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Fidelity analyzed the performance of accounts to determine which type of investors received the best returns.
Over a 10-year period, the clients that did the best were the ones who were dead. And the 2nd-best group were clients who had forgotten they had investments.
I know a ton of guys in Crypto whose best returns were from the Crypto in wallets they forgot about. They bought some BTC or ETH in the early days, and forgot about it for a few years.
So, what’s the lesson here? I know the goal is to hop on the latest narrative and to keep rotating. It wouldn’t be a bad idea to have a “long-term” section consisting of bluechips like BTC / ETH (maybe SOL too). Keep adding to it, and check in 20 years.
Here’s what we got today:
- Conference Recap. Key highlights from Solana Breakpoint.
- Hottest chain right now. How to use the 7-day TVL growth rate to find trending chains?
- Around the web. EigenLayer will add transferability, Polymarket might launch a token, EFP is live on Base, and more.
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Updates
The Latest from Solana
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Last week, Singapore hosted two major crypto conferences: Solana Breakpoint & Token2049. The result? Hot debates, crazy announcements, and a lot of networking (read partying).
Missed out on all the action? No worries! I’ve got the scoop on all the Breakpoint gossip right here.
Twitter was on fire with Breakpoint chatter. The emphasis on products over infrastructure earned a big thumbs-up from most attendees. Nearly everyone walked away feeling even more bullish on Solana.
There were some wild announcements that had us all excited — like a kid in a candy store! Here are a few highlights:
- Solana’s new phone: Seeker. It’ll improve the crypto mobile experience. Imagine using DeFi with fingerprints and double taps.
- Huma Finance is expanding to Solana. It’s a payment financing protocol that’s already done over $1.9 billion in transactions.
- Firedancer – the new Solana client. It’s really hyped by the community for making Solana more resilient, cheaper, & faster. They showed off a demo where it managed to hit over 1 million transactions per second (TPS).
- Eclipse L2 on Ethereum. But it uses the Solana VM for execution. Its public access is coming next month. They already boast a roster of infrastructure, consumer, and DeFi partners. This is definitely on my radar.
Breakpoint wasn’t just about the old protocols. There were plenty of fresh faces and projects that caught my eye. Below are a few standouts:
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- Decentralized Science. Pump.science is a marketplace for testing early-stage longevity compounds. This seemed to be a project that can truly accelerate longevity research.
- Rollups on Solana: Mantis a Solana Layer 2 (they call it a “network extension”) that focuses on processing user intents.
- Many others. Central bank approved PHPC stablecoin, Dabba from DePIN sector, Finternet, Legion.cc, and more.
Want the full rundown of all the product presentations? Here’s your cheat sheet with key takeaways from each presentation.
Breakpoint wasn’t just about product launches. There were some “gigabrain” debates for all the crypto nerds out there. Topics ranged from the idea of dissolving the Solana Foundation to whether NFTs have a future at all. It was like a fiery Twitter debate—but live!
For a quick summary of these debates, click here.
And if that’s still not enough for your crypto-hungry brain, dive into the full presentations here.
Token 2049 was also held in Singapore on September 18-19.
Compared to Breakpoint, reviews were a bit more mixed. Unlike Solana Breakpoint, this event included all the ecosystems and hundreds of side events. So there was a lot going on.
It also didn’t had as much focus various product presentations. There were many ecosystems building awareness through various marketing tactics. It was the perfect environment for people looking to network and establish connections.
If you want to see the recordings of their main stage talks, click here.
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Charts of the week
Hottest Chains by TVL Growth
Monitoring on-chain data is a secret to uncovering those undervalued tokens.
Tracking Total Value Locked (TVL) across different chains can show you which ecosystems are heating up. But here’s the catch: there’s some nuance involved in interpreting that data.
So, let’s dive in and see which chains are really gaining momentum right now! DefiLlama’s chain tab is the perfect go-to for this kind of sleuthing.
Let’s take a peek at the top chains that recorded impressive 7-day growth in TVL: Aptos (33.9%), Sui (31.8%), and Base (25%).
Aptos
Aptos saw a solid 33.9% growth in TVL over just seven days. On September 18th, its TVL was sitting at $672 million. By the 25th? Boom — $900 million!
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But what’s driving this surge? The Aptos DeFi ecosystem growth seems to be the main catalyst. Let’s look at some metrics:
- Their DeFi protocols, like Thala and Amnis Finance, also grew TVL by >30%.
- Daily transactions increased by a whopping 65.5% during the same period.
- Volume on Aptos went up 65%, jumping from $28.8 million to $47.62 million.
This growth isn’t just on the charts; it’s reflected in the price too. $APT pumped 28.4% in the last week!
