5 Minute Crypto ⏳ - Solana's Phantom 💳, Coinbase 🌎 expansion, Bitcoin buyer data, web3 🎮, US federal debt 🏛️

Two Degens (resources, interviews, on all things crypto and some AI)

Hey hey hey — this is the 5 minute crypto update for Friday and Saturday May 5th and 6th.
We’ve got a lot to cover including more token investments, Solana’s Phantom wallet, Coinbase expansion, web3 gaming, fuckin $PEPE coin, bitcoin data, and more more more
Let’s do this like Buddhists
—
As of this recording,
Bitcoin is holding strong at $29,400
ETH at $1966, within a few ticks of $2K
We’re in a mini alt coin mania with Pepe passing $1B market cap, other top risers include Solana, Uniswap, and Sui token
—
What’s going on in crypto land…
I’ve shared before my view that AI and crypto are like yin-yang, two opposite but mutually reinforcing trends in tech
AI is about absolute abundance at low to no cost
Crypto is about absolute scarcity, with everything tracked and clear and with some price attached to it
https://cointelegraph.com/news/eos-network-lands-60m-investment-and-partnership-from-dwf-labs
We mentioned DWF Labs a few weeks ago
DWF announced a 60M investment, 45M for EOS token, and 15M as a sort of ecosystem fund to encourage projects to build on EOS
https://blockworks.co/news/consensus-mechanisms-guide
Blockworks has a great 101 on the different kinds of consensus mechanisms
The article talks about POW, POS, and newer mechanisms as well like Proof of Authority, which is used by Decred, and Proof of History which is used by Solana
https://twitter.com/phantom/status/1653030159245770752
Phantom Wallet, which is the largest wallet for Solana, has launched support for ETH
This follows a similar move by Magic Eden, which was Solana’s largest NFT marketplace
https://twitter.com/blockworksres/status/1651995024882819073?s=20
Good research tweet thread from Blockworks Research about Solana’s newly launched NFT project Mad Lads which had a lot of demand, but Solana gas fees didn’t spike thanks to Solana’s local fee markets
https://www.coinbase.com/blog/an-update-to-coinbases-global-scale-to-go-broad-and-deep
We’ve discussed in recent episodes how Coinbase has been posturing and making public statements about moving out of the US if the SEC / government doesn’t make its crypto laws more clear
—
Related, Coinbase announced Q1 results, and investors reacted positively, sending Coinbase stock up 8%
https://www.ar.ca/blog/axie-infinity-the-web3-gaming-thesis
The way Arca frames the web3 gaming market is interesting. They describe 2 maxima for web3 games
https://david06280728.substack.com/p/month-end-analysis-4c8
From one of my favorite bitcoin analysts, David P Bitcoin on Twitter, he releases a monthly analysis of bitcoin price and buyer trends
https://twitter.com/kouk_web3/status/1652333586031472640
Since we’re in doldrums of the NFT bear market, here’s a thread to get our dopamine back. From Kouk web3, 18 tweets on why we’ll have another NFT bull run
https://jameslavish.substack.com/p/the-cbo-and-taking-the-treasurys
I’ve mentioned this resource before, Bitcoiner James Lavish has a great newsletter on macro, in particular the issue I’m sharing just tears apart US government finances and the deep financial problems the US is facing.
https://www.coindesk.com/consensus-magazine/2023/05/04/central-bank-digital-currencies-are-unexpectedly-becoming-a-presidential-election-issue/
CBDCs - or central bank digital currencies - may become a presidential election issue as we start the slow ramp to next year’s 2024 US presidential elections
—
That’s it for today! All the links are in the show notes. You can follow @twodegenspod on Twitter and subscribe for more!
Outro clip is Erik Voorheen on fiat money
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8R71WGO3qU