Issue Summary: Welcome back to Coinstack, the weekly newsletter for institutional crypto investors and industry insiders. We review the top news, stats, and reports in the digital asset ecosystem for our 110k weekly subscribers. This week we cover Nasdaq refiling BlackRock’s revised BTC ETF after the SEC found flaws in the original filing, the Winklesvoss’ open letter to Barry Silbert, ProShares Bitcoin Futures ETF reaching over $1B in AUM, and big new venture rounds for One Trading ($30M) and Ola ($3M).

Published By Coinstack Partners

Coinstack Partners helps crypto/web3 companies raise funding from crypto venture capital firms and family offices for Series Seed/A/B/C rounds of $1M to $50M. The firm has relationships and access to all of the top 300 crypto venture capital firms across North America, Asia, and Europe. To discuss venture capital fundraising services for your company, please review our deck and schedule a free consultation.

Coinstack Daily

We’re launching a new daily edition Coinstack that covers all the day’s news and funding announcements. If you’d like to join our daily edition, subscribe here.

Thanks to Our 2023 Coinstack Sponsors

To reach our weekly audience of 110,000 crypto insiders, view our sponsor deck and schedule a call to discuss sponsoring Coinstack.

TokenX streamlines Web3 tokenization for Web2 companies, simplifying integration of blockchain technology into existing applications. Powerful APIs tokenize assets with on/off blockchain metadata, policies, and authentication. Leveraging TokenX, Web2 companies can access the benefits of decentralization, ownership, authentication, and transparency provided by Web3, unlocking new opportunities for growth, customer engagement, and innovation. Learn more at www.tokenx.is

Unleash the power of DECARD’s DEX, the decentralized exchange designed to conquer the $11.5 trillion spot market. DECARD’s unique and patented tech stack, build on Tagion infrastructure, ensures a seamless trading experience and delivers never-before-seen effective order books in a decentralized environment. Bid farewell to frontrunning and custody risks and embrace a secure future with DECARD’s DEX. Join and revolutionize the way you trade at DECARD.

💵 Weekly Crypto Fundraises & Deals

Here are all the crypto fundraises we heard about this week, ranked by size…

1. One Trading, the new entity from Bitpanda Pro, has raised €30M in a Series A round, led by Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures.

2. Web3Go has raised $4M in seed funding from Binance Labs and Hashkey Capital for a data intelligence network

3. Ola, a Web3 privacy firm, has raised $3M in seed funding, co-led BYWeb3.com Ventures and Foresight Ventures

4. Mind Network, a cutting-edge platform leading the way in data security and privacy within the Web3 ecosystem,has raised $2.5M led by Binance Labs

5. Outdid, an end-to-end private ID verification solution leveraging zero knowledge proofs, has raised $2.5M seed round, led by Jump Crypto

6. AlloyX, a DeFi protocol launching a real-world asset vault, has raised $2M in a pre-seed funding round, led by Hack VC

🗞️ Crypto News Recap: The Top 5 Stories

Welcome back to This Week in Crypto… everything you need to know in one scannable format. Here are the top 5 stories of the week…

⚖️ Nasdaq Refiles Amended BlackRock Spot Bitcoin ETF - Nasdaq resubmitted an updated filing for the Blackrock Spot Bitcoin ETF (to be named the iShares Bitcoin Trust), after after the SEC flagged flaws in the original filing. The updated version includes a surveillance-sharing agreement with Coinbase, making it similar to other firms’ applications. The move followed similar filings last week from the CBOE.

💰 ‘Best and Final Offer’: Winklevoss Demands Nearly $1.5B From DCG- Gemini co-founder Cameron Winklevoss wants DCG to pay up in US dollars, bitcoin and ether — or else face a lawsuit

Crypto Comeback Pushes ProShare’s AUM for Bitcoin Futures ETF Over $1 Billion- ProShare’s BITO fund saw an additional $14.9 million of inflows on June 29 and $11.9 million of inflows on July 3. This brings its total assets under management to $1.04 billion, according to ETF.com.

🏦 Voyager Outflows Hit $134M but Celsius Hasn’t Sold Anything — Yet- Celsius and Voyager — rival crypto lending startups that went bust last year — have been cleared to start shifting their crypto holdings.

