Another week of drama on Crypto Twitter, as SEC Chair Gary Gensler clamps down on crypto.
Gm,
The greatest show on Earth is back with a bang. Fittingly for the Super Bowl weekend, the SEC went at staking with unnecessary roughness. Will this result in a turnover and crypto having to go on defense?
Let’s find out.
Whose Threads Are A Must-Read?
Airdrops are back! Optimism announced the second round of its OP airdrop here:
The OP token did a cool 6X off its bottom around $0.50 to $3 after announcing the first airdrop back in June 2022. You can read more about the Optimism ecosystem in our Ultimate Guide to Optimism.
Bitcoin is a rare addition to our must-read threads. But this time it’s different. Bitcoin NFTs are becoming a thing! Bubits covered Bitcoin ordinals and how they work:
- Satoshis can be connected to digital files and broadcast to the network.
- There’s a Bitcoin NFT boom currently happening.
- Several must-know projects if you are interested.
Check out the full thread here:
Ethereum’s Shanghai hard fork is edging closer. Korpi dropped a fantastic thread about ETH selling pressure from the Shanghai upgrade:
- Between 3M and 6M ETH could get withdrawn.
- Of those, 500K to 3M could get sold.
- A mere expectation of a dump may lead to a dump.
Korpi goes really deep with projections and granular analysis of different types of ETH stakers. A true must-read thread for ETH fans:
The ETH staking withdrawal narrative will probably dominate the crypto space over the next two months. If you want to know how to make money off this narrative, you need to check out Ansem’s recommendations on trading narratives:
- How to track different ecosystems and fundamental news.
- How to react to news.
- How to spot outliers and trade them profitably.
A very informative thread about a skill that’s hard to master:
Finally, Arthur Hayes dropped a new essay. Here’s the link to the full piece:
And the obligatory ChatGPT summary:
How did we ever read Hayes without ChatGPT?
Wisdom of the Week
This week’s wisdom is all about when to play and when to stop.
The beautiful thing about crypto is anyone can play in the big leagues. The horrible thing about crypto is everyone has to play in the big league:
That’s why the most important thing is knowing when to stop. But as Cheguevoblin points out, it’s hard to know when to stop. If you even want to stop:
Is there a solution?
Not really. If you are really in it for the tech, best to focus on building and not paying attention to prices at all. If you aren’t, know your exit price. No amount is ever worth having to message Coinfessions with a bad feeling in your gut.
Elon Building Twitter
Chief Twit keeps having a hard time building the future of communication. Last week, rumors surfaced of Twitter looking to limit the number of daily tweets you can send. Some users even reported being limited in the amount of people they can follow:
Meanwhile, old blue ticks are set to disappear soon:
And then there were rumors that Elon is actually only preoccupied with his tweets’ view count:
Sounds a bit like a certain former president?
You be the judge. But it’s getting spicy at Twitter headquarters. Let that sink in…
Talk of the Town
It’s been quiet for a few weeks. But boy, Crypto Twitter was back with a roar this week!
The IRS and SEC have apparently seen enough slight upwards grind and decided to rattle the cage. And rattle they did: first, the SEC decided to kick US customers off Kraken’s ETH staking service, while the IRS is looking for data to collect more tax revenue
Then, Paxos, the stablecoin issuer, was reportedly being investigated by authorities. This sparked a massive debate on CT. Is staking a regulated product? Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong argues that it is not:
But Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson has a different take. He thinks it looks a lot like one:
Coinbase contributor Jesse Pollak sees a possible block of US citizens as a strategic mistake:
And then there is of course the question why you wouldn’t just take the free money if you are the government:
Our article on US crypto regulation foresaw a big regulatory push in 2023. But by the looks of it, it is going to be a lot more confrontational than we hoped. Scott Melker had this to say about the SEC:
Gary Gensler, who was not popular at all in crypto circles, is now becoming a certified supervillain:
Nic Carter went even as far as saying the US government is trying to covertly ban crypto:
It’s not looking good on the regulatory front at all. Would be really helpful if there were, y’know, a few reliable actors in crypto with integrity that we can rely on… what’s that? Zhu Su is launching a new exchange?
Yup. Just when we did not need them, they came back. Introducing OPNX:
Crypto Twitter was over the moon. A selection of reactions:
So Localbitcoins closes and we get OPNX?
Our Favorite Coinfession
Everything you have to know about the gender ratio in crypto:
Memes
Two winning entries this week. One from Benjamin Cowen, who is finally financially protected:
And our green wassie of the week:
LOL. See you next week, bruh!
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