US Treasuries Are Coming To Base

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the 'Monday Newsletter' from the Crypto Pragmatist by M6 Labs. My name is Aurelian, and I'll be your guide every Monday and Friday, providing insights into pivotal market events and data. The world of crypto is ever-evolving, moving rapidly even in bearish conditions. Let's delve into the latest updates without delay!

ICYMI

• US treasuries get tokenized representation on Coinbase via Backed's RWA token launch

• CZ shares his forecast after Bitcoin's halving occurrence on Binance

• Court decides against allowing Sam Bankman-Fried's Anthropic investment defense

• OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman sounds alarm on US government's stance against crypto amid market fluctuations

• Binance introduces UK-specific domain to meet updated UK regulatory standards

• EU regulatory body issues another consultation document on MICA

Catalysts Of The Week

Key Events

• Monday: China will release its money supply and new yuan loans data; The annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF will open in Marrakech, Morocco

• Tuesday: The International Monetary Fund IMF will present its latest world economic outlook

• Wednesday: The US will release its FOMC minutes and Producer Price Index PPI data

• Thursday: The US will release data on initial jobless claims and its CPI

• Friday: China will release data on its CPI, PPI, and trade; G20 finance ministers and central bankers will meet as part of the IMF gathering

State Of The Market

• While individual narratives may seem to "die out," they often lay the groundwork for the next big thing. For instance, the lessons learned from the ICO boom paved the way for more sustainable fundraising models

• There's speculation of a potential dip for BTC in Q4, possibly dropping to around $22k, but it's unlikely to fall below $20k. This dip might present a buying opportunity before a potential rise to the $35K range

• The launch of VanEck's ETH futures ETF didn't meet expectations, recording only a few million in volume

• Despite ETH's recent underperformance compared to BTC, there's optimism about ETH's potential to outshine BTC in the next bull run

• A key market observation is that BTC dominance might need to rise to trigger the onset of the next significant bull phase

• Historically, BTC and its dominance index surged together at the end of 2020, marking the start of a bull run

• The prevailing sentiment suggests that for altcoins to surpass BTC in performance, they might first need to lag behind while BTC ascends

Industry

• Taiwan is considering a dedicated crypto asset act to regulate crypto firms, aiming to strengthen legal enforceability and compliance in the industry. 

  The proposed crypto asset act in Taiwan could provide a more robust regulatory framework for the crypto industry, enhancing investor protection and reducing the risk of regulatory arbitrage.

• Ledger, is cutting 12% of its staff due to macro challenges affecting its revenue generation.

  Ledger's staff cuts reflect broader challenges in the crypto industry, where companies are facing economic headwinds and making job cuts. These developments suggest that the industry's growth and profitability are struggling through current market conditions.

• FTX co-founder Gary Wang testified that Sam Bankman-Fried allowed Alameda Research to withdraw unlimited funds, leading to significant indebtedness, and that Wang himself pleaded guilty and is cooperating with authorities in the FTX investigation.

  Gary Wang's testimony raises serious allegations of wire fraud and financial mismanagement within FTX and Alameda Research. This testimony could have significant legal and reputational implications for SBF and the companies involved.

• According to NFT Ethics, OpenSea’s former head of ventures, Kevin Pawlak, has been involved in multiple “very dubious business dealings,” pump and dump schemes, and conflicts of interest under his pseudonymous identity 0xSisyphus

• Bitmain halts employee salary payments for September due to negative cash flow

• HTX hacker returns the stolen funds of 4,999 ETH

• Kraken to acquire Dutch based exchange, BCM

• TMX announces launch of BTC futures trading on Montreal Exchange

• Canadian regulators set rules for stablecoin trading and issuance

• Hong Kong police and SFC collaborate on crypto task force amid JPEX investigations

• Volcano Energy and Luxor launch El Salvador's first BTC mining pool utilizing geothermal energy

• UK financial promotions rules update, changes for OKX users

• Ethereum futures ETF market gains momentum after slow start, VanEck and ProShares dominate Ethereum ETF trading volume

• Binance launches UK domain to comply with financial promotions rules

Projects

• Hegic has experienced a significant $40M withdrawal from its development fund, potentially due to a leaked private key.

