Bankless: Bitcoin will be halved tomorrow, what are Degens betting on?

24-04-19 12:05

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Original Title: The Bitcoin Halving's Degen Bets

Original Author: Jack Inabinet, Bankless

Original Translator: Kate, MarsBit

Where to place leveraged bets for Bitcoin bulls?

BTC Beta. The Bitcoin halving is coming up on Saturday, April 20, but for crypto enthusiasts, holding Bitcoin is far from an exciting activity! What can you do to gain high beta exposure to BTC ahead of this event and potentially capture enhanced upside (or downside)?

Historically, Bitcoin halvings have been accompanied by significant price increases as the inflationary block reward reduction reduces selling pressure from miners and allows Bitcoin to enter price discovery mode.

Many cryptocurrency traders expect this year's halving to produce similar results, but they are not satisfied with Bitcoin's relatively modest returns. For them, higher beta alternatives enhance volatility while providing the opportunity to continue holding spot crypto assets, removing the complexity of leverage and liquidation risk.

For those with deep pockets willing to hold more illiquid instruments, investing in popular Bitcoin Ordinals, including Bitcoin Puppets and NodeMonkes, could yield outsized returns if Bitcoin declines after the halving.

Ordinals NFTs are denominated in BTC, meaning their USD price will rise as BTC surges, and rising BTC prices could attract more investors to buy them to capture a larger portion of the price gains.

https://x.com/MoonOverlord/status/1780972432624394445

Runes are a new token standard that will be launched at the halving and will likely replace BRC-20 as the chain’s official fungible token standard, but given that the standard hasn’t launched yet, the enthusiasm is likely still in its early stages.

While the first Runes haven’t been issued yet, that hasn’t stopped traders (and developers) from trying to capitalize on the hype!

Runestones, a $112k Ordinals NFT collectible launched in March of this year, capitalized on the momentum of Runes not only because of its similar name, but also because its developers promised holders at least 3 different Runes Meme Coin airdrops.

https://x.com/LeonidasNFT/status/1777265189106106730

One of the most popular liquid tokens currently offering upside exposure to Runes is PUPS, a meme coin based on but not affiliated with the popular Ordinals NFT project Bitcoin Puppets.

Currently, PUPS is based on the BRC-20 standard, but recently announced that it would transition to the Runes standard, which has boosted the token price by nearly 100% and got many traders excited that the token could continue to rise after the halving.

The PUPS token is not only available on Bitcoin, but also provides a bridge on the Solana network, which is the undisputed hottest chain for meme coin transactions.

https://x.com/PupsToken/status/1778945223101448624

Alternatively, some Degens may choose to stick with something relatively classic and instead imitate the Bitcoin Meme Token that started it all: ORDI. It is worth noting that attention seems to be shifting to newer projects, with ORDI falling by more than 40% in April.

Bitcoin’s use case is still immature, but for investors who prefer infrastructure with a degree of infrastructure, Bitcoin L2 solutions like Stacks Network (STX) or bridging infrastructure like Multibit (MUBI) remain viable options to take advantage of the increased attention that may flow to Bitcoin after the halving.

While Bitcoin miners have historically provided the greater upside for Bitcoin, they may find themselves struggling post-halving after their revenue is cut in half, so investing in their shares may be best avoided both before and after the halving.