Is the promise failing?

Good morning! Welcome to The Daily Moon. The FTX collapse has claimed another victim—BlockFi. The crypto lender is bankrupt, thanks to a failed buyout deal with the now penniless FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. BlockFi owes money to more than 100,000 creditors. We don't have the total debt figure yet, but it may be anywhere between $1 billion and $10 billion.

The markets were back to the red. Bitcoin was at ~$16,200 and Ethereum fell to $1,170 levels. Nasdaq fell in early trade. Back home, Sensex and Nifty hit new all-time highs.

ETH Is For The Few

Ethereum promised low entry barriers and easier access to everyone. It was to be a crypto alt to traditional finance. But the current HOLDer stats present a different picture altogether. The whales and the wealthy hold the bulk of ETH.

But why?A couple of factors actually. First, the Merge didn’t really live up to the hype. Yes, there were benefits to the environment but the network didn’t get faster. Some investors bought just before the Merge and sold immediately after.

Second, the Merge rewards are linked to how much ETH you hold. This led to HOLDers buying over 100 ETH.

Third, the market’s been tricky. FTX’s bankruptcy spooked the markets, so DeFi protocols on ETH saw a decrease in total value locked (TVL) since mid-November.

Whales scoop it up It is ‘buy the dip’ season since prices fell. Large whales, holding between ~$11 million to ~$1 billion worth ETH, grabbed the opportunity to buy more.

But the bear market hasn’t entirely spared the rich. King crypto Bitcoin saw an 80% drop in millionaire wallets. There are just 23,000 wallets with BTC balance worth at least $1 million.

Meanwhile, one of the Ethereum co-founders, Anthony Di Lorio, has launched a blockchain decentralisation project called Andiami. We wonder if this is another Ethereum killer.

Axie Empties Out

Axie Infinity’s moment is gone. Its active wallets have dropped, the network has mellowed, and the number of transactions are dropping. One big reason is the exit of Axie players from the network.

There’s no one playingThere were just ~305 active addresses on Monday as compared to 1,215 two weeks ago. Data also showed that the AXS was still considered overvalued at ~$6.50 levels. Just for reference, it’s slid ~96% from the all-time high of $165.37. Sentiment was also negative, so AXS prices may feel added pressure.

Players join the exit queueThe game’s monthly average users have fallen to an almost two-year low of 701,447. This reflects in a fall in the Smooth Love Potion token as well, since it’s used in the Axie game. But the developers claim that the buzz is intact, at least on Discord.

DOGE Jumps On Twitter Plans. Again.

Will he, won’t he? Add crypto payments to Twitter. The answer is yes every time Elon Musk so much as mutters the word “payments” around the platform. And this time it’s more than just a whisper. That’s all Dogecoin enthusiasts need to make its price jump.

What is Mr Twit up to now?Elon tweeted “Slides from my Twitter company talk” on Sunday. And DOGE jumped nearly 20%. The fun bit is this. The tweet didn’t even mention the word cryptocurrency. All it had was a single slide which said “payments”. But that has never stopped DOGE prices from rising before.

What else?Apart from payments plans, Elon’s vision for Twitter 2.0 includes advertising as entertainment, video, encrypted DMs, longform tweets and relaunching Blue Verified.

The slides also suggest that the social media platform reached an “all-time high” in terms of new user signups and user active minutes. Nothing about advertising abandoning the platform.

Tame The Influencers, Save Crypto

That’s the call from the industry now. There has been near-consensus on implementing better regulation for the crypto industry. But the role of influencers or celebrities is another thorny issue that needs addressing.

Spell it outCrypto influencers should study the products they promote. And clearly spell out risks. A new law in the European Union is a recent example. Celebrities who endorse crypto products also have to be more responsible. But in the absence of clear guidelines, there is little to no recourse for an average person losing money in failed crypto projects. It’s a good start.

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