Enefteesquare (@enefteesquare) • Hey

Entrepreneur from Berlin. I learn and post about web3 for fun!

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Hello world, have taken a break but now I'm back. Curious to see what's new!
This week in Web3 (20.11.2022): ⚪🔊Businesses can now accept USDC with Apple Pay. 📈Crypto-asset manager Pantera Capital believes Bitcoin will reach $150,000 in the first half of 2025, while suggesting that the bottom of this cycle will hit bottom on Nov. 30, 2022. Don't stop believing 🕺 🇸🇻🛒 El Salvador, which became the first nation in the world to recognize Bitcoin as legal tender, will reportedly begin buying one Bitcoin every day, according to the country's president. ✔️🌐 Nike is launching swoosh.nike - a platform for users to discover, collect & create virtual products. 🖼️🤖 Sony is trying to patent the use of NFT and blockchain technology in games, but the patent has already been rejected in its current form. 🍏🕵️ Apple appears to be working on developing a metaverse "3D mixed reality world," as corresponding patent applications and recent job listings suggest. 😳🙅 Former Enron liquidator John J. Ray III, appointed after FTX filed for bankruptcy last week, wrote in a statement, "Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here. 🪙🚧 Gemini Earn stops withdrawals due to market turmoil due to FTX fallout. It says it is working with Genesis to help customers get their funds back "as quickly as possible," but did not indicate when withdrawals might resume. 💥📈 Uniswap overnight became the second-largest exchange after Binance for Ethereum trading as traders are flocking to decentralized exchanges following FTX s implosion. 📉💸 Multicoin Capital lost more than half of its flagship fund's capital this month due to FTX's bankruptcy. However, it apparently has no plans to close its business or convert it to proprietary trading. 🥴📉 Solana Labs, “the most underrated token” according to Sam Bankman-Fried, is down 55% in the last 7 days, and 95% for the year. It’s quite centralized if you can have “one point of failure” like this. 🙅💳 Visa is shuttering its partnership with FTX following the latter’s bankruptcy filing last week. The US debit card program is being wound down. 👮🚨 A class action lawsuit has been filed against Sam Bankman-Fried, claiming that the interest-bearing cryptocurrency accounts offered by FTX should not have been sold in the U.S. due to a lack of a license. 💰🧑‍💻 Matter Labs raised $200 million in a Series C round and released the code for its zero-knowledge technology, zkSync. 🪙📲 Ultimate (by Unstoppable Finance), a self-custodial wallet was released on the app store. With defi, you don’t need to trust the people at centralized exchanges to keep your assets safe. Congrats Peter! P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft ⚪🔊Apple Pay/ Circle https://thedefiant.io/usdc-apple-pay 📉📈 Pantera Capital and Bitcoin https://cryptonews.com/news/pantera-capital-believes-bitcoin-will-hit-150000-soon-heres-how-when.htm 🇸🇻🛒 El Salvador https://decrypt.co/114897/el-salvador-start-buying-1-bitcoin-every-day-says-president-bukele ✔️🌐 NIKE https://www.voguebusiness.com/technology/nike-unveils-dot-swoosh-platform-to-house-web3-projects 🖼️🤖 Sony https://www.theblock.co/post/187949/sony-tries-to-patent-nft-and-blockchain-technology-usage-in-games 🍏🕵️ Apple https://cointelegraph.com/news/apple-job-listings-and-patents-hint-at-foray-into-3d-mixed-reality-world 😳🙅 FTX https://decrypt.co/114919/former-enron-liquidator-finds-complete-absence-of-trustworthy-financial-information-ftx 🪙🚧 Gemini Earn https://cryptoslate.com/breaking-gemini-earn-halts-withdrawals-due-to-market-turmoil-caused-by-ftx-fallout/ 💥📈 Uniswap https://decrypt.co/114665/uniswap-overtakes-coinbase-second-largest-exchange-trading-ethereum-today 📉💸 Multicoin https://blockworks.co/news/multicoin-lost-more-than-half-its-crypto-funds-capital-this-month-sources 🥴📉 Solana https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/yuxqvk/solana_is_down_55_in_the_past_7_days_down_95_this/ 🙅💳 Visa https://decrypt.co/114367/visa-pulls-plug-ftx-partnership-will-wind-down-debit-cards 👮🚨 A class action against Sam Bankman-Fried https://www.handelsblatt.com/finanzen/maerkte/devisen-rohstoffe/krypto-pleite-sammelklage-gegen-ftx-gruender-sam-bankman-fried-eingereicht-us-finanzministerin-yellen-fordert-strengere-aufsicht/28813828.html 💰🧑‍💻 Matter Labs https://decrypt.co/114774/matter-labs-raises-200m-scale-ethereum-zksync-solution 🪙📲 Ultimate https://apps.apple.com/app/id1629053410
