, BAYC NFTs have averaged ~$160K per, but it’s doubtful the Sotheby’s buyer is overly concerned with the price discrepancy. If they part the collection out, rare apes included in the package will more than make up for the ground lost on more common ones.

But given the rapid appreciation of NFTs overall, coupled with the view that Bored Ape YC is the Ethereum to CryptoPunk’s Bitcoin, it’s likely the BAYC floor will quickly eclipse $250K anyhow.

Additionally, the auction included six vials of mutant serum and doesn’t account for the value accruing to existing apes via future NFT drops & other BAYC membership benefits. So ultimately, the purchase didn’t require too much analysis for anyone deeply embedded in the NFT game these days.

🏦 Mastercard acquires CipherTrace in bold step toward crypto

Earlier today, Mastercard announced it had acquired CipherTrace, a blockchain analysis and risk intelligence firm. The move enables Mastercard to scan and track cryptocurrencies across blockchains to ensure compliance.

Mastercard’s buy-in might come as a surprise if you haven’t followed the company’s recent statements. Earlier this year, Mastercard declared it was testing USDC stablecoin payments with an eye toward settling them for USD on its network.

Eventually, Mastercard will offer native support for stablecoins and CBDCs but doesn’t expect to do the same for cryptocurrencies like BTC & ETH. Despite those doubts, the CipherTrace acquisition points toward a broader strategy aimed at a range of cryptocurrencies.

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 09.14.21

🔌 Solana has been down all day
⚡️ DeFi tokens come roaring back
🙉 SEC Gensler says Coinbase is listing securities

⌛️ Solana protocol goes down amidst network issues

Just as it seemed Solana could do no wrong, the network went down early this morning and has yet to switch back on. However, it’s not exactly bad news — let us explain.

Solana went down due to what the core team calls “resource exhaustion.” In a nutshell, network validators were overwhelmed with transactions coming from decentralized exchange Raydium.

The fact is Solana failed its first true stress test owing to low decentralization but now its engineers have an invaluable case study to learn and build from. Besides, nothing says adoption like a high throughput of transactions on the network’s apps.

These are early days for Solana & the crypto ecosystem as a whole. BlockTower Capital’s Ari Paul correctly pointed out that anyone who waited for Bitcoin to achieve network stability before buying missed the first 1,000X.

So, while a network outage isn’t the best look, we must remember Solana is in BETA mainnet — a stage akin to taking the training wheels off. Remember your first bike ride without training wheels? Yeah, it wasn’t perfect.

As Solana CEO Anatoly Yakovenko clarified, better now than when it has a billion users.

⚡️ DeFi tokens come roaring back to life

DeFi tokens are surging forward with double digit gains while NFTs cool off amidst price floor drops. Unlike the previous DeFi run, a new crop of tokens are in the spotlight.

CRV

Decentralized exchange Curve (CRV) gained TVL (Total Value Locked) ahead of Uniswap steadily at first, then parabolically as it accrued nearly 2x Uniswap’s liquidity. Despite being the DEX market leader by a vast margin, CRV remained well outside of the top 100 projects by market cap until today’s +27% move.

SUSHI

It’s been one year since the infamous Sushi debacle involving Chef Nomi. Within that time, Sushi evolved from mere Uniswap "copy pasta” to multi-chain DeFi powerhouse. Soon, Sushi’s Shoyu NFT platform goes live, adding a new source of value accruing to xSUSHI holders. Correspondingly, SUSHI is seeing a positive 17% rerating.

MLN

Enzyme Finance is a rather old DeFi project that’s experiencing something of a renaissance of late. It’s quietly been in a strong uptrend all year long while remaining firmly off the radar. However, after being added to Coinbase in June, MLN has begun picking up attention. Today’s 24% move up is confirmation.

🙉 SEC Chief Gensler thinks Coinbase may be listing securities

Before Gary Gensler took on the role of SEC chief, there were high hopes. He’d taught courses on blockchain/crypto at MIT and grasped Bitcoin well.

