🤑 CPI printer goes brrrrr as inflation drops to 8.5%

💰 CPI numbers go brrrrrr, 🌟 girly....no wait...the Goerli test is a success and 📊 Optimism hits $1bn TVLHeres your Friday Catch Up

In Todays Catch Up:

• Chart of the Day ETH/BTC

• Hot News on the bloc

• From the archives

• The Rest of the Internet

• Alpha on the bloc

Ethereum has been stealing the spotlight recently with the up-and-coming merge, the forks and recent conventions so it only seems right that we look at the ETC/BTC chart today.As it stands we have broken out and are retesting a clear level of resistance and despite the June '22 crash, Ethereum has held its own extremely well within this upper range band. On the daily, the EMA ribbon is beginning to flip bullish where the 20EMA (blue) is above the 50EMA (green) which is above the 100EMA (yellow), and finally above the 200EMA (red). 2022 was always going to be a big year for Ethereum, the charts are looking strong and with the narrative of the merge getting closer, this could be a chart to keep on your watch list.One question to ponder is "is the merge already priced in?" and if it is or isn't what is the next move?For those new to technical analysis, the EMA (exponential moving average) is a moving average that places a greater weight and significance on the most recent data points. To find out more click here.

chart of the day text

BREAKING NEWS UPDATE: Curve's front end had $573,000 stolen from it which $450,000 was recovered through Binance as the hacker tried to move money through the exchange. More to come on this story.CPI money printers go brrrrr as the crypto markets are sent into a floury of green candles, crushing the bears and putting smiles back on many investors' faces. Inflation numbers came in at a cool calming 8.5%. Are we now in for a slightly warmer crypto winter? Only time will tell....in the mean time SEND IT!A success for Goreli as the final "trial run" test run is a success before the official merge goes live in September. Great news for Ethereum stakers and the crypto market in general as Ethereum 2.0 is the biggest merge in history. That being said ETH 90-day futures volume hits a record high in what might be a buy the rumour sell the news event.A MAJOR policy issue, Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire speaks out against the Tornado Cash sanctions saying "that sanctioning open source software marked a pivotal point in the history of the Internet." The Treasury have claimed over $7BN has be laundered through the protocol including North Korean hacker group Lazarus. In true crypto fashion, a degen sent ETH to popular doxxed wallets and Vitalik used it to send donations to Ukraine. This brings into the legality of mixers.Optimism hits $1bn in TVL, as the L2 scaling solution rides the merger narrative and is now home to over 35 protocols including Synetix and Velodrone. It also looks like DAI has made a big move over to the scaling solution going from $30m to over $140m. According to figures on DeFilamma Optimism is up almost 300% in the past month.Not so hot right now as crypto exchange Hobit "Halts Trading as Authorities Probe Ex-Employee" as a former employee is under criminal investigation and several Hotbit executives had been served with subpoenas. More to come as this story unfolds.

A podcast from the archives as the team sits down with Ape_Ture as the team talk about humble beginnings and defi. YouTube | Spotify

UK economy continues to contract again in Q2 with the cost of living continuing to spiral upwards for UK residents. The Bank of England expects this to be the longest recession since the global financial crisis. Not all doom and gloom though for UK residents as temperatures hit 30+ degrees.Shots fired at Tesla as Ford CEO Jim Farely takes a metaphorical swing at Elon Musk with the annoucement of a major investment into solar energy company DTE energy which both companies claim it to be the "largest renewable energy purchase from a utility in US history." Which for the Ford F-150 EV vehicle is a huge pie in the face to Elon and his delayed CyberTruck.Spotify sells live concert tickets as it test-runs its new ticketing service directly to its customers. Users of the platform will now be able to buy for a select number of concerts around America.The Netflix Games isn't quite as cool as it sounds. The video content streaming platform has been trying for 2 years to ape into the video game market but it's just not happening as users aren't playing or even know they are offered.Game, Set, and Match for the sport icon Serena Williams as she announces her retirement from Tennis. She defined and dominate women's tennis throughout her career, winning 73 career singles titles, 23 career doubles titles, and over $94 million in career winnings. Serena Ventures is next for her, the fund has raised over $111m YTD.

The Research bloc is a Friday special where we ask you the important questions in life.

*|SURVEY: Ball|* *|SURVEY: Bell|* *|SURVEY: Bone|* *|SURVEY: Boot|*

Here is a few alpha plays for your watch list over the weekend: $DPX, $JONES, $PLS and $GNS.Jedi Notes: "Polarys ($POLAR) is a new project launching on METIS, they're a business-to-business service that specialises in bringing web 2 companies into web 3."

The Latest Podcast, From our friends at HXRO Labs, Market rallies on the release of CPI data! | Outlook, News & Analysis w/ Team DeltaFi YoutubeA Useful Read, A Degens Guide to Options, Perps and Hedging with HXRO Network. The Latest Tweet, from @Canteringclark as he tries to pronouce girly, or gorillaly no wait its Goerli...who even comes up with this stuff?The Ape Enclosure, Need help funding a project? Well, we've got you covered. If you've got a good idea then send us an email at [email protected] or reach out on Twitter.

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From the blocmates signing out!