✍️ CPI Gud! Are Rate Cuts Next?

GM, let’s lock in. 

Given last week's doom and gloom, Bitcoin is holding up remarkably well. Today brought some welcome upside volatility, and as I write this, the CPI numbers have just dropped: US inflation falls to 3%, below expectations. Bitcoin is absolutely loving it. 

Meanwhile, the German FUD is dwindling by the day, with the government down to ‘only’ $750 million worth of BTC. Considering that even their 1 billion USD market sell wasn’t able to bring us down to under $50,000, this is nothing to be afraid of. With ETF flows largely positive this week (+$147.4 million yesterday), the picture is far less bleak.

The thing to look forward to this month is Trump himself attending the upcoming Bitcoin conference in Nashville. On July 27th, all MAGA heads will hear 30 minutes of Bitcoin shills straight from likely the next US president.

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wQUIL/WETH 1D Uniswap

Quilibrium is Internet-fixing tech that is showing great promise. Still somewhat under the radar, due in no small part to the autist quirks of founder Cassandra Heart, who only seems to engage on Farcaster. Despite the low level of hype, the chart is one of the stronger non-meme setups in all of my watchlists.

If we get majors capitulation, I will bid the purple box. If not, bullish on a weekly close above the point of control (red line). I have a small bag already and will add on either of the two scenarios above, whichever comes first.

NFA as per usual, please always do your own research.

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!

Is Curve the Bitcoin of DeFi?

Curve finance was plagued by bear market price action, partly caused by emissions and also by bad debt created by the founder, Michael Egorov. As we know, the feared liquidation of Egorov’s position is past us now. 

Let’s not be burdened by what has been; instead, let’s focus on what can be. For one, Curve’s volume increased fivefold in the last few weeks. Second, we’ve got upcoming emission reduction (part of CRV’s annual halvings) from 20.37% to only 6.34%. Thirdly, CRV is a revenue-sharing token, while the protocol makes around $700,000 to $1M in revenue (now paid in crvUSD) each week. Lastly, CRV saw a 100x increase in the locking ratio during the past few weeks.

Simply put, investors are buying and locking CRV for a very long time to get a piece of the pie. In this case, the pie is one of the most profitable and integral parts of DeFi we can find.

I suspect DeFi will make a vengeful comeback, and the protocols that have proven themselves over multiple cycles will see drastic repricing.

Also, study the institutional DeFi interest and listen to this ETHCC panel (hint: true alpha comes from Terence; connect the dots).

The important bits.

• Rage Trade (DEX) - Tokenomics & airdrop details are out - read

• Paraswap (DEX) - Introduces ParaSwap Delta - read

• Term Labs (DeFi) - Term points campaign is live - read

• Fuel (Rollup OS for Ethereum) - Launches a point program - read

• Compound (DeFi) - Fronted is down (hack suspicion) - read

• Wormhole (Interoperability) - Introduces USDT transfers for 7 chains - read

Even more important bits.

• X has obtained Money Transmitter Licenses in 31 states - read

• Bitcoin could boom in recession, says analyst - read

• YieldMax’s ETF providing short exposure to Coinbase launches on NYSE Arca - read

• MicroStrategy to execute 10:1 stock split - read

• Crypto exchange BitMex pleads guilty to Bank Secrecy Act Violation - read

• Starknet staking expected to go live by year-end - read

• Multiple crypto domains are at risk of exploit today - read

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

Zentry: The Open Gaming Universe Connecting Web2 & Web3

Research

Our complete guide to the monster that is Zentry is live now. You simply can't not be impressed with what this team is building.

It shed its $GF skin, and game-fi world domination is now properly underway.

Read More →

To save you doom scrolling.

I sure enjoy to see some proper altseason confirming analysis on the timeline. Thanks, Mikybull.

Once again, I have to stay on the topic of DeFi. We’ve discussed AAVE's prospects, Convex Finance's potential, and today, the grandfather Curve. Next time, we’ll discuss exciting developments that await us around a protocol that has definitive potential to become one of the top 10 in DeFi but is still valued under $100M.

stay safe homies,

Hix0n 🫡