⚖️ Some Canadians Appear Willing To Embrace CBDC- 59% of Canadians seem open to CBDC adoption, but there’s still concerns about privacy, fraud, cyberattacks and loss of financial control. In the United States, there’s a much bigger anti-CBDC stance, giving that CBDCs by default expose all financial transactions to the government, something that is much more unacceptable giving the revolutionary-origins of the United States. Imagine if there had been a CBDC that exposed Paul Revere’s monetary transactions in 1775 to the British — there would have never been a USA at all!

💬 Tweet of the Week

📊 Key Stats of the Week

Here are the most important and interesting stats in crypto this week...

1. The success of Blend, an NFT lending protocol, is an encouraging testament for oracle-free lending platforms. In June, Blend accumulated a borrowed volume of approximately $187M at its peak.

2. ~13% of all Litecoin in circulation hasn't moved in over 5 years, making the average holding time of LTC 2.1 years.

3. As Ethereum activity hit pre-meme-coin levels, Optimism and Avalanche grew by 59% and 20%, respectively.

4. Liquid staking protocols use DEX liquidity pools for fast LST/ETH swaps. Curve finance lost momentum with reduced incentives and lower yields despite having high TVL.

5. Synapse crosses $40B+ in volume, 1.5M+ users

📝 Highlights from the Top Crypto Reports

Here are the top highlights from the best crypto research reports this week…

Azuki, Pudgy Penguins, and IP

About the Author: Messari brings transparency to the crypto economy. Messari wants to help investors, regulators, and the public makes sense of this revolutionary new asset class and build data tools to drive informed decision-making and investment. This is an excerpt from the full article, which you can find here.

Azuki, Pudgy Penguins, and IP

Once buoyed by a strong sense of community, Profile Picture (PFP) NFT collections have now lost that spirit in the current bear market. A case in point is Azuki's Elementals derivative PFP collection. Despite its initial success in securing an impressive $38 million from mint, it promptly encountered backlash, given the uncanny resemblance of its artwork to the original Azuki NFTs. This unfavorable reaction instigated a widespread selloff of original Azuki NFTs, inducing a 50% drop in floor price within just a week. Despite its aspiration to give back to the Azuki community, akin to the Bored Ape Yacht Club's approach of delivering value through continuous airdrops, the Elementals project has instead plunged Azuki into a challenging predicament.

As the bear market establishes its grip, the era of continuous airdrops as a primary method of value delivery and community engagement appears to be on the wane, given the dwindling number of buyers to absorb these new releases. This downturn has been further compounded by the rise of downstream derivative projects, which have led to growing skepticism within NFT communities. Notably, the launch of these derivative projects, particularly those featuring similar artwork, often dilutes the value of the base project, triggering a perception of redundancy and creating a competitive clutter. These projects are increasingly perceived as being less about fostering the original collection and more about seizing quick cash opportunities.

Such a shift, from authentic passion for the project towards an opportunistic stance, risks damaging the vital relationship between creators and their communities. NFT projects must, therefore, recognize and adapt to this changing dynamic. Upholding community trust and demonstrating a long-term commitment to the project are critical for the enduring success of any NFT collection in this fluctuating market.

Against this challenging backdrop, creators are compelled to innovate and explore new strategies to preserve the value of their collections. A notable example is Pudgy Penguins, which is expanding beyond the digital sphere by introducing its artwork into tangible mediums such as plush toys. This approach could be taken further, with creators leveraging the Intellectual Property (IP) rights associated with their PFP collections to develop a broader range of products, crowd-sourced artwork, and more. Implementing such strategies could not only generate new revenue streams and reintroduce practical utility but could also reignite community engagement.

Observing the successful trajectory of major IP-centric brands like Disney or Nike could provide valuable lessons for PFP projects. Disney, originally a video entertainment entity, now reaps the majority of its revenue from its theme parks, encompassing ticket sales, experiences, and merchandise. PFP projects, often armed with impressive artwork, could consider a similar diversification beyond their initial digital parameters. This expansion could boost brand recognition and contribute to their sustainability in the market. By expanding their IP usage, PFP creators could potentially lay the groundwork for their own entertainment empires, while also driving increased revenue and community engagement.

