On August 28, a crypto wallet associated with 1inch Investment Fund, “0x225d3822de44e58ee935440e0c0b829c4232086e”, bought 6,088 Ether (ETH) at $1,655 spending $10 million on the trade, data from Lookonchain, a blockchain analysis platform, shows.

The fund is linked with 1inch Network, the decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregating protocol that is also one of the largest platforms by total value locked (TVL).

Big Players Buying ETH But Prices Under Pressure

1inch Investment fund has not laid down the reason behind their decision to buy Ethereum when prices generally appear depressed following losses roughly ten days ago. On August 17, ETH, like Bitcoin and the broader crypto market, dropped.

ETH lost roughly 15%, pulling back from around $1,800, and is yet to retest those levels at spot rates. 

ETH candlestick arrangement on August 28 shows that the coin remains in a tight consolidation, moving horizontally and confined inside the August 17 bear candlestick. Prices are relatively stable, with lighter trading volumes, but in a bearish formation.

Ethereum is also changing hands at around $1,650 when writing, marginally lower than the spot price at which the fund scooped the coin earlier today.

1inch Investment fund move, while overly optimistic for ETH, is yet to spark demand and lift the coin from the current consolidation. The coin is lower, and the path of least resistance remains southwards.

Overall, the conspicuous bear bar could shape the medium-term formation unless there is a shift in demand, lifting Ethereum above $1,900.

1inch Investment Actively Trades Ethereum

Earlier, Lookonchain flagged several transactions associated with the fund. For instance, the tracker shows that the 1inch Investment cumulatively bought 17,000 ETH worth $26.8 million on different dates in Q1 2023. 

The average price, at that time, stood at $1,569. They liquidated 11,000 ETH at $1,906 for $21 million, realizing roughly $3.7 million in profit. 1inch Investment Fund now has 9,453 ETH valued at $15.61 million at spot rates.

Besides accumulating ETH, 1inch Investment Fund holds over 23 other tokens, according to Etherscan. One of their largest holdings, as of August 28, is USDT worth over $31.75 million. USDT is the world’s most liquid stablecoin.

They also have a significant holding of Uniswap’s governance token, UNI, worth over $1.85 million, and only a minuscule amount of USDC, worth $52. Similar data from Debank shows that the fund owns $80.3 million of digital assets.

Feature image from Canva, chart from TradingView

Thesis Summary

Shiba Inu (SHIB-USD) has seen some price volatility over the last few weeks. Although this started as a memecoin, this is now a flourishing ecosystem with a lot of support from users and developers. The launch of Shibarium could mark a great leap forward for SHIB. Having said that, given the risks of a coin like SHIB, I will wait for a confirmation that the broader crypto market has bottomed before I dip my feet.

Price Action

Over the past few weeks, the price of meme coin Shiba Inu (SHIB) has seen an upward movement, which is sparked mainly by an increase in the token’s burn rate. In just twenty-four hours, between August 23 and August 24, over 200 million SHIB tokens were burned by the Shiba Inu community.

The burn rate of SHIB increased by over 99% as whale wallets burned large amounts of SHIB. In two separate transactions, a wallet sent 111,635,927 SHIB tokens to a burn address. In the first transaction, the mystery wallet sent 61,708,497 SHIB tokens to the burn address, followed by another 49,927,430 SHIB tokens. These burned tokens are forever taken out of the SHIB circulating supply. Over the years, 41% of Shiba Inu’s total supply has been burned. Out of the 999 trillion SHIB that were once circulating, over 410 trillion have been burned.

The Shiba Inu community projects that 111 trillion SHIB tokens could be burned in the next year.

Shibarium is Coming

Shiba Inu is planning to release a layer-2 blockchain on top of Ethereum. SHIB tokens are Ethereum ERC20 tokens. Ethereum has been plagued by high gas fees and occasional slow transaction confirmation. ERC20 tokens that rely on the Ethereum network for transaction processing have been affected by the issues of high gas fees and slow transactions.

With the release of Shibarium, the fees for transactions will be negligible or even zero, according to the developers of Shiba Inu. Shibarium will also feature a SHIB burning mechanism and act as a bridge for other blockchain projects.

The need for a layer-2 solution was ineluctable for the SHIB ecosystem after the launch of Shiboshi NFTs-a collection of 10,000 SHIB-based NFTs. When the Shiboshi NFT collection launched, many users who tried to participate in the minting missed out on owning one of Shiboshi NFTs even after spending gas fees costing hundreds of dollars in some cases.

Shiba Inu’s Ambitious Roadmap

Shiba Inu is transforming, from a mere meme coin, into a full-fledged ecosystem. On the Shiba Inu roadmap, there are plans for a layer-2 solution, a blockchain game, a metaverse project, a DAO platform, and several other interesting projects.

• Shiba Eternity: Eternity is a card game based on SHIB and created in collaboration with PlaySide studio. The game is already available for early testing, in Vietnam only at the moment. The game was showcased at Gamescom 2022.

• Doggy DAO: In a bid to make the growing Shiba Inu ecosystem truly decentralized, Shiba Inu plans to launch a decentralized autonomous organization called Doggy DAO, to give the Shiba Inu community-popularly known as the ShibArmy-voting rights in key future decisions in the Shiba Inu ecosystem.

• ShibaSwap 2.0: ShibaSwap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) which allows users to swap tokens, stake tokens, and add liquidity to pools. Version 2.0 of ShibaShap will see new features, including a SHIB burning portal.

• SHI Stablecoin: A few ecosystems have launched their own stablecoin. Shiba is following in this step with a planned release of its own stablecoin, which will be known as SHI. A reward token called TREAT will also be launched alongside SHI.

• ShibaNet: ShibaNet will be a decentralized marketplace where users will be able to buy and sell goods using the SHIB token. It will run on the Shibarium layer-2 blockchain, leveraging the very low gas fees and high transaction throughput that Shibarium will provide.

• Shib.io Metaverse: The Shib.io Metaverse will feature more than 100,000 plots of digital land, spanning four districts-Growth, Defense, Technology, and Currencies districts. Shiba Inu has partnered with The Third Floor, a long-term collaborator and partner of Marvel Studios in building the Shib.io Metaverse.

Risks

SHIB is down about 80% from its all-time high price, which it reached in October 2021. The whole crypto market, and the stock market, for that matter, is still facing macroeconomic headwinds, such as inflation and monetary tightening. In a recent piece on Bitcoin (BTC-USD), I even discussed how the cryptocurrency could fall to $14,000.

Furthermore, while SHIB has a strong community behind it, this is still a memecoin, and there are many competitors in the space that are arguably better in terms of technology and development.

That said, there is room for a long-term upward trend in SHIB price. There has been a steady increase in its trading volume in the past few weeks as whales have been burning large amounts of SHIB tokens. Besides the burning of SHIB, there have been huge SHIB buy orders, with an example of a whale accumulating over 52 billion SHIB in a single transaction. With the roadmap and releases scheduled for the coming months, new money is bound to enter into SHIB.

Takeaway

Shiba has grown to become a solid project. Hence, Shiba Inu is always in the news for good reasons. The “ShibArmy” is a strong community as evident by their activity on crypto Twitter. The developers of Shiba Inu are highly passionate about the ecosystem and have followed through on the roadmap. Shiba Inu has secured some solid partnerships that other dog-themed cryptocurrencies could only dream of.

SHIB is definitely an interesting token given recent developments, and I like it more than its cousin Dogecoin (DOGE-USD). However, given the risks and volatility, I advise waiting until a bull market is confirmed in the broader crypto space.

Bitcoin and Ethereum have been gaining more acceptance. This has come hot on the heels of the numerous integrations that have seen both cryptocurrencies used as a method of payment. So far, bitcoin and ethereum have seen usage ranging from people purchasing cars with them to buying art and even houses with them. This time around, their usage has extended as a nightclub in New York begins accepting crypto payments

New York Night Club Says Yes To Bitcoin & Ethereum

Somewhere Nowhere is a New York City nightclub that has recently been making headlines for its move into crypto. The nightclub announced that it would be allowing payments using cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum in the club. This means that customers of the nightclub will be able to carry out payments using cryptocurrencies, which will be facilitated by crypto exchange Coinbase.

Somewhere Nowhere said in its press release that it would process all bitcoin and ethereum payments the same way it would process credit card payments. Staying true to its mission of bringing cutting-edge approaches to the nightlife experience, the nightclub added this payment option as a way to service all of its clients, who come from all around the world.

