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X Space Review | How Will Animechain Transform the Anime Industry?
On January 13, the anime project Animecoin announced the ANIME tokenomics. Total Supply: 10 billion ANIME, Initial Circulating Supply: 7.69 billion ANIME, with 37.5% of the tokens allocated to the Azuki community. Azuki is the most significant contributor to the Anime Foundation, and the emergence of Animecoin has also received high attention from the Azuki community.
On January 23, BlockBeats invited Azuki's Content Lead, Er Yue Cha, to discuss the latest developments and future directions of Azuki and Animechain under the theme "How Will Animechain Change the Anime Industry?"
BlockBeats: Welcome to our guest today, please start by introducing yourself.
Er Yue Cha: Hello, host, hello to all the rhythmic listeners, I am Er Yue Cha. Thank you for the opportunity today to share my thoughts and experiences on Animechain and Azuki with everyone. In the team, I mainly take charge of the content section, including YouTube short film planning, ongoing anime IP development, and overall coordination of large-scale anime projects.
BlockBeats: Before we officially begin, would you like to share a story about Azuki?
Er Yue Cha: Let's start with the history of Azuki's image and name. The current Azuki combines elements of urban culture, fantasy, ninjas, and Chinese style, but the initial design direction was actually animal-themed—2021-2022 was the golden age of animal avatars. The four familiar images now, the sloth, red panda, cat, and frog, were chosen for their lazy traits. After multiple iterations, animal features were combined with human forms, integrating elements of Eastern and Western cultures, ultimately forming the unique style we see today.
There's a little story about the naming as well: early on, names like "Casual Ninja" were considered, but eventually, Azuki (Red Bean) was chosen not only because it's catchy but also because red beans themselves have a strong visual symbolic value that can effectively unify the IP image. Despite the morphological adjustments, the core essence has always remained unchanged.
BlockBeats: As the Anime TGE is approaching, how do you feel as a core builder at this moment?
February Tea: It's very complicated, on one hand very excited, on the other hand very anxious, and finally it all settles down. Of course, for us, this is a very special day, and everyone is very excited in their hearts. We hope to provide everyone with a satisfactory response in terms of technology, product, and the ultimate vision, so we are very nervous as well. But actually, from a longer-term perspective, today can only represent a day for Animechain, Azuki, and even the entire anime industry. It does not mean that everything is done after the TGE. There will still be various developments in the industry, product, and IP after that. This is only the first step of a long journey.
BlockBeats: Currently, there is a misunderstanding in the market that Anime coin is mistaken for Azuki issuing coins. Can you clarify the relationship among the three?
February Tea: From a legal framework perspective, the issuer of the coin is the Anime Foundation, and Azuki is its core contributor. In terms of strategy: Azuki is the content IP, Anime.com focuses on the Web2 product experience, and Animechain provides blockchain infrastructure. The relationship among the three is similar to a symbiotic system of user product platforms and IP, with Web3 technology serving as the underlying support for the "full-stack anime" vision. The specific chemical reaction still needs time to validate.
BlockBeats: Why does anime need its own blockchain? Please elaborate on the concept of "full-stack anime."
February Tea: This question ultimately returns to anime fans and the anime medium. I am also an anime enthusiast, having watched anime from childhood to now. The anime medium itself is undergoing many changes. It has evolved from TV to games, peripheral products, and now to Web3 products like Azuki.
I believe that the art style and expression of anime have unlimited potential. It is precisely because of the love for anime that we have everything now. If the anime cannot create such a strong spiritual resonance between us and the whole team, maybe we wouldn't have started in this direction at the beginning. So, whether it's our products or Animechain, everything will eventually return to the love for the medium itself.
Anime as an industry has a lot of room for progress. For a simple example, the production logic of TV animation hasn't changed much in decades. The general logic of fundraising, distribution, and production of anime is still based on the rules set by Master Tezuka Osamu at the beginning. It follows a low-cost approach for TV distribution or manga adaptation. This path in Japan has matured, giving birth to many great works. But from the current perspective, this path may have encountered some issues.
For example, from a production perspective, it is found that many anime studios have overall lower wages. At the same time, the anime medium requires a social platform, where each anime fan consumes and shares anime in different ways. So whether from a production or fan perspective, there is an opportunity to try practical applications through blockchain technology. Therefore, we have proposed a Web3-centric solution.
BlockBeats: What unique experiences can anime fans have using Animechain?
February Tea: If you like a certain anime, such as Azuki. We collaborated with Takuya Eguchi-sensei, who voiced Lelouch, on a three-episode anime selection on YouTube. When the first episode was released, we were thinking: What would a product that is completely oriented towards anime fans while incorporating a Web3 experience be like?
One subplot in the first episode used a dynamically generated method to include the NFT of each Azuki user. It provided a very novel experience where the anime directly featured the NFT avatars that the viewers owned, and the overall feedback was very positive.
