On The Pulse - Edition #008
Welcome to On The Pulse, with Maui.

Hey everyone, welcome back to this week's edition of 'On The Pulse.' Thanks as ever to all who have subscribed and are reading this via email. If you're currently browsing, please consider subscribing! If you find today's newsletter valuable, please recommend it to a friend and feel free to suggest topics or ask questions on my Twitter @jordymaui.

This week, we’re delving into the depths of DeFi, exploring the latest (crazy) articles such as Bitcoin ATHs, Coinbase going down, billions being liquidated, and millions being spent on NFTs again. It’s all in this week's newsletter—let's get stuck into it!

Lesson of the Week: "De-Fi"

Decentralised Finance, or DeFi, is a brilliant concept that's reshaping the financial landscape by leveraging blockchain technology to provide decentralised alternatives to traditional financial services - I know, sounds complicated but lets try to simplify this. In this lesson, we'll break down the fundamentals of DeFi and explore its impact on the future of finance.

💼 Understanding DeFi:
DeFi refers to a suite of financial applications and services built on blockchain networks, enabling users to access financial products like lending, borrowing, trading, and earning interest without relying on traditional intermediaries such as banks. It aims to democratise access to financial services globally and eliminate barriers to entry. Simply put; it provides people with traditional financial tools through blockchain based applications.

🔄 How DeFi Works:
DeFi protocols operate on blockchain networks, primarily Ethereum, and utilise smart contracts to automate and execute financial transactions (Smart contracts is something we can go into more detail on next week). These smart contracts enable trustless interactions between parties, ensuring transparency, security, and efficiency in transactions. Users interact with DeFi platforms directly through decentralised applications (DApps), accessing a wide range of financial services.

💡 Benefits of DeFi:
DeFi offers several advantages over traditional finance, including increased accessibility, transparency, lower costs, and financial inclusion for any size. Users can access DeFi services with just an internet connection and a compatible wallet (like one we mentioned in previous weeks lessons), bypassing the need for formal documentation or investment banking and reducing transaction fees. DeFi also opens up opportunities for individuals in underserved regions to access financial services, which is pretty handy.

⚠️ Risks and Challenges:
Despite its transformative potential, DeFi also presents risks and challenges, including smart contract vulnerabilities, market volatility, and regulatory uncertainty. Users must exercise caution and conduct thorough due diligence when participating in DeFi to mitigate these risks and protect their assets. In short, this is still crypto so while it’s all shiny and nice that we don’t need to use banks or large capital, it can often be a slippery slope so always exercise caution in DeFi protocols.

🔍 Popular DeFi Protocols and Projects:
There are numerous DeFi protocols and projects in the ecosystem, each offering unique features and services. Some popular DeFi platforms include decentralised exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap, lending platforms like Compound and Aave, and yield farming platforms like Yearn Finance. These platforms enable users to lend, borrow, trade, and earn interest on their digital assets seamlessly. There are a load more examples but these are all worth looking into individually and exploring the world of DApps for yourself!

If you need to know anything more on De-Fi, feel free to reach out to me & next week will continue to explore Smart Contracts for further understanding.

Major Headlines: "The Weekly Roundup"

This weeks major headlines are crazy as ever, let’s get into them one by one:

📉 $1.1 Billion Liquidated from Crypto in just ONE HOUR: 

In the past 24 hours, the cryptocurrency market witnessed a staggering $1.1 billion liquidated, highlighting the heightened volatility and uncertainty prevailing in the market. Traders and investors faced significant losses as a result of this market downturn, underscoring the importance of risk management strategies in navigating crypto investments. From Bitcoin hitting $69,000 and immediately crashing to $61,000 - a LOT of money went poof. You can read more on it all here.

💳 BRICS Nations plan to create a blockchain payment system:

The BRICS nations, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, have announced plans to establish a payment system leveraging digital currencies and blockchain technology. This initiative signals a significant step towards embracing decentralised finance and fostering cross-border transactions within the BRICS bloc. The adoption of blockchain-based payment systems by major economies underscores the growing recognition of digital assets as viable tools for enhancing financial inclusivity and efficiency. If you want to read more detailed information, check this article out.

💸 $16,000,000 CryptoPunk Sale: 

Despite recent narratives declaring the demise of Ethereum NFTs (ETH NFT’s ARE DEAD!!), investors are flocking to digital assets like CryptoPunks and other Ethereum-based collectibles. This trend contradicts the pessimistic outlook and sentiment of twitter and shows the long-term potential of historic NFTs such as punks. After outbidding $14,500,000 the blue, alien pixel face sold for a whopping $16,000,000 and you can check it for yourself here.

🔴 Coinbase goes down during Bitcoin & Crypto Surge!: 

Coinbase users experienced a frustrating situation as the platform's accounts displayed $0 balances following Bitcoin's surge past $60,000 (seems a while ago now we hit $69,000 haha!). This glitch occurred during peak trading activity last week, exacerbating concerns about Coinbase's reliability during periods of high volatility. Users were left unable to access their funds or trade during this crucial time, highlighting the importance of robust infrastructure in cryptocurrency exchanges. Read more about this incident in this article.

