In This Issue

• I share my thoughts on the state of the market, Genesis saga still going, Ethereum Shanhai testnet, what bear market, Woo tokenomics update, Avalanche AWS partnership & Optimism airdrop.
• Rebecca breaks down the latest news.
• REKT has a TA report on how altcoins may plummet in the coming weeks.

Premium Subscription highlights this week:

• My Portfolio: Get full access to my portfolio. That means what coins I hold, what percentage of my portfolio they make up and when I plan to sell.
• Airdrops: Each week Jesse provides a list of new airdrops and incentivized testnets.
• DeFi Tutorial: Don’t leave your coins burning a hole in your wallet. Put them to work with DeFi Dad’s weekly tutorials.

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What’s On My Mind by Lark

The State of the Market

Something finally happened! It was starting to feel like Bitcoin was a stablecoin. 

We are seeing lots of narratives forming up. A few of which I want to discuss momentarily with you. But volumes are picking up. Altcoins are pumping with many coins putting in 1-200% gains. NFT volumes are up 26% in the last week. 

The volatility in the crypto market is back to some extent. And this is good, because the volatility got super low. So low, that is was reminiscent of the volatility of previous bear periods and the kind of boring times that came just before explosive market moves. 

Bear market rallies can be glorious. The 2019 rally saw Bitcoin pump by 300%, and many altcoins pump by 10 or 20X. It is perhaps too early to say that we could be getting ready for such a rally and there are major macro factors that could still drive markets down. So just remember if you are making trades or short plays that the markets can turn real fast. And we are still a long way away from being able to say a major reversal is underway. So don’t be afraid to book some profits on those short-term plays or use these bear market rallies to slice off some bags you have lost faith in. 

Let’s just hope that tomorrow’s inflation data announcement doesn’t derail the market. All eyes will be on this event. 

Genesis Saga Still Going… 

Things just keep going from bad to worse for Genesis, the one time leader in the BTC lending and OTC space. Cameron Winklevoss has accused the Digital Currency Group of outright fraud in a letter he published on Twitter. In Response DCG basically said that it was Gemini’s fault for trusting Genesis… WTF? Things could be about to get a lot worse for DCG and Genesis though as they are under investigation for fraud right now by the SEC. A bankruptcy is still a very real possibility. The effects of which could cause some real pain across the crypto market. And while many continue to fear monger over the Grayscale assets it is strongly worth remembering that DCG just administers the trust. A likely scenario in a DCG bankruptcy would be someone else buying and managing the trust. Buyers are already making plans in fact. 

And as if that wasn’t causing enough drama, there is Huobi. Apparently the exchange has shut down internal communication channels for employees. The exchange has already lost about 90% of its market share in the last two years, but recent events have seen huge outflows from the exchange and a further fall in market share. A lot of the issues stem from Tron and the USDD “stablecoin” which is a crypto collateralized coin backed by TRX and BTC. Anyway, the main takeaway is do not keep funds on Huobi, if you have funds there then get out. Also, do not use the USDD stablecoin, you are playing with fire due to the market risks right now. 

Ethereum Shanghai Testnet 

Developers announced that the Ethereum Shanghai testnet is coming in February. Assuming nothing breaks and that the testnet goes to plan then we will still likely see the Shanghai roll out to mainnet in March. This means that we are likely just two months away from seeing Ethereum staking withdrawals happen. This is huge for ETH. Finally stakers will get liquidity. 

What Bear Market?

You know the crazy thing about this bear market has truly been how much money has continued to flow in. Big money knows that crypto is not going anywhere. In December 48 different crypto companies raised a total of 720 million dollars. Also Venom Foundation just announced a billion-dollar web3 fund. When a bear market hits so many think that crypto is going to zero. That it is all over. And while certain coins will go to zero, this investment class is going nowhere but up in the long run. This is why money keeps showing up and funding new protocols and companies. 

Woo Tokenomics Update 

WOO has released a first announcement in their move towards a new tokenomics system. First and most importantly they are burning 24% of the total supply. This comes from WOO ventures, WOO Dao, and the WOO insurance fund. This is equivalent to 33 years worth of burning based on historical rates. There will be no other burning mechanisms moving forward. Another 545 million tokens, 16% of the pre-burn supply, has been put into a 5 year vesting contract. Future 2023 improvements include better staking benefits, new earn and yield products, and a launchpad. The price pumped 50% on the news, but it is still 90% under all time highs. It will be interesting to see how these developments can drive more interest in the network in the next cycle. 

