alpha_pls

I spent some time on @ethos_network today and noticed they added projects that users could vote on as bullish or bearish.

The contrast between @megaeth_labs & @monad_xyz is very interesting.

I would have said a year ago that Monad was doing a good job of creating a community without a product, and the hype was huge.

But MegaETH's community & builder alignment has been much stronger through the ICO NFT sale and MegaMafia model.

Ethos is aiming to be the reputation and credibility platform for crypto, so it does feel like a somewhat relevant data point for assessing how these chains might do when they are live, or at least how the crypto community currently think they will do when live.

Fwiw I am more bullish MegaETH, and probably neutral/bearish on Monad (more because I haven't followed them closely, but that says something in itself).

3 new apps for you to try this week (all pre-token):

• Let an AI agent buy Bitcoin for you ( @MagicNewton )
• Another Hyperliquid app to maximize your HyperEVM exposure
• Earn fixed yield on Solana

Full breakdown in my latest newsletter:

https://www.alphaplease.com/p/3-alpha-apps-buying-bitcoin-with

Finding it impossible to be bearish on crypto (yes, short term Summer chop probably, but zoom out).

A few thoughts:

The U.S. Senate just passed the GENIUS Act, the first comprehensive federal legislation for fiat-backed stablecoins.

Stablecoins already power the largest real-world use case in crypto:

• $250B+ live onchain
• Instant global settlement
• < $0.01 tx fees
• Open API for money

Now, it gets a legal foundation to go global. It's huge and not to be faded.

This lays the groundwork for trillions in stablecoin settlement volume. It's huge for DeFi.

Every bank, fintech, and payments processor now has a regulated, programmable digital dollar they can actually use.

The biggest bottleneck was legal clarity, which is now gone.

But stablecoins aren’t just for payments. They’re the gateway to speculation, as all the degens on here are aware.

They’re the liquidity base layer of the entire crypto economy.

At the same time, regulators are quietly easing capital rules for U.S. banks.

That frees up bank balance sheets.

More capital = more lending
More lending = lower rates
Lower rates = more risk appetite
More liquidity = stronger BTC tailwinds

BTC thrives when liquidity expands and stablecoins amplify that liquidity. TradFi + Crypto are now structurally aligned for it.

So in summary we have:

• Stablecoins getting federal clarity (DeFi to benefit)
• Banks regaining liquidity
• Borrowing costs likely heading lower
• BTC acting like a macro hedge with clear investor demand (I haven't even mentioned the BTC company treasury ponzi bubble that is growing)

Being bearish here requires me to fade regulatory clarity, institutional momentum, and macro tailwinds.

Find the right coins, have a little patience, and enjoy your Summer.

Haven't farmed an ecosystem this actively since Solana 2023.

That was extremely profitable for me.

All the metrics point towards the HyperEVM being in a similar adoption spot ~10k active users.

Run it back turbo.

Hyperliquid.

One of the things that alt coins lack is passive flows.

They are all PvP coins, even more so with the lack of retail participation in crypto currently.

Once price momentum is gone the floor tends to be a long way down, and then the price never gets close to the highs again.

$HYPE is different.

It has a self generated structured bid, which actually increases in times of volatility.

Hyperliquid has a unique set of properties that I haven't seen in my time in crypto.

It's not without risk of course, which is mostly tied to security and potential exploits, and maybe regulatory problems later down the line.

But, this combination of PMF, revenue, growth potential (perps still has an enormous market to go after, and is one of the biggest crypto use cases) and token value accrual through buybacks & burned txn fees is one of a kind currently.

And this is ignoring the HyperEVM which is gaining momentum, and adds even more growth potential, and further helps to differentiate it from competitors.

It's still going to be a volatile ride, but you can sleep well knowing the assistance fund is on your side.

Hyperliquid.

Buy stuff you think will be higher eoy.

Don’t overthink it. Don’t doom scroll.

Gut feeling is that BTC would be down a lot more if the market was really concerned about a long lasting conflict (ground war).

Leverage apes get carried out as usual.

One of the issues with being early to crypto is that you bear all of the mental scars from witnessing the boom/busts, major hacks, insane collapses (Mt Gox/Luna/FTX), vicious bear markets and endless failed projects.

All of that misery was necessary pain for this industry and asset class.

You are still early (yes, sounds like a meme), but it is true. It's much easier to play to the cynical crowd on here and call everything a scam, then say you are actually still early.

DeFi is only just getting its chance to actually grow after years of corrupt regulatory policy.

I suspect that in 20 years most of you who were present on CT today (probably me included) will regret the lack of exposure we had to what will be obvious in hindsight:

All of the world's value moving onchain.

Selling the world's best assets is always a mistake, the Mag7 illustrates this well. Especially as fiat will continue to be devalued at a faster and faster pace.

Nothing wrong with taking some profit to level up your life in the short term and securing financial freedom if you can, but staying long on the blue chip assets in this industry is how you will build long lasting wealth.

Just got to figure out the blue chip assets...

Another week, here's three more apps I think you should check out:

• One of the best credit cards in DeFi
• HyperEVM app you should be farming
• InfoFi project w/ reward system live

https://www.alphaplease.com/p/3-alpha-apps-the-best-defi-credit

Can you feel the winds of change?

