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7/17/24: Red vs. Blue 🇺🇸🚀🗿

7/17/24: Red vs. Blue 🇺🇸🚀🗿

Valko
July 17, 2024

Specs’ Breakdown

1. Trump wants the US in charge of crypto before China

Donald Trump says he wants US in charge of crypto before China, and teases another NFT launch, per the Block
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales)
11:02 AM • Jul 17, 2024

⌐◪-◪ → Trump says the US needs to take the lead in cryptocurrencies before China does.

More specifically, he said crypto isn’t going away and if we don’t take the lead, someone else will.

He also said he’s planning a 4th NFT drop, claiming it's “what the people want”. I wonder if he’ll use his new iconic image post-assassination attempt.

Looking ahead, if Trump wins he will likely push for national crypto adoption before China does, to take control of the situation, and in doing so will spark what I’m calling The Great Bitcoin Race.

First corporations, then banks, then states, then nations. Gradually then suddenly.

Who do you think will adopt crypto first, the US or China? Let me know in Specs.Chat!

2. Polymarket sets new monthly trading volume record of $120M

⌐◪-◪ → Polymarket just set a new monthly trading volume record of $120M, breaking June’s record of $111M with 2 weeks left in July. Follow their real-time analytics on Dune.

Adding to the hype, Nate Silver just joined the company as an advisor. Nate is one of the world’s top statisticians, most well-known for putting election modeling on the map. He was also a major inspiration to Polymarket’s founder & CEO, Shayne Coplan.

Polymarket is truly leading the way in onboarding new crypto users and might be the best app/platform in this department since OpenSea and the early days of NFTs.

While prediction markets are certainly here to say, it will be interesting to see what Polymarket’s volumes look like after the 2024 election markers settle.

Do you think they will stay relevant? Let me know in Specs.Chat!

3. BlackRock Bitcoin ETF now holds 322,125 BTC worth over $20B

BlackRock's IBIT now holds a whopping 322,125 BTC 🤯
Worth $20.9B.
Yesterday's $260M (4,000 BTC) buy only increased their holdings by 1%.
They've absorbed the equivalent of the German Government + Mt Gox BTC reserves + 30% more in 6 months of buying - by themselves.
— TylerD 🧙‍♂️ (@Tyler_Did_It)
11:45 AM • Jul 17, 2024

⌐◪-◪ → BlackRock, the world’s largest money manager with $10.6T in AUM, just surpassed $20B in Bitcoin holdings.

Zooming out, BlackRock and Fidelity (the two largest Bitcoin ETF providers) own 495,683 BTC worth $32B. For context, that’s 2.4% of the 21M Bitcoin that will ever exist.

In terms of flows, the Bitcoin ETFs saw $422.5M in net inflows yesterday, indicating that the market’s reaction to the assassination attempt was to buy more Bitcoin.

At this pace, the ETFs will gobble up Mt. Gox’s supply in less than a week. FUD eliminated.

Meanwhile, Grayscale’s bag is shrinking. Unless they learn from their mistakes and compete on fees, their Ethereum ETF will suffer the same fate as their Bitcoin ETF.

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

Uniswap Labs launches wallet browser extension
Polygon Labs release Plonky3, a new ZK proving system
US Bitcoin miners' global hashrate hits ATH 26.6% in July
DeFi protocol LI.FI hacked for $11M
Phantom pauses cross-chain swaps due to LI.FI exploit
Aethir decentralized GPU company reports $36M first-year revenue
Worldcoin up 40% last 24hr after delaying the unlock schedule
Hermetica develops USDh, Bitcoin backed stable coin as Rune token
Loka launches Bitcoin mining pool for institutional investors
Helio announces instant crypto-fiat for e-commerce stores

🏦Wallstreet & VC

Zodia Markets to buy Elwood over the counter trading desk
Edison by BoredElon raises $2.2M to develop metaverse game
SkyTrade announces pre-seed for first on-chain air rights marketplace
Cypherpunk Holdings ups Solana holdings from $1M to $14M

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

FTX agrees to $12.7B settlement with CFTC over collapse
Senator Menendez, Bitcoin critic, convicted of taking bribes in gold
XRP up 35% this week ahead of potential settlement

🌎 Rest of the World

Detained Binance exec Gambaryan wheeled into Nigerian court
Taiwan passes new AML legislation with 2-year prison penalty
Bitso partners with Lightspark to bring BTC Lightning to 8M users

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

Blast announces bridge time reduced from 14 days to 7 days
‘Catizen’ studio raises undisclosed round to build Telegram games
Trip.com shuts down its Trekki NFT series
Coinbase posts cat video followed by ‘Meow’ NFT mint link
Doodles release official trailer for Dullsville and the Doodleverse
Pudgy Penguins feature Orange Cap Games TCG in latest episode
Pudgy Penguins joins Telegram’s PixelTap ahead of token launch
Mocaverse reveals Mario Kart-like game ‘Cosmic Royale’

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