Sunday, August 14, 2022

Cardano Rumor Rundown August 12, 2022

Hey Everyone!

Let’s go….

Newly Covered Today:

Pavia just unveiled their rebrand and new website. https://pavia.io/ https://twitter.com/Pavia_io/status/1557769622320996352
Pavia also gave us a much more extensive unveiling of the first district of the Plaza. It’s a narrated fly through with some interesting details. It sounds like the next district will be Cyberpunk. https://youtu.be/EhHuP4Z-aDk
Cardano Node 1.35.3, which should be the Vasil hardfork combinator event version if all goes according to plan, was released today (Aug 11). https://github.com/input-output-hk/cardano-node/releases/tag/1.35.3
There are some people debating whether the Ethereum Merge will result in tax liability. One of the items discussed is whether ETH holders will essentially be receiving a new coin if proof-of-work miners keep the old chain (and the old PoW ETH coins) alive. https://twitter.com/LucidCiC/status/1557710488955301889
Lots of people took a quote from Vitalik about centralization of Ethereum out of context today (Aug 11). He was actually talking about the importance of sharding. https://youtu.be/kGjFTzRTH3Q?t=2167 https://twitter.com/NerdNationUnbox/status/1557260572621766660

Previously covered, but still interesting:

Here’s a dev report of 10x reduction in script size with the script references that will come with Vasil. https://twitter.com/AncientKraken/status/1545864034083225600
There is a very cool new blockchain visualizer for Cardano. https://eutxo.org/ https://twitter.com/conraddit/status/1546221160211283969
It looks like the Carda Station racing game is actually live inside their metaverse. https://www.cardastation.com/play/?x=60&y=23
Wingriders ads take on a decidedly different tone. https://twitter.com/wingriderscom/status/1546162936187703298
It looks like Pavia is getting closer and closer to shipping the new website and new map user interface. https://twitter.com/Pavia_io/status/1546444771325104128
Revuto was covered by Cointelegraph regarding their lifetime subscription model for services like Netflix and Spotify. However, there seems to be no mention of the relevant blockchain in the article (Cardano). https://cointelegraph.com/news/croatian-web3-startup-offers-lifetime-netflix-and-spotify-membership-via-nfts
Cardano is destroying the competition in terms of YoY growth in on-chain volume according to a new report from Kraken (see p. 5). https://kraken.docsend.com/view/ta9gkuzsp3kssmf6 https://twitter.com/SubcriticalTV/status/1546608709580750852
Virtua dropped a Twitter Space AMA today. https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1545468098337284097
It sounds like ADA Realm is inching closer to a fungible coin drop. https://twitter.com/AdaRealm/status/1546859792547069952
MuesliSwap v2. https://twitter.com/MuesliSwapTeam/status/1546846207716331526 https://twitter.com/MuesliSwapTeam/status/1546924255241289735
It sounds like people who minted on Day 1 or Day 2 of Cardano Island will be getting free avatars and free cars. https://discord.com/channels/684117774171373705/987286409771622410
Dewayne Cameron seems to be hinting that it won’t be long now for Liqwid. https://twitter.com/DCdoso/status/1546863953904631810 https://twitter.com/DCdoso/status/1546868449275674625
Seven million merchants can now accept Cardano through ADA Pay. https://watcher.guru/news/over-7-million-merchants-can-accept-cardano-using-ada-pays-new-plug-in
Cardano is still at the top of the github commit charts. https://twitter.com/ProofofGitHub/status/1546920508977041408
MuesliSwap is launching its own NFTs that will boost yield farming. https://medium.com/@muesliswap/hungry-cows-by-muesliswap-nfts-to-boost-your-farming-apr-3fbe4b7a4eed
Jimmy Song is back at it with the confused analysis of proof-of-stake. Now even a pixelated dog can ratio him. https://twitter.com/jimmysong/status/1546969248068673537
The US CPI inflation number for June for all items was revealed at 9.1%, it’s highest since 1981. Energy and food are both higher at 41.6% and 10.4%, respectively. https://www.bls.gov/cpi/ https://finance.yahoo.com/news/asian-shares-bounce-markets-edge-030445470.ht
People are claiming to uncover mind-blowing squandering of funds by 3AC including absurd NFT purchases. https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/vy84rw/3ac_borrowed_millions_from_voyagerblockfi_user/ https://etherscan.io/tx/0x6cca8635f02eb5c14fa66722392a49ae45152bc40f39bef6741ea04054b8a857 https://twitter.com/ravanave/status/1547299512040964096
Layoffs have hit even the biggest players in the NFT world. OpenSea is apparently releasing 20% of its workforce. https://twitter.com/dfinzer/status/1547648521607659522
FutureFest is talking about creating a metaverse convention for Cardano. This might be a great way to include all the people in the ecosystem who can’t travel to the physical events. https://twitter.com/futurefestxr/status/1547656768724951043
IOHK Development Update coming this Friday! https://twitter.com/InputOutputHK/status/1547633660907556871
Alessandro Konrad and Thomas Vellekoop are proposing a new metadata standard. https://twitter.com/berry_ales/status/1547592977186312195
