Binance 2.0 On Solana, Solana-Powered U.S. T-Bills & More

Goedemorgen Breakpoint!

This is J264G and this week I’ve got these titbits for you:

• Bullish Billboard: Implications of VanEck’s article on Solana. 

• Binance 2.0: Backpack to launch a new crypto exchange.

• U.S. T-Bills: Maple and Squads team up to offer U.S. T-bill rates. 

It seems as if the current bullish sentiment is here to stay. 

On the one hand, I’d +1 what Vinny says. 

On the other hand, Frankie has some valid and eloquent points as well.

Equally, Solana has been on the up and up. 

And just recently, VanEck released a rather favourable take on the network's current and future outlook. 

Consequently, we’ll discuss VanEck’s article in this week’s edition — in addition to the latest ecosystem news. 

Let’s get into it!

Click on any underlined heading / hyperlink to learn more.

Spotlight

Bullish Billboard

Last week, VanEck published an article on Solana titled: Base, Bear, Bull Case: Solana Valuation by 2030.

Subsequently, the bullposting on Twitter popped off. 

But who is VanEck?

VanEck is a global investment firm with $76.4 billion in assets under management. 

Put differently: VanEck = big fish in the traditional finance word. 

The firm was founded in 1955 by the Eck family, which still runs it today. Generally, VanEck is known for its innovation in the ETF space, bringing niche or less traditional investment opportunities to the broader market.

What does this TradFi behemoth have to do with crypto, though?

Well, the company currently offers the Bitcoin Strategy ETF (XBTF), and is gearing up to launch its Ethereum Strategy ETF (EFUT). 

Similarly to the XBTF, the EFUT will be an actively managed ETF designed to seek capital appreciation by investing in standardised, cash-settled Ether (ETH) futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

• Bitcoin ✅

• Ether ✅

Naturally, SOL is up next — right?

Correct!

It seems as if VanEck is putting its feeler out by exploring what the Solana ecosystem has to offer — hence the release of the article mentioned above. 

So, we might see a Solana Strategy ETF (SFUT) in the not too distant future? 😏

To be honest, I'm not that interested in the financial nitty-gritty of what VanEck does.

But I understand that the firm's interest in Solana brings with it more eyeballs to everything we do.

As such, the Van Eck article serves as an oversized Solana billboard in the middle of Time Square. 

I'll take that W.

Having said that, billboards i.e. advertising is only as valuable as the accompanying onboarding mechanisms.

Let me explain.

When McDonald's launches a Super Bowl ad for a new burger, stores would a) need to be open and operational, and b) have the burger available for the campaign to be successful. 

Duh, right?

Let's assume VanEck's article is our Super Bowl ad.

Now we just need to lean back and wait for the influx of institutional investors, high net worth individuals, the crypto curious, and builders — easy. 

If only. 

First, the dApps VanEck highlights in its article are part of an extremely limited selection.

Second, non-crypto natives will not scour through Twitter/X to find all the additional alpha. Apart from the fact that they don't know who to follow and trust, most people spend their time and attention elsewhere — certainly not on Twitter/X.

Mobile audience reach of leading smartphone
apps in the United States

Third, when you search for “Solana” on YouTube, you either stumble across snake oil salesmen or mind-numbing SOL price prediction videos.

Fourth, when googling for “Solana dApps”, things get a bit better. The first search results include guides from both DappRadar and Alchemy. However, the first view DappRadar offers is not helpful at all, and Alchemy's overview includes every Tom, Dick, and Harry in web3/crypto — rendering both content pieces unhelpful for onboarding purposes. 

We know that Solana's mindshare is growing by the day and that more and more eyeballs will look at what we're building and shipping. 

It's on us to make the discovery and user journey as foolproof as possible. 

Here’s some framing that might be helpful:

1. Most of the TAM of web3/crypto is not active on Twitter/X. 

2. To onboard non-crypto natives, the moon boys on YouTube need to be outranked by proper, valuable content.

3. Regarding search engines, we need to claim our stake to avoid misleading takes from traditional media outlets and questionable “Web3 Media” platforms.

From my personal experience, I know that shifting our collective mindset in this regard can be difficult. 

However, by adapting our overall content strategies, we’ll increase the discovery of all things Solana and reduce the subsequent onboarding friction. 

As such, the content funnel we need to build is quite simple: 

a) Why self custody?
b) Why Solana?
c) What about Solana?

→ Solana tech for institutions = more efficient IT system; see Visa
→ Wallets
→ Stablecoins
→ DeFi + Privacy/Zero Knowledge

We have everything to gain and nothing to lose, really. 

So I’m really looking forward to more teams spending resources on delightful onboarding content that sparks excitement among investors, builders, and users.

Chart Of The Week

News Bites

Binance 2.0: Backpack will launch a new crypto exchange 😲 By doing so, the Backpack wallet will offer the full spectrum of custody in one app. On one side, a regulated and compliant exchange, and on the other side a private, non-tracking wallet.

DIY NFTs: With Camera Mint, Phantom now enables users to instantly turn photos and videos on their smartphones into NFTs.

U.S. T-Bills: Maple targets a net APY of the current 1-month U.S. T-bill rate, minus fees, for USDC deposits. Now, the service is accessible through Squads — a multisig — bringing with it an additional layer of enterprise-grade security.

NFT Wines & Spirits: BAXUS is a marketplace that allows for the NFT-powered trading of wines and spirits. Last week, the platform officially rolled out its offering to the public.

zk-SNARKs: Zero knowledge on Solana is going from strength to strength. Up next: zk-SNARKs. The Light team has been able to reduce the size of zk-SNARKs to 128 bytes, giving developers more options to settle ZK-transactions atomically.

Caught In 4K

Weekly Take

Keks & Giggles

And that's a wrap!

If you'd like to reach me, respond to this newsletter or reach out to me on X.

Talk soon!

J264G

_{DISCLAIMER
None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research. Lastly, please be advised that we discuss products and services from our partners from which our team members may hold tokens / equity.}