Some summaries, not investment advice.
2017 was the ICO era, and public fundraising directly replaced VC and PE, so the bull market in 2017-2018 belonged to the OG platform and proxy investment. As long as you grab a share, you can make money.
In 2021, DeFi rose, and the actual market began to diversify and divert. As long as you run fast, you can make money.
At that time, IEO could also negotiate with the project party to release a part of the shares to users, so the general pricing was low when it went online, and buying new instead of old was also a typical feature of this period.
But now IEO is generally considered to have legal risks in most countries, so it can only be airdropped and market-priced, which means that if the circulation is large and the opening price is low, the project will perform relatively steadily, such as BB and Lista, but compared with 21 years, it is still too fast and lacks a sufficient wash process.
The rise in 2024 was initiated by BTC ETF. The smart money in this wave belongs to the king-level projects and Lumao Studio. They love each other and have created a wave of beautiful data together. On the one hand, the project parties can raise more money from VCs (if you observe the top VCs in the market, they are all over a billion US dollars, which will indeed push up the pricing of good projects), and on the other hand, the project parties with money and users are full of confidence. There are millions of users on the chain. It doesn’t matter if they don’t go on a certain platform. There are many CEXs to go on. If there is no CEX, there are still DEXs. At worst, there are Dexes on their own chains.
Trading platforms do not have pricing power, so for projects with high valuations, everyone should look at the fundamentals, not just the market value, but also the circulation.
Today, the market has indeed changed again. The fratricide between Lumao Studio and L2 projects has turned into a farce, and the Lumao era may be coming to an end. At present, there are more professional players in both the primary and secondary markets. They have various tools to hedge risks, but they have also expanded the market size. As an ordinary investor, the ICO in 2017, the IEO in 2021, the nesting dolls, and even the 2023 strategy of making money may not be suitable for today's market.
Is it a healthier market if there is a lack of VC investment and fewer project parties? In every cycle, there will be some projects that cross the bull and bear markets, and there are also countless king-level projects that fall on the road. Whether it is web2 or web3, there are very few successful startups, and projects that cross the gap and cross the cycle are even rarer.
Investment is risky, so be cautious when entering the market.

In recent Time, rumors have been circulating across social media platforms suggesting that Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, was arrested at a French airport. However, these reports have been confirmed as fake news. Official sources have debunked this misinformation, clarifying that no such incident involving Durov has occurred.

Pavel Durov, known for his pioneering role in the creation of Telegram and his commitment to privacy and free speech, has become a target for various unfounded rumors over the years. The latest false report of his supposed arrest created a brief stir but was swiftly dismissed. Durov himself or his team has yet to make an official statement on the matter, likely viewing it as yet another attempt to spread baseless gossip.

In related news, **Toncoin (TON)**, the cryptocurrency associated with the Telegram ecosystem, continues to rise, reaching a remarkable value of **$9.50 USDT**. The upward trend in Toncoin’s price is likely attributed to increasing interest in blockchain technologies and the ongoing development of decentralized applications within the Telegram ecosystem.

Despite the fake reports of Durov's arrest, the focus remains on the innovative products and services under his leadership, with Telegram's user base continuing to grow and its associated projects, such as Toncoin, thriving in the digital economy.

In conclusion, the rumors surrounding Pavel Durov’s arrest are entirely false, and the tech mogul continues to lead Telegram and its expanding ventures without disruption. Meanwhile, Toncoin’s performance signals promising times ahead for the cryptocurrency space.

Bitcoin +5.2% has swung wildly in recent weeks, bouncing around $60,000 per bitcoin as traders brace for a China earthquake.
The bitcoin price has dropped back from its all-time high of over $70,000 set in March as fears mount over the U.S.'s spiraling $35 trillion debt pile and billionaire Elon Musk warns of U.S. dollar "destruction" that could "bankrupt" the country.
Now, after former president Donald Trump floated a radical plan to wipe out U.S. debt, the U.S. dollar has hit its lowest level since the start of the year, sparking fears of further collapse and potentially feeding a bitcoin price boom.

The bitcoin price has climbed from around $40,000 at the beginning of the year, past its peak of $70,000 before falling back to around $60,000—though Apple has quietly primed the market for an iPhone earthquake.

