🔻The Big W(ick)eek

🗞 Market commentary.

GM to everyone experiencing their first post-ETF listing clarity.

Even though Bitcoin is probably ready for a solid bounce, reaching new yearly highs and especially all-time highs is (at least in the short term) unlikely. At the same time, the newly acquired bearish sentiment seen over the timeline is not entirely justified. The hope? ‘Chopsolidation’ leading to another release of TOTAL 3 along with ETH and ETH/BTC continuation. 

The Bitcoin ETF flows look promising, except on the Grayscale side, which is sending hundreds of millions worth of BTC to Coinbase - probably as we speak. The Grayscale selling pressure is most definitely real, but considering this, Bitcoin price is holding steady.

Meanwhile, we see quite a notable price action over at the Ethereum NFT market, perhaps ignited by the $1M Pudgy Penguins sweep, bringing pengs all the way to 18 ETH. Will our earlier prediction (made a few months ago at the 7 ETH price mark) of pengs surpassing BAYC come true? The Pengs learned to fly and this final flippening might just be around the corner. 

🤓 In today’s email.

• Degen corner. The Future Will Be Modularized

• DeFi insights. 17 unmissable insights

• ICYMI. 2024 thesis by Grant himself, massive DePIN research, and more

• Tweet of the day. 0xBags, can’t help but agree for now

• And finally. Bitcoin L2 narrative is around the corner…

🔥 Degen corner.

The Future Will Be Modularized

The razor’s edge of innovation is always the most thrilling (and profitable) area to find yourself in. People who did not give up and abandon crypto during 2019-20 had a chance to bump into projects so undervalued but at the same time so promising, with many of them riding hundred Xs plus returns, and thanks for what? Just for a bit of reading and digging a level deeper.

This time around, we simply cannot ignore the hype around data availability (Celestia) and modular blockchains. What if we told you there’s a good bunch of these, and they are still tokenless?

No time to waste, bust out the notepads:

• Movement

Movement, as a network of not only modular but move-based (remember Facebook's Libra project? Yes, that’s where Move language originates) modular blockchains, is quickly positioning itself as a definitive leader.

We will keep a tight watch on this one, meanwhile, you watch the Movement blocmates interview and check out the new roadmap.

•  Espresso Systems

Espresso fosters a shared sequencer collaboration and decentralization. We all know centralized sequencers are bearish and nobody really likes concentration of power, right? Addressing this issue is crucial and one that can advance the entire layer 2 and rollup space forward. Go Espresso.

•  Union

In a modular ecosystem set to be huge, multiple blockchains need bridges. That's Union's focus, working alongside Celestia and Movement Labs.

• Hyperlane

Another important interoperability player is Hyperlane. The evolution of the modular universe is dependent on each individual level (Celestia – rollups – rollup ecosytems) communicating with each other as one. This is where Hyperlane comes in.

• Avail

For new modular blockchain development, Avail seems to be the go-to place (and stack to use). AVAIL airdrop for TIA stakers, anyone?

• Fluent

Flexibility is vital. To attract new developers, we must offer it. Fluent, taking the Wasm (WebAssembly) route, allows deploying apps in various languages (Solidity, Rust, and more). Another important puzzle piece.

•  EigenDA

This one might interest all of the Eigen Layer restakers. Would only make sense to get a bit of the data availability layer by Eigen themselves, no? Notes on.

•  Squid

Simplifying token swaps between blockchains and one-click access to cross-chain apps. The simpler, the better, especially for user experience.

•  Caldera

Caldera makes deploying rollups a one-click process. See the points above? It's all about simplicity.

•  Fuel

Branding themselves as “the world's fastest modular execution layer.” Last I recall a project claiming to be the fastest was Solana. Worth noting.

• Radius

D/ACC Vitalik blog post, anyone? A sequencing layer called Radius is in the business of making rollups with “built-in defensibility, trustless capabilities and zero knowledge.”

Special thanks to Andy for providing inspiration for this list of projects! If you're keen on staying at the cutting edge of crypto innovation, definitely follow him.

blocmates Buffet: https://t.me/blocmatesbuffet

👀 DeFi insights.

The important bits.

• Jupiter (DEX) - Announces JUP Airdrop & Memecoin on Jan. 31 - read

• Term Labs (DeFi) - Launches Eigen Layer backed 

• Kodiak (Berachain DeFi) - Releases Protocol Introduction - read

• Renzo (Restaking) - ATH ($50M) TVL Hit - read

• Trader Joe (DEX) - Introduces JOE Phone - read

• Thales (DeFi) - Introduces V2 Tokenomics - read

• Tapioca DAO (DeFi) - Teases Incoming Launch with Trailer

• Redacted Cartel (DeFi) - Achieves n.1 APY of All LST Protocols - read

• Hermes (DeFi) - v2 Omnichain Launch Planned for March - read

• Berachain (L1) - Reaches 300K Testnet Users - read

• Vertex (DEX) - Announces Rust SDK Release - read

• AAVE (Lending) - Considers Deployment on NEON - read

• Banana (Bot) - Expands to Solana - read

• Persistence (App-chain) - Partners with Cryptocito - read

• Y2K (DeFi) - Releases “Turbo Options” - read

• Infinex (DEX) - Introduces the Infinex Account Product - read

📰 DeFi news.

Even more important bits.

• VanEck Puts Bitcoin ETF Ads on the Main Page - read

• Binance Web3 Wallet Adds BRC-20 Support - read

• Bitcoin Becomes 2nd Largest ETF Commodity in the US - read

• Rabby Wallet Teases Upcoming Airdrop - read

• Gary Gensler says Ethereum ETF Won’t be Approved  - read

• Ethereum Throughput is at ATH while Supply at ATL - read

• EU Extends Anti-Money Laundering Crypto Guidelines - read

• Mashable Writes about Ordinals - read

• IRS Announces Crypto Transactions Reporting Exemption - read

• Metamask Introduces Validator Staking - read

• Franklin Templeton is Bull-posting Ordinals - read

• Fidelity Now Holds Over 20,000 BTC - read

🫠 ICYMI.

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

Find all of it on blocmates.com and media network →

🐥 Tweet of the day.

To save you doom scrolling.

0xBags, can’t help but to agree for now.

🦍 And finally…

We’ve been shouting about the Ordinals scene for quite some time now, but now, things are breaking through to another level. Not only do we see a huge acceleration in the Bitcoin L2 scene, but even the new institutional participants like Franklin Templeton are shilling Ordinals right by our side.

We might have a good overlook of the BTC L2 ecosystem pretty soon, meanwhile, you can dig in yourself.

The future is more than bright, friends. No matter the short-term price action. We’re here to understand it all and remain steadily on the ever-changing forefront, and you’re free to join us for the whole ride.