The Most Popular Crypto at Bitcoin Conference Wasn’t Bitcoin

The Fastest Growing Blockchain Ecosystem in the World                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 August 07, 2024 | [Listen Online]( | [Read Online]( [Teeka Tiwari]( & Houston Molnar [fb]( [fb]( [fb]( [fb](mailto:?subject=Post%20from%20The%20Digital%20Asset%20Daily&body=The%20Most%20Popular%20Crypto%20at%20Bitcoin%20Conference%20Wasn%E2%80%99t%20Bitcoin%3A%20The%20Fastest%20Growing%20Blockchain%20Ecosystem%20in%20the%20World%0A%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Ftiwariresearchgroup.com%2Fp%2Fpopular-crypto-bitcoin-conference-wasnt-bitcoin) NOTE: We’re trying something new. If you look at the top right-hand corner of your email, you now have the option to “Listen Online”. It’s an audio transcript of today’s Digital Asset Daily issue. Please reply to this email and let us know what you think of this feature. If you love it, if you hate it, doesn’t matter. Let us know by hitting reply to this email and tell us: Love it - or - Hate it The Most Popular Crypto at Bitcoin Conference Wasn’t Bitcoin That’s according to VanEck, one of the world’s largest asset managers. In a moment, I’ll tell you what this crypto is – and why you want to take advantage of the recent pullback in the markets to position yourself now. But first, let me introduce myself. My name is Houston Molnar. And I’ve been Teeka Tiwari’s chief crypto analyst since 2019. Last month, I attended Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville. During the event, I met reps from some of the world’s largest bitcoin miners, fund managers, and developers. Recently, I wrote an article highlighting the three biggest takeaways from former President Donald Trump’s historic keynote address at the conference. President Trump is the first major presidential candidate to speak at a bitcoin conference. And he’s uber bullish about this asset class. [You can read the full article here if you’d like.]( The last bitcoin conference I attended was in 2021. And in hindsight, it clearly signaled a top in the market. In attendance were celebrities like Floyd Mayweather, one of the greatest boxers of all time, who was promoting his own token. And legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk performed on a half-pipe in the conference center parking lot. This bitcoin conference felt much more professional than those in the past… with plenty of Wall Street giants present. Plus, elected officials also made a pilgrimage to outline their plans to enable the growth of blockchain technology in the U.S.. An estimated 35,000 people flooded Nashville to attend the event. And there were more than 200 booths in the expo hall representing hundreds of crypto projects. The Main Expo Hall at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville While bitcoin is the main draw here, I’ve discovered you can uncover the next up-and-coming crypto as well – if you know where to look and whom to ask. That’s what attracted me to the VanEck booth… The Fastest Growing Blockchain Ecosystem in the World VanEck has $108 billion in assets under management – making it one of the largest asset managers in the world. Founded in 1955, VanEck is often a first mover in the ETF space, creating simple ways for investors to gain exposure to emerging trends. For instance, VanEck created the first gold equity fund in the United States in 1968, giving investors an easy way to invest in the asset. And in 2007, VanEck launched the first fixed income ETF. Today, there’s over $100 billion invested across 36 gold ETFs. And over $500 billion invested across 127 fixed income ETFs. As you can see, VanEck was an early pioneer in what’s become two massive markets. VanEck was also an early advocate of crypto, filing for a bitcoin ETF in August 2017. As you can see, VanEck is a major player in the ETF space. That’s why I had to check out their booth at Bitcoin 2024. In June, VanEck became the first asset manager to file an application to launch a new crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF). Like stocks, ETFs are securities traded on exchanges. They can hold stocks, bonds, commodities, and other securities. Usually, they track an index or asset class. VanEck already has spot bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs. So obviously, I’m not talking about those two tokens. When I asked the reps how much interest the new crypto ETF is generating, they smiled and told me it’s all anyone can talk about. Remember, this is a bitcoin conference. So that’s a telling sign right there. After I spoke to the guys at the VanEck booth that day, they sent out a tweet later that evening… If you’re not familiar with Solana (SOL), it’s similar to the Ethereum network. Some of its use cases include DeFi apps, non-fungible token (NFT) exchanges, and data storage. Over the past year, Solana has gained more attention and usage than any other blockchain network, including Ethereum. As you can see in the chart below, Solana has roughly 52 million monthly active users compared to 13.5 million for Ethereum. That’s nearly 4x more. The main reason Solana has surpassed Ethereum in terms of monthly users is because it’s faster and cheaper to use. It can cost just a fraction of a cent to send a transaction over the Solana network. And transactions settle in just seconds. By comparison, it can cost between $3 and $8 to send a transaction on Ethereum. When traffic is really high, Ethereum transaction fees can run into the thousands of dollars and settlement times can last from 15 seconds to a few minutes. So it’s no surprise the Solana network is processing roughly 1.2 billion transactions per month compared to 35 million transactions per month on the Ethereum network. You can see that in the chart below… Users and transactions only tell