Bankless

In this week's State of the Nation, we bring on UpOnly co-host Brian Krogsgard (AKA LedgerStatus) to teach us about the charts. This is the official Bankless TA episode 📈

State of the Nation is live-streamed on the Youtube Channel – Tuesdays at 11am PT. This week's episode is airing two hours early -- 9am PT / 12pm ET ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: http://podcast.banklesshq.com/  🎖 CLAIM YOUR BADGE: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-guide-2-using-the-bankless-badge  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

💰 GEMINI | FIAT & CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/go-gemini 

🦊 METAMASK | DEFI PASSPORT https://bankless.cc/metamask 

🦄 UNISWAP | DECENTRALIZED FUNDING http://bankless.cc/uniswap 

🔀 KWENTA | EXCHANGE SYNTHETIC ASSETS https://bankless.cc/kwenta  ------ State of the Nation #49: The State of the Charts Guest: LedgerStatus

Bankless is not a trading or market-specific podcast by any means, but the chaos we have observed in the markets over the past several months warrants discussion. So we brought on Brian Krogsgard (AKA Ledger Status) to help us understand the price action in the markets from a variety of perspectives. Brian is a host on the Ledger Status and UpOnly podcasts, and co-founder of the FlipMetrics data platform.

Brian introduces the concept of investing and trading as a pyramid -- at the bottom of the pyramid lies fundamentals and an overall investing thesis. As one moves up the pyramid, the time frames become increasingly shorter, and at the top are the pure psychological and analytical-based trades. Having sound plans throughout this pyramid is what makes for strong investing. Fundamentals, narratives, and tactics form a holistic approach which dictates how you should execute rotations and denominate wealth.

Ledger screens by fundamentals, and enters by technicals, while keeping the tactical side of things as simple as possible to avoid "analysis paralysis." The technical top of the pyramid is influenced by market psychology, and is inherently chaotic and more difficult to grasp. With a broad approach to playing this money game, Brian went down the DeFi rabbit hole throughout the course of 'DeFi Summer' in 2020. The object of this game is a quest to get more ETH. Although there are countless ways to view a chart, these 'horoscopes' can easily become self-fulfilling prophecies when it comes to aggregate market psychology.

------ Resources:

Ledger on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ledgerstatus?s=20 

Flip Metrics: https://flipmetrics.com/ 

UpOnly: https://uponly.tv/ 

Ledger Status Podcast: https://ledgerstatus.com/ 

----- Topics Covered:

0:00 Intro 7:12 Brian Krogsgard aka Ledger 10:53 The DeFi/Miami Rabbit Hole 15:35 Trading, Narratives, and Fundamentals 22:25 The Work of Savvy Investing 27:41 The Approach 36:30 Diving into the Charts 39:40 The BTC Death Cross 42:15 Ledger's Favorite Charts 45:23 Moving Averages 51:43 Where do I wanna buy? 55:26 Decoupling, Dragging, & PR 1:03:59 Visualizing 2017 and Psychology 1:08:00 The Not So Happy Scenario 1:11:00 The Happier Scenario (For ETH) 1:15:00 ETH / DeFi Ratio 1:20:28 DeFi's and Tech Growth Stocks 1:25:55 Flip Metrics 1:28:27 So... Up or Down? 1:35:15 Closing & Disclaimers

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures 

In this week's State of the Nation, we bring on UpOnly co-host Brian Krogsgard (AKA LedgerStatus) to teach us about the charts. This is the official Bankless TA episode

Vance Spencer returns to Bankless to refresh his takes from his last appearance, 'The Bull Case For DeFi.' His predictions have held up exceptionally well, and listen in as he takes us through what Layer 2 means for the DeFi space.

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎖 CLAIM YOUR BADGE: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-guide-2-using-the-bankless-badge  🎧 Get this Episode's Debrief: https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/exclusive-debrief-defi-verticals  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

💰 GEMINI | FIAT & CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/go-gemini 

🦊 METAMASK | DEFI PASSPORT https://bankless.cc/metamask 

🦄 UNISWAP | DECENTRALIZED FUNDING http://bankless.cc/uniswap 

🔀 KWENTA | EXCHANGE SYNTHETIC ASSETS https://bankless.cc/kwenta 

------ 📣 KYBER | DeFi’s First Dynamic Market Maker Protocol https://bankless.cc/kyber  ------

Bankless Podcast #68 - DeFi Verticals Guest: Vance Spencer

Framework's Vance Spencer returns to Bankless nine months after his first appearance, 'The Bull Case for DeFi.' A lot has happened in the space since then, but his perspective holds up as salient and sharp. He and investing partner Michael Anderson have built a venture fund that invests in people.

