Solana Summer is Heating Up

We made it to the end of the week! We were 20 years old last week but now we are 200. The last 2 weeks have had more action than the past few years in crypto. We say buckle up.

Today's Topics:

• Solana Summer is Heating Up

• The future of Ethereum

• FTX US launching stock trading

• Quick Links

Solana Summer is Heating Up

In the last 24 hours Magic Eden, a Solana NFT marketplace, had almost 275,000 transactions vs 50,000 for Opensea. Oh how the mighty have fallen. To be fair Solana based NFTs are still quite a bit cheaper on Magic Eden.

One thing lacking on Magic Eden is a dearth of blue-chip NFTs. However projects like Okay Bears could be changing that. This one is a 100X bagger since mint.

In the coming weeks we will be sharing some alpha on up and coming Solana NFTs. Stay tuned.

Data from DappRadar.

The future of Ethereum

Vitalik Buterin co-writes and we read. Let’s recap a 37 pager for you here:

Soulbound tokens (SBTs) - WTF? Yes we thought that too. These will be NFTs that can’t be moved once you get them. Held by the Soul Wallet - of course. End of 2022 launch with 2024 being projected as more mainstream adoption.

Use cases:

1/ Colleges can give SBT degrees to grads - Once given it won’t be transferable. You won’t need a piece of paper that can be faked.

2/ A business wants to hire someone who went to Conference X - No one can buy these so the company can see who was really there.

3/ A DAO is building a community of environmentalists - An airdrop or “souldrop” can then be given to participants based on attendance or participation in the community.

They are calling this the “Decentralized Society”. Even with the market tanking Vitalik is heads down brainstorming about the future of Ethereum. We commend him.

If you want to read it all.

FTX US is going into stock trading

FTX US is planning to launch zero-fee stock trading. Straight out of the Robinhood playbook soon after taking a 7.6% stake. Unlike Robinhood they will not use payment for order flow.

You can use fiat or stablecoin to begin apeing. For now a small group of users will have access. Wider launch plans will come later this year. FTX has been moving fast and launching aggressively. Earlier this year they launched a NFT marketplace.

Our take on FTXs move:

1/ They want to use this as a “hook” to draw people into their crypto/NFT offerings - Maybe

2/ Use it as a litmus test before acquiring Robinhood in full - We have our money on this.

3/ They don’t know WTF they are doing - Prob not this.

Quick Headlines

Core ETH Dev says Ethereum Merge will launch in August if all goes well - We used to build software so our prediction is EOY.

Tag Heuer allowing people to pay in crypto - About time! For purchases up to 10K USD.

Shopify to expand crypto payments with Crypto.com deal - Over 20 tokens will be available to merchants.

Do Kwon being prosecuted in South Korea - We look at it as a warning for future crypto founders. Very remote possibility of jail time.

Coinbase to freeze hiring and cut costs - Their stock like many have been brutalized. The good news is they are still launching features at a rapid pace.

Gary Vaynerchuk is kicking off VeeCon this weekend - Over 150 speakers will discuss NFTs and Web3. Tickets were given automatically to VeeFriends NFT holders.

Funding News:

Arza gets $15 million for blockchain gaming - a16z a familiar figure in crypto fundraising led the round. The team will build Project Arcanas which is a sci-fi fantasy epic. Wow that is a mouthful.

Unicorn DAO grabs $4.5M to champion Women and LGBTQ+ Artists - Grimes the artist also donated a video to the DAO.

Hacks:

Two men charged with running $44M crypto Ponzi scheme - Hate to say it but we feel there will be more of these coming out in this bear market.

Music NFTs have not truly taken off yet but maybe this is the one that makes it happen.

Minting May 24 at 2:00pm PST so put it on your calendar!

Hit Reply to let us know how we are doing! We would love to hear from you.

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Disclosure: We are a newsletter for information only. We are not financial advisors nor do we claim to be. Consult your legal, investment or tax advisor. Crypto is risky. Do you own research.