DripDropz reports they have registered as a money services business with FinCen, will now do AML, and will institute staking. https://twitter.com/DripDropz_io/status/1547694112542822400 https://news.dripdropz.io/drip-staking-rewards-more-3a6b475225ae https://twitter.com/DripDropz_io/status/1547693683721457664
I’ll be in a Twitter Space with Yazan of Virtua at 4pm UTC on July 15! https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1547664729845514240
Day 1 of the MuesliSwap Hungry Cows mint went down on July 18 with a very smooth whitelist and random selection process. I hope more projects choose to employ a mint process that looks like this whether whitelisted or not. Not having to worry about your keyboarding speed and connection latency during the request phase was very refreshing. https://nft.muesliswap.com/ https://twitter.com/MuesliSwapTeam/status/1549101020239859713 https://twitter.com/JacobNdelaRosa/status/1549046830914478080
Ardana is hinting at long awaited announcements this week. https://twitter.com/ArdanaProject/status/1549031244104704000
The founder of Compound thinks all NFTs are Veblen goods. It’ll be interesting watching this play out in Cardano and elsewhere. https://twitter.com/rleshner/status/1548776604402421761 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
Time magazine is running a cover about how the metaverse will change everything. https://time.com/6197849/metaverse-future-matthew-ball/
The Virtua NFT claim for certain early minters will begin on Wednesday, 20 July at 4pm UTC and run for 24 hours. https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1549470446046908417
The MuesliSwap public mint will be going down on Wednesday, 20th of July, minting requests can be sent between 12 and 8 PM UTC. Minting starts after 8 PM UTC. Similar to the previous whitelist drop, this will be a fair request mint. https://medium.com/@muesliswap/phase-2-hungry-cows-by-muesliswap-public-mint-882c3c6451fa
Apparently, IOHK has joined the American Chamber of Commerce in Mongolia. https://twitter.com/AmChamMongolia/status/1549216741045293056
Looks like Dubai is planning to add 40,000 metaverse jobs over the next five years. https://twitter.com/Blockworks_/status/1549335302384353280
Virtua gave us a preview of the fancaves for large land plots. https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1549823956504530948
Today, Cardano users were discussing the functionality and implications of sending multiple transactions in one Cardano transaction. https://twitter.com/javifs96/status/1549732735828344833
Reports are coming in claiming this video shows tanks protecting a bank in China after the bank declared deposits not subject to withdrawal. Others argue this is just a night rehearsal for a parade. In either case, just another reminder about what the crypto space has always said about keys. https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1549808472618926082 https://twitter.com/CarlBMenger/status/1549790500516990979 https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2022/07/10/china/china-henan-bank-depositors-protest-mic-intl-hnk/index.html
Things are heating up between Congress and the SEC and it looks like certain members of Congress are actually on our side. https://twitter.com/RepTomEmmer/status/1549414157925195779
There is a new twitter account called Cardano Heroes tracking the movement of whales from multi-pool stake pool operators to single pool operators. https://twitter.com/ADAHeroes
Looks like CFTC Commissioner Caroline D. Pham is publicly opposing the SEC’s take on asset categorization in the Coinbase insider case. https://twitter.com/CarolineDPham/status/1550159347984044033
Coti has released a medium article on the Djed fee structure. https://twitter.com/COTInetwork/status/1550088008254251011
It looks like the MuesliSwap Hungry Cows mint was phenomenally successful. https://twitter.com/MuesliSwapTeam/status/1550085557732139008
Stake with Pride and Emin Gun Sirer remind everyone that staking in a blockchain with slashing is definitionally unsafe. https://twitter.com/StakeWithPride/status/1550152521275953152
Polina Vinogradova on babel fees. https://twitter.com/timbharrison/status/1550557249868816384
The 3AC Founders were interviewed by Bloomberg. https://twitter.com/PastryEth/status/1550521333691387905
Lyn Alden makes an interesting thread about crypto being a separation of “money and state”. https://twitter.com/LynAldenContact/status/1550960304472956930
Here’s an article from SundaeSwap covering the perspective of a dApp team preparing for the upcoming fork. https://sundaeswap-finance.medium.com/the-vasil-hard-fork-from-a-dapp-builders-perspective-9ee454758c16
Elizabeth Warren and five other members of the US Congress have asked the EPA to “require reporting of energy use and emissions from cryptominers.” https://www.warren.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2022.07.15%20Letter%20to%20EPA%20and%20DOE%20Re%20Cryptomining%20Environmental%20Impacts.pdf
FutureFest is already working on a plan to have actual humans working in Cardano Metaverses. https://twitter.com/futurefestxr/status/1551607701385318400
There is now a “blockchain-in-a-box” project for Java devs to create blockchain solutions that Ergo, IOG, and Hyperledger have been involved in. https://twitter.com/IOHKMedia/status/1551593026568523778 https://www.bitcoininsider.org/article/176881/blockchain-tool-will-allow-java-developers-build-blockchain-solutions
