It’s January 9th, so don’t forget to wish Stephen Hawking’s ghost a happy belated birthday.

Without him, our family trips to the science center wouldn’t be ruined when I have to explain to my nine-year-old the terrifying nature of black holes. 

Also, our official stance at Coffee & Crypto is that Eddie Redmayne did not deserve an Oscar for The Theory of Everything. Anyway, here’s the newsletter, our theory of some things.

Also, we have some personal news! We're expecting! No, not a baby, a podcast! Here's the trailer for it! Check it out and make sure to subscribe!

Espresso Shots

☕️ Digital Currency Group Under Investigation 🔍 👮‍♂️

The ripples from FTX’s collapse continue to spread and it may only be a matter of time before they turn into another tsunami.

A report from late last week revealed that the SEC and the Department of Justice are investigating the relationship between the Digital Currency Group (DCG) and their subsidiary, Genesis Global.

This is just the latest black mark on Genesis which has made headlines daily since they suspended withdrawals in November, and triggered an asset freeze at Gemini Earn.

Last week, Genesis Global laid off an additional 30% of its employees last week and is still exploring a bankruptcy filing.

Now facing the ire of the Winklevoss twins and the US Government, the Digital Currency Group is being investigated for the financial transfers and lending between the firm and Genesis.

In addition to being the parent company of Genesis and Grayscale, DCG is an investor in over 100 crypto firms including Coinbase and CoinDesk, the news site.

If DCG ends up in an FTX-level shitstorm, CEO Barry Gilbert will be following in the proud tradition of failure established by other plump, British-looking manboys such as Dudley Dursley, Jack Be-Nimble, and Joffrey Baratheon.

☕️ A $5 Trillion Metaverse in 2030? 😳 🤯

A report from McKinsey & Co, the massive consulting firm, estimates that the Metaverse could create $5 trillion in value by 2030.

The report emphasizes that in order for this to be possible, there will need to be significant advancements in hardware and interoperability between developers.

McKinsey’s consulting geniuses also specified that the best Metaverse applications will focus on maximizing the human experience the way Zoom has been able to.

Thus far, Metaverse applications and adoption have been incredibly limited and it remains to be seen which applications will finally convince users to ditch their sunglasses for a VR headset.

But until that day comes, the best way to "maximize the human experience" is still an eighth of mushrooms and an isolated cabin in Joshua Tree.

☕️ Solana Fights Back ☀️ 📈

Solana, like all of crypto, had a rough 2022.

The token has a long history of being associated with Sam Bankman-Fried and they struggled to shake that reputation after FTX’s collapse.

Despite late in the year announcements of new tech, retail stores and mobile phones, Solana fell to its lowest levels in nearly two years on December 29th.

The chain was further hurt by the departure of two of its leading NFT projects, DeGods and y00ts - who announced they were migrating to different blockchains.

But in the first days of 2023, Solana has shown some signs of life, trading 37% higher over the past week. Solana is now trading as the 15th largest token by total value.

This NFT departure has been the greatest threat to Solana since the creation of Moonlana, Solana's celestial opposite and natural nemesis.

Spilling the Beans

Has Crypto Finally Gone Green?

It’s 2023, and it’s time to squash the biggest crypto myth out there: That crypto is killing the environment.

So, let’s talk about it: is crypto eco-friendly?

It’s worth pointing out that crypto’s bad environmental reputation comes largely from Bitcoin. Bitcoin is the oldest and slowest cryptocurrency, and it does eat up a lot of power!

One report out of Columbia said Bitcoin uses more power than the entire country of Argentina, and emits more carbon dioxide than Greece.

But the truth of it is, Bitcoin is an outlier. Most crypto currencies use 99% less energy than Bitcoin’s blockchain due to the move to Proof of Stake.

So, what exactly does that mean?

Proof of work consists of a series of computers trying to guess a winning number. With the computers needing roughly sextillion tries to find the winning numbers, this process consumes a massive amount of energy.

In 2022, Ethereum merged away from a Proof of Work system to a Proof of Stake system which consumes notably less energy.

The system uses validators instead of miners. These validators are nodes which are assigned to verify Ethereum transactions and can earn an amount of Eth as a reward.

This process is known as “proof of stake” and is responsible for Ethereum decreasing its energy consumption by 99.5% and joining the ranks of the “green cryptos.”

But of course, in a time of green initiatives and climate crises, Bitcoin’s energy consumption has riled up many people!

First of all, it’s worth noting that the traditional banking system uses much, much more energy than Bitcoin. In fact, it’s estimated to be 56x Bitcoin’s energy consumption.

But beyond being better than banking, crypto is supposed to make things easier and more efficient, and there are more efficient ways to use crypto than running up energy bills.

This bad press has caused some of the biggest Bitcoin mining operations to seek out renewable energy or to purchase carbon offsets for the power consumption in their plants.

There have been some counterarguments that Bitcoin mining is actually good for the environment because it’s forcing investment in poor electrical grids but this seems uh… weak?

This concept of refuting new advances for the sake of revitalizing frail infrastructure is well - not structurally sound as far as arguments go.

Admittedly, the polio vaccine absolutely demolished the iron lung industry and ending wars is usually bad for the unemployment numbers, but the alternatives aren’t exactly great for progress, are they?

All of us should be eager to encourage the move toward greener, cleaner crypto like Proof of Stake. Not only does it make crypto a better place, it makes the world a little better too. Which is good for all of us.

Meme of the Day

Going green is very in. ☀️

The Last Sip

While we’re on the topic of green initiatives, let’s talk about guacamole. 

Why is guacamole always extra and why is it so expensive? 

We suspect Big Avocado is behind this. Their official answer is that avocado farming requires so much water, in fact 50 gallons of water per pound of avocados, and that drives the price up.

Nice try. But if it’s water driving the price up, then why is water free at the same restaurants where guac costs extra? Check. Mate.

Stay Caffeinated,

Coffee & Crypto Team

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.