TylerD's Market Summary

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💳 Stripe Unveils Onchain Settlement with USDC

"Crypto is back."

Some of us have been shouting it for a year.

But it's louder when people like John Collison, co-founder of Stripe ($65B payments giant) say it.

Actions speak louder than words though, and Stripe is backing up John with some big moves.

What Happened?

Yesterday Stripe announced that it is re-entering the crypto game and will global stablecoin payments.

This means that businesses using Stripe will be able to accept USDC, with onchain settlement, and will receive Fiat (USD) on their end of the transaction.

It's a massive unlock for Stripe and it's 300k+ integrated partners around the world.

The demo John walked through highlighted Phantom Wallet and executed the payment transaction on Solana (and showcased Solana's low fees).

After finishing the transaction, John also highlighted how the transaction was posted to the blockchain (pulling up Solscan to show the details).

How this will work:

• Stripe ends up taking the crypto (USDC) and settling with the business (who gets FIAT), effectively meaning that Stripe is buying the USDC
• Payments will be available on Solana, Ethereum and Polygon, with the business and/or customer able to choose
• Rollout begins this summer

What They're Saying

Some of John Collison's notable comments from the keynote:

"We’re excited to announce that we’re bringing back crypto as a way to accept payments, but this time with a much better experience."

“Crypto is finding real utility. With transaction speeds increasing and costs coming down, we’re seeing crypto finally making sense as a means of exchange.”

Notable collector (and crypto mega-whale) Batsoup shared deep comments in a thread:

"I've said in the past that corporations are the trojan horse for mass crypto adoption and that it would likely happen via payments."

He goes on to walk through the 2.5% credit card transaction fee and how crypto can solve it, along with the myriad of loyalty programs that blockchain enables for merchants.

And one more key point from Daniel Got Hits:

"The most insane part of the Stripe announcement isn’t just that you can pay in crypto…. It’s that the SELLER receives normal fiat. Aka, they don’t need to know or care that you paid in crypto."

Why It Matters

There's so much to unpack here, but this is one of the single most bullish crypto headlines of 2024.

A payments giant is re-embracing crypto after abandoning it 6 years ago, effectively saying that the user experience has improved enough to give it another shot.

That's a huge signal.

Merchants can accept crypto without even knowing it or without even liking crypto - and it doesn't matter for them because they settle in fiat.

Merchants who do choose to embrace it can do so with lower fees, and if they go down the rabbit hole, can get creative with loyalty programs as they'll have their customers' wallet data handy.

And the biggest winner here may be crypto maxis.

The biggest hurdle to keeping and holding crypto over the past decade has been balancing the need to spend money irl and the broad inability to do so with crypto.

Now that's changing.

The more irl goods and experiences that can be purchased direct with crypto, the less need holders will have to "sell" crypto for fiat.

There is a real path to holding and keeping wealth in crypto.

We aren't there yet, and it will take time - but the path is more clear than ever.

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH led NFT trading volume with $27M on the day (+274%); BTC was next with $7.5M (even) and then Solana with $3.4M (-32%)
• ETH NFT leaders saw big green with BAYC +20% to 17 ETH, Pudgy +8% to 12.5, Azuki +14% to 4.6 and MAYC +35% at 3.2
• MAYC, BAKC and Moonbirds were notable winners, jumping 35% each
• Alien Punk 635 sold for 4,000 ETH ($12.4M) on Thursday in the 3rd Alien Punk to sell in the past 1 month (others at 4,859 ETH and 4,500)
• Prometheans led the BTC NFT board with 72 BTC volume, jumping 50% to 0.093 BTC ahead of their pending runes airdrop
• Ink was a big winner, rallying 4-% to 0.025 BTC
• BTC PFP leaders mostly chopped; NodeMonkes at 0.38, OMB at 0.42 BTC, Quantum Cats at 0.4, Bitcoin Puppets at 0.32
• A rare sat (the first sat) from this past Bitcoin halving sold for 33.3 BTC ($2.13M) at auction yesterday
• Solana NFTs were mostly red on the day; Mad Lads even at 90 SOL, Tensorians -7% at 13.3, Saku -30%
• Magic Eden officially expanded to Base on Thursday with a reduced 0.5% fee on transactions 
• Blast NFTs soared on the day led by Blastopians 3x'ing to 0.13 ETH after Wasabi announced a new quadruple farm with them via fractionalization

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the day:

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

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

• Crypto majors are slightly green this morning; BTC +0.7% at $64,200; ETH +1% at $3,130; SOL -1% at $143
• Memecoin majors were slightly green; DOGE +1%, WIF +3%, PEPE +4%, BONK +12%; POPCAT outperforms (+60%)
• Base memecoin leader BRETT fell 25% after inside trading allegations around the launch circulated
• Consensys is suing the SEC, citing "the SEC shouldn't be able to expand its jurisdiction and wrongly label ETH a security"
• Pantera announced its raising a $1B crypto fund, just a few days after writing that "memecoin trading creates gigantic opportunities"
• Robinhood Wallet's cross-chain swaps feature went live, allowing users to swap any tokens from supported chains onto Arbitrum's L2
• Immutable launched the biggest web3 gaming rewards pool ever with $50M in prizes

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $CHICK (+700%, $26M market cap, Base)
• $MICHI (+85%, $35M market cap, Solana)
• $BOOMER (+78%, $17M market cap, Base)
• $POPCAT (+60%, $520M market cap, Solana)
• $CATGPT (+53%, $26M market cap, Solana)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Skyborne (52%, 1.49 ETH Floor)
• BAKC (37%, 0.69 ETH)
• MAYC (34%, 3.29 ETH)
• Moonbirds (34%, 0.68 ETH)
• Grapes (33%, 0.28 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is a busier day of new mints and potential announcements.

