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😌ETH Implied Volatility At 'Rock Bottom': Deribit

The Defiant

DeFi Daily

GM Defiers!

Happy Friday! We kick things off by looking at a significant expiry of BTC and ETH options on Deribit, a leading crypto options exchange. We also explore the rising sales of Trezor, a hardware wallet, in response to security concerns with its rival, Ledger.

Next, we dig into a Fed report which indicates a surprising resilience among U.S crypto holders, despite the market downturn in 2022. Shifting focus, we introduce you to Maestro, a Telegram bot that's profiting tremendously from the memecoin trading craze, amassing over $4.5M in trading fees just this month. Finally, we dive into the unexpected rise of Bitcoin-based NFT collection Space Pepes.

✍️ In today’s newsletter:

  • Over $3B worth of BTC and ETH options expired on Friday
  • Trezor hardware wallet sales spike
  • Fed report says 10% of Americans held or used crypto in 2022
  • Memecoin trading bot rakes in millions in fees
  • Bitcoin-based Space Pepes top NFT charts

🙏Sponsored:

📈 Markets in the last 24 hrs:

TickerValue24h
BTC$27,705 0.42%
ETH$1,864.6 0.14%
MKR$688 -0.29%
SPY$412.07 0.08%
UNI$5.451 0.41%
LDO$2.081 0.19%

🎬 WATCH

Watch our zkSync airdrop tutorial. And check out our podcast with Jacob and Marcin, the co-founders of RedStone.


Markets

Bitcoin and Ether Options Worth $3.6B Set To Expire On Friday

TLDR A large number of crypto options contracts, accounting for 26% of open positions on Deribit, are set to expire. This includes contracts for Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) worth around $2.3B and $1.3B, respectively. The current prices of these cryptocurrencies are close to their "max pain" levels - the prices at which the largest number of options would expire worthless. This suggests that many traders could face significant losses.

SO WHAT "Rock-bottom" implied volatility suggests that these markets could experience a significant move soon, as has happened in the past under similar conditions.


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Hardware Wallets

Trezor Sales Spike 900% Even as Exploit of “T” Model is Revealed

TLDR Sales of Trezor, a hardware wallet for storing cryptocurrencies, soared by 900% week-over-week after its competitor Ledger introduced an opt-in feature called Recover, causing concerns among crypto holders. This has led some users to switch to Trezor, a company that claims to be fully open-source and allows independent audits of its hardware wallet.

SO WHAT The surge in Trezor's sales highlights the high value that cryptocurrency users place on the security and privacy of their digital assets. The introduction of Ledger's Recover feature has been controversial because it involves sharing users' secret keys and personal identification information, causing a debate about trust and privacy within the crypto community.


Federal Reserve

Fed Data Shows Most Crypto Holders Stuck Around in 2022 Bear Market

TLDR Despite a bearish trend in the crypto market in 2022, the majority of US-based crypto holders remained active, according to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The percentage of US adults holding or using crypto assets decreased only slightly from 12% in 2021 to 10% in 2022. However, crypto investment activity slowed down, with 8% of users buying crypto as an investment in 2022, down from 11% the previous year.

SO WHAT The findings show resilience in the crypto market despite a bearish period marked by major ecosystem collapses and tough macroeconomic conditions. Additionally, the report highlights the role of cryptocurrencies in providing financial services to unbanked populations and lower-income individuals, underlining the potential of crypto in promoting financial inclusivity.


Memecoins

Memecoin Trading Bot Maestro is Raking in Millions

TLDR Maestro, a Telegram trading bot, has amassed approximately $4.5M in fees this month amid the resurgence of memecoins. This represents a 300% increase compared to the previous month. Maestro collects a 1% fee on every successful trade made through its app. However, the bot has faced criticism due to its practice of asking users to share their private keys or seed phrases.

SO WHAT The success of Maestro exemplifies the potential profitability of third-party tools and services in the burgeoning crypto market. This phenomenon is reminiscent of the gold rush analogy, where those providing the tools (the "shovels") often make more consistent profits than the prospectors.


Ordinals

Bitcoin-Based Space Pepes Top NFT Charts

TLDR The Space Pepes NFT collection on the Bitcoin blockchain has achieved the highest trading volume in the past week, outpacing even the popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs. Nearly $7.4M worth of Space Pepes were traded, primarily on May 19.

SO WHAT This indicates a growing interest in expanding the utility of the Bitcoin blockchain, which has traditionally been seen as a less versatile platform than Ethereum. Given Bitcoin's age and value, NFTs on its blockchain could potentially carry significant cultural weight.


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🌍 ELSEWHERE

  • Bitcoin’s Volatility Drops to Lowest Since 2020 While AI Tokens Take Off (Bloomberg)
  • Binance, Other Crypto Players Shun Multichain as Bridging Rumors Swirl (Coindesk)
  • Ethereum, Bitcoin Balances on Exchanges Edges Toward 5-Year Low (Decrypt)