Sup, nerds!

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

• 💅 This is cool: No one cares about crypto (and that’s a good thing)

• 🔎 This seems important: These new post-election trading options could pump your crypto bags

• 🤝Partner: This is what we need to take crypto mainstream​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: Worldcoin just skyrocketed (here’s why)

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

💅 This is cool:

No One Cares About Crypto (And That’s a Good Thing)

In one sentence: Senator Warren’s assumption that ‘apathy towards crypto = hatred of crypto,’ has been a total misfire; and lead to a crypto-focused PAC raising $178M (making it an indomitable force in the 2024 election).

How do we frame this situation…

Ok, imagine if tomorrow a US Senator came out and said:

“I’m going to ban Linux (the open-source computer operating system)”…

Most of the voting population would think:

“I don’t really care either way — I don’t use it…but it feels like a weird hill to die on.”

A very select few people might praise the choice, saying:

“Hell yeah! Linux blows — its app library is limited and the UI is confusing.”

While a passionate minority of voters (mostly nerds, many of which have built huge software businesses and have an affinity for the OS) might say:

“This is an attack on open-source software, the bedrock of the modern day internet and we will raise enough funds to fight you tooth and nail.”

That’s the situation we’re seeing unfold between US blockchain users/companies and Senator Elizabeth Warren’s ‘anti-crypto army.’

Liz’s assumption that ‘apathy towards crypto = hatred of crypto,’ has proven to be one hell of a misfire — leading to a crypto-focused PAC, Fairshake, raising $178M, making it one of the most indomitable forces in the 2024 election.

(And without much of a counterweight in funding/support on Liz’s side).

The takeaways:

1. In this case, most people not caring about crypto is working in the industry’s favor.

2. Don’t mess with nerds.

3. Especially rich ones.

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

These New Post-Election Trading Options Could Pump Your Crypto Bags

In one sentence: Deribit just opened BTC & ETH options that expire 4 days after the election, so investors can safeguard themselves depending on who wins (and with that, pour a little extra cash into crypto in the lead up).

Do you use the 7-Eleven app?

Probably not.

But if you did, you might know that you can use it to ‘lock’ fuel prices for 7 days — the idea being, if you think gas is about to get more expensive, you can lock in lower prices ahead of time.

That’s kind of how options trading works.

You purchase the option to buy/sell an asset at a fixed price, at a certain date in the future.

We’re telling you this because Deribit (the world's largest Bitcoin and Ethereum options exchange) just announced they’d be allowing customers to buy the option to either purchase or sell BTC & ETH, four days after the US election.

Why does that matter?

Cause Biden is seen as anti-crypto, while Trump is seen as pro-crypto — and the market is going to react based on who wins.

So now investors can lower their risk using these options (e.g. if Biden wins, they might want to lock-in the option to sell at a fixed price higher than what might be expected in that situation).

And with those safe-guards in place, it means investors might feel a little more comfortable pouring a little extra cash into crypto in the lead up.

Nice!

🤝 Partner:

This Is What We Need To Take Crypto Mainstream

DeFi has a problem:

Risk assessment.

DeFi’s open nature is its greatest strength, but also its greatest vulnerability. 

Anyone can release code on blockchains, and many projects grow before they are fully vetted. 

(E.g. Terra’s UST stablecoin grew tremendously before people looked into its wonky architecture).

This exposes investors to countless risks: 

• Rug pulls (a smart contract is changed after you’ve already invested) 

• Bugs in smart contracts (code isn’t written correctly) 

• Scams (contracts with backdoors to steal your money) 

• Hacks (hackers break into systems and steal funds)

Identifying and keeping track of all these risks is near impossible, even for savvy DeFi investors.

Exponential.fi has tackled DeFi risk head-on by building products that make it easy for investors to assess risk, including:

👉 Rate My Wallet – which instantly analyzes the risk of DeFi portfolios.

and 

👉 Exponential Risk Ratings – which distill thousands of risk vectors into a simple letter grade. 

And it works! 

To date, Exponential.fi has assessed over 1,000 investable DeFi opportunities and identified over $8 billion of funds still invested in high-risk projects.

If you’re ready to start exploring DeFi opportunities via a simplified, all-in-one platform, join Exponential.fi free, by clicking the big red button below 👇

🔪Let's dissect this:

Worldcoin Just Skyrocketed (Here’s Why)

In one sentence: In the last two days WLD gained a whopping 68% (going from $1.90 on July 15 to $2.81 on July 16, and further increasing to $3.20 yesterday), but not everyone is happy about it.

Time for a quick check in on Worldcoin.

ICYMI, Worldcoin is a crypto project founded by OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, designed to prove a person’s humanity online, in a world where AI is everywhere.

The company requires a one-time iris scan by an orb-like bot that:

1. Verifies you’re human (or at least, in possession of a human eyeball)

2. Then rewards you for being human, by giving you WLD tokens

Over time the value of WLD has risen from $1.90 all the way up to $11.45 and back down to $1.78.

But in the last two days it’s gained a whopping 68% (going from $1.90 on July 15 to $2.81 on July 16, and further increasing to $3.20 yesterday).

You’d think people would be excited about that news, but they’re not.

Here’s why:

The reason for the pump over the past few days is because the Worldcoin team announced that the unlock schedule for 80% of WLD tokens allocated to its investors and team members would be extended from three to five years.

In other words, the amount of new tokens being released into the market immediately is reduced, which helps prevent an increase in supply, which would typically lower the price.

This announcement has led many to call the project out as a scam that is manipulating the price of their tokens for the better of their (internal) investors and team.

Here’s our take:

While it is technically within the Worldcoin teams’ power to change the unlock schedule, there are better ways that this could’ve been handled.

(Like letting everyone who’s had their iris scanned vote on it…)

What we know for sure is that we are living in a scary world if a company that holds that much biometric data turns out to be a scam.

Here’s hoping they get back in touch with the way things are done in web3.

Otherwise they might just find themselves with a powerful product and no users.

What is Worldcoin?