Many have hinted that something big is coming from Blur and/or Blast today - so let's see if it delivers.

Frenpet is launching the next version of its app, and many PFPs are dropping across Base & Blast today.

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

• Oogaverse (9:00 a.m. ET)
• Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Frenpet new version (12:00 p.m. ET)
• sneaky - buddies (2:00 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.warner@luckytrader.com.

Anichess, blending traditional chess with web3 innovations, completed a $1.8 million funding round led by Sfermion and Amber Group.

The Deets

• Strategic Partnerships: Collaboration with Chess.com and Animoca Brands.
• Game Innovation: Introduces spells and new strategies to classic chess.
• Community Growth: Over 1 million registered players.
• Future Outlook: PvP mode launch expected in Q2 2024.

The Bulk

Anichess, developed through a strategic partnership between Animoca Brands and Chess.com raised $1.8 million in its latest funding round.

With the additional funding, Anichess is poised to expand its development and marketing efforts significantly. The chess-based strategy game enhances the traditional format by incorporating unique spells that alter gameplay, offering players new tactical challenges. 

🎤 Founder Feedback

🔜 What's Next?

Anichess will shortly introduce a PvP game mode amidst continued development. 

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For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

TylerD's Market Summary

Today's Morning Minute is brought to you by Arcade, the leading protocol for NFT lending.

Arcade allows users to hold on to their NFTs and still get liquidity when needed via their flexible time-based lending terms.

They changed the game with their Smart Vaults, allowing users to store their NFTs in vaults during the loan process - enabling them to claim airdrops sent to the NFT after paying off the loan.

It's a major unlock.

The protocol has seen an explosion in user growth (+130%) and monthly loans (+300%) over the past 8-9 months as more and more users find the platform.

And of course - users are being rewarded.

Lending and borrowing on the Arcade protocol earns points which convert to $ARCD tokens.

So check Arcade out today, give or take some liquidity and start earning!

🫂 SocialFi Spring Is Here

Spring is setting up quite nicely for SocialFI enthusiasts.

Headlines and big events on the horizon:

• Stars Arena v2 goes fully live (launched yesterday)
• Fantasy Top Mainnet launches (today) and first $4M tourney starts Monday (4.29)
• FriendTech V2 kicks off Monday (4.29)
• District1 on Blast receives 2nd biggest Blast Gold allocation

The most notable highlights from that list from yesterday though are definitely the traction Fantasy Top has seen and the Stars Arena v2 launch.

Fantasy Top Sees $60M+ In Deposits Ahead of Launch

Money is flooding into Fantasy Top, the "first social trading card game" to come to SocialFi.

As of this morning, the app has seen $63M_ in deposits across nearly 20,000 depositors.

To make the top 10 list, one would have to deposit 238 ETH ($735,000).

And the mainnet isn't even live yet!

It launches at 11 am ET.

Why Is It Seeing This Traction?

For one, Blast gold rewards. 

Pacman and the Blast team made it pretty clear in their last Blast Gold allocation update on Friday that SocialFI apps would be rewarded.

Fantasy Top and District One received 733k Blast Gold each, tied for 2nd behind Thruster.

So farmers are flocking.

And Fantasy Top is kicking Fomo into overdrive with its latest announcement:

• Pack opening and trading beings today at 11 am ET
• Competition starts Monday with 222k Blast Gold in prizes (roughly $4M)

The premise of the game is pretty simple - collect digital trading cards of Crypto Twitter (CT) and NFT Twitter's biggest personalities and score points based on their engagement.

Cards like Ansem will be heavily coveted and will likely skyrocket in price.

Which presents a few ways to play the app:

• Farm somewhat passively by buying up packs and setting lineups
• Actively trade and flip cards

With this amount of prizes on the line and all of CT's attention - expect fireworks next week.

Stars Arena V2 Goes Live

The Arena is back with a new UI and big roadmap.

V2 officially launched yesterday with a slick new UI which mirrors Twitter (X) but with a bit more of a financial ("fi") twist.

The user's wallet, trending tickets and top most traded participants are highlighted in the primary differentiator from the X UI.

Along with the new UI, Jason Desimone and team rolled out a new roadmap.

Their primary goals are to onboard a bigger & more diverse users base, find new partnerships, develop better creator tools and monetization paths and continue building the Arena Brand.

