🧵🧠 Gensler Grilled: ETH Security or Commodity?
Degen Debrief - Week of April 17th
Gm degens, this Debrief brings to you a weekly curation of key updates & alpha from the cryptoverse.
It's time to dive into another wild week in the world of crypto! So, grab your coffee, strap in, and let's go! ☕
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes.
Here’s what’s inside…
1️⃣ Highlights from the Market 📈
2️⃣ Big Story of the Week ✨
3️⃣ Crypto Expert Takeaways 🎧
4️⃣ Crypto Twitter Roundup: Top 3 Threads 🔥
5️⃣ Trending NFTs: This Week's Standouts 🃏
1️⃣ Highlights from the Market 📈
State of the Market - Essential Updates You Need to Know
1. How the Top 10 Coins are Faring:
Alts gained vs BTC this week - most alts are in the green, week on week
This is while BTC is slightly in the red
The best performing alt in the top 10 is DOGE. Its community awaits a potential “meme pump” leading up to “Dogeday” on Apr20
2. The Crypto Fear/Greed Index:
Currently in “Greed” territory
Greed has been in the driver’s seat for a few weeks now - when will the needle move the other way?
3. Top Trending Category - NFT Marketplace Coins:
NFT marketplace tokens outperformed this week
Volume is starting to trickle into NFTs as the crypto market is potentially looking to go risk-on
BLUR is up a cool 22% on the week, and SuperVerse is up 32%
4. Funds Flow Summary: A Look into the Big Boys’ Activity:
TLDR; Bullishness in Bitcoin continues, with US$104m inflows last week
Last week, digital asset investment products experienced inflows amounting to US$114m, indicating a sustained improvement in investor sentiment towards this asset class.
This brings the total inflows over the past four weeks to US$345m.
Investors remain highly focused on Bitcoin, with inflows of US$104m.
Although Ethereum's yield features (Shapella) have been launched successfully, the inflows recorded last week were minimal, amounting to only US$0.3m.
2️⃣ The Big Story: Gensler Grilled: ETH Security or Commodity? 🔥🤔
Gary Gensler Faces Fiery Hearing Over Crypto Regulation🔥
In a recent hearing, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Patrick McHenry put SEC Chairman Gary Gensler under the spotlight, accusing him of failing to provide clear guidance on how crypto firms should comply with the law.
Gensler's hearing turned into a whirlwind of questions and uncertainties, leaving many crypto market players scratching their heads.
The Ethereum (ETH) Security vs. Commodity Debate 💬
One of the key moments in this heated exchange came when Chairman McHenry asked Gensler if Ethereum (ETH) should be considered a security or a commodity.
Despite repeated questioning, Gensler couldn't provide a direct answer, leaving McHenry and the crypto community baffled.
In his defense, Gensler offered a rather cryptic response: “It depends on the facts of the law.”
The Ethereum Plot Thickens 🤔
Adding fuel to the fire, McHenry reminded everyone of the contradicting statements made by two different regulatory bodies.
In 2018, former SEC official Bill Hinman said ETH wasn't a security, while in March 2023, CFTC Chairman Rostin Behnam declared ETH as a commodity. To further complicate matters, the New York State Attorney General's office views ETH as a security.
With such varied opinions, it's no wonder the crypto community is demanding answers: "How should Gensler categorize ETH under the laws?"
The SEC's Crypto Crackdown 🤺
Gensler's tenure as the SEC Chair has seen a staggering 50 enforcement actions against the crypto market. McHenry argued that these actions were taken without providing clear rules for stakeholders. The SEC is now seeking $78 million in funds to expand enforcement actions, which has left many wondering if this is the right approach.
As McHenry put it: “Punishing crypto market companies when not clearly mentioning rules as to how they should comply is not ideal. Regulation by enforcement is not sustainable.”
The Great Crypto Debate Continues🦜
Gensler's pre-hearing testimony reiterated his belief that most crypto tokens are securities, which was met with strong opposition from an all-Republican group of lawmakers. They claimed that the SEC was forcing crypto companies into regulatory frameworks that didn't align with the technology and weren't applicable to securities offerings.
As the debate rages on, one thing is for sure: the crypto community is craving clarity, and they're looking to Gensler to provide it. Stay tuned for more developments in this ongoing crypto saga!
3️⃣ Crypto Expert Takeaways 🎧
Bite-sized alpha from an Illuminati Round Table chat
📖 Navigating Crypto's Next Chapter: Crucial Narratives
In this Twitter space, Calvin (@clu_crypto) from Puzzle Ventures discusses the impact of Hong Kong easing access to crypto, while the west continues to restrict access.
• Calvin mentions how before COVID in 2017, Hong Kong related crypto adoption was pretty strong.
• He further talks about how the association with China’s policy shut down a lot of the traction during COVID which dimmed demand.
• Calvin talks on how the regulators saw the attention and success Hong Kong had prior to COVID in terms of crypto and looked to take action on policies to capture the demand.
• Furthermore, Calvin emphasises how in China, you can’t use a token to fund raise but the underlying technology themselves as long as controlled by the state are generally allowed. Hong Kong regulators wished to avoid this approach.
• Calvin states how the policies in Hong Kong are better but are still not ready to take on all the crypto demand from the West’s recent restrictions.
📑 Check out the full round table recap here
🎧️ Listen to a clip from this Twitter Space 👇️
4️⃣ Crypto Twitter Roundup: Top 3 Threads
Essential CT News & Alpha to Catch Up On
👑 Gensler's SEC Reign: Controversy & Criticism
exlawyer.eth recaps Gary Gensler’s disastrous tenure as SEC Chair
SEC Chair Gensler's leadership has been criticized as torrential, disjointed, and rushed
Fellow SEC Commissioner Pierce argues the Commission aggressively expands its regulatory reach unnecessarily
Gensler's tenure was so controversial that legislation is being introduced to remove him from office and end the SEC Chair position
Gensler has previously promoted a crypto token (ALGO), and now claims it's an unregistered security
Accused of turning ordinary investors against the SEC and hindering the US in the blockchain arms race
1. Gary Gensler is celebrating 2 years with the SEC today. His tenure has been a disaster for investors, regulated entities, and even many commodities (crypto tokens).
— exlawyer.eth/tez (@exlawyernft)
Apr 17, 2023
🔎 Analyzing Sifu's Crypto Moves
hoeem discusses how you can get insights into Sifu’s portfolio moves (net-worth $450mill+)
Track Sifu's latest transactions by filtering date range, order of date, and size on Arkham
Sifu has significantly invested in his own tokens: $UWU and $SIFU.
Monitor Sifu's wallet to see if he's buying more or dumping his tokens.
Sifu's off-chain activities remain unknown, as he has withdrawn $200 million+ to CEXs.
Utilize DeBank to view Sifu's DeFi interactions, revealing heavy usage of his protocols and large holdings in $GLP.
Sifu’s net-worth $450mill+
You can can track his portfolio live.
Invest like Sifu in 5 steps: 🧵 👇 https://t.co/NglnSVZWKt
— hoeem (@crypthoem)
Apr 17, 2023
🎭️ Polygon’s View on Role of L1s in the L2 Era
Key takeaways from Ignas’s interview of Polygon Head of Growth
Ethereum is transitioning to a B2B chain, with high-value transactions using Ethereum as a settlement layer, and other transactions leveraging Ethereum's security via Layer 2 solutions like Polygon.
Polygon's primary objective is to scale Ethereum and expand its block space while maintaining full security.
It has built multiple scaling solutions (Polygon PoS Chain, Polygon zkEVM, and Polygon Supernets) due to uncertainty about which approach would be best.
Polygon zkEVM offers a more developer-friendly and robust solution compared to zkSync Era, with plans to eventually decentralize.
Its success in attracting partners is attributed to a pragmatic focus on scaling solutions that work and a belief in crypto as a philosophical endeavor.
1/ What’s the role of L1s in the era of L2s?
I interviewed Polygon's Head of Growth, Sanket, to find out.
He also shared Polygon's endgame vision and how Polygon zkEVM stacks up against zkSync.
Here's what he had to say: 🧵 https://t.co/X2KbwdiIGB
— Ignas | DeFi Research (@DefiIgnas)
Apr 18, 2023
5️⃣ Trending NFTs: This Week's Standouts
NFTs that are hotter than your altcoins
The following collections have been creating waves this week (Stats Source: https://www.nft-stats.com/)
1) Trump Digital Trading Cards Series 2
7-Day Volume: $1.5M | NFTs Sold over 7 days: 9.6k
“Official Trump Digital Trading Cards Series 2 is here, featuring even more incredible art inspired by some of the most iconic moments from Trump's time as a public figure.”
Check out their website
2) Muppeth NFT
7-Day Volume: $922k | NFTs Sold over 7 days: 6.6k
“We are building the worst community on the internet.”
Sidenote: 😂 😂 at the above
Do you think Gary Gensler should be removed from the post of SEC Chair? |