[Daily] BTC on pause?

Good morning! Welcome to The Daily Moon. China wants to pay its government employees in digital yuan. The country is doing everything it can to make the CBDC popular but hasn’t been able to take off. It tried enabling gambling and giving people cash but nothing has worked. Maybe this will. We’ll see. 🤷

As of Monday, 7:15PM IST

The markets were volatile over large exits. Bitcoin was bearish on sell-offs from whales. Ethereum suffered from post-Shanghai boredom among investors. S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained in early trade on buying in technology stocks. Back home, Sensex and Nifty ended higher on gains in IT and financial stocks.

Bitcoin On A Break?

Bitcoin fell below $28,000. A mix of regulatory crackdowns and fears of a rate hike caused the king crypto to retreat.

Gosh, the winter’s back?No, not yet. BTC was on a steady rally because of a genuine interest in crypto. TradFi lost out after the collapse of SVB and Signature Bank and BTC became the alt. But then, a few regulatory signals dragged it down again:

• Regulatory action on a few crypto entities and threats of crackdown on others.

• Fed officials have indicated that the rate hike cycle isn’t over.

• The SEC’s lack of clarity has started to sweat a few.

What else is happening?Profit booking has started among BTC HODLers. That’s another reason why the token has dipped. Plus, there is also a fear that the US government may dump its BTC worth $1.1 billion in the market. Whales also had a role to play because they started to sell their BTC two weeks ago.

Having said that, it may be the end of the sell cycle. Traders who had overborrowed were forced to part with their BTC.

Can Asia Save XRP?

Ripple’s XRP has gotten active. It has over 4.5 million active accounts, of which a large majority come from Asia. Ripple’s presence in the region helped build confidence among users.

How’s the move?XRP has been on a rollercoaster ride ever since the Ripple vs SEC case. ICYMI, the securities regulator claims XRP is a security and Ripple claims it is not. Speculation is rife that the case will be decided soon, but there’s no word yet.

Will Asia rescue it?We know that there is regulatory confusion in the US about crypto. The SEC and the CFTC are undecided about who regulates crypto tokens. Meanwhile, the status of assets such as XRP is in a flux. Asia is a better alternative because markets such as Dubai, Singapore, and Hong Kong offer clarity about what’s allowed and what isn’t.

Rent That NFT

Got to give it to the NFT folks for never giving up. Once you’ve paid to get your NFT, there’s pretty much no way to monetise it further. Enter NFT lending and renting.

Get your NFT to work Web3 services platform Chainlink is introducing lending and renting NFTs. The idea is to temporarily transfer NFT ownership for a fee. Why would someone want to rent an NFT? Well, to show off a cool NFT, to access special perks and utilities, such as exclusive content, communities, events, tickets, or the ability to mint another NFT.

How does it play out?Well, similar to taking out a loan. Similar, not same. The loan document will be a smart contract. There can be two kinds of NFT loans:

• Collateralized: Where the borrower needs to put up a collateral.

• Uncollateralized: Where trust and reputation are the guarantee. But interest rates are higher because there is no actual collateral.

The most interesting use would be in GameFi. Where NFTs minted within a game can be put to use by a non-active player. It could, and will, give birth to marketplaces for NFT loans. Interesting.

BAYC’s Weekend Party

How was your weekend? The maker of Bored Ape Yacht Club, Yuga Labs, had a good start to theirs. You see, they won a favourable ruling against a copycat.

What’s the tea?It began last year when this guy called Ryder Ripps and his friend Jeremy Cahen teamed up to create identical copies of the BAYC profile pictures. As satire. They’ve claimed BAYC artwork is racist. Yuga Labs denied it, and sued. For trademark infringement, false advertising, and unfair competition. On Friday, the court ruled in favour of Yuga.

What’s the big deal?It could have a longer term impact on Web3, and even the art community. The judge agreed to Yuga’s claims of trademark infringement and cybersquatting.

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Who are we? This newsletter’s ambition is to educate (and to entertain). The world of money is changing everyday and we want to help you decode what’s happening in the world of crypto, public markets in the US and India.