Welcome to the Beluga Brief, where we deliver data-driven insights to your inbox every day of the week, spending our time in the crypto trenches and combing through thousands of crypto news feeds so you don’t have to.

What happened today?

We woke up to some nice positive movement in the market as well as one of the most anticipated Web3 game token launches of the year, Hamster Kombat. After opening at a $1B Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) on Binance with almost $800M in volume in just a few hours, $HMSTR seems to be settling out just under a $700M FDV. Last year we saw the successful $BIGTIME gaming token launch kick off a string of other gaming tokens to also go on a run, so keep an eye on how $HMSTR performs over the next week or so to be positioned ahead of time in case this happens again. This is also a big launch for the TON ecosystem (better known as the Telegram coin) as they’ve had some difficult headlines recently including the Telegram founder being arrested.

Bitcoin rose as high as $66,000 today before dropping back below $65,000 and is currently sitting at the top of this multi-month channel as you can see above. Our largest Beluga Trading Wallet holding Fantom $FTM popped over 70 cents again, which brings our balance to about $95,000. It’s funny how months of pain can be undone in a matter of weeks in crypto, however this is a pretty important decision point for BTC and the market as a whole: are we going to keep within this trend channel and get smacked back down, or is this the time we finally break through? Only time will tell, however with the way the supply of stablecoins is going (nearly all-time-high), general market sentiment, and encouraging price action for alt-coins I’m personally betting this is the break out.

Biggest Headlines

The Beluga intern has been hard at work gathering all the most important crypto news stories so you have them in one place!

The Majors

• Bitcoin rallies amid positive U.S. jobs data and reports of more China stimulus measures

• Bitcoin hits $65K for first time since early August, renewing investor interest in Spot ETFs

Regulatory

• Gensler warns crypto industry ‘will not long persist’ without investor protection

• Mark Cuban wants to replace Gensler at SEC in sign Harris camp is embracing crypto

Alt Coins

• Waiting for altcoin season: Why recent rallies may just be strong bounces

• Avalanche unveils $40M grant program ahead of ‘Avalanche9000’ upgrade

New Launches

• Hamster Kombat token goes live for trading with airdrop to 131 million user accounts

Miscellaneous

• Robinhood, Revolut explore joining $170 Billion stablecoin market

• Examiner finds Sullivan & Cromwell didn’t ignore ‘red flags’ that would’ve tipped them off to FTX’s misconduct

Tweet of the Day

When legendary (and somewhat infamous) trader Alex Wice calls bull market, you should probably listen.

Fun Fact

The first-ever crypto debit card was issued by BitPay in 2016.

The content on this site is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. While Beluga strives to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of information, there may be discrepancies when comparing our data to that of financial institutions, service providers, or specific product websites. Always consult with a professional before making any financial decisions.

Will McKinnon is the Head of Content for Beluga and has spent every day for many years trading coins. For that reason there are too many to name, however his largest holdings by a significant margin are Ethereum and Bitcoin. NFA DYOR