Morning Minute is a daily newsletter authored by Tyler Warner. The views and insights presented are his own and do not necessarily represent those of Decrypt.
Good morning!
Here are today’s key highlights:
- Major cryptocurrencies declined by 1-3% as oil and bond prices increased; Bitcoin is currently priced at $77.8k.
- Recent altcoin leaders VVV, LIT, and PUMP saw retracements of 8-10%.
- Consensys is undergoing a split into two entities, with MetaMask focusing on wallets while Consensys retains Linea and EVM technologies.
- Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Kraken’s parent company, valuing it at $21 billion.
- Pump introduced Custom Pairs, while Stonkfun celebrated its fourth consecutive day of revenue exceeding $1 million.
💻 Hunter Biden's Memecoin Crashes
The memecoin named LAPTOP, associated with Hunter Biden, was launched on Base on Wednesday, reaching a peak of $190.81 just two minutes after its debut. However, within half an hour, it had plummeted by 90%. After one hour, the token's value dropped to approximately $4.77, and by the afternoon, it was down to around $1.80, marking a staggering 99% decrease from its peak. This token's airdrop aimed to assist wallets that were underperforming due to Trump’s meme coin, but it ended up creating more losses for investors.
There were a few notable successes. One individual managed to withdraw $249,800 from Binance before the launch, purchasing 9,124 tokens for about $27 each and selling most of them shortly thereafter for around $129 per token, netting a profit of approximately $930,000 in just five minutes. Subscribers to Hunter Biden's substack received airdrops valued at over $400,000 at the peak, with some successfully cashing out. Conversely, there were significant losers as well; one wallet invested about $200,000 on 919 tokens at nearly $218 each, only to see its value drop below $3,000 an hour later, resulting in a staggering 98.5% loss that occurred in mere seconds.
Regarding the broader market, the launch did not seem to have any significant impact. Major cryptocurrencies and altcoins remained relatively stable in the hours following the launch, although a notable downturn occurred later in the day, which is discussed further below.
This may deter other celebrities or politicians' children from attempting to launch their own coins—one can hope.
🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets
- Major cryptocurrencies are experiencing losses of 1-3%: BTC -1% at $77.8k; ETH -1% at $2,460; SOL -3% at $101; HYPE -4% at $82.60; ZEC -2% at $1,220.
- Top altcoin movers include KAS (+9%), STABLE (+4%), and RAY (+2%); recent leaders like VVV and LIT fell 10% in a tough day for many altcoins.
- Oil prices are up by 2% at $97; Gold has decreased by 1% to $4,420.
- Stock futures are mixed as oil prices continue to rise; DOW is up 0.2%, while Nasdaq is down 0.4%.
- Consensys is splitting into two entities, with the current company rebranding as MetaMask under Joe Lubin, and a new Consensys will retain Linea and the institutional infrastructure business by the end of the year.
- Nasdaq has invested $100 million in Kraken’s parent company Payward at a $21 billion valuation, according to Bloomberg.
- Trezor reported a breach of its third-party email provider, which sent out a fake “Critical Security Alert” regarding an STM32 entropy flaw; researchers noted that BitBox users received similar alerts.
- Robinhood's CEO Vlad Tenev stated that the company does not require AMC’s approval to issue stock tokens, explaining that these are debt securities backed 1:1 by shares held as collateral, which carry dividends but no voting rights.
- Block has applied to the OCC for a national trust charter to custody Bitcoin through Builders Bank & Trust, which is currently consolidating operations run under over 50 state licenses.
- The Secret Service has frozen $52.8 million in USDT across 52 wallets linked to the Telegram scam marketplace Xinbi Guarantee, which has processed at least $24 billion since 2022.
- DoubleZero has added Kalshi’s election and politics order books to its low-latency data feed in anticipation of the November 3 midterms, with over $133 million already wagered on House and Senate races.
Corporate Treasuries & ETFs
- Bitcoin ETFs experienced $120 million in net outflows on Wednesday, while ETH ETFs saw $35 million in outflows.
Meme Coin Tracker
- Meme leaders faced significant losses; DOGE -6%, SHIB -5%, PEPE -7%, PENGU -6%, TRUMP -10%, SPX -6%.
- Robinhood chain leaders were also down, with Pons falling 30%; Pons -28% at $380M; AI -10% at $200M; Cashcat -12% at $160M; however, MOO +70%, Orbio +110%, astro +85%, and Route +80% were among the top gainers.
- Solana experienced a day of high trading volume, with top movers including Penis +50x, Baton 70x, Ember +135x, and Cate +40%; Ansem decreased by 3% at $170M.
- The Stonkfun ecosystem faced a brief decline after the launch of Custom Pairs by Pump but later rebounded; Stonk -12% at $170M, ZCAT -20% at $86M, BTC +70% at $7M, and Nearkat +85% at $5M.
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
- Lighter’s Open Interest has increased by over 75% since its integration with Robinhood went live, now reaching $1.5 billion.
- Pump.fun has introduced “Custom pairs,” allowing new tokens to be paired with tokenized stocks, major cryptocurrencies, and more.
- Pump.fun matched Hyperliquid in daily revenue, generating $1.8 million, with both protocols reclaiming the 3-4 spots in revenue behind Tether and Circle.
- Stonkfun achieved its fourth day of revenue surpassing $1 million, totaling $1.35 million.
🚚 NFT Updates
- NFT leaders remained mostly stable; Punks are even at 30 ETH, BAYC at 6.8 ETH, and Pudgy at 3.7 ETH.
- Otherdeeds (+20%) and The 404 Machines (+12%) were the top movers.