Crypto Weekly Wrap: Welcome to the first week of "Uptober"
It was another interesting week in the crypto space, with both Bitcoin and Ethereum posting late week rallies, specifically on Oct 1 when Bitcoin jumped 6% in 20 minutes. October has historically been a bullish month for the crypto market, while September has historically been a bearish month - so welcome all to “Uptober!”
Below is a quick wrap of the crypto stories that made headlines over the past week, followed by the coins that we have been eyeing or buying over the week. But first, our disclaimer needs to be noted: the information provided here, as well as on our website (coinpad.io), does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice, or any other sort of advice and you should not treat any of the content as such. Investing in cryptocurrency is risky; do your own research and invest at your own risk!
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Let’s start with a punchy quote from Samson Mow, chief strategy officer of Blockstream, which appeared in an article called Crypto baffles mainstream media, but should blockchain advocates care?
“The most difficult aspect of Bitcoin to grasp is that it’s completely unique — nothing like it has ever existed. There’s nothing for the media to compare it to, and they’re unable to fully understand the magnitude of the coming paradigm shift that Bitcoin will bring.”
Bitcoin and crypto also baffles many in the traditional finance sector (mostly because they never invested in the best performing asset class of human history and therefore can’t understand how they missed out.) Think of this: If you had bought US$1,000 worth of Bitcoin in May 2011 (when Bitcoin traded for about $3.50) and had the insight (and nerves) to hold that investment for ten years, you would have netted over US$11,000,000 in profit.
Here is a recent quote from JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon:
“I don’t really care about Bitcoin. I think people waste too much time and breath on it. But it is going to be regulated. […] And that will constrain it to some extent. But whether it eliminates it, I have no idea and I don’t personally care. I am not a buyer of Bitcoin. […] That does not mean it can’t go 10 times in price in the next five years.”
Cointelegraph took a poke at this, commenting:“Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase and staunch crypto critic, has slammed Bitcoin’s appeal despite admitting that its price could multiply by 10 within five years, presumably because he doesn’t like making good returns on his investments.”
Well said!
Moving on, here are some top stories on crypto adoption and the flow of institutional money into the sector:
Morgan Stanley doubles exposure to Bitcoin through Grayscale shares
Nearly 40% of Young Spaniards Consider Investing in Crypto Soon: Survey
Singapore Greenlights Aussie Exchange and DBS Vickers to Provide Crypto Services
TikTok to Begin Sale of First NFT Collection on Ethereum Layer 2 Solution
Visa Announces Layer 2 Payments Channel for CBDCs and Stablecoins
And finally, here are some coin or sector specific articles of interest:
Gold-backed stablecoins to launch on Cardano, sending analysts bullish on ADA
Three Altcoins Skyrocket As Bitcoin, Ethereum and Crypto Markets Bounce Back
Here are 6 altcoins experts are watching as the 4th quarter kicks off
Nifty News: DJ Paul Oakenfold to launch album on Cardano, NFL confirms NFTs, and more
Coinpad’s plays
In the past two weekly wraps, we discussed about getting our feet wet in a booming new sector combining crypto, DeFi and blockchain gaming: GameFi. In short, we believe that blockchain gaming is about to explode and this sector is an excellent diversification play as we expect the best gaming tokens will be less tied to the overall market. Moreover, gaming, blockchain and crypto - all driven by tech - seem a natural fit. Here is an interesting stat that we just stumbled across, reported by the founder of founder of OP Crypto Capital Management Ltd:
“Millennial gamers hold 55% of all crypto assets, compared to just 5% of all millenials, showing that gamers are far more likely to hold crypto than the average person. Eighty percent of gamers who own crypto are also interested in using cryptocurrency to purchase games and in-game items.”
We are bullish on this sector, plain and simple. We are particularly keen on launchpad projects, which allow token holders to get in on pre-sales of new projects that conduct their IGOs (Initial Game Offerings) on the platform. Our latest investment play in this category is Enjinstarter, a blockchain gaming launchpad focused on growing the Enjin ecosystem, allowing creators and game developers to run capital-raising campaigns and build communities using blockchain technology.
Outside of GameFi, we have also bought in early to a Cardano decentralized fundraising platform, Kick.io. Staking has just begun, which offers APR’s between 14 - 24%, yet the real value will come from “endorsing” projects, which will allow users to stake Kick tokens in return to receive s (pro-rata) share of 5% of each purchase made towards the projects launch. This is essentially a right o have a dividend of all new projects launched - which in the crypto wold can be lucrative. We believe this project will easily 10X in the coming months, barring a complete failure of the team to deliver.
That’s all for this week folks, until next week - happy sailing!