Notable ighlights from the roadmap itself:

• Release of $ARENA & First governance vote on Arena subnet — Details coming soon
• Public API Access — Access for any developers within the community to build tools on top of The Arena
• Lowering fees to 7.5% 
• Expanding login options (Instagram, TikTok, Reddit)
• Expanding tipping options
• Fiat on-ramp — In-app features for fiat to $AVAX conversion.
• The Social Exchange — A new way to buy and sell digital assets on a social feed + new forms of creator monetization
• Direct NFT minting — Create and mint NFTs instantly within the app
• New wallet solution — Improved wallet management solutions, including self custodial wallets.
• Arena Groups — New features and tools to support existing communities (memecoins, NFTs) and launch new ones. Leveraging clever cryptoeconomic incentives to revolutionize existing web2 incumbents, such as Reddit

It's a pretty lofty vision.

While many will focus on the token launch, the expansion of login options, new social exchange and group creation seem to be the most intriguing aspects.

If the team can pull those off, the Arena should have a bright future.

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH led NFT trading volume with $7.9M on the day (+12%); BTC was next with $7.3M (+23%) and then Solana with $4.5M (-16)
• ETH NFT leaders saw big green with BAYC +11% to 14 ETH, Pudgy +3% to 11.8, Captainz +3.5% to 3.4 and MAYC +7% at 2.4
• Azra Games & InfiniGods were notable winners, jumping 33% each
• Runestone led the BTC NFT board again with 29 BTC volume, jumping 10% to 0.025 BTC post-airdrop (more below); Prometheans ralliee 30% to to 0.058 as the team promised more details today on the runes
• BTC PFP leaders rebounded big after yesteday's dip; NodeMonkes +20% at 0.39, OMB +7.5% at 0.44 BTC, Quantum Cats +7.5% at 0.41, Bitcoin Puppets -2% at 0.32
• Ink announced a $10M raise from community member Caesar Eon, with $2M going to the team for operations and $8M pegged for IP development (Ink +20% to 0.018 BTC on the news)
• Solana NFTs were mixed on the day; Mad Lads +1% at 90 SOL, Tensorians +3% at 14.5, sharx -4%
• NFT Stat's project "GM Photography" minted out its 205 NFTs at 0.5 ETH in just 20 minutes on Blastr 
• Yuga Labs will create a new golden key that will stay in the BAYC ecosystem (after the divest with Faraway), airdropping it to the owner of the key
• BAYC holders can now "bring their apes to life" with 3D downloads available via their profiles
• The Opepen website got a facelift, enabling a new way for users to view sets and submissions 

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the day:

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

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

• Crypto majors are very red this morning; BTC -4.3% at $63,500; ETH -5.5% at $3,090; SOL -8.5% at $144
• Memecoin majors were even more red; DOGE -8%, WIF -15%, PEPE -8%, BONK -10%; MANEKI outperforms (+38%)
• WIF Perp futures went live on Coinbase International and Advanced
• The SEC is expected to deny the ETH ETFs next month 
• The CEO and Founders of Samourai Wallet were arrested and charged with money laundering and unlicensed money transmitting in a shocking move on Wednesday 
• Sergito revealed new details on his company Popset, a mobile-focused product which is a "personal tokenization engine" with early access launching this week

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $CATGPT (+2000%, $16M market cap, Solana)
• $BUNNY (+134%, $17M market cap, Base)
• $ELON (+83%, $25M market cap, ETH)
• $BOOMER (+36%, $10M market cap, Base)
• $MANEKI (+35%, $190M market cap, Solana)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Azra Games (33%, 1.3 ETH Floor)
• Smowl (30%, 0.22 ETH)
• Infinigods (23%, 0.18 ETH)
• Early Retired Cats Club (38%, 0.15 ETH)
• BAYC (11%, 14.1 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is another slower day of mints but a big day of events.

The highlight is definitely Fantasy Top's mainnet launch going live at 11 am ET, where packs will be openable and trading begins.

Magic Eden is also expanding to Base today as it looks to corner more of the NFT market.

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

• $SOMO presale (1`:00 a.m. ET)
• WizOrds (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Fantasy Top mainnet (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Magic Eden - Base launch (1:00 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.warner@luckytrader.com.

TylerD's Market Summary

Today's Morning Minute is brought to you by Wasabi, THE leading NFT leverage protocol.

Did you see NFT news and immediately want to go long Bored Apes or Mutants? Or did you want to short them? 

How about wanting to long $PAC after the recent breakout (with leverage)? 

Either way, Wasabi has you covered.

With Wasabi's Perps markets, savvy traders can now win in any market conditions and earn points and Blast GOLD while doing so. 

It's a huge unlock.

They recently crossed $100M in cumulative trading volume on the platform, so traders are figuring it out.

So why not join them and start trading today, and earn those rewards!

🤯 The Institutions Are Coming...For Memecoins

The highlight of Q1 for many active in the crypto trading space was the explosion of memecoins.

Solana led the action, with tokens like BONK and WIF soaring to multiple-billion dollar market caps with a wave of tokens following in their wake.

But then the rally got overheated (see Bome's opening weekend), Solana got congested and attention shifted to Runes on Bitcoin.

Well, attention is coming back to Solana.

And institutions are watching.

What Happened?

A Bloomberg post from yesterday hinted that some serious institutional investors are looking at memecoins.

Hedge funds like Stratos (with limited partners like Marc Andreesen and Chris Dixon) along with Brevan Howard and Pantera Capital have either written about memecoins or already made investments in the sector.

Pantera went as far to write that "memecoins are here to stay" and that "memecoin trading creates gigantic" opportunies.

