Another Friday,
Another Newsletter,
To keep you up to speed with the crypto world!
Here is what team Inspired Analyst has for you today:
New Blockchain, Aptos, Crashes On Day One
King of Revenue Supports Crypto
JPMorgan Makes New Crypto Hiring
Let’s get Started!
New Blockchain, Aptos, Crashes On Day One
Aptos, a new blockchain, was launched this week.
They raised $400 million from venture capital firms such as FTX Ventures, Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures, Jump Crypto, A16Z, Multicoin Capital, and others.
A private market valuation of $2 billion or more
Created by Mo Shaik and Avery Ching, who collaborated on Diem, the unsuccessful crypto stablecoin project at Facebook.
Crypto enthusiasts dubbed it the "Solana killer".
However, the launch was a nightmare
After the launch, network performance collapsed. Aptos claimed to be able to execute 100,000 transactions per second (TPS). The current TPS, however, is 4 transactions per second.
The Aptos team owns the vast majority of the tokens. 51% of tokens were intended to go to the "community," however it turns out that the Aptos Foundation owns 41% and Aptos Lab owns 10%. So, Aptos Team is the community?
There are no validators run by the community on the network. Aptos hand-picked all 101 network validators, according to one developer. To be included in the validator set, you apparently have to sign an arbitration agreement in the Cayman Islands.
The Aptos coin was listed on exchanges without any information about the token. Users may purchase the Aptos token, but no one was aware of the tokenomics (i.e the total supply, emissions schedule, etc)
Aptos turned off the Discord server. Following the debut, Aptos users were all asking questions and expecting answers. Aptos chose to silence individuals rather than respond.
Team IA’s thoughts: These are a lot of red flags. Aptos has lost credibility and it would require a miracle for them to turn things around. The tokenomics are controversial and would need to be revised if they plan on sustaining in the brutal market of today.
King of Revenue Supports Crypto
Walmart's CTO says crypto will play a big role in retail.
This is big news because Walmart is huge!
In fact, it generates more revenue than any other company on the planet ($570 billion in annual revenue). It has been the case for the past ten years.
What you may not know is that Walmart is a big fan of cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
Suresh Kumar, their CTO, took part in an interview this week and shared some insights into why crypto will play a significant role in retail and their digital strategy.
He believes that bitcoin and blockchain can disrupt two big areas:
Payments: According to Suresh, there will be a significant change in payment alternatives and crypto will play a significant role in how customers transact.
Product discovery - he believes that in the future, customers will lean toward discovering new products in the metaverse (vs just going to the store).
And Walmart is already rather active in the Web3 market. They've done the following in the last year:
Blockchain technology was used to allow them to better track the origins of the produce and products they sell. They're also experimenting with various ways to improve the efficiency of their supply chain.
Roblox has added two new metaverses (Walmarts Universe of Play and Walmart Land) where players may buy virtual/physical products and play other metaverse games with their friends.
JPMorgan Makes New Crypto Hiring
JPMorgan has announced one of its most significant crypto hiring to date: a new Director of Crypto Regulatory Policy.
Aaron Iovine is his name.
This is a significant hire, his profile is:
Undergraduate studies were completed at Amherst College.
He has served on a few advisory boards.
Has prior experience with cryptocurrency regulation.
Aaron is a former Celsius executive. The bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange.
Team IA’s Thoughts: The irony is that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has referred to Bitcoin as a Ponzi scheme. And now he's hired a former executive of a failed company accused of running a Ponzi scheme.
MEME Of The Week
That’s all for today,
We’ll see you on Tuesday with the Technical Analysis!
Lastly, Team Inspired Analyst wishes you, Jummah Mubarak!
Until then,
Zain - signing off
From Inspired Analyst’s Team.
Disclaimer: This is not financial advice or recommendation for any investment. The content is for informational purposes only, you should not construe any such information or other material as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.