Presented by CryptoLink.Tech

Volume 1 | Edition 14 | September 21, 2023

Opening Thoughts

Into crab season we go, folks.

I think things are going to be moving sideways for a bit.

The Fed announced that they don’t foresee any interest rate cuts until September of 2024, the crypto markets continue to bleed, the SEC is threatening legal action against more exchanges and DeFi protocols…

But what were we really expecting?

The FTX debacle happened less than a year ago. OpenSea is seeing less volume than it did in fees in January of 2022. Prices are down and so is volume across all platforms.

While it seems like it’s been the longest year-to-date in a long time, we have barely skimmed off the bottom. These things take time, and this is where the journeymen are made.

There seems to be a ton of doom & gloom lately though in the midst of the chaos there are positive things happening.

Things that we are going to talk about below.

Before we get to that, another Wally anecdote for the people.

It’s football season which means that my demand for football content of all types is at an all-time high. (Talking American Football here, sorry Pumpkin)

I recently downloaded a football game off the Apple App Store called ‘NFL Rivals’. The gist of the game is arcade-style play meets Madden’s ultimate team.

Anyways, this game has “Squads” similar to the “Clans” from ‘Clash of Clans’. I was trying to figure out how to start my own “Squad” and found that there wasn’t any info on the game about how to start one, only how to join a pre-existing Squad.

I did some digging and I was quite surprised to learn that it involves NFTs!

Essentially, the NFL launched its own NFT collection called the “Rarity League” on ETH that consists of randomly minted NFL helmets with traits.

By minting one of these NFTs you unlock the ability to own a Squad in the game.

Pretty cool and quite unexpected.

The uncool part?

The NFTs are 0.14 ETH or roughly $240. A bit pricey to own a Squad on a mobile game don’t you think?

Either way it was cool to unexpectedly run into an NFT wall while exploring a game I believed was traditionally web2 being that it is on the App Store.

I have no idea when this was launched or anything about the NFT side of it, but it’s clear that large enterprises and brands are interested in dabbling in the idea of digital assets!

THEY SHOULD LAUNCH ON GAUSS.

Anyways, the meat of the week… 👇

Cryptolink Connect

Here, we delve into the latest and greatest in the CryptoLink ecosystem.

On To the Big One: CryptoLink Heads to Ethereum

If you were paying attention to the X account this week then you noticed a pretty awesome thread!

That’s right, we are heading to Ethereum (finally).

With the new chain launch comes a small tweak to the Validator structure for ETH only!

There will be TEN Genesis Tier Validators up for grabs upon launch of the reservation page on Monday, September 25th!

All ten of the Genesis Tier Validators will be the normal Genesis stake of $10k in PAPER-ETH LP.

We decided to switch up the system for ETH because of the importance of launching there sooner than later AND to make it more accessible for more people to get involved.

ETHEREUM HERE WE COME!

Oh, and if you read this far, I’ll give you a small bit of alpha.

We are launching a surprise chain on Monday as well, if all goes as planned.

There was a ton of demand and we believe we found the validators to get it up and running, keep your eyes peeled. 👀

Top Secret: [Redacted]

World Of Web3

This section covers major recent developments and trends in the crypto and AI worlds!

Unbalanced: Balancer Front-End Hacked, $200k+ Stolen

Popular DeFi Protocol Balancer has been hacked on the front-end resulting in the loss of over $200k in funds.

It’s important to note that this is a front-end attack as opposed to a vulnerability found in a contract or back-end components.

Users are prompted to accept and approve a contract that empties their wallets when connecting to the Balancer front-end.

“Front-end” refers to the website UI that the user interacts with. Every button, text box, image or anything else that a user interacts with on a website is part of its “front-end”.

Definitely a bummer to see.

On a bright note, Balancer did announce that they got their DNS under control and the domains are now safe to use.

Proceed at your own risk!

BitBoy No Longer: Ben Armstrong Asks for Money, Claims of Extortion and Threats

The Ben Armstrong drama never ceases to amaze me.

As many people know Ben Armstrong, formerly known as BitBoy, was released from his own media company, HIT Network, a few weeks ago.

The video above was posted by the HIT Network X Account on September 1st. The video is of ben and his wife making a final plea to the community of BitBoy Crypto and the HIT Network to not give up on him etc…

In the clip he claims he did not relapse into cocaine or meth but he was taking steroids and other “dietary supplements” that were affecting his behavior.

