The Blockchain Bulletin Edition#10

Gm, degens. Are we really back?

Bullish vibes are back but the market has pumped and dumped since the turn of the year. This is not surprising since the leader of the free world is unpredictable and his statements have already caused multiple flash crashes and pumps.

His beef with China, other trading partners and even his favourite billionaire has also led to volatility and might continue to do so in the months to come.

The general trajectory has been upward so far, however. All-time highs are being broken and more green is on the horizon. As always, there is much to report on every chain and in most metas, so sit back and let us catch you up with the latest and greatest.

Global markets and web3 with ZR

Are you not entertained?

The market started pumping after the news of a pause in the trade war between China and the US. It was on the upward trend since, until Trump then had a falling out with Elon Musk. 

The stock market sentiment is currently dependent on the whims and words of President Trump, which is why flash crashes and pumps are likely to repeat themselves over the rest of 2025 as well.

With regards to global trade, Beijing and Washington DC must agree on a deal before their renewed grace period ends on August 12, or we are likely to see long-lasting damage done to supply chains around the globe.

It is more likely a deal will be struck however, and that is a bullish sign for both stocks and web3.

Key factors that could affect the market in the months to come: the potential rate cuts, trade deals for countries with the US and the ongoing conflicts around the globe.

BTC is king

BTC has shown strength even when other cryptocurrencies have not (barring a few exceptions) over the past few months. The last couple of months were no different.

BTC had a decent leg up, reaching a new all-time high of $118,870 on July 11 once more. The next key level is $120,000. Break this and we moon?

Ethereum

Ethereum holders have been very frustrated with the sideways movement this cycle. The past few months were difficult for the big-bag holders.

While price action is not super interesting, Ethereum staking is at an all-time high, with over 34 million ETH locked, which is 28.7% of the supply. Bullish, if you ask me. 

The pump to $3000 on July 11 is also supremely positive. Two key levels of selling pressure have been broken. But for Eth to truly gain positive sentiment, it needs to break its all-time high.

Solana and Pump.fun

Solana was lagging in its gains too, at least until yesterday. Memecoins have seen reduced volume. 

The now-confirmed rumors of a pump.fun token raise have led to renewed speculation about the whole memecoin ecosystem on Solana. 

Is Pump.fun looking to extract? Can this raise stave off threats against quickly rising competitors such as bonk.fun? Will the ecosystem get the airdrop it deserves after the many rugs and millions in fees taken?

For a substantial move upwards, Solana would need to break $200, which might take more than a few weeks to achieve (assuming the market stays green, of course). Increased demand for SOL (Another memecoin season perhaps?) would see it gain some ground once more.

Are you HYPE-D enough?

The standout performer this year has been Hyperliquid. Its meteoric rise has been nothing short of extraordinary.

It broke its all-time high with BTC on July 11 and is sitting at $46.5 at the time of writing this. This looks to be just a stop in its rise to higher levels.

Hyperliquid’s perp trading platform is both easy to use and has unique features such as transparency of trades made. It has also been all over CT, with James Wynn’s horrible trades also grabbing headlines earlier this year. 

There was also that infamous Jelly short that almost ruined the platform, but Hyperliquid’s recovery left its users and investors positive and full of confidence that Hype is a good bet this cycle.

Personally, I am waiting for Hype to keep pumping once more and keep going up.

A new meta: Social-fi

Accountability might be hard to find through traditional routes such as the US Securities and Exchange Commission, but web3 is developing solutions of its own. While they may not be perfect, platforms such as Ethos and Mercle might work towards more accountability for platforms, Dapps, de-fi companies, KOLs and even individual users. 

Ethos validators and the future of the platform 

Ethos has brought a new dynamic to web3, one that stands to make it more accountable and transparent. Season 0 was already immensely popular in CT, but the end of it marked an airdrop for the top 256 contributors in the shape of the Ethos Validators’ NFT. 

The collection’s floor is currently at 4.125 ETH, and this fat bag for the top contributors has only brought even more web3 peeps onto Ethos for S1. There are still issues with the platform, however.

The team recognises the need to nerf grinders that are using AI slop for points, and instead make sure that original and important takes are brought to the fore.

But their solution of relying more on the vouch system is not ideal, either. KOLs and influencers tend to have money, and bad actors in CT can easily use the vouch for vouch system to gain credibility. 