However, the Gensler honeymoon has quickly ended. In its most aggressive move, the SEC threatened to sue Coinbase if it offers users 4% yields on stablecoin deposits. They also demanded Coinbase hand over the names + data on everyone who signed up for the yield product waitlist.

The threat prompted Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong to publish a statement accusing the SEC of stifling innovation without clear crypto regulatory guidelines.

Now, Gensler is doubling down on claims that Coinbase is selling “dozens” of unregistered securities. He also believes stablecoins somehow fit into this scope despite their 1:1 asset-backed value.

During the hearing in which Gensler made the above comments, Sen. Mark Warner also chimed in about crypto, saying "Some of the things I see from intel side scare the dickens out of me."

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 09.23.21

🧛‍♂️ Gary Gensler is uniting crypto like never before
🚀 Markets bounce as S&P recovers
🐋 Turns out Snoop Dogg is an NFT whale

🧛‍♂️ Gary Gensler is uniting crypto like never before

We might look back on this week as a watershed moment in the history of cryptocurrencies. Why? Because SEC chief Gary Gensler has finally given crypto a common villain.

In wildly daft, confused remarks about crypto, Gensler went on the record equating stablecoins to poker chips and stating cryptocurrencies “won’t last long.” And to think such views are coming from someone who taught an MIT course on cryptocurrencies is, well, mind-blowing 🤯

The upshot to Gensler’s apparent heavy hand is there is absolutely no way his agency can regulate as fast as crypto can innovate. This is an industry testing in production 24/7 with no geopolitical center or off switch. As such, any hopes Gensler has of becoming the sheriff of Cryptoville are simply wishful thinking.

Besides, if you take stock of the Gensler memeing happening, there’s something beautiful going on. Maximalists of all different stripes & communities — Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Polkadot, Avalanche, and more — have all united against the threat posed by over-zealous and ill-informed boomers.

Hands-off regulation is one thing (and protects new investors) but what Gensler pitches is stifling, smothering, and will potentially push crypto innovators out of the US for good.

🎢 Evergrande who? Markets rally during a substantial bounce

The sensationalized Evergrande FUD appears to be subsiding, causing markets to finally get a grip and do the thing we love — bounce.

BTC barely hung on to the $40K mark as the S&P slid on Evergrande worries but has hit back out hard — it’s now battling back to $45K. Altcoins as led by Ethereum have seen a similar recovery with a select few simply outperforming.

AVAX
Avalanche is showing supreme strength in the face of adverse conditions. After announcing a $180M ecosystem fund and a $230M investment from leading VCs, AVAX has plied its way up the market cap leaderboard and now looks set to enter the top 10.

DOT
Parachain launch looks primed to begin any day now. Kusama, Polkadot’s wild cousin, has already launched wildly successful parachains like Moonriver (MOVR) and Shiden (SDN). Seeing their price action & the sheer excitement shown for Kusama parachains bodes extremely well for DOT.

OHM
Olympus has a community that’s truly second to none. The Ohmies have turned Synthetix founder Kain Warwick into a fan as projects like KlimaDAO adopt Olympus’ (3,3) tokenomics model. OHM excitement brought the asset into the top 100 but it appears to just be getting started.

🐳 Turns out Snoop Dogg is an NFT whale

Some stories, like this one, feel too crazy to be true. But as it turns out, Snoop Dogg is behind the über-famous NFT Twitter account Cozomo de’ Medici.

Even crazier — he owns close to $20M worth of NFTs, including CryptoPunks, Chromie Squiggles, and Meebits. How did this come to be?

A few days ago, Medici, who has ~50K Twitter followers, announced their intentions to doxx themselves. The reasoning was Medici’s IRL fame might help bring people into the NFT world.

Soon after, Snoop revealed himself as Medici from his Twitter account :mind blown: All of this explains how Medici brought Jason Derulo into the NFT realm by advising him on his CryptoPunk purchase.

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 09.25.21

🇨🇳 Load the China FUD
👩🏼‍⚖️ Senators push the SEC for crypto clarity
🔥 Andre Cronje launches free NFT platform

🇨🇳 China echoes 2017 with new crypto ban

In early September 2017, crypto markets were staging a comeback after plunging over the summer. However, midway through the month, the Chinese government announced a sweeping Bitcoin ban that sent markets tumbling back down.

