Blockchain

The first week of 2024 marked a notable milestone in crypto asset investments. Investment products in this particular sector witnessed inflows amounting to $151 million, according to a recent report from CoinShares.

Crypto Asset Funds Sees Surge In Inflows

This $151 million surge in inflow, as highlighted by James Butterfill, Head of Research at CoinShares, is particularly noteworthy in light of the Grayscale vs. US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit, with these inflows contributing to a total of $2.3 billion since the case began in October 2022.

This amount accounts for 4.4% of the firm’s total managed assets. Even without a spot exchange-traded fund (ETF) launch in the US, Butterfill revealed that American exchanges contributed to over half of these inflows, at 55%. German and Swiss exchanges followed, contributing 21% and 17% of the inflows, respectively.

Bitcoin emerged as the leader in investment inflows, amassing $113 million. This substantial sum equates to 3.2% of the total assets under management (AuM) in the last nine weeks.

James Butterfill pointed out an interesting trend that challenges the anticipation of the US SEC approval of a spot Bitcoin ETF being a “buy the rumor, sell the news” event. Butterfill noted in the report:

If many truly believed that launch of the [spot] ETF in the US would a “buy the rumour, sell the news” event, we surely would expect to see inflows into short-bitcoin ETPs, instead, outflows over the last 9 weeks have amounted to US$7m.

Notably, this is because “buy the rumor, sell the news” implies that investors buy assets ahead of an anticipated event (like the spot ETF launch) and sell them when the actual event occurs, often leading to a price decline.

However, the observation here by Butterfill is quite the opposite. Instead of seeing inflows (more investment) into short-Bitcoin exchange-traded products (ETPs) (which benefit from a decline in Bitcoin’s price), there have been outflows amounting to $7 million over the last nine weeks.

This indicates that investors might not expect a significant price drop following the spot Bitcoin ETF launch in the US, contradicting the “buy the rumor, sell the news” expectation.

Ethereum And Altcoins: A Mixed Bag Of Sentiments

Ethereum’s performance in the crypto asset investment space has also been noteworthy. The second-largest crypto by market cap saw inflows of $29 million, with the last nine weeks bringing in $215 million. This influx indicates a significant shift in investor sentiment towards Ethereum.

While Solana, on the other hand, faced outflows amounting to $5.3 million, Cardano, Avalanche, and Litecoin witnessed inflows. Cardano saw $3.7 million, Avalanche $2 million, and Litecoin $1.4 million in inflows. The blockchain equity sector also started the year on a strong note, recording inflows of $24 million in the past week.

Despite Bitcoin’s dominance in inflows, the flagship crypto has recently experienced a net outflow of $32.8 million, with short Bitcoin investment products also seeing a minor outflow last month.

However, Bitcoin’s recent $113 million inflow has shown the asset’s move to rebound. Even in price performance, Bitcoin has increased by 5.2% over the past week and appears to be continuing its upward trajectory by 1.1% in the first 24 hours, with its trading price nearing the $45,000 mark.

Contrastingly, Ethereum, after a 2% decline over the past week, is showing signs of recovery, increasing by nearly 1% in the past day. Other altcoins such as Solana, Cardano, Avalanche, and Litecoin have been less fortunate, experiencing significant losses, with Avalanche and Cardano being the top losers, down by 27.3% and 17% in the past week.

Litecoin and Solana, though also in the red, have seen slightly lesser declines. Solana is down by 10% over the past week and 1.6% in the past 24 hours, while Litecoin mirrors this trend, down by 10.8% over the week and 0.4% in the last day.

Featured image from iStock, Chart from TradingView

The Shiba Inu (SHIB) price could be primed for a significant surge if a recent rumor is anything to go by. This will provide a much-needed relief for the meme coin, which has been on a nose dive as of late. 

A Record-Shattering Shiba Inu Burn On The Way?

In a now-already deleted X (formerly Twitter) post, Shiba Inu’s team member Ragnar mentioned that the 9.25 trillion SHIB tokens could end up being burned this month. Although it is unclear why Ragnar deleted the post, it could well have been done in order not to raise expectations. 

Shiba Inu’s Marketing Lucie had once mentioned how the lead developer, Shytoshi Kusama, was skeptical about providing a timeframe for these burns. 