**This week in Web3 (12.11.2022):** 💥🤯 HUGE Crypto drama/ implosion/ fraud. I don’t have enough space here to summarize it - check the links below. In one sentence: FTX - the second largest centralized exchange - went bust. It was brought down by the CEO of the largest exchange - Binance, but essentially FTX crashed as it was gambling with its customers' money. After FTX filed for insolvency, it was hacked and more funds were drained… 👩🏻‍🏫👨🏽‍🏫 The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan sank $95M in failed FTX empire. 👮🇺🇲 The U.S. Department of Justice announced that $3.36 billion worth of bitcoin has been seized from a man who "unlawfully acquired" more than 50,000 bitcoin on Silk Road more than a decade ago. 📉 Inflation drops to 7.7% from 8.2% in September, lower than expected. 💥🌐 Meta is laying off 11,000 of its employees. That represents 13% of its workforce to restructure its business and cut costs. It announced it would still invest heavily in its metaverse ambitions. 🌐📈 Google Cloud recently introduced support for Web3 infrastructure and unveiled new integrations with rival blockchains Ethereum and Solana Labs. 🤝🇧🇷 Galaxy Digital has launched a bitcoin ETF in Brazil through a partnership with Latin America's largest private asset manager. 🙌 Ethereum money policy: Due to the high trading volume last week, the first time since the merge net ETH issuance was negative. 🌊🤝 OpenSea has laid out its plan to help creators on its platform enforce copyright royalty payments. 🌐👟ASICS introduces the first-ever physical sneakers available to order globally using USDC on Solana Pay with an exclusive ASICS x STEPN NFT airdrop. 🌐⌚ ROLEX has filed trademark applications related to cryptocurrencies, metaverse, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), indicating that it plans to integrate cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology into its products and business. 🤖⚽ Lionel Messi, joins Sorare as an investor and brand ambassador. This partnership joins a number of deals between sports stars and crypto platforms. 🧨 Dapper Labs - the maker of NBA Top Shot - cuts 22% of staff. Sales volumes for Dapper Labs' NBA Top Shot have declined to $2.6 million from $224 million in February 2021. 🌐💰 Web3 communications protocol developer WalletConnect Association has raised $12.5 million from investors including Shopify, Coinbase Ventures, and Union Square Ventures. 💰🧬 Blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs raised $70 million in an expanded Series B round, bringing their total to $130 million. 💰 Ramp, a crypto payments company, has raised $70 million in a Series B funding. 💱🗺️ MetaMask has added a bridge aggregator that shows users the best route for cross-chain token transfers. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft 💥🤯 HUGE Crypto drama/ implosion https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/10/ftx-binance-crypto-exchange-deal-web3-chain-reaction-podcast/ https://newsletter.banklesshq.com/p/insights-from-the-ftx-implosion 👩🏻‍🏫👨🏽‍🏫Ontario teachers fund https://blockworks.co/news/ontario-teachers-fund-sank-95m-in-failed-ftx-empire/ 👮🇺🇲 The U.S. Department of Justice https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/07/us-doj-announces-seizure-of-3-36b-in-cryptocurrency/ 📉 Inflation https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/10/business/inflation-cpi-report 💥🌐 Meta https://decrypt.co/113998/zuckerberg-confirms-long-term-vision-metaverse-firm-fires-11000-employees 🌐📈 Google Cloud https://blockworks.co/news/google-signals-major-crypto-push-with-ethereum-solana-support/ 🤝🇧🇷 Galaxy Digital https://blockworks.co/news/galaxy-brings-bitcoin-etf-to-brazil-with-tradfi-giant 🙌Ethereum money policy https://ultrasound.money/ 🌊🤝 OpenSea https://www.theblock.co/post/183518/opensea-creates-tool-to-help-nft-collections-enforce-royalties-on-chain 🌐👟 ASICS