ToE's Weekly Highlights #38

Digging up the grinds for the week.

Aug 27, 2023

Gm ToE readers! Socialfi is taking over the world but hold your horses, there are controversies abour not working it based on the past socialfi projects

Macro: Key things to watch: the resiliency of the U.S. labor market and consumer spending as the Fed tightens policy; whether inflation is truly peaking in major economies; central bank messaging on interest rates at Jackson Hole and beyond. The path of monetary policy and its impact on growth and inflation remains crucial.
Trends: It was a red week for the crypto market, with Bitcoin dropping from around $29k to $26k. Ethereum and many altcoins also saw significant declines. However, some alts like Injective, Optimism, and Sui held up relatively well. Friend tech and social gained alot of attention.
Defi: Magnate fi on BASE rugged for 6mil. Gambling/PvP sector is still doing hot. Small cap utility bot are the good plays. Base is heating up with more project building there.
Tools: Airdrop tracker, teaser tool that lets you track what the influencers are buying, PDF virus, Hacking into Friend tech
Spicy drama: FTX and SOL update, Tron scam, Friend tech reverse engineer

If you have not read the previous week’s highlight, here it is:

Hope you enjoy the content, and feel free to:

Connect with me on Twitter
Join my Telegram Channel

Segmenting the megathread of content into 5 parts:

Macro news
Trending narratives
Defi happenings
Educational resources and tools
Spicy crypto drama

1. Macro News

Key things to watch: the resiliency of the U.S. labor market and consumer spending as the Fed tightens policy; whether inflation is truly peaking in major economies; central bank messaging on interest rates at Jackson Hole and beyond. The path of monetary policy and its impact on growth and inflation remains crucial.

The US labor market remains strong overall, as evidenced by the low jobless claims despite some moderation in job growth. This suggests the economy continues to have underlying momentum and demand for workers.
UK consumer confidence rebounded in August, likely helped by falling energy prices, strong wage growth, and easing inflation. This could indicate the UK's cost-of-living crisis may be peaking, though risks like higher unemployment and interest rates persist.
US stocks dropped as investors grow cautious ahead of signals from the Fed at Jackson Hole on further rate hikes. Recent Fed comments indicate rates may still need to rise more.

@arndxt_xo on Macro Pulse update

@_FabianHD Update on market views

@hufhaus9 on global macro

Events

BTC Selloff: The year witnessed its largest one-day selloff, with $1 billion in BTC liquidations. The volatility surged but got quickly sold off.
Two pieces of news that are used to explain the selloff are Levergrande filing for bankruptcy in the US (speculation about Tether exposure to its debt), and the report stating SpaceX sold off its BTC. More likely the selloff was caused by the market structure (low vol environment and built up leverage) and positioning, although the news could’ve been the trigger.
ETH ETF News: Bloomberg reported that the SEC is likely on the verge of approving a futures ETH ETF.
Grayscale vs. SEC: The court's decision on the Bitcoin ETF between Grayscale and the SEC has been postponed for the second time.
Friend Tech Comeback: Friend tech secured funding from Paradigm and is so back.
BNB Venus Liquidation: A $30 million liquidation was triggered for BNB Venus, with the next set for $30 million at a $211 level.

@charliebilello on Global Central Bank Update:

@CryptoCred Funding Rates

@crossbordercap on bond selloff

@FoftyOerney on Powell summary

2. Trending Narratives

It was a red week for the crypto market, with Bitcoin dropping from around $29k to $26k. Ethereum and many altcoins also saw significant declines. However, some alts like Injective, Optimism, and Sui held up relatively well.

Friend.tech continues to drive a "social fi" frenzy, but the platform has some limitations around fractionalized ownership. Competitors like Shares are emerging. Views are mixed on whether social fi platforms will drive real value.
On-chain darlings like RobotEra, Unique Bots, and Ox had big run-ups this summer but are now cooling off. A whale has been buying up tokens like Ator, Mogul Productions, etc.
In NFTs, newer collections like Milady are seeing floors rise while older blue chips like BAYC and Azuki are declining. This fits the theme of "old coin curse" where coins/collections from last cycle tend to underperform the new crop.
Other token names circulating: Spurdo, MEVFree, PVP, Brock, Echo, Pear, GBOT. Most are likely shitcoins but could produce quick flips.

@rektdiomedes 10 Reasons Why Crypto Will 10x In The Coming Years