Ragnar could have also deleted the post, following a mistake on his part, especially considering how mammoth 9.25 trillion SHIB is. The highest number of SHIB tokens that have been burned in a month still happens to be in the range of billions. 

In fact, besides Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin’s burn, never has a trillion Shiba Inu tokens burned in a single year. As such, it seems unlikely that the team member was referring to this happening this month. If anything, such a figure even seems more plausible if Ragnar was referring to how much of the meme coin could be burned this year. 

If that is the case, it could have a massive impact on SHIB’s price. The meme coin is known to make a rally whenever SHIB tokens of such magnitude are burned, not to talk of what could happen if such a record is achieved.

Shibarium’s Role In Achieving The Record

If 92.5 trillion SHIB tokens manage to be burned this year, it will likely come from Shibarium’s efforts. The layer-2 network has, in recent times, been the biggest contributor to the Shiba Inu burns carried out. Interestingly, Shibarium singlehandedly contributed to almost half of all the SHIB tokens that were burned in 2023. 

Last year, just over 76 billion SHIB tokens were burned, with the layer-2 network contributing almost 34 billion SHIB to those burns. Shibarium has, however, not had a great start to the year, with daily transactions declining from highs it recorded in December last year. According to data from the Shibarium Explorer, daily transactions on the network currently stand at 4 million. 

Meanwhile, the 9.25 trillion SHIB tokens being burned remains from being a reality as just over 64 million SHIB tokens have been burned this month, according to data from the Shiba Burn Tracker.

At the time of writing, Shiba Inu is trading at around $0.000008907, down over 5% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

An analyst has explained how a decline to $30,220 or below could happen for Bitcoin if the strong support range below the current price gets lost.

Bitcoin Has Strong Support Between $42,560 And $43,245 Right Now

In a new post on X, analyst Ali has discussed how Bitcoin is floating above a strong on-chain support wall currently. In on-chain analysis, the potential of any price level to act as support or resistance lies in the amount of Bitcoin that was last purchased at said level.

This is because the investors naturally treat their cost basis or acquisition price in a special way and are thus more prone to make moves when the spot price retests it.

Such a reaction from the investors isn’t relevant when only a few of them share their cost basis at a particular level, but if the level observed a large amount of buying, its retest could indeed end up imparting some effects on the price. This is why the strength of any support or resistance level lies in the density of coins that were acquired at the level.

Now, to see the various price ranges in terms of the Bitcoin acquired at them, Ali has cited the “UTXO Realized Price Distribution” (URPD) from the on-chain analytics firm Glassnode.

This metric prices coins (or more precisely, UTXOs) based on the value at which they were last transferred on the BTC blockchain. Now, here is a chart that shows how this distribution is looking for the asset at the moment:

As displayed in the above graph, the price levels between $42,560 and $43,245 hold the cost basis of a large amount of UTXOs. To be more specific, this range saw the investors acquire a total of 1.11 million BTC.

At present, Bitcoin is a decent distance above this range. This means that the holders who have their cost basis inside it would be in profit right now.

Usually, such holders are more likely to accumulate further when the price retests their cost basis, as they would feel confident that the same level could prove profitable again in the future.

Due to this reason, the retest of a major supply block from above can end up with the cryptocurrency feeling some support. Since the $42,650 to $43,245 range is quite heavy with investors currently, BTC should have a strong support base to fall back on, should things go wrong.

“If Bitcoin can hold above this level, there is not much significant resistance ahead that will prevent it from advancing further,” explains the analyst. This is because there aren’t any large supply blocks at the upcoming ranges.

Investors in losses (which those with cost basis at the prices ahead would be) can be desperate to exit at their break-even, so a retest of their cost basis can provide resistance. As such, BTC has no major resistance ahead.

“But if $42,560-$43,245 fails to hold, expect a downswing to the next critical area of interest between $26,770 and $30,220,” warns Ali. From the current spot price, a drop to the upper end of this range, $30,220, would mean a drawdown of more than 32% for Bitcoin.

BTC Price

Bitcoin has observed a strong surge during the past day and is now challenging the $45,000 level once more.

Scott Melker, a cryptocurrency analyst and advocate has pointed out a massive inflow into Bitcoin following the approval of BTC Spot Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF).

Bitcoin Might Be Poised For $570 Million Inflow

The crypto analyst shared his projections with the entire cryptocurrency community on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter). Melker proposed that $570 billion could be invested in a Bitcoin ETF, representing just 0.5% of the overall assets managed by Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs).

In the X post, Melker pointed out that the overall assets managed by RIAs are currently valued at $114 trillion. He also highlighted that the total market capitalization of Bitcoin is currently pegged at $860 billion.

The post read:

RIAs manage $114 TRILLION in assets. If a measly half of a percent of that money eventually comes into a #Bitcoin ETF, that would be roughly 570 billion dollars. The entire market cap of $BTC now is $860 BILLION.

Several crypto analyst seems to disagree with Melker’s projections and have shared their opinions on his claims. One of the analysts who has voiced his opinions toward the prediction is top Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Eric Balchunas.

Eric Balchunas asserted that the RIAs assets valued at $114 trillion “seems really high.” He further added that the total advisor assets are worth around $30 trillion, due to data from market tracker Cerulli.

However, Melker backed up his claims by sharing a data screenshot from Thinkadvisor. Thinkadvisor highlighted that “15,114 fiduciary investment advisors currently manage $114 trillion in assets for 61.9 million clients.”

Another crypto enthusiast who has expressed displeasure with Melker’s inflow prediction is investment advisor Rick Ferri. The advisor challenged Melker noting that his “expectations are overblown.”

Ferri asserted that despite his 35 years of advisory experience, he still doesn’t understand why Melker would make such claims. Additionally, Ferri stressed that if any adviser decides to own BTC, they would have done so through Grayscale Bitcoin (BTC).

BTC Spot ETF To Serve As A Game-Changer For Crypto Market

Melker’s post came in response to Bruce Fenton’s post on how the Bitcoin Spot ETF could be a game-changer for crypto. Fenton predicted a dramatic change in the future while highlighting that several brokers, financial advisors, and RIAs are not knowledgeable about BTC.

According to the crypto investor, financial advisors must “keep up with what the public and customers are talking about.” Additionally, he noted that Bitcoin ought to be included in many portfolios, given its past 10 years of performance and correlation.

He also added that “financial advisors will follow the money and the trends.” Fenton asserted that advisors are not stupid about money and they will be motivated to learn.

Fenton went further to say that large investment firms would spend billions promoting to their clients Bitcoin-based investments. This would lead to chief economists talking about it, public awareness of its importance, and the creation of the best ads.

A crypto trader has presented a compelling argument concerning the future accessibility of Bitcoin, alleging that Wall Street is aiming to drive the price of BTC beyond the reach of the common investor. 

BTC Accessibility Concerns

Crypto trading expert, Oliver L. Velez has recently taken to X (formerly Twitter) to release a post, claiming that Wall Street may be organizing a deliberate strategy to cut off Bitcoin’s accessibility to regular investors. 

The crypto trader’s comments present an alarming scenario for Bitcoin investors‘ future. According to Velez, Wall Street, which has been showing increased interest in the crypto space lately, may be planning to extend its motives beyond conventional investment practices. This alleged maneuver could be aiming to create a barrier for everyday investors, potentially limiting their participation and freedom in the crypto market. 

Using the overpriced Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) shares as a comparison, Velez pointed out that Bitcoin could experience a similar price surge, pushing it to levels where it becomes potentially unaffordable for the general public. 

“Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) is trading at $554,300 a share. Its price is out of the reach of 99% of all human beings on Earth. You see, Warren Buffett never wanted his baby accessible to you, the masses,” Velez stated. “It was only for the elite, only for the privileged, only for those closest to the money printer. Making this too accessible to the masses might provide too much economic freedom to the wrong group of people.”

Velez alleges that Wall Street is using the same tactics it did with the Berkshire stock for BTC, especially as Spot Bitcoin ETFs are on the way. They are apparently going to drive the price of Bitcoin so high that the average investor would not be able to buy it.

