PinnedValuing Bitcoin and EthSome ways to think about pricing BTC and ETH — Summary A “market” allocation to crypto would be about 0.1% of net worth. Above that and you’re bullish on crypto. High Bitcoin holdings (e.g. 10–20%) imply even higher (e.g. 50%+) confidence in Bitcoin reaching the valuation of gold. …Bitcoin7 min readBitcoin7 min read
PinnedFARMers losing sight of selling shovelsThis post is kept up to date here. Summary: We are in the growth stage of DeFi where new protocols are showering participants, and themselves, with governance tokens. Rewards from one protocol are re-invested in another protocol to earn more rewards, and so on. The system is multi-layered. The value…Defi8 min readDefi8 min read
Nov 22, 2022Wordpress USDC Plugin w/ 0% FeesHi folks, a very short post here on a plugin I’ve recently built allowing merchants to accept USDC on Wordpress. The business case for merchants is simple: Credit cards often cost 2–3%, sometimes more Ethereum USDC transactions right now cost $0.6 For higher value transactions in particular, it’s cheaper to accept USDC. What are the problems: Customers have to pay for the gas but don’t pay for credit card fees.1 min read1 min read
Oct 15, 2022Why do Ethereum transactions cost more?Spreadsheet of validator requirements and network performance. ❓Why are Ethereum fees expensive❓ What makes Solana, Polygon and Avalanche cheaper? Three key factors: -> Bandwidth (validator internet speed) -> Computing power -> Supply vs Demand Here’s an explainer with examples: Thanks for reading Hype or Hodl! …2 min read2 min read
Published inCoinmonks·Oct 9, 2022How big is the market for decentralised stablecoins?The stablecoin market consists mostly of fiat-backed stablecoins — USDC, USDT (the backing is less clear, discussed earlier here), and BUSD. Decentralised stablecoins like DAI and LUSD (and Frax, which I think is highly risky) are a much smaller portion of the stablecoin market cap. Thanks for reading Hype or…2 min read2 min read
Sep 20, 2022Biggest Problem with Bitcoin vs EthereumLaura Shin published a podcast with Eric Wall (supporting Bitcoin and Ethereum) and Justin Bons (arguing that Bitcoin is over) and I recommend listening. The biggest issue for Bitcoin is security in the long run: Thanks for reading Hype or Hodl! …3 min read3 min read
Jul 20, 2022I underestimated impermanent lossSummary For some reason, I thought uniswap v3 and curve v2 addressed impermanent loss. That’s wrong. Current AMM designs are inherently much more expensive for liquidity providers than order books. Most liquidity providers are losing money before rewards. Protocols aiming to grow liquidity for their tokens should be thinking deeply about…4 min read4 min read
Published inCoinmonks·Jul 16, 2022(Mis)Understanding Economies of Scale and Centralisation in Proof of StakeSummary: The argument from this week’s Bankless Podcast Framing centralising forces in Proof of Stake Economies of scale of staking providers like Lido Economies of scale in Bitcoin Solutions from here Thanks for reading Hype or Hodl! Subscribe at Pinotio.com for free to receive new posts and support my work. …5 min read5 min read
Published inCoinmonks·Jul 15, 2022Is USDC in Trouble? Not obviously so.Summary: Allegations on Circle collapsing Does Circle lend out its reserves? (No) Are Circle’s reserves indirectly being lent out? Is Circle paying Silvergate/Signature 5% on deposits? (Almost certainly not) Overall assessment of Circle’s USDC Allegations on Circle collapsing @CoinInsider recently raised some strong allegations about USDC in a Twitter thread: Geralt Davidson @CryptoInsider237 min read7 min read
Published inCoinmonks·Jun 30, 2022What the F(?TX)Howdy folks, let’s get started with a graph of FTT (the FTX token) charted, not against USD, but, against ETH (a hip way to chart tokens on Pinotio.com!): There aren’t many tokens that have gone up versus Ether in the last 180 days, aside from Bitcoin and Ethereum Classic (ETC)…6 min read6 min read