Related Reading | Crypto Could Be Bad For Retirement Savings Plans, The US Labor Dep’t Warns

The nightclub has also announced that it would be releasing its own NFT collection. This collection which will be powered by Moonwalk will bring unique and exclusive real-world utilities and virtual offerings for its NFT holders, the press release reads.

We are excited to offer our NFT collection to power a new form of membership and even more excited by the fact that we will be working with Moonwalk to enable Somewhere Nowhere’s guests to experience new and exclusive real-world experiences powered by the blockchain,” said CEO and Co-Founder, Nathan Leong. “Details on what’s included in the NFT will be available in the coming weeks. A dedicated server on Discord will be dedicated to growing and informing our community on all things Metaverse and NFT related.”

BTC crumbles to $38K | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Although it is the first in New York City, Somewhere Nowhere is not the first nightclub to begin accepting cryptocurrency payments. Last year, a Las Vegas strip club announced that it would begin accepting BTC payments in its club. The Crazy Horse 3, a “gentlemen’s club” said that it would first begin accepting bitcoin payments for bottle service in the club, which would eventually spread to other services.

Related Reading | Binance Plans To Extend The Boundaries Of Crypto Industry In Non-Crypto Businesses

CEO of Somewhere Nowhere, Nathan Leong, described this as adding the next generation of currency to the list, saying, “It’s exciting to be part of this futuristic time and to continue to bring unique experiences to our guests through technology. And this is just the beginning.”

Featured image from The Business Plan Shop, chart from TradingView.com

Tonight, on The Andy Milonakis NFT Show: The infamous Island Boys make an appearance promoting Milonakis’ upcoming NFT collection. That’s at the very end, though. Before that we have a sketch, fights with another group of antagonists, NFT related products, and deep thoughts about the NFT space. All in all, it’s a great show and we’ll learn a lot about .jpeg culture.

Related Reading | The Andy Milonakis NFT Show, EP. 7 – Our Hero Reaches The Edge Of The Abyss

Let’s start with a bang. A video appearance by the star of the show himself:

People that list their NFT vs the people that bid on it pic.twitter.com/mcvBjpfqZM

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 10, 2021

Offers and counteroffers, that’s part of the NFT game. However, as it happens, some people take it too far. And that observation is the sketch’s reason to be.

And while we’re on the subject, is this a simple observation or is it a diss towards degens?

I’ll never be a true Degen, I love to travel too much. True Degens don’t leave the house

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 10, 2021

Degens refers to degenerate traders that spend all day looking at screens, buying and selling. The NFT crowd took the word for themselves and have been wearing it with pride ever since. Still, the question remains, is Milonakis making fun of the community?

Here, though, it’s pretty clear he’s making fun of Open Sea and normal people at the same time:

Enough Normie commercials, can you talk to us? https://t.co/d2zkd7i7EI

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 11, 2021

Open Sea is the biggest NFT marketplace, but the contention between the community and the company keeps growing. And Andy Milonakis is trying to be part of the solution by holding them accountable. 

If you’re still not sure what you can do at Open Sea, just watch the video they made for you, normie.

Andy Milonakis Vs. New Enemies

We’ve been covering Andy’s constant fight (One, Two) with the NFT people that consider him a “paper hands” for selling some pieces. But there are others. Since Milonakis is a decent size celebrity, spammers are a constant presence in his life. The replies of every tweet we feature in this hit show are full of degens promoting this or that project, trying to get his attention. However, there are people that take it even further.

Sorry to block so many of you, even though you can’t read this, other NFT people can . When I get 10-20 tweets in a row about one specific series, it’s clearly that I’m being target shilled by a discord. So yeah, insta block, and complete loss of interest for that series, thanks

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 12, 2021

As we’ve established before, community is crucial for a successful NFT project. And Discord became the linking spot for those communities to gather around. However, as it happens, there are people who abuse their power. “When I get 10-20 tweets in a row about one specific series, it’s clearly that I’m being target shilled by a discord.” No argument there, Mr. Milonakis.

I’m in NFT discords all day, just maybe not yours https://t.co/mBf6uJYAUP

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 12, 2021

People asking for attention is another enemy our hero has to deal with. In each “The Andy Milonakis NFT show” chapter we document several interactions between Milonakis and the community. And he has recommended Discords before. So, we don’t know what this Dave.eth man is talking about.

