Abstract
This week, we focus on the following events: 1) SpaceX launched the first encrypted satellite 'Crypto1'
into space; 2) VC firm Standard Crypto raises US$500 million in new fund; 3) Central African Republic
Launches Official Crypto Center: Wallet/NFT/Metaverse All Included;
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Project Analysis: Seaport is a Web3 marketplace protocol aimed at ensuring safety and efficiency
when buying and selling NFTs. The following report will analyze main characteristics of Seaport
and discuss some news about STEPN.
1. Industry overview
I . O ve ral l ma rke t tre nd
Figure 1. Overall market data
Source: CoinMarketCap
Since beginning May, the cryptocurrency has suffered its biggest decline since the bull market, and the
price of Bitcoin fell from a high of US$40,000 to a low of US$26,700, with a maximum drop of 34.66%.
This is the biggest downtrend Bitcoin has faced since hitting an all-time high of US$69,000 last year,
while also hitting its lowest price since the bull run. The slump in Bitcoin also brought about an overalldecline in the cryptocurrency market. The second-ranked ETH fell by more than 63%, and most of the
other altcoins fell by more than 80%.
Glassnode data shows that the number of ETH lost addresses reached a 2-year high, with a seven-day
average of 33,276,583.333. The number of BTC loss-making addresses (7-day MA) also hit a 2-year
high of 15,080,027.048 in May.
Table 1. Last week's hot currencies
Source: CoinMarketCap
The world's largest cryptocurrency, BTC has fallen for the first time ever for eight consecutive weeks. During this time, BTC lost nearly a third of its market cap.
For the past two weeks, BTC has been hovering around the US$30,000 mark. The price of BTC has fallen by more than 50% since it peaked at US$69,000 on November 10 last year. BTC remains the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, but the Total Market Cap of all cryptocurrencies is currently US$1.3 trillion, less than half of last November’s peak of US$3 trillion.
The Bitcoin Market Sentiment Fear and Greed Index by data platform Coinglass hovered around 13 (0 for extreme fear and 100 for extreme greed). According to news and research site The Block, total spot market volume for all cryptocurrencies on major exchanges fell to US$18.4 billion as of Monday, less than half of the US$48.2 billion total traded on May 14 (the latter being the highest volume in 2022 to date).
II.NFT
Table 2. NFT Collections Listed By Sales Volume (7d)
Source: CoinMarketCap
The NFT market has been sluggish for three consecutive weeks. At present, the weekly transaction volume has fallen below US$200 million, and the proportion of NFT market value held by whales is also declining. The current state of the market may continue for a period of time, and the market needs new hot spots to stimulate activity in the overall market.
Cryptoslam, an NFT data statistics platform, shows that in the past 7 days, the NFT transaction volume on the Solana chain reached US$40.38 million, and the volume is already 1/5 of that of Ethereum, ranking second in the NFT ecology of various public chains.
Although there is still a gap between NFTs on the Solana chain and Ethereum in terms of transaction volume, the number of NFT transaction users and transactions on the chain surpasses that of Ethereum. In the past 7 days, the number of NFT transaction users on the Solana chain was about 69,300, and the number of transactions was 310,000. The number of transaction users of NFT on the Ethereum chain is about 62,600, and the number of transactions is 120,000.
Table 3. Top trending collections on NFTGO (by daily volume)
Source: NFTGO
III.DeFi
Table 4. DeFi market TVL ranking
Source: DefiLlama
IV.Layer 2
Table 5. Layer2 protocols ranking and market share
Source: l2beat
2. Market news
I. Industry news
SpaceX launched the first encrypted satellite 'Crypto1' into space
SpaceX launched the first encrypted satellite developed by Cryptosat into low-Earth orbit in Florida on 26 Maylocal time in the United States. It is reported that the encrypted satellite, called "Crypto1", is a module the size of a coffee cup. In space, it will provide a physically inaccessible and tamper-proof platform from which blockchain and ledger applications can be launched. According to Cryptosat co-founder Yan Michalevsky, this type of platform is the first trusted root (a source that is always trusted in cryptosystems) out of the world and not dependent on other satellites from other companies. Yan Michalevsky added that one of the most exciting applications of the module is building zero-knowledge proof protocols. He said these protocols are often used for things like voting in decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs), where decisions can be made without revealing individual votes.
OpenSea launches Web3 marketplace protocol Seaport
OpenSea launches "Seaport, a Web3 marketplace protocol for buying and selling NFTs securely and efficiently." The protocol will allow for more diversification, but also a specific NFT trading experience. Users will be able to post NFT offers including ERC20, ERC721 and ETH, not just ETH transactions like OpenSea currently offers. This means, instead of listing an NFT for a certain amount of ETH, users will be able to list potential offers for a specific NFT. For example, users can use Seaport to create an offer to exchange Bored Ape for UNI tokens including CryptoPunk, Cryptoadz and Uniswap.
