_{Brought to you by:}

How is it November already? 

With the US election just days away, we’re taking a look at a stock that has a funky correlation with apecoin and why the bull market might not start pumping until next year. 

If you haven’t gotten out to cast your vote yet, here’s your friendly reminder to do so.

Have a good weekend, folks, we’ll see you bright and early Monday.

😵‍💫 Debase reality

They say the metaverse is dead, but it’s not so! It’s just that some are deader than others.

Social media platforms often operate in their own Bizarro Worlds. Boomer-brand conspiracies are hot on Facebook, street interviews are huge on Instagram and TikTok’s brain is hardwired for viral earworms spread via super-basic dance choreography.

X and Truth Social had much less in common when Trump launched the latter in February 2022, Trump initially formed Trump Media & Technology Group one month after he was banned from Facebook and Twitter over the Capitol attack on Jan. 6.

Trump was quickly unbanned from Twitter following Musk’s buyout and rebranding to X, but Truth Social enjoyed at least nine months of carving out its own reality. 

Helping delineate the two were the cavalcade of culture warriors who’d been banned by the former Twitter administration. They now had a cozy place on Truth Social, where they could mosey on from Gab and Parler.

That was years ago and X is a “freer” place than it was before. Still, DJT isn’t doing too poorly these days. You might’ve already heard that Trump Media & Technology Group stock (DJT) could now be valued higher than X. 

That was indeed the case earlier this week, when DJT hit a new record high market cap of over $10 billion, having quadrupled its share price since bottoming out at the end of September. 

Fidelity recently valued X Holdings at $9.4 billion but DJT has since slipped to under $7.1 billion.

Here’s something you haven’t heard: Trump Media & Technology Group stock and apecoin (APE) have experienced almost exactly the same market reaction.

The chart above plots APE, in blue, against Trump Media stock, in orange, which initially traded under DWAC in a SPAC-fueled IPO.

Notice that the two closely track each other — up until the first live demo of Yuga Labs’ BAYC metaverse, Otherside, in July 2022 (October on the chart), after which APE began to sink.

Trump Media meanwhile stock stabilized, before rocketing after Florida governor Ron DeSantis dropped out of the Republican nominee race in January. From there, it’s been a rocky ride.

Now, all we need is for apecoin to find its own DeSantis moment, and we’ve got a shot at getting the (actual) metaverses back on track.

— David Canellis

P.S. Can you do us a favor? Help us tailor Empire to best fit your interests. Fill out this survey.

Brought to you by:

Navigating the crypto world doesn’t have to be complicated. With Uphold, you can buy, sell, exchange, store, and even earn on your assets — all in one simple platform.

Here’s how Uphold helps:

• Trade over 300 assets* – and be the first to access new tokens.

• Enjoy seamless swaps, automatic recurring transactions for dollar-cost averaging, and advanced tools for smarter trading.

• Secure your crypto with Vault, Uphold’s “Assisted” Self-Custody solution.

Exclusive to U.S. users: Earn up to 4.9% APY on your USD with the USD Interest Account on Uphold. Turn idle funds into passive income while you plan your next trade.

Hold your horses.

While some folks around crypto think we could see the bullish rally take off after we get the election results, Empire’s Jason Yanowitz isn’t so sure. 

In Friday’s Roundup, he said that he doesn’t think we see the markets “rip” until potentially January or even February.

“There could be more uncertainty” in November and December, he added, pointing out that he thinks the election results could be close.

“Both sides are already prepping for an all-out war to contest the election,” Yanowitz said. Last election, it took the Associated Press, for example, until Saturday, November 7 to declare a winner. If there’s uncertainty, then it puts the market certainty on the back burner, he pointed out.

And now you know.

Exchanges, NFTs, and now…gaming. 

Those are just some of the areas of crypto that’ve been targeted by the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

Immutable, last night, said it was “frustrated” to disclose the receipt of a Wells notice from the SEC. 

Now I know I’ve said this before, but a Wells notice doesn’t mean that a lawsuit is imminent, but it serves as a warning that an investigation has been conducted. 

Admittedly, the lawsuit odds for crypto companies are pretty high, but I will point out that we’re still waiting for the other shoe to drop against both Robinhood and Uniswap after their respective Wells notices arrived last spring.

Immutable believes that the notice is targeting both the listing and private sales of its token, IMX, back in 2021. However, the notice doesn’t specify what the SEC is looking at. 

“Prior to the issuance of a Wells notice, there are often multiple months of interviews and conversations between company counsel and the SEC, so the SEC can fully understand the situation. Instead, in our very first interaction with the SEC, we were told a Wells notice would be issued to the company within the week. We then received it within hours,” Immutable said. It further said that there were “fewer than 20 words of material explanation” about the investigation.

Whether or not the SEC is really pulling the punches right before the election is hard to assert, but one thing’s for certain: the SEC isn’t ready to turn down the heat on the crypto sector and we could continue to see more Wells notices and settlements into a potential bull market run.

— Katherine Ross

Brought to you by:

Earning yield doesn’t have to be a confusing mess of chain bridging, confusing protocols, and exhausting research.

Exponential.fi makes it easy, accessible, and secure for everyone — from newbies to pros. 

→ Easy: Invest in 1 click 

→ Accessible: Invest with ETH, BTC, fiat, stablecoins

→ Secure: Your own MPC wallet

Get a 2% match* on your investments for a limited time, terms apply.

Last week, we asked: “Are you ready for our massively multichain future?” 60% of you said “I collect chains like Pokémon — bring it on!” Love that for you.

This week, we’re wondering: