Crypto's Latest Threat
Plus catch up on the latest airdrop and what broader impacts it may have to the ecosystem.
TylerD's Market Summary
GM!
Today's top news includes:
Airdrop SZN continues as $SEAM delights
Elizabeth Warren Intro's new Digital Asset AML bill, threatens privacy and decentralization
Parallel Avatars pump 20% as $PRIME reaches ATH
Jack's Oviators jump 60% after only 1,717 minted
$TIA, $INJ and $AVAX outperform, see double-digit gains
🚩 Elizabeth Warren Introduces Digital Asset AML Act
It seems the Biden administration is continuing its war on crypto, even into the election cycle.
The latest?
Elizabeth Warren has introduced the Digital Asset Anti-Money Laundering Act, with bipartisan support.
If it passes, it will greatly change the crypto landscape as we know it today.
The Details
The primary mandate of the bill is to require all individuals involved in maintaining blockchain infrastructure, from developers to node operators, to register as Financial Institutions (FIs).
Implications include:
Requires blockchain maintainers to register as Financial Institutions (FI)
Obligates FIs to monitor and report user activities without warrants
Bans FIs from transacting with privacy-focused cryptocurrencies and tools (i.e. Tornado Cash)
Directly impacts self-custody and node operation freedoms in cryptocurrency
It's effectively requiring all operators in the crypto space to comply with Anti-Money Laundering requirements currently in place for America's Banks and FIs.
Why It Matters
The bill would be a strong blow to the privacy aspect of crypto and its inherent anonymity.
It could go even further to greatly hinder users’ ability to self-custody, thus forcing users to hold crypto within institutions (i.e. Coinbase, FTX).
This kind of stringent regulation underlines a move away from the decentralized ethos of cryptocurrencies.
And if passed, it likely would greatly diminish crypto innovation and building within the U.S.
This will be one to closely monitor as it moves through Congress.
🎁 Airdrop SZN Continues (on Base)
Monday was a recovery day for most coming out of Art Basel.
But it was a surprise "holiday" for those who had interacted with the Seamless Protocol on Base.
Seamless airdropped and launched its $SEAM token on Monday.
And the market responded incredibly well.
What Happened?
Seamless introduced its governance token $SEAM and airdrop for Base's "largest native lending protocol" on Monday.
The token opened at $10 and is up to $13.00 this morning.
That puts it at a $200M market cap and nearly $1.3B FDV.
All for a lending protocol that had about $2.5M in deposits on November 1 of this year, and less than $10M basically up until the airdrop.
Deposits skyrocketed yesterday after the airdrop, jumping from ~$8M to $67M in a day.
An insane success story for a protocol not widely known before yesterday, and still in its infancy.
Why It Matters
Part of the driver of SEAM's success - it was launched on Coinbase.
As many who follow the memecoin / new token launch market, getting listed on tier 1 exchanges can be very difficult. $PEPE for instance is still not listed on Coinbase.
But with the tie to the Base L2, Seamless seemingly had a leg up.
That bodes well for other apps launching tokens on Base (cough, FriendTech).
It's perhaps a good sign for other lending protocols with token plans who have much higher TVL and lifetime volume stats, uncertain about launching into this market.
The spike in activity also shows how an under-used protocol can quickly skyrocket in activity once an airdrop and token price is known (it becomes a known quantity and math enters the equation).
One other impact - expect farming activity to continue to ramp up. Across blockchains and L2s.
It's farming SZN.
🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
ETH trading volume held steady at $29.6M on Monday, while NFT leaders were mostly red (Pudgy -5% to 10.7 ETH, BAYC even at 29.2)
Parallel Avatars led notable top movers +21% to 1.09 ETH after $PRIME reached a new ATH; Seedworld NFTs and Mocaverse also saw big gains
Solana NFTs were mixed with Tensorians +11% to 117 SOL floor, though Mad Lads (-4%) and other leaders saw slight red
Exiled DeGods, the original art behind DeGods which was left behind by Frank and team, jumped to 2nd in volume on Tensor up 200% on the day after the team announced a deal with Frank DeGods
XCOPY announced a burn-to-redeem for his Max Pain holders for a new piece "OBLIVION," the first time he has used this mechanism for holders; the Max Pain floor sent to 0.8 ETH on the news but since fell (now 0.53), while OBLIVION opened at a 1 ETH floor and is now at 0.9
Jack Butcher's Oviators collection ended its mint with 1,717 total mints, the floor promptly pumped to 0.18 ETH (+64% from mint) after traders realized the low supply for his upcoming gen art mint tied to the sunglasses
🌎 Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
Crypto majors were mixed on the day; BTC -1% at $41,800; ETH -1.4% at $2,220; SOL +1.5% at $70.80
AVAX (+11%), INJ (+16%) and TIA (+25%) outperformed in solid green day
Animoca Brands Japan and Cryptoys are partnering to provide a digital toy experience for the Japanese market
🚀 NFT Total Volume
Pudgy Penguins (1,939 ETH, 10.72 ETH Floor)
BAYC (1,770 ETH, 29.2 ETH)
Matr1x Kuku (1,177 ETH, 2.1 ETH)
MAYC (728 ETH, 5.61 ETH)
Degods (663 ETH, 3.06 ETH)
📈 NFT Floor Price Increase
The Mounts of Seedworld (58%, 0.6 ETH Floor)
Mocaverse Treasure Box (40%, 0.39 ETH)
Seedworld Vanguards (25%, 0.47 ETH)
Parallel Avatars (22%, 1.09 ETH)
Checks - VV Originals (19%, 0.35 ETH)
🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is a slower day of mints but with some highlights.
Over on Solana, the Bankmen mint has been heavily anticipated as it launches with Tensor. It's a 6,969 total supply starting at a 3 SOL price. The PFPs will be membership cards to a decentralized country club backed by the team's already revenue-generating products.
Also on SOL, Arsonic and team are dropping "Not Sgt Pepe" priced at 2.69 SOL each with just 149 in supply (with the set expected to grow over time).
See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor.
Bankmen (10:00 a.m. ET) - Solana
Not Sgt Pepe (1:00 p.m. ET) - Solana
Sandbox - The Notorious B.I.G. (2:00 p.m. ET)
Smurf Cat Genesis (3:00 p.m. ET)
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