It’s Monday, and after a small hiatus, CIPHER IS BACK.

We are back and better than ever, putting together the latest in crypto that you need to know!

In Todays Digest:

• Market Overview 🌚

• Last Week in Crypto 🚨

• What to watch this week👇

• Crypto Market Outlook 📊

• TradFi Market Outlook 🧐

• Tweet of the Day 🐦

Last Week In Crypto

• Two mother crypto bills advance to US House floor on stablecoin regulation and self custody privacy, in an historical week for crypto regulation in the US (Bill 3, Bill 4).

• Blockchain could save financial institutions $10B by 2030; Ripple (XRP) report.

• Putin signs law introducing the digital ruble CBDC to Russia.

• Fund manager Grayscale urges SEC to approve crypto ETFs simultaneously.

• Sleeping Bitcoin wallet awakens after 11 years, moving $30 million of BTC.

• OpenAI CEO’s Worldcoin launches token to distinguish humans from bots – project struggles to find users willing to having their eyes scanned for crypto.

• US lawmakers probe Apple’s App Store policies on blockchain and NFTs.

• Binance launches AI-powered NFT generator for KYC-approved users.

• Bank of Japan pledges flexibility on raising interest rates.

• FOMC: Fed approves rate hike that takes interest rates to their highest levels in 22 years – Dow snaps longest winning streaksince 1987.

• US consumer confidence hits two-year high, while recession fears linger.

• Another bank failure: Kansas’ Heartland Tri-State Bank closed by the FDIC.

What to Watch This Week!

Key data releases last week

US Interest Rates – Actual: 5.5%, Previous: 5.25%
US Q2 GDP – Actual 2.4%, Previous: 2%
Initial Jobless Claims – Actual 221k, Previous: 228k

Key data releases to monitor this week

Mon | EU CPI – Forecast: 5.2%, Previous: 5.5%
Tues | RBA – Forecast: 4.35%, Previous: 4.1%
Thurs | BoE IR Decision – Forecast: 5.25%, Previous: 5%
Fri | US NFP – Forecast: 190k, Previous: 209k

WTF is Worldcoin?!

Crypto’s a lot like people-watching at a Taco Bell at 3 in the morning...

Every once and a while something comes along that has you like:

Today’s eye-opener is... drumroll… Worldcoin.

What is it? It’s a crypto project that developed a “privacy-preserving digital identity” that can be used to verify humans.

Think of it as a digital passport.

But there’s a twist… you first need to scan your eyeball using “The Orb”.

Here’s how it works:

• To get started, users need to visit one of The Orbs to get their retina scanned. There are ~150 Orbs in 35 cities across the world.

• Once the retina is scanned, the user gets a World ID. This provides “proof-of-personhood” that the user is a real and unique person.

• World IDs are cryptographically secured using zero-knowledge proofs. This allows Worldcoin to verify humans while keeping their identities private. (Think of ZK-proofs as codewords to get into a club - you prove you’re legit without revealing who you are)

• Once a user has a World ID, they can download the app to claim $WLD tokens. Except the token isn’t available for claim if you live in the U.S. (Worldcoin ain’t dealing with that regulatory landmine.)

Worldcoin has been in the works for 3 years, has raised $250M, and is being developed by smart people like Sam Altman (aka the Father of ChatGPT).

So, how is the crypto community reacting to the launch? It’s mostly negative reviews.

Our boy Vitalik wrote a blog post calling out potential privacy & security concerns. It also said Worldcoin could be too centralised.

Others have accused Worldcoin of exploiting users in poorer countries. It gave 25 WLD tokens, which were useless at the time, to people willing to have their retinas scanned in ~2021.

Here's the best from Twitter (nope, I ain't callin’ it "X"):

My Take: We’re all for building cool products in crypto, but I think I’ve seen this plot in a Black Mirror episode - and it didn’t end well.

So for now, we’re staying away from The Orbs.

(My pro tip: Avoid questionable crypto projects like it was dodgeball - dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge out of the way.)

But we’re curious… what do you think of the Worldcoin project?

Reply to this email to let us know. We’ll share the top responses later this week!

Crypto Market Analysis 📈

Bitcoin continues to trend within a tight range between $28,900 and $29,700 with no clear direction in sight. BTCUSDT has switched from bullish to neutral territory two weeks ago on the breakdown of the 20-day moving average.

Now that prices are hovering near the 50-day moving average, we expect a rebound from this area. If we do eventually break below this zone then we would most likely trade lower towards $28,500 and possibly 27,250.

In other financial news, it has been reported that the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently proposed that Coinbase should exclude all cryptocurrencies from its listings, with the exception of Bitcoin. Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase, shared with the Financial Times that this suggestion was made by the SEC prior to them initiating a lawsuit against the Nasdaq-listed firm last month, on grounds of failure to register as a broker.

After the launch of Worldcoin, Optimism registered a total of 944,000 transactions in a day, surpassing Arbitrum's daily count of 660,000. This marks the first time since January 2023 that Optimism has taken the lead in the number of daily transactions.

The layer-2 blockchain Optimism unlocked $36 million worth of tokens recently and yet the coin is still trading +3% this morning. $19 million was allocated to core contributors and $17 million to investors. The previous token unlock on June 30 resulted in a 10.7% sell-off across all OP trading pairs, although the token rebounded by more than 15% over the following 24 hours.