Avalanche AWS Partnership 

Amazon Web Services has teamed up with Avalanche to scale out blockchain solutions for enterprises and governments. AWS said that blockchain and web3 is inevitable. AWS will support AVAX’s infrastructure and dapp ecosystem and will also offer one-click node deployments. This is great news for AVAX which pumped on the news, but also shows that crypto is not going anywhere but up in the long run. 

Optimism Airdrop Round Two Time Running Out 

Ethereum layer two protocol optimism is doing a second airdrop, which will likely be given to users who complete certain quests. The deadline is January 17th. So get busy if you want to be eligible. Here are a few ways to possibly qualify. 

*** note you will need to bridge some ETH and USDC over to Optimism to do this. You can do that here. 

1. Swap more than $20 on two swaps on Uniswap. Then complete the quiz and get your NFT. 
2. Deposit $20 or more into Pooltogether and keep it there for more than 3 days. Like I said, time sensitive with the deadline on the 17th. 
3. Bridge $100 or more in USDC to Stargate Finance. 
4. Buy an NFT on QX app. 

Those are just a few examples of the easy tasks that will let you qualify. You can see the full list here, which also contains exact platforms and requirements. 

Disclaimers. It is unclear how much (if any) airdrop you will get. So you might end up spending money on gas fees as well as your time to try out these DeFi apps and get nothing. Also, there are risks involved in bridging funds and using DeFi. This is not an endorsement of any coins or protocols mentioned.

In Case You Missed It by Rebecca

Crypto market news

Mt. Gox repayments timeline has been pushed back by two months to 10 March. Source

Erik Voorhees, CEO of ShapeShaft, predicts the next Bitcoin bull market will start in 2023 if the macro-outlook improves, which could see the price rise to $40K by summer. Source

Grayscale’s ETH Trust is almost at a 60% discount as there are growing concerns over Digital Currency Group’s (DCG) liquidity. Source

Coinbase is to reduce its workforce by 20% which is around 950 staff, in its second round of layoffs. Source

Huobi has seen $60M in crypto outflows in a day as traders remain skeptical about the health of the exchange. Source

Huobi is planning to cut its workforce by 20% after days of rumors circulating that key staff communication channels were cut off by the owners. Source

DCG is shutting down HQ Digital, a wealth management subsidiary that it launched last year. Source

Cameron Winklevoss has written an open letter to the board of DCG explaining CEO Barry Silbert is “unfit” to run the company. Source

Sam Bankman-Fried pleads not guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges and will go to trial in October 2023. Source

New York attorney general sues Alex Mashinsky for fraud. Source

Indonesia has plans to launch a national crypto exchange in the coming year. Source

Coinbase has agreed to pay a $50M fine to New York’s regulators to settle charges relating to insufficient user background checks. Source

Logan Paul has hit back at claims his NFT game called CryptoZoo is a scam. Source

Silvergate Capital has released its preliminary fourth-quarter results, showing a 68% decline in withdrawals forcing it to liquidate its balance sheet debt at a $728M loss. Source

A Twitter data breach from December saw a hacker demand $200K to return the data which featured personal details from big accounts within the crypto community. Source

LG Electronics has partnered with cloud-based technology platform, Oorbit, and Web 3 entertainment company, Pixelynx, to bring the Metaverse to customers. Source

Marathon Digital closed 2022 with $103.7M in cash and 12,232 BTC, after paying down debt. Source

Cryptosat sent its Crypto 2 satellite into Orbit via SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, carrying a total of 114 devices that could help 23 countries. Source

Mutant Ape Planet NFT creator has been arrested in NY for an alleged fraud of $2.9M. Source

The Metaverse could create $5 trillion in value by 2030, according to a McKinsey report. Source

Coins and Projects

Ethereum developers are planning to launch a public testnet for the Shanghai upgrade by the end of February. Source

StarkNet has redesigned its in-house Cairo coding language to make development more accessible to developers with general coding experience. Source

Yearn Finance will allow users to create their own vaults to accrue yield and deposit the proceeds to earn more rewards. Source

Polygon has partnered with Mastercard to launch a Web3 musician accelerator program. Source

Polygon paid Solana-based NFT projects Y00ts and DeGods $3M to migrate chains. Source