In the clip he admitted that immediately after being let go by HIT he probably had a skewed point of view on everything.

Then came this video!

To save you the trouble of watching this all the way through I’ll sum it up for you.

ben goes back on just about everything he said in the apology video plus some. He claims he has been extorted and both him and his wife have been threatened with death over his money.

He then asks for people to send donations claiming everything has been taken from him.

I’m unsure about the validity of the post above but I have read that it was tweeted then deleted by CZ.

Either way, I would refrain from sending a man who was recently flaunting Gucci attire and a Lambo any money.

What a joke some of these people have become.

The above was HIT’s response to Ben Armstrong’s latest video and plea for donations.

Make of this what you wish!

Too Many Sinks, Not Enough Faucets: Crypto ETP Outflows Reach Half a Billion Over Last 2 Months

Crypto ETPs, or exchange-traded products, track the price of crypto products.

When the share price falls below the target, cryptocurrencies are sold off in mass. (Cointelegraph, 2023)

This generally means that there is a lack of interest or even negative sentiment about crypto, but CoinShares also provided some other interesting data.

According to CoinShares, 77% of the outflows came from users within the United States.

Is it a negative sentiment about crypto, or is it a sign of much larger macro issues at hand?

Hold on tight, anon!

Interchain Intel

Updates and insights from across different blockchain networks.

Building a Base: L2 Hits New Daily Transaction High

On Sept. 14 Base hit 1.88 million transactions which surpassed its previous high when it launched in August. (Cointelegraph, 2023)

This is interesting news as there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of anything going on in blockchain at the moment.

The 1.88 million transactions were more than Optimism and Arbitrum combined on that day, which is a big milestone for Base.

On the other hand, it still trailed Polygon’s 2.1 million and BSC’s 3.1 million on the same day.

Not far behind though!

According to Dune Analytics, their user-base has been declining since launch. Was the volume just a few whales moving some money around?

Time will tell.

Tech Trends

Here, we explore the latest technological advancements and innovations in the blockchain space.

Venmo OnChain: PayPal Rolls Out Stable Coin to Venmo Users

We learned about the PayPal Stable Coin in last week’s edition of Chain Reaction.

This week we get a bit more and I think it deserves to get a small piece here, in Tech Trends.

PayPal has announced that it will be rolling out the Stable Coin on Venmo for users to send, receive, and purchase.

PYUSD is now going to be accessible to the vast majority of people under 50 as so many people use Venmo.

Venmo isn’t new to on-chain activity as it rolled out the ability to purchase large cryptos like BTC, LTC, and ETH back in April of 2021.

The new integration with PayPal, however, enables users to send their crypto to other Venmo users. This was previously not a capability of Venmo and now greatly expands the use-case of Venmo for Crypto.

According to the PayPal Newsroom, Venmo users say they choose Venmo for their Crypto management due to the security, trust, and simplicity.

It should never be overlooked that if they aren’t your keys then it’s not your crypto.

I am pro self-custody but if you must use a centralized entity then it seems Venmo is an interesting player in that field.

Nonetheless, crypto is becoming more accessible one integration and development at a time.

Decoded

Nothing in Decoded this week.

Working on lots of stuff in the background with media and content, should have more sorted by next week 🙂 

Final Byte: Wally’s Wisdom

Things may seem bleak.

Sometimes sideways/down markets can just eat at your spirit.

This is where the giants are forged.

It’s where the great ones become great.

Overnight successes tend to take quite a long time. I can’t take credit for that quote; it was Jobs or Gates or one of the tech gurus.

Regardless it applies here. Nothing great ever came easy, and anything that comes easy surely can’t be that great.

Builders need to continue to build real and useful things.

Users need to be patient and do their homework. Find the gems NOW so you aren’t playing catch up when Retail shows back up.

We won’t ALL make it.

But you’re damn sure positioned to have a fighting chance just by being here and reading things like Chain Reaction.

Have a phenomenal end to your week.

Enjoy your weekend.

Keep stacking the fiat, be prepared for the worst, and hope for the best. Being able to maneuver well over these next 12 months is sure to be essential.

I love you all!

Best,

Wally
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ZEALY CODE: Is Jigs making a mistake by using Task On? Find out on the next episode!