Apparently Solana is embracing its “open for business only sometimes” history with actual physical stores. https://twitter.com/Scott_eth/status/1551539635137953793
While Cardano’s eras are named after historically significant figures like Voltaire, Basho, Byron, & Shelley; the Ethereum roadmap labels are more like a parody of a reproductive health class. https://twitter.com/VitalikButerin/status/1551603545752870912
Is security the biggest challenge facing the mass adoption of Web 3? FYEO thinks so. https://twitter.com/InputOutputHK/status/1551672421769519115
Plutus Core programs generated from Typescript are now a thing. https://twitter.com/MicheleHarmonic/status/1551261395295080449 https://www.typescriptlang.org/
SpaceBudz has laid out the path to migrate to new art. https://twitter.com/spacebudzNFT/status/1552042478085308418
Cardano 360 will be this Thursday (July 28). https://twitter.com/InputOutputHK/status/1551968626470690816
Kraken apparently forgot that doing business with Iran is a hot button issue for the US government. https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-crypto-exchange-kraken-suspected-violating-sanctions-nyt-2022-07-26/
Senators Toomey and Sinema think you shouldn’t have to pay taxes on crypto purchases or trades under $50. https://seekingalpha.com/news/3860821-us-senators-introduce-bill-that-would-end-taxes-on-small-crypto-transactions
For the first time in modern history, the Federal Reserve has executed back-to-back 75 basis point hikes. https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/27/economy/fed-meeting-interest-rates-75-basis-points/index.html
Indigo reports that they are now feature complete! https://twitter.com/Indigo_protocol/status/1552268277438619648
We now have blockchain tracked clothes on Cardano. But, these shirts are expensive. https://twitter.com/OriginThread/status/1552280610923749384
You no longer have to dislike just Meta (Facebook) OR crypto VCs. You can now hate them both simultaneously in the form of their bastard children: Aptos & Sui. https://twitter.com/milesdeutscher/status/1552281885438488577
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis showed a -0.9% GDP growth print this morning (July 28). That’s two quarters in a row of negative growth which corresponds to a common definition of a recession although the National Bureau of Economic Research is considered the official arbiter of recessions and marks such events based on a wide range of economic factors analyzed over many months. https://www.bea.gov/ https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/28/economy/us-economy-second-quarter-gdp/index.html
The July Cardano 360 was released today. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHHVaxkHFrE
The ADA Realm & Actum Games AMA recording is now available in discord. https://discord.com/channels/903957555083087892/913541370436808754
CardaStation just onboarded a game developer to their team who spent the last six years at Ubisoft working on games like Riders Republic and Ghost Recon. https://discord.com/channels/908827661504237599/909005782790586379
Here’s a mysterious post from Ready Player Me about some news coming from Pavia. https://twitter.com/readyplayerme/status/1552993598022508550
The Ledger Nano now supports 100 Cardano native tokens via Ledger Live. https://www.ledger.com/blog/ledger-expands-cardano-support-manage-100-native-tokens-with-ledger-live
SundaeSwap now has a monthly video development update. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc8ZCVCMcXM
There was a hack of the Nomad bridge for 150 million that affected several different Cardano projects and wrapped assets in Cardano. https://twitter.com/Oraclecharli3/status/1554266219787784192 https://twitter.com/samczsun/status/1554252024723546112 https://twitter.com/IagonOfficial/status/1554258785690157056 https://twitter.com/GeroWallet/status/1554264725923381248 https://twitter.com/Milkomeda_com/status/1554302195763269632
Charles gave us a very concise summary of what’s going on with Vasil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Na09S56FwuY
Never forget how many people told us not to worry about the “transitory inflation”. https://twitter.com/patrickbetdavid/status/1554086521468239872
As I write over 18k people have signed a petition asking for the removal of Gary Gensler. https://www.change.org/p/retail-investors-fire-gary-gensler-as-sec-chairman-for-obstruction-of-justice
Apparently there is a Swiss bank now offering Cardano staking to its customers. https://watcher.guru/news/cardano-staking-available-at-swiss-sygnum-bank-as-ada-moves-to-crush-ethereum https://twitter.com/sygnumofficial/status/1554349276985278464
WingRiders posts a thread on the impact of the Nomad bridge hack and how the team responded. The thread will be sure to cause some controversy. https://twitter.com/wingriderscom/status/1554370695919976448
As if the Robbery Forest wasn’t busy enough yesterday, there are late breaking reports from today (August 3rd) about some kind of exploit related to the Solana world. https://twitter.com/nftpeasant/status/1554612135992479751 https://twitter.com/SolportTom/status/1554609401369137152 https://twitter.com/magiceden/status/1554620084831674370