Solana’s NFT marketplace, Magic Eden, has updated its verification system after launching fake y00ts and ABC NFT collections. Source

Solana Foundation’s Remote Procedure Call (RPC) endpoints went offline due to a bug affecting the nodes run by the team. Source

Avalanche NFTs can now be sold directly through Shopify online stores after Venly extends support to the network through its Shopify NFT minting app. Source

Avalanche has been removed from Grayscale’s Digital Large Cap Fund. Source

Gala Games has partnered with A-list celebrities The Rock and Mark Wahlberg to develop two films with the Hollywood stars. Source

Hackers have stolen $3.5M of GMX tokens from a whale and exchanged them for ETH. Source

Aptos-based multisig wallet called Msafe has raised $5M in a seed funding round led by Jump Crypto. Source

Cosmos will discontinue the issuance of its EURR euro stablecoin on 6 March. Source

Evmos has successfully completed its 10.0 upgrade, adding auto-conversion for token swaps between Ethereum and Cosmos-based tokens. Source

TON blockchain is launching a data storage ecosystem called TON storage to able users to exchange files while providing financial incentives to node operators. Source

NFT marketplace, SuperRare, is set to cut 30% of its workforce as it “overhired.” Source

Macro news

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) has formed an FTX Task Force to recover the missing customer funds. Source

The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has seized 55M Robinhood shares from FTX. Source

US jobs increased by 223,000 in December which came in way above the 200,000 estimate. Source

The UK’s National Crime Agency is putting together a specialized crypto and digital assets team, starting with 5 officers. Source

The UK government is “fully behind” a stablecoin issued by a third-party provider for wholesale settlements between banks. Source

The UK’s CBDC will not track retail transactions, says Andrew Griffith, Economic Secretary to the Treasury. Source

The World Economic Forum has published an article outlining its future vision for crypto. Source

G7 countries and more move into the development stage of CBDCs including the UK, US, Singapore, Spain, and Switzerland. Source

Chinese researchers think quantum computing may soon breach blockchain technology as they claim to have discovered a method to break the blockchain signing algorithm. Source

Russia will begin studying two possible CBDC settlement models in Q1 this year. Source

Nigeria’s central bank will work with authorities to develop a regulatory framework for stablecoins and ICOs. Source

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Market Analysis by Rekt Capital

In today’s edition of the newsletter, I’ll share my thoughts on the macro predicament for Bitcoin Dominance and why it’s so important to focus on it.

Also, I will cover a few Altcoins today, including WOO, VRA, ZIL, VET, and LTC/ETH.

Let’s dive right in.

Altcoins May Plummet In The Coming Weeks

Bitcoin Dominance is repeating history.

In early 2022, BTC Dominance successfully retested the blue level as support after Monthly Candle Closing above it.

This successful retest enabled a move into the top of the black Wedge — the predominant market structure for Bitcoin Dominance at this time.

Back in mid-2018, Bitcoin Dominance also successfully retested the blue level as support as per the yellow circle.

However, that retest enabled an entire uptrend.

Just by comparing that mid-2018 reaction with the early 2022 reaction, it’s clear this level is weakening as a support.

However, that doesn’t mean that this level should be ignored entirely.

Because Bitcoin Dominance is setting itself up for a successful retest, just like the one in early 2022.

And a successful retest here would see Bitcoin Dominance increase and Altcoins as a result would plummet in their valuations.

This is the short-term view for Bitcoin Dominance.

Next, we will take a look at a few Altcoins and then look at the macro predicament for Bitcoin Dominance and why it is important to focus on it.

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Final Notes

Don’t forget to check out my latest YouTube video: Bitcoin To $1,000,000 & Gold To $10,000… Here’s Why!

Thank you so much for your support, and I truly hope that today’s issue will give you insights needed to help you master your wealth.

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See you next time!

Lark and the Wealth Mastery Team

Legal Disclaimer

TCL Publishing ltd (director Lark Davis, owner of Wealth Mastery) is not providing you individually tailored investment advice. Nor is TCL Publishing registered to provide investment advice, is not a financial adviser, and is not a broker-dealer. The material provided is for educational purposes only. TCL Publishing is not responsible for any gains or losses that result from your cryptocurrency investments. Investing in cryptocurrency involves a high degree of risk and should be considered only by persons who can afford to sustain a loss of their entire investment. Investors should consult their financial adviser before investing in cryptocurrency.

You can find a full disclosure of all my crypto & venture investments here.