Now, as some crypto experts bet China could be about to open up its digital doors to crypto, economists are calling on China to begin monetary stimulus to bolster the country’s flagging economy.
China could increase this year's special sovereign bonds to $420 billion, Zhang Ming, deputy director of government think tank the Institute of Finance and Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told Bloomberg, after China's economic growth has fallen short of official expectations in the aftermath of strick Covid-era lockdowns.

Earlier this week, Beijing-based analyst Zichen Wang polled economists who called for increased government spending and found consensus that "aids could at least go to low-income groups."

Last week, Arthur Hayes, a cofounder of bitcoin and crypto derivatives pioneer BitMex who went on to set up the Maelstrom investment fund, wrote in a blog post that he expects China to next year "finally unleash its long-awaited bazooka fiscal stimulus," predicting the China-America "crypto bull market shall be glorious."

The expected China stimulus comes with all eyes on Jackson Hole, Wyoming, this morning as traders anxiously await Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's speech from the annual economic symposium of central bankers which is widely expected to strike a dovish tone and cue up a September interest rate cut.

Earlier this week, the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) July meeting minutes revealed policymakers are more dovish than thought, suggesting they're ready for rates to begin coming down after rocketing to 23-year highs at a historical pace through the Biden administration.
$BTC

Binance asserts that it has stepped up its security game. In a Thursday, August 8 press release shared with DailyCoin, the exchange disclosed that as of July 31, it had recovered $73 million in funds stolen from crypto users in 2024, a figure that already exceeded the $55 million it claimed to recoup in the whole of 2023. The firm attributed the increase to its “proactive security measures,” including greater collaboration with more third-party services.
According to Binance, about 80% of the recovered loot came from hacks, exploits, and thefts, while the remaining 20% came from scams. The exchange did not go into detail about the related hacks and scams. Still, the recovered assets likely include $4.2 million worth of XRP linked to a hack of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s accounts in January 2024 and $5 million in crypto recovered from the BtcTurk hack in June 2024.

While Binance has attributed the increased fund recoveries to its bolstered efforts instead of an overall surge in illicit crypto activity, recent data suggests that the latter has risen in 2024, regardless.

Losses from 2024 Crypto Hacks and Scams on Track To Surpass 2023?
Over $900 million was lost in crypto hacks and scams in the first half of 2024, representing a 24% increase over the same period in 2023, per Immunefi. The spike in losses comes amid increasingly favorable market conditions that have seen excitement and fear of missing out (FOMO) make investors more susceptible to exploits.

Whether these losses will eventually cool off or continue to outpace those recorded in 2023 remains to be seen. 

Donald Trump Jr. has finally revealed what his cryptic DeFi post on X was all about, and it’s got nothing to do with memecoins.

Donald Trump Jr. has announced plans to launch a new decentralized finance (DeFi) cryptocurrency platform to address inequality in banking access. However, the platform is still in the early stages and will take some time to become a reality.

During a Q&A session on subscription-based platform Locals on Aug. 8, Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump, said he wasn’t launching a memecoin but working on a crypto platform to take on the banks.

“What we’re talking about is a larger type of platform,” that’s very different and not a memecoin, he said. However, he added that it would be a “long time before we can do anything,” not giving anything away on a time frame.

Trump Jr. didn’t provide much more detail on the platform but emphasized that it would target the banking system:

“What we want to do is take on a lot of the banking world. I think there has been a lot of inequality in that only certain people can get financing [...] so this notion of decentralized finance is obviously very appealing to guys like me who have been debanked.”

Rumors around a new crypto offering began circling after Trump mentioned DeFi in an Aug. 7 X post, with many believing it may be related to a new memecoin launch.

“We’re about to shake up the crypto world with something HUGE. Decentralized finance is the future — don’t get left behind,” he said.

His brother, Eric Trump, said something similar on X on the same day: “I have truly fallen in love with crypto/DeFi. Stay tuned for a big announcement.”

At the Q&A, he also addressed rumors regarding the Restore the Republic (RTR) memecoin, which had surged and crashed amid false rumors of association with the Trump family.

Eric Trump also recently denied any connection with the memecoin, calling the rumors “absolutely false” in an Aug. X post, which sent the RTR token crashing over 70%.

Related: Trump token dumps 31% despite doubts he’s behind the DJT token

Trump Jr. made a similar warning in an X post on Aug. 8, saying: “I love how much the crypto community is embracing Trump. It’s absolutely incredible, but beware of fake tokens claiming to be part of the Trump project.”

“The only official project will be announced directly by us, and it will be fair for everyone.”