In addition, we also made efforts in the peripheral art of the first episode of the anime. We partnered with Zora to turn posters and videos into NFT collections, which is a very specific user scenario. Through Animechain, we hope to expand this application scenario to more situations and IPs. Last year, we were fortunate to collaborate with Fate on a set of co-branded stickers, which we also shared with everyone in advance on Anime.com. There will be more scenarios to experience in the future. In terms of the IP linkage of anime, many powerful game companies, especially some excellent game IPs in China such as Genshin Impact and Stellar Celestials Railway, have given us a lot of inspiration.
BlockBeats: After the first short film broke 2 million views, what are Azuki's next plans?
February Tea: It will definitely involve content development. Short films have their advantages as they allow everyone to understand Azuki from different perspectives. Our short film is a bit like Love, Death & Robots. The same concept requires interpretations from many different directors. Honestly, Azuki is still very early as an anime IP. But from the perspective of anime fans, this model is far from enough as what they like the most are 12-episode or 24-episode seasonal anime.
In addition, there is still a lot of room for development in anime movies. From a media perspective, our selection this time may only be a beginning. But this beginning is very important and has groundbreaking significance. What we need to do next is to improve the quality of the content. Hopefully, in the not too distant future, everyone can remember Azuki through a feature-length anime or anime movie, and anime fans from Web2 can also experience such a world without fully understanding Web3.
BlockBeats: What challenges does turning an NFT project into an animated IP face?
Er Yuet Cha: Creating anime itself is a massive undertaking. Popular anime from last year, such as Taisho Otome Fairy Tale, Jujutsu Kaisen, and others were mostly based on manga. These anime had a long manga series to lay the foundation for the story and characters before production. This situation is quite common in Japan, where manga undergoes extensive iterations. Especially in a situation where hundreds or even thousands of new manga are released every year, the market competition is very fierce, and the surviving works are sure to have a well-crafted worldview, good characters, and engaging stories.
From this perspective, the path of the Azuki IP is very different from traditional manga. Azuki itself did not originate from a manga-based animated IP but is an animated IP generated from the NFT Web3 direction. We need to fill in all the missing IP development ingredients already provided by manga-based IPs.
First, we need to establish the worldview of the Azuki universe. We went through about two years, until the end of last year, to finally create version 1.0 of the Azuki world bible. This process was very arduous, and we hope that this documentation of the worldview can become the cornerstone of future IP development.
In addition, another disadvantage compared to traditional manga-based IPs is the relatively shallow connection between Web3 and the anime industry. This means we need to spend more time negotiating with Japanese directors, animators, voice actors, and even existing IP companies. Fortunately, Azuki has gained recognition and support from many Japanese creators, and they are willing to try. So many of the conversations are very positive, and we have been able to gather a group of excellent directors and animators to collaborate with us on this short film project.
But this is not enough. We have also encountered many obstacles in the creative development of the animation. In addition to the IP, how to find good studios and directors in the industry, and ultimately establish an industrial connection is also essential work for us.
BlockBeats: Have you encountered any particularly interesting incidents when interacting with Japanese anime fans or Azuki fans?
February Tea: There are many stories about this. When we first started looking for IP developers and studios in Japan, Azuki had already been on sale for over a year and had a certain influence in Web3, so we wanted to use our existing achievements to communicate with them. However, we were met with a bucket of cold water. Everyone was asking: Who are you? What is Azuki? The world outside of Web3 anime is very large, with many talented individuals and works in the anime industry, so we often encountered barriers.
But Director Taniguchi left a deep impression on me. When he collaborated with us, he quickly understood what NFTs and blockchain were all about. He is a very creative person himself and a senior with a lot of experience in the Japanese anime industry and IP development. Surprisingly, he was very enthusiastic about the concepts of NFTs and Web3. Through detailed discussions, we found that he also noticed the same issues as us, such as fundraising methods, production methods, and even the way to interact with fans. In fact, there hasn't been a significant change in the anime industry for over 30 years. He believed that perhaps NFTs and Web3 could be used to connect the previous anime with fans in a different way, integrating the concept of collecting into IP development from the beginning.
During the one to two years we have been in the anime industry, we have met many people like him. One particularly touching story was about our character designer for the first episode, Mr. Nishimura. He was also a designer for the "Street Fighter" game. When we first launched, our art director, Steamboy, had been greatly influenced by Mr. Nishimura's designs in "Street Fighter." Decades later, these two spiritual "master and disciple" figures reunited through anime and collaborated on a project. It was a very interesting and magical fate.
BlockBeats: Could you please share more about some of the cool achievements that the Azuki community has achieved in IP expansion?
February Tea: There are many stories about this. For example, CreatorDAO, led by our senior Da Shuo from the Chinese community. From the perspective of community IP development, this is also the luckiest part of Azuki. The community has attracted so many people, and many members have chosen to join our team directly, including myself. In terms of creation, we have been keeping track of the amount of fan works in the community, which surpassed tens of thousands at a very early stage. From the perspective of fan art alone, the community's IP far exceeded my expectations early on. Many listeners are now familiar with these "faces" and have attracted many fans and influencers to themselves through their fan art contributions to Azuki. Previously, Spirit DAO's comics were turned into physical and NFT form, which was very cool.