Additionally, just because someone is NOT being vouched for does not mean that they are not reliable. The Ethos team is still figuring things out, and hopefully their interpretation of the social credit score in CT will end up being useful and not just a short-term fad.

NFTs are ded/back?

Which one is it, really? There were multiple cooks in the NFT space in May and early June wasn't bad either.

But the end of last month could have marked the beginning of the dreaded summer phase, when things are slow and not much happens. 

Are we in for a dry summer? If the past few days are to be used as evidence then I would say no. Since Monday we have seen Bald Brothers, Pepemons and DDust do immensely well.

The key lesson here is that cooks might come when you least expect them. In the meantime, it is important to preserve capital and not gamble on every random project when they come.

Look for free mints or ones with a low mint price for now. Something fun and major might come when we least expect it, just like this past week. No list this time, but keep an eye out on Bros’ twitter—I would keep notis on to stay posted on any potentials to be excited about. 

Memecoins

There isn’t a lot in the memecoin space to report about. Fartcoin has shown strength when many others haven't.

There was also a very brief ‘back from the ded meta’ with Aura shooting up to 150 million market cap once more.

That led to a couple of other coins show a bit of resurgence as well. Other notable runners have been $Useless and $Launchcoin. 

The trenchers are not on easy mode anymore. Inexperienced memecoin traders should be careful in taking up trades or you will end up losing more than you gain.

Moonshot: Another launchpad

Moonshot added another launchpad of memecoins to the quickly growing list of launchpads on Solana. 

The only difference I see in this one is the fact that this is perhaps the only platform that is usable by normies, because of its availability on mobile app stores and the fact that you can purchase coins using your credit card or bank account. 

Either way, currently bonk.fun is the current leader in the ongoing memecoin platform wars. Pump.fun has been aggressively marketing its app for normies on Insta as well, however.

Polymarket and the UMA debacle

Prediction markets have been all the rage since the turn of the year. We wrote about Polymarket in September last year.

Since then, it has truly gone mainstream. Data from its markets is regularly featured in the news and political discourse even though the platform itself is banned in the US and the UK. 

The most recent controversy surrounding Polymarket however, has brought even more eyes on it. 

The Zelenskiy suit debate has brought up new questions on how prediction markets are resolved and the role of the UMA in the resolution process. 

I am currently finding the ecosystem super interesting and am likely to dabble in some markets.

Polymarkets and the prediction scene will likely only become more important in the months to come.

Airdropland with Zumbah

A lot has happened since our last interaction.

We have seen several protocols such as Hyperlane, Wayfinder and Initia release their tokens.

Farming opportunities have been sneaking back in after a few months of little activity. 

Now that Hyper EVM has launched and Monad is in production with the testnet already up and running, the ecosystem on both chains is getting prepped and many protocols have raised funds for the production. 

Speculation surrounding Hyperliquid Season 2 is rising with HyperEVM fully deployed. The ecosystem will align itself with the goals of Layer 1 and reward its users. 

HYPE farms

If you are looking to farm hyperliquid, I see immense value in interacting with dapps such as Hana Network, Hyperunit and Felix Protocol.

These are actively participating in equipping the hyperEVM with its necessary defi ecosystem.

You can check out my detailed guides around them (shameless shill) in the thread below:

Click here for the ultimate HYPE farm guide 

Monad farms

On the other side, Monad is preparing for its mainnet launch at the end of 2025 or early 2026.

Monad has ALSO been building its ecosystem with many protocols that have drawn a lot of eyes from prospective investors.

To prepare for such protocols and to know more about them, send me an access request on the sheet in this tweet:

Find all you need to know about Monad farms here

Other interesting developments

Some of the other protocols look out for include Variational, Lighter and Succinct. Variational and Lighter have both been marketed as competitors to Hyperliquid with backend differences.

Succinct lies in a market sector that is heating up and most probably will revolutionize the architecture of how we store and verify our transactions today through Zero Knowledge Proofs and ZKVMs.

Their gated testnet has also been garnering demand, and Phase 2, focused towards the prover market. will end soon.

There is also an increased inclination towards running nodes for ZK proofs for protocols such as Boundless and Cysic to decentralize the economy of the prover market.

That’s it for now, folks! See you in the next one.

Editor’s note

This one was a longer version, but there was a lot to discuss this time since there was a bit of a pause between editions.

We will switch back to regular programming in the next one. Stay posted to the Olympus socials for more alpha as it comes!

Enjoy your weekend. Until the next one.

ZR (@makhimaar)