Volume 10 - Memecoin Mayhem
Bitcoin and Ethereum Drop Amid Rising Gas Fees as NFT Collection Skyrockets Following Elon Musk's Tweet.
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4 min read
1) On-chain Metrics
Since the NFT industry rebounded at the turn of the year, Ethereum has witnessed a continuous increase in the number of NFT traders on the network. As a result, Ethereum remains the most used network for NFTs.
However, it has been facing increased competition from Solana and Polygon, which charge significantly fewer gas fees. In addition, Ethereum has faced significant network congestion in the past few weeks thanks to the rush for the ‘Meme Coin Season’.
As a result, gas fees had risen significantly, which pushed some of Ethereum's users to cheaper options like Solana and Polygon. However, Ethereum still maintained an increase in NFT traders.
2) NFT News & Headlines
Pudgy Penguins Raises $9 Million as Part of Growing NFT Investments
The NFT industry has been on the steady rise for a few months now, with many new projects raising cash more easily than before.
Pudgy Penguins, an Ethereum NFT project that surged amid the 2021 bull run and then toppled into chaos, was purchased by a serial entrepreneur about a year ago and given a second life—right as the market collapsed. But the cartoon birds have persevered, and now the team has raised funding as its ambitions grow.
This week, Pudgy Penguins announced that it has raised $9 million in seed funding in a round led by early-stage investment firm 1kx, with participation from Big Brain Holdings, Kronos Research, Old Fashion Research, CRIT Ventures, and the founders of LayerZero Labs, per a release.
Milady Maker NFT Collection Skyrockets After Elon Musk’s Tweet
Milady Maker's NFT collection has been in the news in recent weeks after its popularity had been growing since the end of March. First, however, its floor price skyrocketed to record levels after a somewhat controversial tweet by Twitter CEO Elon Musk. In the infamous tweet, Elon Musk posted the popular Milady meme and added an upper line saying "There is no meme" and a lower tag saying "I love you."
While the tweet seemed simple enough, Milady NFT's floor price skyrocketed to 4.91ETH, which is almost $9000. While Milady has been around since 2021, it hasn't experienced this kind of market growth. Elsewhere, the Milady meme coin also skyrocketed by 11,260%, which shows the immense influence Elon Musk holds over the crypto market.
Other headlines:
Kenyan government launches plan to impose 3% taxes on cryptocurrencies and NFTs.
Sports Illustrated Ticketing platform launches NFT-based ticketing platform on Polygon.
Market analysts raise liquidity concerns over NFT lending.
Red Bull Partners with CrossMint to Introduce NFTs to Annual Doodle Art Competition.
Peace Inside Live launches the JOMO NFT collection as part of its mental health initiative.
3) Crypto News
Ethereum Gas Fees Skyrocket As Investors Rush Meme Coins
Gas fees on the Ethereum blockchain have been rising sharply in the past few weeks, but they reached record highs this week amid an increasing rush for meme coins.
The meme coin frenzy had returned in the past few months with many investors gushing over $PEPE, which in turn raised $PEPE's value quite rapidly. As Binance and Floki Inu listed $PEPE on their platform, Ethereum's network activity skyrocketed to around $15 per transaction.
Investor Pays 64 ETH in Gas Fees for FOUR Memecoin
One of the shocking events in the crypto market this week was when a trader paid almost $120,000 as gas fees to complete a Uniswap trade that involved 84 Wrapped Ether for $13.8 billion FOUR tokens.
While the trader had voluntarily increased their gas fees to speed up the transaction, it goes to show the height of congestion on Ethereum's network at this moment.
According to some analysts, the trader who paid the extremely high gas fees had about ($245,667) in unrealised profit.
Snapchat Influencer Launches Girlfriend-As-A-Services Using AI
CarynAI is an AI Girlfriend built using ChatGPT4, and it has made over $70,000 by dating thousands of people who are mostly fans of popular Snapchat influencer Caryn Marjorie.
The AI is mostly tasked with holding individuals' conversations, sharing intimate emotions, planning the future, and even engaging in X-rated conversations. Of course, Caryn's launch has raised several eyebrows as questions are being asked about its ethics. Many people are questioning the ethicality of letting people date AI models. Despite the controversies, Caryn AI has made almost $100,000 from her boyfriends.
Other news headlines:
Trustless Network launches Bitcoin Smart Contracts aimed at incorporating Defi services.
Ordinal protocol congests the Bitcoin network.
Former-Coinbase Executive sentenced to prison for two years after being found guilty of insider trading.
Litecoin sees increased network activity amid Bitcoin's rising gas fees.
According to CertiK security firm, scammers are looking to exploit the $PEPE rush.
4) Market Roundup
The crypto market is going bearish this week as it lost over 2% value in one day. Major cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum have dropped significantly.
However, meme coins like $PEPE and $NOMEME were dominating headlines as the market seemed to crave the popular meme coin days of the past.
Other Important Headlines:
Ripple CEO expects a final ruling on the SEC lawsuit by September.
Standard Chartered Bank set to launch Digital Asset custody firm in Dubai.
Binance looks to expand operations abroad over rising uncertainty in America.
North Carolina House of Representatives passes a law to outlaw CBDC payments to the state.
Texas passes bill to help Bitcoin miners switch to greener energy.
5) Technical Analysis of Bitcoin and Ethereum
Bitcoin
Bitcoin continued its drop this week as it slid to $26,000. Bitcoin had been under intense bearish pressure, and it was trading at $28k last week, with many investors expecting the drop to continue.
Bitcoin's continued drop comes amid rising gas fees thanks to the Ordinals protocol that has put significant pressure on the network infrastructure. Bitcoin even lost some network activity to Litecoin as investors. If Bitcoin continues on this run, it could drop to $25k by the end of the month.
Ethereum
Ethereum is fighting to hold on to the $1.8k mark as it faces gas fee concerns. The recent rush for Meme coins has put pressure on Ethereum's network, but it hasn't been enough to raise its price.
Nevertheless, investors will be watching Ethereum for the next couple of weeks because there are concerns that it could drop to $1600. Right now, it is trading at $1790, but its volatility over the past few days suggests it will drop further.
6) Tweet of The Week from @FarmerBrownDefi
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