Sup, nerds!

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

• 💅 This is cool gimmicky: This car displays NFTs...and emotions?

• 🔎 This seems important: BTC is down bad (for now).

• 🤝 Partner: Level up your Web3 gaming insight!​

• 🔪 Let's dissect this: This is like Black Friday, but for Bitcoin ETFs...

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

💅 This is cool gimmicky:

This Car Can Display NFTs…and Emotions?

In one sentence: Mercedes unveiled a concept car that has an ‘emotional’ AI assistant, and displays its owner’s NFT collection.

“What’re you even doing here?? There’s no place for you under this roof!”

Was this:

A) Our reaction to seeing blockchain technology at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES)?

OR

B) What we said to our mom’s boyfriend, Greg, when he came to Christmas dinner that one time when we were 10?

Whether you answered A) or B), you are correct.

(Congrats!)

Today we’re going to focus in on point A), and look at blockchain tech’s latest product integration, featured at CES.

(Full disclaimer: this article shouldn’t be filed under “This is cool” as much as it should be “This is gimmicky”).

Here’s what we’re on about:

Mercedes recently unveiled a concept car that has an ‘emotional’ AI assistant, and displays its owner’s NFT collection.

And if you’re wondering “who is this ‘emotive NFT car‘ for?” The answer is: no one, really (these kinds of concept cars almost never go into production).

But we’re getting off topic…

Here’s why there’s no place for blockchain tech at CES (at least, as it currently stands):

Blockchain is predominantly an infrastructure technology.

Meaning it should (ideally) operate in the background, without the end consumer being conscious of it.

The same way that when you watch a show on Netflix, you’re not actively aware that the video is being hosted/streamed from an Amazon Web Services (AWS) server to your TV.

…so where does blockchain ‘fit’ in the existing tech landscape?

Anywhere where digital value is being exchanged, but hasn’t yet been:

1. Monetized
   E.g. Collecting/trading digital items within a video game.
   
   OR
   

2. Globally unified/standardized
   E.g. Borderless, stateless, super-low fee banking.

(Neither of which need a booth at CES just yet).

🥇 Want the news before anyone else?

🔎 This seems important:

Bitcoin Is Down Bad…but the Future Looks Bright!

In one sentence: BTC dropped from a yearly high of ~48k to ~43k, post ETF announcement, but the futures market is indicating positive movement in the coming months.

So, Bitcoin ain’t doing too hot.

(It looks like the Bitcoin ETF approval was a ‘buy the rumor, sell the news’ event).

Since the announcement last Wednesday, Bitcoin dropped from a yearly high of ~48k, to ~43k.

…and this is getting investors excited.

Confused? Here’s what’s going on:

If you want to know where the market thinks Bitcoin prices are about to go next - look no further than the futures market.

Aka: the place where folks bet on the future price of Bitcoin.

Though the BTC price has taken a hit recently, the ‘long-short ratio‘ of the futures market is predicting positive price movement in the coming months.

…cool, what the hell does that mean?

Think of the ‘long-short ratio‘ as a ‘positive-negative expectation ratio.’ The higher the ratio, the more positive the market’s outlook is on Bitcoin’s price.

Before the Bitcoin ETF approval last week, the ratio was sitting at a low of 0.86.

But as of yesterday, that number hit 2.86! Indicating a sharp increase in the expectation of upward price movement for Bitcoin.

So why the sudden rosy outlook on Bitcoin?

Our guess is, it’s a combination of the Bitcoin sell-off, and slow accumulation of Bitcoin via ETFs.

The idea being:

The market thinks Bitcoin is just about done selling off, and from here, what’s needed to push the price back up is steady buying pressure.

Buying pressure that the market expects to see coming from the Bitcoin ETFs over the coming months.

Whether it all goes to plan is a whole other question…

But it’s a positive indication nonetheless!

🤝 Partner:

Level Up Your Web3 Gaming Insight!

High Score Junkie​ is a web3 gaming newsletter loved by the top gaming projects, creators, and players in the space.

They cover gaming news and trends, as well as games themselves and game-related protocols (e.g Beam network), and we love them because they say it like it is - they cut to the chase while making sure everything is drenched in game visuals to keep you entertained.

High Score Junkie helps people discover new games that are under the radar or that you may have missed. They also spotlight creators and players from the community.

It's 100% free to subscribe and they even do giveaways from time to time!

🔪 Let's dissect this:

This Is Like Black Friday, but for Bitcoin ETFs...

In one sentence: Bitcoin ETF issuers are competing heavily on fees, with the Franklin Templeton ETF going as low as 0.19%.

Normally when you hear the term “race to the bottom,” it suggests something bad is about to happen…

But in this case, it means the opposite!

ICYMI: About 2 weeks ago we wrote about how people could benefit from Bitcoin without actually owning BTC themselves.

One of the options was to purchase shares in an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), the long awaited investment product that racked a collective $4.6B in trading volume at launch last week.

Which is awesome!

But, here’s what's cooler:

There’s strong competition between the firms that host these Bitcoin funds. 

(And competition between businesses = better prices for consumers).

Each of the 11 firms that issued a BTC ETF last week are now looking to beat out their competition by boasting the lowest fees on the market.

(Some are even offering no fees for the first 6 months).

As of this writing, the best deal you can get is from the Franklin Templeton Bitcoin ETF, which a fixed fee of 0.19%, followed closely by ARK with a fee of 0.20%. 

So yeah, sucks to be a Bitcoin ETF issuer right now.

…but that’s a great thing for the investing public.

The Privacy Pyramid (Explained)