January 11, 2022       /       Unchained Daily       /       Laura Shin

Daily Bits ✍️✍️✍️

  • Changpeng Zhao is worth $96 billion – and that number does not include personal crypto holdings.

  • LooksRare is vampire attacking OpenSea through a new token, dubbed LOOKs.

  • Digital asset investment products saw an outflow of $207 million for the week ending January 7.

  • The SEC’s Gary Gensler did not give an answer regarding whether ETH is a security.

  • Bitcoin’s hashrate is on the rise after Kazakhstan partially restored its internet.

  • The burn rate of Ethereum has spiked over the past seven days.

  • Volume on OpenSea has already exceeded $1.3 billion in 2022.

  • Kosovo police confiscated hundreds of BTC mining machines.

  • WisdomTree is adding BTC futures exposure to its fund.

  • Bitfarms bought 1,000 BTC for $43.2 million for its treasury.

  • TP ICAP has started offering clients crypto exchange-traded products.

  • China’s digital yuan wallet is the most downloaded app in Apple and Xiaomi app store.

  • The Associated Press is set to launch an NFT collection on Polygon to support journalism.

  • Billionaire Bill Miller revealed that BTC and crypto investments take up half of his portfolio.

  • A regulator in Pakistan made contact with Binance regarding a $100 million crypto scam.

What Do You Meme?

What’s Poppin’?

It’s Not Looking Beary Good for Crypto

The crypto market cap dipped to $1.85 trillion yesterday – its lowest point since September 29, 2021, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The market bottom coincided with Bitcoin dropping below $40,000 (which had not happened since, ironically, September 28th). With the dip came a flush out of leverage. Over $340 million in positions were liquidated in the 24 hours leading up to press time (6:00 pm ET Monday) and over 100,000 traders were affected, according to data from Coinglass.

In addition to price action looking shaky, it appears that investors interested in digital asset investment products are fleeing the crypto market. Notably, data from CoinShares shows that digital asset investment products saw a record outflow of $207 million for the week ending January 7th. This marks the fourth week in a row of outflows, which has not happened since, again, September.

Bitcoin and Ethereum investment products took the brunt of the outflows, with $107 million in value leaving Bitcoin products and Ethereum outflows totaling $39 million. Binance (BNB) investment products also took a hit, generating $18.1 million in outflows last week.

CoinShares believes that the outflow of funds from crypto digital asset products directly results from last week’s Federal Open Market Committee minutes, which showed concern about rising inflation. The four-week consecutive weeks of outflows come after seventeen weeks of inflows.

Recommended Reads

  1. The Generalist on Decentraland:

  1. Chris Cantino on why and how you should read smart contracts:

  1. Yearn Finance founder Andre Cronje on ve(3,3):

On The Pod…

Can Crypto Be a Force in the Midterms? Yes, Say Kristin Smith and Jake Chervinsky

(Bonus content: read an article w/ the highlights of this show here)

Kristin Smith, executive director at Blockchain Association, and Jake Chervinsky, head of Policy at Blockchain Association, discuss the current state of crypto regulation. Show topics:

  • why 2021 was a watershed year for crypto regulation and lobbying

  • why Jake decided to move from Compound Labs to Blockchain Association

  • what Kristin and Jake think about the current state of regulation in the crypto industry

  • how crypto education will play a significant role in Blockchain Association efforts going forward

  • how crypto will affect midterm elections

  • why Kristin thinks crypto will not be a partisan issue long term

  • what sort of budget Blockchain Association functions on

  • what Kristin and Jake think about the President’s Working Group report on stablecoins

  • why Jake does not think the US should issue a CBDC

  • what Blockchain Association’s take is on SEC commissioner Hester Peirce’s “safe harbor” proposal

  • why Kristin and Jake believes the idea of a “crypto czar” is not feasible

  • how regulators are treating DeFi going into 2022

  • how crypto tax guidelines could be improved for centralized exchanges

  • how Blockchain Association thinks tax code 6050I should be applied

  • what issues could arise from DAOs in 2022+

  • what listeners can do to address the different regulatory topics discussed in this podcast

Book Update

My book, The Cryptopians: Idealism, Greed, Lies, and the Making of the First Big Cryptocurrency Craze, is now available for pre-order now.

The book, which is all about Ethereum and the 2017 ICO mania, comes out Feb. 22. Pre-order it today!

You can purchase it here: http://bit.ly/cryptopians