Morning Minute | Down Goes Coinbase
TylerD's Market Summary
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ππ Coinbase System Fails Under 10x Stress Load
If you logged into Coinbase yesterday to see your balance at 0, you weren't alone.
But don't worry, it's ok.
This is what those in the business call a "bullish system crash."
Or something like that.
What Happened?
Yesterday Coinbase experienced a system issue for a few hours mid-afternoon while crypto prices were spiking, where users were seeing 0 balances instead of true balances.
It caused some brief panic in users, and prices.
Bitcoin had reached $64,000 and immediately dipped to $58,000 on the outage, wiping out $1B+ in leverage.
Coinbase was able to get their systems up and running again within a few hours, which led to a rebound in prices (more on that below).
Brian Armstrong commented on the situation saying:
"We had modeled a ~10x surge in traffic and load tested it. This exceeded that number."
Why It Matters
Think about Brian's comment for a second.
A 10x surge in users hit Coinbase yesterday, with Bitcoin coming within 10% of it ATH.
Retail may actually be coming, finally.
Coinbase's load management capabilities aside - that's bullish.
Prices rebounded within hours reflecting that sentiment, with the 10% dip erased and coins printing new local highs this morning.
And today is shaping up to be even bigger.
π Super Thursday Is Finally Here
It's Leap Day.
Feb 29.
A once-in-4-years event.
Today for the crypto and NFT space might be a once-in-4-years event as well.
It's that big.
What's Happening?
Lined up for today:
- $PORTAL claims went live at 4:30 a.m. ET
- Blast mainnet launches at 4:00 p.m. (and unlock)
- Apes Come Home event (already open)
- Parallel launches its Open Beta
And the aftershocks of yesterday's BTC ETF record-shattering $7.5B in volume (and $680M in net inflows).
A bit more on each one.
PORTAL Opens and Does Not Disappoint
The $PORTAL airdrop today is not letting down.
The token has opened at $2.60 in early trading, indicating a $440M market cap and $2.6B FDV.
Even better news?
It looks like 50% or more of the tokens are claimable, at least for the farmers.
Many has speculated on what that % unlock would look like, and early indicators are looking very positive.
This is a massive influx of liquidity into the ecosystem today.
And it couldn't have come at a better time.
BLAST Goes Live This Afternoon
Blast opens at 4 pm ET and prepare for all hell to break loose.
Memecoins will launch. NFTs will launch.
Protocols will rapid fire announcements.
And $2B worth of ETH will unlock for potential usage.
Many have called for a net outflow from Blast with this unlock, but given the opportunity at hand (and pending more Points announcements from Blast), I'd be on net inflows to Blast today (TVL goes higher).
It's going to be fun to watch. Get some rest ahead of this afternoon, it could be a long night.
Apes Come Home and PRIME Beta
The last 2 events impact more local groups of users, so will keep it brief.
The Otherside is hosting its latest system test where ape holders can actually use their Avatars in navigating the Otherside metaverse.
There are 3 1-hour events today accommodating various time zones:
- 6 am - 7 am ET
- 2 pm - 3 pm ET
- 8 pm - 9 pm ET
No spatial audio this time, but BAYC Island will be on display.
As for Parallel, I'll let the hardcore gamers read more about it here.
The $PRIME token is up 13% to $14.24 in preparation of the launch (+95% on the month), and is still widely seen as a "web3 gaming index."
The success of this beta may very well be the next catalyst to move this ecosystem forward.
π What else is happening in NFTs?
Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:
- Ethereum led NFT trading volume with $26.9M on the day; BTC was next with $15M and then Solana with $8.6M
- AlignDRAW led notable top movers on ETH, jumping 39% to 0.89 ETH; most NFTs were red tho with the ETH move to $3,500
- The CryptoPunks floor quietly reached $204,000 (58.75 ETH) after the surge in ETH prices and a 5% rally
- VanECK announced the launch of its own NFT marketplace in a semi-custodial model
- Magic Eden did about $1M in volume in its first day of the ETH mp being live, led by Okay Dogs doing over half the volume (then y00ts)
- y00ts shared it will use royalties from Magic Eden's new marketplace to buy back y00ts NFTs and endorse y00ts creators with π badges
- NodeMonkes led action on BTC tallying 45 BTC and jumping 10% to 0.43 BTC; Puppets were next, +15% to 0.182 BTC with most other sets chopping
- Nat Cats jumped another 15% to a 0.082 BTC floor overnight, with Magic Eden teasing a formal listing coming soon
- Solana NFTs were mixed on the day after SOL spiked; Mad Lads +1% to 190 SOL (and new ATH in USD), Tensorians +3% to 66 and the rest of the board in red
- NBA Top Shot has launched a $2 pack sale for Team Packs, with chances at Rare and Parallel moments
π° Token, Airdrop & Points Tracker
Catch up on major token and airdrop news from the day:
- Pacmoon opened the airdrop claim for its $PAC token for those who bridged to Blast (use code 270711 to sign up for an extra 10%)
- OnChainMonkey completed their $KARMA token to holders of several BTC NFTs along with OnChainMonkey holders
- Anata NFT holders will be getting rewards from Thruster, Particle, Juice and Hyperlock
- Particle announced reward incentives for Azuki holders
- Wormhole will start trading pre-market on Bybit as early as this Friday
π Around Crypto and Web3
A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:
- Crypto majors are washed in green again this morning; BTC +6% at $62,500; ETH +5% at $3,470; SOL +15% at $129
- BONK led the day's memecoin rally, jumping 30% to $1.39B market cap; PEPE held at $1.32B and WIF is around $800M
- Bitcoin saw a record $7.5B in ETF volume on Wednesday, 2x'ing the prior record
- Gemini announced that its Earn customers would be reimbursed in kind for the crypto previously thought lost (meaning 100% repay at current prices)
- Reddit announced a decentralization effort as a part of its upcoming IPo
- Uniswap opened up limits trading on its DEX, following Jupiter's foot steps
- Animoca announced an investment in Co-Museum to "break standard conventions of art and reshape how we collect it as a community"
π NFT Total Volume (ETH)
- BAYC (792 ETH, 22.43 ETH Floor)
- Milady (778 ETH, 3.64 ETH)
- Creepz (516 ETH, 4.93 ETH)
- DeGods (421 ETH, 2.72 ETH)
- MAYC (346 ETH, 3.95 ETH)
π NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)
- aligntDRAW (39%, 0.89 ETH Floor)
- vVv Seaon 1 (27%, 0.61 ETH)
- Ago of Dino - Dinosty (22%, 0.69 ETH)
- Remilio (19%, 1.06 ETH)
- Anata (18%, 1.24 ETH)
π Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals
Today is going to be a hard day to keep up with and likely many moving parts and moving times.
Look for project X pages for the latest details, especially anything expect to launch on Blast.
The Blast mainnet opening and its projects launching is clearly the highlight, so expect most attention and demand focused there.
See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor.
- Puppet Maxi Biz (8:00 a.m. ET)
- Floor Icons Season 2 Drop 4 (12:00 p.m. ET)
- Blast Runners (5:00 p.m. ET)
Enjoy this write-up and/or want to sponsor the Morning Minute? Follow along with me on Twitter @tyler_did_it or reach out via email tyler.warner@luckytrader.com.
