DeFi Summer 2020 saw an explosion of decentralized exchanges (DEXs), with many offering liquidity mining and yield farming opportunities^[1]. These incentives fueled significant token price growth, with Uniswap's UNI and PancakeSwap's CAKE surging 301x and 206x, respectively. However, concerns about tokenomics and the harsh crypto winter led to sharp declines, with UNI and CAKE dropping 93% and 98% from their highs. Many investors suffered substantial losses. While DEXs themselves continue to function effectively, their tokens have fallen out of favor with many investors, including myself.


However, there are signs of a potential turnaround. Uniswap recently launched a proposal to revamp its governance system, aiming to incentivize active participation and strengthen decision-making. This proposal, spearheaded by Uniswap Foundation's governance lead Erin Koen, focuses on distributing protocol fees to UNI holders who stake and delegate their tokens. This shift aims to create a more engaged and responsible community by directly linking rewards to governance participation.

"I believe we should upgrade the protocol so that its fee mechanism rewards UNI token holders that have staked and delegated their tokens," Erin Koen wrote in an X post^[2].

This proposal has the potential to significantly impact UNI's price. By creating incentives for continued buying, staking, and delegation, it could increase buying pressure and reduce selling pressure, leading to stronger price support. Notably, UNI saw a 60% surge following the proposal's announcement. While other DEX tokens have also seen growth without similar offerings, it's possible they may adopt similar strategies to improve their tokenomics and support their prices.

Based on the improved tokenomics and strong technical analysis (Dragon EMA34W support), I have added UNI and CAKE to my watchlist for potential investment after the upcoming Bitcoin halving. However, this is not financial advice.

I'd like to hear your opinion on DEX's tokens:

• Have you ever invested in DEX's tokens? Did you profit or lose from them?
• Do you think DEX's tokens trend will return in 2024-2025?
• Will you invest in DEX's tokens in the future? If so, which ones?

---

References:
[1] A Look Back at 2020, the Year of DeFi
[2] Uniswap's UNI Jumps 60% on Proposal to Reward Token Holders in Major Governance Overhaul

I also have this view: BTC price is increasing, today it reached 57K USD but many new people are still worried and not ready to buy BTC at such a high price. Some decided to wait for the correction, or even hold stable coins to buy Altcoins after BTC Halving.

I don't have data on the number of new users on CEXs, but crypto-related activity on social networks hasn't seen as impressive growth as what I've seen in 2021. I think the Halving will be seen as a milestone for many investors to enter the market, we will have the mini-Altseason, maybe the DeFi summer, then the growth of both BTC and Altcoins.

As long as the crypto market exists, we still have the opportunity to make profits from the market. My profits came just from luck as XRP had strong growth in 2017 due to FOMO in the market.

BTC and ETH are safe and extremely potential choices for your investment. I think they will be able to guarantee your profits this season. BTC has reached 57K USD, and ETH has reached 3.2K USD, I believe that the uptrend will bring them to new price ranges, new ATH.

In terms of safety, BTC is the best choice. Most Altcoins will lose value against BTC, so investing in BTC ensures both safety and profit.

During the uptrend, many Altcoins may have better price performance than BTC but they also have higher risks. Investors can x10 or /10 in a few weeks. I always believe that to ensure safety, we should spend most of our capital on BTC, only a small remaining part can be invested in ETH and top coins.

Thank you for nice question!

The positive effects we see from private companies possibly holding crypto are: reduced selling pressure, good news to promote the value of crypto as an asset, helping crypto gain more investors and users. Ultimately, it will all support the token price and bring profits to holders.

However I see a few potential negative effects:
1. Reduced market liquidity as a significant portion of tokens are held long-term, making it difficult for network users to access and they have to buy tokens at high prices to pay transaction fees.
2. Legal risks: besides BTC, ETH and XRP, perhaps every cryptocurrency has legal risks when the SEC still wants to control the crypto market. It may not be legal for a company to secretly hold crypto in some countries.
3. Trend amplification effect: I think companies also invest to make profits. If they also buy because of FOMO and sell out of fear, their impact on the price chart will be extremely large, especially during crypto winter. Sell-off pressure can push token price down very deeply and cause projects to face difficulties or even disappear.