Another example is using your own IP for deep content development, like Steve G, who created several short videos using his own Azuki, even stringing them together into a story. On the other hand, I find it particularly interesting that due to the design of our NFT, everyone can use their own image for secondary commercial purposes. So, students in our community have used their Azuki images in some small entrepreneurial projects, which is also very cool.
I myself travel between San Francisco and Japan. In San Francisco, we have a coffee shop called KAIZEN COFFEE, which is a very cool spot in the Bay Area. There is a huge Azuki sticker at the entrance, and every time I go there, I feel very at home. In addition to that, there are many coffee beans, children's books, and teas designed with Azuki's image.
BlockBeats: Azuki has been around for almost three years now. Do you still have the same passion and flame as when you first joined the Azuki team?
February Tea: Definitely. The interesting thing is that Web3 changes very rapidly, and I personally really like BlockBeats. I have noticed that a new narrative emerges every two weeks as I follow the news. Even for me, staying completely up-to-date with the industry pulse in real-time is a particularly challenging task.
So the passion is always there, but the challenges keep evolving. For example, during the COVID-19 period, the current AI wave, and so on, they have brought a lot of industry concerns and structural changes. I believe that without long-term passion, it is very difficult to sustain in this industry.
BlockBeats: In the next three years, what new breakthroughs do you most hope to see Azuki achieve?
February Tea: Let's talk about it from three aspects. First is IP. I hope that in the next three years, Azuki can release even more and better content to attract fans of anime from Web2. When people talk about Azuki, they will think it's awesome and amazing. The second aspect is, of course, Animechain. I hope that after the TGE, three years later, Animechain can have a certain influence in the anime fan and anime industry. If it can solve some of the existing production and experiential issues, that would be even better. The third aspect is Anime.com. I hope that in the next three years, Anime.com can become a hub for anime fans, attracting more fans with Web3 and Web2 backgrounds to play and experience.
In any case, the road ahead is long, with much to be done and many challenges to face along the way. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step today. I hope that in the next three years, there will be tangible progress in all aspects, and I also hope that everyone can continue to pay attention.
BlockBeats: Do you have anything else to say to the members of the Azuki Community and NFT players?
Er Ye Cha: I believe that both NFTs and anime are in a rapidly changing stage. Whether it's as a technology, an experience, or a product of the future, there are still many immature aspects to NFTs themselves, as well as possibly to anime. It has come such a long way, and we have gained a certain level of understanding of it. But beyond this understanding, changes are happening at any time.
So, whether it's Azuki or beyond the community, I believe that the entire Web3 community is in a very fortunate time. Many industries, products, and experiences seen before have the potential to be revolutionized by Web3. How this potential will ultimately materialize is actually a major topic we have been exploring all along. What we most hope for now is to use this technology to truly change intellectual property and creators, thereby making Web3 and anime better and better.
Space Link: https://x.com/i/spaces/1dRKZddlYDVJB/peek
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Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Infrastructure Bill'
If the US stablecoin bill, the "GENIUS Act," passes smoothly this time, its significance will be tremendous. I even think it's significant enough to enter the top five in Crypto history.
Although abbreviated as the GENIUS Act, which translates directly to the Genius Act, it is actually the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, which translates to "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Dollar Stablecoins."
The proposal is lengthy, with several key points summarized for everyone:
· Mandatory 1:1 Full Asset Backing: Assets include cash, demand deposits, and short-term US Treasuries. At the same time, misappropriation and rehypothecation are strictly prohibited.
· High-Frequency Disclosure: Reserve reports must be published at least monthly, introducing external audits.
· Licensing Requirement: Once the circulating market cap of the issuer's stablecoin exceeds $100 billion, it must transition into the federal regulatory system within a specified timeframe, adopting banking-grade regulation.
· Introduction of Custody: The custodian of the stablecoin and its reserve assets must be a regulated qualified financial institution.
· Clear Definition as a Payment Medium: The bill explicitly defines stablecoin as a new type of payment medium, primarily regulated by the banking regulatory system, rather than restricted by the securities or commodities regulatory system.
· Embracing Existing Stablecoins: A maximum 18-month grace period after the bill's enactment, aimed at encouraging existing stablecoin issuers (such as USDT, USDC, etc.) to promptly obtain licenses or become compliant.
After finishing the main content, let's talk about the significance of this matter with an excited heart.
Over the years, when others asked, "After working in the Crypto industry for 16 years, what application have you created?"
In the future, you can confidently tell others—Stablecoins.
Some people have held opposing views. In the past, people's impression of stablecoins was that they were an opaque black box. Every few months, there would be FUD — whether Tether's assets were frozen or Circle had a significant black hole deficit.
In fact, if you think about it, Tether easily rakes in billions of dollars a year just from the interest on those underlying government bonds. Circle, slightly less, also made a $1.7 billion profit last year.
They basically made money while standing there. From a motivational standpoint, they have no malicious intentions. In fact, they are the most eager for compliance.
Now, this opaque black box will become a transparent white box.
