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- 2/2/24: Scamdrew Tate Wants Free Crypto 🤡🪨🔻
2/2/24: Scamdrew Tate Wants Free Crypto 🤡🪨🔻
Top News
🤡 Crypto hater Andrew Tate wants to launch his own cryptocurrency
🪨 BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF overtakes Grayscale in daily volume
🔻 Meta’s metaverse division ironically incurs a $4.65B quarterly loss

Specs’ Insights
⌐◪-◪ → Andrew Tate wants to launch his own cryptocurrency and says he’ll, “back it with $100M of my own money and never sell”.
This is pretty ironic considering he released a video last year roasting crypto and NFTs, probably because he got burned on a few stupid investments. His exact words were:
“I DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANY CRYPTO”
“I’m not a scammer like every other “influencer”
“I don’t need to rob my fans”
Launching a token would be so unbelievably hypocritical that it might just be an attention-grabbing shit-post. If it is, it’s clearly working.
Anyway, I’ll never understand the Tate worshipers who believe he made hundreds of millions from “legitimate” businesses while desperately shilling a $50 paid group. Actions speak louder than words.
⌐◪-◪ → I want to call BlackRock the dark horse of the spot BTC ETF race, but let’s be honest — we all knew they’d come out on top.
With that said, “BlackRock” definitely has the coolest TradFi name, but maybe that’s Larry Fink’s pro-crypto stance starting to work its magic on me.
On a more serious note: BlackRock’s $IBIT is the first ETF to trade more than $GBTC in a single day, at $301M in daily volume.
This is significant considering Grayscale's massive headstart having their product in the market (as a trust, not ETF) since 2013.
So why is this happening? Well, probably because Grayscale’s ETF fees are a whopping 1.5%, which is 6x BlackRock’s 0.25% fee and 7.5x Bitwise’s 0.2% fee (the lowest).
As long as the low-fee providers can survive — i.e. their costs do not exceed their revenue — then Grayscale will probably lose their lead as the largest ETF by assets under management. Grayscale currently has $20.7B AUM, that’s 6.9x BlackRock’s ETF which just surpassed $3B AUM.
⌐◪-◪ → Looks like Facebook — sorry I mean Meta — just realized a $4.65B quarterly loss in its Metaverse division. Zooming out, Meta reported a staggering $42B loss since 2020 on its metaverse ventures.
While I love roasting Zuckerberg, the truth is, large R&D spending like this is necessary if you want to continue growing/innovating. For context, Apple spent over $100B in R&D over the last 5 years — with an estimated $20B on the Vision Pro headset alone.
Again, it’s fun to roast ZuckZuck, but this headline was a bit misleading and needed context. I get it though, it was a juicy headline, “Meta loses billions on Metaverse”. Lol.

Everything Else
⛓️ Crypto & DeFi
Solana registers all-time-high monthly new addresses in Jan
OPNX exchange built by 3AC founders is shutting down
Jupiter founder brushes off airdrop backlash, criticizes influencers
Larry Davis calls himself an “idiot” for infamous FTX Super Bowl Ad
Ondo COO says stablecoins with yield could overtake current players
Polygon Labs cuts 19% of staff for 'enhanced performance'
Coinbase targes VIP traders at rival exchanges with no-fee promo
54% of all tokens launched on ETH in 2023 were pump and dumps
Foobar, the developer behind Delegate Cash, doxed by NFT Ethics
🏦 Wallstreet & VC
Valkyrie becomes 1st spot BTC ETF to diversify custodians
Celsius’ BTC mining asset to restart as new firm, plans to go public
Superstate introduces tokenized US Gov securities fund, USTB
Velar raises $3.5M for Bitcoin perpetual swaps exchange
Pixelmon raises $8M seed round from Animoca Brands
Saltwater raises $5.5M seed round for web3 gaming
🏛️ Legal & Regulatory
DOJ charges 3 with $400M FTX swim-swap hack
Binance freezes $4.2M XRP stolen from Ripple co-founder
US lawmakers seek to overturn SEC’s crypto accounting policy
Elizabeth Warren renews crypto criticism in push for new legislation
Genesis with SEC for $21M in lawsuit over Gemini Earn program
🌎 Rest of the World
Hong Kong firm VSFG to apply for spot ETH ETF in Q2
Thai regulators order Zipmex to suspend digital asset services
El Salvador president Bukele to continue BTC push if reelected
🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse
Sereum City game launches, Bored Ape holders get free passes
Overwatch esports league bans crypto, NFT, and AI sponsors
Parallel teases open beta for new Season 1 battle pass
Taproot Wizards delays 'Quantum Cats' mint for 3rd time
Animoca Brands criticized for using ApeCoin DAO to fund its projects
Doodles secures collaboration with Casino G-Shock

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