I remember that the ICOs of 2017-2018 had softcap (minimum capital) and hardcap (maximum capital). The ICO will end when the amount raised reaches the hardcap, meaning all tokens are sold. The ICO will be considered a failure and the project cannot operate if the amount raised does not reach the softcap, or the team has to change its development strategy.

A lot of ICOs reach softcap or hardcap but the project disappears because they were created as a scam in the first place. Another possibility is that after having so much money, tens of millions of dollars, many teams no longer have the motivation to develop products, they need time to rest and enjoy. I'm not sure what EarthBook's capabilities are, but I condolences to you for your unhappy memories in the crypto market.

I have also followed EOS since 2017 and its ICO 4B USD, currently I am still a translator for EOS Vietnam to update the latest information from the EOS ecosystem. I think EOS is the project with the best and most innovative technology in the blockchain market, many features that Dan introduced 7 years ago are still being learned by many other blockchains. Unfortunately, EOS was abandoned by BlockOne and has had many financial problems over the years. The project is not promoted effectively to reach users and investors. I hope the new proposals regarding RAM and Bitcoin Layer-2 can help EOS get back into the race.

I do not deny that it is possible that many memecoins in the market are controlled by whales and scammers. However, even other tokens are similarly manipulated and financial markets operate in such a way that the majority suffer losses, in order to generate large profits for the minority. Memecoins are no exception to this necessity.

I have pointed out the positive impacts of memecoins such as media value, increased transaction volume and native coin burn, building a strong crypto community. I think we should have a complete view of memecoins: neither too positive nor too negative 

I think you will need a cautious plan to be able to sell your BTC without affecting the BTC Price and the entire Crypto market, while maintaining the very good anonymous that Satoshi has tried to preserve for many years.

In addition, you also need to educate your children to understand your vision, and the value that anonymous can bring to them and the crypto market. If you want to be anonymous for safety, you definitely want your children to do the same.

I think there is no difficulty to reveal my identity to my children, perhaps they just need to know the true identity and know how to keep that secret as part of the family history that only the head will know this truth. Perhaps they do not need to be trained to succeed our Bitcoin development career. If they want, they can find out on Bitcoin.org easily and join the Bitcoin Dev community to improve their own skills and vision.

You have so many clear and extremely interesting views on generating income, managing capital and using profits most effectively in this potential crypto market. Perhaps you have had to think carefully to have such a detailed plan, which is necessary to ensure the ability to make wise decisions when the market fluctuates too much, easily triggering extreme greed or fear!

Like you, I believe that it is extremely necessary to use profits to care for and maintain satisfaction and joy in the market. We come to the market not just to trade and hold, we come to seek opportunities and profits to improve our lives.

You have a really safe investment strategy when you don't need to directly invest capital into this market, instead you just need to spend your free time, effort and intelligence to generate income from the crypto market. Recent Airdrops are quite valuable like MANTA or JUP, I hope you have earned many great rewards.

Reinvesting with income from Airdrop can be considered a smart tactic: you do not need to bear the psychological pressure of fear of losing initial capital, while creating the opportunity to earn profits from your rewards.

Recent email exchanges between early Bitcoin developer Martti Malmi (Sirius) and the pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto^[1], have offered valuable insights into Nakamoto's vision and expectations for Bitcoin. A summary of the key points from these emails, compiled by Rizzo, can be found on X^[2].

Building upon this foundation, I've translated and synthesized a further analysis by Thuan Lam, a prominent figure in the Vietnamese crypto community, from his sources ^[3-5]. His video analysis (available in Vietnamese on Youtube^[6]) provides deeper understanding, which I believe would be valuable to the broader community, even in translation.

