Weekly Recommendations | Factors Influencing the Surge of Coinbase Stock; Analyzing the Growth Trajectory of Paradigm's New Partner

Organizer: Cookies, ChainCatcher

1. “Bankless: Why Did Coinbase Stock Surge? What’s the Future Trend?”

After COIN hit a low of $31 on January 6, the stock surged an astonishing 179%. This article analyzes the reasons behind the surge in COIN stock from two aspects, including the Federal Reserve's conservative statements and positive news on the legal front. The article also explores other factors that may affect COIN.

2. “Reviewing Subtle Changes and Future Developments in the NFT Trading & Aggregation Space in 2022”

In recent years, the NFT sector has attracted significant attention from investors. Against the backdrop of the 2022 bear market, NFT-related data has shown considerable volatility, with overall market data continuing to decline since the second half of the year. This article begins by discussing the origins of NFTs and the foundational knowledge of the sector, summarizing historical milestones in the NFT space, introducing the current state of the NFT market, and narrating recent merger activities in the trading layer; it also summarizes the latest policy updates and changes in royalty handling across various platforms, providing an in-depth analysis of the latest technological updates in the field, and giving an overview of the entire sector and its future development direction.

3. “Kraken Suspends Staking Services: Understanding the Relationships and Differences Among 4 Staking Models”

With the news of Kraken suspending Staking, this article provides an introduction and analysis of Staking: 1) Essentially, the most important aspect of Staking is the ownership of two private keys. 2) Due to the different ownership of these two private keys, four types of Staking models have emerged. I believe that after reading this article, you will have a deeper understanding of Lido, Rocket, Coinbase, Kraken, SSV, and Ebunker.

4. “Paradigm Appoints Two New General Partners: What Impact Will Their Investment Strategies Have?”

During the bear market, amidst layoffs and salary cuts in many crypto companies, the personnel changes at top crypto VC fund Paradigm have drawn attention. According to The Block, Paradigm recently promoted risk partner Charlie Noyes and research partner Dan Robinson to general partners, with Dan Robinson also serving as head of research.

What changes will the promotions of Dan Robinson and Charlie Noyes bring to Paradigm? Time will tell. However, we can at least glean some insights from their backgrounds.

5. “Arthur Hayes: After Missing the Rebound, I Decided to Enter the Market”

Arthur Hayes had previously chosen to avoid participating in the market due to concerns about unexpected changes in macroeconomic policies and issues in the crypto industry, but he later changed his perspective. Although the market has rebounded nearly 50% from its lows, Arthur Hayes believes there is still significant potential ahead. He is confident that if Bitcoin and Ethereum continue to rise, there will definitely be a shitcoin vertical market that goes crazy in the coming months.

6. “a16z: Generative AI, the Next Consumer-Level Platform”

We have entered the era of generative AI. Use cases are everywhere—from writing papers to creating comics to editing movies—and the adoption rate has surpassed every consumer technology trend of the past decade. The text generator ChatGPT reached over 1 million users in just five days, and tens of millions of consumers have created AI avatars. The A16z research team believes that one of AI's most powerful capabilities is its ability to personalize user experiences, and this customization will become a core value pillar for many AI-supported products.

7. “The Crypto Market May Face 'Deadly' Regulations from the U.S.: Are There Signs to Follow?”

The Biden administration is quietly attempting to ban cryptocurrencies. What started as a trickle has turned into a flood: the U.S. government is orchestrating a complex and widespread crackdown on the crypto industry through banking organizations. The breadth of this plan nearly encompasses every financial regulatory body, and its highly coordinated nature has even caused the most steadfast crypto veterans to worry that crypto businesses may ultimately be completely disconnected from bank accounts, stablecoins may face difficulties, and exchanges could be entirely shut out from the banking system. This article tracks significant recent events related to banks and policymakers, reviewing the development of crypto regulation.

8. “Grayscale: How Should Ethereum Be Valued?”

Smart contract platforms (SCPs) like Ethereum (ETH) are often referred to as decentralized computers, while payment-oriented crypto assets like Bitcoin are simpler decentralized ledgers. This article attempts to analyze the unique characteristics of smart contract platforms, discuss how their native tokens differ from traditional payment crypto assets like Bitcoin, and propose a valuation framework by examining supply and demand factors. The author believes that the supply and demand dynamics of smart contract platforms are driven by a variety of factors, and understanding these factors and how they interact is crucial for investors looking to assess the investment potential of different platforms.

9. “Interview with StarkWare Co-Founder: Layer 3 Scaling and Cairo Advantages Will Strengthen StarkNet”

Recently, StarkWare held a two-day StarkWare Sessions 2023 event in Tel Aviv, Israel. At the event, members of the StarkWare official team, Ethereum Foundation researchers, and community project team members focused on discussions about StarkNet governance and decentralization progress, StarkNet DeFi, Layer 3, and other hot topics. This article is an interview with Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and president of StarkWare, in which he discusses StarkNet's competitive advantages, degree of decentralization, future vision, and wallet optimization details.

10. “Understanding the Lightning Network: Exploring the Past and Present of Bitcoin Payment Channels”

The Lightning Network conducts transactions off-chain, with only the final transaction results confirmed on-chain, thereby improving the transaction efficiency of the Bitcoin network and allowing users to complete payments at lower costs and faster speeds. The Lightning Network still faces many challenges on the road to widespread adoption, including how to help users psychologically and behaviorally accept using cryptocurrencies for payments, and how to build a vast payment network based on users. However, there is optimism as the Lightning Network already has several real and effective use cases.

11. “Reviewing 34 Projects Launched on Mainnet and Testnet in January”

Since entering January, with the overall rise in prices of mainstream coins like BTC and ETH, the crypto industry has begun to experience a long-awaited warmth. At the same time, many projects are continuing to push forward with construction, consistently announcing financing, and launching testnets and mainnets. According to the crypto data platform RootData, a total of 34 projects launched their mainnets and testnets in January 2023, with 21 projects launching mainnets and 13 projects launching testnets, primarily within the Ethereum, Polygon, and BNB Chain ecosystems.