TLDR Crypto 2024-01-23

Since converting to an ETF, the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust has had over $2 billion in outflows, with the FTX bankruptcy estate accounting for a significant portion of that. Additional outflows have partly been attributed to investors moving to lower-fee alternatives like BlackRock and Fidelity, which have attracted significant inflows. Many were calling for the ETFs to be a “sell the news” event, and it has turned out that way in the short term. However, the downward pressure could ease up now that the FTX estate has fully exited its GBTC positions.

Hong Kong could see the launch of its first spot crypto ETF by mid-year, according to local crypto exchange OSL. OSL is reportedly in discussions with multiple fund companies, with five firms leading the pack. OSL views this as a way to make it easier for the average person to gain exposure to crypto and to put protections in place to safeguard investors.

A new project called Rune Coin launched yesterday. Utilizing a peer-to-peer rune allocation system known as RSICs, 21,000 circuits were airdropped to the Ordinals community. RSIC holders can use them to mine runes, sell them on the market, or keep them. RSICs must be activated to begin mining. Rune allocations vary with flat, random, boosted, and halvening distributions. Game rules and updates can be found on Rune Coin's website and Twitter channel.

Magic Eden is launching Non-Fungible DAO, which aims to facilitate the adoption of NFT commerce protocols. It will own and manage various open-source technologies for NFTs including smart contracts on Solana, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Polygon. The DAO's development and protocols will be governed by the token holders, who will also earn most of the token supply.

This thread attempts to explain some important concepts about market cycles using examples from George Soros's "Alchemy of Finance" and Brent Donnelly's "Alpha Trader". The thread goes over Reflexivity, Boom-Bust Sequences, and Narrative Cycles, highlighting their relevance in understanding market trends and behaviors. It also provides tips on how to better interpret market narratives.

This thread aims to debunk current Bitcoin ETF volume and flow narratives. The author points out discrepancies in reported flows due to the settlement mismatch between spot Bitcoin and ETFs. He encourages followers to take a look at the data themselves to understand the actual situation, suggesting that actual Bitcoin ETF inflows are around $1 billion, rather than the figures touted by some news sources and influencers.

The use of DeFi Oracles, data providers for decentralized platforms, has been criticized due to high latency periods leading to capital exploitation. Node operators have a window to manipulate price feeds, creating a problem known as Oracle Extractable Value (OEV). Companies like AAVE have experienced ongoing attacks because of OEV. Solutions such as API3's implementation of fair system OEV extraction through order flow auctions offer hope. Decentralized oracles like UMA and API3 are also exploring similar strategies to preserve data integrity.

The SEC experienced a breach on its X account due to a SIM swap attack where an unauthorized party gained access to the account and published a false post about bitcoin ETFs. The SEC, which had disabled two-factor authentication, regained control of the account and has since re-enabled the security measure. The breach did not impact the SEC's systems or data, but it did cause hundreds of millions of dollars of liquidations across the crypto markets.

In 2023, global crypto ownership rose by 34% to 580 million, with Bitcoin and Ethereum seeing significant growth due in part to developments like Bitcoin ETFs, Ordinals, and Ethereum's Shanghai Upgrade.

X offers plenty of hidden alpha when used correctly. This post provides eight curated lists of resources and experts in various areas of crypto that can help you stay up to speed in the space.

Terraform Labs, creator of TerraUSD and Luna, officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware, aiming to continue operations and resolve legal issues.

Dogecoin and Floki saw a 12% surge after rumors of payment integrations into X surfaced. Dogecoin enthusiasts began speculating that their fellow Dogecoin fan, Elon Musk, might include Dogecoin as an option in the future.