While some of Thuan Lam's analysis overlaps with Rizzo's summary, it also delves deeper, including a proposed theory about Nakamoto's identity. However, I respect Nakamoto's choice to remain anonymous and believe focusing on conspiracy theories detracts from the true value of Bitcoin: its innovative technology. While such theories might make for an intriguing movie, I believe our focus should be on understanding and utilizing this technology for its potential.

Personally, I always have only one answer: Who is Satoshi? Satoshi is a living legend.

---

I – SUMMARY

[Email #3:]
1. Energy consumed by Bitcoin:

Satoshi said: If it did grow to consume significant energy, I think it would still be less wasteful than the labour and resource intensive conventional banking activity it would replace.  The cost would be an order of magnitude less than the billions in banking fees that pay for all those brick and mortar buildings, skyscrapers and junk mail credit card offers.

2. Why did Satoshi choose a total of 21 million BTC?

Satoshi said: My choice for the number of coins and distribution schedule was an educated guess.  It was a difficult choice, because once the network is going it's locked in and we're stuck with it.  I wanted to pick something that would make prices similar to existing currencies, but without knowing the future, that's very hard.  I ended up picking something in the middle.  If Bitcoin remains a small niche, it'll be worth less per unit than existing currencies.  If you imagine it being used for some fraction of world commerce, then there's only going to be 21 million coins for the whole world, so it would be worth much more per unit.  Values are 64-bit integers with 8 decimal places, so 1 coin is represented internally as 100000000.  There's plenty of granularity if typical prices become small.  For example, if 0.001 is worth 1 Euro, then it might be easier to change where the decimal point is displayed, so if you had 1 Bitcoin it's now displayed as 1000, and 0.001 is displayed as 1. (We now call the smallest unit a Satoshi, but it didn't have a name before).

3. Number of nodes:

Satoshi said: 100,000 block generating nodes is a good ballpark large-scale size to think about. (~ 50,000 nodes run the software today).

4. Inscription:

Satoshi said: Indeed, Bitcoin is a distributed secure timestamp server for transactions.  A few lines of code could create a transaction with an extra hash in it of anything that needs to be timestamped. I should add a command to timestamp a file that way. (Satoshi did this with the first block, which contains the inscription: "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks".)

[Email #19:]
5. Bitcoin as an investment? "Cryptocurrency":

Satoshi said: I'm uncomfortable with explicitly saying "consider it an investment".  That's a dangerous thing to say and you should delete that bullet point.  It's OK if they come to that conclusion on their own, but we can't pitch it as that.
~
Someone came up with the word "cryptocurrency"... maybe it's a word we should use when describing Bitcoin

[Email #24:]
6. Satoshi and Hal Finney were both busy in July 2009:

Saoshi said: Hal isn't currently actively involved.
~
I'm not going to be much help right now either, pretty busy with work, and need a break from it after 18 months development.

[Email #28:]
7. Everyone can mine Bitcoin and own the network:

Satoshi said: Offering currency to back bitcoins would attract freebie seekers, with
the benefit of attracting a lot of publicity.  At first it would mostly be seen as a way to get free money for your computer's idle time.  Maybe pitched like help support the future of e-commerce and get a little money for your computer's spare cycles.  As people cash in and actually get paid, word would spread exponentially.

It might help to keep the minimum transaction size above an amount which a typical user would be able to accumulate with one computer, so that users have to trade with each other for someone to collect enough to cash in.  Aggregators would set up shop to buy bitcoins in smaller increments, which would add confidence in users ability to sell bitcoins if there are more available buyers than just you.

People would obviously be sceptical at first that the backing will hold up against an onslaught of people trying to get the free money, but as the competition raises the proof-of-work difficulty, it should become clear that bitcoins stay scarce.  People will see that they can't just get all the bitcoins they want.  It would establish a minimum value under bitcoins enabling them to be used for other purposes if, hopefully, other purposes are waiting for something to use. (Satoshi could not have imagined that 15 years later, Bitcoin mining would become an industry and only large companies would be able to mine Bitcoin).

