Welcome to The Wise Guy,
Where we take cryptocurrency seriously, but we also know how to have a good time.
That’s why we’ve curated the crème de la crème from not one, not two, but FIVE newsletters.
MilkRoad, Defiant, Messari, Bankless, and CoinDesk Node.
Defiant’s Top Story
🔄 MakerDAO just hit it big time
They managed to attract a mind-boggling $700 million in deposits after hiking the DAI Savings Rate (DSR) to a delightful 8%. Talk about bringing in the dough!
This move caused Spark Protocol’s total value locked (TVL) to skyrocket by a jaw-dropping 750%, reaching an impressive $440 million. And that’s not all!
DAI deposits in the DSR tripled, soaring to a whopping $1 billion.
💼 Aave’s GHO stablecoin seems to be playing a sneaky game.
It’s consistently trading below its $1 peg, hanging out at around $0.97. That’s a great opportunity for some good old arbitrage fun! While the interest rate for borrowing GHO sits at a fixed 1.51%, other stablecoins on Aave have higher lending rates.
GHO is currently being audited. It’s expected to bring stability to the rescue and put that stablecoin back on track. Founder Stani Kulechov remains as cool as a cucumber, unfazed by the situation. He believes that GHO’s stability will improve after the initial bootstrapping phase.
Messari’s Desk
Let’s talk stablecoins in the DeFi world. They’ve become the talk of the town, with Aave and Curve jumping on the stablecoin bandwagon using collateralized debt positions (CDPs). And we can’t forget about Tether and Circle issuing their own stablecoins (USDT and USDC) against good ol’ customer deposits. But here’s where things get interesting!
PayPal, the payments giant, has decided to throw its hat into the stablecoin ring. They’ve just announced the launch of their very own stablecoin called PayPal USD (PYUSD). And guess what? They’re even teaming up with Paxos to make it happen. Talk about a power duo!
PYUSD is fully backed by U.S. dollar deposits, short-term U.S. treasuries, and similar cash equivalents. It’s no wonder PayPal wants to dip its toes into this lucrative market. With short-term U.S. treasuries yielding a juicy 5% or more, it’s like a money-making machine.
But hold your horses, my friends. While it sounds exciting, there might be limited demand for PYUSD initially. PayPal’s challenge now is to turn this launch into actual demand for their stablecoin. They’ve got the distribution channels in place, thanks to their integration on both the merchant and consumer sides. But here’s the catch: merchants need to feel comfortable accepting and holding PYUSD. It’s like getting your grandma to try that newfangled technology. Sometimes it takes a little convincing!
However, if PayPal can sweeten the deal for merchants by reducing those pesky fees (we all know how painful they can be), or incentivizing consumers to hold and spend PYUSD, then we might see some real action. Imagine skipping those hefty merchant fees at the point of sale! That’s like a retail revolution in the making.
Now, before we get too carried away, let’s not forget about the regulatory uncertainty that still lingers around DeFi and stablecoins in the good ol’ U.S. of A. It might take some time for PYUSD to find the demand it needs to truly flourish. But hey, Rome wasn’t built in a day, right?
Bankless’ Desk
⚡️ SBF is in Jail
Well, well, well, it looks like the notorious FTX scammer, Sam Bankman-Fried, is finally getting a taste of his own medicine! His luck has run out, and he’s now behind bars. The judge revoked his bail, citing his attempts to influence witnesses while under house arrest. Ha! And to add insult to injury, he’s being held in a detention center in Brooklyn that the judge sarcastically referred to as “not on anyone’s list of five-star facilities.” Looks like SBF has finally crossed the line one too many times.
💼 Elon denies $X token
Elon Musk, the ultimate crypto tease. While he’s been hyping up Dogecoin left and right, he’s been quite inconsistent with his support for the broader crypto industry.
Speculators have been wondering if he’ll launch a native token for his platform, especially with his recent plans to turn X into a financial hub. Well, prepare to be disappointed because Musk himself poured cold water on that speculation, declaring that they will “never” launch a crypto token.
