Morning Minute is a daily newsletter authored by Tyler Warner. The views expressed are his own and do not necessarily represent those of Decrypt.
Good morning!
Here are today’s leading updates:
- Major cryptocurrencies are seeing gains as oil prices drop by 8%; Bitcoin is priced at $65,000, while Ethereum stands at $1,960.
- Ethereum ETFs attracted $103 million in net inflows last week, significantly outpacing Bitcoin's $33 million.
- BitMart has announced the closure of its exchange, following the recent shutdown of BitMEX.
- The ZEC Ironwood Upgrade is scheduled for launch tomorrow.
- Pons has captured 80% market share on Robinhood ahead of its version 2 launch, reaching a new all-time high.
📈 Robinhood Chain's Tokenized Stocks Skyrocket Fivefold
In less than two weeks, tokenized real-world assets, including stock shares traded on the Robinhood Chain, have surged approximately five times to about $70 million in value.
Upon its launch on July 1, the Robinhood Chain initially saw a surge in memecoins, leading many to speculate that the platform was merely a playground for speculation rather than a robust trading environment. However, the situation is evolving. Currently, a dozen tokenized stocks are each achieving over $500,000 in daily trading volume, with five surpassing $1 million. GameStop leads the pack with $26.6 million, followed by Nvidia at $14 million, and SpaceX at $6.4 million.
The overall activity on the chain has also seen impressive growth. The total value locked (TVL) has approximately tripled since mid-July, reaching around $312 million. The chain is facilitating over $600 million in daily decentralized exchange (DEX) volume and has recorded more than 138 million transactions in the past month, placing it among the most active networks in the cryptocurrency space. Specifically, over 100 assets have been tokenized, bringing the total real-world asset (RWA) value close to $25 million. Daily trading volumes have skyrocketed from around $5 million to $60 million, marking significant growth.
This development is particularly timely as Robinhood prepares to report its earnings this week. CEO Vlad Tenev will address Wall Street analysts shortly after these statistics were released, providing him with a strong incentive to highlight this progress. Tenev has been a vocal advocate for the chain, promoting the "Robinhood Summer" narrative and the memecoin excitement, while the story of tokenization justifies the platform's infrastructure investments to shareholders. Observers will be keen to see how he emphasizes the RWA and tokenized equity figures during the call.
The market is left wondering whether HOOD stock has already factored in this growth and how Tenev will present the information, along with any potential surprises. My intuition suggests it hasn’t been fully priced in. We will find out this week…
🌎 Macro Crypto and Markets
- Major cryptocurrencies are in the green as oil prices fell by 7% amid Iran peace negotiations; BTC +1% at $65,000; ETH +4% at $1,960; SOL +2% at $76.5; HYPE +3% at $59.90.
- Top gainers included PUMP (+18%), LIT (+11%), and ZRO (+10%).
- Oil prices are down 7% to $83; Gold is up 1% to $4,100.
- Stock futures are looking strong with the drop in oil prices; DOW +1.1%, Nasdaq +1.5%.
- BitMart, a crypto exchange, is closing down after nine years, causing its BMX token to plummet by 58%, marking the second exchange closure this week after BitMEX.
- Strategy has revamped its Bitcoin metrics to reflect net exposure following senior claims, with its “Net Reserve” pegged at $36.6 billion after accounting for $22.3 billion in preferred stock and convertible debt, while setting a permanent equity issuance threshold at 1.0x mNAV.
- A $5 billion cluster has emerged in Bitcoin options, which analysts interpret as a bullish indicator leading into the Fed week.
- A US regulator has cautioned prediction markets about the risks of circumventing regulations on event contracts.
- Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, is planning to establish crypto trading infrastructure by December.
- Institutional trading platform LMAX is considering a sale or IPO, collaborating with Morgan Stanley and KBW to explore its options.
- Brazilian farmers have tokenized their dairy cows to obtain loans, circumventing traditional banking limits in a novel application of real-world tokenization.
Corporate Treasuries & ETFs
- Bitcoin ETFs experienced $240 million in net outflows on Friday, while Ethereum ETFs saw $70 million in outflows.
Meme Coin Tracker
- Meme coins showed slight upward movement over the week, led by Shiba; DOGE +1%, SHIB +19%, PEPE +4%, PENGU +4%, TRUMP +2%, BONK +3%.
- Shiba Inu surged by 20% as traders in South Korea sparked a rally.
- On the Robinhood chain, PONS rose by 7% to $45 million, achieving a new all-time high, while Cashcat dropped by 14% to $40 million.
- In Solana, notable gainers included Cate (+150x), EPIK (+3,000%), and Geod (+30%); ANSEM fell by 10% to $175 million.
💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker
- The Ironwood Upgrade for ZCash is expected to go live tomorrow, introducing a new shielded pool and a turnstile mechanism to address counterfeit issues.
- Pons version 2 is launching this week, featuring a new earning mechanism, rug-proof design, custom pairing assets, and an additional revenue stream.
🚚 Updates in NFTs
- NFT leaders remained mostly stable; Punks at 32 ETH, BAYC at 8.6 ETH, Pudgy up 1% at 4.14 ETH; Hypurr rose by 5% to 195 HYPE.
- Top movers included StonkBrokers (+10%) and Creepz (+8%).
- FWA confirmed that token buybacks are forthcoming, the token may become tradeable before the 15-day window closes, and hinted that Pokémon may join the platform soon; FWA token is currently valued at $20 million.