🟠 Is OpenSea joining Blur?

Gm, this is the doodhwala, the only crypto newsletter that gives you the feeling of a warm afternoon and a rainy evening. 🤌

Here’s the weather report for the day:

• 🖖 1 crypto exchange becomes 2

• 🟠 Is OpenSea joining Blur?

• 📈 Hackers With a Heart?

• 🛠 Master the Arbitrum Game

• 🍼 Ralph Crypto-Lauren

Better grab an umbrella today ☂️

🖖 1 crypto exchange becomes 2

A crypto exchange is shutting down. But it’s not because no one is using them.

(in fact, they’re the biggest exchange in their market)

So, why are they shutting down?

The crypto exchange → Paxful, a peer-to-peer (P2P) Bitcoin exchange.

Hold up, wtf is a P2P exchange?

Unlike a traditional centralized crypto exchange, a P2P exchange does not:

• hold user funds

• charge a 💩 ton of fees

• stick to just 1 payment method

So, they’re hella useful if you’re in countries with a 📉 fiat currency like – Venezuela, Turkey, or Wadiya. 🐫

But Paxful is the top dog in its market.

It’s among the top-3 largest P2P exchanges in the world. And it’s miles ahead of its competitors:

💩 Bisq → $2.9 million weekly BTC volume

💩 LocalBitcoin → $3.1 million weekly BTC volume 💀

👑 Paxful → $36 million weekly BTC volume

(btw LocalBitcoin went 💀 in February 2023)

So, why did Paxful shut down in a market where it was running away with the title? Kinda like Redbull every Formula 1 season 😭

Because of "legal" troubles.

Paxful has 2 co-founders → Ray Youssef and Artur Schaback.

Ray and Arthur sounds like the 80-year-old version of Drake and Josh! Oh what a show that was 🤌

Artur left Paxful in 2022. But he didn’t leave quietly.

Since his departure, he has:

• sued Paxful and Ray

• didn’t pay his share to employees

• made life a living hell for his former company

Damn, Artur sounds like a crazy ex-girlfriend. I’m surprised he hasn’t keyed Ray’s car and set his clothes on fire 🤣

Because of all of ☝️ Paxful couldn’t hold onto its team.

Some sources are saying they’ve got no – engineering, compliance, or security team.

These teams are kinda important in a crypto exchange. Not if you’re an unfunny newsletter tho. 👍

So, Ray and Paxful have decided to –

1️⃣ Shut down the P2P exchange

2️⃣ Tell customers to self-custody

But is this the full story?

The crypto world doesn’t think so. 👎

We’re getting hella sus vibes about this, just like that time I left the milk open for a few days and it turned yellow 🤢.

(Note to self: don’t 2-day old milk ☝️)

A message on Paxful’s website redirects users to 2 similar companies but for different geographical markets:

• Bitnob – For Africa

• Noones – For non-US users

The word on the street is – Paxful is in some deep legal and financial problems.

But they don’t wanna say, “Hey! Remember what happened to Celsius, FTX, and the rest of the bear market 💩-show? Yeah, we’re part of that mix.”

Instead, they’re splitting the company into 2 different companies and keeping things quiet. 🤫

🟠 Is OpenSea joining Blur?

Just like Arsenal FC this season, the NFT market reached new highs in February that wasn't seen in A LONG time!

The total NFT sales went ABSOLUTELY berserk! 🔥

🗓 January 2023 → $941 million

🗓 February 2023 → $2 BILLION 🤯

And this is because of just ONE big reason and it starts with a B —

Biden BLUR. 🟠

The new NFT marketplace that took the world by storm, launched a token and announced airdrop on February 14th.

And, in came all the airdrop hunters and farmers which spiked up numbers across the board.

Surprisingly enough, the NFT sales numbers did not change much in March as well. 🤔

🗓 February 2023 → $2 billion

🗓 March 2023 → $1.95 billion

And out of the $2 billion, this is how much the two big NFT marketplaces contributed:

🟠 Blur → $1.3 Billion

🔵 OpenSea → $424 million

Damn, OpenSea is down real bad. Even further down than Chelsea FC. 🥲

But OpenSea is not giving up. At least not yet.

Which is why they are taking the "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em” strategy.

No, OpenSea is not acquiring Blur. (that would be like Google acquiring Microsoft 😅)

So what’s happening then? 🤨

OpenSea launched a new platform targeting the core Blur users— NFT degen traders.

