Log in
- > Bitcoin to become US “strategic reserve” if Trump gains presidency
- > Illuvium, the biggest Crypto Gaming title in years, launches on the Epic Games Store
- > Australia’s biggest Bitcoin ETF breaks 100 BTC milestone
- > Solana eclipses Ethereum in weekly revenue in DeFi first
Bitcoin to become US “strategic reserve” if Trump gains presidency
The crypto world’s biggest annual conference featured Donald Trump and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr as keynote speakers.
The state of US politics has mesmerised the globe as the 2024 electoral campaign heats up. Despite an attempt on his life mere weeks ago, Republican candidate Donald Trump has continued on his merry way. Perhaps his most anticipated appearance was set to be at crypto’s biggest annual conference – Bitcoin 2024. It was time for the community to see once and for all just how much of an ally a Trump-led Republican presidency would be to the crypto sphere.
As it turns out, Trump intends to be a pretty big one.
The ex-president kicked off his keynote speech by informing onlookers he would “fire [Gary] Gensler on day one”, if the SEC Chair continued to stand in the way of crypto innovation in the US. This comment was received quite well by the audience – as you’d expect, there’s no love lost between Gensler and the blockchain world. The problem with this statement is he won’t have the authority to do that as president.
Trump went on to spruik potential legislation supporting USD-based stablecoins, as well as introducing Bitcoin as a strategic Federal Reserve asset. In summary, the Republican candidate wants the US to be the global leader in blockchain tech – rather than lagging behind Europe and Asia due to draconic legislation and restrictions.
The highlights from Bitcoin 2024 didn’t end there though. Independent politician Robert. F. Kennedy Jr (yep, he’s one of those Kennedys) took to the stage to double down on Trump’s pledge of a Bitcoin strategic reserve. RFK proudly boasted that, if elected, he would try and pass a Bill that required the US to buy 550 BTC every day, until hitting a certain portfolio minimum.
It’s hard to tell whether Michael Saylor, Bitcoin’s #1 fan, was pleased or a little jealous at RFK’s announcement.
Meanwhile, current VP and potential 2024 Democrat candidate Kamala Harris is reportedly looking to mend relationships between her party and the blockchain industry. According to Web3 leaders, current president Joe Biden hasn’t been particularly accommodating to the sector, ignoring calls for improved legislation and consultant meetings.
However, according to several media commentators, Harris has turned to her advisors to meet with blockchain executives to learn more about the industry and how it should be regulated going forward.
Bitcoin is going political – and if it fosters innovation in the world’s largest economy, who knows how far the cryptosphere could go.
Illuvium, the biggest Crypto Gaming title in years, launches on the Epic Games Store
Illuvium is set to include three related titles – Overworld, Zero and Arenas – to create one massive gaming ecosystem.
Crypto gaming (or GameFi) has taken the world by storm in 2024. The success of idle minigames like Hamster Kombat (amassing 300 million users within six months) has propelled the industry into the crypto spotlight. However, as the global appetite for smaller, Telegram-based games has grown, perhaps the most ambitious GameFi title has hit the shelves.
Illuvium has been in the works for years – and it’s finally here. Available from the Epic Games Store, gamers can join the Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game (MMORPG) ecosystem through a combination of three interoperable games.
The main game, Illuvium (an ecosystem supported by the three separate titles) plays out a bit like Pokemon, or Palworld. Essentially, players can roam the Overworld (one of the games) to collect unique NFTs called Illuvials. These creatures can then be trained and battled in the Arena (another of the three games) for rewards and levels.
Finally, Illuvium has also launched Zero, a city-building management simulator in the vein of Sim City, available on mobile and desktop. Those that own Land (an independent NFT) can use their cities in Zero to extract and swap resources vital for collecting Illuvials on the Overworld.
For now, the game is holding an active player base of around 10,000 a week, although this will likely increase following the launch on Epic Games.
