Polkadot goes for a ride

DeFi darling Polkadot (DOT) darted 15% higher Monday into Tuesday after Coinbase announced a forthcoming listing, akin to Michelin giving a gourmet restaurant three stars, four forks and four spoons.

DOT, the native coin of Polkadot, the multi-chain platform, sat at $25 as of 7:30 a.m. (EST) Tuesday. That is still 50% off the all-time high reached in mid-May. But DOT could now be on the verge of returning to record-setting territory, should the Coinbase effect plays out as expected.

Inbound transfers to the heavy-hitter exchange have begun with trading set to begin as early as tomorrow (Decrypt).

Very few Top 100 coins lost ground over the past 24 hours, with the exception of LEO Token (LEO) which fell 14%.

LEO is connected with exchange Bitfinex where, incidentally, according to CryptoQuant, an unknown whale has amassed a not-to-be-ignored short BTC position.

Meanwhile, an obscure coin called WebDollar (WEBD) had crashed 99% as of Tuesday morning following an improbably enormous rise yesterday, one that seemed to display all the hallmarks of a pump and dump (Cointelegraph).

A reliable indicator (that we can't help but call "Bittosro," pronouncing it Bit-OZ-row), and which is better known as “the Bitcoin to stablecoin ratio oscillator,” is signaling a strong upside opportunity.

As of Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. (EST), BTC was $40,100ish, up 2% since Monday morning at this time.

The oscillator measures the amount of BTC on exchanges relative to the amount of stablecoins. When the ratio’s moving average enters a lower trough, as it just now has, it's time to buy, history proves, pointed out analyst Cole Garner (Cointelegraph).

Okay, would-be crypto fund issuers/managers/custodians: on your mark, get set … and, possibly this week, go.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will soon decide the fate of a handful of crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) applications, including one from VanEck for a vehicle that would track Bitcoin. BTC-tied ETF applications, from Kryptoin and WisdomTree, also are under consideration.

Installment of an ostensibly crypto-friendly Gary Gensler as the SEC chairman, alongside the move by Canadian regulators in February to sanction a Bitcoin ETF (that quickly garnered $1 billion), seemed to suggest the door had been flung open.

Invesco just filed papers proposing the creation of an ETF that would invest in public companies in the crypto space, plus up to 10% in BTC futures. It would rival the Amplify Transformational Data Sharing ETF (ticker: BLOK) which invests in companies such as MicroStrategy, PayPal and Square. BLOK is similar to the Bitwise Crypto Industry Innovators ETF (ticker: BITQ), noteworthy for being the first ETF in the U.S. authorized to use "crypto" in its name.

However, all previous pure-play crypto ETF requests have met with regulatory rejection.

The United States Space Force, that newest, futuristic-sounding branch of the Department of the Air Force, oversees military satellite operations. It’s no laughing matter.

Created under the Trump administration, the USSF quietly has deployed troops (to the Middle East, in support of combat operations that rely on satellite systems) and put four next-generation GPS satellites into orbit.

And now we have liftoff – for a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) commemorating a fifth “GPS Block III” satellite.

To launch satellites, the USSF has collaborated with Lockheed Martin and an array of Air Force-administered sites and bases, including Cape Canaveral. For the NFTs, the USSF partnered with Ethernity Chain.

The NFTs will be digital versions of patches and coins featuring the satellite's launch vehicle, as well as imagery connected with Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon.