The Farcaster Realm 🚀🔗🤑

Valko

The Farcaster Realm 🚀🔗🤑 Valko

Specs’ Insights

Daily active users on Farcaster surge to all-time high, driven by Frames launch

Daily active users on the Optimism-based social protocol Farcaster have jumped nearly ten times since the launch of Frames on Jan. 26.

⌐◪-◪ → Decentralized social is the future, and it’s finally starting to get some real traction with Farcaster, a new protocol for social apps.

The optimism-based protocol saw a 10x increase to 19,100 daily active users since it released Frames on Jan 26th. Frames are embeddable mini-apps that bring unique digital experiences right to the user.

The most popular app built on top of the social protocol is Warpcast, which just surpassed WeChat in AppStore downloads.

I tend to ignore new social apps because they rarely offer anything new or significant value vs. the incumbents — but with that said, Farcaster feels different.

So, I went ahead and secured @Valko to support the decentralized social movement and check out Frames. If you want to join me and lock down your dream username, use my invite link!

Let me know in Specs Chat!

Web Registry GoDaddy, Ethereum Name Service Connect Domain Names With Crypto Wallets

Users will be able to link their internet domain names to their ENS addresses.

⌐◪-◪ → GoDaddy, the Illuminati of web2 domains, just announced a partnership with ENS! Starting now, millions of customers can use their standard DNS domains in the ENS ecosystem. The best part, it’s totally free and the setup looks SUPER easy.

This is a pretty big deal if you ask me, it’s a beautiful merging of web2 and web3, and a massive simplification of online identity as a whole. Think about it, now your brand, website, email, and wallet are the same word/phrase. This is going to change online business forever.

If you want to learn more about the integration from ENS and GoDaddy directly, make sure to tune into their X space on Wednesday later this week.

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gmoney took out a $1M loan against his CryptoPunk

⌐◪-◪ → gmoney just took out a $1M loan against his ape CryptoPunk and in doing so set the record for the largest singular NFT loan in history.

It’s a 180-day loan and he’ll owe $69,029 in interest (14% APR) or forfeit the monkey JPEG.

Gmoney wrote a short thread on X about the loan, highlighting the supply shock we could see in certain NFT collections when holders no longer need to sell to access liquidity, a simple idea with profound market implications.

Now, everybody is wondering, what’s he gonna do with the $1M? I look at this in two ways:

He may just be levering up ahead of the halving, there are a lot of macro tailwinds in crypto’s favor right now
He’s an investor in top lending platforms: Gondi, Arcade, NFTfi, and MetaStreet — this brings attention to them

In short, it's a $70k marketing campaign that will probably have a much higher return on ad spend (ROAS) than traditional methods like ads, sponsorships, promotions, etc. Levering up on BTC or another low-risk investment is just the cherry on top. It’s brilliant really.

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Everything Else

⛓️ Crypto & DeFi

BTC sees highest monthly volume in Jan since Sept 2022
Feb will see $800M of unlocks from Avalanch, Optimism, Aptos
Steve Christie returns to Binance as Deputy Chief Compliance Officer
Binance data, including code and passwords, leaked on GitHub
New Bitcoin 'power law' model predicts $1M price by 2033
SUI network breaks TVL of $500M
Eigen Layer about to enter top 10 dApps by TVL at $2.16B
Base DEX volume sees 48% increase in 24hrs amid Farcaster adoption

🏦 Wallstreet & VC

Marathon to pay Hut 8 $13.5M for control of 2x BTC mining sites
Bloomberg highlights Ethereum restaking trend

🏛️ Legal & Regulatory

Ryder Ripps must pay Yuga Labs $9M for trademark infringement
Genesis asks bankruptcy court to approve $1.4B GBTC sale
Hawaii removes money transmitter license requirement for crypto
Scammer settles with SEC over $1.2M ‘Bitcoin Academy’ fraud
Trump won’t reappoint Fed Chair Jerome Powell if elected President
Craig Wright takes the stand to prove he’s Satoshi Nakamoto
Donald Trump calls CBDC and Artificial Intelligence 'dangerous'

🌎 Rest of the World

South Korea regulators to meet SEC to discuss Bitcoin ETFs
Ex Terraform Labs CFO Han Chang-Joon extradited to South Korea
South Korea proposes vetting process for crypto execs
El Salvador’s pro-crypto President Nayib Bukele wins re-election

🖼️ NFTs & Metaverse

Epic Games lists new crypto FPS game 'Shrapnel'
Apple’s vision pro gets 1st crypto-focused metaverse app
Pandora debuts new ERC404 token standard
XCOPY “Breaker” NFT sells for 100 ETH ($229,293 USD)
'Nobody' NFT collection mints out and does 5x

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Specs Chat is more than just a group chat, it’s a community designed to help you become a better crypto investor and operator.

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