Nick Research

➥ Marcro & The Bitcoin Minning Cost Correlation ✦ Trade war → rising retaliatory tariffs → rare earth prices ↑ → chip manufacturing cost ↑ → mining rig prices ↑ → mining cost ↑ You know #Bitcoin miners follow upgrade cycles, similar to the halving rhythm. This typically happens every 2-4 years, depending on hardware progress and competitive intensity. It’s now >1 year past the 4th Bitcoin halving (April 20, 2024). → Meaning that most mining rigs are still fresh new > A new wave of hardware investment isn’t due yet. → So any effect from the trade war on mining costs may not be fully priced in for another 6-12 months. ✦ However, in this geopolitical context: ▸ China holds a massive edge in rare soils → the raw materials behind cheap chip production (WTO: China holds 44M tons of rare earth reserves, ranked #1 globally) ▸ Trump isn’t taxing chip exports from China, yet chinese consumers are boycotting U.S. goods, which may dampen exports. → China will look for ways to leverage this resource surplus. If China allows large-scale #Bitcoin mining again: → Cheap domestic chips → competitive rigs → Pressure on U.S.-based miners rises → U.S. must produce domestically at higher cost → upgrades → cost inflation. All paths lead to one conclusion: rising #Bitcoin mining costs. Of course, cost inflation is part of #Bitcoin’s long-term design: ▸ Inflation → halving → new-gen miner competition But in today’s AI-driven, macro-unstable world, the competitive cycle may speed up faster than usual. ✦ Two core metrics reflect this: ➊ Hashrate just hit a new ATH: 1055 EH/s → That’s 1055 million trillion trillion calculations per second to mine BTC. ➋ Mining Difficulty is also at a record high: 121.5B → The market must stay alert to reactions from: • Earnings of China-exposed companies • Inflation spillovers • Geopolitical flare-ups • A potential U.S.-China breakdown • Crypto adoption progress in nations like Singapore, China, U.S… ✦ Zooming in: [1] Bitcoin's divergence from traditional markets: → Correlation with Nasdaq is fading → $BTC volatility is dropping while stocks and bonds grow more volatile → Institutional wallets are quietly accumulating again. [2] Gold has surged ~20% as central banks stockpile it at record pace. → [1][2] hint at a shift: $BTC is transitioning from a high-risk asset → to a strategic macro hedge. Long-term, $BTC won't replace gold, it's becoming a parallel reserve system. In a fragmented global order, capital is chasing neutrality. → That drove the gold rush. → But gold can’t keep surging forever. If #Bitcoin remains resilient under ongoing macro pressure. You may be witnessing the early signals of sovereign/institutional recognition and eventually, public adoption. ✦ TL;DR: ▸ Tech-wise: Bitcoin is engineered for long-term price appreciation ▸ Macro-wise: Geopolitical frictions may ignite an arms race in mining ▸ Sentiment-wise: After the gold rush, Bitcoin might be the only asset that ticks both boxes: liquidity + value refuge ▸ Option insights: Whale aims a big pump in Sept, expecting BTC to hit $140K So from my perspective, a #Bitcoin rebound is likely within the next few months.

@richardseiler gold leads every markets

Gold perps did 282B on-chain in under five months and saved much of crypto trading We were skeptical RWA derivs would find PMF this fast The flow is real, sticky, and growing while attention sits elsewhere. Where do you think that liquidity is leaking from ?

@yichuan_drive @citrea_xyz @base ppl should use Rabby so they dont need to buy gas fee for the txn ':V

Weeeeell, @citrea_xyz TGE is live guys Claim here > citrea.xyz/airdrop $CTR CA on Citrea - 0x547AfD93B9c47D552059FEb556909e017f8a9b25 $CTR CA on @base - 0x11030f79109269d796fd0fb956d6244e502757f7 Swap on Citrea 1 - satsuma.exchange/swap Swap on Citrea 2 - juiceswap.com/swap Swap on Base - aerodrome.finance/swap?from=0x11… Bridge to Base 1 - citrea.xyz/bridge Bridge to Base 2 - stargate.finance/?srcChain=base…

@Usoppu they really rate you 600 for 4 posts while you can do 1 in exchange for 1K ':V

what's your X score and how much is your suggested 4 posts price?

