GM,

 What the hell is going on with the markets this week?

 This is W3VE, your Web3 whisperer here to translate Web3 jargon into plain Jane simple English.

Table of Contents

• Company Highlight

• Fear & Greed Index

• Project power rankings of the week

• Market Updates and News

• Growth Marketing Tip of the Week

• Recently Funded Companies

• Meme’s of the Week

Company Highlight

Web3 Marketing is hard. Like really hard. Your community never grows, your engagement is nonexistent and you’re lost in a sea of AI content. 

We’ve personally seen W3VE come up in the space and take on giants like StakingCabin who are validators for projects like Sui, Aptos and Cosmos.

That’s why I’m confident in recommending it, because it feels like a 10 person in-house marketing team without any of the hassle.

• Book a call to explore your Web3 goals: W3VE Calendly

Fear & Greed Index

Project power rankings of the week

Market Updates and News

1) Canadian Vape company jumps 550% in pivot to BNB treasury firm:
In a move no one had on their 2025 bingo card, CEA Industries, a Canadian vape company, pivoted from nicotine to native tokens. The stock lit up, closing Monday at $57.59, a staggering 549% jump from Friday’s $8.88. The reason? They’ve gone full degen, announcing plans to become the largest publicly traded BNB treasury firm in the U.S.

To pull this ambitious pivot off, CEA Industries plans to raise $500 million through a private share sale, alongside an additional $750 million in potential funding from exercised warrants. The timing couldn’t be more opportune with institutional access to Binance Coin finally opening up, CEA is capitalizing on a unique window of opportunity. They’re moving fast, sprinting through the door like it’s Black Friday, eager to claim their piece of a rapidly expanding market.

For CEA, this shift isn’t just about reimagining their business model, no no, it’s about positioning themselves at the forefront of the growing intersection of traditional finance and crypto. The company’s strategy hinges on the rising demand for digital assets and blockchain-based investments, positioning BNB as a cornerstone of their future growth.

Over the next two years, the company plans to bulk up its BNB bags through at-the-market offerings and generate yield through staking and lending, because why not turn your treasury into a DeFi side hustle too?

2) Hedge Fund billionaire suggests putting 15% in Bitcoin:
Finance bros, steady yourselves - you might want to sit down for this one.

Ray Dalio, the billionaire founder of the world’s largest hedge fund (Bridgewater Associates) and inventor of the famously boring-but-balanced All Weather Portfolio, just added a splash of crypto chaos to his ultra-conservative strategy.

Dalio, AKA, Mr. Macroeconomics-is-my-love-language, suggested that 15% of your net worth could be parked in Bitcoin or gold if you’re optimizing for the best return-to-risk ratio.

Let that sink in. The man who’s made a career out of telling people to diversify into bonds and stay calm during recessions is now basically saying: “A little Bitcoin never hurt anybody.”

For reference, here’s his original All Weather allocation (aka the most adult, tax-efficient sleep-well-at-night portfolio you can build):

1. 30% in stocks (S&P 500 via dollar-cost averaging)

2. 40% in long-term U.S. Treasury bonds (20+ years)

3. 15% in intermediate-term bonds (7–10 years)

4. 7.5% in gold

5. 7.5% in commodities

That’s the economic equivalent of wearing a seatbelt, helmet, and floaties at the same time.

But on Sunday, July 27, Dalio broke character. Speaking on a podcast, he said:

He followed up with:

Translation: He’s not going full degen, but he’s flirting with it.

So while he’s not swapping his T-bills for Pepe coins just yet, Dalio giving Bitcoin a 15% shoutout is the institutional equivalent of him winking at crypto Twitter.

3) PayPal launches crypto checkout tool, adding support for over 100 tokens:
PayPal, the company that once revolutionized online payments (and helped launch Elon Musk’s villain arc), is diving headfirst into crypto with its boldest move yet.

In a major announcement, PayPal revealed it's rolling out a new feature for U.S. merchants that allows them to accept payments in over 100 cryptocurrencies.

Through the new integration, businesses will be able to accept payments in top assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, USDT, USDC, and even XRP. That’s not all, it connects directly with major crypto wallets including Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, OKX, Kraken, Binance, Phantom, and Exodus.

At checkout, all crypto payments are instantly converted into PayPal’s stablecoin, PYUSD, shielding merchants from the rollercoaster of crypto price swings. So yes, you can finally pay for your cold brew in Solana without giving the barista an anxiety attack.

And here’s the kicker: PayPal’s charging just a 0.99% transaction fee, which they proudly claim is lower than 90% of traditional credit card processing costs. That’s PayPal-speak for: “Visa, we’re coming for your lunch.”

Whether you’re a Shopify solopreneur or running a full-stack ecom operation, this move could change how crypto fits into everyday business. It’s not just a payments update, it’s a signal. Crypto payments are no longer a fringe experiment, they’re going mainstream, and PayPal is holding the door wide open.

The revolution is now.

Growth Marketing Tip of the Week

There’s nothing to be said, Nike has done it again.

This was at the back of Scottie Scheffler winning the majors.

The key takeaway from this is ad is the switch from a sport advertising to a family-centric advertising. Brands are tapping into that emotional resonance, not just athletic dominance.

Recently Funded Companies

Meme’s of the Week

That’s it for this week.

Keep showing up, keep cheering each other on — and as always, head for the moon!