Ethereum’s Dencun Upgrade: The Investing Opportunities

Howdy, investors!

• The new Ethereum upgrade is live! Code-named "Dencun," we think it's great for ETH investors, but not so great for L2 investors. Here's why.
• Binance has spun off Binance Labs, the company's $10B VC arm. This is one of the biggest moves so far by new CEO Richard Teng. More below.
• Voters are increasingly attracted to crypto, and crypto policy could become a decisive factor in future elections. Here's what you can do.

Read on to explore more!

Ethereum’s Dencun Upgrade: The Investing Opportunities

The latest Ethereum upgrade – code-named Dencun – was a success.

That in itself is cause for celebration. The Ethereum software is large and complex, and the fact that the developers continue to roll out new code, with minimal downtime and drama, is a major technical victory.

If you try to understand what Dencun actually does, though, you’ll fall down the rabbit hole of confusing technical terms like “Proto-Danksharding” and “data blobs,” which sound like they escaped from a cyberpunk novel.

As usual, I’ll simplify it for you.

The Ethereum Dencun upgrade will help lower the cost of transaction fees on Ethereum (ETH) – specifically, on Layer-2s like Arbitrum (ARB) and Optimism (OP).

This is great for ETH investors, but not so great for L2 investors like ARB and OP. Here’s why.

Learn about where to invest after the Ethereum upgrade >>

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Blockchain Book Club: Read Write Own by Chris Dixon

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Must Read

Transaction Fees On Layer 2 Plummet Post-Dencun (The Defiant)

As discussed in today's column, the "Dencun" Ethereum upgrade will boost the performance of Layer-2 networks like Arbitrum and Polygon by reducing transaction fees. While lower fees could impact revenues, they should also help increase user adoption for Ethereum, creating stronger revenue streams and investment opportunities in the long term.

Top Crypto Exchange Binance Spins Off $10 Billion Venture Unit (Bloomberg)

Binance Labs, the venture capital arm of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, has become independent, separating from the wider Binance group. This change occurred under the new leadership of CEO Richard Teng.

Binance Labs, led by Binance co-founder Yi He, has invested in approximately 250 projects, with assets currently valued at over $10 billion. This means there's a solid channel of funding for promising projects on BNB Chain -- good news for BNB investors.

March 2024 Public Opinion Poll (Paradigm)

A recent poll by Paradigm and Public Opinion Strategies reveals that American voters are increasingly interested in cryptocurrency, with 19% having bought crypto and 69% dissatisfied with the traditional financial system.

Crypto holders are emerging as a swing vote demographic, with their support shifting from Biden to Trump. The takeaway: If you believe in crypto, if you invest in crypto, you must let our politicians know you care.

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Chart of the Day

You know that we love active daily users. Seeing a project with a large user base typically proves the quality of the project -- like customers of a traditional company.

Another way to look at this metric is through user growth. Projects that see rapid user adoption can often be good investing opportunities.

In this chart, zkSync Era stands out as the fastest-growing project by DAUs, by far. As a Layer-2 solution (see today's column), much of its 6,000,000% growth (!) could be driven by airdrop farmers hoping for an eventual ZKS token.

While difficult to see in the chart above, there were other huge winners. The well-known DEX PancakeSwap (CAKE) saw a?29,050%?increase, highlighting the continued popularity of on-chain trading.

But it's liquid staking platform Ether.Fi, with a 9,777%?increase, that may be the most interesting to investors: if you're interested in owning some, you can now farm ETHERFI tokens on Binance Launchpool.

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Daily Active Users let you see right through the marketing hype.

(Thanks to @aidogecrypto)