@0x_sakata pretty much agree

imagine hating ai tools in 2026, you are never gonna make it like that, here are some of the best ai tools by category: 1. Graphic design: Figma, Canva, Adobe Firefly 2. Vibecoding: Lovable, Vercel, Cursor 3. Content creation: Claude, ChatGPT, Jasper AI 4. Deep research: Perplexity AI, Grok, Claude dont be anti ai, rather go with the flow

@richardseiler @HyperliquidX @Crypto_Dep @RR2Capital RWA will win the race

SP500, Brent, Nvidia, Gold The Hyperliquid OI board reads like a prop desk screen The interesting question is not whether TradFi comes on-chain, it is which venue absorbs the order flow first

@muarmemuar @tradexyz @variational_io @nadoHQ @grvt_io too many perps to grind

It's clear that @tradexyz and @variational_io are already giga-chads in the perp DEX space. But what about the rest of the field? And why am I personally paying attention to @nadoHQ. @grvt_io - the points program has been running since December 2023. Season 2 already ends this June. On @Polymarket, the odds of a $500M FDV are only 21%. Looking at recent perp DEX cases that kept delaying TGE by launching new point seasons - EdgeX, Backpack, Paradex - the community wasn't happy with any of them. So for me: skip. @extendedapp - points program started in April 2025. Same 21% odds for a $500M FDV on Polymarket. You won't be an early user here anymore; early farmers got way better point efficiency than users now. It's still fine for funding arbitrage between perp DEXs, but personally I'm skipping it. Points are much more expensive to farm now, and I'd rather trade more organically instead of spreading myself across too many perp DEXs. @gmtrade_xyz - honestly, I don't really understand this @solana perp DEX yet. And if I had to choose something on Solana, I'd rather go with @bulktrade, especially since mainnet is coming in June. And I want to support co-founder @kdotcrypto after he had to cut something valuable for the launch. That kind of sacrifice for the project is extremely bullish. Nado - probably the best option in the current top 10 if you actually want to still be early. With TradeXYZ and Variational already above $1B OI, you're no longer early there. Nado's points program started in January this year. So far around 26M points have been distributed. Considering Season 2 and its updates, total supply will probably end up around 34-36M points, meaning there are still ~10M points left for the community. The key thing is that this perp DEX is directly tied to the future @inkonchain airdrop, which will most likely happen this summer or autumn. Polymarket currently gives 40% odds for $INK reaching a $1B FDV. And as many already know, Nado users are expected to receive an allocation from it. I recently estimated the potential value per point: if users receive a 6-8% allocation at a $1B INK FDV, each point could be worth around $1.7-2.2. That's why, for me personally, Nado currently offers the best risk/reward among perp DEXs where you can still realistically be early, while the protocol is already becoming a serious competitor in the sector. @StandX_Official - feels like the next EdgeX to me, where the community probably gets crumbs while the team keeps most of the airdrop supply. Skip. @Rho_Labs - as UFC fighter @MAKHACHEVMMA once said: "Brother, who is this guy?" Pre-TGE season only started in March this year anyway, so skip. @Ostium - recently said they're no longer a perp DEX. Who am I to argue with them? Skip. @pacifica_fi - points program started in September 2025. Same story as Extended: you won't be early anymore. Polymarket gives only 17% odds for a $500M FDV. No reason to rush here either, since they plan to launch their own chain first - testnet, then mainnet. I highly doubt we'll see a token this year. Most likely another delayed TGE with heavily diluted point value, similar to Backpack. Could still work for funding arbitrage, but overall: skip. Just sharing my personal view - and I could absolutely be wrong. Btw: Nado has a live $100K trading competition ending June 1 - app.nado.xyz/?join=wvjcu3e Bulk has a live $50K trading competition ending May 28 - early.bulk.trade

@yichuan_drive @re yessir re points will airdrop big

Been riding with @re since last year… 🙌 Today they finally announced $RE's launching very soon 👀 TGE cooomin sun 🪂 $RE's the governance token for Protocol > internet-native marketplace for insurance capital that already reinsured 1M+ U.S. policyholders Real traction Real users RW capital The quiet phase is ending anon Soon it’s either “I was early” or “I faded again. Choose wisely 🤜🤛

@DamiDefi ONDO is not a random pick

Top 5 RWA Projects, Q2 2026 Major Catalysts $LINK → $4B in assets migrated to CCIP following competitor exploit, Kelp DAO and Lombard Finance both moved → Kraken adopted CCIP as exclusive cross-chain infrastructure for $330M+ in wrapped token assets → DTCC integrated Chainlink standards into its collateral management AppChain → CCIP processed $18B+ in transfer volume in Q1 2026 alone → Huma Finance selected CCIP as exclusive bridging infrastructure over all competitors $ONDO → $3B TVL milestone crossed on April 5, largest tokenized RWA platform by scale → Distributed assets grew to $3.86B supporting 111,000+ holders per RWA .xyz → Founder and CEO Nathan Allman passed away unexpectedly on May 26, Ian De Bode appointed CEO immediately → $ONDO token gained 5% in the immediate aftermath market backed the team over the individual $CFG → 243% price rally in 90 days - $0.0668 in January to $0.2771 by mid-May → Coinbase awarded Preferred Partner status with strategic investment → deSPXA launched, tokenized S&P 500 index on Base developed with S&P Dow Jones and Janus Henderson → Centrifuge V3 development officially initiated via on-chain governance → Wasabi Protocol integration enabling leveraged trading of deSPXA on Base $SYRUP → $100M legal settlement with Core Foundation, cleared path for syrupBTC product launch → TVL more than doubled in Q2 hitting all-time highs, quarterly revenue up 39% → Bitwise Asset Management allocated $12B to Maple for institutional yield generation → 75M SYRUP buyback fully executed from open market → $100M institutional Bitcoin loan issued, proving on-chain underwriting at scale $PENDLE → 97% of top 10 locked assets now backed by real-world asset yields including US Treasuries and private credit → $120M PT-USDG allocation fully deployed on Aave — institutional RWA yields flowing into DeFi lending → BNB Chain expansion with apxUSD pool offering fixed yields above 13% → New RWA yield sources onboarded including apxUSD linked to US Treasuries Five protocols. One direction. Institutional capital is moving onchain and it is accelerating every quarter

@0xgilllee @lifiprotocol the intents is much needed these days

For years, I kept thinking crypto needed better apps. Then I realized something deeper was missing - a true foundation layer to bring crypto into real life. @lifiprotocol Intents was that missing piece. It helps banks, wallets, and fintech apps plug on-chain money into their products in a simple way. Users just say what result they want -> The system takes care of everything in the background. For me, this is core infra for on-chain finance. A layer that connects tradfi + blockchain, turning complex flows into a smooth daily experience for millions.

@diegoxyz i have no doubt about it

@Defi_Warhol it's the only pathway

I will save you a lot of time to your first $10K / $100K / $1M. If you don't guess → test → correct, you don't win.

@yichuan_drive @citrea_xyz how do you sell so fast btw ':V

Tbh, one of the best airdrops for the past several months, man 🟠 > Used my liquidity to contribute to @citrea_xyz > Provided LP, Bridged + Swapped > Spend like $25/40 in total > Kept liquidity on the chain > Got rewarded pretty juicy 🔥 Planning to wait the dip to buy-back $CTR and stake it 🤜🤛 Exactly these types of retro showing us that sometimes better to grind that less-shilled... I wish I have deployed more on Citrea, than on @megaeth lmao

@yichuan_drive @citrea_xyz got some airdrop ngl

@ripchillpill @wallchain crazy low rate for ya ngl

I’ve spent the past year watching InfoFi, creator campaigns and crypto marketing completely implode from the inside So here’s my honest take on what Wallchain launched It is interesting because it exposes one of the biggest gaps in web3 marketing right now: everyone wants “quality creators” and “niche audiences” but nobody agrees on how to define them ____ The product itself is simple: > projects put up a campaign budget > creators apply > AI recommends matches + rates > projects approve > creators post > creators get paid Basically a more structured marketplace for paid creator campaigns. And honestly, I think there is demand for this After InfoFi got nuked, thousands of people who used to make money from posting on X started looking for new ways to monetize their time Some went to clipping agencies. Some went to marketing agencies. Some stayed around campaign platforms hoping something would come back So when Wallchain opens something like this and 10k+ people apply in the first 4 hours, I’m not surprised at all The supply is clearly there. The bigger question is demand. ____ Who is this actually for? Because it’s not really for larger creators with strong positioning, established rates and inbound deal flow. If you’re already getting serious offers, you’re probably not going to apply to a $10k campaign and let an AI suggest your price. But for smaller creators who are currently getting offered $9, $25, raffle tickets or “future exposure”? This is probably a better system. At least it gives them: > fixed payouts > clear campaign terms > a formal application process > a chance to get matched with projects looking for their audience That part is good. The concern is the matching layer. ___ Wallchain says niche and lookalike audiences can deliver better results than manual selection Maybe. But only if the AI is actually good. Because “niche” is a very abused word on CT. Most accounts are not really niche. Their niche is making money on the internet. So the hard part is not matching a “crypto creator” with a “crypto project” The hard part is understanding: > who their audience actually is > where that audience is located > what kind of content they convert on > whether the creator is trusted > whether the project fits their voice > whether the campaign objective is realistic ____ That’s not easy. And I’m still skeptical AI can outperform proper manual curation when manual curation is done by someone who actually understands the space. But that’s also the point: most manual selection in crypto marketing is terrible. So maybe Wallchain doesn’t need to beat great curation. It only needs to beat the average agency. And that bar is not very high. ____ The pros are clear: > more transparent campaign structure > better monetization for smaller creators > easier discovery for smaller projects > less messy than random DMs and backroom deals > potentially useful if niche matching actually works The cons are also clear: > AI matching can be shallow > budgets may be too small for serious impact > projects may still optimize for cheap noise > creators may undervalue themselves > campaign quality depends heavily on project selection and briefing ____ My take: Wallchain Select is not “the future of creator marketing” But it is a practical attempt to solve a real market problem There are projects with small budgets that need distribution There are smaller creators who want to monetize without being ripped off If Wallchain can sit between those two groups and make the process cleaner, that’s useful But the product will live or die by one thing: can it actually identify the right creators for the right campaigns? Because if this just becomes another place where projects buy cosmetic CT noise, it will not prevail. But if the matching works, even at a small scale, it could become a much better alternative to the low-end creator deal chaos we have today PS - this is my suggested pricing by Wallchain. not ideal but not that bad either given the whole budget is $10k on these campaigns.

@DefiIgnas @tokenterminal $ZEC my bag ';O

Zcash generating $405M annualized fees. More than Ethereum ($329M) and Solana ($323M). According to @tokenterminal calculations these are actual tx fees paid by users, not block rewards or inflation. Calculated from the UTXO model with shielded pool transactions included. Pretty sick metrics driven by: - 59% of transactions are now shielded - Shielded volume up 300% - Multiple CEXs relisted ZEC in early 2026 after delisting in 2023 - Multicoin Capital disclosed a position - Grayscale filed for a spot ZEC ETF - Privacy narrative on CT Although DefiLlama shows much lower current fees (~$60k per 30 days). The $405M yearly number from Token Terminal includes the huge pump of fees in January 2026. But even excluding the outlier months, even today ZEC is generating more fees than Etherem.

@0xNairolf @lifiprotocol all intents solutions will succeed

"bro wat is lifi intents?" An explanation of @lifiprotocol Intents, in (very) simple terms. 🧵

@0xAmberCT @base @coinbase base szn ngl

Top projects on Base to put in your watchlist @base has always prided itself on being a pioneering network with an extremely robust AI infra on the blockchain, thanks to its low fees, fast speed, and support from @coinbase. Recently, it has expanded far beyond AI, with many new projects launching across different sectors, turning Base into a more diverse and active ecosystem. 1. Base Network in H1 2026 In the first half of this year, the base network has progressed steadily. - DeFi TVL remains around $4.5b. - About 9m transactions per day, with consistent user activity. - New projects are constantly being launched, especially AI, which is growing very rapidly. The overall feeling is that the system is still building a very solid foundation before entering a phase of stronger acceleration. 2. Strongest sectors on Base Low fees and ease of use make Base fertile ground for AI agents to thrive. From my perspective, the four most noteworthy sectors currently are: - AI Agent Launchpad - Framework & Memory - Compute & Tools - Payments/DeFi backbone These are sectors with both builders and clear capital inflow. 3. Projects I would recommend following AI Agent Launchpads - @virtuals_io: leading platform for creating and trading AI agents, top volume on Base. - @bankrbot: focuses on agents that can generate their own revenue. - @liquid_launcher: helps agents raise funds and launch tokens. - @moltenagentic: combines launchpad, DEX, and identity. - @gitlawb: a popular playground for building apps and agents. Frameworks & Memory - @aeonframework: powerful framework, easy setup for autonomous agents. - @odei_ai: acts like a personal AI system with memory. - @sibylcap: focuses on improving AI memory. - @KellyClaudeAI: scaling fast from a single agent to a full system. Compute, Inference & Tools - @AskVenice: open AI chat with user rewards. - @OpenGradient: private AI compute network with strong security tech. - @HermesOScloud: simple tool to deploy many agents quickly. - @solvrbot: provides intelligence layer for agents, UX improving fast. Payments, Security, Robotics & DeFi - @ClawBankHQ: connects agents with real-world banking. - @OrionX_Robotics: building robots tied to real revenue models. - @aerodromefi: core DEX providing liquidity across Base. - @TesseraBase: builds credit profiles for agents to access lending. If I had to sum it up, Base is moving toward becoming the infra layer for an on-chain AI economy, with more real use cases starting to show up.

@Tom_Degen68 @Polymarket who will be the champ?

World Cup has not started but @Polymarket is feeling it The 2026 WC Winner market alone = $1.2 billion in total volume. That's one of the biggest single markets in Polymarket history. Current favorites: • France ≈ 18% • Spain ≈ 17.4% • England, Brazil, Portugal, Argentina trailing behind Total WC markets: 72+ active • Every group stage winner • Player props (top goalscorer, most assists,etc) • Specials: Will Iran actually play? Unbeaten champion? Which continent wins? etc. It will be a wild summer on both the football field and $POLY field.

@DukeD_Defi bro i cant read nothing from the infographic

you know that, one of the biggest arguments against #Bitcoin was always pretty simple: “ bitcoin:native is great for storing value… but useless for DeFi". I honestly think that narrative is starting to break apart quite quickly now. the interesting part isn’t just that Bitcoin DeFi exists anymore. it’s that the infrastructure around BTCFi is suddenly becoming much more serious compared to previous cycles. you can already see multiple directions forming at the same time: - @Stacks pushing sBTC + Bitcoin-secured smart contract liquidity. - @rootstock_io continuing to operate as one of the oldest Bitcoin EVM ecosystems with merged-mining security. - @citrea_xyz building what’s probably one of the most interesting Bitcoin zk-rollup architectures rn. - @BotanixLabs trying to turn Bitcoin into a fully usable EVM environment through Spiderchain. - @MerlinLayer2 focusing heavily on fast Bitcoin-native liquidity + DeFi rails. - - @babylonlabs_io opening the entire bitcoin:native restaking narrative. and honestly… this matters much more than people realize. because #Bitcoin is still the largest pool of dormant collateral in crypto. most bitcoin:native still sits idle. no yield - no productive usage - no financial layer around it. that’s trillions of dollars worth of capital basically doing nothing besides price appreciation. meanwhile #Ethereum spent years building lending, stablecoins, perps, restaking, liquidity layers, structured products… and now #Bitcoin is slowly starting to move in that same direction. obviously BTCFi is still early compared to #Ethereum DeFi. liquidity fragmentation is real. security assumptions between ecosystems are very different. bridges and smart contract risks still matter a lot. but I also think the market is starting to realize something important: if even a relatively small percentage of dormant bitcoin:native eventually flows into lending, stablecoins, collateralization, perps, or yield infrastructure… the size of the opportunity becomes pretty massive. I’m paying much closer attention to projects building: Bitcoin liquidity rails, BTC-backed stablecoin systems, Bitcoin-native yield layers, and scalable EVM environments around bitcoin:native. because the bigger BTCFi gets, the less #Bitcoin starts behaving like a passive asset…and the more it starts becoming an actual financial ecosystem,BTCFi feels much more real in 2026 than I expected a few years ago. NFA. DYOR.

@fishscoot @saylor @fundstrat @CryptoHayes @mert @zama iykyk

@Nick_Researcher @saylor @fundstrat @CryptoHayes @mert You should add this ➡️ @zama IYKYK

Top assets with their proxy leaders not protocol-native leader, but person investors map the asset thesis onto > Bitcoin → @saylor > Ethereum → @fundstrat > Hyperliquid → @CryptoHayes > Zcash → @mert