In the past, the only complaint was that Tether's funds might have been frozen by the United States. Now, they will be directly placed into U.S. compliant custodial institutions, with high-frequency disclosures, so you can rest assured.
【No need to worry about a rug pull】 is such a huge advantage—I think especially all Crypto people understand this.
Stablecoins were once almost on the verge of being overtaken by CBDCs. In any country, if a central bank digital currency really exists, it is highly likely not built on a blockchain, at most it is built on some internal central bank consortium chain, which to be honest, is meaningless.
When CBDCs were at their peak, that was the most dangerous time for stablecoins.
If CBDCs had become a reality back then, stablecoins today would have been relentlessly suppressed into a dark corner, and blockchain would only be able to play a minimal role.
The remaining half-dead stablecoins would even have to learn the standards of central bank digital currencies, completely relinquishing their standard-setting power.
And now, stablecoins have won (or are about to).
Instead, everyone should learn the 【Blockchain + Token】 standard.
Nowadays, many blockchains actually have no meaningful applications on top, only stablecoin transfers. For example, with Aptos, the only scenario I use Aptos for is transfers between Binance and OKX.
And now, stablecoins will be legislated, what does that mean?
That's right, blockchain will become the only standard.
In the future, every stablecoin user will be the first to learn how to use a wallet.
As an aside, I actually think Ethereum's concerted push for EIP-7702 is quite forward-thinking. While other chains are all about memes, thank you Ethereum for sticking to account abstraction.
EIP-7702 is about Account Abstraction, which can support, for example:
· Social Account Registration Wallet
· Paying GAS with Native Coin
· And more
This paves the way for future new users to heavily use stablecoins, solving the last-mile problem.
Furthermore, once stablecoins receive legislative support, deposits and withdrawals will become even easier.
Let's imagine a scenario: previously, hindered by the gray nature of stablecoins, but after the bill passes, many traditional brokerages can support stablecoins themselves. The money from a US stock investor can be converted into stablecoins in minutes and instantly deposited into Coinbase. Believe it or not.
Let's imagine another scenario: if the brilliant bill smoothly passes through the House of Representatives, next, you will see:
Due to the extremely lucrative nature of this trading, existing stablecoin leaders and newly entering traditional giants will crazily start promoting their stablecoin products.
And an outsider, due to these promotions, will start using stablecoins. And then one day, after finding out that the wallet account has been created, will explore Bitcoin inside. Is mining Bitcoin difficult?
Stablecoins are a huge Trojan horse. The moment you start using stablecoins, you unwittingly step half a foot into the Crypto world.
As a large reservoir for digesting US debt, although stablecoins cannot directly absorb debt, they at least provide ammunition for the US debt secondary market. These functions are quite important, and slowly, stablecoins are becoming a part of the US debt market's body. Therefore, once the US legislation is passed and experiences the benefits, there is no turning back.
And, we are also confident that stablecoins are indeed one of the great innovations in our industry. People who have used stablecoins will find it hard to return to the traditional cash-banking system.
Once the bill is passed, users can't go back. In the future, concerns are about to be resolved, standards will be mastered, and the era of large deposits seems to be on the horizon.
Original Article Link
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1.Binance Alpha Launches HIPPO, BLUE, and Other Tokens
2.Believe Ecosystem Tokens See General Rise, LAUNCHCOIN Surges Over 250% in 24 Hours
3.Tiger Securities Introduces Cryptocurrency Deposit and Withdrawal Service, Supports Mainstream Cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH
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Source: Overheard on CT (tg: @overheardonct), Kaito
PUMP: Today's discussions about PUMP focus on its new creator revenue-sharing model: the platform will allocate 50% of PumpSwap revenue to token creators, sparking varied reactions from users. Some criticize the move as insufficient or even misleading, while others view it as a positive step the platform is taking to reward creators. Meanwhile, PUMP faces market pressure from emerging competitors like LetsBONKfun and Raydium, which are rapidly gaining market share. Users also express concerns about PUMP's sustainability and potential regulatory risks in the U.S., with discussions extending to the platform's impact on the entire memecoin ecosystem.
COINBASE: Today, Coinbase became the first crypto company to join the S&P 500 Index, replacing Discover Financial Services, sparking widespread industry attention. The entire crypto community views this milestone as a significant development, signaling that crypto assets are further integrating into the mainstream financial system. The news has sparked lively discussions on Twitter, with many users pointing out that this may attract more institutional investors to enter the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency markets.
XRP: XRP became the focal point of today's crypto discussion, with its significant market movements and strategic advances drawing attention. XRP has surpassed USDT to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, sparking market excitement and discussions about its future potential. The surge in market capitalization and price is believed to be related to increasing institutional interest, deepening strategic partnerships, and its role in the crypto ecosystem. Additionally, XRP's integration into multiple financial systems and its potential as a macro asset class are also seen as key factors driving the current market sentiment.
