$25B Stablecoin Files for IPO

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Good Morning.

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day. All eyes are on how the spot Bitcoin ETFs will continue to trade this week. Will the GBTC outflow hamper overall price growth? Does this mean there’s not as much appetite for inflows?

All this remains to be seen.

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: Circle Files for IPO 🏦

• Products: AI UGC platform 🤖 

• Charts: Aave $125M+ fees, SOL Q4’23 performance 📈 

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WHAT MATTERS

Circle Confidentially Files for IPO

State of play: Circle, the company behind USDC, has confidentially filed a draft S-1 with the SEC to go public.

The details about the number of shares and price range are not yet specified.

• In 2021, Circle aimed to go public through a SPAC deal

• The reported valuation at the time was $9B as of February 2022.

• Following FTX's bankruptcy, Circle's SPAC deal failed.

USDC is currently the second-largest stablecoin with a ~$25B in market cap. It’s behind Tether’s USDT, which has approximately 71% in market share with more than $100B in circulating market cap.

What’s next: Circle’s IPO plan may face a smoother path now compared to its plan in 2021, as the filing coincides with other positive momentum in crypto.

Our take: A successful IPO from Circle will cement stablecoin as a product and further legitimize the crypto industry.

For builders and investors: How Circle gets valued will provide insights into how stablecoin protocols (and also the broader DeFi protocols), will be valued by TradFi equity investors.

Take a peek at our referral reward at the bottom of this issue. Share this newsletter and receive our list of 500 crypto VC individuals 👇

PRODUCTS OF THE WEEK

Reiki, an AI Agent Creation & Monetization Platform

Reiki is an innovative AI UGC platform offering no-code chatbot tools and blockchain applications.

• Reiki is developed by Web3Go, a data intelligence network that offers a suite of AI-native digital asset tools and real-time data infrastructure.

• Reiki provides AI creation toolkits, on-chain ownership proof, an AI agents marketplace, and a robust, supportive community.

• Reiki now has more than 88,000 members.

Other cool products:

• Confirmo, a crypto payment gateway.

• Universal Page, an all-in-one NFT platform.

• Biyond, a cryptocurrency market intelligence platform.

• Lantern, a US-based, full-suite crypto banking solution.

CHARTS OF THE WEEK

Aave Surpassed $125M in Annual Fees

Credit to OurNetwork for the original report.

State of play: Aave currently has $11.5B of liquidity locked across 8 networks and over 15 markets, generating $125M+ in fees since January 2023.

• Aave is projected to reach $286.6M in annualized fees in 2024.

• Aave v3 experienced a significant increase in deposits and borrows starting in Q4 2023 and continuing into the new year.

• DAI deposits accounted for over 85% of new volume during this period, with WETH, USDC, and USDT being the main borrowed assets on the platform.

Our take: In the lending sector, AAVE stands out as the dominant player in key on-chain metrics like daily fees, active loans, and TVL.

• Compound and Liquity, are trailing with only 1/3 and 1/10 of AAVE's figures in fees, loans, and TVL, respectively.

Solana Ended 2023 at $43.8B Market Cap

Credit to Peter Horton and Messari for the original report.

State of play: SOL led the Q4 crypto rally, ending 2023 with a $43.8B market cap, up 423% QoQ and 1,106% YoY.

• Revenue in SOL terms grew by 19% QoQ, and with SOL's price rise, USD revenue tripled to $13.7M in the quarter.

• Half of these fees are burned and the rest goes to the block producer.

• Despite this, token burns haven't greatly impacted inflation, which was 5.6% at the quarter's end.

Our take: It remains to be seen how the wealth effect created by this rally will trickle down to other sectors of the crypto markets.

QUICK BITES

• Larry Fink backs Ethereum ETF.

• GameStop axes NFT marketplace.

• Genesis settles NY lawsuit and pays $8M.

• Venezuela ends the Petro crypto initiative.

• USDT surpasses $100B in stablecoin supply.

• SEC released a statement about the hack of its X account.

• UN identifies USDT as the prominent choice of fraud in SEA.

• JPM doesn't see more than a 50% chance of spot Ethereum ETF.

• Bitwise, Fidelity, and BlackRock see the biggest Bitcoin ETF inflow.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

• ASXN’s read on Spark Protocol.

• Our Network’s read on lending protocols.

• Noah Smith’s read on why Bitcoin is a special-interest group.

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Disclaimer: All the information presented in this publication and its affiliates is strictly for educational purposes only. It should not be construed or taken as financial, legal, investment, or any other form of advice.