What TF Happened in the Last Few Days?!

Hey there and welcome to the second edition of cc’d, the weekly roundup that brings a smile to your inbox and keeps you informed about the magic consumer crypto has in store for you.

I just got back from London and am still recovering from driving on the "wrong" side of the road (our Uber driver would, of course, say it's the only right side).

But our Uber driver also tried to explain to us why we should invest in XRP.

What did I do in London?

Glad, you asked!

We hosted another event in our Digital Assets Season - an opportunity for the TradFi industry and the on-chain economy to come together, discuss current happenings, and share best practices.

Enough about me.

You’re here to find out what's happening in the w3-ecosystem and to get strong arguments for why the market is down and why you should still be bullish. No worries, I've got the sauce for you.

🤯 What was going on in crypto?! Everything you might have missed because you have a life.
📉 Markets are down. Is crypto still relevant?
🙈 3 things living rent-free in my head - now you’re thinking about them, too.
🇩🇪 I found out why Germany sold it’s 50k Bitcoin. It’s more complicated than you think.
🥹 What Ethereum really should be worth. Why are we having this debate?
🗺️ Places I will be at within the next months. Drop by and say hi.
🍗 Nuggets and random stuff you should check out.

I wonder if such bangers drop in other industries too (click on the tweet to read it all).

Big Steps from the USA

Following the announcement of tariffs on goods from Mexico, Canada, and China, cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum experienced massive price drops.

Bitcoin fell by over 7%, while smaller altcoins like Ethereum lost up to 35%. The market reactions are due to several factors:

Economic Uncertainty: The tariffs could lead to a downturn, prompting investors to sell riskier assets like cryptocurrencies and shift to safer ones like the US dollar.

Volatility: Cryptocurrencies are particularly sensitive to geopolitical tensions and economic uncertainties, leading to a $500 billion loss in the crypto market's value in just a few days.

Interest Rate Expectations: Investors fear the tariffs might reduce the likelihood of interest rate cuts in the US, which also pressures growth-oriented assets like cryptocurrencies.

Meanwhile, David Sacks, America’s first-ever Crypto Czar, is preaching the "Golden Age for Digital Assets." (Can I be the Cute Czar of Germany?)

Is anyone interested in crypto?

I feel like the entire speculative market is the only thing people still associate with crypto. Few talk about or even care about the tech. Say no more.

On my flight, I read a very interesting article that perfectly summarizes why we at w3.group are in the space:

“Imagine being early enough to have to explain to people that crypto has use cases outside of finance, that's essentially where we’re at.”

Key Points:

Real-world Applications: Crypto is being used in consumer applications like payments, loyalty rewards, and digital collectibles (e.g., NFTs).

User-friendly Interfaces: Simplified frameworks are critical for mainstream adoption.

Decentralized Platforms: These are disrupting traditional industries by enabling peer-to-peer transactions without middlemen.

An interesting part is about cryptomedia, which leverages blockchain technology to empower creators by enabling direct monetization, ownership, and royalties through NFTs and smart contracts, bypassing traditional intermediaries.

Challenges such as high fees, environmental concerns, and consumer adoption remain barriers to its full potential.

Join the Discussion in our Telegram community and share your thoughts!

#1 - The Memecoin Narrative

The memecoin narrative seems to be at a low point right now.

#2 - jellyjelly

Do you know Julius Nagel (General Partner at w3.wave, our liquid token fund) already?

He is the co-host of the leading German crypto podcast (I am obviously biased, tihi), where I first heard about jellyjelly. Now the name is stuck in my head.

What's it about?

jellyjelly is a platform co-founded by Venmo's co-founder, Iqram Nagdon-Ismail, and a notable Silicon Valley VC, Sam Lessin.

They launched a memecoin as a unique marketing strategy to promote their service, which allows users to create snippets from video conversations.

This approach leverages the viral nature of memecoins to boost platform visibility. Critics warn of the risks for investors in such volatile tokens.

#3 - Eric Demuth

The CEO of Bitpanda is all over my LinkedIn timeline (Eric, if you see this, pls follow me back). Recently, he shared a post about the AI Act, voicing what many in the European tech industry are thinking:

Europe's AI Act and data protection regulations are blocking access to transformative AI tools, risking the region falling behind the US and Asia.
We must open doors to cutting-edge tools developed elsewhere to remain competitive.

Check out the full post here.

And since we’re already talking about Europe…

… with this website and I want everyone to see it.

We are working hard on the official launch of w3.labs, our technology provider and trusted partner for digital assets staking. The website is live, and I look at it every day.

More to come.

In the last edition, I talked about scrolling through the X timeline of our beloved Vitalik in war mode. The debate about Ethereum continues. I have 3 more links to check out:

#1 - Post by Ethereum.org

#2 - What Ethereum really should be worth

This article is a whole website and if you’re Gen Z and can’t look at something longer than 30secs, here is the tl;dr:

Ethereum's Value Overstated: Despite its success, ETH is difficult to justify as a long-term investment due to low value capture and high competition.

Bitcoin as a Store of Value: Bitcoin is solidifying its role as a non-sovereign store of value, making it a more rational long-term investment.

Future Value in Applications: Long-term value will likely accrue to user-facing applications with strong tokenomics, rather than infrastructure projects like ETH.

#3 - Scaling Ethereum L1 and L2s in 2025 and beyond

Vitalik dropped a blog article.

Layer 2 Solutions: Focus on increasing transaction capacity and reducing fees while maintaining decentralization.

Community Participation: Essential for continued growth, ensuring ETH's value in a Layer 2-dominant world. 

I will run for a charity organisation, supporting grandmas in Africa. I can’t accept crypto, but if you have any spare FIAT, you can give it to HelpAge.

✨ Our Marketing Wizard Quinn suggests checking out the BeraChain Mainnet Launch.

🫡 Our Investment Analyst Nils recommends Abstract Chain for its user-friednly ecosystem.

Bonus: As Quinn is also my plug for airdrops, he sent me this video.

📺 I started to watch the vlogs of Kai Trump. I wondered if she knows that her grandpa launched a memecoin.

🥷🏽 Did you know that the co-founder of Ledger was kidnapped??

🎣 I asked Perplexity: What happens if everyone adopts Bitcoin as a strategic reserve?

🏦 Pay with Stablecoins at Stripe. We made it?!

🪄 Still searching for a working student crazy enough to join our team. Send some help.

This season, presented by w3.vision x Blockstories, takes a deep dive into the key verticals and trends shaping the digital assets industry - from tokenization and asset management to stablecoins.

🎤 Check out the most recent episode

Don't miss out on any news, updates, & vibes anymore. Discord is so yesterday. Let's meet on Telegram.

👉🏽 Join now

That’s it.

Hope you like the new format.

See you next week 💅🏽

And while we're at it:

I'm on LinkedIn

I'm on X

Just started with YouTube and thinking about how to continue it

Always here at w3.hub

Active in the w3.group. Follow on LinkedIn to keep up with our projects