🔵 Introducing OpenSea Pro. 🔵

What’s so special about this?

• ZERO marketplace fees 💰

• Mobile version available 📱

• Super Instant sales ⚡️

Basically, it does everything Blur does. 😂

OpenSea hasn't really been an NFT platform for degen traders where they can get the best prices and trade instantly.

Because of this, Blur captured the market quickly.

How did OpenSea react?

1️⃣ First, OpenSea tried to fight it by making life hard for Blur.

2️⃣ Then, they decided to rally the community against Blur.

3️⃣ Finally, when nothing worked, they decided to join (copy) them.

Who knows, they might even copy their airdrop strategy by launching an OpenSea token. 🤷‍♂️

So with this Pro version, OpenSea intends to woo the degen traders while still keeping its large non-degen trading users.

If Blur was a speedboat then with OpenSea Pro, OpenSea became a slightly bigger speedboat. 🚤

But at the end of the day, the better boat is decided by the art and the community and not by seeing which one is bigger. 😬

As they say, “It's not the size of the boat, it's the motion of the ocean... of NFTs.” 😉

📈 Chaach and Charts: Hackers With a Heart?

When hackers go on a crypto-heist, it's like the digital wild west! 🤠

But, did you know some criminals return their loot?

Yeah, no kidding 🤞

Take a look 👇

🗓️ February

$27.6M stolen 💸 → 0M returned

😢

🗓️ March

$198.5M stolen 💸 → 178.5M returned

😲

That’s 89% of the funds RETURNED!! 🤯

Kind people, right?

So, what's with these cyber-bandits having a change of heart? 💔➡️❤️

1️⃣ Guilt Trip: Maybe their conscience caught up with 'em? 🥺

2️⃣ White Hat Twist: Could they be ethical hackers testing security? 🎩

3️⃣ Fear Factor: Are they spooked by law enforcement closing in? 👮

Whatever the reason, it's kinda wild to see cyber-outlaws returning stolen digital gold! 🤯

What do y'all think drives these hackers to return the loot?

REPLY and let's get this crypto-crime chat rollin'! 🕵️‍♂️🔍

🛠 Resourcewala: Master the Arbitrum Game 🌐

Lately, Arbitrum's been exploding like fireworks on New Year's Eve! 🎆

So, if you've been wondering what all the fuss is about, we gotcha FAM! 🤓

Let's dive into the world of Arbitrum with this doodhwala friendly guide that covers everything you need to know about the BIGGEST Ethereum L2 around! 🎯

In this uber-cool resource, we'll be diving into:

• What makes Arbitrum special

• Deets about the $ARB airdrop

• Blue-chip Projects on Arbitrum

• How-to guide on bridging to Arbitrum

Get ready to become an Arbitrum pro in no time! ⏰💪

LFG! 🔥

🍼 Doodhshots: Ralph Crypto-Lauren

• 💸 Honest Hacker: The Euler Finance hacker returns all "recoverable funds" from the $200 million hack. Honesty is the best policy, especially in crypto!

• 🔥 Ether up: Ether rallies to an 8-month high and gains ground against Bitcoin. ETH-er way, it's a win!

• 🔓 Open for Business: Three Arrows Capital Funded crypto exchanges OpenX is now open for trading – spot, derivatives, and claims in bankrupt crypto companies. Including 3AC.

• 💳 Ralph's Crypto Chic: Ralph Lauren hops on the crypto train, now accepting crypto payments in Miami Design District. Shop 'til you drop... or hodl!

• 💰Game On! LayerZero Labs raises a whopping $120M to expand their crypto messaging protocol for gaming and NFTs. Play to earn, anyone?

🤣 Milky Meme Of The Day

If you want more doodh then, be sure to follow our Twitter, our LinkedIn, and our Instagram.

That’s all for today bhaiyo aur bheno! Naale Sigona! Aakash "Dahi Cheeni" Athawasya & Arvind "Doodh Peda" Krishna

Yo! Our legal and financial advisors (aka our good ol’ conscience) have asked us to add this boring disclaimer.None of what you read here is financial advice. We aren’t here to get you to buy or sell a crypto. We’re only here to tell you what’s up in crypto today and make you laugh. So, if you screwed up on a trade, that’s on you G. Stay safe in the markets.