The analyst also alludes to freedom as one of the major selling points of BTC to these Wall Street investors. So contrary to the belief that the Bitcoin price would crash, Velez expects that Wall Street will continue to drive the price of the cryptocurrency higher as a way to keep out the “riff-raff”.

Spot Bitcoin ETF To Drive Scarcity

According to Oliver L. Velez, one of the major catalysts that could trigger Bitcoin’s inaccessibility is the launch of Spot Bitcoin ETFs. Velez asserts that the introduction of Spot Bitcoin ETFs could potentially propel the price of BTC to unprecedented heights, significantly impacting the cryptocurrency’s affordability and availability in the market. 

The crypto trader’s insights suggest that ETFs may absorb a considerable portion of the circulating BTC, thereby restricting direct ownership of BTC to normal investors. Given this, the crypto expert believes that the time when smaller investors would be able to easily get in on BTC is shrinking.

“The window of opportunity to buy Bitcoin is closing, and exchanges will see a reduction in available Bitcoin as ETFs scoop it up. Owning Bitcoin directly will become increasingly difficult in the future, making it essential to secure Bitcoin now,” Velez warned.

All applicants for a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) have submitted their final Form S-1 amendments to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This marks a pivotal moment, especially as the deadline for submission was set for 8:00 am EST today, January 8.

Leading the pack, Valkyrie submitted its final S-1 amendment well ahead of the speculated January 10 date, which many industry insiders believe could see the first approvals of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US. Following suit, major players such as WisdomTree, BlackRock, VanEck, Invesco, Galaxy, Grayscale, ARK Invest, 21Shares, Bitwise, Franklin Templeton and Grayscale also completed their submissions.

However, Hashdex has not updated its S-1. The new filings are the penultimate step before the spot Bitcoin ETF approvals. The last one is the SEC voting on the 19b-4s filings in the coming days, specifically on Wednesday.

Scott Johnsson, finance lawyer at Davis Polk elaborated: “Best guess on timing (not definitive): – Monday: “Final” S-1/3 filed – Wednesday: 19b-4 approval orders issued post-close – Thursday: Requests for acceleration from issuers – Friday: Notice of effectiveness filed from SEC – Tuesday: Trading starts”

Best guess on timing (not definitive):– Monday: “Final” S-1/3 filed– Wednesday: 19b-4 approval orders issued post-close– Thursday: Requests for acceleration from issuers– Friday: Notice of effectiveness filed from SEC– Tuesday: Trading starts

— Scott Johnsson (@SGJohnsson) January 8, 2024

Others expect that the spot Bitcoin ETFs could even start trading as early as Thursday or Friday.

Fee War For Spot Bitcoin ETFs Begins

The S-1 amendments are crucial as they disclose information about fees for the potential ETFs. In an interesting turn of events, several filers have significantly lowered fees for trading their potential spot Bitcoin ETF products. Initially, BlackRock was leading with the lowest fees. Katie Greifeld, anchor of The Close and ETF IQ on Bloomberg, highlighted:

BLACKROCK’S FEE is finally listed. Final fee is 30bp, BUT 20 bps in the first 12 months or until the first $5 billion in assets. That’s the new low-water mark.

However, Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest announced lower fees shortly after. The latest S-1 of Ark shows a drop from 0.80% to 0.25%, and a special offer of 0% fees during a six-month period from the day of listing, for the first $1 billion in transactions. Eric Balchunas, a Bloomberg analyst, commented on this competitive landscape:

But wait, ARK just dropped their fee to 0.25% in an S-1 filed 20 minutes after BlackRock’s. Told y’all the fee war would break out bf they even launched. And this is w out Vanguard on the mix. Damn. […] ARK going from 80 bps to 25 bps in one shot is breathtaking. The fee wars are intense but that’s another level. Altho they kinda had to. BlackRock at 30 bps is potential instant destroyer of anyone much higher.#

However, Ark was undercut at the last minute as well. Bitwise submitted a 0.24% fee. No fees are charged for the first six months or $1 billion AUM.

Notably, VanEck also disclosed a fee of only 0.25%, though without any special promotions for the launch, unlike BlackRock and Ark Invest. The leading quartet is followed by Franklin Templeton (0.29%), Fidelity Wise Origin Bitcoin Trust (0.39%), WisdomTree Bitcoin Trust (0.50%), Invesco Galaxy Bitcoin ETF (0.59%), Valkyrie Bitcoin Fund (0.8%), Hashdex (0.90%) and Grayscale (1.5%).

