Morning Minute | Swift to Pilot Global Crypto Transactions

TylerD's Market Summary

💰 Swift Bridges Crypto and Traditional Finance

Have you ever tried to send a wire at your local bank?

The experience is terrible.

You typically have to go in physically to your local bank branch, fill out the form, make sure you have all the account and routing numbers correct, and then pray it goes through (typically with anywhere from a 30 minute to 2 hour delay while the funds are gone).

Not to mention the wire fees.

Well, that process is about to change - thanks to crypto.

What Happened?

Yesterday Swift announced that it will conduct live trials for digital asset and currency transactions.

If you aren't familiar with the Swift network, it is the global messaging system used by banks to send information and financial transactions securely.

The pilot will start in 2025, with banks in North America, Europe, and Asia participating.

Swift has previously experimented with blockchain using Chainlink to connect to the Ethereum Sepolia test network.

But these new trials will go further to test the capability of its infrastructure to facilitate real-world digital and fiat transactions with a single point of access across public and private blockchains.

By The Numbers

To understand the size and impact of the Swift network

• $5T in daily transfers across the world ($1.25 Quadrillion in 2023)
• Over 11,500 financial institutions supported globally
• 134 countries currently exploring digital currencies

What Are They Saying?

Swift's Chief Innovation Officer Tom Zschach highlighted the importance of integrating digital assets with traditional currencies, stating:

"For digital assets and currencies to succeed on a global scale, it’s critical that they can seamlessly coexist with traditional forms of money."

He also addressed the rise of digital platforms across the globe but sharing a concern with the growth of disconnected systems:

"While the scale is impressive, without interconnectivity between platforms, global adoption is set to remain fragmented."

Why It Matters

This experiment could have some really big impacts if successful.

I led with the impact on users and how digital payments are significantly easier than transactions like wires - so user experience will get better.

But another major impact will be on stablecoins.

If USDC is chosen as a primary settlement currency for these digital transactions on SWIFT, that will be huge for its adoption around the globe.

That would be good for the dollar as well as its digital adoption. And as USDC supply grows, it grows the pie for the broader crypto sector.

We are getting closer to the digital future, one day at a time...

🚚 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 $3M on the day; Solana was next with $1.6M, and then Bitcoin with $1.59M
• ETH NFT leaders were mostly red down another 1-4%; Punks -4% at 27 ETH, Pudgy -1% at 10, BAYC even at 10.75, Azuki -1% at 5.2
• Mittaria Genesis (+31%) and Project AEON (+30%) were other notable top movers
• BTC NFT leaders were red down another 2-6%; NodeMonkes -4% at 0.167 BTC, Puppets -6% at 0.107 BTC, OMB -2% at 0.168, Quantum Cats even at 0.245
• The Runes leaders were also red; DOG -8% at $340M mc, RSIC -7% at $69M mc, PUPS -5% at $63M and BILLION DOLLAR CAT -12% to $43M
• Solana NFTs were mixed; Mad Lads -1% at 47.8 SOL, SMB Gen 2 even at 23, DeGods +3% at 16.7 SOL, Claynos -1% at 11.1
• Lamborghini shared new details for its Fast ForWorld collab with Animoca, featuring digital Lamborghini Revuelto cars unlocking ecosystem access and more
• XCOPY announced a new 1/1/250 collection coming to Shape L2 soon, with more details to come
• Doodles dropped their latest Certified Viral piece "Bize-sized" on Zora
• Seedphrase is set to sell his full set of Autoglyphs for $2.5M-$3.5M next week at Sotheby's

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token, protocol and/or airdrop news from the day:

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

A few other Crypto and Web3 headlines that caught my eye:

• Crypto majors are down 1-5% with BTC holding mostly strong;  BTC eve  at $61,000; ETH -3% at $2,370, SOL -5% at $148; Aptos was a top alt mover +12%
• Memecoin majors are red down 1-7%; DOGE -1%, SHIBA -2%, PEPE -6%, WIF -8%, BONK -5%, POPCAT -1%, and MOG -4%
• New meme POCHITA dominated Solana volume with $100M+, reaching a $20M market cap in early trading
• The Swift network will begin live trials of digital asset transactions with banks in 2025
• OpenAI announced a $6.6B raise at a whopping $157B valuation, while FTX auctioned off 22.3M Worldcoin (worth $38M) with a daily unlock schedule through 2028
• The SEC has appealed the Ripple case ruling, citing conflict with precedent
• SEC's enforcement director Gurbir Grewal is leaving the agency after overseeing $20B in penalties in his 3-year tenure and over 100 enforcement actions against crypto
• Franklin Templeton launched its onchain money market fund (FOBXX) on Aptos
• An Indiana man pled guilty to "cyber intrusion" after hacking into Sioux Falls and stealing $38M in crypto from 571 victims

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $POCHITA (+48,000% to $28M market cap, SOL)
• $SOLDENG (+700% to $16M market cap, SOL)
• $SPX (+30% to $190M market cap, ETH)
• $AURA (+30% to $12M market cap, SOL)
• $JOE (+19% to $23M market cap, ETH)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Mittaria (32%, 0.14 ETH Floor)
• Project AEON (35%, 0.45 ETH)
• PX Quest (22%, 0.35 ETH)
• Alpha Gate (20%, 1.5 ETH)
• HENI (15%, 0.42 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming Mints and Events

Today is a slower day of drops, again focused in art.

New drops continue on Shape, 3 artists are dropping on Verse and then Foundation has a new series of artists with drops starting tonight.

See the full list and dive in for more details with Swizzy's daily mint monitor. 

• Mongrel (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Argo The Puppy (12:00 p.m. ET)
• Naime x Highlight x Shape (12:00 p.m. ET)
• Eternal x Foundation - Immutable (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 to tyler.d.warner@gmail.com.