https://decrypt.co/113306/asics-taps-stepn-to-launch-running-shoe-solana-nft-collections 🌐⌚Rolex https://finbold.com/luxury-watchmaker-rolex-enters-metaverse-with-crypto-and-nft-trademark-applications/ 🤖⚽ Lionel Messi / Sorare https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/09/lionel-messi-takes-stake-in-nft-fantasy-soccer-game-sorare.html 🧨 Dapper Labs https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/11/03/dapper-labs-cuts-22-of-staff-as-nft-market-craters/ 🌐💰 WalletConnect https://pitchbook.com/newsletter/walletconnect-brings-in-125m 💰🧬 TRM Labs https://cointelegraph.com/news/blockchain-intelligence-firm-trm-labs-raises-70m-in-expanded-series-b-round 💰 Ramp https://www.theblock.co/post/184635/crypto-payments-firm-ramp-raises-70-million-in-more-than-50-up-round 💱🗺️ MetaMask https://www.theblock.co/post/184863/metamask-rolls-out-bridge-aggregator-for-cross-chain-crypto-transfers
This week in Web3 (07.11.2022): 📉🚨 Last month, crypto exchange volume hit its lowest level since December 2020. Global volume fell to $543 billion and European volume fell to just over $17 billion. 💡🤓 Goldman Sachs will soon provide its institutional clients with an online crypto database called Datonomy that explains and categorizes cryptocurrencies. To do so, it has teamed up with global index provider MSCI Inc. and crypto data company Coin Metrics. 🖼️📲 Instagram starts testing a new NFT feature this week. Artists will soon be able to create their own digital collectibles on Instagram and sell them to fans, both on and off Instagram. There will be no fees for minting or sharing NFTs. 🧑‍✈️ Project Guardian: the first pilot project exploring the potential of DeFi for financial institutions has been successfully completed by J.P. Morgan, DBS Bank and SBI on a public blockchain. 🌐🙅 FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's lobbying for a bill that would create new regulation for bitcoin and other digital assets is meeting resistance from DeFi advocates. Seems like he is quite based to protect his own central exchange. 🌐📈 Ethereum scaling solution Arbitrum was responsible for 62% of all Ethereum transactions last week as we see a move from L1 to L2s. 🌐🤝 Binance is putting together a team to explore how crypto and blockchain technology could help Twitter with issues such as bots. 🖼️⚽ Budweiser launched an NFT project together with the FIFA that lets fans mint a scoreboard NFT that tracks the progress of their chosen country throughout the tournament. ⚽🤝 The Premier League plans a £30 million-a-year deal with Sorare to sell digital collectibles to fans. 🤯🖼️ The Art Gobblers NFT collection, by Justin Roiland and Paradigm, launched and quickly generated a multi-million dollar trading volume. Art Gobblers NFTs surpassed $20,000 within minutes of the coin's release. 🤝⚓ Private equity firm Apollo Global Management, Inc. has expanded its crypto offering to clients through a partnership with crypto custody platform Anchorage Digital. 💥💰 Bakkt will acquire Apex Crypto LLC for $55 million in cash, with another $145 million to be paid in stock if targets are met. In addition, Bakkt has expressed interest in crypto staking and NFTs. 🌐💰 Tharsis, the development company behind Evmos, has raised $27 million through a token sale. The capital will be used to accelerate the development of decentralized applications. 💰 Braavos has raised $10 million to launch a self-managed wallet on StarkNet, an Ethereum scaling solution. The seed round was led by Pantera Capital. 🚨🤯 Crypto exchange Deribit was hacked. Hackers captured nearly $28 million in Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDC from the exchange's hot wallet. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft 📉🚨 crypto exchange volume https://www.theblock.co/post/181394/crypto-exchange-volumes-23-month-low 💡🤓 Goldman: https://decrypt.co/113487/goldman-sachs-to-standardize-crypto-data-for-institutional-investors 🖼📲 Instagram: minting & trading NFTs: https://about.fb.com/news/2022/05/introducing-digital-collectibles-to-showcase-nfts-instagram/ 🧑‍✈ Project Guardian: https://www.ledgerinsights.com/jp-morgan-dbs-sbi-digital-asset-complete-defi-tokenization-trials-on-public-blockchain/ 🌐🙅 FTX https://www.theblock.co/post/182827/defi-advocates-push-back-against-ftx-backed-crypto-bill 🌐📈 Arbitrum https://blockworks.co/arbitrum-now-responsible-for-62-of-all-ethereum-transactions/ 🌐🤝 Binance https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/binance-to-help-twitter-with-crypto-and-blockchain-efforts ⚽🖼 Budweiser NFTs: https://www.theblock.co/post/177197/budweiser-turns-scoreboards-into-nfts-for-fifa-world-cup ⚽🤝 Premier League https://news.sky.com/story/premier-league-lines-up-30m-a-year-digital-tokens-deal-with-sorare-12731686 🤯🖼 Art Gobblers: https://cryptobriefing.com/art-gobbler-nfts-top-20000-within-minutes-of-free-mint/ 🤝⚓ Apollo https://www.theblock.co/post/181376/apollo-expands-crypto-offering-for-clients-via-partnership-with-anchorage 💥💰 Bakkt / Apex Crypto https://www.theblock.co/post/182614/bakkt-acquire-apex-crypto 🌐💰 Tharsis https://www.theblock.co/post/182223/evmos-developers-raise-27-million-in-a-token-sale-led-by-polychain 💰 Braavos https://www.theblock.co/post/180808/pantera-braavos-raise-crypto-wallets-starknet 🚨🤯 Deribit https://decrypt.co/113334/crypto-exchange-deribit-hacked-28m-bitcoin-ethereum-usdc
This week in Web3 (30.10.2022): 🇬🇧👀 Rishi Sunak was elected as the next Prime Minister of the UK. During his time as finance minister, he unveiled plans to make the country an international center for cryptocurrencies. ⛓ Google announced its Blockchain Node Engine – a fully managed node-hosting for Web3 development. Ethereum will be the first supported blockchain. 📉 Meta’s Metaverse Division Loses $3.7 Billion In Q3. 💥🖼 Reddit, Inc.'s polygon avatar sales are up 799%. Last week Reddit announced that over 3 million polygon wallets were created to collect the NFTs. 🇭🇰👀 Hong Kong plans to legalize retail crypto trading. The government is expected to flesh out its recently stated goal of creating a top crypto hub at a fintech conference starting Monday. 💬 The head of the trading platform FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, said in an interview that FTX is working on its own stablecoin. 🤝💰 Binance Confirms a $500 Million Investment along with Elon Musk in his Twitter takeover. CEO Changpeng Zhao 'CZ' said, “We aim to play a role in bringing social media and Web3 together in order to broaden the use and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology." 💥📈 The cryptocurrency exchange FTX saw the largest short liquidation moment on its platform which was valued at approximately $936.24 million Thursday this week. This short liquidation is considered the highest of all the short liquidations on all the platforms combined. 👀💰 According to a Fidelity International survey of institutional investors, 74% of institutions plan to buy cryptocurrencies. 🇭🇰💰 Hong Kong fintech startup Reap, has raised $40 million in a funding round to develop infrastructure to facilitate payments between Web3 projects and traditional businesses. 🪙 After Binance converted some of its users' stablecoins into BUSD, its trading volume is increasingly dominated by BUSD, which is taking share from market leader Tether. 🍏🖼 Apple refuses to exempt NFTs from the 30% fee in the App Store. Thus, the de facto ban on peer-to-peer NFT trading likely remains in place. 🤯📉 NEAR Protocol's USN stablecoin has been shut down after a $40 million "security breach." 💰📉 Blockchain.com, is apparently in talks for a potential funding round at a shrunken valuation. At the beginning of 2022, it was valued at $14 billion. The current round could result in a valuation of $3 billion to $4 billion. 😬📉 Andreessen Horowitz's $4.5 billion crypto fund has lost about 40% of its value in the first half of this year. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft 🇬🇧👀 Rishi Sunak
