2/2/24: Scamdrew Tate Wants Free Crypto 🤡🪨🔻

Top News

  • 🤡 Crypto hater Andrew Tate wants to launch his own cryptocurrency

  • 🪨 BlackRock spot Bitcoin ETF overtakes Grayscale in daily volume

  • 🔻 Meta’s metaverse division ironically incurs a $4.65B quarterly loss

Specs’ Insights

⌐◪-◪ → Andrew Tate wants to launch his own cryptocurrency and says he’ll, “back it with $100M of my own money and never sell”.

This is pretty ironic considering he released a video last year roasting crypto and NFTs, probably because he got burned on a few stupid investments. His exact words were:

  • “I DO NOT HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH ANY CRYPTO”

  • “I’m not a scammer like every other “influencer”

  • “I don’t need to rob my fans”

Launching a token would be so unbelievably hypocritical that it might just be an attention-grabbing shit-post. If it is, it’s clearly working.

Anyway, I’ll never understand the Tate worshipers who believe he made hundreds of millions from “legitimate” businesses while desperately shilling a $50 paid group. Actions speak louder than words.

⌐◪-◪ → I want to call BlackRock the dark horse of the spot BTC ETF race, but let’s be honest — we all knew they’d come out on top.

With that said, “BlackRock” definitely has the coolest TradFi name, but maybe that’s Larry Fink’s pro-crypto stance starting to work its magic on me.

On a more serious note: BlackRock’s $IBIT is the first ETF to trade more than $GBTC in a single day, at $301M in daily volume.

This is significant considering Grayscale's massive headstart having their product in the market (as a trust, not ETF) since 2013.

So why is this happening? Well, probably because Grayscale’s ETF fees are a whopping 1.5%, which is 6x BlackRock’s 0.25% fee and 7.5x Bitwise’s 0.2% fee (the lowest).

As long as the low-fee providers can survive — i.e. their costs do not exceed their revenue — then Grayscale will probably lose their lead as the largest ETF by assets under management. Grayscale currently has $20.7B AUM, that’s 6.9x BlackRock’s ETF which just surpassed $3B AUM.

⌐◪-◪ → Looks like Facebook — sorry I mean Meta — just realized a $4.65B quarterly loss in its Metaverse division. Zooming out, Meta reported a staggering $42B loss since 2020 on its metaverse ventures.

While I love roasting Zuckerberg, the truth is, large R&D spending like this is necessary if you want to continue growing/innovating. For context, Apple spent over $100B in R&D over the last 5 years — with an estimated $20B on the Vision Pro headset alone.

Again, it’s fun to roast ZuckZuck, but this headline was a bit misleading and needed context. I get it though, it was a juicy headline, “Meta loses billions on Metaverse”. Lol.

Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

  • Solana registers all-time-high monthly new addresses in Jan

  • OPNX exchange built by 3AC founders is shutting down

  • Jupiter founder brushes off airdrop backlash, criticizes influencers

  • Larry Davis calls himself an “idiot” for infamous FTX Super Bowl Ad

  • Ondo COO says stablecoins with yield could overtake current players

  • Polygon Labs cuts 19% of staff for 'enhanced performance'

  • Coinbase targes VIP traders at rival exchanges with no-fee promo

  • 54% of all tokens launched on ETH in 2023 were pump and dumps

  • Foobar, the developer behind Delegate Cash, doxed by NFT Ethics

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

  • Valkyrie becomes 1st spot BTC ETF to diversify custodians

  • Celsius’ BTC mining asset to restart as new firm, plans to go public

  • Superstate introduces tokenized US Gov securities fund, USTB

  • Velar raises $3.5M for Bitcoin perpetual swaps exchange

  • Pixelmon raises $8M seed round from Animoca Brands

  • Saltwater raises $5.5M seed round for web3 gaming

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

  • DOJ charges 3 with $400M FTX swim-swap hack

  • Binance freezes $4.2M XRP stolen from Ripple co-founder

  • US lawmakers seek to overturn SEC’s crypto accounting policy

  • Elizabeth Warren renews crypto criticism in push for new legislation

  • Genesis with SEC for $21M in lawsuit over Gemini Earn program

🌎 Rest of the World

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

  • Sereum City game launches, Bored Ape holders get free passes

  • Overwatch esports league bans crypto, NFT, and AI sponsors

  • Parallel teases open beta for new Season 1 battle pass

  • Taproot Wizards delays 'Quantum Cats' mint for 3rd time

  • Animoca Brands criticized for using ApeCoin DAO to fund its projects

  • Doodles secures collaboration with Casino G-Shock

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