Crypto portfolio update

Invested in: USDC, JEWEL, NEAR, CRA

Net return: 498.4%

Comments: The crypto markets remain at generally depressed levels and I have started to DCA into a couple new projects that have caught my attention.

NEAR

NEAR is a relatively new blockchain that has been gaining attention with a $800 million incentive program to build out its ecosystem. Large incentives tend to have a positive impact on the price of the native cryptocurrency, so my base expectation is for the price of NEAR to trend up over the coming months.

CRA
CRA is the governance token of a new "play-and-earn" game called Crabada on the Avalanche blockchain. It's similar to Axie Infinity but with arguably better tokenomics and gameplay features. I don't play Crabada myself but I believe I understand the game mechanics well enough to appreciate its value proposition to players.

In monitoring both projects, I've allocated a small percentage of my portfolio to them. This is just an initial stake so I have some skin in the game.

Current portfolio allocation:

DeFi Kingdoms update
With no new major developments in DFK, in-game activity has flatlined.

The DFK devs have built themselves a reputation of releasing solid game patches, which is of course a good thing... but which also means that new features will take time to be deployed. 

Meanwhile, excitement in the DEK community has died down due to the lack of fun/novel things to do in-game. Profession quests have become repetitive and all but the most ardent players are merely waiting for more substantial gameplay features to be released.

All in all, sentiment around DFK remains positive but overall attention on the game has dipped. I'm expecting things to pick up again once Crystalvale launches.

And now, some extra speculation on my part.

The more I hear the DFK devs speak about the game, the more I sense a significant expansion of its original scope.

From what I can tell, DFK is no longer planned to be just a blockchain game; The game aspect is merely the first stage. My guess: the devs are planning for other structures to be built around it, forming a kind of 'MMORPG metaverse', so to speak.

Examples of what this might look like:

• You can set your social media profile pic to that of any of your heroes. When the appearance of your hero changes (with level ups, new equipment etc), your social media profile pic changes accordingly and automatically.
• Your heroes can be featured in other crypto games/applications. For example, a separate fishing game might allow you play "using" your DFK hero as an avatar; If your hero has a high fishing profession skill in DFK he/she will get benefits such as access to high level fishing areas, equipment etc.
• You can use xJEWEL as collateral to take out a loan on DeFi money markets.
• Even better, you can use heroes as collateral to take a crypto loan. As your hero continues to level up, his/her earning ability increases, decreasing the loan-to-value ratio, enabling you to take larger loans.
• This only scratches the surface of what's possible.

Imagine World of Warcraft x Banking/Finance x Social Media. That's the minimum of what I think the devs are envisioning for DFK.

What started out as a relatively straightforward idle game now looks to be developing into a massive metaverse project.

From a player's perspective, I find this exciting. From an investor's perspective however, I have concerns. After all, the larger the scope of the project, the more ways there are for it to fall apart.

Granted, such a worry might be premature. The main gameplay/combat features aren't even released yet, and all of this is only speculation about a distant future.

But... from where I stand, such an outlook is increasingly probable. The devs have been careful not to give out too many details about future plans, but I'm inclined to believe that their ambitions are larger than they've been letting on.

Just something to keep in mind for now.

DeFi Kingdoms stats

Users (30 days): 127.1k (+0%)
Transaction volume (30 days): $776.9m (-46%)
Number of xJewel wallets: 38,871 (+5%)
Discord members: 89.0k (+10%)

Admin update

• If you missed the previous newsletter, you can read it here.

₿ Crypto news

• A couple has been arrested for allegedly laundering billions worth of stolen Bitcoin.
  • But this is not the interesting part. The interesting part is that neither of them seem to be no where near capable of executing the hack.
  • For example, part of the reason they got caught was because they kept sensitive data on cloud storage; Something even crypto novices know to avoid.
  • Another example: Check out this music video by one of the perpetrators, Razzlekhan.

• This case is so bizarre that I can't help but be interested in finding out what on earth is going on. Had the couple been set up? Is this some elaborate prank by a genius hacker?
• Reality is indeed stranger than fiction

 In other news

• US inflation rises to 7.5%, a 40 year high.
  • Inflation has finally forced the Fed's hand and they have no choice but to start raising interest rates.
  • The question is, how high will they raise it? Higher interest rates are generally negative for risk assets such as stocks and crypto.
  • Nobody can predict the future, but I don't think they'll be able to raise it more than 2.5% this year. The Fed has demonstrated on numerous occasions that they don't want to trigger a stock market crash.
  • In other words, I don't think the interest rate hikes this year will be severe enough to cause a prolonged bear market.
  • As always, my opinion will change if/when new facts come to light.

 Something I've been thinking about

Success is largely the failures you avoid.
Health is the injuries you don't sustain.
Wealth is the purchases you don't make.
Happiness is the objects you don't desire.
Peace of mind is the arguments you don't engage in.
Avoid the bad to enhance the good.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend.

Cheers,
Slowmad

P.S. If you have any questions or feedback, let me know at: chris[at]digitalslowmad[dot]com

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