In short, Illuvium is the most in-depth GameFi title released in recent memory – in an era where tiny, Telegram-based minigames are running rampant.
Most DeFi game titles are extremely simple and are a far cry from the quality (in terms of mechanics, graphics and gameplay) of many top-tier console/PC titles. However, Illivium has been applauded by the community as a step toward legitimising blockchain-based gaming.
There are still a few bugs to iron out though. Some players have complained that accessing the game can be a little dicey, while others have suggested the economy is currently unbalanced. These are issues that can happen to any big multiplayer game on release though, and most are hopeful that Illivium’s developers will clean them up as time goes on.
Australia’s biggest Bitcoin ETF breaks 100 BTC milestone
The Monochrome Bitcoin ETF has been live since early 2023 but has experienced an explosion in popularity over the past two months.
Crypto ETFs have dominated headlines for almost all of 2024. Following the SEC’s approval of US-based Bitcoin ETFs in January, traditional institutions have flooded into the industry. The introduction of spot BTC funds may have directly pushed the asset class into the political spotlight, and will likely be a catalyst for sweeping reforms in the United States and beyond.
The same fanfare hasn’t been quite as prominent in Australia – until now.
Interestingly, Aussie investors have actually had access to spot Bitcoin ETFs for quite some time. The Monochrome Bitcoin ETF (IBTC) was incepted in March 2023 but only managed to amass 17 Bitcoins throughout its first 12 months of trading.
Fortunes have changed over the past two months.
Whether it’s due to the American election politicising Bitcoin, the introduction of spot Bitcoin ETFs on the ASX (IBTC is only available via the smaller CBOE platform) or a simple lag effect, Aussie BTC ETFs have come to life.
On the 4th of June, Monochrome’s Bitcoin ETF had only mustered 17 BTC under management (AUM). In just a week, this figure doubled and IBTC suddenly held 34 BTC.
Between the 4th of June and the 1st of August, IBTC’s AUM has increased by almost 500%.
This explosion in popularity resulted in the spot ETF ticking off Australia’s first major milestone – a Bitcoin fund owning over 100 BTC. This is currently valued at around AU $10.5m.
For now, Aussie ETFs still pale in comparison to those in the US, which is to be expected given the respective markets of the two nations. However, the boom in crypto funds over the past month is demonstrating that investors Down Under are starting to cotton on to the potential growth power of the crypto market.
Solana eclipses Ethereum in weekly revenue in DeFi first
Solana validators are having an excellent July, recording all-time highs in a number of income metrics.
Solana has had an enjoyable 2024 to date. The DeFi project has firmly entrenched itself as second-in-command to Ethereum by several metrics, and the price of SOL has reflected this with 640% growth over the past 12 months.
It appears that Solana may not be happy with being the Robin to Ethereum’s Batman, with the network beginning to outpace Ether on a number of important DeFi benchmarks. For the first time ever, the Solana ecosystem recorded greater weekly revenue than its bigger brother.
Validators on the Solana network yielded approximately US $38m in the past week, while Ether stakers managed a smaller (but still impressive) US $32m.
These figures are derived from three related sources – gas fees, maximum extractable value (MEV) and priority transaction fees. MEVs are essentially tips dished out to validators on a network to switch up the order of transactions within a block.
The vast majority of Solana’s recent economic success has come from MEVs, as traders using memecoin exchanges like Moonshot fight to turn a profit. In general, much of the ecosystem’s growth in the past year has ridden the coattails of memecoins, with new projects like Dogwifhat, Bonk and the Book of Meme seeing gains of 500%+.
While Solana overtaking Ethereum’s monthly revenue is a good sign for its active community, the network has a lot of ground to cover before it can claim any rights to the DeFi throne. For the time being, Ether’s total value locked (TVL) is almost 12x higher than Solana’s – suggesting investors still prioritise Ethereum as a long-term play.
Ben Knight
