Triaconta Weekly #267

The following topics will be addressed in this weekly:

  • Bundle performance
  • Winners & Losers
  • What is StormX (STMX) ?

Bundle performance

Bitcoin and with it the entire crypto market seem to have stepped on a rollercoaster in August. After weeks of sideways movement, prices on all exchanges suddenly went down hard on 17 August on bad economic data from China. The significantly increased odds of a Bitcoin ETF due to the SEC’s loss in the Grayscale lawsuit brought the crypto market back up very quickly on 29 August, only to drop precipitously to the same level as 17 August two days later. Back to square one or because of the SEC’s notice to delay the decision on all ETF applications for 45 days. They are allowed to do this a maximum of three times so we look forward to the next deadline on 16 October.

Grayscale’s victory over the SEC, which sent Bitcoin soaring, ultimately only means that within 45 days the SEC will have to review this application again and come up with better arguments to reject it. Or and this is what the market is hoping for, cannot find any arguments and is going to allow the ETF and thus logically all other applications. A tsunami of institutional money is expected via Bitcoin ETFs, which is likely to coincide with the halving of the number of new bitcoins appearing on the market due to the ‘Bitcoin halving’ in April 2024. In the short term, however, the risk of further decline has increased and we see that reflected in the bunds this week.

Big3:
1 Month: -13.00% | 7D: -1.00% | 24H: -3.58%

Top30:
1 Month: -17.14% | 7D: -2.37% | 24H: -3.47%

Penny:
1 Month: -16.67% | 7D: -2.12% | 24H: -1.88%

DeFi:
1 Month: -21.45% | 7D: -0.89% | 24H: -3.83%

Winners & Losers

Nano (+22%) is the fastest riser this week in a speculative upswing. Also rising against the trend is Maker (+15%), recently added back to the DeFi bundle. The founder of IOTA (+12%) is an unexpected speaker at the annual Cardano conference (2-4 November) which could hint at a possible future collaboration. As AI is in the news thanks to Nvidia figures and ChatGTP5, Fetch.AI (+9%) can always count on investor interest. A hefty drop in Hedera (-14%) possibly due to the unlocking of $65.42 million HBAR tokens (3.43% of total). Hedera now needs to find support at $0.05 to continue the uptrend started in June. New addition Pepe (-8%) falls due to disagreements in the team, which must be resolved soon. StormX (-8%) is also struggling on declining volume.

What is StormX (STMX) ?
The latest revision added this token to the PennyStock bundle. StormX is a mobile app and browser extension for Chrome and Edge that allows users worldwide to earn STMX tokens by purchasing products and services from affiliated companies. They can then spend the earned crypto on other products and services, save or exchange them for other crypto tokens.

This makes STMX tokens so-called utility tokens with a demonstrable useful use, and not just for speculation on appreciation. Through partnerships with top brands Samsung, Nike and eBay, StormX has become a leader in crypto rewards.

Is it even a crypto?
A key objective of StormX is to get precisely all the people in the world who are not yet doing anything with crypto on board in a simple way. The app is a true Web3 application free to register/use and requires no previous experience with crypto as the developers have removed all technical barriers through a helpful interface. StormX uses the advanced technical structure of Ethereum 2.0 in the background to provide users with scalability and security. Yes, it is a crypto, and yet it is easy to use by anyone worldwide.

Who is StormX?
CEO and co-founder Simon Yu developed this digital currency for an app called BitMaker, which he and co-founder Calvin Hsieh worked on in 2014. Simon Yu previously worked as a financial analyst intern at Amazon and senior credit risk analyst at KeyBank. After graduating from the University of Washington in 2014, he participated in a 2020 Berkley Blockchain Xcelerator at the University of California. The Bitmaker app was launched in 2015 and aims to let users earn crypto in various ways that do not involve buying tokens and then selling them for a profit. The app has since connected to a blockchain and is now called StormX. The company was briefly led by Vivek Ganesan, its VP of engineering, from February, but since April, founder Simon Yu has returned as CEO and there are plenty of new plans.

Possible uses with StormX
The app used to start as a marketplace bringing freelancers and companies together to do micro-tasks similar to Upwork, Fiverr or Mechanical Turk. Indeed, the problem with the aforementioned central platforms was their high commission. By running the deals through smart contracts, the cost for companies was lower and the revenue for freelancers much higher. This enabled StormX to engage many users worldwide. Over time, many of these jobs were taken over by AI and the use of the marketplace declined. However, the cashback option was used more and more. In September 2022, the decision was made to close the marketplace and henceforth continue primarily as the now globally largest crypto cashback application.

Through the StormX App, you can easily see thousands of shops worldwide where you can earn STMX tokens by buying products there. From car tyres to pets and also many Dutch shops with well-known names like Ebay, Under Armour, GoPro, Nord VPN, Bugaboo and if you are still in the holiday mood, for example, Belvilla. Order products or services via the app and receive a per-store varying percentage of your purchase back in Bolts that you can redeem for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Dogecoin, DAI and STMX tokens. Of course, you can also buy crypto via the App.

StormX had a very successful debit/credit card where 5% cashback on all your purchases was given as standard and even 8% if you use it with Amazon. With that, you could pay anywhere and that’s a big advantage because you don’t have to take crypto out of a wallet and sell it for fiat money to spend it. With this card, you could skip all that and that is extra attractive for non-crypto users. Unfortunately, due to problems and fraud at a number of major crypto companies in the past year, their partner Metropolitan Commercial Bank (New York) has ceased all crypto activities and their partnership with StormX has been terminated. So they are looking for a new banking partner for the card in America and hope to find one soon. If a suitable partner can be found, a European card will also come, according to StormX.

New is StormX Sports, designed to activate a Web3 fan base and create new ways of engagement around your favourite teams. Currently, it is only possible to predict results in a US NCAA college basketball pool for prizes in STMX. The intention, of course, is to further expand the capabilities of StormX Sports soon.

Future
Of course, the now $4.3 million reward-paid STMX tokens do not come into existence overnight. Companies that give a commission on online sales will have to buy these tokens first, generating an ongoing demand for tokens. The token model also encourages recipients to keep STMX tokens in the wallet through cessation revenue and because higher numbers of tokens in possession yield higher rewards in the cashback app. Thereby, of course, E-commerce continues to grow tremendously and within that, the proprietary credit card also fits. According to the latest blog article, the app currently has 2 million active users worldwide, which is relatively high for a blockchain app, and claims 3.5 million downloads of the app. In 2023, the development team has expanded considerably and a marketing team has been launched to make StormX better known to a large (non-crypto) audience.

Subscribe here to receive this weekly newsletter.