The Blockchain Bulletin Edition#6

Hi, degens! Pack your bags and get your CVs ready, it’s all over. Or is it? This edition of the Blockchain Bulletin looks at the volatile markets and whether there is hope on the horizon. Read on for the usual alpha.

The Bigger Picture w Wasabi 

Choppy Markets

Web3 markets are still choppy and most tokens are in a downtrend. The worrying aspect of this is that there has been no confirmed bottom for alts and BTC yet. Onchain activity remains slow as well. 

The google keyword trend chart for bitcoin and crypto shows us exactly when the top was this year; back in March (Crypto is denoted in blue and bitcoin in red on the chart below). Make of that what you will.

The Return of the King

However while there is doom and gloom on one side due to the horrible price action in markets, there are positives to consider as well. Long-term data, specifically the numbers in post-halving years are something to be bullish about. Q4 is almost upon us, and that is usually when things go parabolic.

We will also see King CZ released from prison on September 29th. CZ being released is a narrative the entire market can get behind, and the news is especially bullish for $BNB. But the impending release also unlocks the former Binance CEO’s private war chest of over $30 billion (some experts estimate that his net worth is actually much higher, around $43 billion). With the mercurial crypto figure back in the space, we could see a lot more positive sentiment and market movement as a result.

Rate cuts and Policymaking

There are reports that the US government is planning to cut rates on September 18, this Wednesday. Markets are desperate for some relief. Stocks have been taking hits, crypto has been downtrending for the past six months in the same range and oil hit a yearly low as well. Global liquidity is resting in bank accounts earning interest.

As traders, we simply wait for the paradigm shift, when all this money flows into our risk assets.

If your portfolio is looking bleak, don’t worry; the markets are designed to shake out people in times like these. There is light at the end of the tunnel. Godspeed, soldier. The most +EV thing you can do for yourself is to keep interacting with crypto platforms, because when has that never paid off? 

On my list:

Memecoin trends

Volume in Solana memecoins has died out to pre-etf levels. Memecoins on ETH are getting some bids but most launches are bundled or backed by the cabal, and they end up having lesser volume at 10 million than most Solana coins at 1 million. Whether that’s because they are cabal backed or Solana traders are just paperhanders is up for you to decide.

Degods consolidated their NFTs and ecosystem and launched a coin. The NFTs can be burnt for a specific amount of the coins, adopting a hybrid erc-404 standard. After launch, the coin touched almost 120 million mcap. 

Data is king

Polymarket has easily been one of the best platforms that we’ve come across this cycle. Data from it can show us some interesting trends. Polymarket lets users bet on future outcomes on anything. One of the highest volume ongoing bets on the platform was the Trump versus Kamala debate with almost a billion dollars in bets placed. Before the debate, Trump was leading by 8%. According to the users, Trump lost the debate and Kamala is now back in action. She is leading the bets in the race for the presidency with a slim advantage, but let’s see whether that lasts. 

The market roundup with Zumbah

SEC versus Web3

The US SEC is clearly grasping at straws in a bid to control Web3. Opensea received Wells' notice with the allegations that NFTs are securities. Opensea's founder stated that they would take this to court and fight for digital artists. This battle will likely get heated in the months to come. On the other side, the SEC has comically stated that crypto assets themselves aren't "securities" but their distribution and secondary sales could be deemed "securities". This lack of clarity and the contradictions have been in the SEC's playbook since the very start of the crypto crackdown.

Going up?

Alongside the rate cuts on Wednesday September 18, mentioned in the story above, many people are of the opinion that we are going to see immense volatility in tradefi soon. Rotations from equities to bonds and vice versa are expected, depending on the investor's portfolio. China is also reportedly considering mortgage cuts, as its housing giants have faced horrific circumstances these past few years.

Cryptocurrencies lie on the extreme end of the high-risk asset spectrum, and all these factors could see the market move upwards once more.

Are NFTs back?

NFTs are gaining a bit of attention again, amidst this boring and dull market sentiment. Some gaming projects such as Dimensionals, Grapes and Sugartown are shutting down or losing their teams. On the other end, big giants such as Eve Online have announced their own gaming project in Web3, titled Eve Frontier. Veteran PFP projects have also made moves in this period. Doodles showcased their short film at the Toronto Film Festival, Azuki launched Anime.com as an essential part of their Anime chain phase and Abstract Chain by Igloo is also on the rise. We saw Solana NFT projects make significant strides as Claynosaurz's recent partnership with Gameloft indicates.

$BOB’s your uncle

The Internet Computer Protocol (ICP) blockchain has seen a spike in activity after the project Blockchain on Blockchain (BOB) was launched. BOB uses ICP's base protocol layer to mine their own blocks. A frenzy occurred on ICP as users started mining blocks by buying mining nodes on BOB's website. The odds of rewards for mining blocks seem very low for BOB, which is why the surge in popularity is a little strange. But the OTC price of $BOB keeps increasing, showing there is demand still.

The BTC recap with ShoaibHere

We saw drama unfold in the BTC space these past few weeks. Rocktoshi claimed to be the co-founder of the Ordinals protocol while Casey denied it. This saw a lot of divided commentary on the issue. Meanwhile, the recently-launched Runes protocol is still struggling to maintain its prices and various runes are dropping in value constantly. 

Fractal Mainnet launched, and it looks to be a successful attempt to gain attention with their native token $FB touching ATH at $38. Fractal 1D mining rewards surpassed BTC mining rewards when a new protocol Cat20 was launched and $CAT was deployed. This newly deployed mint caused a surge in transactions and it took three days for it to be minted out completely. Mints are now coming thick and fast on the fractal network, but it remains to be seen how profitable they will be for the early movers.

There are plenty of profitable projects coming out constantly, if you know where to look. I have been sharing many lists on twitter with a lot of gains made. Here is another one to get you through September: 

BTC

Arbitrum

Ethereum

BASE

Q4 is almost upon us. A lot of things are afoot globally and in the Web3 space! Tweet at us to send us projects that are on your watchlist!