Table of Contents
Cryptocurrency's revolutionary decentralized approach to finance allows anyone and everyone to participate in its community-based paradigm. But who is it really for? Behaviour and patterns in the industry this week might have you believing that crypto is mainly for crypto bros and even more bizarrely, Democrats.
With football (AKA soccer for the uninitiated) season kicking off this weekend, beers are being loaded into coolers, jerseys are being unfolded from closets, and funds are being transferred from saving accounts to betting accounts.
Keen to capitalise on the testosterone-fuelled male football fans, crypto firms have been clambering each over to unashamedly spray seed all over sports sponsorships.
The most recent act of macho bravado came in the form of Crypto.com, which inked a deal with the UEFA Champions League, signalling that crypto bro season is back in full bloom alongside the footie.
Meanwhile, Democrats have been willing to shake off the stigma that the left is anti-crypto. At an aptly named "Crypto4Kamala" event, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed that it is still possible to get some kind of crypto legislation out this year.
Kamala Harris has still not revealed her personal stance on crypto but with her taking the lead in the polls, the US crypto industry can only hope Operation Chokepoint 2.0 will be left behind as a bad dream.
In other news, we evaluate whether recent market patterns suggest Bitcoin is digital gold (spoiler alert, it's not), how restaking is becoming hotter on Solana, and why Irene Zhao might not be scamming everyone.
Over in the markets, both Bitcoin and Ethereum have been rather lacklustre over the week, declining 0.23% and increasing 2.67% respectively.
Risk appetites on the Fear & Greed Index are firmly in the "Fear" zone at 27. The Fear & Greed Index uses 5-6 measurements to assess the current sentiment of the market and then rates that level of emotion on a scale of 1-100 – 1 is extreme fear and 100 is extreme greed.
But if you're struggling to make sense of the markets, fear not, as BRN has your back. "Despite these positive underlying factors, the market is currently grappling with substantial selling pressure," warns BRN analyst, Valentin Fournier.
"Given the heightened volatility, particularly during weekends, we strongly recommend reducing exposure until market conditions stabilize and a clearer picture emerges," he added.
With intensified selling pressure from both the US government and Jump Trading, #Bitcoin and #Ethereum are struggling to gain traction.
— BRN (@thebrn_co) August 16, 2024
A thread 🧵(1/6)
Crypto Bro Culture Still Strong as UEFA Champions League Inks Crypto.com Deal
"Fortune favors the brave," Matt Damon once sternly said to audiences before turning his head to stare into the abyss from an intergalactic spacecraft overlooking Earth.
Three years on and one FTX-inspired market crash later, the testosterone-fuelled Crypto.com ad serves as a reminder of how unashamedly male-centric the crypto market once was. With institutions now aping into BTC and ETH with their fancy ETF products, the crypto industry is forcibly maturing and keeping up with the Joneses.
Blockhead
Crypto Bill Could Hit Congress By Year End As Revealed in Crypto4Harris
In a virtual event 'Crypto4Harris', aimed at garnering crypto support for Kamala Harris, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer revealed that it is still possible to get some kind of crypto legislation out this year.
"We all believe in the future of crypto," Congress has a responsibility to provide common sense and sound regulation on crypto, and we need your support to make sure that any proposal is bipartisan," said Schumer at an online event hosted by Crypto4Harris according to Coindesk.
Perion Lim
US Government Moves 10K Silk Road-Seized BTC, Jump Trading Unstakes 17K ETH
The US government has moved 10,000 Bitcoin related to the Silk Road seizure to Coinbase Prime.
Arkham highlighted the transaction, which saw $593.5 million worth of Bitcoin move from a known US government wallet (U.S. Government: Silk Road DOJ Confiscated Funds) to wallet bc1ql two weeks ago but was then transferred to 3JJ, a Coinbase Prime deposit wallet.
Blockhead
MetaMask Partners Mastercard to Launch Payment Card in Europe
MetaMask has announced a pilot launch of MetaMask Card through a partnership with Mastercard and Baanx.
The partnership introduces the world's first Mastercard payment card that allows users to make direct purchases from their MetaMask wallet from anywhere Mastercard is accepted according to a post on their website.
Perion Lim
Is Voting For Kamala Really a Vote Against Crypto?
To the despair of MAGA hat-wearing Republicans, Kamala Harris is solidifying her lead against former President Donald Trump.
Polymarket polls now have Harris at a 52% lead against Trump's 46%, while crypto betting site Predictit is selling Harris "yes" votes for 58c compared to Trump's 44c.
Blockhead
Binance Enters India Officially, Reaches Settlement in Brazil
Crypto exchange Binance has become a reporting entity with India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), in a milestone that marks their 19th regulatory approval in the world. This move came after a historical fine by the FIU of $2.2 million in June for violating anti-money laundering (AML) rules.
Perion Lim
Katashe Solutions Partners CoinGecko to Drive Digital Asset Adoption
Katashe Solutions has partnered with crypto data aggregator CoinGecko to drive digital asset adoption and Web3 education.
The partnership was unveiled at Malaysia Blockchain Week, at which Katashe was the Official Venture Builder. Katashe made the announcement at a Web3 thought leadership and innovation event, co-hosted with LayerZero Labs, led by David Shin.
