June 14th, 2021 | Sign Up
Good Morning. Everyone is wondering where it will go from here, and we can now say we have an answer. In 2024 the saga of Dominic Toretto will come to a close after two more films. Oh, you weren’t talking about the Fast and Furious franchise?
Price Check 📉
⬆️ Bitcoin: $39,300 (+8.8%)
⬆️ Ethereum: $2,484 (+4.5%)
⬆️ Dogecoin: $0.32 (+3.0%)
⬆️ SushiSwap: $8.65 (+8.6%)
⬆️ Polygon: $1.45 (+5.5%)
⬆️ Chainlink: $23.07 (+9.1%)
Prices as of 6 AM PST 6/14, data from Coingecko
Markets: Stock investors are bracing themselves for The Fed’s crucial Open Market Meeting on Wednesday. We’re not expecting any bombshells, but any mention of interest rates or inflation by the central bank could move the market.
Covid: The more contagious and more deadly Delta variant of the virus is on it’s way to becoming the dominant strain of coronavirus, raising concern for areas with lower vaccination rates.
FED COIN
A Re-Designed Dollar 🪙
Fed Coin Incoming?
Met with support and criticism from both sides of the aisle, it’s safe to say the debate about a digital U.S. dollar is anything but simple. Pressure to release a digital dollar comes from U.S. lawmakers realizing how the private sector (see Facebook) could create a massive currency system outside government control.
As crypto gains mass traction, governments around the world have begun exploring the idea of issuing their own digital currencies, a government-issued fiat version of a cryptocurrency that would operate like cash.
The Fed Reserve Bank of Boston and MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative aim to publish the first stage of their work to determine whether a Fed virtual currency would work on a practical level next month.
The Bigger Picture
How a central bank's digital currency will affect the crypto markets is still up in the air, and any predictions are pure speculation. Those in favor of complete decentralization oppose the idea of a fed coin, stating that just like religion, “money and state” need to be separated, as well as concerns on government oversight. The other camp believes a central bank digital currency could provide a more seamless transition between centralized and decentralized finance.
NFTs
Bored Apes and Gutter Cats 🦍🐱
While the rest of the world seems to be cool off the NFT hype, digital art enthusiasts are accumulating big time with PleasrDAO buying the original Doge meme for a cool $4 million and a rare alien crypto punk selling for nearly $12 million dollars at a Sothebys auction.
NFTs whales accumulating isn’t the only story either, further supporting that the non-fungible revolution is alive and well. Two projects in the spotlight are avatar-themed NFT projects featuring unique digital apes and cats. These projects take the concept of previously popular NFT collections even further by integrating an experience, physical merchandise, and a background story. We expect utility-based and experience-led NFTs to be the theme of the next digital art wave.
Bored Ape Yacht Club is a limited NFT collection where the token itself doubles as your membership to a swamp club for apes. Volume for the apes was #1 on Opensea and, out of the entire metaverse, just behind NBA top shots and Axie Infinity.
Gutter Cat Gang is a collection of 3000 unique Gutter Cat NFTs who live in the post-apocalyptic shatters of society on the ETH blockchain. Ownership includes creative & commercial rights of your Gutter Cat as well as initiation into the Gang.
NBA 🤝 NFTs
A couple of NBA players are spending their offseason getting in on the NFT fun. Last week, New Orleans Pelicans guard/forward Josh Hart, picked up a bored ape for his collection with the help of NFT personality pranksyNFT:
Charlotte Hornets guard Lamelo Ball also got in on the fun, buying a Bored Ape and signaling his interest in the Gutter Cats in their Discord community:
President of the Philadelphia 76ers, Daryl Morey is also a member of the Bored Ape Yacht Club community and NFT collector:
Zoom Out
There isn’t a simpler way to put it, NFTs and online communities are the future. In addition to the trading volume, some of the biggest companies in the world are positioning themselves in the crypto metaverse. The CEO of graphic processing giant Nvidia, Jensen Huang tells Venturebeat “we’re right on the cusp” of a blockchain-based augmented reality metaverse.
CELEBS
The Billionaire Crypto Mascots 👹
Talking heads of the business world, Mark Cuban and Tesla boss Elon Musk both have been actively participating and commenting (in Elon’s case) in the crypto world, significantly affecting price and sentiment.
On Sunday night, Mark dropped a blog post touting the brilliance of decentralized finance.
He had some very optimistic predictions about the future of the industry.
When we look back at the pandemic in 10-20 years we would see world changing companies had been created in 2020 and 2021. Among those companies, its already a certainty that De-Fi and other crypto organizations will be at or near the top of the list.
Guess Who’s Back
After a very short break from A/B testing the crypto market with his Twitter account, Elon is back, but are you surprised?
Although this time on the other side of the fence, giving the Bitcoin bulls a break.
The price of Bitcoin jumped nearly 9% after revealing a condition that must be met for Tesla to start accepting Bitcoin again, breaking the recent $38,000 resistance and nearly touching $40,000.
Is this just another test Elon?
Mark Cuban is blogging about DeFi, and Elon Musk is tweeting about Bitcoin again, what do you do? (Tell us! Just reply to this email and we’ll feature the best replies next issue)
Crypto Around the World 🗺
The entire world is figuring out what they are going to do in regards to crypto, with country after country feeling pressured to make a statement or take action on crypto, DeFi, and NFTs.
Tanzanian president Samia Suluhu Hassan urged the country’s central bank to begin exploring crypto assets
Dutch finance minister opposes government bureaucrat’s push to completely outlaw crypto in the Netherlands
Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Friday it’s banning meme tokens and NFTs
Crypto companies Stacks (STX) and Paycoin are offering bitcoin returns on e-commerce transactions within South Korea.
DATA
Show Me the Numbers 📊
25% of all ETH is locked in smart contracts
The percentage of Ether locked in decentralized finance smart contracts has reached an all-time high of 25%, around the same percentage as the last all-time high in 2016, except today that Ether is worth $63 Billion as opposed to $23 Million 5 years ago.
The narrative of Ethereum becoming the decentralized financial layer of the internet grows stronger as the amount of ETH in smart contracts rises to all-time highs, we’re keeping an eye on where that number goes from here as more than a quarter of Ethereum’s token supply is deposited into smart contracts.
Options? I thought that was a stock word?
It’s also a crypto word! We don’t really hear about crypto options in the US because it’s not allowed on US-based crypto exchanges.
On June 25, Ethereum will face its largest options expiry in 2021 as $1.5 billion worth of options contracts will be settled.
An “options expiry” is just the last date before an option expires. Before this date, its owners can choose to exercise the option, close the position to take the profit or loss, or let the contract expire worthless.
What are investors betting on?
We can see that the call/put ratio is pretty even (1.24) which tells us that the bulls and bears are in a tight race that’s too close to call right now. Historically, options expiries have affected the prices significantly, last options expiry in March, Ether dropped 17% in five days.
However, after the initial drop, Ether rallied 56%, reaching $2,500 within three weeks. It’s important to keep in mind the other factors at play in the market and not just take into account a single event. The last options expiry in March was preceded by negative headlines about miners and gas, which could have played a role in Ethereum’s drop last time. We’re watching to see if a similar scenario plays out.
The Bottom Line
Even if the concept of options and expirations are still a bit confusing, Ethereum investors should mark June 25th on their calendars, especially considering the price change that followed the March expiry.
Thanks for reading! 👋
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