Hong Kong Gets First Crypto Exchange: HashKey 💪

GM. This is Degen Scoop. It’s Friday and the end of another week, here’s the scoop:

• Hong Kong Gets First Crypto Exchange: HashKey 💪

• USDC Sees Lows in Market Cap 😥

• Coinbase Partners With Coke and Atari 🤝

• Whale Moves 🐋

• Threads You CAN’T Miss 🧵

HashKey Becomes The First Licensed Crypto Exchange for Hong Kong Retail Users

Just yesterday, HashKey began to offer its trading services to retail users residing in Hong Kong. Originally, the company was only able to offer its services to ‘professional investors’ but has since been given the clear to used by retail. Hong Kong is doing what it can to become more crypto-friendly and even began to offer Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs back in June.

While not the largest market in the world, seeing a large city go the extra mile to bring crypto investors in is always a warm sign. As the first licensed exchange in HK, they have a lot of room for growth and education. Like other nascent exchanges, they’ll need to educate their users on crypto trading given its difficulty to be successful. With ApeFest set to come to Hong Kong in November, the city has been going the extra mile on welcoming crypto.

The Market Cap of USDC Finds Itself At a Local Low Point

If you’ve been watching the market caps of stablecoins, you’ll notice that all the major stables have retracted except for Tether. One could presume it’s due to distrust or simple redemption mechanisms in place, but it does seem worrisome for other stables if they aim to compete with Tether which continues to suck up market share.

At the time of this writing, $USDC is sitting at around a $26B market cap which is a fair size but down 40% from its highs. This is not good news for Circle who profits off these holdings which they place in US Treasuries enjoying a 5%+ yield. Ever since the fallout of Silicon Valley Bank, $USDC has continued its current downtrend. What will eventually turn the tide for Circle?

Coinbase Adds Coca Cola and Atari as Launch Partners for Their L2 Base

The mainnet launch of Base is set for August 9th which will also mark the beginning of their kickoff event ‘Onchain Summer.’ It seems like yesterday that Base was preparing to launch and we’ve already seen the rise and fall of a memecoin on Base which was a trial by fire. We are bullish on ETH and $COIN [in which we bear holdings] so we’re naturally bullish on their new L2.

Some of the 50 brands joining Onchain Summer include Coca Cola, Atari, and Opensea who will all offer free mints during the launch event. Every day there will be new mints of on-chain collectibles that very well may be desirable in the coming years if you’re lucky enough. Check the schedule and join the fun of what will likely be a major new chain.

Notable NFT Sales in the Last 24 Hours / Over the Weekend:

Notable Threads You May Have Missed:

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Conclusion

Touch grass, hit the gym, and don’t forget about what’s really important outside of magical internet coins.

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DISCLAIMER: This newsletter does not constitute financial advice. This is strictly educational and should not be used to make any financial decisions. Be responsible and do proper due diligence before aping.