Bitcoin crosses $1 trillion
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Airdrops vs. IPOs
Imagine for a moment that OpenAI is going public.
Further, imagine that OpenAI has a special deal: every early user of ChatGPT, its flagship product, will receive free shares in OpenAI when it IPOs.
Even those who have never owned a stock in their life would be signing up for ChatGPT, just to get the free OpenAI stock. Easy decision.
Now, imagine this idea catches on, and every AI company might be offering “free shares” in the future. There are thousands of AI platforms: all you have to do is create an account on each platform, use it once, and you’re eligible.
The AI startups would all get an initial influx of users, but we’d have to question whether they’re “real” users. Will they ever come back? And will they sell their shares immediately after the IPO, driving down the price – possibly forever?
And the users also would have to question whether the effort is really worth it. After all, using all these AI platforms for the potential shares is a good way to learn about them, but it is a lot of work.
What I’ve described is what has happened in the crypto industry with airdrops.
My question: is "farming" airdrops -- using an early platform in hopes of getting rewarded with free tokens down the road -- worth your time?
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New Investor Scorecard: OKB
OKB serves as the utility token for OKX, one of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the market. OKX provides financial services catering to average investors and experienced traders, and claims to process some six million weekly transactions.
Alongside the exchange's success, its utility token has enjoyed a somewhat volatile upward trend since its inception in 2018. This is even more impressive because OKB isn't listed on most major exchanges, limiting its potential reach.
Premium members can?download the OKB Investor Scorecard here?to find out what our analysts say about an investment in the token.
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Must Read
This forward-looking piece from investment management firm VanEck outlines various AI crypto revenue scenarios by 2030. The firm sets a base market cap of $10.2 billion, and blockchain will play a crucial role in AI adoption.
One specific outcome predicted is the increase of security and efficiency in AI models through the use of crypto incentives. As we've said, hybrid blockchain/AI projects could become the next big thing in crypto -- keep these projects on your radar.
Coinbase reported its first profit in two years, with a net income of $273 million in Q4 2023. Net revenue for the quarter was $905 million, a nearly 50% increase from the previous year.
The surge in interest in cryptocurrencies, driven by the approval of the first spot bitcoin ETFs, contributed to the heightened demand and increased transaction revenues. From robust trading to staking features, we think investing in Coinbase ($COIN) is like investing in a next-generation financial platform.
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Starknet Faces Backlash Over Airdrop and Team Unlocks (The Defiant)
The Ethereum scaling solution Starknet faced criticism on social media after releasing the airdrop allocations of its STRK tokens, with many users disappointed by their ineligibility. The backlash also extended to concerns about the upcoming unlock of 1.3 billion STRK tokens allocated to the Starkware team and investors.
The airdrop's potential value is estimated to be around $1.1 billion, making it one of the largest in crypto history. This highlights the potential rewards and pitfalls of airdrop farming, as covered in today's feature story.
ICYMI
But how does it stack up long-term against the S&P 500?
Your step-by-step tutorial.
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Chart of the Day
There's were a lot of articles in 2023 expressing worries over the dominance of liquid staking platform Lido, which has grown so popular that some worry it may "centralize" staking on the decentralized Ethereum platform.
The chart above shows that Lido usage actually remained within a range throughout 2023, with monthly active users ranging from ~10,000 to ~15,000.
Something remarkable has happened over the past two weeks though, with Lido's MAU skyrocketing to an all-time high of more than 40,000. That's growth of more than 175% in the past month for a platform that already commands the liquid staking market.
Assets under management (aka TVL) have ballooned to over $24 billion, more than triple their level from last year, and earnings for the platform hit $3.68 million in December 2023.
All this points to a blockchain platform that's growing at a pace akin to Google or Facebook in their early days, making LDO an investment worth considering.
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