GM!

Seems like some weeks, the market roars, and other weeks it’s like watching a kettle boil - slow and steady 🫖 

But if there’s one thing we know about crypto, it’s that the calm never lasts for long 🙃 

Today we’re discussing:

• 🥷 SUI: $400M in the wind - an inside job?

• 📰 How’s the industry doing? 2024 State Of Crypto Report

• 🍊 Trump's DeFi launch raises over 200M in the first hour

• 👨‍🦲 L2 wars - is Base about to FLIP Arbitrum?

Our Degen Portfolio is up 7% since last week, just steady sailing.

Keep an eye out, though - a new rebalancing poll is on the horizon 👀 

In the meantime, come tell us what gems we should buy in the #web3-on-fire section of our Discord!

LFG!

SUI: $400M in the wind - an inside job?

So, here we go again - another crypto scandal with accusations flying around about insider trading.

This time, it's SUI in the hot seat, accused of dumping around $400 million worth of tokens.

And of course, like clockwork, they’re denying the hell out of it 👇️ 

• SUI has been exploding recently, with their token price more than doubling.

• That’s when the rumors started swirling - people began pointing fingers at the SUI Foundation and Mysten Labs (the team behind SUI) for allegedly offloading a massive stack of tokens right in the middle of the hype.

SUI’s response: denial

SUI came out with a statement denying the whole thing, claiming no insiders had sold tokens.

According to them, everything’s still locked up nice and tight, and any wallets tied to the foundation or core team were “monitored by qualified custodians.”

Sounds airtight, right? 🫠 

The $23 billion valuation problem

There’s another thing.

• SUI’s fully diluted valuation (FDV) hit $23 billion recently, and that’s where things get sketchy.

• The project is still in its early stages, and that kind of valuation just doesn’t seem to line up with reality 🤷 

• A lot of people in the space are scratching their heads - how can SUI justify this when other, arguably stronger, projects like Solana aren’t even in the same stratosphere?

There’s a growing feeling that insiders are cashing out because they know something the rest of the traders don’t.

The whole situation reeks of a project riding the hype while the insiders quietly take profits 🤫 

What’s next?

The crypto world has seen this play out before: rumors of insider trading surface, and suddenly everyone’s trying to figure out if they’ve been played.

If SUI can’t back up its valuation or explain away this $400M issue with something more solid than vague denials, it’s going to lose trust fast.

Keep your eyes open for what happens next, because this could just be the tip of the iceberg.

How’s the industry doing? 2024 State Of Crypto report

If you've been wondering how crypto's holding up this year, a16z just dropped their State of Crypto 2024 report. And it’s packed with data that shows crypto is not just surviving but thriving 🌱 

With massive growth in users, emerging trends in DeFi, and even political shifts brewing, the crypto landscape is evolving faster than you might think.

Let’s break down some of the key takeaways from this monster report 👇️ 

Adoption

• Crypto activity hit an all-time high this year, with 220 million monthly active addresses, up from just 63 million a year ago 👛 

• That’s a serious growth spike, signaling a new wave of adoption, particularly in regions like Nigeria, India, and Argentina.

• The report compares this growth to the early days of internet adoption - slow at first, then boom! 💣️ 

This surge is mostly thanks to chains like Solana and Base that are keeping fees low and transactions fast.

More people than ever are jumping into the crypto space, and it’s only the beginning.

Political heat ahead of US elections

Crypto’s no longer just a tech curiosity - it’s becoming a hot political topic, especially with the 2024 US elections on the horizon.

• Swing US states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are seeing massive jumps in crypto search interest 🔎 

• Meanwhile, big players on both sides of the aisle are starting to push bipartisan crypto legislation. That means the government is paying attention, and how the elections pan out could reshape the regulatory landscape 🤔 

Bottom line: crypto's political power is leveling up.

Stablecoins taking the Stage

Stablecoins have become a major player in the crypto world, with some people eyeing them as the future of the U.S. dollar’s global dominance.

• The report dives into how stablecoins could bolster the dollar's position abroad, even as fiat currency becomes less stable. Right now, over 99% of all stablecoins are denominated in USD.

So while traditional banks and regulators are still a bit uneasy about the future of digital assets, stablecoins are positioning themselves as a key tool for both investors and governments alike 🪙 

Layer 2s

• L2s are growing, they’ve been handling more traffic, reducing congestion, and slashing fees.

• These improvements are making blockchain more accessible to everyone - from big DeFi whales to the average gamer trading NFTs.

The report shows L2s now account for 7% of Ethereum’s network activity, a huge leap from 1.5% just a couple of years ago. The cheaper, faster transactions are making all sorts of applications - especially games - more practical.