This week in Web3 (23.10.2022): 🇺🇲 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce ripped the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for denying Grayscale's Bitcoin ETF, calling it " freewheeling private policymaking" 🇰🇷 South Korea wants to offer a blockchain-secured digital identity on cell phones to replace existing ID cards to boost economic growth. 📈🌐 Walmart CTO Suresh Kumar announces Walmart is gearing up to make crypto transactions and purchases as smooth as possible for customers. In addition, Walmart has also already filed trademark and patent applications to “monetize the Metaverse”. 🤯 DappRadar suggests that Decentraland, valued at null.3 billion, has only 38 "daily active" users. While the "daily active" users are not the number of visitors, but the number of transactions made, it's still quite revealing. 🇧🇷Brazil's Nubank announced plans to launch its own cryptocurrency, Nucoin, in the first half of 2023 as part of a new customer rewards program. 🌐🇮🇱 The Israeli Ministry of Finance is launching the first live tests for its tokenized digital bonds in cooperation with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and others. The project, called Eden, aims to reduce costs and optimize the process for issuing government bonds. 💥📉 Aptos launched its mainnet. Before the launch, it was dubbed as a potential "Solana killer", but now it is drawing a lot of criticism as it seems to not live up to expectations. 📈🤝 N26 introduces crypto trading after a few years' delay. Valentin Stalf has brought the Austrian unicorn Bitpanda on board for this. Users in Austria can now buy and sell almost 200 cryptocurrencies. 🔥💰 ChainSafe Systems, a leading web3 infrastructure company specializing in protocol implementations and cryptographic technologies, has raised $18.75 million in Series A funding to accelerate the adoption of web3. Congrats to Amer and Gregory! 💰 Exponential DeFi, a U.S.-based DeFi investment platform, raised $14 million led by investor Paradigm. 🌐💰 WazirX founder's new Layer 1 blockchain Shardeum Foundation has closed its $18.2 million seed funding round with a valuation of $199 million. 💰 Celestia Labs raised $55 million in a combined Series A and B round which was led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital to build a modular blockchain network. 🌐🚨 $8.4 million was stolen from Moola Market. The team offered the hacker a deal, so he returned $7.8 million. The hacker kept the rest of the money as a negotiated bounty. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft 🇺🇲SEC gets ripped https://blockworks.co/us-chamber-of-commerce-rips-sec-for-denying-proposed-grayscale-bitcoin-etf/ 🇰🇷 South Korea https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-16/south-korea-aims-to-boost-economy-with-digital-id-on-blockchain 📈🌐 Walmart https://blockworks.co/walmart-cto-weighs-in-on-the-role-of-crypto-disruption/ 🤯 DappRadar/ Decentraland https://www.coindesk.com/web3/2022/10/07/its-lonely-in-the-metaverse-decentralands-38-daily-active-users-in-a-13b-ecosystem/ 🇧🇷 Nubank https://www.reuters.com/technology/brazils-nubank-introduce-cryptocurrency-part-rewards-program-2022-10-19/ 🌐 Israel https://cointelegraph.com/news/israel-kicks-off-live-tests-for-its-tokenized-digital-bonds 💥📉 Aptos https://blockworks.co/aptos-mainnet-launch-draws-criticism/ 📈🤝 N26 https://www.businessinsider.de/gruenderszene/fintech/n26-krypto-handel-bitpanda-oesterreich/ 🔥💰 ChainSafe https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20221018005566/en/ChainSafe-Raises-US18.75-Million-in-Series-A-Funding-to-Accelerate-Web3-Adoption 💰 Exponentia https://member.fintech.global/2022/10/18/defi-platform-exponential-lands-14m 🌐💰Shardeum https://www.theblock.co/post/177582/wazirx-founders-blockchain-project-shardeum-raises-18-million 💰 Celestia Labs https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/19/crypto-unicorn-celestia-labs-raises-55m-to-build-modular-blockchain-network/ 🌐🚨 Moola Market https://www.theblock.co/post/178293/hacker-returns-7-8-million-stolen-from-moola-market
