…meme coins, miners, and more
| Climbin' the meme-coin mountain (Chartr) | |
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Yesterday's Market Moves | | Bitcoin
$68,383 (+1.19%) | Ethereum
3,745 (-0.47%) | Solana
$167 (-1.28%) | Dogecoin
$0.159 (-3.03%) |
| Bitcoin
$68,383 (+1.19%) | Ethereum
3,745 (-0.47%) | Solana
$167 (-1.28%) | Dogecoin
$0.159 (-3.03%) |
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Hey Snackers, 15K developers, venture capitalists, regulators, and enthusiasts gathered in Austin this week — along with Sherwood reporters — at the Consensus conference to talk about the future of the fast-changing crypto industry. We've whipped up a special Snacks on the business and tech driving the most salient conversations. Stocks slipped yesterday, pulled down by the techy Nasdaq. Fresh data showed Q1 economic growth was lower than initially thought, giving hope to investors holding out for Fed rate cuts. 😎 GM, quizzers: You won't earn any crypto for taking our weekly Snacks Seven quiz, but you might earn some clout. Here's the first Q: | |
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Crypto watchdogs ramp up enforcement as lawmakers consider an alt path | The playing field… SEC Chair Gary Gensler had vowed to crack down on crypto's Wild West ways, and his agency has put its (fiat) money where his mouth is. SEC enforcement actions against crypto firms shot up 53% last year to nearly double 2021 levels (when Gensler's tenure began). Crypto leaders accuse regulators of rulemaking by enforcement and say they want clarity. It may be coming. Last week the US House passed an industry-backed bill despite opposition from Gensler, and earlier this month the Senate voted to reject the SEC's controversial crypto-custody guidance. The players… The commission's worked to try to rein in crypto. It's sent Wells notices to Consensys, Uniswap, and Robinhood (disclosure: Robinhood owns Sherwood Media). And it's sued industry titans Ripple and Coinbase. But crypto's pushed back: Consensys sued the SEC over its ethereum regulations last month, and in February Lejilex sued, too, accusing the regulator of overreach. Plus, crypto PACs have raised $100M+ ahead of this year's US elections. FYI: Coinbase and Ripple contributed about half of that. The positions… Lately the GOP has been viewed as more of a crypto-industry ally than Dems. But last week's bipartisan House bill passed with support from 71 Democrats. Plus, 11 Senate Dems recently defied President Biden to help pass the measure that would roll back some SEC crypto guidance. | |
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Sponsored by Rocket Mortgage | | | Heat wave: If there's something prospective home buyers can count on right now, it's this: the market is about to get a whole lot hotter. As existing home sales data from the National Association of Realtors goes to show, the summer months bring more houses to the market — creating a wave of activity that buyers should be ready to ride. Summer movin'... if you plan on seizing the moment, Rocket Mortgage can help you lay the groundwork. It takes ~10 mins to get prequalified with Rocket Mortgage by answering a few questions to figure out your budget. Then, chat with an expert about your next steps. The scorcher: Rocket Mortgage are offering Snackers an exclusive $1,000 off closing costs and more, using this link.* Build towards your next move. Get prequalified with Rocket Mortgage today. |
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The business of bitcoin is booming — and Wall Street wants in | The markets… Bitcoin's year has been one to write home about. The OG crypto kicked off 2024 with a rally following the SEC's begrudging approval of 11 spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds. That led to a record-high BTC price of nearly $74K in March, with the coin now about $68K. Institutional investors were watching. Nearly 1K firms disclosed they had invested in spot bitcoin ETFs last quarter, and the top 10 spot BTC ETFs by market cap have ~$54B in assets. Meantime, mega players like the state of Wisconsin's pension fund and Morgan Stanley invested more than $160M and $270M into spot bitcoin ETFs, respectively. The miners… As traditional finance (aka TradFi) embraced bitcoin, the crypto was undergoing a shift of its own: the halving. The preprogrammed event slashed miner block rewards, leaving publicly traded cos like Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms facing the possibility of diminished revenues. Instead, they reported increased Q1 revenues on the year driven by BTC's higher price. This week, Riot proposed a $950M acquisition of fellow miner Bitfarms. If it goes through, the resulting company would be the world's largest BTC miner. The movement… Bitcoin's not sitting still. A new token standard dubbed "Runes" rolled out in April, sending miners' transaction fees soaring before they (and the revenues) crashed back down to earth. Now a proposed update to the crypto's underlying code could allow for ethereum-like on-chain smart contracts, which may bring new use cases (think: DeFi) and fresh $$ to the chain. | |
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Crypto gaming levels up, but tomorrow's blockchain hits could go stealth mode | Press play… Crypto gaming got an extra life, with investors pouring $988M into the space last month, the largest monthly amount since January 2021. The crypto-friendly VC icon Andreessen Horowitz was behind a big chunk of that spending with a $600M gaming fund that builds on the $1.2B it's already spent. Major video-game makers including Ubisoft, Take-Two, Konami, and Bandai Namco are developing web3 games in-house, while smaller studios race to build "AAA" titles that appeal to serious gamers. High blood pressure: In both the "Call of Duty"-like "Shrapnel" and the Illuvium franchise's open-world role-playing game "Illuvium Overworld," players use in-game crypto. Cozy game: "Pixels," a game full of farmland NFTs, said it had 1M+ daily users last month. Beyond the controller: So-called move-to-earn games like "Stepn" encourage players to walk to earn crypto (after they've purchased digi NFT "sneakers").
