Sup, nerds!

Here’s what you’re getting in today’s edition:

• 💅 This is cool: $2.5T just moved through crypto...

• 🔎 This seems important: The Federal Government just slapped the crypto market across the face.

• 🤝 Partner: Fuller, thicker hair in 3-6 months​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: Are these AI crypto projects all hype?

Terms used in this edition (click for an explanation, or ask Web(GPT)3!):
Web3, Decentralized.

💅 This is cool:

Phwoar! $2.5T Moved Through Centralized Crypto Exchanges in March!

In one sentence: In March, the amount of money traded back and forth on centralized crypto exchanges was just shy of $2.5T, reflecting increased interest in the crypto market. 

Check the date.

It’s April 4th (or 5th depending on your time zone).

Point is: what we’re about to tell you — and we cannot stress this enough — is not an April Fools joke…

In March, the amount of money traded back and forth on centralized crypto exchanges was just shy of $2.5 Trillion (with a T).

(Straight up doubling February’s total trading volume).

“Ok, sounds impressive at first glance…but what does it actually mean for the crypto market?”

Good question. We have no idea.

Kidding! (Could you imagine?)

High trading volume, whether it’s pushing prices up or down, is a good sign for the crypto market — because:

1. On a niche/local level: it means centralized exchanges, like Coinbase, are going to be eatin’ good this month! (Their money is made mostly through transaction fees).
   
   Coinbase is a publicly traded company, and are due to report their earnings next month. The potential headline of “all time high fee revenue” will reflect positively on the crypto industry.
    

2. On a broader scale: High trading volume causes volatility — which traders can make money on, both on the way up, and the way down.
    
   (And if there’s money to be made in a new technology, it’s bound to attract new users).
    

3. On an even broader scale: In general, it indicates increased interest in the crypto space.

All in all, great news for the Web3 & crypto space!

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

The Federal Government Just Slapped the Crypto Market Across the Face

In one sentence: The US Gov. plans to sell $1.9B worth of seized BTC, but the market doesn’t seem to care (meanwhile, Jerome Powell’s ‘nothing burger’ speech helped push prices up).

The Federal Government just slapped the crypto market across the face.

…right before giving it a hug.

The slap: when the feds took down Silk Road, they seized a whooole bunch of Bitcoin along with it…and on Tuesday, they transferred ~30,000 BTC (~$1.9B) to sell on Coinbase.

(And that level of potential sell pressure usually spooks the market into a sell off, in anticipation of the sale).

The hug: Yesterday, Jerome Powell (Chair of the Federal Reserve) spoke at Stanford.

And when J-Powell talks, market participants listen closely. Often, a little too closely...

(E.g. we’ve heard people talk — in all earnestness — about making trades informed by the color of Jerome’s tie).

Based on recent economic data, J-Powell had this to say:

Translation: yeah, inflation isn’t coming down in a straight line, but that’s expected. We still plan on lowering interest rates this year.

(Which will juice the economy by lowering everyone’s loan/credit repayments, giving them more disposable income).

Now, here’s the cool part!

The crypto market totally shrugged off the Gov’s potential ~$1.9B sale of Bitcoin, trading sideways on the news.

…but when J-Powell gave the most middle of the road ‘plans are unchanged’ speech — most major cryptocurrencies moved up on the news.

We’ll take it!

🤝 Partner:

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🔪 Let's dissect this:

Are These AI Crypto Projects All Hype?

In one sentence: Most AI tokens are designed to be used to purchase services from AI ecosystems…but for now they’re mainly being used as a form of speculative investment.

So, not sure if you’ve noticed or not, but…

AI, and AI-related tokens have been booming over the past 6-12 months.

WorldCoin (WLD) traded up ~350% since its listing price about a year ago, Livepeer (LPT) and Arkham (ARKM) also saw gains at 140% and 100%, respectively. 

Which might lead you to believe decentralized AI networks are in high demand…

The disappointing reality is that, while the intended use case for most of these AI tokens is to purchase services from specific AI ecosystems…they’re mainly being used as a form of speculative investment. 

Which means the demand for decentralized AI may be a little over blown right now…

But, here’s the twist:

These crazy valuations could actually be doing God’s work (as they say).

Because the concept of one, or a select few companies having full control over Earth’s first/only digital super intelligence(s) is terrifying.

Which makes decentralized AI a MASSIVELY important technology.

So if we need to over-fund a few crypto projects in order to make decentralized AI cheap, easy to use, and commonplace:

We’re all for it!

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