Now, under almost the exact same conditions, China has put forward yet another crypto ban. The difference, insiders say, is this one is the most severe. Dealing with cryptocurrencies in any way, including mining or transacting, is now punishable by law.

Whether that’s true or even unique to this particular ban is up for debate, but one thing is for sure, we remember what happened a few short months later — Bitcoin hit all-time highs.

It’s fair to wonder if this time it’s different, but given how closely 2021 has followed the 2017 blueprint, the ball is in crypto’s court.

🏛 Senators push SEC for great clarity on crypto

Senators Pat Toomey and Cynthia Lummis are crypto bulls with mighty amounts of clout within the hallowed halls of Capitol Hill. Moreover, they’re fresh off a battle over better crypto provisions within last month’s $1T spending bill.

Now, they’re calling for greater clarity from the SEC surrounding crypto regulations. Toomey has accused the SEC of bullying the crypto sector with “regulation by enforcement” versus providing the industry a clear roadmap.

The losers in this tug of war between the SEC and crypto? The American public. According to Toomey and Lummis, without clear regulations, investors won’t get a fair and competitive marketplace.

And with the latest Chinese crypto ban, both senators believe this is a crucial opportunity for the US to make itself the home of blockchain innovation. Sen. Toomey’s original tweet on the matter has garnered just shy of 30K Twitter likes, showing broad public support for bringing Bitcoin home.

👨‍💻 Andre Cronje launches free & fast NFT platform

Does Andre Cronje sleep? It’s pretty obvious he most definitely doesn’t.

His prodigious output has led to yet another masterstroke with Artion, a decentralized alternative to OpenSea. Artion doesn’t charge minting or platform fees and transactions are super cheap + very fast thanks to the platform living on Fantom.

The push to create a decentralized version of OpenSea got a massive tailwind when OpenSea exec Nate Chastain was found insider trading. Chastain was quickly fired but doubts about the world’s largest NFT platform persist.

Artion isn’t the only decentralized NFT platform competing with OpenSea. DeFi protocol Sushi has entered the fray with Shoyu, a place for creating and trading a broad range of NFTs.

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 09.27.21

🙀 Chinese crypto ban expands
😅 Bitfinex accidentally paid $23.7M in gas
👏 dYdX leads DeFi token rally

🥊 Chinese crypto ban expands

SparkPool is the second-largest Ethereum mining pool in the world. What’s more — they’re based in China, instantly putting them afoul of that nation’s harsh anti-crypto regulations.

In response to the Chinese gov’s crypto clampdown, SparkPool has suspended its ETH staking services for Chinese AND international customers. The Ethereum hashrate (power needed to mine ETH) has plummeted 8% in SparkPool’s absence.

Elsewhere, marketplace giant Alibaba is banning the sale of crypto mining equipment, citing the PBOC’s recent proclamations regarding digital assets. The ban comes into place October 1st — and interestingly calls out Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Quarkcoin.

🥲 Bitfinex accidentally paid $23.7M in gas fees

In an apparent fumble of grand proportions, Bitfinex appears to have fat-fingered a $100,000 Ethereum transaction to the tune of $23.7 million in gas fees.

Ordinarily, Ethereum transaction fees are low for large and small transactions alike. However, in this case, Bitfinex significantly overspent on gas fees when sending funds to DeversiFI, a decentralized exchange.

As of now, the transaction marks the single largest amount spent on Ethereum gas fees to date. The second most expensive gas fee paid to Ethereum comes in a distant second place at $5 million.

✅ dYdX leads DeFi token as CEX tokens dump

dydX, the decentralized perpetuals exchange, is leading the current DeFi token surge as it collects both hype and trading volume.

The significant traction gained by dYdX in recent days is astounding by any measure.

🏅 dYdX trading volume surpassed Coinbase
🏅It also topped all other DEXes combined

China’s ban on crypto trading is also giving decentralized exchanges like dYdX a significant tailwind. In the wake of both Binance and Huobi barring mainland Chinese users, DEX tokens like UNI, SUSHI, and CRV rallied.

