87th Edition

Apr 1, 2023

Selamat pagi, crypto enthusiasts! 👋🏻

Get your daily dose of crypto goodness with Flippening, the newsletter that's as fresh as a newly-minted altcoin.

Disclaimer: All price movements are recorded up to 03:30 PM UTC, 31st Mar 2023

Like last week, most top cryptocurrencies didn't see much movement either way. And while ADA saw a significant bump into greener territories owing to interest from whales, XRP continues to soar as the community gets more and more bullish on a positive outcome for Ripple in its case against the SEC.

Crypto simplified

If you've been on crypto Twitter lately, you might have read about numerous threads on Airdrops. It is certainly the beginning of an airdrop season.

However, every Tom, Dick, and Harry has risen as the crypto space became active after a prolonged winter. And with this, the number of airdrop scams has also risen. 🤯

❌ One of the most common scams during the airdrop season is fake token launches.

Scam artists create fake pages and impersonate well-known entities in the industry to trick investors into buying non-existent tokens. Here are some steps to stay safe and avoid falling victim to such scams.

Verify the authenticity of the token launch. Before investing in any new token, always take the time to verify the authenticity of the project and the team behind it. Check the official website, social media pages, and community forums to ensure that the token is legitimate and not fake.
Be wary of random Twitter accounts. Always be cautious of random Twitter accounts that are promoting a new token launch. Look for verified accounts or those with a significant following that have been actively involved in the crypto community.
Double-check URLs and social media accounts. Scammers often create fake websites and social media accounts that closely resemble those of legitimate projects. Double-check the URLs and social media accounts to ensure that you are dealing with the real project.
Avoid sharing personal information. Never share your personal information, such as your wallet address or private keys, with anyone. Legitimate token launches will never ask for such information.

In conclusion, the airdrop season can be a lucrative time for crypto investors, but it is also a time to remain cautious and stay safe in the world of cryptocurrency. 🪂 😷

Top Highlights of the Week

1. Taking things to the next level

On Monday, Polygon launched its zkEVM mainnet, almost six months after its testnet launch. The zero-knowledge rollup promises to solve the delays that the optimistic rollup experienced. And according to Polygon's press report, over 50 Web3 companies have stated that they intend to build using the zkEVM technology.

Our takeaway: Polygon's launch comes mere days after zkSync, another Ethereum scaling solution launched its Era mainnet. So it's safe to say there's no lack of competition in the space. And Aave, the leading DeFi protocol on the market with $8 billion in TVL, is all set to go live on Polygon's zkEVM network. These developments greatly add to Ethereum's credibility. The solid infrastructure that is being built now is bound to pay off during a full-fledged bull run.

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2. Save the date

In what might be the biggest announcement from Ethereum since the Merge, the smart contract blockchain's developers announced that the Shanghai Upgrade would go live on April 12th. The much-hyped upgrade will allow the unstaking of ETH from the Ethereum network.

Our takeaway: There are whispers going around that once staking withdrawal goes live, ETH will see a massive sell-off. But metrics show that only about 15% of all ETH is currently staked on the blockchain. Of this, staked deposits account for about 14%, and the remaining 1% is staked rewards. So there's a good chance that the staked rewards get sold off almost immediately following the upgrade. But the majority of this staked ETH is likely to remain with HODLers, given Ethereum's insane growth potential.

3. It's time to settle this

A raft of Bitcoin futures contracts at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) worth over $11 billion expired on Friday. As of March 29th, the CME reported a volume of 16,139 contracts, with an open interest of 13,971. FYI, open interest is the measure of the futures contracts that remain unsettled. Moreover, the total open interest this time around of $11.4 billion is significantly lower than the $13 billion in October 2022 and $18 billion in April 2022.

Our takeaway: The total open interest being as low as it currently is, indicates that the impact of futures expiration on the spot market will be minimal. Moreover, technical indicators show that the derivatives market remains bullish. And in the past week, BTC breached the $29,000 mark in the last 7 days and is on course for its best quarter since Q1 2021.