Charli3 may have some bad news for you if you bought their ERC-20 tokens on the cheap after the hack yesterday. https://oraclecharli3.medium.com/charli3-update-post-nomad-hack-a3cd576237a0
The giant gulf between the Cardano approach to smart contract standards and that of our competitors is highlighted amid the Nomad bridge exploit coverage. https://twitter.com/IOHK_Charles/status/1554648163532689408 https://twitter.com/sherlock_hodles/status/1554650723291381761
Southrye makes an interesting observation about what I would call one of the bigger differences between Solana and Cardano. https://twitter.com/Southrye/status/1554679752430161922
Looks like Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin bet isn’t playing out how MicroStrategy expected. He is no longer CEO. He is now only the Chairman. https://twitter.com/Mayhem4Markets/status/1554560424267366409 https://finance.yahoo.com/news/michael-saylor-microstrategy-ceo-bitcoin-204325431.html
Here’s John Woods on the possibility of Algorand/Cardano collaboration. https://twitter.com/StakeWithPride/status/1555001121508249601
This article contains allegations that may cast a heavy shadow of doubt on the purported total value locked (“TVL”) of the Solana ecosystem. https://www.coindesk.com/layer2/2022/08/04/master-of-anons-how-a-crypto-developer-faked-a-defi-ecosystem/
Pavia has unveiled the first look at one of the eight districts in the Pavia Plaza. This one appears to be Japan themed. https://youtu.be/4YCQPPo_O1U https://twitter.com/Pavia_io/status/1555210549423644674
The former President of the New York Fed says a full blown recession is either already here or will be very soon. https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/economy/recession-inflation-fed-dudley/index.html
BlackRock and Coinbase are now working together to bring crypto exposure to institutional clients. https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/economy/recession-inflation-fed-dudley/index.html
The US Treasury has added a bunch of Tornado Cash mixer related ETH addresses to their naughty guy sanctions list. Reports are also coming in that Circle has frozen USDC belonging to some of these Tornado Cash users. Hilarious reactions followed. https://home.treasury.gov/policy-issues/financial-sanctions/recent-actions/2022080 https://twitter.com/bantg/status/1556712790894706688 https://twitter.com/juthica/status/1556648502658318337 https://twitter.com/bantg/status/1556656916234965000 https://twitter.com/econoar/status/1556752321773576193
PWC just did a big metaverse survey of 5k consumers and 1k business leaders that indicated 67% of companies are actively engaged in metaverse projects (beyond just experimentation) and 82% expect metaverse activities to be a part of their normal business activities in the next three years. https://www.pwc.com/us/metaversesurvey
FutureFest is putting on a metaverse concert event on Wednesday at 7pm ET. https://twitter.com/futurefestxr/status/1556688896825516032
I think we have found the perfect insult: “that’s web2 thinking”. https://twitter.com/matiwinnetou/status/1556681984789086208
Celsius and Voyager users are currently worried bankruptcy proceedings might involve a clawback of certain withdrawals from these centralized financial platforms. https://twitter.com/TheRealPlanC https://twitter.com/SimonDixonTwitt/status/1556574979524804609
Someone actually did dust a bunch of .eth wallets with ETH from TornadoCash. https://twitter.com/josephdelong/status/1557011056572129280
Coinbase reported a $1.1 billion net loss in Q2 vs. $1.59 billion in net income last year in Q2. https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/09/coinbase-coin-earnings-q2-2022.html
Reports are coming in that Curve was exploited for $573k. https://twitter.com/WatcherGuru/status/1557104364690489346 https://twitter.com/CurveFinance/status/1557104676830601216
Bank of England researchers are worried the use of cryptoassets in the metaverse could lead to systemic risks. https://bankunderground.co.uk/2022/08/09/cryptoassets-the-metaverse-and-systemic-risk/
A law firm representing Pavia has released a “case study” on their work with Pavia. https://twitter.com/StephensonLawHQ/status/1557360513654423559
More surprises from the Coinbase quarterly filing: the SEC has sent subpoenas to Coinbase regarding its stablecoin and yield generating products. https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001679788/000167978822000085/coin-20220630.htm#ibd16326c8f82466fbb851d71853b44a8_262
Virtua gives us a first in-world peek at a game inside their metaverse. https://twitter.com/VirtuaMetaverse/status/1557411483809636352
Don’t forget, the Pavia merch claim for plot holders will start today (Aug 11) and run for two weeks. https://discord.com/channels/897161313120321536/897682883471347763
Artifct has released some images in their discord that seem to be related to avatars for their moon metaverse. https://discord.com/channels/882364185244237884/920120911414300773
CardaStation also provided some in-world footage of the community center they are building. https://discord.com/channels/908827661504237599/909005782790586379