Sui Network
Sui also recorded a 32.6% growth in TVL. Sounds promising, right? Well, hold your horses. This growth doesn’t seem to be driven by any fundamental catalyst.
In the last week, $SUI pumped by 25.2%. And since most of the $SUI supply lives on the Sui Network, the TVL can increase just from this price pump alone. Let’s test that theory by denominating the TVL chart in $SUI:
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When we do the math in $SUI, the TVL is actually declining. In plain English: the USD TVL increase is mostly because the $SUI price went up, not because there’s more action on the network.
And here’s another reason to keep your bullishness in check: only 27% of $SUI’s total supply is unlocked. Compare that to 80% of $SOL and 45% of $APT. That’s a ticking time bomb of selling pressure just waiting to explode.
Now, I’m not saying Sui is dead. They had some announcements at Token2049. And according to Artemis, their on-chain metrics aren’t bad either. But it’s not as hot as it looks at first glance.
Base
On September 18th, Base’s TVL was $1.6 billion. Fast forward a week, and it’s crossed $2 billion! This is an all-time-high for Base.
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Base already had a user-friendly and diverse ecosystem, so when the market sentiment started turning positive, it attracted a lot of activity. Other on-chain metrics, like daily transactions and active addresses, supports this theory..
Coinbase’s backing certainly helps, too. For instance, Coinbase launched $cbETH on September 12th. And it has directly added a nice ~$82 million to Base’s TVL.
Now, here’s where things get interesting: Base doesn’t have its own token. So, how do you get exposure? Enter Aerodrome! Here’s why $AERO might be your best bet:
- Around 46% of Base’s TVL is on Aerodrome.
- It’s one of the OG projects exclusive to Base.
- As the default DEX on Base, any activity here is bound to boost Aerodrome’s metrics.
Who’s Really Hot?
We’ve just sifted through three chains showing strong 7-day growth. But, as we dug deeper, it became clear which ones are truly getting hot.
Base definitely takes the prom crown. There’s something brewing on Aptos too. And Sui? Well, she’s wearing some fancy makeup.
🚀 DeFi Catalysts
Polymarket might launch their token. After the stablecoins, it is the crypto-dapp that has the most “real-world” utility.
EigenLayer will add transferability for $EIGEN from September 30th. Staked EIGEN will have a 7-day withdrawal period.
Pyth Network introduced Oracle Integrity Staking. It’ll add staking rewards and slashing mechanisms to the network.
Renzo has introduced $ezUSDC. It’s a restaked version of $USDC that allows users to earn emissions on Jito’s platform.
Contango has integrated Fluid. Users can now lend/borrow 25+ pairs on Fluid through Contango.
Mango Markets released Fill City. It is a new spot exchange on Solana powered by Autobahn router and Manifest Unlimited Orderbook.
Aave has added support for cbETH on Aave v3 on Ethereum and Base. $cbETH is gaining fast adoption in DeFi.
Ondo Finance has partnered with BlackRock and Securitize. Together they are submitting $OUSG for the Spark Tokenization Grand Prix.
deBridge will launch $DBR using Jupiter’s LFG mechanism. Eligible participants will be able to bid tokens at $250 million FDV.
Chromia has migrated staking, delegation, and rewards to the Chromia mainnet. Users have to claim outstanding rewards on EVMs within six months.
Linea has opened Linea Guild Games. Users can join a guide and play “Unfettered Awakening” to win rewards in various tokens including $ETH.
Zk-compression went live on Solana mainnet beta. It’ll reduce costs for Solana developers by 1000x.
🪂 Airdrop Alpha
Wallet Connect has released a registration portal for their $WCT airdrop. You can check if you qualify for the airdrop in November 2024.
Grass Foundation asked users to connect their Solana wallet to the Grass dashboard before September 30th to be able to claim their airdrop.
Fuel Network has announced phase 2 of its points program. The three types of points are activity points, gas points, and passive points.
LogX Trade has released the Airdrop Checker. Participants of their incentive program and select DeFi power users are eligible. Season two is on the way.
Aleo has released the claim portal for its token. Eligible users will have to complete KYC to claim the tokens.
🚀 New Launches
Ethereum Follow Protocol is live on the Base mainnet. It is a decentralized onchain social graph protocol built on top of ENS.
Paladin, Octav, & Gearbox introduced Transmission. It’s a marketplace for Gearbox voting incentives.
Daimo introduced Landline. US users can now convert USD in their bank account to onchain $USDC in 15 seconds without any fee.
Everclear went live on the mainnet beta. They aim to coordinate the global settlement of liquidity between chains.
🐦⬛ X Hits
- Crypto Market Analysis.
- Spiciest Gensler roasts from Congress.
- Airdrop programs worth joining in Q4.
- DePIN: present and future
- >55 projects in the AVS ecosystem of EigenLayer.
