"Weekly Editor's Picks" is a "functional" column of Odaily Planet Daily. In addition to covering a large amount of real-time information every week, Planet Daily also publishes a lot of high-quality in-depth analysis content, but they may be hidden in the information flow and hot news, and pass you by.
Therefore, every Saturday, our editorial department will select some high-quality articles that are worth spending time reading and collecting from the content published in the past 7 days, and bring new inspiration to you in the crypto world from the perspectives of data analysis, industry judgment, and opinion output.
Now, come and read with us:
invest
Analyzing the underlying logic of the current market decline: the wave of deleveraging in the technology sector triggered by Nvidia's slowing growth
The core reason for this round of decline is, on the surface, that the "rebound was weaker than expected" of the US non-farm payroll data, which to a certain extent triggered market concerns about a US recession. In essence, with the release of Nvidia's second-quarter financial report, the growth rate of performance slowed down. Nvidia, as the core driving force of this bull market, began to kill valuations. As a result, capital accelerated the pace of deleveraging in the technology sector to avoid risks.
Data interprets the current market situation: Will it go higher or lower in the future?
The current situation does not look optimistic. The regulatory environment is quite chaotic. The SEC has been exerting pressure on the cryptocurrency field. The ISM index is declining, the demand for ETH ETF is weak, and the risk investors are cautious. These are not ideal market environments.
However, this is exactly how the market heals itself. In fact, when everyone is panicking, it often means that we may be closer to the bottom of the market than we think. Although there are a lot of bearish data, there are also many positive signals. L2 solutions are performing well (especially Base), social platforms such as Farcaster and OpenSocial are growing, and market leverage has been cleared.
Overall, although the market has cooled, it remains active in some key areas.
Bitwise: Why the crypto market cannot escape the "September effect"?
September was a bad month for all risk assets (hard to attribute); SEC enforcement season weighs on cryptocurrencies; reflexivity.
Exclusive interview with top KOL Ansem: Go all-in on SOL, Cardano may "die" in this cycle
Ansem believes that the current cycle is in the early stages of the second or third inning, and believes that cryptocurrency adoption will increase and unprecedented new things will break out.
If you want a blockchain that is more efficient than Ethereum L1, you should stop using EVM. People underestimate the trend of moving from CEX to DEX.
Meme coin is the original form of SocialFi. Meme coin is not dead, and I believe its super cycle will continue.
Newbies should learn to be the first to participate at every opportunity.
Will the market reverse? Check out 7 indicators to buy the bottom of Bitcoin
Entrepreneurship
The most comprehensive guide: How can crypto projects enter the Korean market?
The article introduces in order: an overview of the Korean ecosystem (including exchanges, media, research and consulting, investment, projects, and KOLs), three elements of planning marketing activities (clear KPIs, executable user actions, and a clear roadmap with pre- and post-TGE plans), and three types of Korean retail investors (money-grabbing parties, opportunistic traders, and technology-based infrastructure users).
Also recommended: "Current situation of the Korean market: projects are pouring in to seek exit liquidity, and short-dropping is still the consensus."
Do you need to find product-market fit before issuing tokens?
Product-market fit (PMF) is the moment when a startup finally finds a broad customer base that resonates with its product. Should PMF be achieved before issuing tokens? It depends on how many tokens the product needs to find product-market fit.
Unless your product truly relies on a token, you shouldn’t rush to launch a token before achieving a PMF. Without a PMF, your token may slow down growth rather than drive it.
The Icarus Myth of the Crypto World: The Self-Destructive Crisis Behind the High FDV Boom
Avoid issuing tokens at high FDV; raise capital only when necessary and consistent with growth strategy; do not issue tokens simply because they can achieve a high FDV in the private market; for efficient price discovery, the circulating supply should be maximized when issuing tokens (the goal should be at least 20% to 50% of the total supply, not just 5%), however, the current regulatory environment may make this circulating supply target difficult to achieve; engage with liquidity managers.
Returning to Bonding Curve, are we using it right?
As one of the earliest algorithmic innovations on the chain, Bonding Curve has had a profound impact on token economics and token engineering.
The role of Bonding Curve: natural sorting based on token game, natural early incentives, and healthy Value Flow.
Bonding Curve exists as part of the core algorithm in multiple protocols, such as Nexus Mutual in the field of on-chain insurance and Fei in the field of stablecoins. One of the major advantages of Bonding Curve is that it allows users to directly benefit from early growth, and when the curve is integrated with other protocol indicators, a gain of 1+1>2 can be obtained. In Nexus Mutual, as the value of the pledge increases, it can correspond to the super-linear growth of the token, while in FEI, it can achieve coordinated development with other DeFi protocols while stabilizing the inflow of protocols.