This week in Web3 (16.10.2022): 🇵🇹 Portugal's days of tax-free crypto profits may soon be over. Individuals may soon have to tax crypto short-term gains as the country tackles a rising deficit and slowing GDP growth. 🇪🇺🌐 The European Parliament's ECON Committee confirmed the MiCA agreement in a 28 to 1 vote, allowing the regulation to enter into force in 2024. 🌐🤝 Google will start accepting crypto payments for cloud services early next year. For this purpose, the company is entering into a partnership with Coinbase. 🏦 BNY Mellon, will now hold digital assets alongside traditional investments. 🏦 Tether.to has reduced its commercial paper holdings to zero and replaced them with U.S. Treasury bills to back its USDT tokens with the "safest reserves on the market." 🇷🇺 Following the new sanctions, Dapper Labs bans Russian users from buying or selling NFTs through their platform 🌪️ Coin Center has filed a federal lawsuit against the U.S. Department of the Treasury's OFAC sanctions over the Tornado Cash. 🚨🖼 The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Yuga Labs whether the sale of its Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection violates federal law with regards to it being securities. 💰Binance launches a $500 Million lending pool for Bitcoin miners as soaring energy costs, low Bitcoin prices, and high mining difficulty are turning miners to lenders to stay afloat. 💰🦄 Uniswap Labs is valued at null.66 billion in new funding of $165 million and is looking to expand its offerings, including launching NFTs and a wallet. 👀💰 nxyz - founded by former Google ad chief Sridhar Ramaswamy - raised $40 million. Nxyz scours blockchains for data on NFTs and crypto wallets and can provide the data in real time. 💰🧬 SettleMint, a company that provides a platform that makes it easier for developers to program blockchains, raised €16 million to improve its platform and to gain a foothold in Japan. 🦅💰 Ben Leventhal has raised $11 million in a seed round for his new web3 hospitality platform, Blackbird Labs, Inc.. 🧬💰 Blockchain development platform Tatum raises $41.5 million from Octopus Ventures, Circle and others. The company's goal is to shorten the time to market for blockchain applications. 🏦 UK-based digital asset custody company Copper.co has raised $196 million in a Series C funding. 🥭 Mango Markets, a decentralized financial trading platform on the Solana Labs blockchain was hacked by Oracle manipulation for $112 million. Now the thief wants to make a deal and return some of the money and keep the rest as a kind of bounty. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft 🇵🇹 Portugal https://blockworks.co/portugal-moves-closer-to-taxing-individuals-on-short-term-crypto-gains/ 🇪🇺🌐 MiCA https://blockworks.co/european-crypto-regulations-enter-final-phase/ 🌐🤝 Google https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/11/google-partners-with-coinbase-to-accept-crypto-payments-for-cloud-services/ 🏦 BNY Mellon https://www.wsj.com/articles/americas-oldest-bank-bny-mellon-will-hold-that-crypto-now-11665460354 🏦 Tether https://cryptobriefing.com/tether-ditches-commercial-paper-reserves-for-t-bills/ 🇷🇺 Dapper Labs https://blockworks.co/dapper-labs-nft-wallet-restricts-russian-users-after-eu-sanctions/ 🌪️Coin Center https://decrypt.co/111822/coin-center-sues-treasury-over-tornado-cash-ban 🚨🖼 SEC https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/10/11/sec-investigating-bored-ape-creator-yuga-labs-over-unregistered-offerings-report/ 💰 Binance https://decrypt.co/111971/binance-launches-500-million-lending-pool-bitcoin-miners 💰🦄 Uniswap Labs https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/13/uniswap-labs-raises-165-million-in-new-funding/ 👀💰 Nxyz https://www-cnbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.cnbc.com/amp/2022/10/12/former-google-ads-boss-raises-40-million-for-web3-search-startup.html 💰🧬 SettleMint https://techcrunch.com/2022/10/11/settlemint-low-code-web3-crypto-blockchain-development/ 🦅💰 Blackbird https://www.theblock.co/post/175214/resy-co-founder-ben-leventhal-raises-11-million-for-new-web3-hospitality-platform 🧬💰 Tatum https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/10/12/blockchain-development-platform-tatum-raises-415m-from-octopus-circle-others/ 🏦🤔 Copper https://www.ledgerinsights.com/copper-digital-asset-custody-funding-196m 🥭 ⚠️ Mango Markets https://blockworks.co/mango-markets-mangled-by-oracle-manipulation-for-112m/
