FUD continues to spread — but CT put up a rare display of unity by backing ZachXBT's legal defense. Read more in our CT roundup!
Gm,
Last week was a completely normal abnormal week in crypto. Basically the same as always:
Prices falling off a cliff, recovering miraculously, stablecoins depegging, shady new companies emerging and Gary Gensler stuck in the middle of all of it. Plus a massive winning streak on the line…
Whose Threads Are a Must-Read?
Not an overly busy thread section this week, but there were a few noteworthy entries.
The market is looking as shaky as it has been in a long time, and 0xSalazar explains what is going on in the market. His thread is a speedrun through the Binance and Coinbase events recently:
TLDR:
- Binance and Coinbase have both received letters from the SEC
- Binance US has paused USD deposits and withdrawals, transitioning to a "crypto-only" platform.
- Coinbase is transitioning to a more crypto-friendly environment, and may be used as a tool in an economic war between the US and China.
We haven’t had product-related news in a looong time (guess why), so last week’s announcement of the Uniswap V4 version was a welcome pattern interrupt. KingJulian summarized all you need to know in his thread:
TLDR:
- Uniswap v4 introduces features like arbitrary code hooks, improved gas efficiency, the singleton implementation, flash accounting, and support for native ETH.
- It also introduces TWAMM, which allows executing large orders over time to minimize price impact, and ERC-1155 token accounting, which can reduce gas costs.
- Uniswap v4 is still a work in progress and the complexity may be a barrier for casual users.
Has ChatGPT been slow and error-prone for you too in the last few weeks? Then you’re not alone. But it’s still a useful tool, as we explained in the How To Use ChatGPT for Crypto Research article. Kofi published a neat video about the DeFiLlama ChatGPT plugin which you also should check out:
As the crackdown on crypto in the US marches on, China is marching in the opposite direction. Hong Kong is embracing crypto. Omid Malekan has a good explainer thread about that:
- China is pivoting hard into crypto, despite the misconception that it has been banned.
- The US is trying to kill crypto, but this is actually helping to promote it globally.
- Big banks are hesitant to onboard crypto companies due to the threat of decentralization.
Last but not least, the BlackRock Spot ETF application was the big news of the week.
This thread explains the chances of it passing:
Wisdom of the Week
Chris Burniske reminded us last week that it’s the darkest before the dawn. Quit crypto now at your own peril:
Elon Building Twitter
No big news from Elon Musk last week, who continues building Twitter into his vision of a public townsquare for everyone. So far, Tucker Carlson is the only pitchman, but Elon is encouraging others to follow:
Talk of the Town
The talk of the town on the public townsquare was a hodgepodge of FUD, shady characters emerging and new entrants to the market.
In the FUD section, we had CZ denying rumors that Binance is propping up the price of BNB by selling BTC for it:
The FUD will, obviously, not stop coming. Tether's CTO Paolo Ardoino can relate — the stablecoin received its biannual dose of FUD last week when the Curve 3pool tilted towards USDT, meaning customers were swapping into other stablecoins:
The shocking 0.2% depeg caused everyone to speculate whether it’s time for a new merry-go-round of stablecoin depegs. Paolo Ardoino deployed a bespoke version of “steady lads” and the peg was restored:
Ardoino also fought back new possible FUD over possible exposure to Chinese commercial paper. Just another day at the Tether office.
In non-panic-related news, Prometheum was the new dodgy kid on the crypto block
1) What
Yup, that was pretty much everyone’s reaction to this:
We explained this wildcard of a crypto main character in our explainer article about Prometheum.
Well, the list of centralized-crypto-firms-that-went-busto is still getting cycled through. Celsius has been called up and will liquidate some of its altcoin assets soon:
There was something to celebrate, too (presumably). Just when the SEC struck its low blows, a big player starts showing interest in offering Bitcoin to its customers. Isn’t it funny how this works:
Of course, you can’t say TradFi without saying “possible government collusion” in the same sentence:
The actual investment may not be the most cost-effective way to get into Bitcoin but hey, is that really so important to crypto degens?
BlackRock’s 575-1 streak in ETF approvals is up against Bitcoin’s 0-100 streak in denials...talk about a main event!
So just after one of the most brutal weeks in crypto, we do get the predicted institutional demand. Not the time to stop paying attention to crypto now.
And just before the bell rang, ZachXBT was unfairly slapped with a defamation lawsuit by MachiBigBrother:
But in a rare show of unity, Crypto Twitter showed there are indeed decent people in the space. Zach’s plea for raising funds to fight the lawsuit was answered by:
And many, many more. Zach even burned his share of his own memecoin because that’s just who he is. Talk about wholesome:
Our Favorite Coinfession
You have to give it to Bitcoiners for staying true to the cause:
Memes
What a week it’s been in crypto:
Stack the wins, even if they’re smol:
That’s all for this week, see you next week!
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