MAJR Newsletter 033
Top Stories in Bitcoin and Crypto
@gustavo
MAJR NEWS BRIEF
Today’s Top Stories
BITCOINNew York Giants Star Saquon Barkley Will Take All Future Endorsement Money in Bitcoin
Saquon Barkley, the star running back of the New York Giants football team announced that he’ll be putting all of his promotional dollars into bitcoin using the Strike, the Lightning Network payment application. This is the same company building El Salvador’s bitcoin infrastructure. Barkley discussed his education around the asset and stated that inflation was the main driver for his decision. It’s estimated that Barley’s annual endorsement earnings are in the eight figures - Nike, Pepsi, Visa, Dunkin’ Donuts among others. Barkley has a four-year, $31.2 million contract with Giants that included a $20.8 million signing bonus. Barkley follows other prominent professional athletes that have announced taking their salary in bitcoin - Trevor Lawrence, Russel Okung and Sean Culkin. The Giants have a large promotion deal with Digital Currency Group and part of the deal included bitcoin education for the organization. We should expect more Giants and NFL players to announce their adoption of bitcoin.
Leaked Draft Shows What’s Inside Paraguay's Proposed Bitcoin Law
Paraguay could the be next country to vote on a legislation to regulate bitcoin and the overall cryptocurrency market, however, it’s nothing like El Salvador’s bitcoin bill. The proposed bill attempts to regulate and tax mining, exchanges, trading and even peer-to-peer marketplaces requiring users to register with the state. Apparently, the bill doesn’t seem to promote or foster innovation with the technology, but rather make things more complicated. It’s yet to be determined if this is the exact bill that will be sent to a vote and if it will even be passed. While, this isn’t the best news for bitcoin proponents, it does highlight the fact that lawmakers are taking bitcoin seriously and trying to wrap their heads around the technology and its implications. Bullish.
Bitcoin Mining Firm Compass Inks Deal With Nuclear Microreactor Company Oklo
Compass Mining signed a 20 year deal with nuclear fission startup Oklo. Oklo will provide the mining company with 150 megawatts of energy. Oklo will deploy its first reactors in 2023 and 2024. This follows another nuclear deal to mine bitcoin. Earlier this week nuclear power company Energy Harbor Corp. signed a 5 year deal with Standard Power to fuel bitcoin mining in Ohio. Talen Energy also plans to attach a bitcoin mining facility to its operations. Nuclear energy will provide cheaper and cleaner energy to miners and another way to monetize their energy.
SEC Further Delays WisdomTree Bitcoin ETF Decision
The SEC has delayed another Bitcoin ETF, this time it’s WisdomTree’s application. They requested comments to be submitted in the next three weeks. The SEC postponed to make any decisions until this fall. SEC Chair, Gary Gensler cited previous concerns around possible bitcoin market manipulation and investor protection. The SEC has over a dozen Bitcoin ETF applications in their hopper. WisdomTree also has applications for an Ethereum ETF and a Bitcoin Futures ETF.
CRYPTOShapeShift to Shut Down, Airdrop FOX Tokens to Decentralize Itself Out of Existence
ShapeShift a user interface for crypto and a decentralized exchange (DEX) announced that they will be shutting down the company’s centralized operations and decentralizing itself into a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) controlled by it’s token holders. This is an innovative move lead by CEO and bitcoin veteran, Erik Voorhees. They will airdrop ~$98 million in FOX tokens to preexisting users of the platform ending on June 9, 2021. The FOX token is currently up 77% at the time of writing with news about their upcoming airdrop.
DeFi Startup Optimism Launches Alpha of Its Uniswap Layer-Two Solution
DeFi start up Optimism is rolling out their scaling layer 2 solution for Uniswap. This should provide instantaneous settlement for transactions, so no more slow transaction times, expensive gas fees and stuck swaps. Optimism startup has also received a $25 million investment from crypto power house a16z.
Axie Infinity’s AXS Token Up 700% From June Lows
Axie Infinity’s governance token, AXS is up 700% from it’s June lows just a month ago, going from $2.36 to $23.86. Axie Infinity is the leading blockchain based game on Ethereum where users can breed digital creatures called Axies as well as battle and buy digital property.