~Army of Spies

Crypto Market Outlook Bitcoin: Easing Inflation Sparks Rally

https://preview.redd.it/qh9pjpxsxsh91.png?width=768&format=png&auto=webp&s=a39262ed8743f6f50c5c0a7821791dacc35999b7

By: Joshua Aldio, Business Associate

Disclaimer: Tokenomy does not provide any investment, financial, accounting, valuation, tax, legal or other professional advice. The opinions expressed in the article is the author’s personal view only. All decisions to buy, sell or trade any Digital Asset using the Services are made solely by you, and you are fully responsible for all such decisions.

Lower than expected, inflation data led to improved sentiment across risk-assets with equities and crypto rallying, while safe-haven assets like Gold (XAU) and the USD declined. Bitcoin (BTC) regained $24,000 but failed to hit new multi-month highs on Aug. 10, and Ether (ETH) charged towards $1,900 on a successful Goerili-merge.

Data from TradingView confirmed that hourly gains of around $1,000 after U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for July showed a slowdown versus the previous month.

While managing $24,179 on Bitstamp, BTC/USD nonetheless did not attract enough momentum to challenge levels from the day prior.

https://preview.redd.it/k2272tjxxsh91.png?width=300&format=png&auto=webp&s=92be88b3b75d6a84184df63fd393d8df89316cee

Nonetheless, relief among traders was palpable, as declining inflation should signal to the Federal Reserve that less aggressive interest rate hikes are necessary going forward. This, in turn, should reduce pressure on risk assets, including crypto.

Year-on-year CPI inflation came in at 8.5%, 0.2% below expectations, while Core CPI remained unchanged at 5.9%. Faith in the Fed cooling its aggressive rate hike cycle meanwhile played out almost immediately, with bets of a 75-basis-point hike in September starkly reduced in favor of 50 basis points.

https://preview.redd.it/kyfzira4ysh91.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=5ed176953d519d2f70694761ff472018fe7d3007

The Ethereum Goerlis testnet has been merged.

This is the last testnet before the Ethereum mainnet merge (expected in September). Previously, both Ropsten and Sepolia successfully switched from PoW to PoS.

With the Goerli merge going successfully, there is growing confidence that there will be no further delays to the Ethereum Merger set for mid-September. After Ropsten and Sepolia, Goerli was the last remaining testnet scheduled to undergo the merge, officially becoming a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain as of 1:45 am UTC, Aug. 11. The Goerli testnet merge has been finalized without any major issues today, suggesting that there will be no delays to the tentative Ethereum Merge date set for Sept. 19.

However some noted there were minor issues that were also present in the previous two testnet merges.

Ethereum developer Marius van der Wijden stated that there was some “confusion on the network because two different terminal blocks and lots of non-updated nodes” that slowed the process down slightly but stated that things were looking “quite good” anyway.

https://preview.redd.it/zry4alh6ysh91.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=1640f5b092eed9106180ab4faa1c6609e9e586bb

Bitcoin on-Chain Analysis:The Merge

Key Takeaways:

BTC: there is little directional bias, but investors have shown more willingness to take on price exposure
ETH: traders have displayed a clear long-bias, expressed heavily in call-options centred in September. Derivatives markets are in backwardation post-September, setting up the Merge event to be a “buy the rumor, sell the fact” event.