part of the story, though. When valuing a blockchain, you need to consider how much money it generates from its users in the form of transaction fees. That’s where the next chart from Blockworks Research comes in. It shows Miner Extractable Value (MEV)… In short, you can think of MEV as the total profit a blockchain is generating for its token holders. And as you can see, Solana went from basically generating no value a year ago… to surpassing Ethereum for the first time in economic value generation. There are many different use cases for blockchains. But they all have one common goal: Generate transaction fees for their token holders. And today, Solana is growing transaction fees faster than any other blockchain. Now don’t get me wrong, I still think Ethereum is a world-class asset. [As Teeka wrote on Monday](, we believe the next stage of transformational software development will happen on the blockchain... not the traditional internet. Just like Microsoft was the world’s most popular PC development platform in the 1990s... And Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS are the most popular mobile app development platforms today... Ethereum is the crypto equivalent of a computer operating system like Microsoft Windows. Solana is Ethereum’s main competitor. Over the long term, you couldn’t go wrong owning both Apple and Microsoft in your portfolio. I believe the same will be true for Ethereum and Solana. But I do see a much greater percentage upside with Solana compared to Ethereum. As of publication, Ethereum had a $291 billion valuation. Solana’s is $63 billion. Considering the usage metrics and economic value generation, their valuations should be much closer. That alone makes me incredibly bullish on the asset. But there’s an even bigger story behind SOL that the market is completely missing. And it comes back to the ETFs. An ETF Without Toxic Waste As mentioned above, VanEck applied to the Securities and Exchange Commission last month to launch the first spot Solana ETF. Just like they did for BTC and ETH, an ETF would make gaining exposure to SOL much easier. Remember, ETFs trade like securities. So you can buy them right from your brokerage account. No need for digital wallets, decentralized exchanges, or self-custody. But unlike Bitcoin and Ethereum, a Solana ETF won’t have to deal with what I call “toxic waste” plaguing bitcoin and Ethereum. Let me explain… Before the launch of several new bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs this year… The main way for investors to get exposure to those tokens in traditional brokerage accounts was through Grayscale Trust products. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETHE) originally traded as closed-end funds (CEFs). I won’t get into all the differences between CEFs and ETFs. But as a CEF, GBTC and ETHE shares could trade at a discount or premium to their underlying value. At times, GBTC traded 50% below the value of the BTC held in the fund. And there was no way to profit from that discount until it converted to an ETF in January. That’s why we saw billions of dollars in assets flee from Grayscale funds and flow into the open market once the ETFs were approved. Investors could now sell their assets for the fair market price of the underlying asset. This led to massive sell pressure until all the toxic waste was gone. When the first spot bitcoin ETFs launched on January 10, 2024, BTC ran 6% higher. But it quickly crashed 21% just two weeks later as $4.4 billion flowed out of GBTC. Once the toxic waste cleared, bitcoin nearly doubled over the next two months… As buying pressure surpassed the outflows. The same is happening with Ethereum today… On July 23, the SEC approved several Ethereum ETFs. Since then, ETH has dropped 29% as over $2.1 billion in toxic waste from ETHE flooded the market in just eight days. While other Ethereum ETFs like Fidelity and BlackRock are generating positive inflows… ETHE’s sell pressure is too much to overcome. On a net basis, we’ve seen over $460 million in sell pressure since the ETFs went live. Eventually this will turn into buy pressure like it did for bitcoin… But it takes time for Grayscale’s toxic waste to clear. Prior to their conversion to ETFs, GBTC and ETHE held $29 billion and $9.2 billion, respectively. While there’s a Grayscale Solana Trust, it currently holds only $62 million in assets. It’s tiny compared to GBTC and ETHE. When Solana gets an ETF, the toxic waste effect won’t hold it back. Instead, I believe it’ll see net positive inflows from day one. And that’s going to be explosive for its token price. This Is a Great Buying Opportunity The market has taken a beating over the past week – and as of publication, Solana is trading around $146. If SOL just rallies to its recent high of $194 on July 29 – that’s a 25% gain right there. We think it’s only a matter of time before SOL surpasses its all-time high of nearly $250. But you can’t wait until the market wakes up to what’s at stake here. When Bloomberg analysts forecast the odds of an Ethereum ETF were increasing, the price of ETH popped 24% overnight – adding roughly $90 billion to its market cap. And that wasn’t even an official approval… Just a forecast. That $90 billion move is greater than the entire value of Solana’s market cap. If Ethereum can make this size of a move in a single day… Imagine what will happen to Solana when a SOL ETF gains approval. That’s why you need to build a position today before it's too late. Regards, Houston Molnar Share The Digital Asset Daily You currently have 0 referrals. [Click to Share]( Or copy and paste this link to others: [ [fb]( [tw]( [ig]( [yt]( [in]( Update your email preferences or unsubscribe [here]( © 2024 Tiwari Research Group 1607 Ponce De Leon Ave San Juan, Puerto Rico 00909, Puerto Rico [Terms of Service](