Maui’s Weekly Analysis of Charts

Dive into the pulse of the crypto market with me for a quick overview. If there are elements you don’t understand here, don’t worry – feel free to ask me questions on Twitter. Interested in a specific chart analysis? Let me know! I’ll also be holding weekly polls based on your suggestions. Anyway, here are this week’s charts:

₿ BTC (Bitcoin):

• Recent Price Action: Over the last 7 Days, $BTC has yet again, been on a constant grind up rising 11% to a new all time high of $69,147.
  

• Weekly Forecast: After hitting a new ATH Bitcoin immediately saw the flush we’ve all been waiting for in what would appear to be (in hindsight) a huge liquidity sweep. With $1.1b being liquidated over 24 hours from both sides of the order books, it’s about time we had some form of flush and pull back after such euphoric up only.
  
  Over the next week, it would be great to see some support building at these levels, close to where the previous levels existed and continue a higher leg up in weeks to come through ETF strengths & true support being built at $60k areas. Be cautious though, there is still scenarios on the table where $48,000 and $52,000 supports can be revisited if no strength is found higher.

♦ ETH (Ethereum):

Over the past 7 days, Ethereum has soared another 10% to new highs of $3,800 another big level smashed through on it’s way to ATH’s.

• Weekly Forecast: Last week, we aimed for $3,500-$4,000 and it seems we hit the perfect mid-way point. After the large flush in crypto, ETH and most alts suffered some bleeding too despite BTC Dominance still failing to breakout of its local range highs. Unless we see some Bitcoin consolidation and sideways price action, you can expect $ETH to follow tightly to BTC’s price action.

Personally, I think ETH still looks strong and has recovered a lot stronger than Bitcoin and could already be looking at making a run to new highs again. It’s about time we had some alt runs so let’s stay patient and look for key levels with $4,000 in mind. For a bearish, second flush - keep an eye on $3,200 and $2,700 mapped in the analysis above.

I’ve included an updated look on the Bitcoin Dominance (BTC.D) chart in order to give context to previous comments. As you can see, we are currently chopping between 51%-55% and have failed to break out on several occasions despite an ATH. While this could be something we see as more diverse crypto portfolios existing now in comparison to previous years, lets remember theres only one ETF… BTC. So while I still dream of a lower BTC.D and altcoins to go crazy, let’s keep an eye on this chart over the following weeks.

For ease of following, BTC.D up = Money is in Bitcoin, alts bleed or stay stagnant. BTC.D down = Money flowing into alternative coins & bitcoin ranges or bleeds out.

Now, let’s take a look at what we touched on last week for which altcoins i’ll be looking at and some of their levels. To save the newsletters length, i’ll analyse each of these altcoins on my twitter in a thread, here: (click to follow me)

/ AVAX (next height target of $52, buying more/bids at $34 or lower.)
/ SOLANA (next height target of $200, buying more/bids at $105 or lower.)
/ INJ (next height target of $54, buying more/bids at $32 or lower.)
/ SEI (next height target of $1.30, buying more/bids at $0.63 or lower.)
/ MAVIA (next height target of $12, buying more/bids at $4 or lower.)
/ RNDR (next height target of $9, buying more/bids at $6 or lower.)
/ LINK (next height target of $24, buying more/bids at $17 or lower.)
/ MATIC (next height target of $1.50, buying more/bids at $0.98 or lower.)
/ NEAR (next height target of $8, buying more/bids at $3.50 or lower.)
/ TIA (next height target of $24, buying more/bids at $13 lower.)

If you would like me to take a look at any specific charts or go deeper into anything, please feel free to reach out to me on twitter or email!

📰 The Summary: From Crypto Trends to NFT Buzz

Each week, we will end the newsletter with a really brief TLDR (Too Long, Didn’t Read) assessment of what’s been going on this week across Crypto and NFTs. I hope this section provides additional value for those who read!

Crypto:

• 🚀 Market Trends: ALL TIME HIGH… For a second anyway.

• 💳 BRICS Blockchain Payment System: Nations in BRICS have started plans to create a blockchain payment system.

• 💸 $1.1 Billion liquidated in just an hour: As Bitcoin hits ATH, the flush follows liquidating over 1B in trades and leverage.

• 🔴 Coinbase goes down!?: During peak traffic and Bitcoin highs, coinbase completely goes down and show $0 balances.

• 🔥 Memecoin Mania: Memecoins surged while altcoins stayed relatively still during this week of crazy price action.

NFTs:

• 🐧 Pudgy Penguins see $2m sale: Someone sold 42 Pudgies for a whopping 646 ETH worth a collective $2,300,000 on blur.

• 👽 $16m CryptoPunk Sale: An Alien Punk has just sold for $16,000,000 after outbidding someone else at $14.5m

• 📈 NodeMonkes become 3rd highest price PFP: Nodemonkes hit another ATH and are now worth $50,000 each.

• 🌟 Magic Eden takes the #1 marketplace spot: To nobody’s surprise, Magic Eden have trumped the number one spot in NFT Marketplaces.

• 🎮 BAYC - Otherside testing continues: labelled as ‘Apes Come Home’ more progress on their metaverse game is revealed.

And with that, we’re wrapped up for another week. If you have any suggestions for lesson of the week, please let me know! If you enjoyed this weeks newsletter, please feel free to support by following me on twitter @jordymaui

Until next time!