[Email #195:]
8. Satoshi refused to accept $2000 donation in June 2010:

Satoshi said: I got a donation offer for $2000 USD.  I need to get your postal mailing address to have him send to.  And yes, he wants to remain anonymous, so please keep the envelope's origin private. (Satoshi was very conscious and wise to protect anonymity).

[Email #35:]
9. Satoshi always wanted Bitcoin to be free to use:

Satoshi said: I'm going to hide the transaction fee setting, which is completely not
needed and only serves to confuse people. (Satoshi did not think that when many people use it, the network will be congested, leading to high fees. Of course, it was not until 2017 after segwit that there was a layer 2 network called Lightning Network with low fees).

[Email #137 & #138:]
10. Satoshi worked non-stop, even working on Christmas Day 2009, unlike Bitcoin which was just a side hobby. It seems like Satoshi knew he didn't have much time left to devote?

[Email #197:]
11. In 2010, Satoshi went absent for a period of time and during that year, he edited the Bitcoin Whitepaper to remove the word 'anonymous':

Satoshi said: I think we should de-emphasize the anonymous angle.  With the popularity of bitcoin addresses instead of sending by IP, we can't give the impression it's automatically anonymous.
~
Also, anonymous sounds a bit shady.  I think the people who want  anonymous will still figure it out without us trumpeting it.

[Email #245:]
12. In December 2010, Satoshi asked to have his name removed from the list of contributors to Bitcoin and also requested that the Bitcoin.org domain name be registered in someone else's name. At this point, he did not say anything about leaving Bitcoin, but it is clear that this was the first step for him to be able to disappear without affecting Bitcoin:

Satoshi said: Mind if I add you to the Project Developers list on the Contact page? You wrote some code before so you should be there.  It would have to be your real name for consistency.  If you want to have an e-mail address listed, I'll make an image out of it so it doesn't attract spam.

II – ANALYSIS

13. In the emails, Satoshi also frequently changes the way he writes English between American English and British/European English, a typical example being the word 'cheque' [Email #142, #150, #151] instead of 'check' and 'realize' [Email #38, #39, #40] instead of 'realise'. It is not uncommon for people to use different types of English, depending on where they are, but it is very unusual for someone to mix up 2 types of English. This is a sign that someone is trying to hide where they live.

14. Satoshi likely understood very well that attracting government attention too early would cause Bitcoin to fail. And now we are talking about the SEC, but from the beginning, Satoshi was worried about the legal aspects from investment regulators. This shows that he must be a person with knowledge of the law in the United States or in Europe.

15. These emails, of course, do not tell us who Satoshi is because he/she/they are very careful and all the people mentioned in the emails also say they do not know who Satoshi is, but there is a coincidence between Satoshi and Hal Finney:

• Both of them appear or are busy at the same time, like in 2010, both were 'busy' at the same time.
• Satoshi mentioned that he has a company job and only develops Bitcoin when he has time. Hal Finney said the same.
• Hal Finney was the first person to receive Crypto from Satoshi and knew Satoshi on the forum since 2008.
• Satoshi disappeared in 2011 and had started looking for a way out since 2010.
• Hal Finney was diagnosed with ALS in 2009, a disease also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, after the famous baseball player who contracted it.
  ALS is a disease that kills motor neurons, which carry signals from the brain to the muscles. It starts to weaken the muscles, then gradually increases paralysis. It is usually fatal within 2 to 5 years, which coincidentally is 2 years after Satoshi disappeared.
• Satoshi also updated Hal Finney's ideas in the email chain.
• On March 22, 2013, Hal Finney praised Satoshi's choice to leave... but Satoshi never explained why he left.
• Hal Finney said that he sent all of his Bitcoins to an offline wallet in 2010 and gave the private key to his heir, which explains the large number of transactions in 2010. It is highly likely that this offline wallet was created in late 2009 or early 2010, which is also the last outbound transaction from Satoshi's address.
• Hal Finney passed away on August 28, 2014.