Looking at both OP and ARB, you can tell right away that OP has outperformed ARB in the recent past.
OP has surged by over 20% since the start of July while ARB is relatively flat in the same time period. OPUSDT keeps posting higher highs and higher lows while ARB has been trending lower.

There is much more price history with OP which makes it easier to analyze. As long as prices remain above 1.50 and especially 1.41, we expect further upside towards 1.8 and possibly 2.08. As long as ARB is trading above 1.12, we expect further advance towards 1.25.

THE BIG PROBLEM CRYPTO IS FACING TODAY 👀

Before we jump in, let me tell you a quick story…

A friend of mine recently called me up with some questions about crypto.

Turns out, he had invested some money into BTC at the beginning of the year. He got his first taste of crypto, was up big (+80%), and wanted more.

He had heard about stuff like NFTs, DeFi, and staking and called me to learn more.

I was shocked.

But I knew this was an opportunity. 

I seized the moment. I explained it all to him and gave him steps to get started.

It was at this moment I realized we still had a huge problem - it’s still too hard and complicated to do anything in crypto.

If you want to do stuff with your NFTs → you have to go to an NFT platform. (like OpenSea)

If you want to stake your crypto → you have to go to a different staking protocol. (like RocketPool)

If you want to swap tokens, it’s another platform.

You get the point. Different protocols for different use cases - all disconnected from each other.

So what’s the solution? A one-stop for everything crypto.

Lucky for us, some of the best builders are already on it and are developing tools to solve this. Today, we’re gonna dive into one of our favorite ones…

MetaMask Portfolio - the place to track and manage your web3 everything.

Instead of having to connect to multiple exchanges, dApps, and tools to do stuff in crypto - all you need is MetaMask Portfolio.

It lets you…

• Keep track of your crypto portfolio across multiple blockchains and calculate your real-time balances

• Easily buy crypto

• Swap & bridge tokens across multiple chains

• Stake ETH and MATIC via popular liquid staking providers

All in one window. (game-changer)

But instead of just telling you about it, let me show you.

METAMASK PORTFOLIO DASHBOARD

Think of the dashboard like your Crypto HQ - it helps you keep track of everything across multiple addresses.

Tokens. NFTs. On-chain activity. You name it.

It currently supports 7 blockchains including Ethereum, Optimism, Arbitrum, BNB Chain, Polygon, Avalanche, and Fantom.

This means that any activity that you’ve had across any of those blockchains can easily be viewed through the dashboard.

You can even download your transactions as a file for when tax season comes around.

The best part? It calculates your real-time balances across all your accounts and wallets.

BUYING CRYPTO

MetaMask makes buying crypto as easy as 🎵 A, B, C. It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3 🎵

There are 90+ tokens available to purchase across 10+ networks. 

MetaMask works with multiple vetted providers that show competitive quotes and offer different payment options like:

• Debit or credit card

• PayPal (U.S. only - excl. Hawaii)

• Bank Transfer

• Instant ACH

• And more localised payment methods

The cherry on top? Your tokens will be available immediately after the purchase.

No more waiting for centralized exchanges, you can just buy directly on MetaMask.

SWAPPING TOKENS

One of the best features of crypto is being able to swap tokens.

Have some ETH, but want some USDC? Just swap the tokens using MetaMask Portfolio.

It aggregates data from various decentralized exchanges (DEXs) and market makers to make sure you get the best price with the lowest network fees.

The best part is that MetaMask Swaps cut out the need for a centralized exchange. And because MetaMask is a self-custodial wallet - you’re always in control of your private key and assets.

BRIDGING CRYPTO

Awesome sh*t is being built in crypto every single day. And a bunch of it is on different blockchains…

Ethereum. Optimism. Arbitrum.

The problem is: in order to do the awesome sh*t on each blockchain, you need to bridge your tokens over from each chain.

And it’s a pain in the ass. (some call it Dante’s 10th Circle of Hell)

MetaMask Portfolio is looking to make bridging tokens as easy as clicking a button (literally).

And its aggregator always finds the best routes to move your tokens, so you don’t need to search everywhere for the “right” bridge.

It’s kinda like how a flight aggregator helps you find the cheapest and fastest flights to get you to your destination. You get a direct flight and avoid all the headaches.

STAKING CRYPTO

Staking ETH is something all the cool kids are doing nowadays.

In fact, ~20% of all ETH is staked. Wowza.

But there’s a problem: staking (and unstaking) can be confusing as f*ck.

Well, MetaMask recently added a “Stake” feature to MetaMask Portfolio.

It lets users stake, and unstake ETH using providers like Lido and Rocket Pool - without having to leave the window. MATIC staking has also been enabled recently via Lido and Stader Labs.

All you need to do is…

1. Choose your desired staking provider

2. Enter the amount of ETH or MATIC you want to stake. You can toggle between “monthly” and “yearly” to view your estimated rewards from staking this amount. When ready, select “Review” to review your stake.

3. Select “Confirm” once reviewed and sign the transaction in your wallet to approve and submit the staking transaction.

4. Once the transaction is complete, view your accumulating rewards in the holdings card.

And boom! You’re done.

Now users can easily contribute to the security and growth of Ethereum, without all the headaches.

THE FINAL TAKE

It’s an exciting time to be in crypto right now. There’s a ton of cool stuff to do in the space.

But, we need to make it easier and more convenient to do those things, especially if we want to onboard the next billion users in crypto.

Products like MetaMask Portfolio are a great start. If you wanna discover more, check it out here!

Tweet of the Day 🐦