Eric Balchunas elaborated that, historically, temporary fee waivers have not significantly impacted investor decisions, as advisors tend to focus on long-term fees. However, given the uniformity of services offered by these ETFs, he suggested that fee differences might play a more significant role this time. “Historically this hasn’t moved the needle much […] Advisors focused on regular fees since they are long term investors. That said, given all these ETFs all do the same thing, maybe it will matter all else equal, we’ll see,” he remarked.

Katie Greifeld commented, “I spoke too soon re: low-water mark! Ark and 21 Shares are going 0.25% and NO FEE for the first six months or until $1 billion in assets. These are very, very low numbers. […] VanEck also coming in hot with a 25 bp fee. For context, GLD — the largest physically backed commodity ETF — charges 40bp.”

Following the news, the Bitcoin price reacted with a 2% jump, rising as high as $45,300.

After a very dull performance over the majority of 2023, the Polygon PoS chain managed to gather considerable pace and demonstrate notable strength in the latter part of the year.

Data indicates that, in addition to the remarkable price performance of MATIC, the Polygon network’s native token, there was a lot of excitement surrounding Polygon’s NFT ecosystem in December of the previous year.

Polygon NFT Surge: Sales Volume Peaks

An increase in the overall number of NFT deals and an upward trend in NFT sales volume, especially during the past seven weeks, are indicators of this expansion.

On December 6, 2023, the spike peaked for six months, ranking the Layer-2 scaling solution third in terms of NFT sales volume, after Ethereum and Bitcoin.

NEW:

Polygon NFT sales volume is surging to levels not seen in over 6 months. pic.twitter.com/M4iWtRTDOe

— Today In Polygon (@TodayInPolygon) January 5, 2024

Polygon has sold nearly $10 million in a single day, according to CryptoSlam data. This is more than twice as much as Solana, which sold a little over $4.1 million.

Flippening began when Solana’s sales volume fell more than 17% in a day, whereas Polygon NFT sales volume increased by 42%.

Today In Polygon, a popular X (formerly Twitter) handle, recently tweeted about blockchain’s rise in the NFT market.

According to the post, Polygon’s NFT sales volume was rising to levels not observed for more than half a year. This episode suggested a renewed interest in MATIC NFTs, which in the upcoming months may have a more significant effect on the ecosystem.

NEW: Polygon NFT sales volume has reached $47M in the month of December.

This is the highest monthly volume since February 2023. pic.twitter.com/tD6F8L6c2u

— Today In Polygon (@TodayInPolygon) December 31, 2023

Based on DappRadar statistics, the top Polygon NFTs during the previous 30 days were Genesis WildPas, Collect Trump, The Sandbox, and Gas Hero Coupon NFTs.

In addition, Polygon’s wash sales total is larger than Solana’s, coming in at $858,631 versus $175,493.

The entire sales volume, which includes both normal and wash sales, is $10,845,385 for Polygon NFTs and $4,292,160 overall.

MATIC Up Amidst Market Complexity

While this was going on, the token’s price chart turned green, encouraging MATIC bulls to pick up their game. MATIC has increased by more than 3% in the last day alone, according to CoinMarketCap.

With a market valuation of more than $8 billion, it was trading at $0.83 at the time of writing.

Even with these encouraging indicators, certain areas displayed unfavorable patterns, such as a decline in the graph of unique addresses and a drop in the quantity of transactions after a peak on December 25, 2023.

These inconsistent tendencies highlight the intricate mechanisms at work within the Polygon NFT ecosystem, despite the fact that the cryptocurrency market is infamously volatile.

Featured image from Freepik

This is Human Generated

This is an interpretation of VESA’s appearance on the Human Generated podcast by Omid Honari. The two met during a day of keynote speeches at the Mohammed Bin Rashid library, where as it turns out, both of their topics touched on not only art and its implications, but also spirituality.
It was no wonder that when VESA and Omid sat down to record this podcast, the deeper topics were soon elaborated on.