• Is it possible to prove that Hal Finney is Satoshi?
>> It is not possible to say for certain whether or not Hal Finney is Satoshi. However, to this day, no one has been able to provide better evidence to prove that they are Satoshi.

III – HYPOTHESIS

Note: Hal Finney has never said that he is Satoshi. However, these coincidences lead to a hypothesis:

Hal Finney was afraid of the legal and US government so he created a character, an avatar named Satoshi to distract everyone. Then he joined the developer community as a supporter of Satoshi. A few years later, he got sick and knew he didn't have much time left, so he worked hard, even on Christmas Day, and only missed when he went for treatment. He didn't want the Satoshi myth to die of illness, so he created a scene where Satoshi suddenly left Bitcoin to 'do other things' in 2011 and he himself stayed until he died.

• If you were the real Satoshi, would you have gone to the trouble of hiding your identity only to reveal yourself now?
>> Most likely, the answer is no. So there are many doubts about those who claim to be Satoshi.

• What about the more than 1 million Bitcoins that Satoshi owns?
>> If Hal Finney is Satoshi, then the holder of the private key is his wife, and she may have lost it or she may never reveal herself until an emergency to protect her husband's secret.

---

References:
[1] Satoshi - Sirius emails 2009-2011
[2] Rrizzo: the most important new findings ✨
[3] https://t.me/ThuanCapital/15322
[4] https://t.me/ThuanCapital/15323
[5] https://t.me/ThuanCapital/15324
[6] Video 1832-2: Email Revealed, Who Is Satoshi???

The comparison between crypto and the internet's rise is apt. Both witnessed initial pronouncements of being "the future". While the internet undeniably exploded in the 2000s^[1], its true impact came when everyday services like texting and news searches emerged, solidifying its position as the present. Crypto, like the early internet, faces a similar trajectory.

Fast forward from "Crypto is the future" narratives of 2017, and we see significant progress:

• Dozens of companies accept Bitcoin payments^[2].
• Investment funds have BTC Spot ETF products, major corporations hold Bitcoin^[3].
• Governments are exploring Bitcoin, with El Salvador even adopting it as legal tender^[4].

These developments arguably surpass the level of internet adoption in the early 2000s. This begs the question: Are we already in the "crypto era"?

Instead of framing crypto as solely "the future", perhaps it's more accurate to say it's "becoming increasingly present". It's no longer a futuristic concept but a budding reality actively influencing various sectors.

And you, what do you think, please share your views:

• Do you think we have reached the crypto era?
• You think crypto is the future, or crypto is the present?
• If crypto is the future, when will that future come?

---

References:
[1] Internet vs Crypto Adoption: How Do Their Adoption Curves Compare?
[2] Who Accepts Bitcoin as Payment?
[3] Bitcoin Treasuries
[4] El Salvador Just Became The First Country To Accept Bitcoin As Legal Tender

Maybe Satoshi had knowledge of the law so he didn't want people to think Bitcoin was a network used to anonymously transact, which would attract attention from governments.

Email #3
I was really impressed with Satoshi's calculations when determining the total supply of BTC was 21M.


Email #137 & #138 Fri, 25 Dec 2009
Satoshi Nakamoto worked on Christmas Day, it seems like Satoshi really wanted to contribute more to Bitcoin, like Satoshi knew he didn't have much time left.

Sorry, this seems to coincide with Hal Finney as he had ALM and only lived 2-5 years. This makes me more confident that Hal Finney is Satoshi Nakamoto. If this is true, Satoshi was truly great when he spent the last time of his life developing Bitcoin.

The crypto landscape is evolving beyond individual investors, as public companies like MicroStrategy and Tesla have openly declared their Bitcoin holdings. However, private companies often remain silent, keeping their crypto investments undisclosed.

