🐳 Weekly Edition: The Power of Bald Takes Coinbase to New ATH

Crypto capital continues to flood the stock market with US-based exchange Coinbase reaching a new all-time-high this week of $375, representing a gain of almost 50% in two weeks. This stock surge comes as the altcoin market has struggled to see any bids, continuing on the same downtrend it has been on for almost four straight years now, ironically leading many crypto traders back to the Nasdaq. The darling of crypto stocks Circle has cooled off from its meteoric run, falling down to $180 from highs of $300. While I will admit I was wrong about how much market interest there would be in CRCL, I’m happy to say we were right in saying its valuation nearly matching that of Coinbase’s was the product of a highly irrational market. That gap has now once again widened, as it seems TradFi investors have finally read the fine print that half of Circle’s revenue goes to Coinbase.

As we head into the 4th of July, this is generally the period where the market slows down. In previous cycles we’ve operated with the plan to “Sell in May and walk away,” however with new Bitcoin highs reached just this month, we’ve likely shifted timeframes. The question is whether this positive performance on BTC can attract volume and liquidity throughout the next few months, which could potentially open the gate for a select few alt coins to make their run. The narrative that seems to have the most staying power at the moment is of course stablecoins, so we’ll be keeping an eye on this sector as at matures. The market is still focused on stables as a method of consumer payments, yet as with many things in crypto, the biggest use case we’ve found is to support trading — this is primarily the area we’ll keep an eye on.

The Beluga Portfolio stands at ~$111k at time of writing, up a few grand from our update last Friday. While Sonic remains down near the 30 cent mark, Coinbase finally listed the S token this past week. One of the major pain points for Sonic has been gaining attention under their new branding (formerly known as Fantom), and a Coinbase listing could help get the word out. Alt-Layer 1’s in general have struggled this cycle and Sonic is no different, however with a strong ecosystem of some of the biggest names in DeFi led by CTO Andre Cronje, I think they have a pretty good shot are regaining some ground.

One surprise for me at least has been the lackluster price action on Plume since its mainnet launched recently, with it dropping from about $0.20 prior to mainnet launch to $0.08 at current prices. We’re used to seeing “sell the news” in crypto, yet as one of the de facto leaders of blockchain RWA’s it’s somewhat confusing to not see it gaining more traction. Regardless, I remain bullish on Plume and it’s growing ecosystem and look forward to watching it continue its rapid ecosystem growth.

Crypto angels are a bit less formal than equity markets

Beluga is excited to announce the launch of our new Starterpack in partnership with Sapien! Founded by ex-NHL player Trevor Koverko and Co-creator of Base (Coinbase’s L2) Rowan Stone, Sapien is a platform that gamifies AI training tasks built for enterprises and users alike. Check it out below!