Max Bibeau, Preston Sledge
Keep flattening the curve!
Market Summary
Dotted lines represent non-trading days (weekends, holidays, etc.)
Top Stories
JPMorgan Extends Banking Services to Bitcoin Exchanges
The massive $2.6 trillion bank JPMorgan will be offering bank accounts to Gemini and Coinbase, two cryptocurrency exchanges. The relationship, which was reportedly solidified last month, will allow the exchanges to securely withdraw, deposit, and transfer funds. This type of official relationship has been historically difficult for cryptocurrency exchanges due to fears of money laundering and fraud, and marks a major step in legitimizing crypto-based companies.
Reddit to launch Ethereum-based tokens for Cryptocurrency and Fortnite subreddits
Social media giant Reddit is beta testing new ERC-20 tokens for the r/Cryptocurrency subreddit and the r/FortniteBR subreddit. The tokens are named $MOONS and $BRICKS respectively, and will be used to tip content creators and commentators in the forums. This is a part of Reddit’s new “Community Points” initiative, which will allow users to “view their tokens from multiple subreddits and claim and spend their points.” You can read more about the initiative from Reddit’s website here.
Spencer Dinwiddie Letting Fans Choose Next Team if Bitcoin Fundraiser Goal Is Met
Brooklyn Nets guard Spencer Dinwiddie tweeted on Thursday that if fans raise 2,625.8 BTC (approx. $24,632,630), he will sign to the team that fans vote for. To make it official, Dinwiddie created a GoFundMe for the fundraiser, which currently has only $944 raised.
Bitcoin battle royale Lightnite adds in-game assets to Liquid Network
Lightnite is an online multiplayer battle royale game where players can win (and lose) bitcoins. The game utilizes Bitcoin’s Lightning Network for fast, cheap transactions. Furthermore, Lightnite recently launched in-game skins and weapons as collectibles issued on Bitcoin’s Liquid sidechain. These collectibles are similar to Ethereum’s ERC-721 standard, which allows developers to issue non-fungible tokens with unique properties (as opposed to fungible tokens with identical properties) and an auditable supply.
Futures Trading For Bitcoin’s Hashrate Has Arrived
FTX announced on Thursday that their Bitcoin Hashrate Futures are now live, which are contracts that trade against the future mining difficulty. Just 12 hours after the launch, the contracts were up 20% and the volume was just shy of $1 million. The article also explores how contracts like this are in heavy demand by miners, as they allow them to hedge their bets and lower the risk of their operation.
Top Charts
“Graduated with Student Debt” would probably look similar.
From @blockchainblitz. Friggin’ internet companies, man. Notably, Warren Buffett dumped all airline stocks from his portfolio this month.
Weekly reminder: The US money supply. Bitcoin flattens this curve.
Top Tweets
J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter, gets drunk on Old Fashioneds and asks about Bitcoin. She is then bombarded with half-baked explanations from half-witted crypto simps. Here is the tweet so you can see the replies.
1) They ignore you. 2) They laugh at you. 3) They fight you. 4) You win.
Pre-coiners in 6 months.
MakerDAO (DAI) vs. Synthetix (sUSD). Which network will create the ultimate decentralized stablecoin? A “decentralized” stablecoin relies on smart contracts and incentives to support its value, while a centralized stablecoin (USDT, USDC, PAX) relies on a company that keeps actual dollars in reserve.
While dollar-pegged stablecoins have been all the rage, BTC-pegged stablecoins are also being tokenized on Ethereum. This allows users to engage with decentralized applications on Ethereum (including DeFi apps like Compound) using Bitcoin-denominated value. These tokens pegged to the price of Bitcoin include wBTC (centralized), sBTC, and tBTC (both decentralized).
Binance releases leveraged tokens after delisting FTX’s leveraged tokens, claiming them to be unsafe. This ruthless flip-flop by Binance adds to the controversy surrounding their business practices.
On this episode of “Where Are They Now?” — Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple — a crypto scammer???
Awesome thread that explains the Federal Reserve’s role in the market.
Traders are out here scrutinizing moving averages, while Paul Tudor Jones is buying Bitcoin because it “reminds [him] of gold”.
Top Videos
Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, goes on Pomp’s podcast to talk about Bitcoin and investing in the Covid crisis. Now a renowned angel investor, Chamath was a software engineer hired by Mark Zuckerberg in 2007 to build Facebook from the ground up. In a video posted 6 years ago, Chamath mentioned that he owns >100,000 BTC and wants more.
Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, delivers another eloquent response to the media when asked about #Obamagate.
Follow us on social media!
Texas Blockchain’s ‘State of the Market’ is a student-led editorial. None of the views expressed by the authors should be taken as the view of the University of Texas at Austin or the Texas Blockchain organization. Furthermore, none of the views expressed should be taken as financial advice in any circumstance.