With a healthy mix of on-chain and venture investments, Framework has consistently led as a thesis-driven firm with a clear focus on DeFi. Primitives, aggregators, and apps comprise a diverse and thoughtful portfolio representing a successful past and bullish future. It is increasingly apparent that capital efficiency is the game that DeFi projects are playing to gobble up market share.

Vance brings a uniquely holistic approach to investing in the space, discussing the verticalization of DeFi and seeking projects that leverage the smart contract money legoes to optimize front ends. The space's growth depends on building out payment rails, optimizing MEV, and exploring the world of rollups as a massive upgrade to the DeFi Sandbox. Stay tuned for hot predictions towards the end – this is somebody to listen to.

------ Topics Covered:

0:00 Intro 6:00 Vance Spencer of Framework 9:15 Accelerating Innovation & TVL 12:25 Bullish Bear Market 15:00 Optimism, ETH, and BTC 20:11 Long-term Market Cycles 24:23 Speculation, Value, and Resilience 29:06 Narratives and Volatility 35:41 The DeFi Sandbox Today 42:14 What to Build Next 47:30 Institutional Aave 51:40 Enterprise Blockchain 56:03 Regulation 59:54 DeFi Layer 2 Summer 1:09:57 Derivatives & Games 1:13:30 Layer 2 Implications 1:19:40 Multi-Chain DeFi 1:23:44 Ultra-Sound Values 1:28:29 Eating the World 1:31:40 Information and DAOs 1:37:02 Be About That Life 1:42:00 Predictions 1:48:18 Framework Ventures 1:50:54 Closing & Disclaimers

------ Resources:

Vance on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pythianism?s=20 

The Bull Case for DeFi: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/the-bull-case-for-defi-vance-spencer 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures 

Vance Spencer returns to Bankless to refresh his takes from his last appearance, 'The Bull Case For DeFi.' His predictions have held up exceptionally well, and listen in as he takes us through what Layer 2 means for the DeFi space.

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Download the crypto meta to your brain in this weekly show.

4th Week of May, 2021

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎖 CLAIM YOUR BADGE: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-guide-2-using-the-bankless-badge  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

💰 GEMINI | FIAT & CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/go-gemini 

🔀 BALANCER | EXCHANGE & POOL ASSETS https://bankless.cc/balancer 

👻 AAVE | LEND & BORROW ASSETS https://bankless.cc/aave 

🦄 UNISWAP | DECENTRALIZED FUNDING http://bankless.cc/uniswap 

------ 📣 KYBER | Dynamic Market Maker for Liquidity & Exchange https://bankless.cc/kyber  ------

Topics Covered:

0:00 Intro

1:39 MARKETS 1:50 BTC Price. Death Cross? https://rektcapital.substack.com/p/bitcoin-death-cross-coming-soon  6:55 ETH Price Monthly: https://twitter.com/coinalyzetool/status/1399647743602212866?s=20  Exchanges: https://twitter.com/mskvsk/status/1400379607786962944?s=20  12:37 ETH / BTC Ratio 13:53 DeFi Action DPI Inflows: https://twitter.com/AlphaLemonade/status/1399843969366827010?s=20  19:20 DEX Volume https://twitter.com/DocumentEther/status/1399304548745842688?s=20  20:40 Uniswap Volume Dominance: https://twitter.com/haydenzadams/status/1398757151850573830?s=20  V3 Competition: https://twitter.com/haydenzadams/status/1398757151850573830?s=20  24:25 Flippening Tracker https://twitter.com/lars0x/status/1399734913218355201?s=20 

28:15 RELEASES 29:30 Arbitrum Launch https://offchain.medium.com/introducing-arbitrum-one-our-mainet-beta-ed0e9b63b435  34:17 Coinbase, Visa, Apple, Google https://www.theblockcrypto.com/linked/106825/coinbase-links-its-visa-debit-card-with-apple-pay-google-pay  35:40 Gnosis & Erigon Client https://twitter.com/gnosispm/status/1400092066483421186?s=21  36:45 Argent Uniswap Multicall https://www.argent.xyz/blog/uniswap-multicall/  38:38 MakerDAO Multi-Chain https://forum.makerdao.com/t/a-multichain-strategy-and-roadmap-for-maker/8380 

41:10 NEWS 41:20 Uniswap Makes CCTV! https://twitter.com/haydenzadams/status/1400137814923218944?s=21  42:50 Yuan on Ethereum? https://www.coindesk.com/ex-head-of-chinas-digital-yuan-effort-says-cbdcs-could-operate-on-ethereum  45:40 Goldman Sachs Flippening? https://markets.businessinsider.com/currencies/news/ether-high-chance-eclipsing-bitcoin-dominant-store-value-eth-btc-2021-5-1030464237  46:17 MATIC & Bitwise https://twitter.com/BitwiseInvest/status/1399822479795838982?s=20  49:14 Virtual Land on Ethereum https://metaversal.banklesshq.com/p/how-to-get-virtual-land-on-ethereum  52:25 Bitcoin Car https://twitter.com/NBCSportsPR/status/1400109891952549889?s=20  55:07 Bitconnect Charged https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2021-90  56:20 India Rolling Back Regulations https://twitter.com/balajis/status/1399368671194091520?s=20  57:22 News Quick Bites Beacon Chain: https://twitter.com/sassal0x/status/1399734788601171972?s=20  Circle Investment: https://cointelegraph.com/news/stablecoin-company-earns-record-level-investment-sum-for-a-crypto-outfit  Unicode ETH Character: https://twitter.com/drakefjustin/status/1397930556763955200 

1:00:00 TAKES 1:02:00 Crypto Pays to be Online https://twitter.com/cooopahtroopa/status/1398053971718152193?s=21  1:03:55 Long or Short Civilization https://twitter.com/hamandcheese/status/1398370867344781323?s=20  1:07:30 Price Affects Security https://twitter.com/drakefjustin/status/1400137477680209921?s=20  1:09:26 Price Equals Security https://twitter.com/scott_lew_is/status/1400165219364708356?s=20  1:12:03 Decoupling over Eras https://twitter.com/zhusu/status/1400334090323206144?s=20 

1:14:30 What David’s Excited About 1:18:04 What Ryan’s Excited About

1:21:48 MEME OF THE WEEK https://twitter.com/nanexcool/status/1398260516582211585?s=20 

1:22:45 Closing & Disclaimers

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures 

Download the crypto meta to your brain in this weekly show.

4th Week of May, 2021

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Arbitrum is one of Ethereum's hottest L2 scaling solutions, and it has LAUNCHED ------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ WE'RE HIRING AN EDITOR: https://cryptocurrencyjobs.co/marketing/bankless-editor-writer/  🎖 CLAIM YOUR BADGE: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/-guide-2-using-the-bankless-badge  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

💰 GEMINI | FIAT & CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/go-gemini 

🦊 METAMASK | DEFI PASSPORT https://bankless.cc/metamask 

🦄 UNISWAP | DECENTRALIZED FUNDING http://bankless.cc/uniswap 

🔀 KWENTA | EXCHANGE SYNTHETIC ASSETS https://bankless.cc/kwenta 

------ 📣 KYBER | DeFi’s First Dynamic Market Maker Protocol https://bankless.cc/kyber  ------ State of the Nation #48: Arbitrum LAUNCH Guests: Co-Founder & CEO: Steven Goldfeder CTO: Harry Kalodner

Steven Goldfeder is Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer at Offchain Labs. He holds a PhD from Princeton University, where he worked at the intersection of cryptography and cryptocurrencies. Harry Kalodner is Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer at Offchain Labs, where he leads the engineering team. Before Offchain, he attended Princeton as a PhD candidate, where his research explored economics, anonymity, and incentive compatibility of cryptocurrencies.

Arbitrum released its Mainnet for Developers last Friday. This is an EVM-Compatible Layer 2 Optimistic Rollup, which allows for scaling Ethereum's app layer without sacrificing layer 1 Ethereum security & consensus. This is a massive step forward for the blockchain space and a culmination of years of technical research and testing. This is a milestone in effectively scaling blockchains, while maintaining core cypherpunk values.

There are tremendous opportunities and possibilities in this new digital real estate. This hub of optimized blockspace keeps the economic security guarantees of Ethereum and poses to greatly improve the DeFi user experience. To scale to a billion users, projects like Arbitrum need to earn legitimacy and demonstrate efficacy as the Ethereum ecosystem continues to mature. In the immediate term, the next few months will be exciting to watch - will we see a DeFi Layer 2 Summer?