While some, like Mt. Gox and Block.one, have made their Bitcoin stashes public, this information might only represent a fraction of the true picture^[1]. This lack of transparency raises the question: how many undisclosed private company holdings are influencing the market?

A recent SEC filing shed some light on this phenomenon. Reddit, on the verge of going public, disclosed its holdings in BTC, ETH, and MATIC. While the specific value remains unknown, this disclosure highlights the growing institutional interest in crypto.

“We also acquired and hold digital assets that are cryptocurrencies for use by our product and engineering teams, which is limited to specific uses,” the company stated^[2].

I think this revelation, while surprising, aligns with Reddit's cautious approach towards crypto due to the evolving regulatory environment. Their focus on established crypto like BTC and ETH suggests a strategic investment rather than a speculative one.

While Reddit's move legitimizes crypto for mainstream investors, it also sparks a crucial question: what percentage of crypto is held by undisclosed private companies, and in what value? The uncertainty surrounding the ownership of the top 100 richest Bitcoin addresses^[3], potentially containing company reserves, further fuels this doubt.

With millions of private companies globally^[4], even a small portion holding crypto could represent a significant chunk of the total supply. This raises concern about their potential impact on market volatility through on-chain data like "Whale Activities" or "Whale Shadows."

I'd like to hear your opinion on this issue:

• Does Reddit's crypto investment surprise you?
• Do you believe other private companies are holding undisclosed crypto?
• Is the potential concentration of crypto in corporate reserves beneficial or detrimental to crypto market?

---

References:
[1] Bitcoin Treasuries
[2] Reddit Is Invested In Bitcoin and Ethereum, SEC Filing Shows
[3] Top 100 Richest Bitcoin Addresses
[4] Our global data: Companies

Yes, I also agree that Saylor and MS deserve the huge profits from their BTC strategy over the years. What is worrying is that when they change their strategy from buy-and-hold to a more flexible buy-and-sell, the negative impact of crypto winter may be amplified and its consequences will be extremely large.

Perhaps we will never know in advance when MS will sell BTC, we can only monitor and act reasonably. If MS will sell parts, we can also take profits not at the peak, but in the distribution zone.

As I stated, Saylor may not be able to decide everything for MicroStrategy, but the company's major shareholders will make the final decision. The price increase of MSTR is very significant, but the billions of USD in profits from BTC in the 2025-uptrend are also really attractive. Given the existence of a crypto winter in 2026 (assuming the cyclicality remains valid), there is no reason for MicroStrategy to continue holding for losses.

Anyway, these are just our speculations, we will wait for Saylor's actions in the 2024-2025 uptrend.

I think the halving is necessary to maintain the cyclical nature of the market, helping the operation and growth process take place in a more sustainable way. I think we are still just in the recovery phase, the uptrend will come after the halving and possibly after BTC creates a new ATH this year.

Many people have also talked about the 100K USD super cycle in 2021, but in the end we still see the cycle repeating.

Thank you very much for the image, I have attached the image link but temporarily cannot display the photo in the topic content.

You have a more optimistic view of the market than me, it is very possible that we have truly passed Optimism and are ready to wait for strong market growth.

Yes, when BTC surpassed 25K USD, we exited the accumulation zone to enter recovery and are ready for growth. Halving is coming very close, I think we will have 6-8 months of re-accumulation after halving for BTC to break 69K USD and conquer new higher price ranges.

Perhaps because the blockchain market is still so small while the crypto market is so developed, the attraction of short-term profits directly becomes the main reason to attract investors and cash flow into this market.

In addition, investors are also more wary of promises about technology and solutions like those from ICO projects in 2017-2018, or advertisements about the value of GameFi in 2021. Every something that is too complicated and takes time to verify while the cyclical nature of the market will cause all tokens to be negatively affected during the crypto winter. When investors understand this, they will only care about short-term profits instead of focusing on long-term technology.