To start our analysis, we will assess how derivatives markets are pricing Bitcoin, given that few protocol-level fundamental changes affect the near-term pricing.

Since the start of April, Bitcoin futures markets have seen a dramatic increase in open interest, lifting off the baseline of around 350k BTC and reaching new heights of 538k BTC. Growth is led by a handful of exchanges, primarily Binance, Deribit, OKEx, Bybit, FTX, and CME.

Comparing open interest in a BTC denomination helps isolate periods of growth in futures leverage from coin price changes. On a USD basis, the current open interest is $12.4B, which is relatively low and equivalent to the early bull market in Jan 2021, and at the $29k sell-off lows in June 2021.

https://preview.redd.it/h2csvfs8ysh91.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=79dc69cc191fdf02ddadeab4739db699b6137232

Futures trade volume appears to have stabilized in the post-LUNA collapse era. Trade volume experienced a structural decline over the 12 months since the May 2021 sell-off but appeared to be re-establishing a floor at around $33B/day.

Given the large-scale increase in open interest (on a relative scale), this may indicate that traders are increasingly willing to take on Bitcoin price exposure following the two major capitulation events in May and June.

https://preview.redd.it/2vkalfx9ysh91.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=20b460ee8d94c2cd3eaa4829b1e1bfbca1aa412f

A structural change has occurred in futures markets over the last 18 months. The proportion of coin-backed margin has declined from 70% to a new normal baseline of around 40% dominance. In other words, approximately 60% of the Futures margin is now posted via stablecoin and fiat collateral, removing the added volatility brought on by collateral value changing alongside the Futures contracts. This means that while Futures leverage is high, the underlying margin appears to be much more stable, reducing the impact of negative convexity in contrast to early 2021.

https://preview.redd.it/6xnndwdbysh91.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=420a73b50fc139471d2bf2d63c64edaf236084c0

Futures are pricing Bitcoin in a state of contango, where traders must pay a slight premium to obtain exposure to Bitcoin in the future. This is the more common condition for Bitcoin markets, and the premium out to year’s end is just 3.24%. This cash-and-carry yield is only barely competitive with yields available on US treasuries and thus hardly indicative of any long-term bullish bias just yet.

https://preview.redd.it/rki78ttcysh91.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=b0fb30c040c5bf2e634dca6dc74a7eac9838622d

Merge Calling

On the other side of the fence; however, derivatives traders are placing directionally obvious bets for Ethereum, specifically relating to the upcoming Merge planned on 19 September. For the first time in history, Ethereum options’ open interest at $6.6B is now higher than for Bitcoin at $4.8B. While not an all-time-high yet, ETH options OI is close to setting a new one, while Bitcoin open interest remains well below the peak at just 35% of the ATH.

https://preview.redd.it/5gvu1fufysh91.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=44b9fd7657c2da781e49a4b07749aa38ed818a88

If we look at the September contracts on Deribit, the directional bias of Ethereum traders is immediately evident. Call options dwarf put options for size, with traders betting on ETH prices upwards of $2.2k, with significant open interest even out to $5.0k.

The max pain price, however, is currently around $1.35k, which would lead to the maximum number of options expiring out of the money. Given that this is below the spot price today, it is an exciting month ahead.

https://preview.redd.it/htx3m5ijysh91.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f5ea4b694b89032e8d8adc732a12a12accbeb45

This significant buy-side demand for ETH call options expiring in September has pushed the volatility smile into a state of extreme bullish bias. Overlaid on this chart are open interest bars, where it can be seen that the upwards slope is driven heavily by traders willing to pay a premium for long call exposure. Implied volatility for this contract is well above 100% at almost all strike prices. The most bullish traders, who are buying call options above $5k, are willing to pay a premium of over 130% implied volatility.

https://preview.redd.it/xyzrzc7lysh91.png?width=512&format=png&auto=webp&s=9f546e6a46cf4d19060391a05fc938892eb8f2ec

Optimizing Features

Traders and investors can utilize Tokenomy’s Dual Currency Deposit to place pending limit orders and earn yield while waiting for the order to be executed.

For more info, please contact our team at www.tokenomy.com

Event: 2022 FTX Crypto Cup

Official Website

Follow the games here: Chess.com | Chess24 | Lichess | Chessbomb

MIAMI - The hottest esports chess event ever, the FTX Crypto Cup, kicks off on Monday with world champion Magnus Carlsen and new rival Alireza Firouzja topping a stellar line-up. The all-play-all tournament is the Meltwater Champions Chess Tour’s second Major of the season and is being held on-site at the Eden Roc Miami Beach in Miami, Florida, from August 15 to 21. It will be the first esports chess tournament of its kind ever held on US soil and carries the Tour’s largest prize fund so far this year - $210,000 plus an additional $100,000 tied to the price of bitcoin provided by leading cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The 8-player line-up features some of the world’s very best players and most exciting juniors.

