Wahaha! Qrafty's got the news and the juice with SBF wanting to be arrested part time, OpenSea's decision hitting creator's wallets, Coinbase halts 3 stables and Qrafty's beautiful crypto poem!

***Qrafty unrolls the brigth red carpet with a wide smile*** WaHaHa, fellow crypto enthuziast!

The mighty sun brings a new beautiful day and I, Qrafty the crypto lovin’ honey badger, gladly welcome you to Coinqraft – your personal sherpa towards the heights of the treacherous peaks of the crypto world! From news to gossip, from 100x projects to the abyss of rugs, Qrafty has them all ready for you!🌟

🦡 So jump into the crypto universe with your favourite crypto badger for the best news 📰 and scoops 🔍 from the crypto jungle! 👇️ 

1. Sam Bankman Fried wants to be arrested 2 days per week

2. Ethereum ETF’s… really?

3. Shiba Inu’s blockchain for DeFi is ready

Bonus: Today is National Bad Poetry Day and Qrafty is feeling inspired!

I'm still rocking the "cryptocalypse hangover" from yesterday's BTC rollercoaster ride! 🎢😱

A good giggle… priceless. For everything else there’s… laughing hysterically.

Here are the main news of the day

1. OpenSea’s decision pissed off a lot of people

First of all, OpenSea is the world's first and largest web3 marketplace for NFTs and crypto collectibles, as they like to say about themselves.

Now, OpenSea has made the decision to discontinue support for NFTs built on the BNB Smart Chain (BSC). The rationale behind this move is to reallocate resources towards more promising endeavors.

Translation: there are too many scams on your chains and no real projects. Just scams. So it’s not worth keeping the software engineers busy with maintaining the connection to our platform. Buh Bye!

But that’s not all!

The bigger problem is that OpenSea announced a change in their royalties program: they’re making creator fees optional for new collections, starting in September.

Up until now, creators received royalty fees from sales, which were up to 10%. But other platforms appeared with 0.5% creator royalty fees. And now this race to the bottom has reached its purpose.

This doesn’t mean that creators won’t be able to set royalties. It’s just that the trend will be towards those works with lower royalty fees.

Yuga Labs, the Miami based company that created the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection and a lot of other metaverse and web3 projects decided to finish the collaboration with OpenSea because of their decision against creators.

2. SEC Set to Greenlight Ether-Futures ETFs. Really?

Why would that be, considering that we don’t even have a Bitcoin ETF? Just because Bloomberg says so?

The time horizon for those listings would be October this year. So it smells more like a marketing campaign, but Qrafty doesn’t want to be grumpy. For the overall market it would be a good sign and would restore a lot of interest. The overall trend is downwards and Bitcoin will touch some levels people are dismissing right now as foolish and impossible.

Yesterday we have a big drawdown and things still aren’t looking fabulous. Economy wise, things aren’t looking great. Eurozone is in the beginning of a recession. Jamie Dimon only announced a mild recession and a possible soft landing for next year. Crypto people are yelling bullrun again. And we just had a crash, the nastiest after the FTX debacle.

So the push for the Ethereum ETF is coming in a downtrend. The question is: will people buy them? Of course, there will be huge amounts of money thrown towards advertising by funds.

Fitch and Moody’s downgraded US debt, its banks and overall banking environment.

China’s youth is unemployed and its biggest two real-estate developers are in bankruptcy. Also, a lot of other medium and smaller Chinese developers have gone under, but that’s not really talked about.

So the youth don’t have money to buy homes because they are unemployed. Problems for real estate translated into other related domains, it’s not just the developers. It’s the furniture builders, sanitary equipments, metal producers, construction materials producers, electrical equipments… you get the idea.

Qrafty is just asking: is this the right environment to launch an ETF? Or is it always a good time to launch an ETF?

3. In Canada, Coinbase halts 3 major stablecoins

It’s time to get on the happy side of the law, Coinbase says. Starting on the 1st of September, 2023, Coinbase is having a little trading timeout with RAI, DAI, and USDT up in Canada, mentioning that they don’t meet their listing standards.

Canadian users will still be able to access their wallets and conduct deposits and withdrawals of these stablecoins after the trading suspension.

Coinbase is going all out to make friends in the Canadian crypto scene. This move follows Coinbase's efforts to expand its presence in the Canadian market, offering new features to attract users, and it aligns with actions taken by other exchanges in response to regulatory requirements, such as the Ontario Securities Commission's ban on Tether (USDT) in 2021.

4. Rumors about Elon Musk selling crashed the market

Or, at least that’s the narrative that’s being pushed. There’s always an explanation after the event, innit? It’s either this, or that… it’s always hindsight…

Yesterday’s crash was brought to you by… rumors! Yep, rumors that SpaceX sold its Bitcoin. And, since X is a sort of digital lifestyle reality show/magazine for Elon Musk, pretty much everything he does is oriented for getting as much attention to the app as possible.

Which is normal and perfectly understandable. But this really isn’t about Musk, since it’s not one of his usual stunts. Zuck is the current stunt for eyeballs.

