November 17, 2021

There Are Still Plenty of Opportunities in Crypto Land

Introduction

With crypto prices continuing their decline today, uncertainty is lingering in the crypto community. It’s impressive how fast sentiment can change – it just needs a few days of corrective price action.

Instead of getting sucked into the overall bearishness of the markets, let’s instead focus on the opportunities which the crypto markets still present plentiful to the ones who are paying attention.

Bear Market Threads vs. Bullish Fractals

• Where are the crypto markets headed next? Well, the opinions on that are torn. While some analysts are warning of a continued downtrend, others emphasize the likelihood of lengthening cycles and long-term growth potential.

Sisyphus @0xSisyphus

In a down cycle most important things are: 1. Not chasing losses (focus on pnl now, not pnl at the top) 2. Preserving remaining capital (reducing risk) 3. Not leaving space + continuing to do work on new protocols, projects, ideas. Not giving up Anything I missed

Sisyphus @0xSisyphus

4. if you sold “the top”, you didn’t time the absolute top, you timed the local top (It still probably goes up and to the right long term). So you need to position back in at some point

Sisyphus @0xSisyphus

If you hold risk through an entire cycle and don’t TP, it was never your money anyways

Benjamin Cowen @intocryptoverse

Time is on our side #Bitcoin

Raoul Pal @RaoulGMI

I have been showing this spooky chart of ETH now vs BTC in 2017 in various forms. This is my live CIX on Bloomberg.... even nailed this sell off....to the day and price. What happened next? A 300% rally. From tomorrow (ish). 1/

• We have already reported several times that according to historical data and on-chain metrics, this bull market should still have gas left in the tank. However, Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Co. are – according to most data science models – no longer undervalued in the short term, implying a higher risk as of right now.

• No matter where you stand on the 4-year vs. lengthening cycle debate, in the short term, more downside is in the cards because many overheated indicators (on-chain, leverage, sentiment) have reset to some extent but have not yet reached common “reversal levels”.

Rekt Capital @rektcapital

Last time #BTC saw Extremely Fearful levels on the Fear & Greed Index? 21st of September (blue arrow) This is when $BTC actually bottomed before enjoying a run to its new All Time Highs Currently, sentiment is Neutral (52) but Fear is what precedes reversals #Crypto #Bitcoin

Michaël van de Poppe @CryptoMichNL

Corrections take time. The first dropoff of 15% has taken place on #Bitcoin and that's a trend reversal for most #altcoins too. That doesn't mean the correction is over. We can easily consolidate for 1-2 weeks here before having a final dropdown. Things take time.

Another L1 to Have on Your Radar

• With Ethereum still struggling with high gas fees and scaling, alternative L1s have been one of the hottest narratives this year. Today, another contender called the attention to itself: Oasis.

Andrew Thurman @Blockanalia

They're starting late compared with other chains, but circa 2018 the word was that they're the biggest brains in the room. Curious to see what traction they get and how quickly!

CoinDesk @CoinDesk

NEW: @OasisProtocol, a long-dormant layer 1 with a focus on privacy, is gearing up for launch with a $160 million ecosystem fund involving major backers. @Blockanalia reports https://t.co/lxnFSD0XYr

• Sitting at around a $300 million market cap, the ROSE token certainly has quite some upside potential if Oasis can pull off an “Avalanche- or Fantom-style move”. Monitoring project partnerships and TVL growth will be key going forward.

Source: CoinGecko

A Potential DeFi Gem…

• DeFi protocols have had a rough last few months, with both blue-chips and smaller projects continuously bleeding. The few exceptions have been emerging DeFi protocols with a tiny market cap that experienced fast adoption (e.g. Visor Finance). Entering these projects early and riding their initial growth waves has proven to be a lucrative strategy.

• A potentially similar play could be Notional Finance with its NOTE token, sitting at just above a $10 million market cap as of this writing. Notional Finance aims to facilitate fixed-rate, fixed-term crypto-asset lending and borrowing, which has been a major missing piece in the current DeFi landscape. If their model works out, Notional FInance definitely has the potential to become a large DeFi protocol.

• While you can buy NOTE on Uniswap (yes, gas fees are insanely high, unfortunately), the lower risk method would be to farm NOTE with stablecoins (you have to consider the high gas fees, however).

Notional @NotionalFinance

Market is down, but TVL keeps on climbing. $200M here we come!

