🧘‍♂️ALERT: $600 Million Hacked

Second biggest heist in history

Dear Meditators

? Today marks the second biggest hack in history: at least $611 million stolen. More details in the ‘Market News and Analysis’ section ?

? We also share insights from a recent podcast and developments in the stablecoin market.

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Delighted to say this article is brought to you by FTX. Make sure to use our link to get a 10% discount. Based in the U.S? Here’s a discount link for you: FTX.US.

⏰ In A Rush? 

Here’s 5 things you need to know about the crypto markets today:

• ? At least $611 million stolen in massive cross-chain hack

• ? Total crypto market value breaks $1.9T for the first time since May 

• ?? Crypto compromise dies in the Senate due to last-minute defense spending proposal

• ? Hundreds Of Millions Of Micropayments Are Coming To Elrond Via Human Protocol

• ⬇️ Ether Held on Centralized Exchanges Hits Three Year Low

Our Market Meditations are longer format educational segments. Each letter features a Market Meditation which will deep dive and analyse a relevant crypto event, theme or tool. 

? Crypto, Gaming and $100m FTX Partnerships with Burg 

Last week, we spoke with Burg (@burglol), who is head ofpartnerships at FTX (one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges). We dedicate today’s Market Meditations to the key insights and lessons Burg shared with us:

?‍?‍?‍? 1) The Crypto Community

Many of our guests on the Market Meditations podcast have achieved great success through interacting with the crypto community. When it comes to fundamental analysis of new projects, there are forums where you can actually converse with the team building projects. Not to mention a range of career opportunities across various crypto platforms! For Burg, it was answering questions in the chats for the FTX community that led to his current role.

Note: the crypto community is still relatively small and this leads to a lot of people fighting over the same pie/market share. A good example is the volume of people trying to secure Axie Infinity sponsorships through spam messages on social media. Try to be deliberate; providing genuine value and interactions. 

? 2) Passion As A Tool 

Burg disclosed that the FTX team are big League of Legends fans. Great things are accomplished through discipline and consistency; not directly from passion. However, passion gives us an edge, it makes discipline and consistency far easier. You’ll have a much easier time if you have a genuine passion for something in the crypto space: be that NFTs, DeFi projects or Technical Analysis. 

Once you have identified something you are interested in, the sky’s the limit. The FTX CEO consistently pushed the team to “think bigger” which took them from potentially sponsoring a tournament to buying the Miami heat stadium.

? 3) Sustainable Habits 

Crypto can be addictive. Burg stresses the importance of taking breaks from work. When focus fades, breaks optimise your efficiency. Rather than make poor decisions and perform sub-optimally, Burg will recharge with a walk or workout. This is especially true of trading, where it is essential to ensure your decisions are based on focused and deliberate intention.

Further Resources: 

• For the full podcast with Burg, click here. 

• For more on fundamental analysis, check out our project and financial metrics guide.

• For more on Axie Infinity sponsorships, check out this letter.

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? BTC On The Big on Screen

Which cinema company has recently announced they plan to be able to accept Bitcoin by 2022?

1. Odeon

2. AMC

3. Vue

? Going Full Circle?

Circle, a global FinTech company most well-known for operating the USDC stablecoin, announced today that they intended to become a “full-reserve national commercial bank”. But what does full-reserve mean, why might they be doing this, and what could this mean for crypto in general?

• It helps to know the difference between a demand deposit and a time deposit. The former can be withdrawn at any time without notice or penalty. The latter has a fixed maturity date, which delays withdrawal.

• Full-reserve banking means the bank may only lend from time deposits and must keep the full amount of demand deposits in cash ready for immediate withdrawal. This is different to fractional reserve banking, which only requires a small percentage of depositors’ funds to be kept in cash while the rest is loaned out. 

So why are Circle doing this when no country in the world currently requires it?

• Circle announced in July that they plan to go public, also revealing their current reserves mix. Like Coinbase (one of their USDC partners), they are looking to proactively build positive relations with regulatory bodies.

• The CEO highlighted that reserve sufficiency and credit quality is not enough, and that ensuring liquidity during intense sell pressure should also be addressed. Regular readers will know this is something we touched upon when discussing Tether in our Stablecoins 101 article. 

There are clearly some positive aspects for the crypto world if a stablecoin can guarantee liquidity and gain national acceptance. However, one might also point to the irony of a company in crypto, which started life as a digital currency looking to free itself from the power of central banks, looking to become a centrally-backed bank itself.

2. AMC

On August 9th the AMC’s Chairman and CEO Adam Aron announced during a conference that the cinema is planning to accept Bitcoin payments by the end of 2021. Meaning by the beginning of 2022 the infrastructure will be set up and ready to go! 

Aron himself reported a high demand for consumers to be able to pay for their tickets with cryptocurrencies. While AMC is an american cinema company, they have cinemas all around the world including Europe and the Middle East. It is very exciting to see another global company keen to use crypto in their business. It really is one step closer to global adoption. 

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??‍♂️✍️ Stories in this newsletter were written by Isambard FA, Nick T., Max P., Kimia K., Ellen B. and Koroush AK. Graphics were produced by Gerasimos P.

Not financial or tax advice. The content in this newsletter is for informational purposes only. Nothing in this email is intended to serve as financial advice. We are not financial advisors. Every investment and trading move involves risk. Do your own research when making a decision. See our important security disclaimers here. 

Disclosure. Some of the links we’ve included are affiliate, they give you rewards and discounts and earn us a commission. Additionally, the Market Meditator writers hold crypto assets. See our investment disclosures here.