Yesterday in Crypto - Issue #3

Here’s what you missed yesterday, 7/18/23:

In a recent announcement, Democratic candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged to back the U.S. dollar with "real finite assets" such as gold, silver, platinum, and notably, Bitcoin, if he is elected president. This move, he believes, could help restore strength to the dollar and curb inflation, ushering in a new era of American financial stability.

Wait? The dollar isn’t back by real assets? That is correct - your money isn’t real.

Kennedy Jr.'s plan involves starting small, with perhaps 1% of issued T-bills backed by these hard currencies. This proposal is a significant departure from traditional financial policies and could potentially reshape the U.S. economy.

In addition to this, Kennedy Jr. has also proposed to exempt Bitcoin from capital gains tax when it is converted into U.S. dollars. This move could incentivize investment and innovation in the crypto sector, and potentially attract crypto ventures to grow their businesses in the U.S. rather than in other crypto-friendly jurisdictions.

These campaign promises underscore the growing recognition of crypto's role in the future of finance, even at the highest levels of government. Will Kennedy win the presidency? Probably not, but who knows? Will he follow through if he does get elected? Probably not, but who knows?None of that matters. The mere fact that this idea is being proposed by a presidential candidate with the 3rd highest odds of winning (at the time of writing), is another nail in the coffin of crypto doubters. Our financial system is breaking… and soon, it will become more risky to NOT hold crypto than it is to own some. Will you be early, or late?

Arkham Intelligence is a blockchain analytics, research, and intelligence platform that is used by thousands of crypto enthusiasts. They just wrapped up a somewhat private Beta version for early users, although getting access was not so difficult.Arkham was a token-less protocol until yesterday, when they launched $ARKM.The token was launched with the Arkham Airdrop. Let’s pause… the what? No, not Batman falling out of the sky - a crypto airdrop.When projects design their cryptocurrency, they can pick how many coins there are going to be and where they go. Often distributions something look like this:

The genesis supply is the distribution at token launch, and the total supply will be the distribution once all tokens have been released.An airdrop is free crypto, or free money. Projects will give a certain % of their tokens to the public, as long as you hit certain qualifications. These can include but aren’t limited to:

- testing a platform before launch

- using a tokenless protocol

- completing various tasks or quests

- holding/staking a certain amount of another cryptocurrency

An effective airdrop can accomplish multiple things:

- Build hype around your project

- Reward a loyal community and early users

- Decentralize a token release

It’s a win-win for the project and the community. Free $$ for the community, and a jumpstart on marketing and userbase for the project. You can participate too! Not in Arkham’s airdrop, but in others. Airdrops opportunities are common, but not all of them are as successful as Arkham’s seems to have been. Users got $150 worth of $ARKM simply for signing up (sign up was free), and huge bonuses for being early and recruiting friends to the platform. Stay vigilant - hunting airdrops can be life-changing.

In the traditional financial world, companies typically rely on venture capital or bank loans for funding. However, in the decentralized world of cryptocurrencies, a new model has emerged: Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs) and crypto grants.

First, a few things you need to know: A DAO is a type of organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program. They’re transparent, controlled by the organization members and not influenced by a central government. DAOs are a revolutionary concept that leverages blockchain technology to provide a secure and transparent way of making decisions and managing resources in a decentralized manner.

Crypto grants, on the other hand, are a form of funding where projects in the crypto space are given financial support, often in the form of cryptocurrencies, to develop their ideas. This differs from traditional funding methods as it's often community-driven, with decisions made by a collective of individuals rather than a centralized authority.

In return, the funded projects make commitments to the grantor. This could be anything, from a % of token supply when the funded project launches, to simply launching on the funders blockchain.

ATOM Accelerator, a DAO focused on fostering innovation in the Cosmos Ecosystem, recently made an announcement that perfectly illustrates this new model of funding. They completed the processing of their fourth batch of applications, a process that involved the community in deciding which projects to support.

Out of 27 applications, four were selected as standout projects and were awarded a total of $395,000 in crypto grants. The projects receiving grants range from dashboard and auction creation, to governance structure and implementation.

This announcement from ATOM Accelerator highlights the innovative and collaborative nature of funding in the crypto world. It underscores the potential of DAOs and crypto grants to support the growth and development of new projects, paving the way for the future of decentralized finance.

The landscape of blockchain technology is constantly evolving, and a significant development has recently taken place. LineaBuild, a project focused on improving Ethereum's scalability, has announced the mainnet alpha release of its zkEVM rollup network. This development is a crucial step in Ethereum's ongoing journey towards achieving greater scalability.

Ethereum, as it stands today, faces challenges related to limited capacity, which often results in high transaction fees and slow processing times. Linea's zkEVM rollup network is designed to address these issues, providing a solution that aims to make the network more scalable.

The mainnet alpha release follows a successful testnet phase for Linea. During this phase, the project saw engagement from 5.5 million unique wallets, with over 46 million transactions committed. Following this achievement, Linea has begun the process of onboarding its launch partners (over 100), with a broader network opening planned for the ETHCC event.

For everyday users and developers, Linea's technology offers significant advantages. It allows for the creation or migration of existing decentralized applications (dapps) without the need for code alterations or smart contract rewrites. This means that users can expect the development of more efficient, scalable, and user-friendly dapps in the future.

Another reason to bet on Linea is the team. Linea is being developed by ConsenSys - the team behind the one of the most popular crypto wallets, MetaMask. Metamask is a multichain wallet with over 30 million active users. An existing userbase of 30 million people is sure to come in handy when applications start launching on the blockchain. Linea has no token of their own….yet.

Remember, heavily funded, token-less protocols are great candidates for potential airdrops.That’s all for this today. We’ll see you tomorrow

“Bitcoin changes everything - I don’t think there is anything in more important in my lifetime to work on.” - Jack Dorsey, Co-founder of Twitter, Block, and Square.