Meanwhile, in Huobi Token (HT) and Binance Coin (BNB) have plummeted out of favor, losing 46% and 19% respectively.

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 09.28.21

👑 Why Avalanche is taking over
⚒ Bitmain the latest to stop miner sales
🔥 Stacked SBF Basket up 1,200% YTD

👑 Why Avalanche (AVAX) is taking over

Avalanche is the blockchain that few saw coming. After all, AVAX spent months dangling outside of the top 100 crypto projects by market cap.

Founded by Emin Gun Sirer of Cornell University, Avalanche had strong academia vibes akin to other big brain projects like Algorand and Hedera. But if the project’s complexity kept you from digging deeper into the project, its success today might have you feeling some type of way.

The key to understanding Avalanche is that it solves the decentralization/security/scaling trilemma with a unique triple blockchain approach:

X-Chain: Responsible for asset creation and exchange
C-Chain: Runs EVM compatible smart contracts
P-Chain: Allows you to create blockchains called subnets

The three-in-one approach to building a blockchain platform enables Avalanche to run complex smart contracts and host infinite blockchains at a seemingly infinite scale.

For financial applications like decentralized exchanges, Avalanche is powerful stuff. If your DEX runs out of transaction space because of high volume, you can spawn unlimited subnets to increase capacity and keep transactions flowing.

Moreover, the Avalanche Bridge makes sending digital assets between Ethereum and Avalanche a cinch using Metamask. That gives Avalanche easy access to the big billions worth of liquidity on Ethereum — something Aave, Curve, and Sushi understand, which is why they’ve launched on Avalanche.

⚒ Bitcoin mining giant Bitmain stops sales in China

Bitmain is the world’s largest producer of Bitcoin mining equipment. It’s also based in Southern China and does brisk business within the country.

But owing to China’s intense crypto crackdown of late, Bitmain is being forced to do last-minute damage control. The company is halting sales of mining equipment to Chinese customers — and it’s moving production operations out of China entirely.

Where the bulk of Bitmain’s production will take place from here on is a big question mark. Taiwan is a likely candidate given the company’s ties to semiconductor producers there, but only time will tell.

🔥 Stacked SBF Basket up 1,200% YTD

To make it in 2021, you didn’t have to develop a taste for artfully illiquid jpegs. No — all you had to do was hold Stacked Invest’s SBF Basket.

Right now, the SBF Basket is up 1,232% — and that’s after a pullback from the +1,700% highs. SBF stands for none other than Sam Bankman-Fried, magnanimous founder of FTX and billionaire wunderkind.

Early in the year, Stacked understood Sam Coins were on the brink of greatness, so we created a basket giving our users exposure to the best of them. Included are FTT, SOL, SRM, and SUSHI in equal 25% weights.

SOL has done the impossible after going from $3 to $203, but everything in the basket has pulled weight. Are Sam Coins done? Not by a long shot — and neither is the SBF Basket.

👉 Try Stacked for free and jump straight into the SBF Basket right here, right now 👈

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 10.01.21

😎 The US is NOT banning crypto
💳 Visa deploys smart contract on Ethereum
🤟 Crypto markets engage UP ONLY mode

😎 The US Fed is not banning crypto

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell has unequivocally stated that the US has “no intention” to ban crypto. Not that it’s possible to ban crypto in the first place.

His admission came in response to Rep. Ted Budd’s question about whether the US planned to follow China in banning cryptocurrencies. However, Powell was clear in delineating the difference between how the Fed views stablecoins versus BTC and other tokens.

The agency believes stablecoins resemble money market funds and should be similarly regulated. His stated concern has to do with ensuring stablecoins are always fully backed by cash + cash equivalents so they remain liquid even during market downturns.

So, why is it important for the Fed to state it won’t ban crypto even if it doesn’t have the power to? Because it creates a broader atmosphere of crypto acceptance amongst US financial regulators and walks back some of SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s harsh comments.

