WAGMI | An abundance of break up stories
What’s up humans! We’re back with our second edition of WAGMI, a Morning Brew-ish newsletter for the crypto and NFT curious.
If you’re new around here, this is what you’ll find in WAGMI:
Irreverence for everything
Tweets and bullet point lists
Tiny recaps of what's gone on in the crypto/NFT space
A culture section to keep you young
Not financial advice
Also, we’ve partnered with PRSPR, a financial literacy app that helps you start and make the journey to a kickass financial future. With PRSPR, you’ll learn money by watching bite-sized videos about all the financial stuff you’ve always thought was too complicated and boring.
Speaking of complicated, there is a glossary at the bottom of this newsletter for any acronyms, words, or other concepts that might need more explanation. Anything in a newsletter that’s explained in the glossary will be marked with 🤯.
We’ve got lots of stuff to cover this week, so let’s get this mess started.
Crypto
Walmart + Litecoin, a shorter relationship than Kim Kardashian & Kris Humphries
A press release saying Walmart planned on using Litecoin ($LTC)🤯 as a way to pay pushed Litecoin’s price up 35% in less than an hour.
Pretty quickly after the release, a bunch of legit news outlets like CNBC, decided not to Google it first and shared the news.
And then…
Just as quickly as the news came, people realized it was fake. Litecoin dumped back to where it’d been trading before the press release, but had to share its pain, and brought the whole market down with it. A few hours later Walmart confirmed they had no plans to hook up with Litecoin.
El Salvador buys the dip…then tweets about it
El Salvador, which recently legally recognized Bitcoin as legal money, added 150 Bitcoin to their treasure chests during a market drop from $52,000 to $43,000, and now they hold 550 bitcoin.
Ironically, Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador tweeted known Bitcoin dip buyer, Michael Saylor, the CEO of a “Business Intelligence Company” MicroStrategy.
Michael Saylor indeed took his turn.
Coinbase + the SEC, another relationship on the rocks
Coinbase was going to launch Coinbase Lend, a product that would offer users 4% interest for holding specific coins on their platform, but got a punch in the face from the SEC.
The SEC told Coinbase, “We’re gonna sue you if you launch that” and Coinbase was all, “WTF, I thought we had something special here?”
What does it mean?
The SEC is no longer closing their eyes and hoping crypto will just go away. Now, they’re overwhelmed, have no idea what it is, and are scrambling to figure out what to do with it.
Why do I care?
The SEC’s intervention, wether you feel it’s bad or good, marks a dramatic shift in the history and economy of money. Crypto is growing up, and, like it or not, crypto leaders will both need to lobby for fair policies, while helping educate the SEC about the difference between a Bitcoin and a stonk.
Not your grandpa’s domain name
The Domain Name System (DNS), which turns IP addresses into domain names like www.wagminews.substack.com, now has cousin built on blockchain🤯.
In blockchain tech, every digital wallet has an address that you have to use to send and receive things. Basically, a username or an email address for digital assets.
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS), takes that address and turns it into, you guessed it, a domain name, like wagminews.eth. ENS recently announced an integration with DNS connects domains like normaldomain.com to an ENS name like normaldomain.eth, letting normaldomain.com send and receive crypto.
What does it mean? Blockchain tech is starting integrate into the current version of the web we know and use.
Why do I care? It’s a big step towards what people are calling web3🤯, “a decentralized and fair internet where users control their own data, identity and destiny”. This type of integration between blockchain and our current web will keep happening. Slowly, then all at once.
NFTs
Marvel and DC, sitting in a tree. B A N N I N G (NFTs)
It’s not as bad as it sounds. Marvel and DC have sent letters to illustrators asking them to take down/not sell original artwork of comic characters. While frustrating, it’s not surprising, not entirely unwarranted due to intellectual property laws.
Still, creators have wrestled with how they’re paid for movie franchise success even before NFTs became a possible to make money.
A pixel cartoon shares sage wisdom for buying your first NFT
Click or tap to read thread
NFT = Non-fungible token. What is fungible? Am I fungible?
What a time to be alive
Stonks & paper money
Banks or nah?
The Bankless podcast talked to Cathie Wood, founder of the investment management firm, ARK invest, and a few other really smart people about, the state of crypto regulation, banks, and the future of investing.
Some of my favorite takeaways
“I think part of the heightened regulatory talk in the US...is because yield [in DeFi'] has attracted so much interest that banks themselves are beginning to feel it. It’s because the banks are beginning to see how much this will hollow them out.”
”JP Morgan’s account customer base charted against Venmo and Cash App…JP Morgans’s was up and to the right, but it was all acquisition…which is not real growth….Square and Cash App, they have surpassed JP Morgan in number of digital accounts, more than 60 million each. They did it in 5-7 years. These digital wallets are bank branches in our pocket…Right now these digital wallet apps cost of customer acquisition is $20 per or less while the banks are paying anywhere from 350 dollars to 1500 per user to bring them into checking accounts, savings accounts, mortgages and so forth. ”
Cathie Wood
Not financial advice
A cartoon gives us even MORE sage wisdom on “making it”
6529 has some solid takes. His GMI framework is an interesting take at what it means to be happy and successful.
Click or tap to read thread
YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE THESE SECRETS…
Do you feel clickbaited? This thread isn’t actually secrets, it’s crypto trader SecretsofCrypto’s advice on navigating the crypto bull run.
Crypto Analyst Jonny Woo can’t even
What does it mean?
A trading chart like the one above is made up of “candles” that represents the price action of a particular asset during a specific time. If a price goes up during a specific time, the candle is green. If the price goes down, the candle is red. This is a monthly chart, meaning the candles represent the price action for each month. Woo points out that the price candles for September 2013 and September for 2021 look pretty similar.
Why do I care?
The November and October candles in 2013 look pretty interesting. Will history rhyme?
That’s all for this month, frens.
If you learned something, laughed, or enjoyed this newsletter, please subscribe and share. You subscribing and sharing will help everyone make it.
N00b glossary
Remember, nothing in this newsletter is financial advice, or should be used to
Blockchain | Generally, blockchain technology is a public way of keeping track of stuff that isn’t run by one person or business. The block is where some sort of data is stored. For any specific cryptocurrency, that would be a record of transactions (who bought, sold, etc). The data stored on the blockchain (text, art, etc) can't be changed once it’s placed in a block. Every new block connects to the last, creating a “chain” of blocks.
${coinname} | This is a cashtag. Cashtags let you look up posts related to any particular coin on social media platforms like Twitter.
NFT | Non-fungible token. An item that is unique and can’t be replaced or switched out with something else, like a rare trading card or art piece.
Web3 |
Wait…there are versions of the internet? Yes.
Web1 (1991 - 2004) - This web was created, updated, and maintained by developers. The average user simply consumed content that couldn’t be personalized or customized. Very little interactivity. For example, you couldn’t just upload a video to Youtube.
Web2 (2004-now) - The web we know. You don’t have to be a developer to create and make on the web. Through third-party businesses like Facebook, Squarespace, Instagram, Google, etc, the average user can build and create on the web. Websites and applications are interactive and made possible through protocols that allow databases to communicate.
Web3 (TBA) - Generally, the aim of web3 is to remove the third-party and put the average user in charge of their own data, platform governance, finances, etc. In Web2, users create content for YouTube, but they don’t get rewarded for its creation, or, in some cases, might not even legally own it. Web3 changes this using decentralized blockchain tech and protocols to build applications that aren’t governed by any one person or company, but a network of incentivized users.