SBF speaks, why DeFi NEEDS stablecoins, and all this weeks crypto news
Stablecoins are needed to grow DeFi, so decentralized stablecoins have never been more important.
Another week goes by in Crypto and the markets have settled slightly.
SBF broke his silence to the MSM by speaking at the NYT BookDeal summit which was a ticketed $2500 event, though it was livestreamed for free. People paid to listen to this criminal plead his innocence on what happened with the FTX collapse. The interviewer had history with SBF and seemed to go easy on him with the pre-chosen questions. The audience even seemingly had one of those “laugh” signs to chuckle when he joked about not accounting for $8B in customer funds.
The world is a stage.
SBF has also joined a few twitter spaces now to talk face to face with the crypto twitter and FTX users, making a case for the $8B accounting error.
An FTX trial is set with Maxine Waters leading the investigation into FTX. It should be noted that she was one of the largest recipients of SBF’s donations, and there’s even footage of her blowing a kiss to him last time they met in DC. She’s excited to start the “investigation” but if the donations do what they’re supposed to, it will likely result in a faulty hearing. He’s paid everyone off!
But it could have been worse If SBF had control of a stablecoin as well.
Let me explain…
Understand your Stablecoins
SBF had really integrated an ecosystem at FTX that had most of the working parts needed to make a whole. Working with the Solana blockchain, a DEX with Serum & Raydium, domain name system with Bonfida all paired with the staking system and trading on FTX.
But the one missing piece was a dedicated Stablecoin he could control. Thankfully it didn’t get to that point, but he was working on it.
Stablecoins are not just one of the best ways to preserve your wealth during a bear market, but are also integral to the DeFi ecosystem. DeFi and Liquidity Provision can already be risky, so most DeFi players use a stablecoin on half of their LP to not be exposed to extra risk.
But each stablecoin is more or less decentralized than others, posing other risks. Understand the risks of the stablecoins your holding to not end up in a UST Luna-Terra situation where it de-pegs and goes to zero.
For those that lean towards more decentralization, learning about decentralized stablecoins like DAI and FRAX is important. This week I spoke with the CEO of FRAX, Sam Kazemian, who gave me great insights into the value of these types of stablecoins, why they are so important for DeFi, and what the future of stablecoins looks like.
I highly recommend watching our conversation to learn how to protect your assets through stables before it’s too late:
Another Privacy update with MetaMask:
Since my last newsletter with Cirus Foundation on protecting your privacy, one of the biggest companies in Web3, Infura (owned by ConsenSys) , who run the RPC node servers for MetaMask wallet, stated they’re now going to invade everyones privacy even further. If you send an Ethereum transaction on MetaMask while connected to the default Ethereum Mainnet network, Infura will collect your IP address, Ethereum wallet address, and the address of the wallet you’re sending funds to. Here’s more details from Yahoo news on the updates.
Thankfully, there is an easy fix for this. Here is a quick guide on changing your RPC endpoints to a different Ethereum RPC provider on MetaMask so Infura is not tracking your IP: Quick Guide to setting up Alchemy RPC.
It’s not too difficult and can be accomplished in 15 minutes or less. Highly Recommended to preserve your IP and info in the hands of JP Morgan and crew.
Other Crypto News:
Trezor wallet offers free shipping and guaranteed delivery before Christmas when you order a hardware wallet before December 15th. Read More here.
Elon Musk says he will create a new phone if Twitter is removed from Google Play & Apple App Store. He met with Tim Cook and apparently they are good to remain in the app-store for now.
Elon Musk released the “Twitter Files” documenting how the old Twitter interfered with the election by wrongfully censoring the Hunter Biden scandal.
EU threatens Elon Musk with Twitter ban, citing compliance with content moderation rules.
Kanye West was banned from Twitter by Elon Musk for more anti-semitic remarks, though he was recently unbanned and given a second chance, he blew it quickly.
Telegram to build a non-custodial wallet and decentralized exchange
Bitboy releases a conspiracy - Every time the Solana blockchain paused, it was actually Alameda Research laundering money and brute forcing transactions.
Bahamas Attorney General says there is an active criminal investigation into FTX.
US House Committee schedules FTX collapse hearing for December 13th.
BlockFi sues Sam Bankman-Fried to seize his $575 million stake in Robinhood, Financial Times reports.
Sam Bankman-Fried says he donated the same amount to both US political parties, but did not disclose Republican donations because the media would freak out.
SBF still says FTX US Users will get 100% of their money back.
Russian President Vladimir Putin calls for international settlements based on blockchain and digital currencies
Russian crypto-boss and billionaire Vyacheslav Taran died in a mysterious helicopter crash. Another Russian Billionaire was kidnapped and had 250 Bitcoins stolen from him at gunpoint.
Alex Jones filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after being fined $1.5 Billion for his Sandy Hook related comments.
India to launch first retail digital rupee (CBDC) pilot on December 1, 2022.
Binance cold wallet transferred 127,351 BTC($2.06B) to a new address. The alleged reason was to check for proof of reserves.
Kraken exchanges fires 30% of their staff and Bybit exchanges also announces layoffs.
Apple blocks Coinbase Wallet app release, requesting 30% of all NFT transfer gas fees which is technically impossible since its part of the core function of the blockchain.
$META (Facebook) fined $277 million following half-billion user data leak.
My good friend TradingTank started a newsletter with great technical analysis on Bitcoin price and S&P500 price.
Market Analysis:
If you want to keep a closer eye on the charts, I highly recommend using the trading indicator I use on the charts below. EngineeringRobo trading indicator has had almost 100% success rate for trading in the last 3 months. Try out a free 7 day trial here.
BTC:
Although BTC rallied 5% up this week, I doubt the contagion is over. We are still in the midst of the FTX debacle unravelling, and anything could happen. There is a chance we keep going up to the green resistance lines around 18k, but likely we will see a sideways chop in this range until 2023. However, on the EngineeringRobo trading indicator there is a buy signal on BTC12H for a short-term trade setup.
Layer 1 Protocol of the Week:
$FTM:
Fantom blockchain is a growing ecosystem for DeFi and dApps development. We last spoke to them in April of 2022 (video can be found here), and is the largest gaining altcoins this week with a 30% price gain. On the 1D chart we see buy signals on the EngineeringRobo trading indicator. If Bitcoin continues to rise, I could see FTM moving up to the previous resistance line with a 73% gain.
Altcoin of the week:
$CIRUS:
If you read our newsletter last week about protecting your privacy, we highlighted Cirus Foundation as paving the way in adopting the real principles of Web3 and building a platform where users can monetize from their own personal information. Since our letter last week, $CIRUS jumped from $0.06 to almost $0.14. One of the largest gaining coins of the week. The ATH is still 10x away, and if it sticks around into the next bull run and privacy care increases, the chart will likely grow with the platform.
I’m also pleased to announce that Crypto Coin Show WON the award for the best interview show in all of Web3. We are now not only the longest standing web3 interview show, but also award winning (and we have the belt to prove it)! And this is still just the beginning.
That’s all for this week in Cryptocurrency news!
Ashton Addison
-CEO, Crypto Coin Show
Good stuff!
Great read!! Thanks for the shoutout :)