Anyway, whatever the reason, as long as investors participate, the liquidity of the market will increase. This is an important condition for the crypto market to continue to develop and blockchain technology to be applied soon in life and bring more real values to society.

BTC is considered digital gold and many investors consider BTC as gold in the crypto market. The comparison of BTC to gold in terms of utility and value has always existed.

I just want to compare a bit and make a hypothesis about the possibility of BTC cap catching up with Gold cap. I don't think BTC can replace Gold, both BTC and Gold will exist together as highly valuable assets of the economy.

At this time, BTC Spot ETF is competing for cash flow with stocks in the stock market, including Gold Spot ETF 

BTC gave early participants a great opportunity, but asked from them unconditional trust in BTC's brilliant future in this market. I think in 2015-2016 not many people really believed in the future of BTC and people like you deserve to profit from your efforts. Congratulations for coming to this market and effectively using profits from BTC for your own practical needs.

SafePal is a good project in the BNB chain ecosystem, its Wallet application is very popular in the crypto world, even more trustworthy than TrustWallet. Your decision to use the SFP token reward to buy BNB is truly wise: BNB token had grown extremely strongly in 2021 and brought great profits to BNB holders.

Congratulations on taking advantage of the opportunity with SafePal, you can bake Pancakes in the kitchen without Connecting your Wallet 

Wherever there is opportunity, there are abusers. Project teams also struggled to find ways to detect cheaters with new barriers and new tasks, such as needing to spend transaction fees or add LP. I believe that genuine airdrop hunters will still be rewarded for their efforts.

Currently we are welcoming DeFi summer, many new projects in re-staking field have appeared and are very successful. Airdrops from them are creating an opportunity for airdrop hunters to get rewards worth thousands of USD and change their financial position in this market. I haven't seen any airdrops that require KYC so everything is still pretty good. I think besides bounty campaigns, airdrops are still a good choice for hunters in this market.

The world celebrates excellence in various fields through annual awards shows. From movies and music to cars and sports, these events recognize outstanding achievements and set benchmarks for future endeavors. However, the vibrant crypto community, despite its rapid growth and impact, lacked such a formal recognition system. Until now.

CoinMarketCap, the leading cryptocurrency price-tracking website, is pioneering this change with the launch of its first-ever CMC Crypto Awards^[1]. This virtual event, running from February 21st to March 6th, 2024, aims to celebrate and honor the individuals, projects, and initiatives shaping the future of cryptocurrency and Web3.

The awards encompass a diverse range of categories, acknowledging groundbreaking contributions across various segments of the crypto ecosystem. CoinMarketCap employs a unique selection process, combining data-driven insights, expert evaluation, and crucial community input, ensuring a comprehensive and representative selection of winners^[2]. This approach reflects the collective voice of the crypto community and fosters a sense of inclusivity.


The awards recognize excellence in various categories, including:

• Cryptocurrency of the Year: Ripple ($XRP), Solana ($SOL), Chainlink ($LINK), Ethereum ($ETH), Toncoin ($TON).
• Meme Coin of the Year: PePe ($PEPE), Milady ($LADYS), Memecoin ($MEME), Bonk ($BONK), ORDI ($ORDI).
• Most Innovative NFT and Gaming Project: Blur, Pudgy Penguins, BendDAO, Big Time, Immutable.
• Bridge Builder of the Year: BlackRock, PayPal, Starbucks, Nike, Reddit.
• Social Influencer/KOL to Watch: LookOnChain, ZachXBT, CryptosRUs, Wendy O, The DeFi Edge.
• Most Innovative DeFi Project: Uniswap, UniBot, EigenLayer, MakerDAO, Friend.Tech.
• Crypto Leader of the Year: Changpeng Zhao, Ryan Selkis, Vitalik Buterin, Brian Armstrong, Julia Leung.
• Most Innovative L1/L2/Cross-Chain Project: Arbitrum, Axelar, ZKSync Era, Celestia, Aptos.