Source: CoinGecko

• Remember that this type of play is risky since it is a very young project. Also consider that the circulating market cap of ROSE is very small right now, which will dilute NOTE holdings over time. On the bright side, a major part of the NOTE supply will not be released until Q4 2022 (you can read more on the project here).

Web3 Is Moving Ahead… Fast

• The news of the last few months has clearly shown that the Web3 narrative is not going anywhere but instead will continuously grow from here. Investment and innovation in the Web3 space are continuing at a relentless pace.

Brave Software @brave

Brave browser now has an in-built crypto wallet

techradar.comBrave browser now has an in-built crypto walletUsers can transact with almost any crypto asset using the Brave wallet

MetaMask @MetaMask

There are now more MetaMask users than there ever will be Bitcoin 🦊 Thank you for trusting us to help you access and navigate Web3. This is only the beginning.

Decentral Station @DecentralStn

JP Morgan, UBS and now HSBC 🤔 Let the memes flow https://t.co/2C97R59cTG

CoinDesk @CoinDesk

NEW: @ConsenSys is going on a hiring offensive after closing a $200 million funding round at a $3.2 billion valuation. @realDannyNelson reports https://t.co/4GdzdU2yB4

• The Web3 and Metaverse narratives, while often overused buzzwords, will unquestionably be highly interlinked – hopefully avoiding a dystopian virtual reality world controlled by Facebook.

Matthew Ball (OOO) @ballmatthew

Metaverse Is a Multitrillion-Dollar Opportunity, Epic CEO Says

bloomberg.comBloomberg - Are you a robot?

Light and Shadow on the Regulatory Front

• Following the signing into law of the infrastructure bill with potentially devastating implications for the crypto industry in the US (and beyond), the fight for amendments to this catastrophic piece of legislation has started. Fortunately, it is no longer a purely partisan issue and change can still be achieved…

Jerry Brito @jerrybrito

Amazing to see so many Democratic lawmakers write to House leadership asking that the misguided crypto tax provisions in the infrastructure bill be fixed. Wonderful leadership by @RepDarrenSoto here. We're going to get this done.

Rep. Darren Soto @RepDarrenSoto

We stand united to ensure more tax certainty for #cryptocurrency and work with the IRS on key reforms. Together, we will continue to support innovation and protect consumers. https://t.co/xu1Dj2GAqD

• Meanwhile, the SEC continues on its quest to "protect consumers" and cement its anti-crypto stance. One can only hope that the SEC will increasingly isolate itself and face political pushback.

Gabor Gurbacs @gaborgurbacs

Loans/lending are generally not considered securities in the U.S. If the SEC deems that crypto loans are securities then on that basis bank loans could be securities too which would be ridiculous. At 6%+ inflation and negative real yields, who is being “protected” from yield? https://t.co/RqVxkrbDAh

*Walter Bloomberg @DeItaone

*BLOCKFI FACES SEC SCRUTINY OVER HIGH-YIELDING CRYPTO ACCOUNTS

Ghosts from the Past – Apparently Harmless

• Many crypto investors might not even know the story of one of the largest crypto hacks in history, which threatened the entire cryptocurrency space in 2014. Mt. Gox FUD has since spooked the crypto markets many times…

₿yzantinΞ General @ByzGeneral

There was some Mt Gox FUD circling around again, but it got slapped down pretty quickly this time. $BTC

8BTCnews @btcinchina

Mindao Yang, a creditor of Mt.Gox, said that it may not be until 2023 for creditors to obtain #BTC , and that many of the previous claims have been acquired by hedge funds, and the long-term impact may not be significant. https://t.co/LeMk2kJ5eY

The Massive Crypto Sponsorships Continue

• In the last few months, we have witnessed a veritable competition between FTX and Crypto.com when it comes to striking massive sports partnerships. The opinions differ on these insanely expensive deals, but they inevitably have one effect: they bring cryptocurrencies closer to millions of new people.

Blockworks @Blockworks_

NEW: The Los Angeles stadium will be renamed Crypto.com Arena. It's a 20-year deal worth $700 million.

Yano (hiring!) @JasonYanowitz

Crazy watching @cryptocom execute a $1 billion sports marketing campaign. 1) PSG – $30m 3yr 2) UFC – $175m 10yr 3) Formula 1 – $100m 5yr 4) 76ers – $10m 6yr 5) Montreal Canadiens – logo at center ice 6) Serie A – partnership And now a $700m 20 year deal with LA stadium.