🚀 BlackRock is Coming On-Chain. Yes, it's Ethereum

🗞 Market commentary.

GM, it’s time to kill a crab.

Price-wise, Bitcoin is itching to break out from its choppy ascending triangle range, where many have fallen victim to multiple downside and upside attempts. The decision point is approaching, perhaps today or next week, and it looks like we might break into new territory. 

The likely direction? Upside. However, if we drop to test the new post-halving production cost at $60,000 Biden dollars, that’s fine too. What’s crucial is not to panic and think we’re entering a bear market from this point, at least in my view.

Moreover, there are now multiple things pointing to Ethereum, which might finally get its time in the spotlight. Not only did Eigen Layer announce its mainnet including 6 restaked rollups, signaling an upcoming LRT season, but we've also just received news about BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) and their cooperation with Circle.

In short, especially considering the smart contract code itself, which connects BUIDL assets directly to USDC, this development will undoubtedly lead to a rapid rise in the USDC market cap. And we all know our beloved markets love rising stablecoin valuations. Here’s a good breakdown of it all by our friend Crypto Condom.

📊 Luke’s Chart of the Day

LOOKS/USDT 3D Log Chart

I must admit I am not very clued up on what’s happening at LooksRare, and most of the NFT action these days seems to be on the Bitcoin / Pre Runes side of things. However, the chart doesn’t lie. Good looking market structure, big relative strength in a marketwide altcoin downturn. 

Massive ramping volume, and the LooksRare Twitter has been teasing some kind of upcoming announcement. Their Github is quite active too. It might be worth accumulating and / or buying pullbacks. All time high is way up at $7. When NFTs make a comeback, things could really take off.

Come by the Lucky Luke Discord channel for comments, to roast my picks or to pump your own bags. All banter is welcome any time!

🔥 Degen corner.

Smile! There are multiple rewards to get. 😊

Smilee Finance launched on Arbitrum almost exactly a month ago, and right now, we can add liquidity to fuel the passion of all volatility traders.

If you’re in the mood to long some volatility and learn about the new impermanent gain feature, check this thread from our friend 2lambroz.eth.

Now to the juicy stuff. There’s an ongoing Smilee Earn Bootstrapping Campaign for liquidity providers. LPs can use the Earn Vaults to earn 49 – 148 % APR and points and bonus rewards in ARB. Most importantly, all Earn Vault users are included in multiple snapshots taken at the end of each epoch.

A little birdie told us these snapshots are not to be underestimated. Those of you who scout the main Smilee Finance X page might just get the idea where all this leads…

Enjoy!

👀 DeFi insights.

The important bits.

• Redacted (DeFi) - pxETH now available on Thruster (Blast) - read

• Omni Network (L2) - Airdrop claim for Remilia collections is live - read

• Persistence One (LSTs) - Bolstering chain security using Bitcoin - read

• Frax (DeFi) - staked Frax reached 50% APY - read

• Mantle (L2) - Releases deep dive into AureliusFi - read

• PepperDEX (DEX) - Points are boring - check oPEP rewards - read

• Arena (SocialFi) - Prepares next big points airdrop - read

• Core DAO (Bitcoin DeFi) - Updates on Core Ignition campaign - read

📰 DeFi news.

Even more important bits.

• Galxe launches mainnet for ‘cross-domain pseudonymous identities' - read

• BlackRock’s ETF crosses $15B in total inflows - read

• BlackRock launches Bitcoin ETF advertising campaign on Bloomberg - read

• SBF files for appeal in state of New York - read

🫠 ICYMI.

Life gets busy so here’s what you’ve missed.

Mask Network: The SocialFi Giant Onboarding All of Web2

Research

Mask Network is a decentralized social media infrastructure platform that helps users bridge from Web2. There's been a steady growth in socialFi interest, so we're taking a look at how it works.

Read More →

Investigative Report: Crypto x Social Media Platforms

Research

I'm not sure how, but Ollie has gone away and pulled together over 4,000 words on crypto culture on different social media. It includes Insta, TikTok, Reddit, Facebook, Warpcast and others. The good, the bad and the ugly.

Read More →

Shitcoin Church Episode 20

Diving deep in the trenches today with special guest Satoastshi

Tune in on YouTube →

🐥 Tweet of the day.

To save you doom scrolling.

Agreed, but we all like it Retardio.

🦍 And finally…

Are you on edge? Well, if yes, keep in mind that from the long-term perspective, the bull run is basically intact even if we dump to 35 thousand Biden dollars per Bitcoin, which is of course, highly unlikely at this point.