Taobao 618 will launch Metaverse shopping, and the 3D space screen will be exposed for the first time
Taobao has established a Metaverse special project team to explore shopping and interactive scenarios, optimize virtual shopping venues, and will launch Metaverse shopping during its 618 sale. Among them, the project team focuses on the link problem of "people and goods yard", ensuring that users can experience virtual shopping links at the front end without wearing external devices, so as to provide a 3D Taobao experience. It is reported that on May 17, Taobao Life opened the application permission for the "Future World Resident Card" with a unique code for all users, and carried out digital chain deposits. Analysts believe that the "resident card" may be used in preparation for the construction of a new 3D virtual world.
II. Investment and Financing
VC firm Standard Crypto raises US$500 million in new fund
Venture capital firm StandardCrypto has raised $500 million in a new fund, according to a report from Axios. It is reported that the fund will invest in stocks and cryptocurrencies. In an interview earlier this year, co-founder Alok Vasudev discussed areas of interest for venture capital firms such as NFTs and DAOs.
Fidelity's Bitcoin Index Fund Invests Over US$125 Million
Nearly two years after the launch of the Fidelity Investments Bitcoin Index Fund, growth in onshore investment has declined year-over-year, the filings show. The Wise Origin Bitcoin Index Fund, which went public in August 2020, gives Boston-based Fidelity the ability to provide clients with Bitcoin exposure. Nearly nine months later, the fund raised US$102 million, according to SEC filings. The fund has now raised a total of US$126.5 million as of May 23, suggesting overall growth is slowing compared to previous reporting periods. While the fund grew modestly in its second year, the number of investors has grown from 83 to 689. Fidelity recently announced that it will allow its customers to allocate a portion of their retirement savings to Bitcoin.
Firework secures US$150 million in Series B financing, led by SoftBank Vision
Firework secured a US$150 million Series B round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The company said it is now valued at US$750 million. In 2021, Firework raised US$55 million at a valuation of US$230 million. Firework has now raised over US$235 million in funding since it was founded in 2017 by co-founders Vincent Yang and Jerry Luk. Firework provides purchasable video and live streaming commerce capabilities for retailers, consumer brands and publishers who want to leverage their customer data to build engaging video experiences across their digital properties and social channels. Last year, Firework worked with approximately 600 companies, including Albertsons Companies, The Fresh Market and Omnicom Media Group.
III. Supervision
Central African Republic Launches Official Crypto Center: Wallet/NFT/Metaverse All Included
After adopting Bitcoin as legal tender in April, the Central African Republic now wants to create Sango, a cryptocurrency hub. The initiative, called Sango, was launched by the National Assembly of the Central African Republic with the support of the president. According to the official page, Sango seeks to "pave the way for a digital future with limitless possibilities". At the same time, Sango will be the first reality-backed cryptocurrency economic zone in the metaverse world, supporting the connection of the real world (real estate, fractional ownership) with the Metaverse, and can be extended to other blockchains in the future. Sango allows users to manage their NFTs in the metaverse and unlock other features such as marketplaces, ownership, funding, asset tokenization. Sango allows users to mint NFTs in the metaverse to provide an additional layer of business services.
U.S. Senator: Comprehensive cryptocurrency bill to be introduced as soon as next week
U.S. Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand discussed details of the much-anticipated bipartisan cryptocurrency bill at the DC Blockchain Summit on Tuesday, as they plan to unveil their bipartisan crypto bill in June. Gillibrand said the Responsible Finance Innovation Act, which has been in the works for more than a year, will be the first comprehensive digital asset framework to enter Capitol Hill. This will be the first comprehensive cryptocurrency bill to be introduced. Our bill does include some of the same provisions as other House and Senate bills, but no other bill seeks to create a regulatory framework for the industry as a whole. Highlights of the bill include a provision protecting miners from being considered brokers, which addresses a controversial section of the recently passed infrastructure bill. It also grants the Commodity and Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) regulatory authority over most areas and clarifies that cryptocurrencies are not securities unless they are offered to fund a company, such as an initial coin offering. It is clear that Bitcoin is a commodity, Lummis said.
South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Authority Actively Reviewing New Crypto Regulations Related to Stablecoins and DeFi
South Korean financial regulators came together on Tuesday to discuss how to address the fallout from this month’s TerraUSD stablecoin crash. The Financial Supervisory Authority (FSS), Fair Trading Commission (FTC) and Financial Services Commission (FSC) shared the latest news following an emergency session of the National Assembly, according to local news reports. The FSS revealed that following the collapse of Terra Blockchain, it plans to inspect the premises of companies offering financial services related to Terra Blockchain. In addition, FSS will develop a research service aimed at analyzing the risks of cryptocurrencies and digital assets circulating on domestic exchanges. The service will then classify these assets based on their risk characteristics. The FSC also announced that it is actively reviewing new cryptocurrency regulations related to stablecoins and DeFi.
3. Trending project analysis – Seaport Protocol and STEPN
Seaport Protocol
Recently, OpenSea, the leading NFT marketplace, has launched new marketplace protocol for NFT –Seaport. Seaport is a “Web3 marketplace protocol for safely and efficiently buying and selling NFTs.” This new decentralized protocol is used for trading popular token collections, and its special design, without restrictions on OpenSea, allows all developers, content creators, and collectors to build on it. The core smart contract is open source and inherently dencentralized, meanwhile it does not have contract owner, upgradeability, or other special privileges. With emphasis on flexibility and optimizations, Seaport has been built to support to support new and evolving use-cases for where NFTs are heading. The following report will introduce how Seaport operates and what its selling points are.
Figure 1. Seaport Logo
Source: Seaport official website
1) Seaport Deep-Dive
Simplification of trading
Currently, most NFT marketplaces only allow for listings where one party agrees to supply an NFT and the other agrees to supply a payment token. This system extremely restricts tradings of NFTs and is hardly feasible for further improvement and evolving forthe NFT industry. Seaport adopts a different approach. Its offerers can agree to supply a number of items valued by ETH / ERC20 / ERC721 / ERC1155, which is called the “offer.” This mechanism allows users to be able to trade for specific NFTs, not just listing an NFT for a centain amount of ETH. For instance, a user could use Seaport to create an offer to trade a Bored Ape for a bundle including a CryptoPunk, a Cryptoadz, and a bit of Uniswap’s UNI token. If a user holds Doodles which are valued 40 ETH and wants to get 100 ETH Ape, the user can simply pay 1 Doodle and 60 ETH to receive the item.
Novel and efficient transactions
“In order for that offer to be accepted, these ETH / ERC20 / ERC721 / ERC1155 items must be received by the recipients indicated by the offerer – this is called the ‘consideration .’” This “consideration” process clearly indicates the terms of the proposed transaction.. Seaport provides a number of different ways for listings to be fulfiled. For example, the most directly fulfillment method is choosing a specific listing and creating an implied “mirror” of that listing, where the fulfiller receives all offer items and supplies all consideration items.
Another creatitive fullfillment method is the suggestions of other similar consideration items. Specifically, each fulfillment represesnts a single item transfer, and a group of items that the submitter can match with corresponding consideration items. As long as each consideration item on each listing is fulfilled, the offerers can leverage their coincidence of wants and complete their transfers. This process eliminates redundant transfers and provides a new method for users.
Low transaction fees
As we previously mentioned, one attractive point of Seaport is the elimination of redundant transfers. This component of the protocol generally costs the highest gas fees.Furthermore, developers are impressed with the gas optimizations of the contract. According to Opensea, Seaport enables the use Assembly code, which is more granular than high-level languages like Solidity. Although Assembly code is hard to write, it allows a higher degree of control and a lower transaction costs for products.
Open source
Opensea does not control or operate the Seaport protocol. For now, they have built the initial version of the protocol and encourage the developer community to work together on this initiative. To attract professionals, Opensea kickstarted a a two-week audit contest with code4rena with a US$1 million prize pool, the largest pool size in their history.
Traditional trasactions
Figure 2. Characteristics of Seaport
Source: Huobi Research Institute
STEPN
As we talk about Web3, STEPN is worthy of mention and analysis. STEPN is a Web3 lifestyle app with Social-Fi and Game-Fi elements. Users equipped with NFT Sneakers will need to walk, jog or run outdoors to earn tokens and NFTs. STEPN has a dual-token system. Users can also earn GST (Green Satoshi) tokens. A player can choose to lease or trade their NFT Sneakers on the in-app Marketplace; users’ earnings are stored in the in-app wallet, which has a built-in Swap function. According to Jerry Huang, StepN co-founder, around two to three million users worldwide are actively using the app. As of May 26, STEPN’s native token’s (GMT) market cap hit the US$702 million mark.
Since May 5, the price has fallen, and capitalization of GMT has shrunk. As consumers lose confidence in the crypto market and become less likely to buy tokens or NFTs, the momentum might slow down sooner than expected for this app. Furthermore, STEPN announced that it will stop providing GPS services to users whose IP address or GPS location shows them being in China on July 15. Without GPS services, players who own its NFT will not be able to earn tokens for their steps. The future of STEPN is unpredictable, and it is hard to say it STEPN‘s run is close to its end.
Figure 3. STEPN (GMT) price in a month
Source: CoinMarketCap
Figure 3. STEPN (GMT) market capitalization in a month
Source: CoinMarketCap
4. Calendar of future popular asset events
I. NTF mint Calendar
II. Token Airdrops
About Huobi Research Institute
Huobi Blockchain Application Research Institute (referred to as "Huobi Research Institute") was established in April 2016. Since March 2018, it has been committed to comprehensively expanding the research and exploration of various fields of blockchain. As the research object, the research goal is to accelerate the research and development of blockchain technology, promote the application of blockchain industry, and promote the ecological optimization of the blockchain industry. The main research content includes industry trends, technology paths, application innovations in the blockchain field, Model exploration, etc. Based on the principles of public welfare, rigor and innovation, Huobi Research Institute will carry out extensive and in-depth cooperation with governments, enterprises, universities and other institutions through various forms to build a research platform covering the complete industrial chain of the blockchain. Industry professionals provide a solid theoretical basis and trend judgments to promote the healthy and sustainable development of the entire blockchain industry.
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Medium: Huobi Research
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