As part of the FTX Crypto Cup, an exclusive key will be offered for free to fans around the world that will unlock unique fan experiences including fantasy challenges, chess activities and giveaways, and $100K in rewards and prizes which will be distributed throughout the summer and during the tournament. Anyone can claim the key for free by visiting the official website and claiming the free NFT with their FTX wallet.

Statement from Champions Chess Tour Director Arne Horvei:

At Play Magnus Group, we are looking forward to what will be a truly special event in Miami featuring the game’s hottest stars right now thanks to our partner FTX. Magnus vs Firouzja is just a mouth-watering match-up, and then there’s Pragg in the line-up too with Duda, Giri and Aronian just to start with! We also have an opening ceremony lined up on August 14 and, for the first time, spectators will be allowed to see a Tour event live on the final two days.

It will be a feast of chess which we hope everyone interested in the game can watch and enjoy. And, of course, it will come with the usual full live coverage from our Oslo commentary team.

Participants

#	Title	Name	FED	Elo	Age	Qualification
1	GM	Magnus Carlsen	🇳🇴 NOR	2864	31	#1 in Tour rankings
2	GM	Alireza Firouzja	🇫🇷 FRA	2778	19	Wildcard
3	GM	Levon Aronian	🇺🇸 USA	2775	39	FTX Road to Miami winner
4	GM	Anish Giri	🇳🇱 NED	2760	28	#5 in Tour rankings
5	GM	Jan-Krzysztof Duda	🇵🇱 POL	2740	24	#2 in Tour rankings
6	GM	Lê Quang Liêm	🇻🇳 VIE	2728	31	#4 in Tour rankings
7	GM	Hans Niemann	🇺🇸 USA	2687	19	Wildcard
8	GM	R Praggnanandhaa	🇮🇳 IND	2661	17	Chessable Masters runner-up

Format/Time Controls

Just as for the Oslo Esports Cup, the players face one of their rivals each day over seven rounds in round-robin play. Each match consists of four rapid games with 15 minutes per player and a 10-second increment added each move. If a match is tied there’s a playoff with two 5+3 blitz games. If still tied there’s a final “Armageddon” game, where White has 5 minutes to Black’s 4, but a draw counts as a win for Black.

Schedule

Play starts each day at 12:00 ET / 16:00 UTC / 18:00 CEST / 21:30 IST

Date	Round
15 Aug	Round 1
16 Aug	Round 2
17 Aug	Round 3
18 Aug	Round 4
19 Aug	Round 5
20 Aug	Round 6
21 Aug	Round 7

Live Coverage

Once again you can watch all the action on Chess24's YouTube and Twitch channels, with beginner-friendly commentary provided by GM David Howell, GM Simon Williams and IM Jovanka Houska.
A higher-level broadcast is also available on Chess24's YouTube and Twitch channels, with commentary and analysis from GM Peter Leko and IM Tania Sachdev.

Predictions for Bitcoin in the event of a real US dollar crisis/collapse?

/r/Bitcoin/comments/wnaa8h/predictions_for_bitcoin_in_the_event_of_a_real_us/

Ethereum hits 8-month highs in BTC as money heads for ‘riskier’ altcoins

Ether (ETH) is worth more in Bitcoin (BTC) than at any time since the start of the year amid renewed appetite for altcoins.

ETH/BTC 1-day candle chart (Binance). Source: TradingView

Altcoin market cap returns to $700 billio

Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView confirms that ETH/BTC has cleared key resistance to pass 0.08 BTC on Aug. 13.

The move is impressive for largest altcoin Ethereum, as the area around 0.075 represented a troublesome sell zone which had previously kept bulls in check for since January.

At the time of writing, ETH/BTC is working to retain the newly-won level, as traders query how long its strength might last.

As Cointelegraph reported earlier, ETH/USD passed $2,000 overnight, a significant psychological boundary in itself unseen since May.

Noting a trend to pile into altcoins developing, on-chain analytics firm Glassnode eyed a desire among investors to heighten risk exposure in the current atmosphere.

"According to Swissblock’s Altcoin Cycle Signal, some of bitcoin’s force tempered as investors divested into altcoins in a lower-risk environment," co-founders Yann Allemann and Jan Happel wrote in the latest edition of their "Uncharted" newsletter.

"Since ethereum’s merge became clearer, ethereum has outperformed bitcoin, driving altcoins higher."

The overall altcoin market cap also reached its highest since the end of May this week, passing $700 billion, according to figures from TradingView and CoinMarketCap.

Altcoin market cap 1-day candle chart. Source: TradingView

ETH price analysis still favors bear market

Turning to potential price targets for Ethereum, traders nonetheless remained conservative after months of upside.

"$ETH to $2200 as long as we stay above $1737," popular account Crypto Chase summarized.

"Once untapped highs start getting tapped (and no reversal is given), the rest of the highs typically meet the same fate. Don't have my eyes on an exact level or setup for long opportunity just yet, but will update if I see one."

"LTF trend v bullish: I'm eyeing breakout if $2k is claimed –> $2.4K," fellow account Karoush AK continued.

"HTF trend neutral bearish: It is not a bull market, just less of a bear market. Under water bag holders blessed with an opportunity to derisk at $2k resistance."

In its latest market update to Telegram channel subscribers, meanwhile, trading firm QCP Capital echoed the need for a cautious approach to further gains in a burgeoning altcoin market.

Of particular interest, staff wrote, was open interest (OI) on derivatives markets, with ETH eclipsing BTC activity by almost double.

"ETHBTC has broken above the 0.08 level and ETH option Open Interest (OI) is at an all-time high of $8 billion, overshadowing BTC option OI of $5 billion. This is unprecedented," it wrote.

"Concerns around a hard fork remain with September ETH futures trading below -8% (annualised) vs. spot. We have been taking some profit on our long spot vs. short futures spread position."

Ethereum's September Merge event, it added, could turn out to be something of an inflection point for markets.

The views and opinions expressed here are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Cointelegraph.com. Every investment and trading move involves risk, you should conduct your own research when making a decision.

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Ominous Solana technicals hint at SOL price crashing 35% by September

Solana (SOL) risks a significant price correction in the coming weeks owing to a classic bearish reversal setup.

A 35% SOL price correction ahead?

On the three-day chart, SOL's price has been painting a rising wedge, confirmed by two ascending, converging trendlines and falling trading volumes in parallel.

Rising wedges typically result in breakdown, resolving after the asset's price break below the lower trendline. If the price follows the breakdown scenario, it could fall by as much as the maximum distance between the wedge's upper and lower trendline.

SOL is far from a breakdown but trades within a falling wedge range, as shown in the chart below. The token eyes an immediate pullback from the wedge's upper trendline with its interim downside target sitting at the lower trendline around $45.

_SOL/USD three-day price chart. Source: TradingView_It will risk falling toward $30 if the price breaks below the lower trendline while accompanying a rise in trading volumes. In other words, a 35% price drop by September.

Conversely, a bounce from the lower trendline could have SOL eye an immediate rebound toward the wedge's apex point at around $53.50.

A decisive breakout above the upper trendline would invalidate the bearish reversal setup, if SOL rises to the 50-3D exponential moving average (50-3D EMA; the red wave) near $58.

Battling FUD

Solana's rising wedge breakdown setup appears as it battles a flurry of negative events, including repeated network outages, centralization concerns and a widespread exploit that targeted Solana wallets.

Nevertheless, SOL rallied nearly 40% in August, mirroring other crypto assets that gained around 11% month-to-date on average.

A part of Solana's gains also after its team quickly clarified that Slope, a Web3 wallet provider, was solely responsible for the $8 million exploit of crypto wallets, including Solana's.

Similarly, Solana released its first "Validator Health Report" on Aug. 10 in response to accusations that its network is heavily centralized. It reported that Solana's proof-of-history (PoH) blockchain has over 1,900 block-producing nodes worldwide.

Nearly 88% of those nodes are operated by independent entities, the report added.

_SOL/USD daily price chart. Source: TradingView_Additionally, in May, Solana developers focused on implementing the early stages of their Mainnet Beta v1.10 series, introducing QUIC and Quality of Service (QoS) packets by stake weight and fee prioritization to defend the network against potential outages.

"It appears that the network showed signs of stabilization post-v1.10 as lower transaction fees occurred and the daily transaction count reversed the trend between the middle of May and the end of June," noted James Trautman, a researcher at Messari, in his Solana Q2 report.

_Solana network usage. Source: Messari/Solscan_Solana's transactions per second (TPS) also improved, from as low as ~700 during network outages to all-time highs above 3,000 after v1.10 began to roll out. Trautman added:

"If implementations of v1.10 and subsequent versions continue to drive stability along with successful ecosystem growth strategies, fundamentals will likely move in a positive direction, and network value may too."

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