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Good Morning.

BTC is back up to the $65k range. Does this mean that we’re out of the woods? Who knows. All that we know is that miners cost basis per BTC is now up significantly; fortunately, we have Runes and Ordinals to help with that.

Let’s hope we can break above the $70k range this week!

In Today's Email:

• What Matters: ZKasino rug drama 🦹 

• Product: Runes protocol ₿

• Charts: Whales bought the dip, abandoned SOL memes 🐋 

You read and share. We listen and improve. Send us feedback at [email protected].

TOGETHER WITH

Lightlink

LightLink is a novel Ethereum L2 blockchain that lets dApps and enterprises offer their users instant and gasless transactions. 

You don't even need to hold any tokens in your MetaMask wallet to make a transaction.

• With a $6.2 million seed funding, a partnership with Animoca Brands, 125,000 daily transactions on Mainnet, plus Celestia underneath, LightLink is quickly gaining momentum.

• LightLink also has increased its community airdrop allocation to 6% by trimming the allocations for its team and advisors.

• LightLink is launching its $LL token through a Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP) on Fjord Foundry to ensure a fair token distribution.

Fjord Foundry is known as the best platform to launch tokens. In Q1’24, projects launching on Fjord collectively raised over $131M, raising over $35M more than all the other top 15 leaders combined.

• LightLink chose to launch $LL through LBP as the method adjusts prices based on demand, preventing dominance by whales and bots and ensuring a fair purchase price for all participants.

• The $LL LBP, running from April 18 to April 23, will release 50 million tokens with starting weights of 99% LL and 1% ETH, adjusting dynamically based on demand to prevent market manipulation. 

• Following the sale, $LL tokens will be accessible on Ethereum and can be bridged to LightLink.

Learn more about $LL’s LBP and sign up for exclusive updates on LightLink's official website.

WHAT MATTERS

ZKasino $33M Rug Drama

State of play: ZKasino, a crypto gambling project, faces backlash for treating 10,515 Ether (~$33M) of investor and user funds for a miscommunicated pre-sale.

• Over 10,000 users had bridged a total of 10,515 ETH to the network, expecting to receive their ETH back as originally promised.

• However, ZKasino transferred all 10,515 ETH from its users into the staking protocol Lido, as indicated by an on-chain transfer.

• ZKasino changed its plan and converted all bridged ETH to ZKasino (ZKAS) tokens at a discounted rate of $0.055, distributed over a 15-month vesting schedule.

• ZKasino justified the changes as a "favor" to ensure a smooth transition, stating its chain doesn't use ETH.

• Users observed modifications on its website, notably the removal of a statement promising the return of ETH.

cygaar, an anonymous crypto developer, alleges that ZKasino's blockchain release was simply an Arbitrum Nitro chain deployed in 2 minutes, contradicting ZKasino's claims of utilizing ZK technology or EigenDA.

Big Brain, a venture capital firm, stated that ZKasino "appears fraudulent" and denied any investment in the project. Despite ZKasino's claim of a Series A round at a $350M valuation with support from Big Brain Holdings and MEXC.

• Big Brain asserts it was offered a token distribution but declined to receive it.

• MEXC clarified it was "just one of the investors" in ZKasino. The exchange emphasized that the project's actions do not reflect MEXC's stance and stated, "As an investor, we are also victims."

What’s next: An X user has Some users are initiating legal action using the shared personal details, including the address, of ZKasino's founder, "Derivatives Monke."

Our take: Honestly I’m lost for words. This is such a stupid move by the ZKasino team, especially given how most of them are already doxxed.

• If they do things honestly, they could still be able to secure 7-figure while not being a fugitive. What a waste.

For builders and investors: Increasing news of bad actors is usually a sign that we’re indeed in the middle of the bull market; don’t get relaxed on due diligence and make sure that we don’t repeat the 2021 era mistake.

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 👇

PRODUCT OF THE WEEK

Runes: New Bitcoin Fungible Token Standard

During the Bitcoin halving, a new token standard on Bitcoin called “Runes Protocol” was launched by the mind behind Ordinals, Casey Rodarmor.

• Runes will streamline fungible token creation and management by leveraging Bitcoin's UTXO model and the OP_RETURN opcode.

• Runes enhances Bitcoin's efficiency with fungible tokens and broadens the network's appeal by simplifying the creation of meme coins and community-driven projects on the blockchain.

• The leading Rune by market cap currently is RSIC•GENESIS•RUNE, valued at over ~$290M.

Franklin Templeton notes that while Bitcoin's fungible token market is currently smaller compared to ETH and SOL, the introduction of Runes positions Bitcoin to narrow the gap in market cap with other blockchains.

Other cool products:

• Kiwi Protocol, a web3 fundraising platform.

• SOLPORT, a no-code token creator platform on Solana.

• Moonport, a scenario builder, calculator, and portfolio manager.

CHARTS OF THE WEEK

Bitcoin Whales Bought $1.2B BTC Before Halving

State of play: On April 18, the biggest Bitcoin holders, collectively owning over 0.1% of the total supply, acquired 19,760 Bitcoins at an average price of $62.5k, according to data from IntoTheBlock.

• Historically, such accumulations by these addresses have often foreshadowed increases in Bitcoin's price.

Our take: This appetite seems to indicate that we’re still in the bull market, and that we might be entering phase 2.

12 Abandoned Solana Presale Meme Coins

State of play: According to ZaxhXBT, 12 of 22 Solana pre-sale meme coins have been abandoned after raising more than 180,000 SOL ($26.7M).

• LIKE, founded by @PokeePandaa, raised 52,220 SOL and now is down 90% from its peak and only recorded 13 txs in the last 24 hours.

• MOONKE, founded by @RokcyXBT, raised 37,4709 SOL and now is down 80% from its launch and only recorded 12 txs in the last 24 hours.

• FROG, founded by @Pepecasso1, raised 29,761 SOL and now is down 95% from its launch and only recorded 19 txs in the last 24 hours.

Our take: Remember that when you’re aping into a meme coin, you’re playing the hot potato.

QUICK BITES

• Kathryn Haun to retire from Coinbase board.

• FTX to auction next lot of locked Solana tokens.

• IRS releases draft form to report certain crypto tx.

• Grayscale plans industry-low 0.15% for mini GBTC.

• Bitcoin Whales bought $1.2B BTC amid the price dip.

• Shiba Inu raises $12M in token round for its new blockchain.

• SEC argues that Justin Sun travelled extensively in the US demonstrating jurisdiction.

NOTEWORTHY READS & MEME

• Decentralised’s read on let the rune games begin.

• JJ Roinevirta’s read on a framework for evaluating DeFi UX.

• CoinShares’ read on mining report update: 2024 halving insights.

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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.