For me, the CMC Crypto Awards mark a significant milestone in the evolution of the crypto space. By recognizing and celebrating exceptional contributions, CoinMarketCap fosters a culture of appreciation and encourages continued innovation within the industry. While every nominee deserves recognition for their contributions, the final winners will undoubtedly leave a lasting impact on the future of crypto. I will follow this event and wait for the results on March 6.

I'd like to hear your opinion about this event:

• Are you interested in the CMC Crypto Awards 2024? Which nomination will you vote for?
• What impact do you think this event will have on the crypto market?
• Do you consider the award nominations when making investment decisions?

---

References:
[1] CMC Crypto Awards 2024
[2] The First-Ever CMC Crypto Awards Coming in 2024 From CoinMarketCap

MicroStrategy, led by Michael Saylor, has become a prominent player in the Bitcoin market through its aggressive accumulation strategy. Their recent purchase of 850 BTC in January 2024 signals continued confidence in Bitcoin's potential^[1], especially considering their reported $4 billion profit on previous investments^[2]. This stands in stark contrast to mid-2022, when the company faced criticism for incurring significant losses^[3].

Saylor claims MicroStrategy will never sell their Bitcoin^[4], positioning them as unwavering "diamond hands". However, as a publicly traded company with profit-seeking shareholders like Capital International Investors, Vanguard, and Blackrock^[5], the pressure to capitalize on significant price increases cannot be ignored.

While missing out on 2021's peak proved costly, MicroStrategy's MSTR stock price has surged nearly 500% since their initial Bitcoin investment in July 2020^[6]. However, some argue that failing to take profits during bull runs contradicts optimal investment strategies.


While Saylor's personal belief in Bitcoin's future might be genuine, shareholder pressure could compel MicroStrategy to reconsider its stance if Bitcoin reaches significant highs, like the projected $160,000 in 2025, followed by signs of a downward trend. Considering the cyclical nature of the cryptocurrency market, with the next peak expected in 2025, it wouldn't be surprising to see MicroStrategy potentially offload some of its Bitcoin holdings then.


MicroStrategy's significant holdings and regular Bitcoin purchases have generated considerable interest in the cryptocurrency market. If the company decides to sell its BTC in 2025, it could trigger various market reactions:

• Potential Positive Impacts: MicroStrategy's monthly disclosures regarding BTC purchases and sales offer valuable insights into their perspective on the market, potentially influencing investor sentiment. Selling alongside a major player like MicroStrategy could present an opportunity for some investors to align their own investment decisions.
• Potential Negative Impacts: A large-scale BTC sell-off by MicroStrategy could trigger significant fear and panic selling, leading to a sharp decline in the price. If a prominent advocate like MicroStrategy loses faith in Bitcoin, it could erode investor confidence and lead to a sustained price drop, potentially pushing the price below $60,000 by 2026.

While Bitcoin's price fluctuations are cyclical, and Saylor and MicroStrategy acknowledged this, I would be surprised if they held onto their BTC during the anticipated crypto winter of 2026-2027.

I would like to know your opinion on this issue:

• What are your thoughts on the possibility of Michael Saylor and MicroStrategy selling Bitcoin during the current bull cycle's distribution phase?
• If such a sale were to occur, how do you anticipate it affecting the price of Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market?
• Do you consider the actions of individual entities, such as MicroStrategy, when making investment decisions?

---

References:
[1] MicroStrategy acquired 850 bitcoin for $37.2 million in January
[2] Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy Bitcoin Bet Tops $4B in Profit
[3] MicroStrategy’s Losses on Its Bitcoin Bet Near $1 Billion
[4] Michael Saylor Suggests MicroStrategy Will Never Sell Its Bitcoin
[5] MicroStrategy Incorporated (MSTR): Holders
[6] MicroStrategy becomes first listed company to buy bitcoin as part of its capital allocation strategy