DYDX: Today's discussions about DYDX mainly focused on the dYdX Yapper Leaderboard launched by KaitoAI. The leaderboard aims to identify the most active community participants, with a total of $150,000 in rewards to be distributed over the first three seasons. This initiative has sparked broad community participation, with many users discussing the potential rewards and the incentive effect on the DYDX ecosystem. Meanwhile, progress on the ethDYDX to dYdX native chain migration and historical airdrop events have also been topics of discussion.
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Within 24 hours, GOONC's market cap soared to 70 million, could GOONC be the next billion-dollar dog on the Believe platform?
Bitcoin has broken $100,000, Ethereum has surpassed 2500, and is Solana's hot streak about to make a comeback?
The current market is in a state of macro euphoria, with GOONC riding the wave today, skyrocketing 10x in just a few hours, reaching a market cap of tens of millions of dollars, trading volume soaring past 50 million, and rumors swirling that the developer may be from OpenAI (unconfirmed but intriguing enough).
A ludicrous and absurd Solana meme that some actually buy into.
GOONC is a meme coin that has sprouted from the "gooning" subculture, offering no technological innovation or practical use, its sole function being speculation.
It takes inspiration from an NSFW term "gooning," which refers to a person being deeply immersed in certain content (you know what), eventually entering a nearly religious-like trance.
In Reddit (such as r/GOONED, r/GoonCaves) and some counterculture media outlets (such as MEL Magazine in 2020), "gooning" has gradually transitioned from an adult label to a meme-addicted, digital content and virtual self-indulgence synonym, arguably the epitome of Degen spirit.
GOONC is playing around with this concept, packaging the addictive nature, uselessness, and irony of gooning into a tradable financial product. The project team has made it clear: "We do not solve blockchain problems, we only trade absurdity." Blunt but oddly genuine.
GOONC launched on May 13, 2025, using the meme coin launch platform Believe App's LaunchCoin module on Solana. This tool is highly Degen: zero technical barriers, a few clicks to create a coin, perfect for projects like GOONC that can come up with ideas out of the blue.
The mastermind behind GOONC is also quite something and is the most talked-about, with KOL @basedalexandoor on X platform (alias "Pata van Goon") personally involved. His profile even caught the attention of Marc Andreessen, co-founder of a16z, making onlookers unable to resist speculating if GOONC has a hint of OpenAI lineage.
While this 'OpenAI Endorsement' is currently just community speculation, it is definitely a good card to play to fuel hype. Saying "we are pure speculation" on one hand, while tagging a few "AI + a16z" on the other.
GOONC took off as soon as it launched. After its launch on May 13, 2025, its market capitalization skyrocketed to $22 million within 4 hours, with a trading volume exceeding $25.6 million in 24 hours. According to platform data, the first day of trading saw an astonishing +41,100% surge, soaring from $0.0000001 to $0.02, becoming a "missed-the-boat" situation.
GOONC quickly formed an active trading community post-launch, with a lot of discussion and trading signals appearing on X platform (such as the 292x return signal provided by DeBot). Liquidity pools on exchanges like Raydium and Meteora grew rapidly, supporting high trading volumes and price increases.
The real climax occurred between May 13 and May 14, with the market cap rising to $5.5 million in the morning and directly surpassing $55 million in the afternoon. By the 14th, it briefly approached a $70 million market cap, with the trading volume soaring to $59 million. Some community members even posted screenshots claiming an increase of +85,000%, creating a new myth out of the ruins.
As of 1:30 pm on May 14, the price stabilized around $0.039, with a total market cap and FDV both around $39.6 million, and a 24-hour trading volume of $5.43 million. Active platforms include XT.COM, LBank, Meteora, and others.
Although there was a slight pullback from the peak ($0.07), the coin's popularity remains strong. For a coin that relies purely on "irony + community + X post" to thrive, this performance is already at a stellar level.
Currently, the background of the token's development team is not transparent, increasing the potential risk of a rug pull. Rugcheck.xyz warns that the creator of the GOONC contract may have permission to modify the contract (e.g., change fees or mint additional tokens), posing certain security risks.
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Binance Sparks "Delist Concept": Can CEX Still Produce the Next ALPACA?
On April 24, Binance announced that it would delist four tokens, including Alpaca Finance ($ALPACA), on May 2, and cease trading of these pairs' perpetual futures contracts at 00:00 on May 1, 2025, Beijing time. Fast forward to the last day of perpetual futures trading delisting, ALPACA surged on the liquidation heat map. Over the past 24 hours, a total of $52.21 million evaporated in ALPACA's contract trading, exceeding the sum of the token's liquidation volume over the past two years.
Historically, when a token is listed on Binance, many traders would buy the news instantly ("Buy the News"). As the Binance listing effect gradually waned, traders found another path, which is to short sell the tokens set to be delisted from Binance ("Sell the News"). This strategy often has a very high success rate. However, as traders followed this path, they encountered the Alpaca on their short-selling journey.
Every thrilling market manipulation game requires careful preparation. Before Binance's official announcement, on April 10, $ALPACA was ranked 7th in the preliminary list of the second batch of "Vote for Delisting" on Binance, causing its price to plummet almost by half. However, in the five days leading up to Binance's official announcement, from April 19 to April 23, trading volume suddenly surged.