⚡️ Visa officially deploys smart contracts to Ethereum Ropsten

One of the key takeaways of 2021 is that memes are fundamentals. Case in point: The longstanding Visa meme has come full circle as the multinational TradFi network officially enters the crypto space.

For years, crypto investors have used Visa as the gold standard for various networking metrics like throughput, scalability, and global brand recognition. Can Ethereum flip Visa in terms of transactions per second or financial activity? These are the questions long wondered by HODLers.

Now, Visa is deploying smart contracts on Ropsten, the Ethereum test network, as it prepares a solution for Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) payments called Universal Payments Channel.

Visa sees the UPC becoming the world’s interoperable backbone network for CBDC payments across blockchains.

🚀 Crypto markets engage UP ONLY mode

After a summer of mixed fortunes, cryptocurrency markets have chosen up only mode as we officially enter Q4.

Last quarter saw drastic pullbacks and a steady recovery, but a string of regulatory woes in China and the US appeared to set the market back. However, on the heels of the Fed appearing to take a hands-off approach to crypto and the SEC’s reiteration that it supports a Bitcoin ETF, enthusiasm has come back in a big way.

BTC is up a staggering 10% as it looks to take back the $50K mark while altcoins do their thing in tandem. Some, like AXS and ICX, are up over 30%.

If there’s an apparent trend, it’s that Layer 1 blockchains and NFT platforms are continuing their hot streak of late. DeFi tokens are continuing to lag behind with the notable exceptions of OHM, OMG, DYDX, and UNI.

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 10.06.21

💥 BOOM...Bitcoin nails $55K
🧲 George Soros is buying crypto
🤝 Brazil, Colombia, & Texas warming to crypto

🤴🏻 BTC runs to $55K, takes aim at new highs

For the first time since, well, just a few months ago, BTC is trading in the $55K region. BTC is now up a staggering 33% this week, making it the biggest gainer amongst the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

Perhaps even more bullish than price is how that price is developing. Rather than ascending on diminishing volume, BTC trading is gaining significant steam. The added volume shows increased trader/investor conviction about price direction, helping justify a probable attempt to equal or best the previous ATH at $63K.

What’s driving the current rally? BTC spent the summer cooling off and consolidating, leading many to believe the bull run was dead and momentum lost. However, Chinese and American crypto regulation has helped push the digital asset market into the spotlight. Regulation is also giving clarity to investors who have long been on the fence.

Additionally, during SEC Chair Gary Gensler’s testimony at the HFSC hearing today, he called BTC a ‘store of value’ — comparing it to gold in the process. He also stated the SEC would not pursue a ban on cryptocurrencies in part because, technically speaking, no one can 😂

🏦 Legendary investor George Soros is buying BTC

Soros Fund, the family office fund belonging to billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros, has finally confirmed it’s actively buying & trading BTC. That Soros is bullish on Bitcoin has long been rumored, but this marks the first time his family office has made it clear.

The news comes by way of Dawn Fitzpatrick, the fund’s CEO + CIO. She stated the fund owns ‘some coins’ but went on to clarify they’re not holding tokens related to DeFi and NFTs — yet.

Earlier this year, Fitzpatrick also stated the fund’s belief that CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) are arriving quickly and might compete with Bitcoin. In that sense, the fund’s active investment in BTC indicates a view of Bitcoin as at least on par with national currencies.

🎯 Brazil, Colombia, & Texas warming to crypto

In the beginning, there was Zug, Switzerland. The small town has long been renowned for its beauty but in recent years is better known as the capital of crypto.

In the years since Zug first opened its arms to crypto developers, other regions have followed suit: Malta, Singapore, and the Bahamas.

Now, a new round of countries & states is warming to crypto like never before. El Salvador, the first country to officially adopt BTC as legal tender, certainly led the influx & now both mines and buys BTC.

Following in El Salvador’s footsteps are, potentially, other Latin American countries like Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico. In all three countries, lawmakers are now voicing support for increased BTC + cryptocurrency adoption, doing everything from mining BTC using waterfalls to adopting it as legal tender.

In the US, Texas is looking to become the capital of crypto. Texas Governor Greg Abbott recently stated that “Texas will be the crypto leader. Cryptocurrency is now coming to Texas grocery stores.”

