OVERVIEW

BTC Miners Making Money Off Memecoins 🐶

There might be a paradigm shift in how crypto markets are going to view halvings from now on - especially with miners making mega moola off the new Bitcoin memecoins. 💸

There’s a lot to go over in today’s Litepaper: Bitcoin memecoin mania, a super expensive NFT and jacket, Tom Lee’s BTC price prediction for 2024, Rauol Pal’s crypto adoption outlook, and Crypto 101 on Bitcoin’s Rune Protocol.

Before we dive in, here’s today’s crypto market heatmap: 

And here’s a look at crypto’s total and altcoin market cap YTD:

BITCOIN
BTC Memecoins Make Miners Happy 🚨

Over the weekend, Bitcoin’s memecoin mania sent transaction fees through the roof, eclipsing block rewards for the first time ever in crypto history. 🚀 

Following the halving event and the launch of the memecoin minting protocol Runes (see our Crypto 101 article below), miners like $RIOT and $MARA bagged a cool $80.74 million in fees alone on Saturday. To put that into perspective, the block rewards were a mere $26.30 million.

Runes, the brainchild of Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor, was launched at the same block height as the halving. About 53,000 Runes-related transactions were recorded in just the first two hours, pushing the average transaction fee to an eye-watering $130.

While high fees can be a headache for some, they're a windfall for miners and a boon for traders flipping Runes for a profit. For everyday users, though, the cost may push them towards more affordable alternatives. If Runes catch on, the higher fees could be the new normal.

Since the halving last Friday, Bitcoin us up nearly +5%, returning to the $65,500 value area. Despite message volume being low, it’s slowly rising while sentiment has spiked into bullish conditions. 💸

CRYPTO 101
Welcome To The World Of Runes

You might have caught whispers of Runes already, or maybe this is your first encounter. Either way, prepare to hear more about this new protocol on $BTC’s blockchain. ⛓️

Runes is a protocol designed to change how fungible tokens operate on the Bitcoin blockchain. Runes introduces a streamlined, UTXO-based token standard that significantly reduces the blockchain's clutter of unspent transaction outputs (UTXOs). Using the OP_RETURN function for data inscription, Runes ensures these entries are provably unspendable, thus maintaining network efficiency without compromising transaction integrity.

The Brain Behind the Magic: Casey Rodarmor

Before we dive deeper, let's tip our hats to Casey Rodarmor. If that name rings a bell, it's because he's the maestro behind Ordinals. Why is this important? Because when Casey builds, people pay attention. His involvement means we're not just looking at another blockchain blip but a potentially groundbreaking shift.

From Clunky to Classy: The Tech Underneath

Runes isn't just throwing a new token into the mix; it's here to clean house. Bitcoin's current BRC-20 token standard is like that one old road that gets all jammed up because it wasn't built for the traffic. Runes proposes a sleeker path with its UTXO-based system, minimizing congestion by keeping those unspent outputs neat and tidy. And here's the kicker — it uses the OP_RETURN function, allowing data inscriptions without clogging the blockchain. Elegant, right?

Delving into the Details: Etching, Minting, Transferring & Cenotaphs

Runes brings a novel approach to managing tokens on Bitcoin:

• Etching: This is the process where new runes are created, setting the stage with specific properties like name, divisibility, and symbols.

• Minting: Once a rune is etched, minting can commence based on the terms established during the etching. This involves generating tokens within the set parameters of the Rune.

• Transferring: Runes are moved using a Bitcoin transaction with an OP_RETURN output that specifies the transfer details from one UTXO to another.

• Cenotaphs: If errors occur in the transaction process, these "cenotaphs" act as tombstones for the failed transactions, burning the mismanaged tokens to encourage accurate UTXO management.

RSIC Metaprotocol: Bridging Old and New

The Rune Specific Inscription Circuit (RSIC) is a metaprotocol that marries Bitcoin Ordinals with yield farming concepts, creating a dynamic new opportunity for token interaction. Here's the kicker: RSICs began circulating through an aggressive airdrop campaign, linking them directly to early Ordinal adopters, fostering an immediate user base ripe for exploration. 👍

NFTs
Digital Couture: Louis Vuitton €7,900 NFT Jacket

Louis Vuitton, with Pharrell Williams at the design helm, unleashed a new fashion creature into the wild – a €7,900 varsity jacket that's both an NFT and a snazzy piece of clothing. 🤠 

The piece debuted on the Autumn/Winter 2024 runway, and now, it's ready to make 200 digital-savvy fashionistas a tad poorer but way cooler.