ETH price chart on Bittrex | Source: ETH/USD on TradingView.com

New NFT Products

The economy around NFTs is growing and dripping out of cyberspace. One example is this party for Anonymice, Hoots, and CyberKongz holders in which they required “Metamask proof of ownership.”

Anonymice x Hoots x CyberKongz NYC Party

November 5th 2021
6pm—10pm EST
21+
Metamask proof of ownership of 1 of the above NFTs

Where:
PHD Rooftop Lounge at Dream Hotel Downtown located on the 12th floor
355 West 16th St
New York, NY

Hit up @Evuls2 with questions

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 13, 2021

And, what do you all think about this CryptoPunks rug? It looks rare to us.

Nice work! https://t.co/fjm5Fiox8D

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 15, 2021

Back to the Internet, Coinbase announced an NFT marketplace and Milonakis joined the waiting list. 

Coinbase wants free promo for me to get invited to their NFT platform faster and I’m falling for it. https://t.co/sxL1g3MoYe NOT SPONSORED, MORE LIKE SUCKERED. Follow my Journey right now i’m 883377 in line. Lets see if that changes hahahaha

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 13, 2021

Do you think Coinbase joining the space is important or nay?

Profound Ruminations About NFT Culture

We already know Milonakis is a philosopher, and his new observations about the NFT space don’t disappoint. However, let’s start with this phrase he retweeted.

Look, NFTs are a scam, but websites that get you to post your hard work for free in exchange for hearts? That’s the real stuff.

— Adam Sacks (@AdamSacks) October 19, 2021

Is the comparison between social media sites and NFTs fair? Or is it a false equivalence? Social media is free because you’re the product. There’s real money behind NFTs. However, the tweet’s idea is interesting. Let’s meditate on it.

Then, Andy responds a “do u consider “crypto” ur passion?” poll with a thoughtful reflection:

I spend all day talking to people, working on creating something with cool utility, buying interesting projects and seeing them quickly evolve or sometimes devolve. All of it is so fun but tbh if crypto/$$ wasn’t the skeleton of this crazy, wild world..prob less exciting for me https://t.co/OXg1JfcpSv

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 13, 2021

This is honesty: “All of it is so fun but tbh if crypto/$$ wasn’t the skeleton of this crazy, wild world..prob less exciting for me.” The art is cool, but money is at the driving wheel of this phenomenon.

To close this section, Milonakis describes the NFT space with rhyme and raw passion.

You got the genius collectors, the code inspectors, the pushy people that act pussy & evil, tryna get to the top like a 1/1 beeple, shillers would be chiller but the s made em sheeple, so many animal nft’s, buyers are manic, shill less animals always do better when raised organic

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 14, 2021

“So many animal nft’s, buyers are manic, shill less animals always do better when raised organic” True, man. True.

Let’s give Andy’s mother the last word, though.

I hope your MP3’s are doing well – my mom

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 12, 2021

Last But Not Least, The Island Boys

Lately, viral sensation The Island Boys have been in high demand. Through the Cameo app, people in the crypto space are hiring them to shill their products. It’s a mix of a tongue-in-cheek joke, with real promotion potential. These two kids might be the worst rappers in the world, but they still go viral every day, or so it seems. 

Related Reading | The Andy Milonakis NFT Show, EP. 1 – Our Hero Falls Down The Rabbit Hole

Just look at what Gemini’s Tyler Winklevoss has to say about the phenomenon:

The Island Boys are now the most high profile crypto boosters. I love the Internet.

— Tyler Winklevoss (@tyler) October 26, 2021

In any case, Andy Milonakis couldn’t keep his hands off the cookie jar. First, he paid them to do this freestyle about the MekaVerse story. Or so it seems, can you figure out what they’re saying?  

pic.twitter.com/djFQKDrRkw

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 24, 2021

And then, he paid them to diss Beeple (“is a puppet”) and Gremplin (“eating too much soy”) and then say “Milonakis about to drop his own NFTs.” Or so it seems, can you figure out what they’re saying?  

Last one haha @beeple @supergremplin had to use big names for clout pic.twitter.com/9YvWOhsdLi

— Andy Milonakis (@andymilonakis) October 24, 2021

Anyway, “The Andy Milonakis NFT Show” is going places. We even had an Island Boys cameo, and these kids are hot as lava right now.

Show logo based on Andy Milonakis' art | Charts by TradingView