Uptober

Hey all, it's been a fantastic start to Q4 and a great close to the week for crypto markets. As is now tradition, we prepared some weekend readings to distract you from the price action. We have included a piece by Citadel assessing the outlook for equities into year-end, DoubleZero’s Proof of Utility primer, as well as an updated Zcash investment thesis, which feels timely given ZEC's 130% week-over-week performance. Have a great weekend!

October is off to a great start. The US major indices (S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow Jones) closed at record highs on Thursday, driven by tech stocks as investors shrugged off the second day of a US government shutdown. Meanwhile, BTC is back above $120K, and most quality coins across the board have performed well, with some notable outliers.

The Meme (+6.4%) and Launchpad (+5.6%) sectors were the clear outperformers on Thursday, reflecting a broader risk-on sentiment.  SPX (+16%) drove the majority of the meme sector gains, while RAY and MPLX were among the best-performing assets in the Launchpad sector. 

In terms of specific outliers, Zcash (ZEC) continued its impressive rally, now up over 130% week-over-week, and was listed on Hyperliquid perpetuals on Thursday morning. Could a privacy narrative be upon us? Finally, Thursday’s highlight was DoubleZero’s TGE, with the 2Z token sitting at $1.9 billion on a circulating basis and $5.5 billion on a fully-diluted valuation.

— Carlos

On Monday’s 0xResearch livestream, we covered:

• Plasma’s incentive-driven surge: Plasma attracted billions of dollars in USDT inflows via heavy native-token incentives and “rewards” pages. We framed it as a classic liquidity mining launch. We noted that APYs remain attractive but reflexive, with sustainability hinging on converting short-term inflows to sticky usage.

• Plasma thesis = stablecoin/tether beta: Even if near-term revenue won’t be impressive, Boccaccio pitched Plasma as the clearest “stablecoin bet” (tether beta) with distribution angles (CEX integrations, “Plasma One” app). Medium-term, the thesis will hinge on data and observable retention once incentives fade.

• CZ and the exchange-chain strategy: CZ can catalyze narratives with well-timed tweets and distribution. We expect CEXs to back onchain competitors where revenue flows back to their own product suite (chain, products, investments).

• Prediction markets’ consumer wedge: Beyond politics, “culture” markets (e.g., Elon tweet counts, MrBeast views) are growing in popularity. We note that partnerships like Kalshi × Robinhood can also attract significant volume. Compared with memecoins, prediction markets feel “fairer,” though UX still trails traditional sportsbetting apps.

• Hyperliquid Hypurrr NFTs opt-in lesson: Many airdrop claimers chose “tokens only” (skipping the Hyper NFT) and later missed sizable value. We discussed how wording likely led users to expect a token tradeoff (i.e., saying yes to the NFT would lead to less HYPE allocation). We concluded that the Hyperliquid team’s communication track record is exemplary, and likely the situation would have differed if it was any other team.

• Perps DEX farming saturation: New venues (Aster, Lighter, etc.) abound, but late-cycle airdrop farming may underwhelm. Real volume favors leveraged, bot-driven activity, which means that spot-only users won’t rack points efficiently.

• Launchpads cooling; Pump reflexivity: Solana launchpad revenues and creator rewards are down from recent highs. We note that the loop is reflexive (volume leads to rewards which leads to narrative, and vice versa). Pump is still hard to bet against (brand, cash, ship velocity), and could expand beyond memes, but attention cycles rule.

Look for the full podcast on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts and X.

This summary was generated with assistance from AI tooling.

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📅 October 13-15 | London

1. “What’s the RUB?”

Citadel Securities published a market intelligence update assessing the outlook for equities into year end. The piece mentions that equities sit at a pivotal inflection point, with competing forces in play. The macro hinge remains the inflation Fed-easing trajectory: stabilization enables policy support, while persistence forces repricing. Execution on AI and Q3 earnings is equally critical, as mega-cap leaders must deliver against high expectations to sustain stretched multiples. Geopolitical and trade frictions, plus shutdown risk, linger as exogenous shocks. Market breadth remains the key tell: Broadening supports durability, while Mag7 concentration signals fragility. The piece navigates the bull vs. bear setup, with the author’s outlook being constructive into year end, with technical headwinds fading and a rally base forming. Read more

2. Proof of Utility

DoubleZero published a blog post introducing its “Proof of Utility” model, where contributors earn rewards in proportion to the actual network performance they deliver, rather than via traditional PoW/PoS issuance. The piece anchors DoubleZero’s role as an “N1” network that stitches underutilized private fiber into a low-latency, high-bandwidth transport layer for blockchains and other distributed systems. It explains that utility is measured by incremental contribution (e.g., Shapley-style), aligning token rewards with real throughput and reliability to prioritize useful capacity over pure stake or hash. Read more

3. The case for a small allocation to ZEC

Sacha (@ssaintleger) published a thesis making the case for a small portfolio allocation to Zcash (ZEC). He argues that Zcash is the only credible solution to the surveillance risks facing Bitcoin. As demand for onchain privacy rises, Zcash is uniquely positioned as the most Lindy privacy protocol. The piece highlights Zcash’s technical design, including its shielded pool and censorship-resistant payments that strengthen as the anonymity set grows. The author concludes that if Zcash succeeds, the prospect of unprecedented economic and collective freedom is far more exciting than any possible financial gain. Read more.

4. Introducing Keel: Solana's Capital Engine

Keel published a blog post announcing its launch as Solana’s onchain capital allocator and liquidity layer, with a roadmap to deploy up to $2.5 billion into DeFi and RWA markets. The post positions Keel as a new Sky SubDAO, also known as a Star. Within the rules set by Sky’s Atlas framework, Stars can borrow as much USDS from Sky as they want to deploy into any opportunities available, provided the Star pays the “Base Rate” to Sky. Keel will use USDS reserves to deepen liquidity across apps like Kamino, Jupiter and Raydium, and to accelerate RWA strategies on Solana. Read more