So now what we got is the Evergrande chapter 15 and the rumors that SpaceX sold the Bitcoin that it had. In 2021, it bought about Bitcoin worth about $1.5 billion, then sold in 2022 and left only about 25% in the bag.

Now, the whole discussion is whether they still own Bitcoin or not. Pretty weak to justify such a crash, if you ask Qrafty. But hey, that’s the beauty of crypto!

5. Shiba Inu’s blockchain, Shibarium, is live and kickin’

Earlier this year, the Shiba Inu team of developers have embarked on a quest to build a layer 2 blockchain for the beloved meme coin.

Why did they do that, Qrafty?

Qrafty believes there are 2 reasons:

• first, they wanted to show that aside from the meme, there’s also a little dev team that can!

• second, the blockchain is a layer 2 built on Ethereum, which means that they will expand beyond just a meme coin, into the decentralized finance ecosystem.

What’s the thing with layer 2 Ethereum bla bla?

Think of it like this: up until this point, you knew that Shiba Inu is a magical internet money, a cryptocurrency, right? Good, that’s not going to change. It’s just that, aside from the coin, there will be other apps built around this coin, to enhance its utility and add value to the newly formed ecosystem.

Or maybe a decentralized exchange where $SHIB would be the underlying token for pairs on the exchange, which would increase the demand.

Or a lending protocol, or an NFT exchange, and so on.

Qrafty, be more specific please…

You will be able to use your Shiba Inu in a game, for example. Think of a game like FarmVille that would require you to have Shiba Inu in order to buy different boosts or powers in game. Gaming is the best and most familiar way of engaging with new concepts, that is why GameFi has grown a lot.

To Qrafty, this successful launch means that we just had proof of competence and some strategic thinking from the people running the show behind Shiba Inu. All this, during a bear market, which is the best time to test new tech, since there aren’t too many people around anyway; which allows them to smooth out all the errors and bugs until things heat up again.

That’s pretty cool coming from something regarded as a joke. And no, building and delivering software is not easy. Not easy at all! So yay to them, they actually delivered! And hopefully they keep their ego’s in check and keep on delivering!

6. Ripple called to join Mastercard’s Fellowship of the CBDC: One coin to rule them all… Who’s Sauron?

After the favorable court decision, things seem to be picking up for Ripple. Right after Stellar announced that they bought a stake in Moneygram, today we find out that Mastercard is selecting Ripple, along with Consensys, Fluency, Idemia, Consult Hyperion, Giesecke+Devrient and Fireblocks to join their CBDC Partner Program.

According to Mastercard’s article, it would seem that it’s been the wet dreams of central banks for quite a while now, to issue CBDC’s.

And guess what’s the purpose of this group? Well: “To bring a greater understanding of the benefits and limitations of CBDCs and how to implement them in a way that is safe, seamless and useful“. Cool, huh?

Ripple was selected in this group for their experience in CBDC’s, as they conducted a pilot with the Republic of Palau, a country with 18, 000 citizens (you had no idea this is a country, right?). They issued their own CBDC working with Ripple: “Launching the Palau Stablecoin will help the island reduce their carbon footprint and their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.“ Ahem…

Aaaanyway, what Mastercard wants to do actually is to create the perfect precious CBDC. Each of these companies has a specific expertise.

Will they use XRP, precious?

No, not really in production, most likely they will conduct tests with it and that’ll be all. Sowwwy if that got your hopes up… Qrafty can’t and won’t lie to you. Qrafty is not sowy for that 😇 

Hey hey 🙃 Qrafty hopes you are enjoying the experience here and would like to regularly get Qrafty’s letters!

If so, please click on the button below. Qrafty is really really grateful to have you here, so thank you!

Qrafty’s thought of the day

In the lively Animalville, Benny the Bunny, Polly the Parrot, and Max the Mole were obsessed with money-making schemes. Benny dug for hidden treasures, Polly sang for shiny coins, and Max crafted gadgets for profit.

One day, a wise owl named Ollie landed in town. He shared a tale of a magic well that granted wealth but only to those with happy hearts. Intrigued, the trio embarked on a quest.

After searching high and low, they found the well. Benny, Polly, and Max tossed their hard-earned coins in. Suddenly, the well's water shimmered, revealing their reflections.

Ollie explained, "Wealth flows from within us. A healthy heart fuels prosperous endeavors." Realizing their folly, they changed their ways. Benny hopped for fun, Polly sang for joy, and Max tinkered for passion.

As their spirits lifted, so did their fortunes. Animalville learned that while money was a game, true wealth came from being rich in happiness and health. 🐰🦜🦔💰

Other stories from today worth noting

• Sam wants part time jail.

  No, this is not a joke. Sam Bankman Fried asks the judge to be in jail just for 2 days a week. There are usually some absurdity levels that it’s hard to image that can be overcome by something in your life.

  And guess what? Sometimes you are surprise that those levels of absurdity can be pushed higher!

  Who woulda think!? 🤔

  I guess the lawyers must try every possible approach and it makes sense to do so from a strategy perspective.

