Are Ordinals going to be Bitcoin's downfall?
GM, We are the Crypto Jargon.We’re the crypto newsletter that’s like the bacon in a BLT; without us, there’s no sandwich.
What we have for you today is as follows:
The increase in Ordinals
Crypto firms, you can no longer sit with hedge funds, according to the SEC
Binance users withdraw $831M in total.
THE RISE OF ORDINALS NFTS
Recently, Bitcoin Ordinals have been the talk of the crypto community. No, it's not a brand-new indie rock band led by JPEGs or a DAO sports team.
We'll also discuss what an ordinal is today and why everyone is talking about it.The NFTs are being added to the Bitcoin blockchain using a new protocol.
What is it? Users can engrave data (such as pictures, films, etc.) on the Bitcoin blockchain using the Ordinals protocol. Simply said, NFTs on the Bitcoin blockchain rather than the Ethereum blockchain.
What's with the noise the Ordinals are making? Many have noted that this is the first time in the history of Bitcoin that it is being used for purposes other than the standard peer-to-peer money transfers.
After Ordinal, the Bitcoin blockchain is now a mix of transactions and “digital artifacts”, It was nothing more than a collection of letters and numbers. (For example, wallet x98348 transferred wallet x238974 2 BTC.)
The Bitcoin blockchain now contains both transactions and "digital artefacts" as a result of Ordinal. The blockchain not only still holds a copy of every transaction's history, but it also has photographs, videos, files, and other content that has been inscribed on it.
You can think of it like when the cavemen used to inscribe random ass pictures and letters onto stone to record history.
As of now, there have been over 88,500 inscriptions on the Bitcoin blockchain. It’s been a mix of:
NFT clones - Bitcoin Punks, Bitcoin Rocks, etc
Messages of text - Dan + Emma have already professed their love on the Bitcoin blockchain.
Random videos & files - Some guy put a copy of the OG Doom video game on Bitcoin blockchain
These digital artifacts have brought a lot of new eyes onto the oldest blockchain out there. Glassnode, a crypto analytics platform, reported that Ordinals surge has contributed to “short-term uptick in Bitcoin network usage of late” and has brought a bunch of new users to Bitcoin.
There’s no official marketplace to buy, sell, or trade Bitcoin Ordinals. There’s no website. There aren’t even many “Ordinals-friendly” crypto wallets yet.
People are trading Bitcoin Ordinals the same way I used to trade my Pokemon cards in 4th grade - OTL (over-the-lunchtable). Which has only added onto the hype.
Are Ordinals the real deal or a passing fad? Hit reply and let us know what you think.
THE SEC GOES AFTER HEDGE FUNDS
First crypto, now the hedge funds that work with crypto.The SEC wants to make it more difficult for cryptocurrency companies to store client assets on behalf of money managers.
Because the crypto firms are conversing with hedge funds too much, the agency is shifting their desks across the classroom.
Here’s the lowdown, according to Bloomberg:
The SEC is proposing today to make it difficult for crypto firms to be “qualified custodians”
That’s a fancy term for companies that can hold people’s assets for money managers
That’d affect hedge funds, private equity/VC funds, and pensions funds since they’re required to only use qualified custodians
This would be a slight setback for financial organisations who had jumped in headfirst to take advantage of the recent crypto mania.
And that straightforward route to cryptocurrency for regular investors like Joe Schmoe? That would be destroyed.
Talk about reversing mass adoption...
But don't worry! It hasn't yet taken effect. The majority of the five-member SEC must approve the proposal before posting it for public comment and again voting to enact the rule.
The SEC’s really just throwing the kitchen sink at the crypto space, huh?
$831M SWERVES OUT OF BINANCE
You can’t outrun the FUD.
Binance saw a net $831M Bye Felicia from its platform within a 24-hour time span.
More specifically, users withdrew ~$2.8B in assets versus the $2B of deposits in that same window. Ouuccchhh !
The reason? A New York regulator has ordered Paxos to halt generating new coins and to stop listing Binance's BUSD stablecoin.
That won't be good for Binance because BUSD makes up approximately one-third of the exchange's trading volume and is the third-largest stablecoin by market cap.
Oh, and since FTX went bonkers in November, this is the biggest outflow from an exchange. You want to avoid sharing records with FTX at all costs.