1/ A short story on crypto, 401k plans, and the U.S. Department of Labor's efforts to block crypto from 401k plans.

📜👇

https://twitter.com/RasterlyRock/status/1953477596576149835

2/ In 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor issued an unprecedented warning to retirement plan providers:

Exercise extreme caution before offering crypto in 401(k) plans.

It was the first—and only—time the DOL singled out an asset class like this. Not even junk bonds or ESG funds.

In 2025… Bitcoin will hit $200,000, Coinbase will enter the S&P 500, stablecoin AUM will double, and more…

Here are 10 Crypto Predictions for 2025 by the team at @BitwiseInvest

🧵👇 Prediction #1: Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana hit new all-time highs, with Bitcoin trading above $200k.

Our targets:

$200k BTC: Corp/gov buying, ETF flows, & 2024 halving

$7k ETH: Growth in L2s, stablecoins, & tokenization

$750 SOL: Memecoins & migration of “serious” projects

In 2024... Bitcoin will set a new all-time high, the spot bitcoin ETF will be the most successful ETF launch of all time, Coinbase’s revenue will double, and more…

Here are 10 Crypto Predictions for 2024 by the team at @BitwiseInvest

🧵👇 Prediction #1: Bitcoin will trade above $80,000, setting a new all-time high.

There are two major catalysts that will help get us there: the anticipated launch of a spot Bitcoin ETF in early 2024 and the halving of new bitcoin supply around the end of April.

It’s been one week since Uniswap for NFTs launched.

So, how’s it going?

TOTAL:
- Trading Volume: $1.1 million
- Transactions: 1,868

PAST 24 HOURS:
- Trading Volume: $0.3 million
- Transactions: 135 50% of NFT trading volume on Uniswap has gone through OpenSea:

50% - OpenSea
26% - LooksRare
7% - CryptoPunks
7% - X2Y2
6% - Sudoswap
4% - NFTX

1/ Six Fundamental Metrics to Evaluate DeFi Assets

1. Revenue
2. Profit
3. Users
4. Transaction Activity
5. Committed Capital
6. Security

bitwiseinvestments.com/crypto-market-… 2/ REVENUE

DeFi applications produce revenue, just like traditional financial institutions. The revenue generally comes from charging users a fee for transacting on the application.

Over the past two years, the top ten DeFi apps (by market cap) generated ~$5B in revenue.

1/25

In our newest research piece, @Anais_Rchl, @GayatriPC_, & I explore Staking as a Service (STaaS), an emerging crypto sector poised for growth.

- The Merge & why people stake crypto assets
- Staking as a Service & the growth of STaaS providers
- The outlook for STaaS 2/25

Ethereum's transition to Proof-of-Stake is reshaping the crypto economy, pushing the idea of staking front and center in investors' minds.

Long-term ETH holders who choose to stake now have the potential to earn a 4-8% yield on their position through staking.

1/9 Is it ideal that more than 40% of the blocks created on #Ethereum in the hours following #TheMerge belong to just two staking service providers: Lido (DeFi) and Coinbase (CeFi)? No

Am I worried? No. Here’s why👇

https://twitter.com/koeppelmann/status/1570436882483523585

2/9 First, it makes sense that the largest staking service providers have the advantage early on, particularly in the hours & days following Ethereum’s transition from Proof-of-Work (PoW) to Proof-of-Stake (PoS)...

1/ What’s the argument for the Ethereum Proof-of-Work (or “PoW”) chain post-merge?

Today Ethereum PoW offers a thriving application layer—DeFi, NFTs, stablecoins, etc.

But without core elements of the app layer like data feeds & liquidity, what’s the value proposition?

https://twitter.com/chainlinkgod/status/1556353163820642304

2/ Smart contracts & crypto applications need real-world data to function.

Like price feeds of real-world assets or metadata for NFTs, for example.

Oracle networks like @chainlink provide that type of data to crypto applications.

1/ DeFi lending giant Aave is launching a crypto-backed stablecoin called "GHO".

🧵👇

1) What is Aave? A DeFi lending app.

2) What is GHO? Aave’s new stablecoin.

3) Why is Aave launching GHO? More revenue to fuel growth.

governance.aave.com/t/introducing-… 2/ What is Aave?

Over the past three years, Aave has emerged as the leading decentralized lending platform.

Aave enables users to borrow and lend assets at algorithmically-defined rates, without the intervention or cost of a centralized lending facility.

https://twitter.com/rasterlyrock/status/1461406902466883593

1/ How do real-world assets make their way into DeFi?

Let’s take a look at the recent MakerDAO and Huntingdon Valley Bank (HVB) proposal for a $100 million loan participation facility.

🧵👇

https://twitter.com/makerdao/status/1543998801786068992

2/ The proposal?

HVB receives a loan participation facility with a 100M $DAI debt ceiling. They’ll use it to support the growth of their existing & new businesses.

In exchange, they’ll post real-world assets as collateral (a portfolio of various loans).

forum.makerdao.com/t/huntingdon-v…

1/ Stablecoins are often referred to as “the killer application for crypto.”

Yet—like separating the wheat from the chaff—separating the good stablecoin designs from the bad is a necessary step in their development.