This week in Web3 (02.10.2022): 🤌 The Solana Labs network has stopped, again, processing transactions due to an outage. 💨💰 Digital asset-focused exchange and carbon credit liquidity provider 1GCX and T3 Trading Group have struck a deal that will raise a whopping $2 billion and establish a $100 million liquidity pool to facilitate carbon credit transactions. 🏦 Sweden, Norway, and Israel are exploring retail cross-border payments with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) to reduce costs and delays in cross-border payments. 🆕💰 Pantera Capital is reportedly planning a new blockchain fund worth null.25 billion, which will invest in stocks and digital risks. Great job Dan. 🤝 FTX has won the auction for the assets of bankrupt crypto broker Voyager Digital. FTX US's bid is valued at approximately null.4 billion. 🪨🆕 BlackRock, is becoming increasingly involved in the crypto economy and recently announced the launch of an ETF that offers direct exposure to blockchain and crypto companies. 🙅🏼🌡 Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky resigns due to bankruptcy and frozen accounts. Mashinsky's resignation is effective immediately, but he plans to continue supporting the company. 📹 ⚠️ Hacktivist group Anonymous circulated a video of allegations targeting blockchain technology company Yuga Labs and the NFT project Bored Ape Yacht Club that it created. 💳🖼 Cryptocurrency and fiat exchange hi has launched a debit card that users can customize with their own NFT avatars and is backed by Mastercard. 💰🇵🇦 Deribit, the largest bitcoin options exchange by market share, received a $40 million investment from existing investors, valuing it at $400 million. 🌐 👀 "See Walmart like never before!" - The retail giant is entering the metaverse through the launch of two new experiences on the gaming platform Roblox. 💰🧷 Technology venture studio MPCH Labs, which is developing multiparty computation technology, closed a $40 million Series A led by Liberty City Ventures. 💰🇸🇬 Immunefi, a popular bug bounty system for smart contracts and DeFi, has closed a $24 million Series A funding round led by Framework Ventures. 💰🎒 Coral, known for developing the Solana developer framework Anchor, has closed a $20 million strategic funding round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto. 🔑💰 OneKey, the crypto hardware wallet maker, received about $20 million in its Series A funding round led by Dragonfly and Ribbit Capital. 💰🙌🏼 AIKON, known for its Web3 onboarding solutions, has received $10 million in Series A financing, led by Morgan Creek Digital. Aikon aims to accelerate the adoption of blockchain technology by providing secure onboarding solutions. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft 🤌Solana: https://twitter.com/WatcherGuru/status/1576038086558916609 💨💰 Carbon offset credits: https://blockworks.co/upstart-crypto-carbon-credits-platform-raises-2b-to-tap-internet-of-energy/ 🏦 CBDC: https://cointelegraph.com/news/israel-norway-and-sweden-central-banks-partner-with-bis-to-explore-cbdc 🆕💰 Pantera Capital: https://blockworks.co/pantera-capital-reportedly-eyeing-new-1-25b-blockchain-fund/ 🤝 FTX: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/09/27/ftx-wins-bid-to-buy-voyager-digitals-assets/ 🪨🆕 BlackRock: https://www.theblock.co/post/173669/blackrock-launches-etf-in-europe-with-blockchain-and-crypto-company-exposure 🙅🏼🌡 Celsius CEO: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/27/celsius-ceo-resigns-in-the-middle-of-bankruptcy-proceedings.html 📹 ⚠️ Anonymous: https://cointelegraph.com/news/anonymous-makes-numerous-allegations-against-yuga-labs-and-its-bored-ape-yacht-club 💳🖼 Cryptocurrency and fiat exchange hi: https://blockworks.co/mastercard-hi-launch-nft-customized-debit-cards-as-nft-interest-dips/ 💰🇵🇦 Deribit: https://www.theblock.co/post/172752/deribit-funding-round-internal-400-million-valuation 🌐 👀 Walmart: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/09/26/walmart-dives-into-metaverse-with-launches-in-roblox/ 💰🧷 MPCH Labs: https://blockworks.co/liberty-city-ventures-leads-40m-series-a/ 💰🇸🇬 Immuefi: https://decrypt.co/110285/defi-bug-bounty-platform-immunefi-raises-24m-in-series-a 💰🎒 Coral: https://www.theblock.co/post/173345/anchor-creator-coral-raises-20-million-as-it-debuts-wallet-product 🔑💰 OneKey: https://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/china-digest-onekey-snaps-20m-in-series-a-equinix-pledges-50m-to-push-digital-inclusion-309645 💰🙌🏼 Aikon: https://www.finsmes.com/2022/09/aikon-raises-10m-in-series-a-equity-financing.html
