Bitcoin Halved, Next Narratives We're Watching

Hey LinkedIn,

The Bitcoin halving has come and gone. Now what?

Below are the next narratives we're watching.??

Three Bitcoin catalysts

Although the halving is over, Bitcoin still has some catalysts worth monitoring.

Building on Bitcoin

As mentioned last week, Runes has just introduced a new token standard to Bitcoin. Over the coming weeks and months, interacting with Runes should gradually improve.

Also, expect the 'build on Bitcoin' trend to gain momentum over the coming weeks as more new projects go live and existing projects release major upgrades (e.g. Stacks' Nakamoto upgrade).

Will the Bitcoin ETFs take their training wheels off?

Accessibility to these ETFs is lower than many expect. In some cases, financial advisors reportedly cannot offer the ETFs until their clients expressly ask. Expect accessibility to improve as we go deeper into the year. Just today,? reports?emerging that Morgan Stanley could allow its brokers to pitch the ETFs to customers.

Dorsey watch

Jack Dorsey revealed Block Inc finished developing its Bitcoin mining chip and is currently creating a standalone miner. It’s big because it supports decentralised mining, a growing challenge amid the latest halving.

AI narrative likely to continue

Despite AI cryptocurrency Akash (AKT) soaring 66% off an exchange listing in South Korea, the AI sector is down bad in recent months.

It’s likely we see continued AI development, with possible catalysts being the release of GPT-5 or significant news from Apple, Google or Amazon to upgrade their digital assistants.

There could still be potential, with the total sector still only <1% of the total market cap and new cryptocurrencies to hit the market.

One big question remains: as we near what feels like the midway point of this bull market, will the technological challenges and release timeframes cap the upside for AI tokens??

(For more, see our member-only deep dive below!)

Have You Missed The Crypto x AI Narrative?

Will crypto gaming finally deliver?

Web3 gaming continues to develop in the background.?

Last week marked the launch of web3 publishing company Galactic Entertainment Publishing, a co-founder of which is?the former head of Disney Entertainment Studios.

We’re finally seeing crypto games hit some of the biggest web2 gaming platforms, and one of the most eagerly awaited games, Illuvium, publicly launching in Q2.

Will users genuinely want to “own” their games?

Will Ethereum finally regain the spotlight?

ETH has underperformed so far in this bull market, but how long until we see a rotation back into the second-largest cryptocurrency?

After all, we’re seeing a lot of reasons for renewed interest:

• pressure to grant a spot ETH ETF
• more funds such as BlackRock's BUIDL deploying on Ethereum
• restaking ETH with EigenLayer
• supply impacts with greater onchain activity
• L2s continuing to grow

Return of the L1 trade?

Solana is battling degraded performance and network issues, while other blockchains such as Monad (which raised $225M) will launch in the coming year.

Sound familiar? Just as Solana and other L1s took market share away from Ethereum in 2021, will Solana get a taste of its own medicine or will it sustain an acceptable level of performance until 'Firedancer' goes live?

Will L2s continue to eat up activity?

Ethereum L2s continue to attract significant activity, helping Ethereum scale.

A big focus will be whether they can overcome their biggest challenge, centralisation.

Arbitrum (BOLD) and Optimism (Cannon) will soon launch upgrades to increase security and decentralisation.

We could go on forever exploring narratives, but a few more to keep your eyes on include:

• Real-world assets (RWAs): BlackRock is bullish on asset tokenisation and has signalled that there is more to come after its recent BUILD fund launch on Ethereum.
• Decentralised physical infrastructure (DePIN): DePIN creates real-world products through crypto incentives and is generating serious activity on blockchains such as Solana.?

Clearly, there is no shortage of narratives to watch. To state the obvious, we're in for an eventful rest of the year!

SEC delays decision on spot Ethereum ETFs

What happened? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed a final decision on the ETF applications from Franklin Templeton and Grayscale.

Why does it matter to you? All eyes will be on May 23, when the SEC must make a final decision. It will likely be a price-sensitive event either way, more so for approval given most expect the SEC to decline.

Stripe brings back crypto payments

What happened? Presenting on the 'Future of Payments', Stripe' president John Collison said, “crypto’s back” and has found "real utility." Stripe will start by supporting USDC payments before expanding to more cryptocurrencies.

Why does it matter to you? It's the first crypto announcement from Stripe since last May, when it debuted a fiat-to-crypto onramp. With this move coming from one of the world's largest payments companies, it helps crypto gain more legitimacy.

SEC hit with two crypto lawsuits

What happened? The SEC is facing the heat from multiple lawsuits. Consensys sued the agency for its “unlawful seizure of authority” over Ethereum, and the Blockchain Association sued it over its proposed dealer rules.

Why does it matter to you? These lawsuits will hopefully clear the air with regards to how much authority the SEC actually has over the crypto industry. It may also provide more clarity over how ETH is classified.

?? All eyes Binance and CZ ??

U.S. authorities are seeking a three-year prison sentence for former Binance CEO, 'CZ'. He faces court on April 30.

• Stacks began its major 'Nakamoto' upgrade, which will be rolled out next month.
• Safe released a points program for its vault program.
• Polygon partnered with accounting firm EY to use Polygon PoS for business contracts.
• Jupiter teased its upcoming Jupiter Mobile Initiative, ready for beta in May.
• Worldcoin?announced an L2 chain built with OP Stack.
• Hedera's HBAR soared 100% but quickly crashed after BlackRock confirmed it had "‘no commercial relationship’.

? Checkmate's Onchain Analysis:

• The Correct Correction
• What Is Going On…

? Nick: Have You Missed The Crypto x AI Narrative?

? Monthly Q&A: Bull Market Phases; Upcoming Altcoin Season & When Token Unlocks Matter

? In case you missed it ?

? (New) Monthly Market Live: Why This Bull Market Is Far From Over & Bitcoin Halving In Focus

? Matt: Why I’m Investing In This Cursed Coin

? Schofield: Which Blockchains Are Gaming Projects Building On? (Part 2)

Thanks for reading the Weekly Shift.

We hope you've enjoyed it, and look forward to seeing you next week!

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