April 21, 2021 | Issue #165

MUST READS

Bitcoin's Wild Weekend

After racing above $60k last week, Bitcoin (BTC) took a dive Saturday night to $52k. The correction caused about $10B in liquidations across various crypto exchanges in a 24hr period – by far the most ever.

So what exactly happened?

Two words: Leverage & Misinformation

As the following stories (mostly FUD) spread across Crypto Twitter and spooked investors...

A hash-rate crash after Chinese miners went offline
A suspicious report about the U.S. Treasury Department going after crypto money launders
An upcoming ban in Turkey on using cryptos as currency
Misinterpreted insider sales of Coinbase equity ($COIN)

...A margin cascade triggered that forced liquidations due to over-leveraging.

TL;DR: Traders and other market participants would do well to understand the fundamentals of Bitcoin better, in order to avoid responding irrationally to headlines.

Since the wild weekend, BTC prices have recovered about half of the losses from the low, and leverage-use has been almost completely reset to near 0.

Ah, This DOGE Thing...

Despite having no real use case, and an inflationary supply (about 10,000 coins are created every minute), Dogecoin (DOGE) continues to pump. The meme-coin is up ~150% on the week and has climbed ~470% since last month.

Typically, this is where we'd share a link to an article or thought-provoking opinion piece but then we figured, as an ode to the coin itself, screw it – there's no point.

To all the DOGE freaks out there, let's chill out. The fact that DOGE is surging (while the rest of the market bleeds) spooks us more than anything else that happened over the weekend.

PayPal's Venmo Launches Crypto Buying and Selling

Venmo, a P2P payment service that is owned by PayPal, begins its quest for crypto-payment dominance.

Users on Venmo may now instantly buy as little as $1 worth of BTC, Ethereum (ETH), Litecoin (LTC), or Bitcoin Cash (BCH).

This is purely done through the app where customers will also have the ability to use funds from their balance with Venmo, or a linked bank account/debit card.

Purpose Investments Launches Ethereum ETF

The Purpose Ether ETF (TSX: ETHH) fund will invest directly into physically settled Ethereum — a welcome change from derivative-based funds like Grayscale’s Ethereum Trust. This allows the ETF to accurately reflect the price of Ether without premiums to its net asset value (NAV).

“The Ether in the ETF is held in secure, offline storage, which is also known as “cold” storage because it is not actively connected to the internet. We do use an online or “hot” wallet, but only for transitory purchases when the ETF is buying and selling Ether. The ETF only invests in and holds 100% physically settled Ether.”

The fund’s AUM currently sits at $26.46 million CAD with a NAV of $10.61 — which is priced based on TradeBlock ETX’ Ether spot price. Each share of ETHH represents 0.00355048 Ether and the management fee is fixed at 1.00%.

DEEP DIVE

Yes… I Read the Whitepaper

After years of articles stating that "everything not Bitcoin is a sh*tcoin," Arthur Hayes, the cofounder of Bitmex, seems to have changed his tune and believes that ETH should be worth $10k+ after analyzing past multiples of network revenue.

Say what you will about the man, but his posts are always entertaining and informative.

Crypto Futures Data Primer

Derivatives, like futures, can get endlessly complex. But even just understanding the fundamentals can give you deeper insight into market dynamics and the forces pulling prices in different directions.

To help better understand crypto futures and analyze the data behind them, check out CoinMetrics' latest in-depth research report: The Crypto Futures Data Primer.

Silvergate (SI) Exceeds Estimates for Q1 Earnings

Silvergate Capital Corporation (NYSE:SI), which is up about 90% YTD, announced first quarter earnings that exceeded expectations Tuesday.

The crypto-friendly bank, whose clients include Coinbase, Gemini and Kraken, reported that digital currency customer deposits grew from $5 billion during Q4 2020 to $6.8 billion Q1 2021.

REGULATORY FRONT

US House Passes Bill to Require Financial Regulators to Set Up Digital Assets Working Group

The U.S. House of Representatives passed several pieces of legislation including a section on digital assets on Tuesday.

Known as the Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act of 2021, the legislation seeks to set up a digital asset working group with representatives from the SEC and CFTC.

The overarching goal of the legislation seeks to clarify when the SEC has jurisdiction over digital assets, in the case of when they are deemed securities, and when the CFTC has a final say, in the case of when digital assets are classified as commodities.

Bitcoin is a Trojan Horse For Freedom

At its core, Bitcoin was built to break us free from the existing system. It is the red pill. And all adopters are going to play a part in the revolution, whether they want to or not.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Other Articles You May Enjoy

r/WallStreetBets now allowing crypto talk
WeWork accepting crypto as form of payment
Twitch streamer raided by crypto people - ends up with over $85,000 in donations
[Technical] Uncovering a four year old bug
The case for universal creative income
Snoop Dogg twist on Nyan Cat NFT sells for $33K
OG meme-makers are finally cashing in on internet fame with NFTs
Phone giant Deutsche Telekom invests in Celo's crypto network
Mike Novogratz’s Galaxy Digital said to be in talks to buy crypto custodian BitGo
FTX disrupted the crypto markets. Stocks may be next [WSJ]

The CoinSnacks weekly digest is a manually curated newsletter that delivers fresh content covering cryptoassets and the evolving blockchain community for investors around the world. The digest is curated by CoinSnacks employees and sent once a week.

📌 Bitcoin's Wild Weekend, Venmo Launches Crypto Buying, and the First Ethereum ETF

MUST READS

Bitcoin's Wild Weekend

Ah, This DOGE Thing...

PayPal's Venmo Launches Crypto Buying and Selling

Purpose Investments Launches Ethereum ETF

SPONSORED

The Only Escape Route Left For Your Money

DEEP DIVE

Yes… I Read the Whitepaper

Crypto Futures Data Primer

Silvergate (SI) Exceeds Estimates for Q1 Earnings

REGULATORY FRONT

US House Passes Bill to Require Financial Regulators to Set Up Digital Assets Working Group

Bitcoin is a Trojan Horse For Freedom

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Other Articles You May Enjoy

Older messages

These Companies Are On Death Watch [Free Report]

📌 Coinbase Lists on Nasdaq, VanEck Launches New ETF, and NYSE Is Doing NFTs

📌 Coinbase Reports Q1 Results, Grayscale Commits to Bitcoin ETF, and Naval Demystifies NFTs

📌 Paypal's Crypto Payments, Dapper Labs Raises $305M, and Goldman Sachs' BTC Services

Last Call

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