In addition, the "pure on-chain governance" introduced by Bonding Curve is itself a very sustainable thing, because the contract itself will not Rug itself. Other potential use cases include fairer (natural) governance, decentralized asset endorsement, and protocol growth.
Airdrop Opportunities and Interaction Guide
Digging deep into airdrop data: Should you sell or keep the coins after receiving them? What is the interactive value of the king-level projects that have not yet issued coins?
Only 23% of the projects rose after the airdrop; (it is more cost-effective to sell them directly after receiving them)
Among the 47 airdropped tokens, only AI, Meme and Modular airdrops had significant increases;
Looking at different networks, only Solana’s airdrop has seen a positive increase since TGE, and Ethereum-based airdrops performed the worst;
12.7% of airdrop projects outperformed the same ecosystem tokens this year; (If you want to buy, buy old coins for a higher chance of winning)
All Layer 2 data declined after the airdrop, except for Starknet;
Linea expects to airdrop $251 per address, which the author believes is underestimated; (After the co-founder of Linea resigned yesterday, it is good enough to issue coins)
The general airdrop value of Scroll is about $27, and 16.9% of users expect to earn $1,350. The author believes that unless large funds participate in Scroll to cooperate with other projects to kill two birds with one stone, there is little value in participating;
Restaking performance is poor, and the author believes it is difficult to achieve excellent performance;
Berachain could try to collect various (expensive) NFTs and participate in testnets regularly.
Also recommended: "MyShell interactive actuarial answer: Is it a roll or not? What strategy has the highest cost-effectiveness?" "This month's must-participate blockchain game project Castile: total financing amount reaches 25 million US dollars" "This week's must-participate: Azuki new animation project, Big Time cooperation project token airdrop event, popular project Galxe mission".
Meme
Exploring the new way of operating Meme coins: selling peripherals + game servers, a 50-fold increase in 1 month
Bitcoin Ecosystem
Exploring the past and present of OP_CAT, is the era of Bitcoin expansion coming?
With the introduction of OP_CAT, STARK technology will be able to help Bitcoin realize the verification of zero-knowledge proofs, thereby introducing true universal computing power to Bitcoin. OP_CAT can introduce more logic to a single calculation by connecting stack elements, which gives Bitcoin scripts a certain degree of flexibility, but also faces the risk of DDOS. For security reasons, Satoshi Nakamoto deleted the OP_CAT opcode in 2010 to reduce the attack surface, which also caused Bitcoin to lose a certain degree of script flexibility, especially when data needs to be spliced.
STARK’s hashing operation can be more directly integrated with Bitcoin’s existing hashing logic. This compatibility means that STARK can implement zero-knowledge proofs more efficiently on the Bitcoin network without making major changes to Bitcoin’s existing computing mechanism.
Also recommended: "Guide: How to mint Fractal Network CAT Protocol tokens in one click through scripts".
Ethereum and Scaling
Recommended reading: "A 10,000-word review of the Ethereum Foundation's latest AMA: ETH's value, the foundation's current status, the future of the mainnet, L2 development and research focus" and "Amid the noise, re-examine Ethereum's positioning and roadmap."
Opinion: Most L2s will always remain centralized, and Ethereum is moving further and further away from its original intention
Most L2s will always remain centralized because their incentives are broken. Current “solutions” to these problems are overly optimistic because L2s as for-profit companies will not give up their revenue. More power is given to companies that are forced to comply with government censorship. This goes against the tradition of privacy as a cypherpunk movement, and Ethereum is pushing most users towards L2s that can monitor, freeze, steal, and censor user funds.
DeFi is declining, the market is being eaten away by L2, where is the cure for Ethereum?
The article explores Vitalik Buterin’s recent comments on waning interest in DeFi, ETH’s current underperformance against BTC and other competitors, and questions about whether ETH faces an identity crisis, such as whether it serves as an “ultrasonic currency” or is subject to cannibalization by some L2.
ETH is down 5% year-to-date so far, highlighting this issue. Pro-ETH groups and others in the crypto space often disagree on semantics when discussing what counts as Ethereum. Regardless of whether L2 is considered part of Ethereum or not, the development of L2s such as Arbitrum and Base does not significantly benefit ETH as an asset.
In the cryptocurrency space, people often validate narratives through price because it directly relates to their profitability.
Exploring the true cost of the "one-click chain launch" L2 project: How much does it cost to run an L2?