This jacket isn't just a feast for the eyes with its suede buckskin and iridescent snaps—it comes with a digital twin in the NFT world. So, you can strut your stuff online and offline - no idea where offline, but it’s there.

This drop is part of the ongoing Via NFT project, which previously blessed the crypto elite with €39,000 treasure trunks. Louis Vuitton is keeping things tight-lipped and exclusive, only letting chosen ones with the right crypto wallets into their club. Want a piece of this luxury? You better hope they like what they see in your digital wallet. 🎩

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BITCOIN
Tom Lee Predicts Bitcoin Boom To $150K 🤯

Tom Lee from Fundstrat says he's all in on $BTC hitting new highs and calling the stock market's bottom after its recent slip. 🎉 

Lee is seeing dollar signs thanks to the halving and the Rune Protocol on Bitcoin. His crystal ball shows a whopping $150,000 Bitcoin price tag before this year ends.

And if you're wondering about the stock market, Lee's optimism isn't running low there either. During his interview with CNBC, Lee said their head of technical strategies identified April 20 as the cycle turn date - fancy schmancy talk for ‘the bottom is in.’

In his view, bull markets love good drama, dropping fast and rising slow to keep us on our toes. 🎢

CRYPTO
Raoul Pal: 4 Billion Crypto Users By 2030 😱

If you want to watch 45 minutes of awesomeness and macro-crypto bullish insanity, then Raoul Pal's recent video is for you. 📊

Raoul Pal, CEO of Real Vision, has crunched the numbers, and, spoiler alert, they're HUGE. He's eyeing a crypto-clad future with 4 billion users by 2030. For context, that’s half the planet’s population trying to remember their wallet passwords.

Back in the old days of the internet, adoption was more tortoise than hare, but crypto is setting a blistering pace, growing at 137% annually.

At this rate, we'll have 1.1 billion crypto enthusiasts by 2025. And if things keep on going, we might reach the staggering 4 billion mark by 2030.

So buckle up, crypto; the rocket’s just fuelling up. 🚀

NEWS
Crypto News In Three Sentences

📈 Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun has been actively buying Ethereum, with a recent purchase of 127,388 $ETH valued at approximately $405 million. Sun's aggressive accumulation of Ethereum is reminiscent of his similar buying patterns observed in February. His actions, including a massive deposit of $USDT on Binance, are closely watched by the market as indicators of potential price movements and investor confidence in crypto. TheNewsCrypto has more.

🏦 Sam Bankman-Fried has agreed to a settlement with a group of FTX customers to assist them in legal actions against celebrity endorsers of the exchange. Under the terms of the agreement, Bankman-Fried will provide testimony and documents to help investors recover losses and will be released from current and future civil liabilities related to the FTX collapse. More From Yahoo! Finance.

⚖️ SEC lawyers Michael Welsh and Joseph Watkins resigned following criticism and a threat of termination over their handling of a crypto case against The Debt Box ($DEBT), where they were accused of abuse of power. The case, presided over by Judge Robert Shelby, involved sanctions against the SEC for false representations and a lack of evidence, leading to a public apology from the SEC's enforcement chief and changes in the case's legal team. From CoinDesk.

💸 Grayscale Investments has announced a new mini-Bitcoin ETF, setting its management fee at an industry-low of 0.15%, in an effort to remain competitive in the spot Bitcoin ETF market. The new mini-Bitcoin ETF, aiming for lower fees and automatic distribution of shares to GBTC holders, represents Grayscale’s aggressive push to maintain its market dominance amidst evolving investor preferences and major outflows. CryptoPotato has more.

Links That Don’t Suck 🔗

💰 BTC: Tezos co-founder on what’s next for Bitcoin post its fourth halving

🪙 Gaming giant Embracer Group is splitting into three companies

💵 Walmart is putting AI-powered electric forklifts to work

💱 Stocks may go 24/7 as NYSE eyes crypto-like trading

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