I don't think I've ever been more bullish on DeFi.

DeFi looks to have very few barriers going forward now. The SEC's recent remarks rejects the enforcement-first approach of prior years.

The SEC also acknowledges DeFi protocols’ resilience during crises vs. centralized platforms. This implicitly supports the thesis that DeFi is not just viable but superior in some cases.

Strong support for self-custody reaffirms everyone's right to hold and use crypto without intermediaries. This is also huge for the growth of DeFi.

The proposed “innovation exemption” could serve as a legal sandbox or safe harbor for developers and projects, which will finally encourage U.S.-based DeFi operations.

The door is open for trillions to come onchain in the coming years.

We have many blue chip DeFi protocols that are robust and mature, and ready for prime time now that we have the support of US regulators, and the rest of the world will follow.

One day people are going to look back and realize that they fumbled the opportunity to invest and hold the financial institutions of the future at very small valuations.

It's still early.

$HYPE has raised the bar for the alt coin market.

You have an in demand product with PMF and growing revenue, minimal inflation and a protocol where all of the success is directly translated to the token with buybacks.

Token holders are first class citizens.

This is good for the wider crypto market and will likely act as a sort of benchmark for investors going forward.

This is what a blue chip token looks like - the protocol and token holders are completely aligned.

The market now has HYPE as a best in class example. Only tokens with genuine growing fundamentals and strong tokenomics (meaningful buybacks) will find a bid (outside of the the PVP gambling trench shit coins of course).

Examine what you hold carefully.

$CRCL chart is a literal rocket ship.

Crypto stocks are the real alt coins.

Life is short, go long to hedge.

Starting a new series focused on apps.

Being active onchain & trying new stuff has always paid off for me.

Each week I’ll cover 3 apps I think are worth your time - early, interesting, and ideally high-upside.

Appreciate any support 🫡

https://www.alphaplease.com/p/3-alpha-apps-top-play-on-hyperliquid

The $HYPE flywheel is very strong.

The bigger the market cap of HYPE the bigger the potential airdrops later down the line.

It becomes impossible for any trader to ignore the larger the rewards get.

More traders join, more volume flows, more fees generated, which leads to ever increasing buy pressure on HYPE through buy backs, raising the floor.

HYPE becomes much better collateral, which helps to bootstrap the HyperEVM. No chain ever takes off unless the underlying gas token is good collateral to be used in DeFi.

HYPE very clearly stands out amongst a sea of garbage alts for having combined a good product that has achieved PMF & s-tier tokenomics.

Kamino's V2 is now LIVE!

And there are some juicy new yield opportunities across many markets (31% APY on SOL)

Let's take a look 👇🧵

I can barely find any alt/btc pairs that look constructive right now.

And this trend continues to be respected, as it has done for the last two and a half years.

Continue to scrutinise the alt coins you hold. Every week you should be retesting your conviction and theses. If you feel sure a project will do well in the future then that is fine.

But don't continue to hold coins just because you've held them for a long time.

Stomach the pain and rebalance where required.

Loudio is all over the timeline, and many people on here will hate that.

Yes, it is very cringe, but it is entirely economically rational to participate.

Do you want to be "cool", or do you want to make money?

A lot of people's success on the internet has come from being able to stomach being cringe, and in essence, break free from worrying about what others think.

I remember how badly early YouTubers were mocked. I knew a few of the members of the Sidemen in the early days, and they built insane audiences because very few were willing to consistently put themselves on camera in the most uncomfortable way at that time.

The average person is simply too self-conscious to consistently generate attention.

That’s what makes “being cringe” so powerful, it’s a moat.

In life this creates a huge asymmetry:

If you can do what others feel cringe doing, you win.

All of crypto itself is still cringe to most of the world. If you are reading this then its likely most people think you are cringe.

$LOUD is a token with no value… unless people talk about it.

I haven't spent so much time on CT recently, so this social game has kind of passed me by, but being early and cringe is something you should lean into, rather than fear.

I think it is a good maxim to live by.

Stay loud.

I was chatting with a car sales exec yesterday and she randomly asked me if I was into crypto.

Possibly the first time a woman has mentioned crypto to me irl. I asked her what she held.

She said PI, and she was mining it on her phone (electroneum flashback), and it was going to retire her when it went to $300.

I searched coingecko, as I’d not heard of PI, and discovered this coin is 8B FDV.

I can only assume this event is responsible for the current sell off.

The universe always provides clues.

Apologies, I should have informed you all sooner.

Pretty cool that I can just talk about apps that I like and then suddenly receive mindshare airdrops without even realizing there were incentives running.

@KaitoAI may have changed distribution forever.

Been a long time happy user of @BungeeExchange.

This v2 is about as good as it gets now from a UX perspective.

Swap into any token on any chain at any size with no gas (MEV protected).

We are getting much closer to a world where everything of value is onchain.

Bungee (powered by @SOCKETProtocol) is in prime position to be one of the go to gateways to swap whatever you want into whatever you want - real estate, content coins, tokenized stocks, and who knows what else comes onchain.

Honestly, gud product, give Bungee a try, you won't regret it (also there is no token yet, so added carrot 👀).

*little disclaimer that I did invest in an early Socket round, am friends with the team, and very much want to see them win.