BTC price surpasses $30.5K at the end of a long quiet weekend

Good morning. Here’s what happens:

the prices: With the long weekend still going on in the US, and plenty of economic data coming out this week, calm prevails in the markets.

ideas: Animoca’s Yat Seo damages GameFi cause by ruling out Ponzi problems.

A long quiet weekend keeps bitcoin above $30k

As the US was in for an extended weekend, the markets are looking thin as Asia kicks off Wednesday’s trading.

Bitcoin fell 1.1% to $30,807, while ether fell 0.8% to $1,939. the CoinDesk Market Index (CMI)A measure of the performance of cryptocurrency markets, it fell 0.9% to 1,262.

Data from CoinGlass It shows that while open interest continues to hold its own in the $14.38 billion market, volume across the board is dropping, with major exchanges reporting declines of between 15-20%. Liquidation volumes reflect this, with only $148,000 in positions liquidated in the last four hours, and $7.2 million liquidated in the last 12 hours.

CoinGlass’s long/short ratio shows that long traders still have a slight edge over short positions, but the trader sentiment survey reveals a mixed bag, with a large group of neutral traders splitting the bullish and bearish crowd.

As CoinDesk previously reported, liquidity remains an ongoing concern, with a decrease in liquidity, which could significantly affect risky assets such as technology stocks and cryptocurrencies. With so much economic data coming out this week, let’s see how traders react.

Siu, co-founder of Animoca, shouldn’t dismiss GameFi’s Ponzi problem

The GameFi industry is working hard to rid itself of the perception that it is a cesspool for Ponzi schemes.

During an interview at the Collision web conference in Toronto, Yat Siu, co-founder and CEO of Animoca Brands, blasted the effort.

“The narrative about GameFi as a Ponzi is an American narrative. If you go to Asia or the Middle East, you won’t hear any of that,” Seo said in response to a question from YouTuber A. Cole. “This is due to a misunderstanding of what GameFi really means.”

Ponzi schemes are investment scams that promise high rates of return where old investors are paid by new investors, rather than legitimate sustainable business activities. To its critics, GameFi’s Play to Earn model is a ponzi scheme due to its reliance on transferring wealth from new players to old players rather than legitimately engaging in gambling.

Siu went on to say that GameFi is not about creating financial value, but rather opening up games’ finances to transparency.

Seo is not wrong in this part. Games have achieved economies of scale for some time; American political helmsman Steve Bannon He made a lot of money in the early 2000s Operating a World of Warcraft virtual gold trading desk in Hong Kong.

But it incredibly ignores the real problem GameFi has with Ponzis – which others have recognized as something holding back the industry.

in Article 2022 Outlining its investment theses, Vader Research, a Web3 gaming market research shop, has argued that the current wave of web3 games is not designed for traditional fun-seeking players but is “designed for cryptocurrency Ponzi return seekers and gold-farers.”

“We believe Ponzis will slow the adoption of Web 3 games,” they wrote. “[Many projects] Using complex tokens to hide the nature of their ponzinomics will take web3 games back a few years in terms of true player adoption.”

Vader points to GameFi projects offering “unrealistic returns,” which they believe not only jeopardizes cryptocurrency adoption in the long term but also hinders the growth of original Web3 games.

A year later, there is some justification for this idea, as we see what happens when the resource inflow does not exceed the outflow.

Data from CryptoRank.io It shows that Animoca Brands’ basket of tokens is down 18% over the past six months, or, over a longer period of time, down 17% over three years. In comparison, many other investors are well inclined to either of these timeframes considering the 2023 mini bull market and the broader growth of cryptocurrency over longer time horizons.

The A16z, for example, is up 20% over the past six months, or 375% in the last three years.

Perhaps the industry would be better off listening to the role of Sith Lord-branded research and not the one defending Ponzinomics by saying everything is misunderstood.

The Hash discussed today’s top stories, including Elon Musk’s announcement that Twitter is placing new “temporary limits” on the number of tweets users can read per day. Additionally, Supriyo Roy, founder and CEO of Atrium, joined the show to discuss the release of a DAO-funded animated film to bring NFTs to life. And an update on Azuki a week after the Elementals NFT distribution.