Next level... After Sky Mavis's "Axie Infinity" game experienced a $600M+ hack in 2022, the next gen of crypto games could go stealth mode to avoid any negative attention. Some experts expect blockchain tech to be integrated into games, without studios calling attention to its presence (aka: less flashy marketing ploy, more backend building blocks). The "Fortnite"-style crypto game "Off the Grid" is debuting on Xbox, PlayStation, and PCs. Coming to consoles could be a big step toward blockchain games' mainstream-ification. | |
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Blockchain tech sees an uptick in VC funding as corporates test the crypto waters | New kids on the block… Despite the frostbite of crypto winter, crypto VC funding jumped for the second straight quarter last month, hitting $2.4B. On the industry's mind: AI. Earlier this year, IBM consulted with blockchain startup Casper Labs to design a blockchain-backed tool designed to audit the data used to train AI systems. The hope is that the tech could help identify AI flaws like biased results and hallucinations. This week, at the crypto conference Consensus, media execs said the blockchain could help identify AI deepfakes and protect creators. Off the chain… A survey of Fortune 500 execs familiar with blockchain tech last year found that over 80% said they either already had or were planning crypto or blockchain initiatives. Cos like Nestlé and Walmart have tested using the blockchain to track how some of their food products travel from farm to table, and Microsoft's partnered with crypto co Aptos Labs for AI and web3 projects. Once bitten… It hasn't always been smooth crypto-corporate sailing. Last year crowdfunding biz Kickstarter said it "wasn't committed" to its 2021 plans of switching its platform to the blockchain after facing user backlash. And in 2022, IBM and shipping giant Maersk shut down a global platform that was intended to help bring the blockchain to the shipping industry. | |
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| 1M: Over 1M new meme coins have been created since April, and the bulk of those tokens (600K+) were launched on solana. $275B: Spot bitcoin ETF trading volumes surged to $275B this month after the SEC approved trading of the securities in January. 80%: Venture-capital funding in crypto plunged to $2B in the first quarter of this year — from nearly $10B two years ago.
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What else we're Snackin' | Meaty: There's a new meme coin, and it's being promoted on a truck outside Consensus. Say hello to the "Costco Hot Dog" coin. Sherwood found out why its holders want to plump the coin to $1.50 and beyond. NFVCs: Crypto VCs at Consensus said they're turning their attention to NFTs (again). But unlike the ape-themed tokens of 2022, now firms want NFTs tied to real-world assets like real estate. Shrink: Bitcoin mining execs spoke Wednesday at Consensus about the future of their industry post-halving. One takeaway: miners may move away from mega mining sites to smaller setups spread across the US.
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Friday | Authors of this Snacks own bitcoin, dogecoin, ethereum, shiba inu, and Uniswap, and shares of: Maersk, Microsoft, Riot Platforms, Robinhood, and Walmart Advertiser's disclosures: *Clients will receive a lender credit of $1,000 when they lock a loan on or after October 20th, 2023, utilizing the Snacks Newsletter application link. Offer cannot be retroactively applied to previously closed/locked loans. Offer does not apply to new loans submitted through non-retail loan originators, including brokers. Additional restrictions apply. Rocket Mortgage reserves the right to cancel/modify this offer/terms/conditions at any time. Acceptance of this offer constitutes acceptance of these terms and conditions. Offer is nontransferable. This is not a commitment to lend. Offer not valid with any additional discounts or promotions. ©2000-2024 Rocket Mortgage, LLC. All rights reserved. Lending services provided by Rocket Mortgage, LLC. NMLS #3030;www.NMLSConsumerAccess.org. Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in 50 states. For additional information please visitrocketmortgage.com/ legal/disclosures-licenses. | |
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Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate... See more | |
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