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In This Issue:

1. Crypto Rights in America Take a Leap Forward
2. Coinbase Unveils L2 "Base"
3. Blur Founder Doxxes Amid Wash Trading Controversy
4. PROOF Grifting Intensifies
5. Meta Wants Your ID for Verification
6. Research Highlight - Anybodies
7. Tweets of the Week

Crypto Rights in America Take a Leap Forward

Much of this year's news regarding crypto regulation has been terribly negative, and among it all, one thing has been very apparent: the United States is falling behind.

This week, however, we were greeted with promising signs of progress for the nation's future with two instances of fighting for crypto rights. Here's the rundown.

Montana

• Montana’s state senate passed a bill to protect individuals’ and businesses’ right to engage in cryptocurrency mining. It now must pass in the House and be signed by the governor to become law.
• The bill aims to prevent the government from imposing higher electricity rates on crypto miners and imposing additional taxes on cryptocurrencies.
• It also seeks to ensure that mining firms can operate in industrial zones, while also ensuring that individual miners can operate in residential areas, so long as there aren’t noise complaints.
• The bill passed with 37 votes in favor and 13 votes opposed.
• The bill was backed by Dennis Porter, CEO and co-founder of the Satoshi Action Fund.

CBDCs

• US Congressman Tom Emmer, an advocate for defending Bitcoin, has introduced a bill that would prevent the Federal Reserve from directly issuing a CBDC.
• Dubbed the, “CBDC Anti-Surveillance State Act,” the bill has already gained support from several representatives.
• The bill is seen as a direct response to the Federal Reserve’s research into creating a CBDC.
• Supporters of the crypto industry can view this bill proposal as a significant step in the right direction for standing up to the values of decentralization, and individual sovereignty.

With both of these stories, we see people finally starting to stand up for David in the David vs. Goliath story that embodies the journey of cryptocurrency to global adoption. As we all know, education takes a long time, and it seems like more members of the government are now reaching the point where their crypto education has been sufficient enough to recognize the key problems that need to be solved. Progress is being made, and we all must do whatever we can to support efforts like these.

Coinbase Unveils L2 "Base"

Coinbase announced that they're launching a layer-2 on Ethereum, called "Base," and that it will NOT have its own network token (they want to make that part very clear, check the Twitter page's bio). Despite that clear message, YouTubers are already making videos calling Base the next 100x crypto, which is completely impossible unless their token stance changes. Coinbase believes that building great products, not launching a token, is the path to driving activity on-chain. Kudos to them.

This announcement is a historic one, as it makes Coinbase the first publicly traded company to ever launch an L2 on Ethereum. Base is launching with dozens of partners who’ve committed to building in and supporting the ecosystem, including oracle network Chainlink, Ethereum block explorer Etherscan, and DeFi protocol Aave.

“This is a bet that we can help enable the next million dapps, which are going to bring in the next billion users. We think that's going to happen on a five- to 10-year horizon and this is our contribution to making that happen sooner rather than later.” - Jesse Pollak, Coinbase Senior Director of Engineering

With Brian Armstrong seemingly assuming the mantle of crypto's white knight giga chad and now this Base announcement, sentiment surrounding Coinbase is very positive. We remember times when everyone was a Coinbase hater (not saying they didn't deserve it), so seeing this redemption arc taking place is great and will no doubt have positive implications on the future of the industry. We need our biggest industry players aligned to the users/participants, and Base is a big sign that Coinbase is in our corner.

Blur Founder Doxxes Amid Wash Trading Controversy

Heading into this week, everyone was dancing on the grave of OpenSea and declaring $BLUR was heading to $10. Now we've done a complete 180 after an absolutely chaotic week.

Blur's founder doxxed himself, which everyone said was bullish (mainly because he's near-bald, not because of his solid resume). The TLDR is that he dropped out of high school at the age of 17 to go through Y Combinator, studied math and computer science at MIT, and has done quite well for himself career-wise.

Then, on-chain data surfaced demonstrating that Blur has a massive wash-trading problem, and sentiment shifted to a negative extreme. Now, debates are still running rampant on Crypto Twitter about whether or not Blur is good for the space and $BLUR is down over 38% from its high at the beginning of the week.

PROOF Grifting Intensifies

Ever since Ryan Carson, the COO, exited the project right after the Moonbirds mint with over $1 million in NFTs to start his own fund, PROOF has gained a bad reputation as grifters in the NFT space. This week, it got worse.

PROOF canceled their highly anticipated conference this year, and holders are up in arms. This news is shocking considering PROOF raised $50 million in a 2022 funding round, and have of course made millions in revenue past that. The fact that they now claim they can’t host a conference is quite ridiculous.

But wait, it gets better.

Ryan Carson went on Twitter Spaces and cried as he declared he is leaving Web3 for good. Zeneca will be taking over the Twitter Spaces he ran. People were attending his daily Twitter Spaces for months under the notion that, for collecting attendance POAPs, they would receive some form of epic NFT reward. Let's remember to not welcome him back when he returns next bull run to make another couple million dollars.

Meta Wants Your ID for Verification

We know you like verified badges, but for this one, don't do it.

Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta Platforms Inc. is launching a subscription service called Meta Verified that will include perks and features like account verification badges. The subscription will cost $11.99 per month ($14.99 on iOS).

To onboard into the feature, you must give Meta your government ID. So to be clear, the company most well-known for taking private user data to create revenue that is looking to own the metaverse and work with the government to ensure that nothing about your life is left unknown wants to get your ID for a shiny new badge. Yeah, no thanks. Let's all pass on this one.

This week, we published a looooong overdue comprehensive research analysis of Anybodies, a project that we believe will rise to the top of the Solana ecosystem and make an incredible impact on Web3 as a whole.

Known for high-profile partnerships, highly recognizable quality art, a community of high-conviction supportive holders, and the undisputed most active intern in all of Crypto Twitter, Anybodies is Solana NFT project that needs to be on your radar if it somehow isn't already. Anybodies is a one-stop-shop for anyone looking to experience the full power of Web3, providing that through a combination of NFT, NFC, AR, and blockchain technology integrated into products that offer true physical-to-digital linked experiences, many of which will be in collaboration with some of the world's top brands.

Check out the full article below and make sure to retweet our announcement post if you enjoyed the content.

Deep Dive: Anybodies

Looking for Solana’s next top NFT project? The search ends at Anybodies—this is your comprehensive guide.

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1. This is HOF Material

2. Never a Bad Day to Wreck Mr. Wonderful

3. LMAOOOO

4. Bitcoin is Down Close to 6% Since This Tweet

5. Sometimes It's All Just So Predictable

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The views and opinions expressed here are for entertainment purposes only and should, in no way, be interpreted as financial or investment advice. Always conduct your own research when making an investment or trading decision, as each such move involves risk. The team members behind Triana are not financial advisors and do not claim to be qualified to convey information or advice that a registered financial advisor would convey to clients as guidance. Nothing contained in this e-mail/article constitutes, or shall be construed as, an offering of financial instruments, investment advice, or recommendations of an investment strategy. If you are seeking financial advice, find a professional who is right for you.