Wesley James

MD - Trading and Ops @arca | Former Dir. of Trading at TCC | Former CEO ShadowBid, Equity Trader, Cinematographer | Free time in water and on mountains

[Arca @arca]

Crypto investing is finally becoming fundamental investing.

This week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis looks at:

• Protocols generating real fees and revenue from customers
• The growing importance of tokenholder value accrual
• Capital allocation and the timing of token buybacks
• Why crypto valuation discounts may begin to shrink

@jdorman81 examines how profits, valuations, and value accrual are reshaping digital asset investing.

[Arca @arca]

Arca’s Director of Research, @KatieTalati, joined @RobbieKlages to discuss the latest developments across digital assets and crypto markets.

Listen to the full conversation below 👇
https://t.co/hWhBlGYA5b

[The Rollup @therollupco]

"Users don't care about anything other than depth of liquidity."

@arca's Head of Research @KatieTalati on the Aerodrome-vs-Uniswap question and what actually wins the DEX wars.

[Arca @arca]

Crypto is learning what matters.

This week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis looks at:

• CLARITY’s fading prospects producing little market reaction
• ETH and majors reclaiming leadership as markets rotate
• Bitcoin miners increasingly trading as AI infrastructure businesses
• Coinbase pursuing breadth while focused competitors gain ground

@jdorman81 examines how crypto is separating headline noise from fundamentals as market leadership rotates and execution matters more.

[Arca @arca]

Politics, not policy.

Arca Portfolio Manager David Nage guest authors this week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis, covering:

• ETH and DeFi rallying as CLARITY odds fall
• Policy nearly finished, but politics complicating passage
• Unified text released, but Democratic votes remain uncommitted
• SEC rulemaking progress reducing pressure for congressional action

@DavidNage examines how CLARITY’s nearly finished policy framework is running into Washington politics, ethics enforcement, and a narrowing calendar.

[Arca @arca]

Eight years of themes taking shape.

This week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis looks at:

• Early crypto themes beginning to play out today
• Crypto evolving beyond Bitcoin into distinct sectors
• Fundamentals and value accrual shaping investable tokens
• Stablecoins, tokenization, and Wall Street adopting blockchain rails

@jdorman81 reviews why structural crypto themes can look wrong before they look early, as digital assets move closer to traditional finance.

[Topher @TopherGMI]

@AerodromeFi put out a blog on the details of their upcoming upgrade

The changes make Aerodrome more profitable, less prone to reflexive downside volatility, and aerodrome-finance:native accrues more value. TLDR below:

- Expansion to ETH mainnet and ARC -> 3x in TAM (I expect RH Chain soon)

- Multiple new products -> New revenue streams

- Momentum Fund -> Market aware/larger buyback & burn + protects against the negative flywheel

- Predictive Allocation -> Burns unneeded incentives to lower effective inflation while still ensuring market dominance

- 100% of value back to aerodrome-finance:native holders as always -> No VCs, no team unlocks

(Link in next tweet)

[Arca @arca]

CLARITY’s real status versus online noise.

Arca Portfolio Manager David Nage guest authors this week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis, covering:

• Fabricated CLARITY claims versus actual legislative status
• Banking and Agriculture texts expected in one bill
• Ethics framework remains key to Democratic crossover support
• SEC rulemaking advances as August window narrows

@DavidNage examines CLARITY’s narrowing window by separating fabricated claims from the real draft, vote count, and regulatory path.

[Arca @arca]

Crypto green shoots emerge.

This week's That's Our Two Satoshis explores:

• Strategy's capital management overhaul
• Robinhood Chain and crypto infrastructure expansion
• The equity vs. token value accrual debate
• Open USD and rising stablecoin competition

@jdorman81 examines where value is actually accruing across digital assets.

[Arca @arca]

Securitize moves toward public markets

Arca Research Analyst Joey Reinberg guest authors this week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis, covering:

• Securitize’s expected SECZ listing through CEPT SPAC merger
• Tokenization’s role in moving financial assets on-chain
• Full-stack infrastructure across issuance, compliance, and asset servicing
• Institutional partnerships and platform AUM as adoption signals

@joeyreinberg_ examines how Securitize sits between tokenization infrastructure and traditional capital markets.

[Jeff Dorman @jdorman81]

https://t.co/eqTawm5BXT

[Arca @arca]

Our CIO, Jeff Dorman, joined @RealAllinCrypto to discuss tokenization, digital asset valuation, and why blockchain's most significant impact may still be ahead of us.

