5 Minute Crypto - Coinbase trading 📉; Daniel Shin 👨🏻‍⚖️; Bulgaria bitcoin 🐂; US M(ew)2; DefiLlama 🐫

Two Degens (resources, interviews, on all things crypto and some AI)

Howdy all — this is the 5 minute crypto daily update for Wednesday April 26th. I listened to yesterday’s update and it seemed low energy
Let’s get it on, got to get it on
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As of this recording
Bitcoin is up 3% in the last 24 hours to $28,400
ETH is up 2% to $1870
Speculation for the increase is some better than expected tech earnings and some shorts liquidation
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What’s going on in crypto land…
https://www.ft.com/content/e904f8bd-0d4f-4d38-8d71-a199e7e9c131
Article from Financial Times
-Coinbase trading volume fell from $49B in March to $27B in April, its lowest level in 16 months
-it’s share price has also fallen 15+%, currently trading at $55.55
-this is even though crypto prices have risen, which is usually a good indicator for Coinbase’s business
-DEX volume is also growing, perhaps eating at Coinbase share, Uniswap trading volume was $69B in March compared to Coinbase’s $49B
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/04/25/terra-co-founder-daniel-shin-indicted-by-south-korea-bloomberg/
Terra cofounder Daniel Shin formally indicted along with 9 others in South Korea
-violations of capital markets law
-prosecutors froze $184M in assets from these 10 suspects, who are claimed to have profited almost $350M before Terra Luna’s implosion
-if you remember, Do Kwon was arrested in Eastern European country Montenegro in March, using a forged passport, and is awaiting extradition to either Korea or the US
Shin's lawyer, Kim Ji-dong, said he has “nothing to do with the ... collapse as he left the company two years before the fallout," according to the report. “He voluntarily returned to South Korea immediately after the collapse, and has been faithfully cooperating with the probe for over 10 months, hoping to contribute to fact finding."

https://www.zerohedge.com/crypto/seized-bitcoin-stack-could-be-bulgarias-golden-ticket
Bulgaria, a small southeast European country, population 6.8M, holds one of the largest government owned stashes of bitcoin in the world
-213K bitcoin which they seized from a criminal import gang
-at the time these bitcoin were only worth $500,000 - WOW - and now are close to $6B dollars
-by comparison, El Salvador is estimated to own around 2400 BTC, or 90x less, Microstrategy CEO Michael Saylor owns 130K, and estimates of the Winklevii’s stash range from 70K to more than 100K
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Crypto twitter…
Nick Gerli on how US M2 money supply is contracting for the first time in 90 years
https://twitter.com/nickgerli1/status/1650927931126849548
-the only other periods this has happened are kind a who’s who of terrible times: depressions and banking crises
What's so problematic about this money supply contraction is that inflation is STILL an issue.
So businesses will have less access to capital just as they need it most to pay for expenses and payroll expansion.
Coinbase’s lawsuit against the SEC from MetaLawMan
https://twitter.com/MetaLawMan/status/1650847807480135681
He believes the case will move quickly, unlike Ripple’s own case
Coinbase defense is led by Eugene Scalia who is son of former Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia
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Recommended reads…
https://defillama.com
-top projects by TVL: Lido is number 1, followed by MakerDAO and Aave
-top projects by 24 hour fees earned: Ethereum far and away 1, followed by Lido and Uniswap again
-the 3 biggest stablecoins are Tether at $81B, USDC at $30B, and Binance USD at $6B
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That’s it for today! That was 5 minutes long. Links in the show notes. You can follow @twodegenspod on Twitter and subscribe for more!
Outro clip is Vance Spencer on Bell Curve talking about Asia trip
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1feJXH0_9k