From Aave to Yearn: These Are DeFi's Blue-Chip Tokens
Here are the top blue-chip DeFi tokens. There’s currently more than $65 billion locked up in DeFi protocols. All of these tokens run on Ethereum. #1 Aave (LEND) - the digital asset lending protocol that gives users a yield across 20 digital assets and is gaining institutional adoption. #2 Uniswap (UNI) - the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) with more than 64.7% of market share that allows you to list and swap almost any token. #3 SushiSwap (SUSHI) - the second largest DEX that allows users to stake their governance token to earn a yield and vote on the future of the platform. SushiSwap has $2.44 billion in value staked in its smart contracts. #4 Maker (MKR) - Maker is considered the DeFi bank and was the first decentralized stablecoin (DAI) using it’s algorthim and governance token to keep DAI pegged close to a dollar. #5 Compound (COMP) - Compound provides a high interest earning savings account across a number of digital assets and was the first protocol credited with yield farming or liquidity mining. Compound is a top five DeFi protocol with total value locked in its smart contracts. #6 Curve (CRV) - Curve provides a decentralized exchange for stablecoins. Trading fees on Curve are much lower than Uniswap at 0.3% vs. 0.04%. Curve tries to find the most efficient and best yield on stablecoins which can fluctuate between stablecoins. Users can collect interest by providing liquidity to Curve. #7 Synthetix (SNX) - Synthetix lets users create synthetic versions of traditional assets like stocks and commodities, called “synths.” Users are also able to create synthetic assets for digital assets that rise and fall with GDP or the popularity of top crypto influencers. Users can stake it’s governance token, SNX to be eligible to earn fees generated from the protocol. #8 Yearn Finance (YFI) - Yearn is a DeFi aggregator for interest earning services and helps users find the best interest available for staking digital assets on Yearn.
Coinbase Wallet Adds Support for Ethereum Scaling Solution Polygon
Coinbase users can now transaction using layer 2 Ethereum scaling solution Polygon on mobile wallet and web browser. Polygon (MATIC) has been on a tear recently locking up multiple partnerships and seeing the token price appreciate with the increased attention. Their technology allows for transactions to occur off-chain and then settle on mainnet, which means faster, cheaper and better user experience using DeFi and other dApps. MATIC is currently 65% off its highs priced at $0.90 with a market cap of $5.7 billion. It’s available on most US exchanges.
MACROJerome Powell: CBDC Report Coming in Early September
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said he anticipates a Fed report this coming September providing more information on the benefits and risks associated with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), stablecoins and crypto.
“Commercial paper are short-term overnight obligations from companies, and most of the time they’re investment grade, most of the time they’re very liquid, it’s all good,” said Powell. But during recent financial crises, he added, "the market just disappears. And that’s when people will want their money. It’s very simple: these are economic activities very similar to bank deposits and money market funds, and they need to be regulated in comparable ways…If they are going to be a significant part of the payments universe, which we don’t think crypto assets will be, but stablecoins might be, then we need an appropriate regulatory framework, which frankly we don’t have.” - Jerome Powell, Fed Chair
Powell Says Fed Still Expects Inflation to Ease
Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated in front of Congress that we’re still ways off from dialing back asset purchases ($120 billion per month) and believes that inflation will ease as we move into outer quarters. However, Powell stated that they will not hesitate to raise interest rates if needed. They are currently held near 0%. Inflation and CPI numbers are at record highs, not seen for more than 30 years. June CPI saw an increase of 5.4% from a year earlier.
Heavy Use of Fed’s Reverse Repo Isn’t an Issue, Research Firm Says
The Federal Reserve’s reverse-repo facility saw high usage once again on Tuesday and took in $773 billion from eligible money-market funds and other firms. Reverse Repo is a “solution” that the Fed uses remove bank reserves from the system due to excess liquidity from quantitative easing. Put simply, banks aren’t lending due to default risk given the economic environment and have too much liquidity on hand.
MEDIABTC034: Bitcoin as Legal Tender & Near-Zero Exchange Fees w/ Jack Mallers
Bitcoin and crypto adoption is here to stay. Don’t let your friends and family miss the opportunity of a lifetime.
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