The story traces back to the start of Binance's second round of "Vote for Delisting," where ALPACA was included in the delisting candidates list, ranked 7th among 17 projects. After the completion of Binance's delisting vote count, $ALPACA was included in the projects to be delisted. The market did not react significantly, price fluctuations were not substantial, but trading volumes expanded abnormally, suggesting the entry of "manipulative funds" into the community.
On April 24, Binance officially announced the delisting of the $ALPACA spot trading pair on May 2 and the settlement of the futures contracts on April 30. Following the announcement, the spot price of $ALPACA dropped from $0.0329 to $0.029, with a market cap of only about $5 million. However, what followed were two price "rollercoaster" moments; within an hour, the price surged from $0.029 to $0.0857, an increase of about 195%, only to rapidly drop back to $0.04 within 3 hours. Shorts were caught off guard, and the open interest of contracts surged rapidly, initiating the "long and short grinder" mode.
On April 25, Alpaca Finance officially announced that the trading volume in the past 24 hours had exceeded 1 billion tokens. The liquidity provider had suggested a "minting for stability" to be returned to the treasury after a decrease in trading volume. However, as public opinion began to ferment, opposition filled the community. Alpaca Finance deleted the previous tweet and posted a new one at 9 p.m. on the same night, announcing the cancellation of the minting due to community opposition.
On April 26, Binance amended the contract funding rate rules, shortening the maximum rate cap settlement period to hourly and setting it at up to ±2%. Some high-leverage accounts continued to hold short positions against the high rate and were liquidated. Millions of dollars disappeared within a few hours, with $13 million in short positions vanishing on a token with a market cap of less than $30 million.
With the establishment of this short-selling trend, the price skyrocketed nearly 12 times from a low of $0.029 to $0.3477 within 3 days. The contract's open interest surged significantly, especially with a notable increase in short positions, resembling a microcosm of the Wall Street battle of GME's retail investors. However, this time, the retail investors' opponents could continue to mint additional chips.
From April 26 to April 29, these days were relatively calm, with the price fluctuating around $0.2 to $0.34. On April 29, Binance announced another increase in the rate cap to ±4%. Theoretically, such a high rate would severely impact short positions. If the rate remains at -4%, the bears will face a 96% "cost of ruin" after holding a short position for 24 hours. However, miraculously, the price plummeted from $0.27 to $0.067.
On April 30, with the contract delisting and liquidation scheduled in the final 24 hours, the price continued to experience intense fluctuations. ALPACA's attention peaked, with its highest price reaching $1.2 at one point. From a week before the delisting announcement to the eve of the contract delisting, ALPACA's price surged 40 times, creating an independent market for the token delisted by Binance. The total liquidation volume across the network also reached $50 million, with $42 million in "bearish fuel" beneath the price surge.
After the first surge of ALPACA, Heyi, the co-founder of Binance, replied to a netizen asking, "Can the teacher who buys the shell guarantee breakeven?" This has also triggered endless speculation among community members.
KOL Tunbtc believes that Heyi's reply to this matter was the starting point of ALPACA's surge. "The large holders of Alpaca's native token, by transferring spot chips, operating rights, and distribution rights, have pledged allegiance to Binance's deep-water core interest circle, allowing it to fully harvest market liquidity before delisting, slaughtering opposing positions." Through a triple path of fees, contract liquidations, and spot volatility, they converted user attention into profits.
He also called on Binance to thoroughly investigate this matter, clarify which market maker is manipulating the candlestick patterns, as ALPACA saw an 18x surge within 24 hours with users liquidated of tens of millions of dollars, while previously GPS's 500% surge was promptly halted, and expressed his sentiment: "All of this is thought-provoking."
Wenze, the founder of Beta Capital, believes that bypassing the regular listing process, buying shells, renaming, and restarting has crossed Binance's bottom line of maintaining listing credibility and brand compliance. Binance sometimes has a high tolerance for market fluctuations, and the OM issuance only adjusts the collateralization ratio, with many projects only allowed for leveraged trading. However, once the project, such as these "shell projects," is identified, it is easily labeled for observation, triggering a vote for delisting, ultimately leading to delisting rather than using mild measures.
Renowned KOL Rui, "YeruiZhang," likened the ALPACA incident to "crazy revenge on an ex" and shared a piece of insider information, claiming that the original whale behind ALPACA was a team that controlled BSC's MEV for a period of time and expressed dissatisfaction with Binance's current management for some reason. The comments section is rampant with speculation that it is BSC's whale 48CLUB, and 48CLUB's Ian even personally appeared to eat "his own melon."
With the recent buzz around VOXEL's surge and the wealth effect and discussion surrounding ALPACA, more and more "delisting concepts" have emerged. This concept does not necessarily refer to tokens that have already been delisted but rather shares some common characteristics of delisted tokens.
Famous KOL Chuanmo recently shared on Twitter his logic for choosing concept tokens and listed several tokens, all of which experienced varying degrees of price increase after his recommendation.
