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Weekly Beluga Insights

Another positive week in the books for the crypto market has BTC has once again surged over $100,000 in part due to President-elect Trump’s comments at the opening bell earlier this week. BTC wasn’t the only thing that breached $100k though, as NFT collection Pudgy Penguins reached a 6 figure floor for the first time ever. After all the headlines about NFT’s as an asset class being dead, it’s pretty wild to see the continued success of the Pudgy brand from selling toys in Walmart to the upcoming airdrop of their highly-anticipated $PENGU token.

While Ethereum still lags behind its peers on a yearly performance basis, the Trump-backed World Liberty Financial protocol on Ethereum has acquired $50M worth of ETH and DeFi coins in the past few days — if you’re interested in seeing what they’re up to for yourself, you can see their live portfolio here. While $50M is a drop in the bucket compared to the volume something like ETH does, the attention on the asset this provides can’t be understated. Not only is the attention important, but this sets a very important precedent making it far easier for US-based crypto companies to participate without overreaching regulatory bodies.

There is one coin everyone is talking about now, however, that doesn’t quite fit into the DeFi category… Solana-based meme Fartcoin has been all over X after it broke a $500M market cap, making it more valuable than 40% of all publicly traded companies in the US. Maybe the memecoin supercycle is real after all?

Major Movers of the Week

Public Trading Wallet Update

Not much has really changed in the Beluga wallet this week other than surviving the big liquidation cascades, nearing the $200k mark once again. The DeFi sector has continued to perform particularly well, with $CRV and $AAVE leading the charge in our portfolio. It seems the $CRV pump is largely due to an announcement from Blackrock that will see Curve integrated with their $500M tokenized assets platform, and the $AAVE pump came from… Trump buying it?

Even though World Liberty Financial isn’t Trump’s personal wallet by any means, it seems the market is treating it as such - $AAVE has surged 40% since reports on Wednesday showed World Liberty’s buying history. If this trend continues, keep an eye on the other staples of DeFi that they haven’t purchased yet — $CRV, $CVX, and others may end up catching a bid. I’m still waiting on the Sonic bridge to go live as well, as the chain it is replacing (Fantom) was a DeFi powerhouse last cycle.

Catch Up on What You Missed

• Bit Global sues Coinbase over its delisting

• Japanese lawmaker named Satoshi pushes for National Bitcoin Reserve

• BlackRock Ethereum ETF pulls in $1.5 billion during 16-day hot streak

• MegaETH developer raises $10 million in 3 minutes on Cobie’s Echo

• First criminal crypto tax evader in US sentenced to two years in prison

Tweet of the Week

Hawk Tuah has now been missing from X for over a week after launching her memecoin, but honestly I’m not sure anyone is surprised.

Recent Beluga Content

Disclaimer

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