Thanks for confirming what we already knew, Pantera.

There are signs of serious whale and/or institution investment in memecoins already happening.

Mando posted a wallet which has accumulated $12M of BODEN, $6M of WIF and added $250k of HARAMBE in one clip yesterday.

While not confirmed, he alludes to that being a sign of institutional buying vs retail.

Mando goes on to warn memecoin holders "the institutions are here and they are coming for your memes."

Don't let the institutions steal your memecoins!

Market Impact

Let's just say, yesterday was a green wave.

PEPE went live on Coinbase Advanced and soared 18% to a $3.3B market cap kicking things off.

Then the Solana coins took over.

Some notable gainers from the day:

• WIF +22% to $3.46B mc
• BONK +37% to $2.6B mc
• MEW +28% to $590M mc
• BODEN +35% to $540M mc
• POPCAT +24% to $460M mc
• PUPS +25% to $450M* (on BTC and SOL)
• MANEKI +62% to $150M mc
• NUB +38% to $88M
• SC +70% to $79M
• HARAMBE +120% to $39M mc

It's the biggest day that I can remember, across the board.

Why It Matters

Even after the monster Q1 for memecoins, many had their doubts on the sector's staying power.

And many still do.

But the longer these tokens see sustained gains, the more durable this sector becomes - and the more capital it will attract.

Clearly the institutions are paying attention, and some are even investing.

And with other notable protocols making negative headlines like Renzo depegging (after releasing bad tokenomics and perhaps misleading its community) and Worldcoin inflating their $WLD supply - no wonder some participants simply opt for memecoins this cycle.

No execution risk, no inflation risk - just memes.

And guess what - they're here to stay...

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH led NFT trading volume with $7.7M on the day (even); BTC was next with $6M (-20%) and then Solana with $5.3M (even)
• ETH NFT leaders were mixed with BAYC -1% to 12.7 ETH, Pudgy +3% to 11.4, Milady +6% to 5.2 and MAYC -3% at 2.2
• Art Gobblers and Schizoposters were notable winners, jumping 72% and 56% respectively 
• Squiggles were swept up to 7 ETH, a 40% gain on the day
• Runestone led the BTC NFT board again with just 28 BTC volume, dipping to 0.023 BTC; Prometheans fell to 0.045 as well as Runes interest wanes
• BTC PFP leaders took a big hit with most falling 20%; OMB at 0.41 BTC, Quantum Cats at 0.385, Bitcoin Puppets at 0.345, NodeMonkes at 0.32
• Magic Eden has facilitated more than $6M in Runes trading volume in the past 1.5 days since launch, though most Runes are down
• Solana NFTs were mixed on the day; Mad Lads -5% at 89 SOL, Tensorians -8% at 13.5
• NBA Top Shot announced its Playoff Pack sales deadlines and the respective probabilities of Rare or Legendary Moments for every NBA Playoff team
• Own the Doge acquired the first-ever exclusive license for the famous Doge image

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the day:

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

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

• Crypto majors are slightly green this morning; BTC +0.3% at $66,400; ETH +2.8% at $3,270; SOL +1.7% at $158
• Memecoin majors were very green on the day after PEPE futures went live on Coinbase; DOGE +2%, WIF +20%, PEPE +15%, BONK +33%; SC (+75%), BODEN (+35%), & MANEKI (+30%) outperformed
• Renzo ezETH depegged after its tokenomics release led to a wave of FUD over some misrepresentation of data and lack of community rewards (has since re-peggeD)
• Jupiter announced its Jupiter Mobile Initiative where they advertise trading "any token, anywhere, with 1 click and 0 fees," with Beta coming in May
• Safe introduced Safe{Pass} to actively reward users for being safe while participating on-chain with its smart accounts

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $HARAMBE (+120%, $40M market cap, Solana)
• $SC (+70%, $80M market cap, Solana)
• $MANEKI (+62%, $145M market cap, Solana)
• $NUB (+38%, $88M market cap, Solana)
• $BONK (+37%, $2.6B market cap, Solana)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Art Gobblers (72%, 0.13 ETH Floor)
• SchizoPosters (53%, 0.53 ETH)
• Infinigods (48%, 0.15 ETH)
• CryptoPhunks (44%, 0.15 ETH)
• Remnants (27%, 7.5 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is another slower day of new mints and events.

Laurent Castellani is the meme card artist today, and Casey Reas is back with a team for "Wet and Saturated Process."

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

• Calamity (10:00 a.m. ET)
• Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Casey Reas - Wet and Saturated Proceess (1:00 p.m. ET)
• Froogle (1:00 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.warner@luckytrader.com.

Safe introduced its Safe{Pass} program, rewarding engagement with blockchain-based smart accounts and partnerships across the ecosystem.

The Deets

• Lock and Boost: Lock SAFE tokens for multipliers on points within the Safe{Pass} program.
• Ecosystem Engagement: Earn points through daily use and transaction volumes in your Safe account.
• Partner Perks: Exclusive rewards from EigenLayer, ENS, and other top partners.
• Long-Term Benefits: The first Safe{Pass} season extends until September 30, 2024, promising extensive user benefits.

The Bulk

Safe, a leader in secure blockchain account management, is broadening its horizons with the launch of the Safe{Pass} program. This initiative is designed to deepen user engagement by rewarding active participation within the Safe ecosystem and its numerous prestigious partners such as EigenLayer, Ethereum Name Service (ENS), and Euler.

Participants in the Safe{Pass} program will need to lock their SAFE tokens, which not only secures their assets but also significantly increases their points earned through various activities. These activities include regular transactions, increased transaction volumes, and even the mere act of holding assets within the Safe platform.

As Safe{Pass} unfolds, users can look forward to unlocking stages of rewards that include early access to new features, transaction fee sponsorships, and exclusive invitations to blockchain events.

🎤 Platform Prose

 

🔜 What's Next?

As Safe continues to expand its partner network, users can anticipate even more oppoortunies to engage and earn. Campaign rollouts are expected for partners including EigenLayer, Rainbow, Wormhole, ENS, and more. 

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For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

OKX and Manchester City restocked "Unseen City Shirts," a digital collectible campaign featuring unique, commemorative football shirts available for minting on the OKX app.

The Deets

• Digital Collectibles: Football shirts designed by Christian Jeffery, mintable on the OKX Web3 app.
• Unique Designs: Featuring the Lancashire Rose and the Manchester Worker Bee, symbols of Manchester.
• Exclusive Prizes: Rarity levels dictate potential wins, from play-on-pitch experiences to limited edition physical shirts.
• Future Drops: More digital collectible shirts with unique designs to be released soon.

The Bulk

OKX restocked and renewed its digital collectible partnership with Manchester City, blending traditional sports memorabilia with blockchain technology in the campaign, "Unseen City Shirts."

Designed by Christian Jeffery, these shirts encapsulate Manchester's heritage with designs that include the Lancashire Rose and the Worker Bee. Fans of the club and crypto enthusiasts alike can mint these digital shirts directly through the OKX app, with each piece potentially unlocking unique physical and experiential rewards based on its rarity level.

📊 By the Numbers

Each 'Unseen City Shirts' collectible comes with a chance to win various exclusive prizes, with only 5 Ultra Rare shirts offering a coveted play-on-pitch experience and limited edition gear.

🎤 Founder Feedback

🔜 What's Next?

Keep an eye out for the next drop of 'Unseen City Shirts' on April 29, featuring another unique design and more exciting prizes.

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For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

TylerD's Market Summary

Today's Morning Minute is brought to you by Arcade, the leading protocol for NFT lending.

Arcade allows users to hold on to their NFTs and still get liquidity when needed via their flexible time-based lending terms.

They changed the game with their Smart Vaults, allowing users to store their NFTs in vaults during the loan process - enabling them to claim airdrops sent to the NFT after paying off the loan.

It's a major unlock.

The protocol has seen an explosion in user growth (+130%) and monthly loans (+300%) over the past 8-9 months as more and more users find the platform.

And of course - users are being rewarded.

Lending and borrowing on the Arcade protocol earns points which convert to $ARCD tokens.

So check Arcade out today, give or take some liquidity and start earning!

🟠 Runes Infrastructure Is Arriving

Some of the most common feedback around the hyped Runes launch was around the user experience.

It sucked, in short.

And it wasn't much better than the previous BRC-20 trading experience many already knew.

So where was the upgrade?

Well it may be arriving.

What Happened?

We knew infrastructure was coming for Runes, and yesterday we got the first glimpse.

Magic Eden made the blockbuster announcement that its Runes Marketplace was live yesterday afternoon.

And the user experience is pretty slick:

• Navigate to the Runes tab on ME Bitcoin
• Select a Rune from the drop down and a new Runes Table View pops up
• Use a sliding bar to buy as many as you'd like (and see the price + network fees) and then buy

It's just a handful of clicks, and in some ways, it's even easier than buying (sweeping) Ordinals on Magic Eden.

The fomo concept is still in play from the Ordinals experience, where users can see which Runes buys are still pending.

And the team has alluded to new features like a "Swaps View" coming soon, so this is not the final product.

You can read more about the team that built it in this feature from CNBC about Magic Eden's "hacker house."

But There's More

Magic Eden wasn't alone.

Xverse also launched its Runes Mint App, allowing users to mint or etch their own runes directly from the wallet.

And then likely the most important headline of them all - Taproot Wizards founder Udi Wertheimer introduced BIP-420.

BIP-420 is a formal "Bitcoin Improvement Proposal" tied to the OP_CAT proposal the team has been pushing forward for months now.

The premise is to better enable a crypto economy on Bitcoin via:

• covenants
• smart contracts
• secure bridges
• onchain trading
• zk proof verification

More key ETH features, on Bitcoin. And more usable than they are in current state (onchain trading is available now but admittedly clunky).

It's a grand vision, and if Udi and team are able to pull it off, it may go down as one of the most important proposals / implementations in Bitcoin history.

Why It Matters

There are several reasons why this matters and is a hugely important proposal for Bitcoin.

But dialing in to Runes, the topic of this newsletter - we are early.

Ordinals launched about a year before they really took off, largely due to improvements in UX and more meaningful project launches that took time to rollout.

There's a good chance the same happens with Runes.

Runes infrastructure is getting better already, and Magic Eden made a big jump with its debut yesterday.