His "Concept Delisting" strategy involves selecting low-cap tokens from Bybit and Binance, arranging them by market cap from lowest to highest, with almost 100% price increase for the tokens with the highest holdings/circulating market cap. He buys three tokens daily following this order with a fixed amount, and based on the holdings/circulating supply ratio, he removes tokens that no longer meet the criteria daily and continues to buy the new top three tokens.
Many community members have tested this strategy, with some creating helpful tools. The dreamer Disney "discountifu" has created a dashboard, and Vivek10 early bird "vivekw_eth" has developed a monitoring and alert system that can be directly pushed to WeChat with a copyable link, although it is currently deployed locally and not yet entirely stable.
However, when using tools created for free by community members, please be cautious. While there are many enthusiastic contributors in the community, there are also many uncertain factors in this dark forest.
In an increasingly insular market, retail investors not only have to contend with whales and other retail investors but also must bear many unstable elements. The recent ALPACA incident serves as a warning to us. Whether it's a primary or secondary listing on a top-tier exchange or the "Concept Delisting" approach, we need to make rational asset allocations amidst FOMO to protect our principal and reach the other shore.
The mention of all tokens above does not constitute financial investment advice "NFA".
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Never Underestimate the Significance of the US Stablecoin 'Infrastructure Bill'
If the US stablecoin bill, the "GENIUS Act," passes smoothly this time, its significance will be tremendous. I even think it's significant enough to enter the top five in Crypto history.
Although abbreviated as the GENIUS Act, which translates directly to the Genius Act, it is actually the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins, which translates to "Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Dollar Stablecoins."
The proposal is lengthy, with several key points summarized for everyone:
· Mandatory 1:1 Full Asset Backing: Assets include cash, demand deposits, and short-term US Treasuries. At the same time, misappropriation and rehypothecation are strictly prohibited.
· High-Frequency Disclosure: Reserve reports must be published at least monthly, introducing external audits.
· Licensing Requirement: Once the circulating market cap of the issuer's stablecoin exceeds $100 billion, it must transition into the federal regulatory system within a specified timeframe, adopting banking-grade regulation.
· Introduction of Custody: The custodian of the stablecoin and its reserve assets must be a regulated qualified financial institution.
· Clear Definition as a Payment Medium: The bill explicitly defines stablecoin as a new type of payment medium, primarily regulated by the banking regulatory system, rather than restricted by the securities or commodities regulatory system.
· Embracing Existing Stablecoins: A maximum 18-month grace period after the bill's enactment, aimed at encouraging existing stablecoin issuers (such as USDT, USDC, etc.) to promptly obtain licenses or become compliant.
After finishing the main content, let's talk about the significance of this matter with an excited heart.
Over the years, when others asked, "After working in the Crypto industry for 16 years, what application have you created?"
In the future, you can confidently tell others—Stablecoins.
Some people have held opposing views. In the past, people's impression of stablecoins was that they were an opaque black box. Every few months, there would be FUD — whether Tether's assets were frozen or Circle had a significant black hole deficit.
In fact, if you think about it, Tether easily rakes in billions of dollars a year just from the interest on those underlying government bonds. Circle, slightly less, also made a $1.7 billion profit last year.
They basically made money while standing there. From a motivational standpoint, they have no malicious intentions. In fact, they are the most eager for compliance.
Now, this opaque black box will become a transparent white box.
In the past, the only complaint was that Tether's funds might have been frozen by the United States. Now, they will be directly placed into U.S. compliant custodial institutions, with high-frequency disclosures, so you can rest assured.
【No need to worry about a rug pull】 is such a huge advantage—I think especially all Crypto people understand this.
Stablecoins were once almost on the verge of being overtaken by CBDCs. In any country, if a central bank digital currency really exists, it is highly likely not built on a blockchain, at most it is built on some internal central bank consortium chain, which to be honest, is meaningless.
When CBDCs were at their peak, that was the most dangerous time for stablecoins.
If CBDCs had become a reality back then, stablecoins today would have been relentlessly suppressed into a dark corner, and blockchain would only be able to play a minimal role.
The remaining half-dead stablecoins would even have to learn the standards of central bank digital currencies, completely relinquishing their standard-setting power.
And now, stablecoins have won (or are about to).
Instead, everyone should learn the 【Blockchain + Token】 standard.
Nowadays, many blockchains actually have no meaningful applications on top, only stablecoin transfers. For example, with Aptos, the only scenario I use Aptos for is transfers between Binance and OKX.
And now, stablecoins will be legislated, what does that mean?
That's right, blockchain will become the only standard.
In the future, every stablecoin user will be the first to learn how to use a wallet.
As an aside, I actually think Ethereum's concerted push for EIP-7702 is quite forward-thinking. While other chains are all about memes, thank you Ethereum for sticking to account abstraction.
EIP-7702 is about Account Abstraction, which can support, for example:
· Social Account Registration Wallet
· Paying GAS with Native Coin
· And more
This paves the way for future new users to heavily use stablecoins, solving the last-mile problem.
Furthermore, once stablecoins receive legislative support, deposits and withdrawals will become even easier.