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 10.11.21

📈 BTC stair-stepping to Valhalla
🎨 FTX launches NFT market
🧵 Threads you NEED to read

👆 BTC chugging higher, ready for $60K

Bitcoin has been grinding its way higher in what seems like complete silence. But now, after months of NFT/DeFi/L1 token hype, BTC is gladly reminding everyone of its eminence.

Lest you forget, Bitcoin’s all-time high is $64K. At the current $57K level, we’re only $7K away from matching. The moment we touch above $64K, price discovery is back on the table.

One trader who hasn’t missed a mark all year is PlanB. According to his S2F model, BTC will close the month at or above $63K — a mere ~15% from where we stand today. From there, his model projects November at >$98K and December at a staggering >$135K.

It looks like Uptober is more than just a meme.

🎨 FTX NFTs platform is built different

FTX is always a step ahead. If you have any doubts about that, check the latest Forbes magazine, the cover of which is graced by Sam Bankman-Fried himself.

In keeping with their visionary flow, FTX has launched FTX NFTs, a marketplace designed to compete with OpenSea. However, FTX NFTs is primarily focused on Solana NFTs — a key difference considering OpenSea doesn’t do Solana.

Soon, Ethereum support will be added to the platform, giving FTX NFTs true multichain support yet to be offered by competitors. And while it might be difficult to applaud another centralized NFT platform entering the space, FTX has historically been generous regarding ETH gas fees and customer support.

Besides, FTX NFTs is a launch specific to the exchange’s US arm. That’s significant because American crypto traders & investors have been getting stiff-armed by stifling regulators. Now, American NFT enthusiasts have the greenlight to flip JPEGS in peace.

🧵 Threads you NEED to read

The amount of alpha dropped over Crypto Twitter threads 🧵 on a given day is enormous. Unless you have a personal assistant digging non-stop every day, there’s just no getting it all.

But wait, you have us here at Stacked HQ — and we’ll give you shortcuts to the best alpha of late. Here are the best CT threads you NEED to read.

👉 6529’s Pathway To An Open Metaverse — Cryptopunk #6529 describes in glorious detail why NFTS are a defining moment for future freedom.
👉 6529’s On NFTs 2030 — 6529 with the heat again. This time, they explore why you are insufficiently bullish on NFTs.
👉 Cobie calls all of 2021 BTC price action — In this must-read thread, Cobie goes ahead and casually nails all of 2021 price action from way back in January.
👉 Arthur B defines Web3 — The Web3 moniker gets thrown around a lot. This is a short and concise take on the definition of Web3.

Stacked Insights Newsletter, 10.12.21

🖼 Coinbase launching NFT marketplace
💰 Binance announces $1B crypto fund
🤑 Celsius crypto lending raises $400M

👨‍🎨 Coinbase is launching an NFT marketplace

Well, that escalated quickly.

Just yesterday FTX announced the launch of FTX NFTs, its marketplace aimed at competing with OpenSea. Before FTX, decentralized NFT marketplaces like Sushi’s Shoyu and Fantom’s Artion came to market with the same intention.

Now, centralized crypto kingmakers Coinbase are launching Coinbase NFT to...compete with OpenSea. If you’re into NFTs, then Coinbase’s move bodes extremely well for the space because of a few assumptions:

1️⃣ Coinbase will make it easy to buy NFTs with cash/credit
2️⃣ A Coinbase NFT app is accessible for loads of people
3️⃣ The mainstream Coinbase brand blessing NFTs

Coinbase was also the first crypto exchange to make buying crypto feel easy, uncomplicated, and similar to using PayPal or Venmo. If you’ve used OpenSea lately, especially from a hardware wallet like Ledger, then you know the UX is poor.

If Coinbase can bring their renowned ability for simplifying UX to NFTs they’ll quickly develop a following from people tired of buggy MetaMask issues. The move also puts the heat on OpenSea to innovate and, perhaps, launch a token 👀

💸 Binance announces largest ever crypto fund at $1B

Once again, Binance proves that actions, not words, bring value to the crypto ecosystem. But what comes as a surprise is just how much value Binance is willing to put on the line.

