🍌 Banana Zone

This week’s summary:

1. BTC touches $93K

2. Beam Chain proposal

3. Banana Zone signs everywhere

4. Pnut reaches $2.4B marketcap

📊 Market Overview:

BTC touched $93K before settling at its current level of $88K. ETH & SOL, which had an impressive performance against BTC pairs last week, retraced most of those gains.

BTC is up 15.6% weekly, while ETH and SOL are up 2.9% and 3.5%, respectively.

While last week, DeFi names outperformed, this week, it was memes. Names include PNUT (1462%) DOGE (+80.7%), BONK (+64.6%), PEPE (+88.2%).

Crypto has entered the banana zone.

📰 News Spotlight:

1. ETH “Beam Chain”

Justin Drake proposed a significant upgrade called “Beam Chain” to Ethereum during his speech at Devcon 3. The goal is to upgrade ETH’s consensus mechanism while maintaining its decentralization properties.

Key Points:

• Faster block time & shorter finality times to the Beacon Chain - eventually converging towards single slot finality

• Incorporate privacy-preserving zk-tech into the base layer

• Address technical debt and reduce the effects of MEV

This is the first significant upgrade proposal since ETH 2.0, which allowed ETH to transition to PoS. While it’s an ambitious technical endeavor, online sentiment was mixed. The most common criticism is "too long a timeline," as it's expected to take at least 5 years.

Unfortunately its hard for people to think more than one cycle ahead. I find it refreshing that ETH is still building for the long- erm, not the make it this cycle and retire crowd. This upgrade is about making ETH antifragile for the next 50 years, not generating short term price hype.

2. Blue skies ahead?

Bottom line: everything looks ready for a prolonged rally. We have bullish signals on fundamentals, macro, technicals, and politics. I don’t think its possible to script a better scenario. Doesn’t mean we get the banana zone, and corrections can be vicious, but I am planning on a bullish follow through for the next 12 months.

We are currently in the excitement phase of the rally. For the first time in a while, crypto doesn’t feel like scam. We can now imagine a future where nation states buy crypto and the US might create a strategic bitcoin reserve. This honeymoon period where imagination can run wild without the events having to take place is great for prices.

Playing devils advocate, what can stop this momentum? Anything that brings us down to reality. Maybe Trump does not pardon Ross Ulbricht as soon as the market wants. Or the reality that even though we have the most accepting regulatory environment, government moves slow and crypto is not their top priority. Or maybe the SEC still clamps down on projects even with Trump in office. Who knows but it only takes a little hiccup to stop the fun.

Still I think any of these scenarios playing out is months away, maybe the middle of next year which aligns with a slow seasonal summer. Until then it is clear skies and man does it feel good. You could not ask for a better backdrop heading into the EOY and 1H of 2025, which are historically cryptos best periods.

🔎 Onchain

This week was defined by onchain memes going mainstream. We had a slew of high-profile CEX listings. Here are a few:

• Binance - $BONK, $PNUT, & $ACT

• Coinbase - $PEPE, $WIF

• Robinhood - $PEPE

While exchange listings marked local tops in the past, these listings were bullish. BONK was up 64.6%, PNUT 1462%, ACT 3003%, & PEPE 88.2%

Coins related to Elon or the Trump administration had a nice week. DOGE was up 80.7% off Elon and the Department of Government Efficiency. Cardano is up 44.1% off the rumor Charles Hoskinson is consulting with the Trump administration on crypto policy.

The question we have asked ad nauseum is when is retail coming? We started to get the first signs.

Stablecoins: +$7.4B inflows since the election

Coinbase Rank: #1 Finance app, #8 overall

Google Search Ranks: Bitcoin search is at its highest levels since 2022. Ethereum & Solana spiked but are still far off its highs.

Anecdotally, on the timeline, we hear stories of friends asking if they should sell the underwater crypto they bought last cycle. The implication is retail is engaged but is looking to sell. Crypto is in the back of their minds, but they still have a bad taste in their mouth. Once these texts turn into "What should I buy or should I put half my 401K in PNUT," you know it's almost over. The good news is we're not there yet.

🤑 Notable Raises

• Pond - $7.5M Seed. Sector: AI. Lead investor is Archetype. Notable investors include Delphi & Coinbase Ventures.

• StakeStone - $22M. Sector: DeFi. Lead investor is Polychain. Notable investors include Binance and Dao5.

• Pharos - $8M Seed. Sector: L1. Notable investors include HackVC & Lightspeed Faction.

• Phi - $2M Strategic. Sector: Identity. Lead investor is Neoclassic. Notable investors include Decima & Paka.

• Vlayer - $10M Pre-seed. Sector: zk. Notable investors include Blocktower & a16z CSX.

👊 Quick Hits

• Eclipse: Mainnet live

• Coinbase: Launches Coinbase 50, a benchmark representing the 50 cryptoassets in the space.

• Polymarket: FBI seizes phone and electronics of Polymarket founder, Shayne Coplan.

• ENS: Aims to launch L2, “Namechain” by EOY.

• Pendle: Introduces Boros which allows yield trading with margin.

• Doodles: Partners with McDonalds with a joint release scheduled for November 18th.

• Sam Trabucco: Former Alameda employee forfeits apartment & yacht, but still keeps $40M

• ZeePrime: Essay discusses the role of narratives and different modes of thinking

• Vitalik: Vitalik ponders new uses cases prediction markets can facilitate.

• Arthur Hayes: “Black or White” delves into the Trump presidency and the path to $1M BTC.

🫡 Meme of the week

Don’t midcurve this

See you next week,

Mid-Curve Team

The Mid-Curve newsletter is intended purely for educational and informational purposes and should not be construed as financial advice. We encourage all our readers to conduct their own research or seek advice from a certified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Please note that members of the Mid-Curve team may hold positions in some of the investments discussed in our newsletter.