Let's imagine a scenario: previously, hindered by the gray nature of stablecoins, but after the bill passes, many traditional brokerages can support stablecoins themselves. The money from a US stock investor can be converted into stablecoins in minutes and instantly deposited into Coinbase. Believe it or not.
Let's imagine another scenario: if the brilliant bill smoothly passes through the House of Representatives, next, you will see:
Due to the extremely lucrative nature of this trading, existing stablecoin leaders and newly entering traditional giants will crazily start promoting their stablecoin products.
And an outsider, due to these promotions, will start using stablecoins. And then one day, after finding out that the wallet account has been created, will explore Bitcoin inside. Is mining Bitcoin difficult?
Stablecoins are a huge Trojan horse. The moment you start using stablecoins, you unwittingly step half a foot into the Crypto world.
As a large reservoir for digesting US debt, although stablecoins cannot directly absorb debt, they at least provide ammunition for the US debt secondary market. These functions are quite important, and slowly, stablecoins are becoming a part of the US debt market's body. Therefore, once the US legislation is passed and experiences the benefits, there is no turning back.
And, we are also confident that stablecoins are indeed one of the great innovations in our industry. People who have used stablecoins will find it hard to return to the traditional cash-banking system.
Once the bill is passed, users can't go back. In the future, concerns are about to be resolved, standards will be mastered, and the era of large deposits seems to be on the horizon.
Original Article Link
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Key Market Intelligence on May 14th, how much did you miss out on?
1.Binance Alpha Launches HIPPO, BLUE, and Other Tokens
2.Believe Ecosystem Tokens See General Rise, LAUNCHCOIN Surges Over 250% in 24 Hours
3.Tiger Securities Introduces Cryptocurrency Deposit and Withdrawal Service, Supports Mainstream Cryptocurrencies such as BTC and ETH
4.Current Bitcoin Rally Possibly Driven by Institutions, Retail Traders Yet to Join
5.Binance Wallet's New TGE Privasea AI Participation Requires a 198 Point Threshold, with a Point Consumption of 15
Source: Overheard on CT (tg: @overheardonct), Kaito
PUMP: Today's discussions about PUMP focus on its new creator revenue-sharing model: the platform will allocate 50% of PumpSwap revenue to token creators, sparking varied reactions from users. Some criticize the move as insufficient or even misleading, while others view it as a positive step the platform is taking to reward creators. Meanwhile, PUMP faces market pressure from emerging competitors like LetsBONKfun and Raydium, which are rapidly gaining market share. Users also express concerns about PUMP's sustainability and potential regulatory risks in the U.S., with discussions extending to the platform's impact on the entire memecoin ecosystem.
COINBASE: Today, Coinbase became the first crypto company to join the S&P 500 Index, replacing Discover Financial Services, sparking widespread industry attention. The entire crypto community views this milestone as a significant development, signaling that crypto assets are further integrating into the mainstream financial system. The news has sparked lively discussions on Twitter, with many users pointing out that this may attract more institutional investors to enter the Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency markets.
XRP: XRP became the focal point of today's crypto discussion, with its significant market movements and strategic advances drawing attention. XRP has surpassed USDT to become the third-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, sparking market excitement and discussions about its future potential. The surge in market capitalization and price is believed to be related to increasing institutional interest, deepening strategic partnerships, and its role in the crypto ecosystem. Additionally, XRP's integration into multiple financial systems and its potential as a macro asset class are also seen as key factors driving the current market sentiment.
DYDX: Today's discussions about DYDX mainly focused on the dYdX Yapper Leaderboard launched by KaitoAI. The leaderboard aims to identify the most active community participants, with a total of $150,000 in rewards to be distributed over the first three seasons. This initiative has sparked broad community participation, with many users discussing the potential rewards and the incentive effect on the DYDX ecosystem. Meanwhile, progress on the ethDYDX to dYdX native chain migration and historical airdrop events have also been topics of discussion.
1. "What Is 'ICM'? Holding Up the $4 Billion Market Cap Solana's New Narrative"
Overnight, the hottest narrative in the crypto space has become "Internet Capital Markets," with a host of crypto projects and founders, led by the Solana ecosystem's new Launchpad platform Believe, releasing this phrase. Together with "Believe in something," it has become the new slogan heralding the onset of a bull market. What exactly is the so-called "Internet Capital Market," will it become a short-lived hype phrase like the Base ecosystem's previous Content Coin, and what related targets are available for selection?2.《LaunchCoin Surges 20x in One Day, How Did Believe Create a $200M Market Cap Shiba Inu After Going to Zero?｜100x Retrospective》
LAUNCHCOIN broke through a $200 million market cap today, with the long-lost liquidity and such a high market cap "Memecoin" almost bringing half of the on-chain crypto community CT into the fray. The community is crazily discussing this token, with half of it being FOMO and the other half being FUD. This token, originally issued by Believe founder Ben Pasternak under his personal identity, transformed into a new platform token after a renaming. From once going to zero to a $200 million market cap, what happened in between?May 14 On-chain Fund Flow
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