Crypto Bingo Card: Binance to Acquire FTX... To the Winner Go the Spoils!
💊 Daily Bullets 💊 Tuesday, November 8th
The drama continues! The FTX/FTT/Binance saga rages and the crypto markets swing in tandem. FTX halting withdrawals, cries of insolvency, rumors and speculation - Not Great!
The surprise revelation: Binance is now set to acquire FTX…
This is surprising as FTX was making such large moves and acquisitions, it didn’t seem likely they were in such financial straits. Earlier, FTT and SOL were in the crosshairs. The theory was that Alameda might try to dump its SOL, Alameda's second-largest holding, and Solana ecosystem tokens in order to raise liquidity. How deep does their liquidity crunch go?
Now everything is up in the air while we wait for the results of their due diligence and more details to emerge. Things should ultimately blow over but it still highlights concerns... What will this mean for the crypto industry? It started as Twitter drama and now we’re here, markets in shambles and crazy volatility. Real life is more interesting than any movie..
💊 Daily Bullets 💊 Tuesday, November 8th
- FTX/Alameda dramarama continues.
- Binance to acquire FTX!
- Zhu Su returns to twitter
- Markets in shambles - Bitcoin dropped below $20k, FTT down to $14 + volatility
- BitDAO accuses Alameda of dumping 1% of BIT token supply. Alameda proves they didn’t
- WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann launching new NFT project Flow3rs
- GALA exploit due to public leak of applicable security keys on GitHub
- SEC wins regulatory oversight suit against LBRY
- Bitmex launching native BMEX token trading on Nov. 11
- Paradigm launches an 8-member bipartisan Crypto Policy Council
- BlockFi reinstates popular high yield crypto savings for accredited investor clients
- Solana scaling protocol Layer N comes out of stealth
- MIM stablecoin depegged
- Wintermute-backed DeFi aggregator Bebop expands to Polygon
- A co-founder of Ethereum reveals new project Andiami
Now for a more expanded and detailed look at the day…
⛓ Crypto News:
- Binance CEO announces intent to acquire FTX to 'help cover the liquidity crunch'
- Bitcoin mining group Iris Energy Limited said in an SEC filing it had received a loan default notice on $103M after miners struggle to make monthly payments
- The GALA token exploit resulted from a public leak of applicable security keys on GitHub
👨⚖️ Economic/Government/Regulatory:
- SEC wins suit against LBRY in major blow to crypto token issuance - the case has major ramifications for applications of SEC enforcement authority over projects that did not conduct ICOs
- Web3 venture capital firm Paradigm has launched a Crypto Policy Council - an 8-member bipartisan council that will advise Paradigm’s leadership and assist the company in “telling the story of Web3 in Washington and around the world”
- BlockFi is bringing back its popular high yield crypto savings account almost 9 months after the SEC fined them, thanks to a loophole - this time it will only target U.S. accredited investor clients
- The Bank of Korea has developed and tested a program that facilitates cross-border remittances by linking different central bank digital currencies (CBDC) from other countries and tested NFT trading
💸 Exchange News:
- FTX treasury lost over $3B in a week, while Binance treasury is up $2B according to Arkham Intelligence
- Crypto exchange Bitmex is set to launch trading of its native BMEX token on Nov. 11. Rewards will be offered in the form of trading fee discounts, withdrawal fee waivers, improved staking rewards and access to new products and services
- Binance CEO not interested in Alameda's offer to buy up its FTT holdings for $22 and that they'd rather “stay in the free market”
- Binance Custody adds $NEAR token and NEP-141 standard to its infrastructure
- Germany’s financial regulator ordered the local German Coinbase branch to comply to risk and capital requirements outlined by national banking legislation
🏦 DeFi News:
- A new Solana scaling protocol named Layer N that could quicken DeFi derivatives and on-chain social networks has come out of a stealth development phase ahead of a mainnet launch expected next year. FTX Ventures, Solana Ventures, Solana Foundation, and Solana co-founders Anatoly Yakovenko and Raj Gokal are investors
- Magic Internet Money (MIM), the stablecoin issued by Abracadabra Money, slightly lost its peg and fell to as low as $0.95. FTT accounts for 18% of MIM’s collateral
- Wintermute-backed DeFi aggregator Bebop expands to Polygon. Bebop's unique “many-to-one” token feature lets traders swap whole portfolios for one coin in one click
- Bitcoin.com, a digital ecosystem and secure self-custody platform, has integrated the Polygon network to its self-custodial web3 wallet
🖼 NFT/Gaming/Metaverse News:
- Blockchain developer Mysten Labs has entered a strategic partnership with South Korean gaming company Ncsoft to create engaging gaming experiences, which contributed $15M to Mysten Lab’s previously announced $300M Series B round
- Tim Tebow Solana-based platform he founded called CAMPUS.io - gives college athletes a way to capitalize on their name, image and likeness. Previously, those assets were treated as property of the National Collegiate Athletic Association and the schools they played for
- NFT.London’s two-day inaugural stint saw over 2,500 registered attendees and 800 speakers
- OneOf—an NFT startup known for music, sports, and brand-centric collectibles, partnered with online seafood delivery service Get Maine Lobster to create an NFT-based membership club - includes shipments of Maine lobster and other seafood
- NFTs for subscription/membership-based models, or loyalty programs, are gaining traction. Gym owners aim to bring NFT memberships to wellness clubs
💰 Fundraises:
- LeadBlock Partners, a venture capital firm based in London and Paris, completed the first close of its new fund, which has a target value of $150M
- Archax, the UK's only digital asset exchange to be licensed by the Financial Conduct Authority, has raised $28.5M in a Series A fundraising round led by investment firm Abrdn
- Decentralized search startup Sepana, which seeks to make web3 content such as DAOs and NFTs more discoverable through its search tooling, closed a $10M funding round led by venture firms Hack VC and Pitango First
- Web3 gaming infrastructure startup Xternity raised $4.5M in pre-seed funding. NFX, a pre-seed and seed-stage-focused venture capital firm based in Israel, led the round
- Web3 gaming company Eterlast emerged from stealth having raised $4.5Mto bring web3 games to sports fans. The seed round was led by Supernode Global. Other backers included Immutable X, Stake Capital and Founders Factory
- The founders of a short-lived NFT marketplace for "fantasy startup investing" raised $1.5M in funding led by Tioga Capital for Job Protocol, a new decentralized recruitment network
👶 Early Stage Projects:
- Anthony Di Iorio, the co-founder of Ethereum, Decentral and Jaxx Liberty, unveiled a project envisioned, designed and built over the span of a decade. The project, dubbed Andiami, blends game theory with cutting-edge hardware to bring blockchain computers to a wider audience
- Shell Protocol officially confirms a future airdrop of $SHELL governance tokens to protocol users
- Top Mina prize winners from the ETH SanFrancisco 2022 hackathon - AnonDao, Factum, Vmina & CompliSend
- Introducing Helios, a fast, portable, and secure Ethereum light client written in Rust. Helios syncs in two seconds, uses no storage, and provides trustless access to Ethereum
- Swim Protocol will be shutting down Swim due to external factors as well as Swim’s internal trajectory and traction
📊 Data:
TL;DR: Today we see smart money flowing into BIT, WBTC, WETH and flowing out of FTT (not surprising). Weekly shows a move into WBTC, USDT and WETH.
- Nansen Smart Money Holdings Token Inflow and Outflows: Tracking what the whales are up to...
- Inflow (1D):
- Outflow (1D):
Weekly:
- Inflow (7D):
- Outflow (7D):
- Nansen NFT Hot Contracts:
🎓 Research/Reads:
- The Merge series: Performance - source
- Automated Market Making and Loss-Versus-Rebalancing - source
- Nansen x Bybit - State of the Industry Research Reports - source
- Glassnode - Slowly but Surely - source
- Delta-neutral DeFi strategies overview - source
- a16z - Building Helios: Fully trustless access to Ethereum - source
🌍 Crypto Twitterverse:
1) Hey all: I have a few announcements to make.
Things have come full circle, and FTX.com’s first, and last, investors are the same: we have come to an agreement on a strategic transaction with Binance for FTX.com (pending DD etc.).
— SBF (@SBF_FTX)
Nov 8, 2022
This afternoon, FTX asked for our help. There is a significant liquidity crunch. To protect users, we signed a non-binding LOI, intending to fully acquire FTX.com and help cover the liquidity crunch. We will be conducting a full DD in the coming days.
— CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance)
Nov 8, 2022
Lots of volatility overnight as speculation about @FTX_Official continues. With the caveat that we are not investors in FTX and do not have any non-public insight, the following features seem evident: 🧵👇
— Cumberland (@CumberlandSays)
Nov 8, 2022
The info on FTX & Alameda is scattered 🗺️
Therefore, we @21Shares@elindinga have aggregated the data using @DuneAnalytics to provide the community with an overview & real-time tracking of their HOLDINGS and TRANSACTIONS 🧙♂️
— Tom Wan (@tomwanhh)
Nov 7, 2022
1/ Ok so just processing this out loud because I am pretty mindblown that FTX chose - of all options, a buyout from Binance.
These were the options open to SBF: (a) seek emergency debt financing, (b) seek new money investment, (c) liquidate assets and/or (d) buy time...
— wassielawyer (@wassielawyer)
Nov 8, 2022
1/ A lot of speculation floating around re FTX's solvency.
Here's 2 cents from a hentai anime penguin in a suit on why FTX probably isn't collapsing (but is likely facing short-term liquidity issues) based on FTX's current behavior and this Wassie's anecdotal experiences.
— wassielawyer (@wassielawyer)
Nov 8, 2022
Let's correct some confusion on bank runs.
A "bank run" happens because banks have partial reserves, because they use your money to invest for profit.
Even a competitor cannot "cause a bank run" on a 100% reserves entity.
Which according to FTX's ToS they should be:
— Adam Cochran (adamscochran.eth) (@adamscochran)
Nov 8, 2022
I don’t like what CZ did at all, he pretty much caused an attempted bank run (still in progress) . Even when having a personal feud it’s the retailer in the end that gets hit
People from 2017 class know how ruthless CZ is tho, not sure why everyone things he is a holy saint now
— Algod (@AlgodTrading)
Nov 8, 2022
As Financial Twitter is all about hyping the latest news or market move, in macro-land people often tend to miss the forest for the trees.
Let's take a step back and look at the big picture.
Where are we in the long-term macro cycle?
A thread.
1/
— Alf (@MacroAlf)
Nov 6, 2022
"The Institutions Are Here" 🧵
For years, the crypto community has been saying "The Institutions are Coming"... and for a long time, we were wrong. Now, in the depths of a bear market, it is becoming clear the institutions are indeed here. Starting with some data...
— Peter Johnson (@TheChicagoVC)
Nov 6, 2022
Did we miss anything or is there anything you want to discuss? We’d Love to hear your feedback and engage with the community! Feel free to leave a comment and let us know your thoughts on the Crypto market!
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