Celsius done selling?

Week in Review:

• Speculation on the BTC approval is rampant on Twitter, intensified by suggestive tweets like the one above from the Mooch. Most analysts predict the ETF will be approved between January 8th to January 10th. Interestingly, while most market observers believe an ETF is imminent, only 39% of financial advisors believe we will get approval.

• BTC experienced a 6% flash crash this week. Some blame a report from Matrixport suggesting the ETF would be declined, while others point to the historically high leverage levels in markets. Even Jim Cramer did not escape blame for his undefeated contra indicator meme.

• Celsius plans to unstake its ETH holdings as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. After a month of relentless selling by Celsius, this event could mark the beginning of the end of this painful process for ETH holders.

Decentralized Science (DeSci)

It always pays to look at obscure narratives in crypto. In 2023, it was DePin. Today, Decentralized Science, or DeSci, is one I have my eye on.

What is DeSci? DeSci is to Science what DeFi is to finance. DeSci wants to democratize access to scientific knowledge instead of the status quo of keeping it in the hands of the few. It intends to remove middlemen who make a living off exorbitant fees.

Challenges in Science today:

Funding: Poor incentive structures. Today, only diseases with a high-profit potential get funded. Many diseases that can easily be cured go unfunded because of this.

Publishing: The publishing process is slow and politicized, hampered by expensive middlemen. Most important medical research is not open source but hidden behind a paywall.

Reputation systems: The scientific community is hierarchical, focusing more on connections and status than merit. "Who you know" culture that plagues traditional finance as well.

While most people complain blockchains have no uses cases there are a couple things they are great at today: coordinating capital, open source as an expectation, and strongly opposition to hierarchy.

I have dug through all the DeSci projects. Here are some notable ones:

@vita_dao - $76.6M MC

DAO used to fund research on longevity. VitaDao funds research in the form of NFTs, which are part of their Treasury.

• Funded by heavyweights such as Balaji & Pfizer

• $VITA is the governance token used to vote on funding allocations.

• $22M in the Treasury

• 40% of the token supply is in circulation, with 0.4% unlocks per month until 2026.

@ResearchHub - $34M MC

Goal is to accelerate scientific progress by incentivizing open source collaboration. Politics and walled gardens plague the peer review process. Research Hub is a GitHub-like website allowing ideas to be shared, debated, and rewarded.

• Project is founded by Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase

• $RSC is used to reward uploads, top comments, and bounties

• 60% of the 1B supply is for users. Inflation is capped at 5% but has been running below this rate.

@DataLakeToken - $7.8M MC

A patient recruitment platform that allows healthcare providers to refer patients to studies. Blockchain is used to fix issues around fragmentation, engagement, and data privacy.

• Recently burned 2/3 of the $LAKE supply

• Strong Business Development: Deals with top pharmaceutical companies

@GenomesDAO - $5.7M MC

Individuals can secure their DNA data and earn from queries. It's very relevant with the recent 23&Me hack.

• Deflationary - 10% of $GENE tokens are burned when a sequencing kit or NFT package is sold

• Dual-token model - $GNOME is the governance token used to vote on proposals. Uses a ve lock voting system.

@valley_dao - $5.3M MC

DAO that focuses on synthetic biology and industrial biotechnology. Grow invests in companies focusing on climate remediation, food production, and sustainable development.

• $GROW Token allows users to vote on funding allocations

• 70% of $GROW is locked in the Treasury DeSci is a narrative that is non-consensus.

The herd overlooks DeSci because it doesn't fit into the typical use cases degens are familiar with. This information asymmetry is an opportunity for those willing to delve deeper into this emerging sector.

🤑 Notable Raises

• BRC20.com - $1.5M series A. Sector: Bitcoin Infra. Lead investor was UTXO. Notable investors include Zanshin & Owl Ventures.

• Solscan - Undisclosed. Sector: Analytics. Etherscan acquires Solscan.

• EclipseFi - $1.9M. Sector: DeFi. Notable investors include Big Brain Holdings and Everstake.

• BlueSky - $110M. Sector: BTC Mining. Lead investors was BlueSky. Notable investors include Kestrel & Nural Capital.

• 4Everland - $2M. Sector: Infra. Investors include Arweave, Waterdrip Capital, & Bing Ventures.

• Eigenlayer: The latest LST cap for the most anticipated launch in 2024 has been reached.

• Starknet: Transitioning to Mainnet.

• Tellor: Soars to $600 before crashing to $137 leading to concerns of market manipulation.

• IRS: New crypto tax reporting rule states businesses must alert the IRS if they receive $10K or more in crypto. Crypto Tax Girl breaks down the ambiguities of this new rule.

• ETH L2s: ETH L2 TVL has surpassed total of other L1 chains.

• USDC: Solana flips Ethereum by stablecoin volume & Google search traffic

• EVM 🧵 : Jarrod Watts breaks down this EVM parallelization narrative.

• Vitalik: Presents updated roadmap for Ethereum

• Arthur Hayes: Arthur’s latest essay presents the bear case and calls for a 30%-40% decline in March.

🫡 Chart of the Week

The all too familiar market manipulation wick. $68M in liquidations as a result. Stay safe.

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.