• Algo falls to lowest price ever

  This bear market is filled with novelty, isn’t it? Just this last crash, aside from the huge liquidations, we also reached another new level for the Algorand coin since their 2019 launch, to a low of $0.09. Yup, 9 cents for an Algo coin.

• This is funny because it’s been regarded by SEC’s Gary Gensler as great technology back in 2019, in a talk about payments and money at MIT Sloan Finance..

  And, under the same Gary Gensler, the SEC labels Algorand as a security in the Bittrex lawsuit. Aside from that, Gary Gensler also mentioned them recently, in June, in the lawsuit against Binance. That basically put a downward facing rocket on the coin’s price. Time will tell if the project moves past this hiccup.

• Celsius Creditors vote sale to Fahrenheit

  As the drama is still unfolding, there is some reasonably good news coming up.

  Creditors of crypto lender Celsius, who's been navigating the financial rapids, are about to throw a vote. They're planning to sell their assets to the Fahrenheit consortium, and a judge gave the thumbs up, hinting that creditors might recover 67%-85% of their crypto goodies.

  This is not a bad outcome, considering the CEO of the company was arrested, the company itself was fined with $4.6 billion (yes, with a B). So it seems there’s something left over for the creditors as well.

• A bank linked to FTX ordered to cease operations

  The Farmington State Bank has been ordered to stop operations. The Federal Reserve together with Washington State Department of Financial Institutions has initiated an enforcement action against the single-branch lender for venturing into digital asset activities without approval.

  The actual name of the bank was Moonstone Bank. So basically they tried to pull a sneaky one on the Fed by changing their business plan without notifying the bank’s supervisors.

  Earlier in 2023, $50 million was seized from the bank by federal prosecutors in the FTX/Sam Bankman Fried lawsuit. They agreed with the Fed to stay clear of digital banking operations.

  But guess what? They worked with a third party to issue stablecoins and asked for up to 50% mint and burn fees for certain ones.

• Singapore authorities make a big bust

  In Singapore, the cops have made quite a bust. They nabbed 10 foreigners, mostly with Chinese passports, and they're suspecting them of money laundering, like in those spy movies.

  But here's the kicker: they confiscated assets worth a jaw-dropping $1.7 billion! That's a ton of cash, including some cryptocurrencies. And get this, they also took away 94 houses, 50 cars (imagine parking those!), and 11 documents with information related to virtual assets.

  Why are you mentioning this, Qrafty?

  Qrafty is paying attention because there might be a connection with a big stablecoin in crypto. Qrafty is not sure yet, but just paying attention for now.

• No decision for Greyscale against SEC

  A lot of people had their hopes up regarding the lawsuit Greyscale filed versus SEC regarding the Bitcoin ETF. It was a bunch of nothingware, as the decision got delayed.

• From $3.9 billion to $2 billion to $175 million ? Yowza…

  FTX is trying to make peace with Genesis entities by settling for $176 million.

Of course, FTX lenders have voiced their dissatisfaction and are encouraging the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of FTX (UCC) to challenge the arrangement. Their main worry centers around Alameda transferring substantial FTX customer funds to Genesis in 2022. We will see how things turn out.

Feel that? What….? Your crypto IQ rising?… No no, not that! Nvm, let’s just focus on the crypto IQ, okay?

Qrafty, what are “Smart Contracts”? Did they go to college or what?

Haha, good one! And a good question, too! So smart contracts are self-executing agreements written in code, typically on blockchain platforms like Ethereum. They automate and enforce the terms of a contract, executing actions when predefined conditions are met.

For instance, in a real estate deal, once the buyer transfers funds, the smart contract automatically transfers ownership to them. Or, for example, in a smart contract for buying a concert ticket, once you pay, the ticket is automatically sent to your digital wallet. No need for intermediaries.

These contracts are secure, transparent, and eliminate the need for intermediaries, making transactions efficient and tamper-resistant. They're like digital contract robots that ensure parties stick to the deal.

Market Whispers

News aren’t fabulous for now. Bitcoin retested yesterday’s low, bounced again, but not so much. It seems that it’s having troubles staying above 26k. 👇️ 

But the bad news is that besides the fact that it did not hold an old trendline, it also did not hold the 200 Moving Average.

Looking at the charts we are trying to find some hope among support/resistance, Fibonacci, RSI, MACD… but no luck. Qrafty is expecting a bearish retest of ~28k and lower prices after.

In case you weren’t aware, today is National Bad Poetry Day! So please endulge in Qrafty’s literary genius!

In the world of crypto, we boldly dive, Hoping for profits to make us thrive. But charts and graphs, they boggle our brains, As Bitcoin's value dances in chains.

The market's wild, a rollercoaster ride, Our emotions swinging from side to side. Tokens, coins, and ICOs galore, Leaving us begging for just a little more.

Wallets lost, passwords forgotten, In the crypto world, we feel quite rotten. But hodl we must, through thick and thin, Praying one day our gains will begin.

So here we stand, in the crypto craze, A journey filled with both praise and nays. In this wild frontier, we'll strive and cope, Hoping someday we'll find the moon for our hope.

That’s all from Qrafty 🦡 for today! Qrafty thanks you and wishes you to live each moment as if you are listening to the music you love most!

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