September 22, 2023

WTF Is This Justin Sun Trailer About

Crypto eeked out a little bit of some green today. 🟢

In today’s Litepaper, we will look at the dumbest and weirdest thing to pop up in the cryptoverse since the word cryptoverse: Justin Sun’s creepy trailer.

Also on deck: a Technically Speaking looking at Bitcoin’s weekly chart and a look at some harsh words Ripple has for Darth Gensler.

Last but not least, a quick peak at how underwater Michael Burry’s short positions could be.

Here’s how the market looked at the end of the trading day:

Bitcoin (BTC)	$26,627	0.23%
Ethereum (ETH)	$1,598	0.90%
Total Market Cap	$1.036 Trillion	0.37%
Altcoin Market Cap	$516 Billion	0.54%
Chainlink (LINK) – Biggest Winner	$6.95	4.33%
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) – Biggest Loser	$207.42	-0.43%

Crypto

What Is This I Don’t Even

TRON’s ($TRX) Justin Sun posted this yesterday:

🚀🔒 Defending the crypto frontier with unwavering determination! #TRON remains steadfast in safeguarding the future of digital assets. #TRX pic.twitter.com/RVijaqzUmK

— H.E. Justin Sun 孙宇晨 (@justinsuntron) September 21, 2023

It’s a CGI video of him as a superhero fighting purple ash monsters. 👽

It’s a CGI video of him as a poor man’s Flash.

It’s a CGI video of him in a space egg with the universe’s most stupidly huge VR headset.

It’s a CGI video of him remaking Earth in his own image and pamping TRX +25%.

Oh, and apparently, he can breathe Mar’s atmosphere without a space suit. 👨‍🚀

Crypto

Technically Speaking – September 22, 2023

28.

28 weeks.

28 weeks of suck.

28 weeks of suck with $BTC stuck inside the weekly Ichimoku Cloud.

But the market might be getting closer to the end of the horribleness of these present conditions. For the first time in fourteen weeks, Bitcoin is trading where the top of the Ichimoku Cloud (Senkou Span B) has dropped.

And the top of the Cloud continues to drop every week following next week. So, bullish or bearish, at least we might see an end to the congestion soon. 🐻

Crypto

Ripple: Gensler Engaging In Fraud And Manipulation

Ripple’s top legal eagle, Stuart Alderoty, didn’t hold back as he publicly slammed Gary Gensler, the SEC Chair, accusing him of fraud and manipulation. 🌐

This fiery response was triggered by Gensler’s recent spiel on Bloomberg, advocating for the imposition of securities law on the crypto sector as a shield against fraud and manipulation.

Gensler remains unyielding in his belief that extending securities laws to cryptocurrencies is the key to protecting investors from potential wrongdoing.

The SEC hasn’t escaped the federal judges’ sharp rebukes either. Their claims in the Grayscale and Ripple lawsuits were labeled as “arbitrary and capricious” and “hypocrisy,” respectively.

The SEC’s stance on the “question of law” requirement for interlocutory appeal has raised eyebrows, with Alderoty calling their appeal filing hypocritical and lacking in substance. 🏛

Crypto

Big Short Is A Big Miss

The Big Short’s Michael Burry has snagged 40,000 put options linked to $SPY (SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust) and $QQQ (Invesco QQQ Trust) funds, crafting a whopping $1.6 billion short position against them ($26.5 million to anchor this position, with $1.6 billion reflecting the notional value). 😱

When the curtains were lifted on Burry’s new ‘Big Short’ in August, it was disclosed that these positions constituted over 90% of his portfolio. Yet, whether he’s clutching onto those positions is still shrouded in mystery.

If he is, they’re far from hitting the jackpot, with Burry trailing by about 50% on his S&P 500 and Nasdaq shorts, as per calculations by trader Gurgavin. 🎰

MICHAEL BURRY IS NOW ONLY DOWN 50% ON HIS “$1.6 BILLION” S&P 500 AND NASDAQ SHORT IF HE IS STILL HOLDING IT

BASED ON THE SAME ESTIMATES https://t.co/Op16uzpkvD

— GURGAVIN (@gurgavin) September 21, 2023

Despite the downward trend of the two indexes, they’ve soared by more than 13% and 35% since the year’s onset, respectively.

Burry, famed for foreseeing the US housing market crash, has since made several audacious predictions, most of which haven’t seen the light of day. 🎲

Bullets

Bullets From The Day:

🔍 UK’s Crypto Crackdown: The UK is tightening the noose on illicit crypto activities with the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill, now in the final stages of approval. This legislation, introduced in September 2022, aims to combat financial crimes in the crypto space and promote corporate transparency. The Financial Conduct Authority is also stepping up, expressing a willingness to collaborate with crypto companies to create a balanced regulatory framework, fostering innovation while safeguarding against potential financial crimes.

🛡️ Brave’s Privacy Push: Brave Software Inc., Electric Coin Co., and Filecoin Foundation are joining forces to bring enhanced privacy features to the Web3 via the Brave browser. This collaboration will integrate shielded transactions with Brave’s built-in crypto wallet, allowing users to enjoy private transactions with Zcash and other cryptocurrencies. Beyond transactions, they’re also developing a decentralized messaging and media transmission feature, leveraging Zcash protocol’s privacy and Filecoin’s IPFS for secure storage of encrypted content.

🚫 Kalshi’s Betting Plans Blocked: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has denied prediction market Kalshi’s plans to allow users to bet on the control of the chambers of Congress, deeming the contracts as unlawful gaming and contrary to public interest. This comes after KalshiEx LLC’s submission in June 2023, proposing contracts that would let users bet on whether Republicans or Democrats would control the House and Senate in a given term.

🌐 CoinShares’ US Expansion: CoinShares is spreading its wings with the launch of a new hedge fund division, CoinShares Hedge Fund Solutions, targeting qualified U.S. investors as it expands into the U.S. market. Led by traditional asset management veteran Lewis Fellas, this division will offer products designed to mitigate counterparty risk while providing investors with clearly defined asset class and strategy exposures. CoinShares’ CEO, Jean-Marie Mognetti, sees the return of interest rate-driven volatility as a great opportunity to capture with their novel fund products.