------ Resources:

Arbitrum: https://arbitrum.io/  Arbitrum Twitter:  https://twitter.com/arbitrum?s=20  Arbitrum Discord: http://discord.gg/5KE54JwyTs 

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Topics Covered:

0:00 Buffer 0:30 Intro 9:48 Arbitrum's Steven and Harry 13:00 Shipping A Layer 2 Product 17:51 A Fair Launch, Equal Opportunity 21:36 Migrating dApps to Layer 2 25:43 A Flourishing Ecosystem 29:17 Bridging the User Experience 33:16 Different than a Sidechain 36:50 Layer 2 ETH Fees 41:10 Resources & Scaling 47:03 Delay Period for Exiting 54:11 Complexity of Rollups 58:30 A Digital Nation-State 1:06:23 Ether is the Reserve Currency 1:11:23 Layer 2 DeFi Summer 1:16:30 Chainlink and Arbitrum 1:20:54 Squeezing the MEV Balloon 1:25:28 Predictions, DeFi Summer 1:30:50 Final Thoughts 1:36:38 Closing & Disclaimers

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Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures 

Arbitrum is one of Ethereum's hottest L2 scaling solutions, and it has LAUNCHED
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Eric Wall is a prominent thinker and contrarian in the crypto space. He has an independent mind and is unafraid to bust through groupthink and act as an ideological razor for the crypto community.

In this episode, Eric dives deeply into a variety of profound takes on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and his approach to the community.

------ 🚀 SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/  🎙️ SUBSCRIBE TO PODCAST: https://podcast.banklesshq.com/  🎧 Get this Episode's Debrief:  https://shows.banklesshq.com/p/exclusive-debrief-the-altcoin-slayer  ------ BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

💰 GEMINI | FIAT & CRYPTO EXCHANGE https://bankless.cc/go-gemini 

🔀 BALANCER | EXCHANGE & POOL ASSETS https://bankless.cc/balancer 

👻 AAVE | LEND & BORROW ASSETS https://bankless.cc/aave 

🦄 UNISWAP | DECENTRALIZED FUNDING http://bankless.cc/uniswap 

------ Bankless Podcast #66: The Altcoin Slayer Guest: Eric Wall

Eric Wall is CIO of Arcane Assets, and a well-known (and often infamous) writer and thinker in the crypto space. He has engaged in arguments with camps and tribes throughout the space, remaining unapologetically independent and committed to his values. Though a Bitcoiner at heart, Eric has come around on Ethereum as the ecosystem has matured.

In this episode, we dive into values and the ethos of crypto that Eric fights for. As a principled believer in trustless systems and decentralization, Eric walks through many of the big-picture obstacles and accomplishments of the crypto space. Viewing this landscape with a digital biologist's lens, we address these projects as digital organisms, following many of the same laws we see in nature. Wherever organisms exist, Darwin is nearby.

Eric brings a refreshing and unfiltered set of takes to the Bankless Podcast, reminiscent of other independent thinkers we've had on like Hasu. Regardless of your opinions on Eric, he represents an important part of the blockchain conversation. He serves as an ideological razor, giving no one the benefit of the doubt and prioritizing accountability and earned legitimacy.

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Topics Covered:

0:00 Intro 4:45 Eric Wall, the Altcoin Slayer 7:45 The Term “Trustless” 16:58 Eric’s Approach to Crypto 22:50 Networks are Organisms 31:50 Survival of the Fittest 41:50 Bitcoin vs Layer 2 59:15 Tribes vs Facts 1:06:30 Eric’s ETH Journey 1:21:43 Thoughts on Proof of Stake 1:31:14 Is ETH Money? 1:40:58 What ETH Gets Wrong 1:53:55 Navigating the Frontier 2:01:00 Closing & Disclaimers

------ Resources:

Eric on Twitter https://twitter.com/ercwl?s=20  Proof of Stake is Less Wasteful https://ercwl.medium.com/proof-of-stake-is-less-wasteful-b2854a191766#:~:text=Image%20of%20a%20diesel%20generator,ever%20had%20on%20the%20platform.  ETH is Irreplaceable https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/eth-is-irreplaceable 

----- Not financial or tax advice. This channel is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. This video is not tax advice. Talk to your accountant. Do your own research.

Disclosure. From time-to-time I may add links in this newsletter to products I use. I may receive commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Additionally, the Bankless writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here: https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/bankless-disclosures 

Eric Wall is a prominent thinker and contrarian in the crypto space. He has an independent mind and is unafraid to bust through groupthink and act as an ideological razor for the crypto community.

In this episode, Eric dives deeply into a variety of profound takes on Bitcoin, Ethereum, and his approach to the community.

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