BNB Outperforms, NFT Insights, Crypto Winter Bleeds Into Summer

Chart of The Day: BNB Outperforms Major Layer 1s Since BTC’s All-Time High

• Since the beginning of 2022, crypto markets have been in turmoil due to looming uncertainty in the macroeconomic landscape. Insolvency issues at large crypto firms have further perpetuated the drawdowns, resulting in a liquidity crisis across the industry.
• Amidst the bloodshed, BNB has relatively outperformed BTC, ETH, and all other major layer-1 protocols. While BTC has experienced a 69% drawdown since all-time high in Nov-2021, BNB is down by 64%. In comparison, ETH, SOL, AVAX, ATOM, and DOT are down 72-85%, within the same time period.
• The relative outperformance of BNB may be attributed to large token burns, alongside an almost fully diluted token supply. Since the implementation of BEP-95 (a real-time burning upgrade that went live in Oct-2021), more than 101k BNB (worth roughly $42 million) has been burned.
• During the previous bear market, BTC eventually found its bottom after falling 85% from its 2017 high, whereas ETH experienced a 94% drop. This indicates that there may be further pain ahead during this cycle, even as past performance may not guarantee future results.
• For more on the overall market outlook, Delphi members can see the most recent Market Insights Report here.

ENS, Nina’s Super Cool World & DeGods

[Excerpt from a Delphi Insights Report]

• By now, is anyone surprised that we’re having yet another low-volume week in NFTs? Floor prices for many of the major collections have not moved, and holders are basically…holding.
• Moonbirds had a pretty decent pop this week, hitting a floor of 30E. This is on the back of Ryan Carson’s 121G NFT fund sweeping up 34 Moonbirds. Some people accused him of trading on insider information since PROOF filed a trademark for ‘Moonbirds Ravens’ just a bit after. I think this is probably baseless since filing a simple trademark is not the type of news that would move the market.
• ENS is seeing large amounts of speculative trading. Just this week, there was a massive 300E sale for 000.eth. Now, 3-digit numerical .eth domain names are selling for 30E, while even chinese and arabic versions of the 3-digit numerical .eth domains are going for over 1E each. Other large sales this week include porno.eth (184E) and٠٠٠.eth (100E). I am a big fan of ENS and its ability to make web3 more friendly to navigate. However, this activity appears to be domain squatting rather than actual intentions to use these domain names. At these prices, I consider it very risky if the only intention is to sell to someone else at a higher price in the near future.

• I want to reiterate that in the current state of the NFT market, minting new projects or buying them on secondary markets is extremely risky. I suggest participating only in projects you resonate with and are personally excited about.
• Nina Chanel’s Super Cool World is a collection of 5,080 NFTs made up of hundreds of traits designed by Nina Chanel Abney that reflect her frenetic collage-like approach to visual media. Nina Chanel is a world-renowned fine artist whose works have been auctioned multiple times, with realized prices of up to $990,000 for Untitled (XXXXXX) sold at Christie’s in 2021. Each Super Cool World NFT is a unique piece of artwork that doubles as an invitation to participate in the evolution of her career. Super Cool World holders may get access to exclusive Nina merchandise, collaborative product releases, airdrops, events, incentivized participation in exhibitions, and surprise raffle drawings. Goda mint pass holders will get 2 mint slots.
• For more information, Delphi members can see the full Delphi Insights Report here.

Crypto Winter Bleeds Into Summer – Monthly Chartbook

[Excerpt from a Delphi Pro Report]

• Q2 was an absolute bloodbath for crypto markets. BTC finds itself ~70% off of its all-time high, ETH is down 75%, and many smaller crypto assets are down 85-90%. The total crypto market cap down has dropped from $3T to $991M, a drawdown of nearly 67%.
• In fact, bitcoin’s nearly 40% decline in June marked one of its worst calendar months on record.
• The macro backdrop continued to worsen in the weeks following. CPI prints came in hotter than expected and risk assets began to take another plunge, with crypto and BTC leading to way. Shortly after, news began to surface of 3AC insolvency and possible contagion. It did not take long for many of these rumors to transition to fact as several counterparties publicly spoke out about the liquidation of 3AC accounts. BTC and crypto markets began yet another liquidation cascade, slipping through the low volume void that we have been discussing for the last several weeks. BTC found itself retesting the 2017 all-time highs, and briefly traded as low as $17.7K.

• The price of BTC fell ~85% from peak-to-trough in each of the last two major bear markets. Right now it’s down ~72% from its high, but if history repeats it would imply a low just above $10K and another 50% drawdown from current levels.
• On the macro front, we believe there’s still more pain ahead for risk assets. After the FOMC’s mid-June meeting, the market started pricing in less rate hikes in 2H 2023 as the aforementioned risks became more apparent. But inflation is still a huge problem, which puts the Fed in a precarious place.
• Consumer sentiment is the worst it’s been in decades as is the number of people who expect their financial situation will be worse a year from now.
• For more information, Delphi members can see the full Delphi Pro Report here.

Notable Tweets

Justin Sun Ready to Spend $5 Billion on Acquiring Crypto Firms

EXCLUSIVE: Justin Sun says he’s ready to spend $5 billion on acquisitions as crypto firms struggle

By @Yogita_Khatri5

— The Block (@TheBlock_) July 8, 2022

On-chain Volume Statistics

It’s been a while since the last time I had a look at on-chain volume (last 24h)

– Only ETH & BSC do $50M+ in volume
– Whales prefer to use Arbitrum instead of Optimism, both clearly ahead of Metis
– Harmony, Moonbeam & Evmos seem dead

— Res ®️ (@resdegen) July 10, 2022

Blockchain.com to lose $270 Million From 3AC Loans

SCOOP: Cryptocurrency exchange @blockchain stands to lose $270 million from lending to Three Arrows Capital, CEO @OneMorePeter told shareholders in a letter reviewed by CoinDesk.

@IanAllison123 reports

— CoinDesk (@CoinDesk) July 8, 2022