Watch the conversation on Youtube
Watch it on Spotify

Why read further ( or return)?
Breakdown, links and illustrations:

The conversation took place in late May when Dubai was plunging into the hot temperatures. Vesa told that as a 44-year-old, the elapsing winter was the first where he had enjoyed consistent warm weather, being natively from Finland and having lived in the UK for several years.
‘There’s a lot of cold trauma still to be purged’, he said.
Omid relayed a piece of advice he heard as a boy that coping with cold is much easier than coping with heat, since you always have the option of adding a layer of clothing, but there is only so much you can remove. This advice also speaks to how personal our relationship with the weather and our immediate surroundings is. We rationalize our emotions towards it via stories and these pieces of advice that we tell each other.

VESA and Omid met at the Mohammed bin Rashid Library in early 2023, where they both were speaking.

New Horizons

To delve right into the mouth of the beast, Omid poses an interesting proposition of the constellation of new technologies, NFTs, metaverse and the whole Web3 being at odds with the creative arts as we know it.
‘Most respectfully, I disagree with that, VESA starts.
VESA explains that one of the concepts that governs how he views art, and life itself, is Ken Wilber’s Integral Theory. This theory helps to see yourself, your contribution, philosophies, and beliefs as functional parts of the elaborate whole. This way of approaching art is not taught in colleges and universities, where most art history begins or at least emphasises the post-modern period without studying the roots of why humans began creating art in the first place, namely cave painting and body painting.
With a fractionalized outlook on art, new technologies can feel like a jarring, disjointed note in the melody of human creativity, whereas from the Integral point of view, these are tools that if utilized to their utmost potential, will remove the old gatekeeping systems for more creativity to blossom in society.
‘My LUXOR- inspired art gallery is a great example of this. It uses new technologies, it breaks barriers of entry and in substance, it studies the origins of art, VESA says.
‘It’ll take a little bit of time, and whether the traditional art institutions will adopt this remains to be seen, since their interest is so much in identity politics, but for people, this means total freedom’, he explains.

The Luxor Metaverse temple is live with Superworld

Possibilities or threats

Omid agrees that the limitation of the current arts education seems to be that it is taught from the perspective of the current ideological climate, and it must go along the epoch of our time and what that does is hides the vastness of possibility that is currently available.
Intrigued by VESA’s mention of primordial art, Omid asks next how does an artist with a capital A bridge together the gap of something so corporal, so essential as body paint with something as cerebral and intangible as the digital realm.
‘When I saw my first model with full body paint in my studio, I knew that this was it, it was like a superhero had appeared in front of me’, VESA says.
‘But when it comes to embarking on the digital journey, I had no other choice. My method dictated that my originals were digital ever since 2008, and this was a major issue for the art institutions before the advent of NFTs. They would ask for an oil original that I didn’t have’.

“Escapist” was the first bopypainting and photography based collage work VESA made in 2008.

‘The technology that facilitates Bitcoin is the turning point in digital scarcity and digital ownership, because it facilitates digital assets, like artworks, that are as rare as the physical Mona Lisa’.
Omid then points out that isn’t one of the most valuable digital artworks verified on the blockchain a picture of a monkey, homing in on his original point of new technologies diluting actual artistic endeavour.
‘There’s some genius marketing behind that project, and it gains its value also through being an access pass. What it’s not is art’, VESA explains.
‘How is the casual consumer going to gain an education about the difference between these two categories?’, Omid asks.
VESA explains that this is a deeper issue than what meets the eye, how in the words of the cultural critic Camille Paglia we are on the brink of another cultural Renaissance, should we take the steps to get there, but our institutions are not paving the way for our collective consciousness to get there. He also re-iterates the difference between the collectible digital art and the digitized fine art, where the only common factor is the underlying technology. Having said that, VESA expresses how positive it is that the gatekeeping of the old system is coming down due to technological advancements.
His native country Finland is a great example of this, where a lot of government grants are given only to art that perpetuates a certain narrative. This suffocates actual creativity and resembles more a high-school student, who studies what he knows the teacher cares the most about, not what is relevant.

The Camille Paglia lecture “Art belongs to everyone” has been one of the themes that have inspired this direction of thought.