Blockhead
$2B in Bitcoin Transferred From Mt Gox as a Test Transaction
Mt. Gox has transferred $2 billion worth of Bitcoin as a test transaction ahead of completing his distribution repayments to creditors.
Arkham Intelligence data shows that wallet bc1q26 received $2.19 billion in Bitcoin from Mt, Gox. The wallet is believed to belong to the crypto custody platform Bitgo, which is the last of the five service providers tasked with distributing tokens to creditors.
Blockhead
DBS Launches Blockchain-Powered Treasury Token Pilot With Ant International
DBS has initiated a treasury token pilot with Ant International for 24/7 treasury and liquidity management.
The project will run on DBS' permissioned blockchain, allowing Ant to utilize the digital token to achieve instant, multi-currency treasury and liquidity management. DBS' permissioned blockchain is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), which improves the extensibility and interoperability of DBS's payment systems with various industry infrastructures.
Blockhead
Recent Market Turmoil Suggests Bitcoin is Definitely Not 'Digital Gold'
Bitcoin's limited supply coupled with its detachment from government control has often led market dwellers to believe that the leading cryptocurrency is the digital equivalent of gold.
As a store of value, Bitcoin has thereby been considered as a hedge against inflation, much like its gold counterpart. However, after the deep sell-off in cryptos, the thesis that Bitcoin is an alternative to gold has fallen flat.
Blockhead
Marathon Digital to Raise $250M to Buy More Bitcoin
Marathon Digital is planning to sell $250 million of convertible notes to purchase more Bitcoin.
The Bitcoin miner said it would sell the notes in a private placement with each note paying interest every six months, maturing on 1 September 2031. Interest and conversion rates will be determined during the pricing process.
Blockhead
Thailand Introduces Sandbox For Crypto Service Testing
Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is introducing the Digital Asset Regulatory Sandbox in an attempt to enable developments and foster innovation that improve digital asset-related services.
Eligible digital asset-related services include Digital Asset Exchange, Digital Asset Broker, Digital Asset Dealer, Digital Asset Fund Manager, Digital Asset Advisor, and Digital Asset Custodial Wallet Provider.
Perion Lim
Solana Restaking Gains Traction as Solayer Announces Mainnet, Renzo Introduces ezSOL
Restaking on Solana is becoming the latest trend as Solayer, the leading restaking protocol on Solana, has announced its mainnet restaking system in partnership with Bonk, AltLayer, SonicSVM, and Hashkey Cloud.
Solayer mainnet creates a decentralized cloud infrastructure for stakers and application developers to empower decentralized applications (dApps) with high network bandwidth while providing security to the Solana blockchain.
Perion Lim
Share of DeFi Market Capitalization in the Overall Market Hits Its Lowest Point in Three Years
The market cap of DeFi as a percentage of the global currency market cap has fallen to its lowest in three years.
DeFi index as tracked by Coingecko showed that Defi 'Dominance' reached 3 year low falling to 2.81% amidst the recent market sell-off.
Perion Lim
The 'Unknowns' Driving Cryptocurrencies
Cryptocurrencies are bobbing up and down with no clear trigger or direction, even as stocks and bonds have made a remarkable comeback from last Monday's market mayhem.
While crypto tokens recovered from their worst sell-off early last week since the days of FTX's collapse in 2022, Monday saw a broad decline in digital assets.
Blockhead
aelf Announces Collaboration With ChainGPT
aelf, a leading blockchain network at the forefront of exploring the intersection of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and blockchain has unveiled a pioneering partnership with ChainGPT, a leading provider of AI-driven infrastructure for the blockchain sector.
This strategic alliance is aimed at advancing aelf's transformation into an AI-powered blockchain and supporting ChainGPT's vision of a decentralized Web3 powered by AI.
Perion Lim
Irene Zhao's "Asianmom" Crypto Scandal - Can Failed Project Founders Ever Make a Comeback?
It's never easy to start a project from scratch but it's even more challenging when you have an unfortunate history of unsuccessful projects.
One crypto influencer who has suffered the wrath of the community recently is Irene Zhao, whose Jupiter-collab memecoin project, Asianmom, has been branded a scam.
Perion Lim
Events
Coinfest Asia (Bali, 22-23 August 2024)
Get ready to connect with 6,000+ people from 2,000+ companies at the largest Web3 festival in Asia. Get your tickets now with Blockhead's 10% discount code: CA24BLOCKHEAD
Token2049 (Singapore, 18-19 September 2024)
Don't miss out on early bird ticket prices, until July 31! Use Blockhead's exclusive discount code BLOCKHEAD10 for a further 10% off.
All That Matters (Singapore, 16-18 September 2024)
The 19th All That Matters is the gateway to the APAC Music, Sports, Gaming, Marketing, Web3, Arts and Entertainment industries.
Conference by day and live music festival by night, ATM is Asia’s premiere ‘Business 2 Business 2 Fan’ event experience bringing together world class speakers with more than 2,000 senior executives.
Get your tickets now with Blockhead's 15% off code: ATM24BLOCKHEAD15
It's All Happening on LinkedIn
Did you know you can now receive Blockhead's juicy daily newsletters directly to your LinkedIn? Subscribe to our LinkedIn newsletters for the latest news and insights in the world of Web3!
There also might be the occasional discount code for the industry's hottest events, exclusively for subscribers. So be sure to sign up!
