ToE's Weekly Highlights #69

Jun 25, 2024

∙ Paid

Martin Shkreli involvement in a $100M bet controversy and even involving GCR, Zachxbt

$SUSHI repackages to a entirely ecosystem strategy

$ZK, $ZRO, $IO, $ATH were the hottest talked about launches

More blood or HTF accumulation + 56 Early Projects👇🧵

Weekly Updates

DeFi Trends: Bitcoin Staking Takes Center Stage

As restaking continues to dominate the DeFi landscape, a new trend is emerging: Bitcoin Staking. With Bitcoin's massive $1.25 trillion market cap, this development could unlock significant potential for idle BTC capital.

Why Bitcoin Staking Matters

BTC's Proof-of-Work model leaves most Bitcoin as idle capital
Bitcoin holders seek innovative ways to generate yield
Potential market size surpasses Ethereum's $47 billion in liquid staking

Leading Bitcoin Staking Protocols

Babylon
- Allows trustless BTC staking to secure PoS networks
- Recently raised $70 million in funding
- Testnet-4 is live, with mainnet launch expected soon
pSTAKE Finance
- BTC liquid staking solution (similar to EtherFi for ETH)
- Backed by Binance Labs, DeFiance Capital, and Coinbase Ventures
- Testnet recently launched; mainnet coming in weeks
Solv Protocol
- Liquidity and Yield Layer for Bitcoin
- Offers staking, restaking, and delta-neutral trading strategies
- Live on Arbitrum, Merlin, BNB Chain, and Bitcoin Mainnet
- $1.2 billion in TVL

What's Next for Bitcoin Staking?

Babylon's mainnet launch expected to draw attention to BTC staking
Increasing yield opportunities for BTC holders on the horizon
Potential to surpass ETH staking in the long run

Ethereum Scaling Solutions Reach New Heights

Ethereum scaling solutions have hit a new all-time high in activity, driven by the explosive growth of XAI:

XAI is an Ethereum L3 co-developed with Offchain Labs (creators of Arbitrum)
Custom-tailored for gaming applications
Benefits from Arbitrum DAO's recently approved 200M ARB Gaming Ecosystem Program
Recent surge in activity attributed to the launch of Vanguard: Genesis, a new suite of games and rewards

Weekly Alpha by @TheDeFinvestor

Narrative Overview

Market Outlook

BTC ETFs selling continuously for over a week
Michael Saylor accumulated 12k BTC in the last 3 weeks
German government potentially selling BTC
Overall market sentiment remains cautious but bullish long-term

Bitcoin and Altcoin Performance

BTC down 6% in the last 11 days, currently around $65K
Altcoins down more than 15%, with significant capitulation on June 18
ETH outperforming BTC, currently at $3,550

Key Market Movements

ETH and ETH-beta coins outperform:
- Potential ETH ETF approval as soon as July 2
- SEC drops charges alleging ETH sales as securities transactions
- Notable performers: ENS (+35%), LDO (+27%), PENDLE, UNI, MKR, SSV
CRV ecosystem shakeup:
- Michael Egorov's CRV loans liquidated
- CRV and CVX pump post-liquidation (+35% and +85% respectively)
DJT token drama:
- Rumors of official Trump memecoin
- Martin Shkreli involvement and $100M bet controversy
- Market cap volatility from $50M to $400M, now at $170M
New token launches:
- IO ($IO) and Aethir ($ATH): AI/GPU-related tokens
- zkSync ($ZK): Major zk-rollup token launch
- LayerZero ($ZRO): Launched

Other Notable Developments

TON token gaining mindshare but showing signs of local top
XRP and XMR performing well during market selloff
BTCfi sector underperforming (STX, ORDI, WZRD, PUPS, DOG)
AI coins underperforming but showing strong recent bounce (e.g., FET +50% from local bottom)
Kraken exchange exploit and Certik controversy

Other updates

Key News

May CPI Report:
- MoM: 0% (Est. 0.1%)
- YoY: 3.3% (Est. 3.4%)
- Core MoM: 0.2% (Est. 0.3%)
- Core YoY: 3.4% (Est. 3.5%)
Major Headlines:
- Brazil's largest bank launches Bitcoin & crypto trading
- Terraform to pay $4.47B to settle SEC fraud case
- Microstrategy offering $500M convertible notes to buy more BTC
- $FDUSD bank partner FlowBank enters bankruptcy
- Bukele proposes Bitcoin bank for El Salvador

Project Updates

UWU Lend exploited again; Holograph internally exploited
Stacks halted for 9 hours
CRV founder liquidated on CRV position
Sushiswap introduces Sushi Labs and multi-token ecosystem
Ripple announces RLUSD on XRP Ledger and Ethereum
LayerZero airdrop confirmed for June 20th

Threading on the Edge