The Origins

As VESA has mentioned Finland, and the general climate of art there, Omid is interested to know how art and VESA came to be.
‘What was the origin story?’, he asks.
‘It’s always been about connection, and the two points in time that come to mind are my connection to music, and especially African drums that lit something up inside me, and my connection to something spiritual that I experienced, when I very nearly drowned as a six-year-old.’, VESA says.
‘At its best, it doesn’t even feel like I am the one who is doing it. And skill comes into play so that it takes a form that others might enjoy as well, but it’s always about that connection that drives everything I do creatively’.

The Knight Rider theme was the first song to get VESA to play to be a rock star as his toy plastic axe as the guitar, sliding on his knees across the room as a 5 year old.

‘So where is the divine for you, then?’ Omid asks.
‘One of the books that talks about this is called Flower of Life, and it explains that this pattern at the very core of everything that comes into being is all coming through the One, but the multitude of expressions that the One takes, is our experience of the world’,

The ancient secret of the flower of life was a significant book to read while travelling shooting a documentary in Egypt and Mexico in 2012.

‘In terms of humans, I see the brain much more a receiver than a generator’, VESA says as he hints towards his understanding of the divine.
‘My traumatic experience of nearly drowning was so pivotal to my creative growth because it brought me violently close to that origin point, the point of ultimate connection to God. Maybe I remembered something, maybe I have been here before – it is a possibility’, VESA expands.
Omid illustrates our longing for our origins beautifully through a famous opening to a poem by Rumi, which describes the haunting sound of the reed pipe, longing to return to the whole it was cut from. Perhaps we are like the reed pipe, the divine breath moving through us, but always hankering to get back into unity with our origin.

The Pink Floyd “Back catalogue” poster on VESA’s wall as a teenager likely had a significant impact on his life choices later on.

Different bodies

Omid draws a parallel between VESA’s method of bodypainting and seeing inanimate objects as bodies, such as the body of a car that Omid had seen at an event recently. Does VESA see his Art Cars and other painted objects as a continuation of his bodypainting methodology?
‘In some sense, it is still human centric, because these different bodies are still painted for humans to admire’, VESA starts.

The Dr Marwan Tesla covered in art in Dubai also has a digital douible made by Zoan.

‘I also want to be incredibly respectful towards Islam, and not to portray a human as an idol, so I have a lot to study on how to bring to the front my goal of showcasing the divine spark in the human form, how He made us so magnificently’, VESA says.
‘In that spirit of further conversation and discussion, we could go on for so much longer, but I want to invite you to the possibility of having a second episode with you,
‘Inshallah’, VESA says.

Watch the conversation on Youtube
Watch it on Spotify

______

Until next time, 

VESA & Lotta
Crypto & NFT Artist
All links to physical, NFTs, and more below
http://linktr.ee/ArtByVesa

The highly anticipated space launch that is carrying a physical Dogecoin to the moon has finally happened, but the DOGE price has remained stagnant. The Vulcan Centaur rocket took off earlier today with its impressive cargo with hundreds of thousands of participants dropping in.

Vulcan Launch Goes Off Without A Hitch

The Vulcan Centaur rocket launch carried out by the United Launch Alliance took off in the early hours of Monday. The rocket which carried the Peregrine Lunar Lander which is part of the NASA Commercial Luna Payload Services (CLPS) Initiative also carried other cargo, including a gold-plated DOGE coin.

This launch has been anticipated given the fact that it has been in the works for a while. However, it has not had the desired effect on the price of the meme coin which continues to struggle in the wake of the launch. Dogecoin has declined by more than 3% during the last day and is struggling to hold support above $0.075.

Meanwhile, the anticipation around this event has since dissipated since it has turned out to be a ‘sell the news’ event. All eyes are now on the DOGE-1 space mission which is the first space mission to be funded entirely in cryptocurrency. However, if the Vulcan mission is anything to go by, then the DOGE-1 space mission could end up being a non-event as well, especially as investors’ interest in the coin begins to decline.

Can Dogecoin Recover From Here?

Despite the lack of interest that has plagued Dogecoin over the last few days, there is seemingly a light at the end of the tunnel for the meme coin. Its trading volume has begun to recover over the last day, registering an over 60% increase during this time.