  Hegic's response to this incident, including acknowledging the issue and outlining a response strategy, will be vital in maintaining trust among its users and stakeholders.

• Ripple has transferred 60M XRP to an unknown wallet, which has fueled speculation about a potential settlement between Ripple and the SEC and its potential impact on XRP's price.

  Despite a trial set for April 2024, there is growing speculation of a settlement between Ripple and the SEC. Attorney Jeremy Hogan believes settlement is a viable option for both parties.

• Stars Arena has secured funding to cover the $3M exploited by a hacker and plans to reopen its smart contract after a comprehensive security audit.

  Stars Arena swiftly responded to a security breach by securing funds to cover the exploited amount and engaging a white hat development team to review platform security.

  🚨SlowMist Security Alert🚨

  @starsarenacom appears to have been stolen due to a major security breach in its smart contract, please do not deposit funds.

  Currently, the hacker transferred 266,103 $AVAX to the address (0xa2Eb...ad7A). The address (0xa2Eb...ad7A) transferred… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

  — SlowMist (@SlowMist_Team)
  6:50 AM • Oct 7, 2023

• Yuga Labs shifts focus to metaverse while cutting jobs

• THORSwap disables website interface after FTX hacker incident

• Gitcoin loses $500k in GTC tokens forever due to gaffe

• Vitalik Buterin proposes two-tier model to address Ethereum staking challenges

• Dawn Wallet embeds AI into crypto wallets, users can now join the waitlist.

• Introducing zkUniswap: a first-of-its-kind zkAMM

• Galxe release statement on hack, users still advised not use interface

• Mythical Games launches racing game on Apple and Android devices

• FriendTech adds option to swap from phone to email after user reports of SIM swap attacks

• Circle says it didn’t copy Maple’s code for smart contracts

• Sui Foundation reallocates 117M SUI from external market makers to support growth initiatives

• Solana has demonstrated remarkable growth and resilience this year, with its TVL nearly doubling and maintaining a 100% uptime. Despite past challenges, the platform has introduced innovative solutions, such as state compression, which drastically reduced NFT minting costs. The liquid staking landscape on Solana is rapidly expanding, presenting significant growth opportunities.

• Avalanche witnessed a significant run last week with double-digit gains. This resurgence is not random but is attributed to the introduction of "Stars Arena," a new "friendtech" associated with AVAX. The recent hack of Stars Arena might stall this momentum, though the team seems committed to rectifying the situation.

• Liquid staking, led by Lido's stETH, is revolutionizing Ethereum's supply dynamics and has become the preferred asset on lending platforms due to its potential for higher yields compared to traditional ETH liquidity provision.

Good Reads

• If you’re new to ETFs, dive into this article to learn what they are and why they matter to the crypto space

• Coinmetrics release their State of the Network: Issue 22

• Stacy breaks down FRAX V3

• Read Athur Hayes’ latest article on the intersection of crypto and AI

• Hopdoc unpacks if the juice is worth the squeeze when it comes to farming Friendtech

• Learn about Uniswap’s TWAMM Hook

• Michele gets into the nitty gritty of cPerps in this great article

• Delphi break down 3 major bull cases for the expansion of NFT lending

• Namada dive into modular privacy in decentralized systems in this detailed read

• Read this thorough report by 21Shares titled The Global Crypto Classification Standard

• Piccolo Research release a comprehensive report on Synthetix

Recommended Tool

In light of Canto’s recent impressive surge of +63%, it's evident that this Cosmos EVM-compatible chain is making waves in the crypto space. For those keen on diving deeper and tracking the bridging flows of Canto, check out the Dune dashboard here. Stay informed and keep an eye on this rising star!

Meme Of The Day