As creator royalties continue to wane, the exploration and execution of these IP extensions could provide a vital lifeline for PFP collections. By transmuting digital art into physical assets and creating additional channels for their creative work, creators can rekindle the community spirit that originally defined PFP NFT collections, while also ensuring their financial longevity in the long run.

Zlaunches Lay

Consumer platform Zora has laun its own Layer-2 networkra Nek, secuby Ethereum and buil Optimism’s tech stack, aiming to make NFT minting "faster, cheaper and more enjoyable." The new network will integrate into Zora's existing tools and experiences and is supported by over 35 groups and platforms.

Nike partners with Fortnite

Footwear and apparel titan Nike has teased the potential launch of an NFT sneaker collection within the popular online game Fortnite, marking a substantial opportunity for Web3 adoption among traditional gamers. Nike's NFT unit, .Swoosh, recently announced plans to integrate its NFTs into games developed by EA Sports, further signaling the brand's intent to delve into the gaming space.

🎧 Top Crypto Podcasts of The Week

Here are the crypto podcasts that are worth listening to this week...

1. BesIs Crypto's Bear Markemost Over? with Raoul Pal

2. Real Vision Crypto - What's Wrong With Existing Blockchain Models? w/ Evan Cheng

3. The Breakdown With NLW - Crypto Continues Its Pushback on Washington D.C.

4. The Defiant - How The World's First Web3 Company ConsenSys Is Catalyzing Ethereum’s Growth

5. Coin Bureau - FedNow Explained: Is It The END of Financial Freedom?

Additional Coinstack Sponsors

Hive Digital is a leader in providing SEO and PPC services for blockchain, DeFi, Web3, and other mission-driven companies. If you want to expand your organic presence and paid leads from Google and Facebook, get a proposal from Hive Digital at www.hivedigital.com.

💬 Join The Coinstack Telegram Community

Join our Telegram Channel here to chat with our community, ask questions, and learn more about the future of money as we move to a decentralized internet and the creation of a new open global monetary system that works for everyone.

💬 The People We’re Following Closely on Twitter

1. Vitalik But

2. Justin Drake

3. Hayddams

4. Hasu

5. Ryan Ada

6. Vance Spencer

7. Camila Russo

8. Ryan Selkis

9. Anthony Sassano

10. Lyn Alden

11. Gavin Wood

12. Cathy Wood

13. Beniamin Mincu

14. Barry Silbert

15. David Hoffman

16. Preston Pysh

17. Willy Woo

18. Ultra Sound Money List

19. Polkadot Ecosystem List

📚 How To Get Started With Crypto Learning

1. Crypto: Explain It Like I’m 5 (Article)

2. The Infinite Machine by Camila Russo (Book)

3. Crypto Theses for 2021 by Messari (PDF)

4. Bankless - The DeFi community (Substack + Podcast + Discord)

5. Understanding Polkadot - The Next Generation Blockchain Tech (Website)

6. The Ethereum 2.0 Report from Messari (PDF)

7. Blockgeeks Video Tutorials (Video)

8. The Coinstack Website (Website)

9. 2008 Bitcoin Whitepaper (PDF)

10. 2013 Ethereum Whitepaper (PDF)

📰 The Coinstack Newsletter:

Tracking the most important blockchain stories of the 2020s, including a decentralized internet and the creation of a new open global monetary system that works for everyone. As always, published for informational purposes only. Please do your own research. Just our opinions. Not intended as financial advice as we are not financial advisors. We may own some of the digital assets we write about as we believe strongly in the sector. Please do your own research. Published and written weekly by Ryan Allis and Mike Gavela.

Coinstack is a news and analysis newsletter for the digital asset industry. None of the information here is a recommendation to invest in any securities or other types of investments. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Any historical returns, expected returns, or probability projections may not reflect actual future performance. All investments involve risk and may result in loss.

Comments and thoughts are welcome on our Telegram channel:

• Website at Coinstack.co

• Substack at Coinstack.substack.com

• Twitter at twitter.com/coinstackcrypto

• Telegram channel at t.me/thecoinstack

• Sponsors: See our Coinstack sponsor deck

Please share with your friends and colleagues.