DeFi keeps growing

DeFi continues to grow, with Uniswap out-trading Coinbase at times and even more decentralized apps popping up.

Although the early hype has simmered, it’s clear DeFi isn’t going anywhere.

It's evolving into a more practical tool for finance, even in the face of growing regulatory scrutiny.

The numbers don’t lie - users are steadily coming back as they realize the unique advantages DeFi offers, from lending protocols to yield farming.

Regulation: the big wildcard

One of the most talked-about topics in the report is regulation 👇️ 

• The US is falling behind, with devs heading to countries that are more crypto-friendly.

• The winds could change. Bipartisan efforts to establish clear, consistent laws could shift the balance, making the US a major player again.

(However, until then, there’s uncertainty about whether the US can maintain its leadership in this space anymore)

So, all in all, in 2024, crypto is finally more than just an edgy buzzword.

It’s becoming an integral part of the global economy, and this report shows that adoption is rising, tech is improving, and the space is maturing ✊ 

Sure, there are still hurdles - regulation being one of the biggest - but the fundamentals are solid. It’s clear that crypto isn’t just surviving anymore - it’s finally thriving.

Trump's DeFi launch raises over 200M in the first hour

Donald Trump is back in the headlines, but this time it’s not about politics - it's about his latest venture into the DeFi space.

His World Liberty Financial (WLF) crypto project made a huge splash, raising $220 million in just the first hour 💰️ 💰️ 

This launch saw the sale of over ~800 million WLF tokens, with plans to raise a total of $300 million and sell off 20% of the total token supply.

• So what’s the deal with WLF? The token launch, hosted on X/Twitter, was backed by a massive live stream event.

• Zak Folkman, one of the project’s key co-founders, was on hand to present the WLF mission: “leading the world into a decentralized digital economy” 🤔 

• The project also aims to establish governance for holders through decentralized organizations (DAOs).

Trump’s whole angle here seems to be tied to securing the future of the U.S. dollar against the rise of CBDCs.

On top of that, Trump is keeping a close eye on the upcoming presidential race, where he has a 16% lead over Kamala Harris according to Polymarket predictions, with the odds stacking at 8:1 in his favor. He’s clearly betting that his crypto endeavors will bolster his influence 🍊 

• Interestingly, part of WLF’s angle is also targeted at Black Americans, as over 20% of them already hold or invest in crypto assets.

• Trump’s camp emphasized the need to focus on improving economic conditions for Black men and other minority investors who they believe could be left out by stricter regulatory frameworks.

The project comes with high-profile backing, including Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who are acting as Web3 Ambassadors to the project.

In the big picture, this launch signals Trump’s intention to stay involved with crypto, and for better or worse, he's got people talking.

Whether WLF is another marketing masterstroke or a legitimate game-changer remains to be seen, though, but with $220 million raised in such a short time, it’s clear that interest in Trump's play is high.

L2 wars - is Base about to FLIP Arbitrum?

The Layer 2 (L2) scaling wars are heating up, and it looks like Coinbase’s Base might just pull off something massive - it’s about to flip Arbitrum as the biggest L2 solution on Ethereum 👀 

• According to recent data, Base is charging ahead with a TVL of $2.358 billion, compared to Arbitrum’s $2.595 billion.

• It’s a close race, and the gap is closing fast. Base has been making waves thanks to its lower transaction costs, faster speeds, and broad accessibility - especially since it’s backed by Coinbase.

So, what makes Base attractive?

• For starters, Base taps into the Optimistic Rollup technology, which processes transactions in a batch, making things way more efficient.

• Transactions on Base are cheap and quick - a huge win for DeFi degens who want to move heavy without paying a fortune 💵 

Same thing about the ecosystem that Base supports - it’s got a ton of dApps, gaming, NFTs, and DeFi all flourishing, which keeps the activity rolling.

Coinbase's integration makes Base an even bigger deal to some.

By linking with Coinbase, Base provides easy onboarding for new users, allowing more people to interact with Ethereum’s L2 ecosystem without the usual headaches of complex DeFi setups.

The expanding L2 ecosystem

It’s not just Base though - the whole L2 space is popping.

Many other L2s are aiming to disrupt the space, promising more efficient decentralized apps with even lower fees and better tech.

Other worthy reads

Altseason thoughts from The Smart Ape:

The usual hurdles of ETH holders:

In the meantime, Gold has been outperforming all:

MEMES

That's all for now, frens.

We'll meet in a week! And remember, the market conditions are temporary, but our commitment to building a better DeFi is here to stay. Thanks for joining us, and we look forward to seeing you back next week. Cheers!

Yours, The 🔥 Team

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