This could suggest a return of interest in the meme coin especially as lower prices are giving investors an opportunity to get back into the market. From here, the DOGE price is following the general crypto market movement and a recovery in the price of Bitcoin could trigger a ripple effect that ends up causing a surge in the DOGE price.

Interestingly, the Crypto Fear & Greed Index still remains firmly in the greed territory, which suggests that investors are not discouraged from investing in cryptocurrencies. Most likely, investors are waiting for the SEC’s decision on the Bitcoin Spot ETFs on Wednesday to determine the next course of action.

At the time of writing, the DOGE price is trailing at $0.078 with an over 13% loss in the last week.

Injective (INJ), the native token of the decentralized exchange protocol Injective Protocol, stands poised for a pivotal moment. On January 21st, a final tranche of 3.66 million INJ tokens will be unlocked, bringing the total circulating supply to a definitive 100 million.

Injective Token Unlock: Market Dynamics Shift

This marks the culmination of a phased release schedule outlined in Injective’s token distribution plan, and will see the remaining 16% of token supply flood the market.

Analysts remain divided on the potential impact of this event. Some anticipate increased selling pressure due to the sudden influx of tokens, potentially leading to a price dip. Others view the unlock as a positive catalyst for liquidity, making INJ easier to trade and potentially attracting new investors.

Final Cliff Unlocks Alert

Mark your calendars for January 21, 2024$INJ will be fully unlocked (100%)

Get ready for the massive cliff unlocks.
3.66 m tokens
132.4 m dollars
4.35% of cir. supply

Allocations:
– Advisors: $12.04 m
– Team: $120.37 m$INJ was… pic.twitter.com/EYCyv4hsuC

— Token Unlocks (@Token_Unlocks) January 7, 2024

Regardless of the short-term price action, the full token unlock undeniably represents a turning point for Injective, marking the complete transition from initial distribution to sustained market dynamics.

It will be fascinating to observe how the community and market respond to this milestone event, and whether it paves the way for further growth and adoption of the Injective Protocol.

$INJ Bullish Flag Formation..!!

Seems lie Ready for Another Bullish Rally.#Crypto #InjectiveNetwork #INJ pic.twitter.com/OcPsNJ7laX

— Captain Faibik (@CryptoFaibik) January 6, 2024

Some market participants, such as analyst Captain Faibik, believe that Injective may be ready for another rally in anticipation of the impending event. According to Faibik, INJ has established a bullish flag and might see a rise beyond $60.

Faibik examines the chart and finds two rallies that are joined by a brief period of consolidation. These might potentially lead to a continuing upswing with higher highs and lowers.

However, given that the market crashed on January 3 and that INJ price originally dropped to $33.55, selling pressure could be imminent. The 4-hour chart shows rising volatility, and the Bollinger Bands point to overbought circumstances following INJ’s prior surge to $40.28.

INJ Price Analysis

The price of INJ has been trending downwards over the past 24 hours. It is currently trading at $37.412, down from a high of $37.875 earlier in the day.

The Bollinger Bands (BB) are also trending downwards. This suggests that volatility is decreasing, as the price is staying closer to the moving average.
The Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) is negative. This indicates that bears are currently in control of the market.
The volume is relatively low. This suggests that the recent price decline is not due to a large amount of selling pressure.

Overall, the chart suggests that INJ is in a bearish trend. However, the low volume suggests that this trend may not be sustained. It is important to note that this is just a snapshot of the market and that conditions can change quickly.

The ongoing unlocking of the token holds the promise of bolstering INJ’s social metrics, indirectly contributing to a positive influence on its price.

This is particularly crucial as increased community engagement often aligns with higher social metrics, reinforcing the token’s popularity. The sustained high Social Dominance of INJ signifies robust community support, a vital factor in navigating the unpredictable cryptocurrency market.

Simultaneously, the improvement in INJ’s Weighted Sentiment indicates a prevailing bullish sentiment within the market. This positive outlook among investors sets the stage for heightened trading activity, potentially triggering an uptrend in the token’s valuation.

Both Social Dominance and Weighted Sentiment serve as valuable indicators, providing insights into the token’s current state and the prevailing market sentiment.

Featured image from Shutterstock