NFT Blue Chip Flippening, Anchor Grows Reserves, & Crypto Fund Flows

BAYC Floor Price is Catching Up to CryptoPunks’

• Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) has been outperforming CryptoPunks since the middle of November. Floor prices of CryptoPunks have remained stagnant while the BAYC floor rose by over 50%.
• BAYC’s sudden uptick was likely catalyzed by recent partnerships and endorsements. Over the last couple of months, BAYC has partnered with multiple celebrities such as Diplo, DJ Khaled, Martin Garrix, and Jimmy Fallon to name a few. Not to mention Adidas Originals, who officially partnered with BAYC, Punks Comic, and GMoney (who we’ve recently interviewed on the podcast for a second time).
• The floor price of a BAYC is currently 52 ETH while a Punk is 77 ETH. (Both projects have a supply of 10,000.) With BAYC catching up to CryptoPunks, is a flippening upon us?

FTT Price Stagnates Despite Higher Exchange Revenues

• FTX burns roughly a third of its revenue periodically. The exact breakdown can be found here. Weekly FTT burns, and thus revenue, have steadily increased since Q3 2021 but the price of FTT has failed to keep up with that pace.
• In October, the exchange concluded a $420M funding round valuing the company at $25B. Just last week, FTX announced that they are seeking a new round of funding at a valuation of $32 billion, with the intent to raise a total of $1.5B.
• Given the implications of a hybrid token-equity capital structure, it’s become clear — burns aside — that it’ll be difficult for FTX to find ways to accrue value to FTT.

Anchor’s Yield Reserve Grows Steadily as Staking Yield Rises

• Since bETH was added as collateral on Terra’s Anchor Protocol, the yield reserve has consistently grown. We previously outlined this phenomenon in a Delphi PRO report.
• Recently, the growth in LUNA’s staking yield has also resulted in significant growth in Anchor’s yield reserves. When users deposit bAssets as collateral, leftover yield after paying depositors accrues to the yield reserve, which acts as an insurance fund to guarantee Anchor can continue paying depositors as deposits rise. The growth of the yield reserve is a healthy sign, as it ensures Anchor can operate sustainably.

Crypto VC Deals Shift From DeFi to NFTs

• VC activity has surged as crypto went mainstream this year. Crypto project investments saw a major uptick in March 2021, dipped in summer months, and rebounded up to about 140 deals per month, according to Footprint Analytics.
• Over the course of 2021, the makeup of projects getting funding has also transformed. In Q1’21, DeFi was the largest category for investment. More recently, NFT-related projects are the largest slice of deals. (Note: NFTs and Web3 have similar sub-categories like Gaming and Music).
• This comes as the dawn of the Metaverse takes the world by storm. Axie Infinity also made strides in 2021, acting as a pioneer for play-to-earn gaming. It comes as no surprise that others are trying to replicate its success and that investors are hungry to capitalize on these opportunities.

Notable Tweets

MicroStrategy won’t stop buying the dip

MicroStrategy has purchased an additional 1,434 bitcoins for ~$82.4 million in cash at an average price of ~$57,477 per #bitcoin. As of 12/9/21 we #hodl ~122,478 bitcoins acquired for ~$3.66 billion at an average price of ~$29,861 per bitcoin. $MSTR

—Michael Saylor⚡️(@saylor) December 9, 2021

Kickstarter is moving to a blockchain

Kickstarter will move its crowdfunding platform to blockchain
https://archive.ph/wip/e2aYt

—unfolded. (@cryptounfolded) December 9, 2021

Notes on yesterday’s Congressional hearing on crypto

Intern notes on todays Congressional Hearing on Crypto, mostly focused on:

– Stablecoins ?
– Web3 adoption ?
– US future positioning ??

And way too much more

—CMS Intern (@cmsinten) December 9. 2021