A thread exploring the what, why, & how of stablecoins. 2/ A stablecoin is a crypto asset pegged to a real-world asset’s value.

Example: 1 USDC is always intended to be worth 1 US dollar.

They hold their value relative to traditional currencies but, unlike the money in your bank account, they can be used freely on the blockchain.

1/ More than 7k attendees, 2k devs, 1k companies, & 120 speakers gathered for @Permissionless last week, making it one of the biggest crypto events of the year.

It was an epic conference, so @AnaisRachel & I thought we’d share our key takeaways.

bitwiseinvestments.com/crypto-market-… 2/ People are excited for the bear market.

With far less attention fixated on prices, there was a tremendous focus on what's being built & learning from past mistakes (aka Luna/UST).

1/ Given the recent market volatility, let’s explore how the improved risk management practices of DeFi protocols, and the improved capital efficiency in DeFi credit markets that has resulted, have become among the most important—and most overlooked—aspects of DeFi. 2/ The effective operations of the leading lending protocols under volatile market conditions show how dynamic risk management has become a top priority & key driver of growth as they continue to scale up operations.

Coinbase launched its NFT marketplace today, bringing NFT access to its ~90M users.

Some quick facts 🧵👇 (1/4)
tcrn.ch/3L3G36E (2/4) Coinbase's 90M gain access to NFTs:

- Users can use a Coinbase wallet or any self-custody wallet
- No transaction fees to start (will increase to high single-digits)
- Platform will be restricted to users over 18 (not sure how they enforce this for self-custody wallets)

(1/4) The number of web3 developers represents a tiny fraction of all developers in the world.

18,416 👉 Developers in web3

26,900,000 👉 Developers in the world

Source: @ElectricCapital (2/4) Even more impressive, the number of web3 developers grew by 77% in 2021.

That’s a significant uptick in YoY growth, considering the number of web3 developers increased by just 6% from 2018 to 2020.

1/ The POTUS executive order on digital assets has arrived.

It directs various US regulatory agencies to prioritize & evaluate the viability & risks associated with digital assets & their technological innovation.

Here’s what we know so far about the EO & its goals.

🧵👇 2/ Protect US consumers, investors, & businesses by directing the Treasury (& other agency partners) to assess & develop policy recommendations.

It encourages regulators to ensure sufficient oversight & safeguard against any systemic financial risks digital assets pose.

Top 10 NFT collections ranked by floor market cap (per @nftpricefloor)

A lot of movement lately outside of the top 3 collections recently 👀

1️⃣ BAYC
2️⃣ CryptoPunks
3️⃣ MAYC
4️⃣ Clone X
5️⃣ NFT Worlds
6️⃣ VeeFriends
7️⃣ Azuki
8️⃣ Doodles
9️⃣ CyberKongz Genesis
🔟 World of Women Floor Market Cap = Floor Price X Total Collection Supply

For example...

@BoredApeYC currently has a floor market cap of 912,500 ETH (floor price of 91.25 ETH and 10,000 items in the collection)…

At $2,600/ETH, the current floor market cap of BAYC is $2.4 billion

The @wormholecrypto protocol, which allows users to bridge assets across blockchains (like Solana, Terra, etc.), was hacked for $320M worth of wETH.

The Wormhole team has acknowledge the hack & has offered a $10M bounty to the responsible party if the funds are returned.

https://twitter.com/Blockworks_/status/1489014905697153024

About an hour ago, the Wormhole team indicated "ETH will be added over the next hours to ensure wETH is backed 1:1. More details to come shortly."

However, the source of funding and corresponding implications are unclear at this time.

https://twitter.com/wormholecrypto/status/1489001949881978883?s=20&t=QJAT-98B7ZFu7a2kWE3Glg

1/ How the challenges of 2021 laid the groundwork for DeFi’s next potential bull run.

A thread on the 3rd wave of #DeFi summarizing my latest column for @Bitwiseinvest

🧵👇

bitwiseinvestments.com/crypto-market-… 2/ The past year was transformational for #DeFi.

The sector grew by triple-digit rates by almost every measure.

Yet, some notable headwinds (from regulatory concerns to infrastructural limitations) turned the initial excitement into a somewhat disappointing year for investors.

NFT trading volume has exploded in 2022, with $1.6B in trading volume as of Jan 9th.

That’s already 47% of the $3.4B trading volume in Aug-21, the highest volume month for #NFTs to date.

At this rate, trading volume is on track to surpass $5.5B this month.

Source: @TheBlock__ The increase in #NFT trading volume is driven by a spike in activity on both #Etheruem and #Solana, partially offset by a decrease in trading volume on #Ronin (an Etheruem sidechain designed for @AxieInfinity).

Not surprising that Ethereum leads total Web3 developers by a long shot with ~4,000 developers.

Somewhat surprising to see Polkadot ranking second with ~1,400.

Source: @ElectricCapital Web3 Developer Report 2/ Looking at monthly active developers since launch, Etheruem again leads the pack.

But the Polkadot ecosystem is clearly showing impressive developer traction.

There is also a noticeable spike in monthly active developers working on Cosmos in 2021 versus prior years.