Today, Binance announced a giant $1 billion fund for boosting Binance Smart Chain adoption and the adoption + acceleration of all blockchain tech. The move comes after global regulators have hounded Binance in numerous jurisdictions.

Some $300M of the funds will go directly to blockchain developers while a whopping $100M is allocated to DeFi liquidity incentives.

🤩 Celsius crypto lending raises $400M

Money has literally been pouring down on the red-hot crypto sector. However, you might say the endless flow of VC money into the ecosystem is long overdue.

Case in point — Celsius, the giant crypto lending service, has raised $400 million at a $3+ billion valuation. That comes after Celsius has found itself in regulators’ crosshairs throughout the US. Texas, Vermont, New Jersey, and Kentucky have all tried to halt Celsius from operating in their states.

Celsius will allocate significant portions of the raise toward building a bridge with traditional financial regulators, helping them understand the future of finance.

Stacked Insights Newsletter,10.13.21

⛓ Polkadot is launching parachains
🏟 1M users on Coinbase NFT waitlist
😺 Mutant Cat NFTs hit afterburners

🔗 Polkadot is ready to launch parachains

In what might be the biggest fundamental development in crypto this year, Polkadot has announced the impending parachain launch. The Polkadot Council approved a November 11 launch date, meaning the first parachain crowdloan takes place in under a month.

Polkadot founder Gavin Wood also co-founded Ethereum and was chiefly responsible for its technical development. He invented the Solidity programming language used for writing Ethereum smart contracts and is the founder of both Parity and Web3 Foundation.

In other words, Gavin is second to only Satoshi in terms of crypto innovation. So, when the Layer 0 blockchain protocol he’s been developing for four years finally says it’s ready to launch, it’s best to pay attention.

Polkadot is Layer 0 means something different than Ethereum is a Layer 1. A Layer 0 like Polkadot sits below Layer 1 chains like Ethereum and Solana, allowing them to connect and become interoperable protocols with transferable assets and data.

With the way things stand now, Acala, the flagship DeFi protocol building on Polkadot, is probably a shoo-in for the first parachain slot. But it’ll have stiff competition from Moonbeam, the interoperable smart contract platform responsible for last month’s successful Moonriver (MOVR) launch.

💪 1 million people join Coinbase NFT waitlist on day 1

Coinbase has about 70 million users — not including its more than 9,000 institutional + 160K ecosystem partners. So when the exchange announced Coinbase NFT yesterday and launched a corresponding waitlist, it created quite an uproar.

Now we know that just shy of 1 million people joined the waitlist less than 24 hours after it opened. Those users hope to be amongst the first to mint, buy, and sell NFTs on Coinbase when its NFT platform launches sometime in December.

In a bullish twist, Coinbase will allow users to self-custody their NFTs rather than require them held in a Coinbase Wallet. By allowing users to retain ownership of their NFTs, Coinbase is opening its platform up to more potential customers in a market known for privacy-first politics.

😼 Mutant Cat NFTs are #2 on OpenSea

It’s pretty evident that right now, nobody is overtaking MekaVerse for the #1 sales volume rank on OpenSea. But Mutant Cats NFTs are giving everyone else a run for their money.

Mutant Cats have vaulted from seemingly nowhere to the #2 sales spot on the strength of their NFT derivatives DAO concept.

In a nutshell, Mutant Cats sales royalties go into the Mutant Cats DAO, which buys Cool Cats and other blue-chip NFT collections. Those NFTs are then fractionalized and given back to Mutant Cat NFT owners in the form of another token called FISH.

To earn FISH, Mutant Cats NFT owners must stake their cats, entitling them to 10 FISH per cat per day. With FISH currently trading on Sushi for $15, that amounts to $150/day for each staked Mutant Cat.

Additionally, FISH will be used to mint new NFTs within the Mutant Cats ecosystem, explaining why an astounding 86% of 10,000 Mutant Cats NFTs are currently staked. The impressive number of staked cats has left a tiny amount on the open market (less than 150 cats for sale on OpenSea).