Daily Report | Tonight at 20:30, the U.S. will announce the unemployment rate for July and the seasonally adjusted non-farm payroll; OKX Star criticizes some token projects for "harvesting users," stating that exchanges should not become accomplices of such projects; This week, Ethereum network fees have dropped to the lowest level in nine months, with gas costs falling to 1 gwei
August 2 News OverviewOrganizer: Luan Peng, ChainCatcher
Important News:
- Tonight at 20:30, the U.S. will announce the July unemployment rate and seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls
- Data: Ethereum network fees drop to the lowest level in nine months, gas costs fall to 1 gwei
- Casey: UNCOMMON•GOODS is a low time preference junk coin, and its price will take another 3.7 years to rise above transaction costs
- CoinGecko: Governments around the world hold over 470,000 bitcoins, accounting for 2.6% of total circulation
- OKG Research: In the past 7 days, the on-chain BTC holdings of the top 100 Bitcoin billionaires decreased at a rate 1.92 times that of other BTC holding addresses
- Hong Kong's DAB Legislative Council member: Suggests improving the compliance regulatory framework in the crypto field and establishing a Web3 industry committee
- Russia exchanged two prisoners for some Russians detained by the U.S. and its allies, including BTC-e founder Vinnik
- OKX Star criticizes some token projects for "harvesting users," stating that exchanges should not become accomplices to such projects
"What important events happened in the past 24 hours"
XT reminds you to pay attention to macro data. On August 2, 2024, at 20:30 Singapore time, the U.S. Department of Labor will announce the July unemployment rate, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics will announce the seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls for July (in ten thousand).
Release frequency: once a month (announced on the first Friday of each month, except for special holidays or statistical cycle issues)
Expected impact: Since Federal Reserve Chairman Powell has previously emphasized that a consideration for rate cuts will only occur if the unemployment rate is above 4% and inflation is below 2%, the market generally expects that the U.S. unemployment rate data will affect rate cut expectations, the U.S. dollar index, U.S. Treasury yields, and likely transmit impacts to risk markets and the cryptocurrency market.
Data impact:
• If the announced value is higher than expected: bearish for the dollar, bullish for non-U.S. currencies; bearish for Treasury yields; bullish for rate cut expectations, bearish for rate hike expectations; bullish for risk markets and the cryptocurrency market.
• If the announced value is lower than expected: the cryptocurrency market may decline.
For example: if the previous unemployment rate was 4.1%, and the forecast value is 4.1%, if the announced value is 4.2%, the cryptocurrency market may rise; if the announced value is 4%, the cryptocurrency market may decline.
Data: Ethereum network fees drop to the lowest level in nine months, gas costs fall to 1 gwei
According to IntoTheBlock data, this week, Ethereum network fees have dropped to the lowest level in nine months, with gas costs falling to 1 gwei (swap transactions approximately equal to 1 USD).
Casey, founder of Ordinals & Runes, posted on platform X that so far, UNCOMMON•GOODS has minted 14,785,627 coins, and it will take another 3.7 years for the price to potentially rise above transaction costs. In fact, it is a low time preference junk coin.
It is reported that UNCOMMON•GOODS is the genesis rune that Casey participated in hard coding.
CoinGecko's research report shows that governments around the world hold a total of 471,380.6 BTC, worth approximately 32.7 billion USD, accounting for 2.6% of the total circulating supply of Bitcoin.
Among them, the U.S. government holds the largest amount of Bitcoin among national governments, with 213,297 BTC, approximately worth 14.82 billion USD. A significant portion of the Bitcoin held by the U.S. government comes from the seizure of the dark web "Silk Road."
According to analysis from OKG Research, based on OKLink on-chain data, within 24 hours, the total outflow of large BTC transactions (5 million USD and above) reached 18,234 BTC (referring to outflows to centralized exchanges), with inflows being 0 BTC, nearly doubling the large outflows from yesterday. The cumulative net outflow of large BTC transactions over the past seven days totaled 112,426 BTC, approximately 7.195 billion USD, accounting for about 0.6% of the current total market cap.
Additionally, the total holdings of the top 100 Bitcoin billionaires decreased at a rate approximately 1.92 times that of other holding addresses in the past 7 days. Specific data is as follows:
- The total holdings of the top 100 Bitcoin billionaires decreased from 15.79% to 15.63%.
- Among them, the holdings of the top 10 Bitcoin billionaires remained unchanged.
- The holdings of the top 20 decreased from 8.71% to 8.67%.
- The holdings of the top 50 decreased from 12.80% to 12.63%.
- Based on proportional analysis, the total holdings of the top 100 Bitcoin billionaires decreased by approximately 0.16%.
Hong Kong DAB Legislative Council member Chan Chung-nee stated that he suggests the government improve the compliance regulatory framework in the Web3 crypto digital field to protect investor rights and promote market fairness and transparency. By utilizing big data, artificial intelligence, and other technological means to monitor and warn of risks in the Web3 market, and establishing a Web3 industry committee to formulate industry norms and standards, and strengthen training for practitioners. "Regulation must be done well to prevent fraud, but we do not want the industry to be overly regulated; a balance must be achieved."
According to Protos, Russia exchanged Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and a former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan for some Russians detained by the U.S. and its allies, including Alexander Vinnik, the founder of the BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange.
Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan were taken to a location outside of Russia yesterday. According to Business Insider citing TASS, Vinnik and others will be sent in another direction, and their names have been removed from the FBI's electronic database.
It is reported that in May of this year, Vinnik pleaded guilty during his time at BTC-e, admitting to conspiracy to commit money laundering. He is responsible for approximately 121 million USD in losses and encouraged criminals to use the platform for money laundering and storing illegal proceeds. Gershkovich and Whelan were arrested in March 2023 and December 2020, respectively, on espionage charges, but the U.S. denies these allegations.
OKX CEO Star retweeted @xiaomucrypto's tweet about the "aevo project harvesting users" and stated: "What is the original intention of cryptocurrency exchanges to list tokens? Some token projects, after being listed on exchanges, only do things like releasing, reducing holdings, and harvesting users. Exchanges should not become accomplices to such projects; OKX has not done well in this regard. Due to the temporary lack of regulation on listings and reductions, how can we protect this market? This is something worth reflecting on for the entire industry."
Forbes reporter Eleanor Terrett disclosed on X that California Congressman Ro Khanna will host another meeting in Washington on Monday, with representatives from the crypto industry, Democratic politicians, and Harris's campaign team attending.
Eleanor Terrett stated that this move represents an effort by pro-crypto Democrats to re-establish a new starting point with the industry.
Russian Central Bank Governor: By 2031, CBDC will become a part of daily life
According to CryptoSlate, Russian Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina stated in an interview, "By 2031, CBDC will become a part of daily life. The digital ruble has the advantage of free or low transaction fees, which will drive the adoption of CBDC."
"What excellent articles are worth reading in the past 24 hours"
Coinbase announced its second-quarter earnings today, with revenue of 1.45 billion USD, down 11% quarter-on-quarter, and up over 100% year-on-year, nearly in line with analysts' expectations of 1.37 billion USD. Net income was 36 million USD, down 97% quarter-on-quarter. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) was 596 million USD. Coinbase has achieved positive revenue growth for four consecutive quarters.
Coinbase's total trading volume in the second quarter was 226 billion USD, a 28% decrease from the first quarter, with trading revenue of 781 million USD, down 27% quarter-on-quarter, while subscription and service revenue grew 17% to 599 million USD. Total operating expenses were 1.1 billion USD, up 26% quarter-on-quarter. Coinbase made good progress in diversifying its revenue in the second quarter, with subscription and service revenue reaching nearly 600 million USD. The balance sheet increased to 7.8 billion USD.
Notably, Coinbase's custody fee revenue in the second quarter was 35 million USD, up 7% quarter-on-quarter. The main driver was the average cryptocurrency asset price in the second quarter being higher than in the first quarter, also benefiting from its role as a custodian for BTC ETF products. Additionally, Coinbase generated 240 million USD in interest income from USDC stablecoins in the second quarter, up 22% quarter-on-quarter.
Boring crypto pseudo-bull market, calling for tough guys and heroes
"Boring."
This is the evaluation of this cycle by many recent participants in the crypto market.
Primary investors find the primary market boring, either thinking about how to explain to LPs that "returns can't beat Bitcoin," or busy protecting their rights, trying to recover some losses, as there is really nothing to invest in in the primary market;
Secondary investors also find it boring, besides Bitcoin and Solana, there are some MEME coins, but really can't find any good targets;
Project teams also find it boring, always feeling that they have worked hard to create products as if they have mastered the skill of slaying dragons, but can't find the dragon, with MEME coins dominating, and retail investors disenchanted with VC coins, they really don't know what to do to attract retail attention;
The company's job openings reflect 1) the execution of company strategies and 2) the demand in specific industries, which can be used to predict the future activity level of the market. In this report, we analyze the trends in global Web3 job openings to provide an overall insight into the Web3 market. This part of the report focuses on the status of Web3 job openings in the first half of 2024. The data is mainly sourced from Web3Jobs, a website that provides job listings in the Web3 field.
I played with 100k in meme coins on-chain and made 80,000 yuan in a month
"I've quit my job for a few months and am now full-time into memes," said meme player Lu Qi (pseudonym) to BlockBeats. Four months ago, the meme coin BOME on Solana attracted many crypto newcomers to start playing memes, with its market cap skyrocketing from 0 to 1.5 billion USD in just three days, increasing over a hundred times, and Lu Qi was one of them. "When I was playing memes, I had about 30,000 to 40,000 in my wallet, and I haven't added any more money in the past few months; I can make about 70,000 to 80,000 yuan each month."
Many people are in a similar situation to Lu Qi, trading only meme coins, almost living on-chain 24 hours a day, waiting for an entry opportunity that lasts only 3 minutes, and usually holding meme coins for just a few minutes.
The vast majority of the tokens they trade come from the token issuance platform Pump.fun on Solana. For months, Pump.fun has maintained an average daily revenue of over 600,000 USD, with over 10,000 new tokens appearing on Pump.fun every day. Many people shuttle between fragmented liquidity, seeking stage-specific guaranteed returns in various ways.
KOL @0xSunNFT revealed on Twitter that his story of making 150,000 USD in one minute on the MEME token BAYC has left many people astonished. After careful study, it was found that this might be another project from veteran crypto player Huang Licheng (Brother Ma Ji).