Despite various optimizations at the industry level and individual chain level, this still requires a total of $10,500 to $16,500 in fees per month for ZK Rollup and $4,000 to $6,500 for Op Rollup, in addition to sharing up to 20% of the sorter profits once the chain becomes profitable.
Multi-ecology and cross-chain
A comprehensive analysis of the Solana token economy: Is SOL’s inflation rate high?
Currently, the Solana network's inflation rate is about 5.07%, and the network staking rate is as high as 65%. In the inflation model, users get rewards by validating nodes, and the circulation of tokens gradually decreases over time. Although Solana's staking return rate is attractive, there is still uncertainty about the long-term impact of its inflation on token prices. Future adjustments to the inflation plan may further affect the sustainability and economic model of the network by reducing issuance or changing the inflation mechanism.
Also recommended: "Mining the Solana Ecosystem, 15 Potential Benefits You Can't Miss at Breakpoint".
HMSTR is listed on Binance, and we take stock of the eight projects in the TON ecosystem that will soon issue tokens and airdrops
Introduction to Yescoin, Major, TON Station, MemeFi, X Empire, TapSwap, PocketFi, and Blum projects and gameplay.
Explore the Sonychain ecosystem: 60+ early projects and airdrop opportunities at a glance
Going mainstream is the purpose of Soneium Chain. Astar Network is reshaping its Astar zkEVM into Soneium L2. $ASTR will provide support for the Soneium ecosystem, but the Gas token will still be $ETH. Soneium has no plans to launch a native token in the near future.
The Soneium Minato testnet was launched on August 28. In just half a month, more than 60 projects have announced development or integration with Soneium.
DeFi
DeFi Gold Rush: High-yield opportunities worth watching on Solana
Stablecoins and LST on Solana offer a variety of yield farming opportunities, allowing users to grow the most mature or stable assets depending on their risk tolerance.
PYUSD currently offers the highest yield opportunity among stablecoins, especially on platforms such as Drift, with APYs as high as around 18%. In terms of liquidity staking, JupSOL and mSOL currently have the highest leverage yields at around 15%, providing attractive returns for those willing to take the risk of utilizing leveraged strategies. However, be sure to monitor these vaults as their yields fluctuate regularly.
PayFi revolution coming? Check out 5 Web3 payment projects worth paying attention to
The article briefly introduces Karrier One, Huma Finance, Sphere Pay, Loopcrypto.xyz, and Orbita.
SocialFi
friend.tech has given up, Farcaster’s growth has stagnated… Why is social networking so difficult?
Creating a universal social product is a very difficult challenge. Acquiring customers, retaining them, and allowing users to establish new relationships in new products are all extremely complicated matters.
The current decentralized social products generally lack some irreplaceable advantages, and it is difficult for users to form a "rigid demand". The current decentralized social products have obvious disadvantages in terms of network effects. The current decentralized social products have generally declined in terms of wealth effects.
Hot Topics of the Week
In the past week, in terms of opinions and voices, Putin: Russia has become one of the leaders in the field of Bitcoin mining, and Russia will produce 54,000 BTC in 2023; Powell may seek unanimous approval of the interest rate cut decision, or even a sharp cut; Arthur Hayes: It is expected that the US dollar liquidity will increase this week, and Bitcoin may rise; Matrixport: Bitcoin has reached the "panic peak" and urgently needs a key catalyst; mempool founder: Fractal Bitcoin seems to be a "clone" copy of Bitcoin Core v2 4.0.1; Solana co-founder questioned ZKsync's statement that the governance system is not multi-signature, and believed that the latter has centralization risks;
In terms of institutions, large companies and leading projects, the Ethereum Foundation protocol support team has hired two new employees to be responsible for funding support work, which is the first recruitment; Alchemy Pay has become one of TON's preferred crypto payment solution providers; the friend.tech team gave up development rights and sold a total of about 20,000 ETH in revenue; DeBox announced the BOX token economics and will airdrop 5% of the tokens; Trump: World Liberty Financial will be officially launched on September 16; WLFI plans to start the online live broadcast at 8:00 on September 17, and Trump will deliver a speech; Fractal Token Protocol FLUX's eponymous token was minted within half an hour; CAT Protocol is hot, raising the Fractal Bitcoin network fee rate; Trump-related stocks and cryptocurrency concept stocks fell after the US election debate;
According to the data, the U.S. SEC's cryptocurrency enforcement fines in 2024 will reach 4.7 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of more than 30 times year-on-year; Catizen had 800,000 paying users in six months, with an ARPPU of 33 U.S. dollars... Well, it's another week of ups and downs.
Attached is a portal to the “Weekly Editor’s Picks” series.
Reunion in the second half~
