Are things turning around for Crypto?

A good week for crypto after a brutal few months! Let's break down some of the big events leading up to this

M1 Cyborg

Jul 20, 2022 • 6 min read

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gm friends, a lot has happened this week in Web3. Here are some things that just minted👇

🔥 Are things heating up for crypto?
🎮 The Otherside "First Trip"
📉 Celius Bankruptcy
🧵 The use cases for crypto

Are things heating up for crypto?

Ethereum is up nearly 50% in the last week and most other top cryptocurrencies are up ~20%. Can we say a bull run is finally starting, or what is causing the crypto run? Well, there are a few things:

First, the general market is responding to the Fed's tightening monetary policies to battle inflation. The market has been generally positive, especially with earning calls.
Second, Ethereum could have a bit of hopium with news that The Merge could be coming very soon

The Merge is the long-awaited Proof-of-Stake upgrade to the Ethereum network. No, gas fees won't be reduced. But the network will reduce energy usage by 99%, provide a path to scalability/sharding, and give Ethereum holders a dividend-like return through staking.

Here's what the updated timetable looks like:

Goerli Test Merge (The final testnet!): week of August 11th
The Merge: week of September 19th

🎮 A successful "First Trip" to the Otherside

Last Saturday all eyes were on The Otherside, and for good reason. The largest NFT project's 9 figure bet on Metaverse was showing their first demo, and for the most part, they've succeeded. Here's a breakdown of the good and the bad

The Good:

4500 players were able to play on the same map in real time through the Chrome browser
Audio features, graphics, and simple mechanics (double jump, spin, and jump pads) all worked great
An easter egg hunt and boss fight during the demo added to the experience
Overall very positive sentiment from those who participated

The Bad:

We still don't know what role artifacts, Kodas, or even tiered land plays in the game
For me personally, my M1 Pro Macbook Pro did experience some lag in crowded areas. This scares me when there are 100k deeds and only 4500 people loaded into this demo

Despite "the bad", I would consider this demo a success. Yuga is definitely looking to innovate and they listen to the community, which is a huge reason for why this game can succeed.

Also, check out this perfect concert arena for someone like Travis Scott to play a virtual concert in

📉 Celsius filed for bankruptcy protection. Here's how the hearing went

For those unfamiliar, Celsius is a crypto lending platform. In March, they had over $14.6 billion dollars in digital holdings. During June post Terra collapse, they became insolvent. Here's the breakdown of their debt:

Users withdrew $1.9Bn
Market decline results in a loss of $12.3Bn
Tether liqudiates $900M loan
$100 M lost from investments and an additional $1.9Bn lost from loans redemption and liquidation

In the end, Celsius is left with a massive debt. They only have $1.7B left in digital assets but owe $4.7 billion to customers, most of whom are retail investors.

Unfortunately, cryptocurrencies aren't regulated. They don't qualify for FDIC insurance, which gives bank depositors an insurance of up to $250k if an insured lender fails.

In this case, funds left in Celsius are probably not going to be recoverable.

📰 Our best curated mints this week

How the Metaverse will reshape our lives

The last year has been dedicated to the Metaverse. Companies like Facebook have spent tens of billions and even completely rebranded themselves.

But what is the metavse, and why are so many people interested in it? Check out this story by Time Magazine to learn more

OpenSea lays off 20% of their workforce

Due to crypto winter conditions, leading NFT Marketplace OpenSea recently announced that they were laying off 20% of the staff. This doesn't seem to come at a surprise. OpenSea saw insane growth last summer and raised money at a $13.3 Billion valuation.

They've failed to capture the Solana NFT audience, where Magic Eden has been growing. Decentralized Ethereum Marketplace LooksRare also has come up with innovative features such as messaging, listing rewards, and much more.

Hopefully there is some healthy competition that helps pushes OpenSea.

👻 Snap has Web3 plans and integrations

Remember when AR filters first launched on Snap? The doggy filter was innovative. Filters took off, and hardly anyone takes a photo without them now.

Instagram took this to a new level, and people would create their own filters. Many of these would go viral, and if creators were lucky, they'd link their account and gain a few followers.

Snap is changing this by allowing creators to sell AR filters as digital collectibles, or NFTs. Specifically, a creator can mint an NFT from a different platform and import it through Lenses. The best part? Snap isn't going to be taking cut from this.

💻 Esports and NFTs?

One of the best things I read this week is about Techstorm, an Asian TV channel focused on Esports which has 92 million users ages 18-34 entering NFTs.

Gaming NFTs aren't new, but here's why it's special. One of the largest markets interested in NFTs is Singapore, based on aggregated past search data. Techstorm is fully committing to funding and launching content that can help onboard its audience to NFTs and play-to-earn games.

They'll have Asian creators, play-to-earn games with GameFi, and even have a dedicated media coverage for this called "Techstorm The Drop".

This might not seem much at first, but esports is viewed totally different in Asian countries. Onboarding this many users will eventually help make crypto and NFTs mainstream.

Other Web3 News

Near protocol announces Chunk-Only Producers which will allow for more validators who do not have enough $NEAR for a Block Producer Node
Plaid is adding crypto account data to its platform. Users will have a better idea of financial planning, investment managements, and tax/net-worth calculations
Circle shows transparency for assets backing USDC. They hold $55.7 Billion in liquid reserves for the stablecoin, of which $42.1 billion is in 3-mo US treasuries and $13.6 billion is in cash
Adam Neumann's crypto project, Flowcarbon, is delaying its token launch to "wait for market to stabilize"
Animoca Brands, the company behind Sandbox and Otherside Meta, raises $75 million to invest in blockchain games
Tesla dumps 75% of their Bitcoin holding

NFT Project Updates

Moonbird Oddities revealed today. The art was done by Gremplin, creator of Cryptoadz and artist for Nouns
Jenkins the Valet announces new licensing deal for Writers Room NFT holders with SALT Audio
ApeCoin AIP-70 vote starts July 21 to develop Bored Ape Gazette, a dedicated news platform for all things $APE and BAYC
Cool Cats are offering a raffle to win an unminted Cool Cat. The cost per entry is 2000 $MILK

NFT News

Minecraft will block to use of NFTs in its servers and ban creation of NFT projects
Netflix partnered with Candy Digital to produce Stranger Things NFTs on the Palm blockchain
Artblocks now accepts USDC and DAI stablecoins as payment
An NFT trading card collection was designed and written by AI