Watch the full interview 👇

[Arca @arca]

Galaxy’s AI transformation creates an identity crisis

Arca Research Associate Alex Woodard guest authors this week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis, covering:

• Galaxy’s digital asset and AI businesses under one ticker
• Distressed Helios acquisition and transition into AI infrastructure
• CoreWeave HPC/AI hosting agreement reshaping Galaxy’s business model
• The case for a spin-off to clarify GLXY’s identity

@Crypto_Alex17 examines how Helios reshaped Galaxy’s business and whether one ticker can clearly represent its crypto and AI operations.

[Arca @arca]

MSTR and Polymarket drive the week

This week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis looks at:

• MSTR’s 32 BTC sale and related market fallout
• Strategy’s preferred obligations and near-term cash-buffer questions
• Polymarket’s MSTR contract resolution after Strategy’s 8-K
• Polymarket rules versus what actually happened in practice

@jdorman81 examines how MSTR’s Bitcoin sale and Polymarket’s disputed resolution raise questions about future BTC selling pressure and Polymarket’s contract-resolution process.

[Arca @arca]

Is retail returning to crypto?

This week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis looks at:

• A potentially less transparent Fed communication style
• Volatility’s possible role in digital asset trading
• Prediction markets competing for retail attention
• Retail-focused tokens showing short-term movement

@jdorman81 examines a potentially less predictable Fed, crypto volatility, and whether retail activity is shifting back toward digital assets.

[Arca @arca]

A major DeFi exploit didn’t break crypto markets

This week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis looks at:

• Kelp DAO exploit reveals structural risks in DeFi design
• Aave absorbs bad debt and liquidity stress spreads
• Weak collateral remains the core issue across DeFi
• Crypto markets followed macro despite protocol-level shocks

@jdorman81 questions why DeFi activity and pricing held up despite protocol-level stress.

[Jeff Dorman @jdorman81]

The whole thread is good, but this last part is most important.

Arca has a liquid token fund and we think less than 20 tokens are even part of the investable universe (and we only actually own 5-10). None of the token issuers or exchanges or VCs ever ask what it is a liquid fund wants to see to make a token investable. They don’t care. They just want to max extract, and there are no investment banks or independent market makers to keep them honest.

The exchanges are the worst culprits. An “everything exchange” doesn’t work when you kill all of your customers with terrible investment products, and try to sell the whole industry as one giant “macro trade”.

Only way to move forward is to focus on the 10-20 tokens that are investable, ignore the rest, and require tokens to be built properly before giving them liquidity and visibility.

[Arca @arca]

Markets are reacting, but not always consistently.

This week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis looks at:

• Oil surge and rising inflation fears pushing rate expectations
• Equities and credit tracking historical patterns while Treasuries diverge
• Digital assets have been outperforming as sellers exhaust and shorts are forced to cover
• SEC/CFTC guidance clarifies token classification across major assets

@jdorman81 examines current cross-asset reactions and how regulatory clarity intersects with evolving crypto narratives.

[Jeff Dorman @jdorman81]

It's embarrassing that token returns are still so highly correlated.

There are at most 5-10 companies in quadrant 1 (good project, good token). If these aren't in your portfolio, I'd be very curious what it is you look for in an investment.

There are a handful in quadrant 3 (good company, bad token). I can understand taking a flyer on these as maybe they will fix the token one day, or they will grow 100x to make their token worth something, but it's really hard to keep betting on tokens that capture little to no economic value from the project's current growth.

I couldn't come up with a lot of examples in quadrant 2 (companies that tried to do right by token holders but just failed as a business)

Which leaves us to quadrant 4 -- where the majority of tokens reside. I really don't understand how these stay afloat. If your project has no revenues, no users, no growth, and the token captures no economic value -- how do you still own it? There are so many better investing options now.

[Arca @arca]

Strategy’s capital structure raises new questions.

This week’s That’s Our Two Satoshis looks at:

• BTC strength partly driven by Strategy purchases and ETFs
• Hyperliquid expanding price discovery across oil, gold, and equities
• Adoption rising, but crypto’s top four tokens poorly linked to adoption
• Strategy’s capital stack raises long-term interest coverage questions

@jdorman81 examines the gap between crypto adoption and token investment theses—and the long-term implications of Strategy’s capital structure.