But we still have a long way to go to come anywhere close to the trading experience on ETH or Solana.

The BIP-420 proposal will help Bitcoin get there - but it will take time.

Now is the time to pay attention to Runes, but also to be patient - it will get better.

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the day in NFTs:

• ETH led NFT trading volume with $7.6M on the day (+5%); BTC was next with $7.4M (-37%) and then Solana with $5.3M (-7%)
• ETH NFT leaders were very mostly green with BAYC +4% to 12.8 ETH, Pudgy +6% to 10.9 and MAYC even at 2.3
• DeGods jumped 18% after Frank DeGods showed a screenshot touting "bridge success" back to Solana
• My Pet Hooligan NFTs fell 35% after its KARRAT token debuted at a $100M mc and $800M FDV (hit $1B+ at peak)
• A Skulls of Luci sold for 85 ETH to Kanbas and a Hoodie CryptoPunk sold for 195 ETH, leading notable sales on the day
• Runestone led the BTC NFT board again with 39 BTC volume as volume and attention shifted to the Runes launch on Magic Eden; most leaders fell 10%
• OMB is the PFP leader at 0.487 BTC, then Quantum Cats at 0.44, Puppets at 0.4 and NodeMonkes at 0.385
• Solana NFTs were mostly red on the day; Mad Lads -8% at 93 SOL, Tensorians -even at 15, SMB Gen 2 -12% at 40; Exiled Degods jumped 234% after the news of DeGods bridging back to Solana
• NFT Stats announced his first ever NFT collection of 200 "gm" photos from around the world, to launch via Blastr on Blast, a new protocol offering full refunds for minters who are not satisfied 

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the day:

• Portal's first launchpad token sale, $SOMO from Somo Games, will take place this Thursday, Apr. 25 at 11:00 a.m. ET.
   
• Runestone's $DOG debuted on Whales Market as $0.005 which equates to a $500M mc (and would mean a $4500 airdrop per NFT)
• Maneki launched on Monday and saw $130M volume in just a few hours
• Arcade facilitated a $250,000 USDC loan against a collection of six Pudgy Penguins, including a Gold Body
• Fren Pet announced it will launch a new version this Friday with improved mechanics and new games
• Fantasy Top introduced Fantasy Stars, providing users with a points-for-prizes system based on deposits

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

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

• Crypto majors are slightly green this morning; BTC +0.3% at $66,300; ETH -1% at $3,180; SOL +0.7% at $155
• Memecoin majors were mixed on the day with a notable move of PEPE flipping WIF; DOGE -1%, WIF -4%, PEPE +4%; GUMMY and POPCAT outperformed on Solana, up 75% and 40%
• Maneki launched and reached $110M market cap in less than a day; POPCAT also outperformed, jumping 26% to $375M
• TN100x jumped 55% after its new tipping mechanism circulated on X
• Runes saw a mixed day as ZZFEHU soared 75% to $2.37B but prior leaders RSIC (-18%) and Satoshi (-33%) both fell
• Unisat confirmed reports that some users had Runes burned during transactions on its mp, saying it has since fixed the issue and it is now safe to trade Runes on UniSat marketplace
• Udi Wertheimer introduced BIP-420 as a formal proposal for Op_Cat which enables covenants, allows for smart contracts, secure bridges, on-chain trading, zk proof verification, and more
• Two SEC lawyers resigned after being sanctioned by a judge for "gross abuse" of power in a crypto case against DEBT Box
• Animoca Brands Japan will help with global marketing for the Square Enix game "Symbiogenesis"

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $MANEKI (+18000%, $100M market cap, Solana)
• $TN100X (+55%, $45M market cap, Base)
• $KEYCAT (+52%, $45M market cap, Base)
• $BIAO (+50%, $21M market cap, Solana)
• $POPCAT (+26%, $375M market cap, Solana)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Coolmans Universe (90%, 0.11 ETH Floor)
• Yogurt Verse (53%, 1.15 ETH)
• Lasogette (32%, 0.83 ETH)
• Dooplicator (21%, 0.13 ETH)
• DeGods (18%, 1.65 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is another slower day of drops, mostly focused in PFPs and art across chain.

Post Photographic Perspectives III is likely the highlight, as the AI art group releases its 3rd body of projects.

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

• Evolution of Curis (9:00 a.m. ET)
• PunkAApepen (12:00 p.m. ET)
• The Paper Crane x Rich Pool - IsoMetro (1:00 p.m. ET)
• Post Photographic Perspectives III (1:00 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.warner@luckytrader.com.

Blast will distribute 10 million Gold to Dapps this week using a newly introduced Incentive Weight system.

The Deets

• Incentive Weight Introduced: Aimed at improving how Dapps design incentives.
• Criteria Published in Advance: Dapps can optimize their incentives before distribution.
• Community Involvement: Members can report suspicious activities and provide feedback.
• Future Mechanisms: Plans to allocate Gold to token and NFT projects soon.

The Bulk

Blast Network is set to distribute 10 million Gold among Dapps that live on Mainnet, determined by a meticulous new formula that incorporates Category Weight, Blast-native Weight, Dapp Weight, and the all-new Incentive Weight.

The introduction of the Incentive Weight allows the network to address the effectiveness of Gold distribution, ensuring Dapps are rewarded based on the quality and fairness of their incentives.

With this strategic move, Blast aims to promote greater transparency and fairness in the allocation of resources, which will, in turn, encourage Dapps to improve their offerings.

The network has detailed the specific issues it aims to address, including the misuse of Gold in incentivizing token or NFT ownership, using Gold to indirectly promote revenue, and the need to avoid non-transparent insider dealings.

📊 By the Numbers

Dapps are categorized and weighted in various fields like Spot Dex (6) and SocialFi (4), down to NFT Infra (1), affecting their share of the 10 million Gold based on performance and alignment with Blast's standards.

🎤 Platform Prose

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For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

Animoca Brands Japan and SQUARE ENIX signed a memorandum of understanding to boost global marketing and adoption of the Symbiogenesis game and its associated NFTs.

The Deets

• Strategic Collaboration: Enhanced global reach for Symbiogenesis via expert marketing and partnerships.
• Game Integration: Use of 10,000 unique NFTs as in-game avatars and progression tools.
• Expertise Utilization: Leveraging Animoca Brands' vast network for broader market penetration.
• Community Engagement: Interactive platforms and community-driven events to bolster user involvement.

The Bulk

Animoca Brands Japan is now collaborating with SQUARE ENIX to elevate the Symbiogenesis project, a high-fantasy game featuring 10,000 NFT characters.

These characters are not only collectibles but also serve as gateways into the SYMBIOGENESIS universe, where players can explore, interact, and progress through various in-game challenges and storylines.

The partnership aims to harness Animoca Brands' extensive expertise in global NFT markets to drive adoption and create a seamless integration of NFTs into the gaming experience, enhancing player engagement and the overall value of the game's digital assets.

🎤 Founder Feedback

🔜 What's Next? 

Animoca Brands Japan will support Symbiogenesis on its NFT launchpad later this year. Dates have not yet been provided. 

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For more web3 and NFT news, visit the Lucky Trader newsfeed.

TylerD's Market Summary

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🟠 Runes Debut with Mixed Reactions

This was arguably the most hyped Bitcoin halving to date.

The ETFs have brought new attention and money into the ecosystem, and of course Casey Rodarmor's highly anticipated Runes protocol going live with the halving.

But was it overhyped compared to what was delivered?

What Happened?

On Friday night around 8:15 pm ET, the Bitcoin halving took place and Runes launched.

Teams raced to etch the first 10 (and then the first 100) and some saw surprising success.

Some notable top runes that were etched:

• Runes 0: Uncommon Goods
• Rune 1: Z...FEHU...Z
• Rune 2: Decentralized (Prometheans)
• Rune 3: Dog Go To The Moon
• Rune 4: The Runix Token
• Rune 8: RSIC Genesis Rune
• Rune 13: Pups World Peace
• Rune 17: Magic Internet Money (WZRD)
• Rune 21: RSIC Season Two

So the CyberKongz team came in with the #2 runes in a big surprise. Leonidas and team got #3 for Runestones. And the RSIC team secured #8 (seemingly on purpose for the Asian tie-in) along with #21.

There is still a lot of mystery around some of the early runes including #1.

They also minted in different styles, with some operating as free mints and some having huge pre-mines. But given fee spikes, none of the mints were truly "free" and many minted at market caps between $6M and $30M.

Those who minted and sold early still saw some nice profits, and being in the trenches Friday night was the right place to be.

Market Response

A few clear winners have already seemingly been named.

• RSIC Genesis Rune has the top market cap at $305M (on $1.8M volume)
• Satoshi Nakamoto has seen the most volume with $40M+ on Gate.io, but fell 34% on Sunday to $103M mc
• Wanko Manko Runes is next up at $36M mc and then Meme Economics is the only other Rune over a $10M mc (at $11.8M)

You can track some of the leaders at OKX Runes Marketplace and trade them there or on Unisat.

Apparently the launch of a new 9-figure coin and some nice ROI on early mints wasn't enough for many who called the runes launch a "bust."

Those funding mostly point to lack of improvement over existing BRC-20 tech, lack of infrastructure and the high Bitcoin fees making for a bad trading experience.

And to be frank, that's mostly true. Right now.

But Runes are 2 days old and virtually none of the expected infrastructure has arrived yet. And it's still coming.

So likely best to be patient, and curious, for those who still view runes as a viable investment sector.

NFT Impact

The Ordinal PFP leaders had a great weekend, and a new "big 4" has separated from the pack:

• OMB at 0.52 BTC
• Quantum Cats at 0.469 BTC
• NodeMonkes at 0.412 BTC
• Bitcoin Puppets at 0.404 BTC

These 4 have been leading and jostling for position, and it seems that jostling will continue (especially given their varying supplies).

But the good news for holders is all those floors are up from weekend lows as many are already moving on from Runes and back to Ordinals (or perhaps cycling early gains back to Ordinals).

The pre-runes Ordinals had more of a rocky ride.

• Runestone dipped from 0.07 BTC to 0.035 after last night's snapshot for the $DOG airdrop (not a surprise, in fact it's holding up quite strong)
• RSIC dipped to 0.042 after its lotto happened at the halving (but also holding up strong due to Season 2)
• Rune Pups fell to 0.09 BTC as the PUPS token fell over the weekend
• Prometheans emerged as a new leader at 0.065 BTC after securing the #2 runes, though there are still open questions on when those runes will be delivered

So expect more volatility with this group.

