🤑 Biden OUT, Crypto IN

Let's Dive Into It!

Author

Crypto Rand
July 22, 2024

Happy Monday dear subscribers! In today’s Newsletter, Biden is OUT But Crypto is IN!

In today's bulletin, we are covering:

This week I have on my scope the Mid Caps Index, which suffered more than the Big Caps and it's pushing for the recovery too.

The breakdown below the $4,5 range was critical, and It didn't manage to recover it for now. All attempts from last week got rejected. I'm tracking it closely and waiting to get positioned once it breaches up.

After a nice breakout on the Gaming Index now I would like to see a proper consolidation on the $5,8 range before the next push. Tracking:

 

Biden Ends Reelection Bid, Sparking Crypto Market Reactions

United States President Joe Biden shocked the markets by ending his reelection bid on July 22. Bitcoin's price initially dipped 2.8% but quickly regained 3.6%.

  • Biden ends reelection bid, causing immediate market reactions.

  • Bitcoin's price dipped and then rebounded following the announcement.

  • Analysts have mixed views on the impact of Biden's withdrawal on crypto.

  • Trump's increased election odds seen as a potential boost for crypto.

  • Potential future developments include Trump possibly making Bitcoin a strategic reserve asset.

  • Caution advised due to uncertainty and potential market volatility.

Analysts have mixed opinions on the implications for crypto, with some seeing it as a "win for crypto assets" and others urging caution.

Metaplanet Inc. Stock Surges 21% After Bitcoin Purchase

Japanese investment firm Metaplanet Inc. saw its stock price surge 21% after announcing the purchase of more bitcoin, completing its initial plan to buy 1 billion yen worth of bitcoin.

  • Metaplanet's stock surged 21% during morning trading.

  • The firm purchased an additional 20.381 BTC, totaling 245.992 BTC.

  • Total bitcoin holdings now worth approximately $1.27 million.

  • Completed initial plan to buy 1 billion yen worth of bitcoin.

  • Metaplanet adopted bitcoin as a strategic treasury reserve asset in response to Japan's economic pressures.

  • Multiple bitcoin acquisitions made over the past few months.

  • Average purchase price of bitcoin holdings is 9.96 million yen ($63,250) per bitcoin.

LayerZero

LayerZero is an omnichain interoperability protocol designed to enable and simplify the communication and transactions between different blockchains using Ultra-Light Nodes (ULNs) architecture,  decentralized oracles, and relayers. As a result the cross-chain messaging allows assets to move freely at a low cost in a single transaction.

The goal of the project is to break the barriers between the different blockchains platforms as each one uses different protocols, consensus mechanisms, and programming languages. These differences create the equivalent of data silos, which limits the ability of blockchains to interact and exchange information. 

You have probably seen mentions of the “ecosystems” of each blockchain and how you could use bridges to send one asset from one blockchain to another, here is where LayerZero enter into play and goes further as the protocol is able to bundle transactions into one and pay for gas once, opening up opportunity for dApp developers because:

  • Wallet users wouldn't need to know in what chain they are to interact with any chain.

  • The DeFi ecosystem could become a merge of multiple blockchain spaces without barriers.

  • NFTs could be bought, sold and sent to any chain.

Simply posed, LayerZero could allow the crypto users to be blockchain agnostic and simplify the use of the dApps which could translate in a faster adoption of the technology.

The key Features of the project are:

  • Interoperability: allows users to transfer assets and data across different blockchains.

  • Ultra Light Node (ULN): provide security guarantees without heavy computational and bandwidth requirements.

  • Relayers and Oracles: dual mechanism that ensures that no single entity has control over the transaction process.

  • Security: requires both relayers and oracles to agree for a transaction to be validated, reducing the risk of fraud or attacks.

  • Scalability:  design to handle cross-chain transactions without bottlenecks.

  • Developer-Friendly: provides a suite of software development kits (SDKs) and application programming interfaces (APIs) to help developers integrate cross-chain capabilities into their dApps.

The native token of the LayerZero platform is $ZRO. It’s used to pay for cross-chain transaction fees and other services provided by the protocol,  for governance, and to incentivize by providing rewards for maintaining the protocol’s integrity and efficiency.

The token has a total supply of 1 billion $ZRO tokens and a circulating supply of 110 million tokens (11%) and it’s scheduled to be fully circulating by July 2027. Its market cap is approximately $570 million at current valuations.

LayerZero managed to raise a total of $293M over 8 funding rounds since 2021. The latest funding is a Series B round raised on April 4, 2023 raising the valuation to $3 billion.

The main competitors to LayerZero at the moment are Wormhole, Axelar and Chainlink. All of them bring their own new and innovative ways to build decentralized applications. 

As the blockchain industry grows and more ecosystems flourish with unique and valuable decentralized applications, the fractionalization issue has ignited more than one project to focus on the development of interpolarity solutions. Shaping a space where tokens are no longer required to exist on a single blockchain and can instead be native to numerous chains simultaneously. 

Welcome to the Crypto Rocket Donald Trump

Donald Trump, former president of the USA and current Republican candidate, has shown support for Bitcoin in his campaign, generating great expectations in the ecosystem. Let’s see why his stance changed.

We can say that the romance between Trump and crypto is recent, as the former president began discussing the topic during the current presidential campaign.

Recall that in 2021, Trump had defined Bitcoin as a “scam.” So what changed for him to make a 180-degree turn and become a crypto bro?

Initially, it was a strategy to differentiate himself from Biden on the topic of crypto and its regulation, persecution, etc. Today, it can already be considered the beginning of a relationship that will bring many benefits for both!

It all started with a clear attempt to capture this segment of the electorate by accepting donations for his campaign in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and even Dogecoin. At first, this was seen with skepticism, as it appeared to be mere opportunism.

But then, in a speech at the libertarian forum, Trump declared:

"I will ensure that the future of cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin happens in the USA... I will support the right to self-custody for the 50 million Americans with cryptocurrencies. And I will keep Elizabeth Warren and her dogs away from your Bitcoin. And I will never allow the creation of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).”

Senator Warren is one of the most active in terms of cryptocurrency regulation in the USA, and the criticism of the digital dollar is seen as a threat to the civil liberties of Americans.

He even declared that he would commute the sentence of Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road platform, who has been imprisoned for 11 years.

Trump has launched two versions of NFTs, and this year the TrumpCoin ($DTC) was created, which moves according to what happens to the presidential candidate.

Beyond this, the crypto world seems to like Trump and his campaign promises. So much so that last week, during the failed assassination attempt on Trump, Bitcoin and the crypto market reacted positively when it was confirmed that Trump was still alive.

For now, these are just promises, and there is no clear plan or project on cryptocurrencies from Trump’s team. But the truth is, incredibly, crypto has become an important issue in the US presidential race.

And things will get spicy next Saturday, the 27th, when Trump speaks at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville. I wonder if we will see some caps with the MCGA of Make Crypto Great Again? 

What JD Vance as a President Would Mean for Crypto

Just a Low or the Bottom?

Open Network Grows Impressively Quickly

Don’t sleep on this market, lots of opportunities to come, see you next week!