Milk Road’s Winners And Losers
The Milk Man is here with his report, and he’s got some interesting updates for us. And by the way, Milk Man, we’ll make sure to send you more Uncrustables!
Now, let’s get to the winners of the week. Drumroll, please…
Winner #1: Rollbit ($RLB)
Up 76% in the last 7 days Rollbit is a crypto-gambling platform for all you degens out there. You can place bets on casino games, sporting events, and even future prices of NFT collections and tokens. But wait for it, here’s the real kicker – they offer up to 1000x leverage!
So, why did Rollbit skyrocket this week? Well, you know what they say, degens gonna degen! The gambling platform became the talk of the town, attracting all the risk-takers. And to add fuel to the fire, the Rollbit team introduced a new buy-and-burn feature for their RLB token. They’re taking a portion of their revenue and using it to buy and burn RLB tokens every day. This creates buying pressure as adoption grows. Brilliant move, if you ask me.
Winner #2: Shiba Inu ($SHIB)
Up 20% in the last 7 days Here we have a token that started as a memecoin and magically transformed into a whopping $5.9 billion market cap. Talk about meme power, folks!
Why is Shiba Inu on the rise?
Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, Shibarium, their new blockchain, is set to launch soon, and investors are piling up their tokens in anticipation. And if that wasn’t enough, developer activity has skyrocketed since July 1st. Developers are going crazy for this memecoin! Looks like Shiba Inu is on a roll, and who knows where it’ll go next?
Oh, and by the way, keep an eye out for Dogecoin ($DOGE). The Milk Man has a hunch that it might be the next token to make some moves. Why, you ask? Well, Shiba Inu and Dogecoin have historically had a strong positive price correlation. Whenever Shib’s price moves, Doge tends to follow in the same direction. And with rumors of Dogecoin integration into Twitter, things could get interesting. Stay tuned!
Now, let’s move on to the loser of the week. Brace yourselves…
Loser #1: Worldcoin ($WLD)
Down 25% in the last 7 days Worldcoin, oh Worldcoin, what happened to you? This crypto project promised a “privacy-preserving digital identity” that can verify humans, using retinal scanning in their mysterious “Orbs.” Sounds intriguing, right? Well, turns out people aren’t so thrilled about scanning their eyeballs, and governments worldwide are raising some serious eyebrows.
Kenyan police raided one of Worldcoin’s warehouses, Argentine regulators are investigating its data collection practices, and the U.K., Germany, and several other nations are also poking their noses into the project. Yikes! Worldcoin seems to be getting more attention from governments than Taylor Swift does, but definitely not in a good way. When you mix FUD and government investigations, disaster is brewing.
CoinDesk’s Best Story
SEC Settlement
Bittrex, the crypto exchange, has settled charges brought against it by the SEC. They’ve agreed to cough up a whopping $24 million fine for allegedly violating securities laws.
The SEC accused Bittrex of operating as a securities exchange, broker, and clearing house without proper registration. Ouch! Bittrex might be filing for bankruptcy, but that didn’t stop the SEC from going after them. And guess what? Bittrex isn’t admitting any guilt here, folks. They’ll just have to hand over the cash within two months of filing their official liquidation plan. Smooth move, Bittrex, real smooth.
Movement In Metaverse
Now, let’s shift our attention to the token movement in the metaverse. Sandbox, the struggling metaverse platform, is about to face a scheduled unlock of its SAND token. And guess what?
This unlock is likely to depreciate the already battered price of the project. To make matters worse, Sandbox’s leadership decided to transfer a whopping 60 million tokens out of the multisig contract, causing quite a storm of controversy. Way to go, guys, really mitigating that shock to the markets.
With over 332 million SAND tokens entering the open market, worth around $133 million, and only half of it going to the team and treasury, I can’t help but shake my head. It’s like they enjoy watching their project sink.
Twice weekly crypto goodness, coming your way! Catch us every Monday, Tuesday and Friday. And hey, don’t forget to check us out on Wednesdays for all the latest AI news – because why limit yourself to just one kind of intelligence?