RSIC was the first to complete its airdrop and reportedly spent at least 6 BTC doing so.

Do the other teams have this kind of money to execute the airdrop? We will see.

The other wild card for pre-runes and runes right now - Binance.

Last night they hinted at some new Bitcoin (i.e. runes) listings in a cryptic tweet.

Many interpreted it as a nod to the PUPS token being listed first, briefly sending PUPS as high as $60 (back to $45 now).

And that leads to a key next step for the runes and pre-runes leaders.

What Next?

For runes, the launch hype is starting to wear off and not many new mints are reaching escape velocity.

Interest is already dwindling and focus is likely to revert back to the existing leaders.

What will propel and cement early leaders?

CEX listings, and Binance is clearly ready to make a move.

Whatever gets listed first on Binance likely takes the early lead. It's just clear that the masses (and liquidity) want an easier trading experience that what currently exists for runes.

As that experience improves, expect more attention and perhaps more winners to emerge.

I expect the winning runes to outperform while many go to 0, which is not different from how the memecoin games goes on other blockchains.

I also expect rotation to Ordinals to happen this week and to continue, driving the next leg up.

Many were wondering if runes would take liquidity away from Ordinals, at least in the short term, and the answer seems to be "no" on that question.

With 4 clear winners, and a few feisty newcomers in Prometheans and Runemilios, expect more fireworks on Ordinals than Runes in the weeks to come.

But the runes leaders will have their day - that day may just be down the line.

🚚 What else is happening in NFTs?

Here is the list of other notable headlines from the weekend in NFTs:

• Bitcoin led NFT trading volume with $11.6M on the day (+65%); ETH was next with $6.9M (+16%) and then Solana with $5.9M (+20%)
• Runestone led the BTC NFT board again with 189 BTC volume but fell 50% to 0.035 BTC post-snapshot; most Ordinals leaders were green
• OMB was the top notable winner, jumping to a 0.52 BTC floor and leading the PFPs; Quantum Cats next at 0.469, then Nodes at 0.412, Pups at 0.4
• Runemilio was the top gainer on the day, rallying 500% to 0.05 BTC
• RSIC held at 0.044 BTC after its Season 2 was confirmed, meaning the NFts will continue mining runes
• ETH NFT leaders were very mixed with BAYC -2%, Pudgy even, MAYC +15%, Milady -2% and DeGods +5%
• Sappy Seals and Pandora led top movers jumping 18% each
• An XCOPY "Last Selfie" edition of 10 sold for 277 ETH ($849,000) marking a new ATH for that edition
• Solana NFTs were red on the day; Mad Lads -3% at 100 SOL, Tensorians -1% at 15, SMB Gen 2 -13% at 46

💰 Token, Airdrop & Protocol Tracker

Here's a rundown of major token or airdrop news from the weekend:

• Blast released its latest Blast Gold distributions on Friday along with a blog post explaining that active NFT and token communities may be rewarded next
• $PAC rebounded 25% after that Blast blog post, reaching nearly $0.09 at peak (now at 0.085)
• The Runestone snapshot for the $DOG runes airdrop happened on Sunday, though there is at least 1 more airdrop coming for holders
• Friend Tech announced its v2 will launch on April 29
• Arcade teased its upcoming Bitcoin integration again on Saturday

🌎 Around Crypto and Web3

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

• Crypto majors are green this morning after a weekend rally; BTC +1.5% at $66,080; ETH +1.3% at $3,210; SOL +2% at $154
• Memecoin majors were mixed on the day; DOGE -1%, WIF -4%, PEPE +6%; GUMMY and POPCAT outperformed on Solana, up 75% and 40%
• Binance hinted at Bitcoin Runes being listed, using a face that many interpreted as a Bitcoin Puppet; PUPS soared XX%
• ethOS launched their version of the blockchain phone for ETH, which can be minted and redeemed on Base

🚀 Memecoin Movers 

• $GUMMY (+75%, $175M market cap, Solana)
• $FUNGI (+43%, $16M market cap, Base)
• $POPCAT (+40%, $300M market cap, Solana)
• $TOOKER (+33%, $80M market cap, Solana)
• $EPIK (+23%, $28M market cap, Solana)

📈 NFT Floor Price Increase (ETH)

• Sappy Seals (18%, 0.78 ETH Floor)
• Pandora (16%, 2.54 ETH)
• MAYC (15%, 2.33 ETH)
• BAKC (14%, 0.5 ETH)
• Imaginary Ones (10%, 1.15 ETH)

🗓 Upcoming NFT Mints and Reveals

Today is a slow day of drops to start the week.

Expect Bitcoin drops to be slow for a bit until fees and runes hype settle down.

ETH has another art drop and a new meme card from Cemhah, and then a new PFP launching on Blast in Exo Spirits.

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

• Memes by 6529 (11:00 a.m. ET)
• Wubbushi x Verse - Past Forward (2:00 p.m. ET)
• 0xfff - Honest Work (3:00 p.m. ET)
• Exo Spirits (3:00 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.warner@luckytrader.com.