This week in Web3 (25.09.2022): 🗳 🤝 Wireless network Helium will officially migrate from its own blockchain to Solana Labs. The move is expected to increase the compatibility of Helium tokens with other crypto applications. It also moves into mobile together with T-Mobile. 🆕 Nasdaq breaks into the cryptocurrency space, looking to capitalize on the growing appetite for digital currencies among large investors. Nasdaq plans to offer custody services for Bitcoin and Ether to institutional investors. 🇰🇷🚩 South Korea's financial regulator noticed $7.2 billion worth of "abnormal" foreign exchange transactions since June, most of which were conducted through cryptocurrency exchanges. 🥶💀 In a security breach on algorithmic market maker Wintermute, hackers captured about $160 million from 90 assets in the platform's portfolio. 🏀🇺🇸 The National Basketball Association (NBA) unveiled the design for the 2022 All-Star Game court and will introduce a series of NFTs commemorating the city. 🧾🇺🇸 Colorado state residents can now pay their taxes using cryptocurrencies directly through PayPal's cryptocurrency hub for an additional fee. 🖼💰 Chiru Labs, the developer of the acclaimed Azuki NFT collection, plans to raise at least $30 million in an upcoming Series A funding round. 💰📈 FTX is talking to potential investors about a capital raise of up to null billion, which would keep the company's valuation on par with previous funding earlier this year. 🇨🇭💰 Portofino Technologies received more than $50 million to help launch digital assets for institutional investors and web3 companies backed by Valar Ventures LLC, Global Founders Capital, and Coatue Management. 💰🗽 Messari has closed a $35 million Series B funding round, led by Brevan Howard Digital, to hire more employees and develop two new products - Protocol Metrics and Data Apps. 🐟💰 Sardine, a start-up that uses behavioral, financial, and device-specific user data to detect fraud on behalf of its crypto and fintech clients, announced that it had received $51.5 million in a Series B led by Andreessen Horowitz. 💰🎫 Pan-African cryptocurrency exchange Yellow Card Financial has announced the closing of a $40 million Series B to fund its growth plans, just one year after the blockchain startup announced its Series A funding. 💰🪲Web3 bug-bounty platform Immunefi raises $24M for its Series A funding round. The round was led by Framework Ventures. Other investors include Samsung Next, Electric Capital and Polygon Ventures. 💰 Blockchain startup Hyperlane raises $18.5M round led by crypto investor Variant. The platform helps developers connect applications across blockchains. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. 🗳 🤝 Helium: https://blockworks.co/helium-token-holders-approve-switch-to-solana-blockchain/ 🆕 Nasdaq Inc.: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-20/nasdaq-makes-first-big-crypto-push-to-lure-institutional-clients 🇰🇷🚩 South Korea: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/09/22/s-korean-watchdog-says-72b-transfered-overseas-mainly-through-crypto-exchanges-report/ 🥶💀 Wintermute: https://decrypt.co/110131/algorithmic-market-maker-wintermute-hacked-for-160m 🏀🇺🇸 The NBA: https://sporttechie.com/nba-places-qr-codes-throughout-cleveland-for-fans-to-buy-past-and-present-all-star-court-nfts 🧾🇺🇸 Colorado: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/09/20/colorado-residents-can-now-use-crypto-to-pay-taxes/ 🖼💰 Chiru Labs: https://www.theblock.co/post/171617/chiru-labs-azuki-creator-30-million-series-a-fundraise 💰📈 FTX: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/21/ftx-in-talks-to-raise-1-billion-at-valuation-of-about-32-billion.html 🇨🇭💰 Portofino Technologies: https://tech.eu/2022/09/15/swiss-crypto-platform-portofino-unlocks-50-million-to-support-high-frequency-traders/ 💰🗽 Messari: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/09/21/crypto-analytics-firm-messari-raises-35m-in-series-b-led-by-brevan-howard-digital/ 🐟💰 Sardine: https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/20/sardine-fintech-crypto-fraud-startup-a16z-series-b-funding/ 💰🎫 Yellow Card Financial: https://www.forbes.com/sites/oluwaseunadeyanju/2022/09/19/after-raising-40-million-african-bitcoin-exchange-yellow-card-seeks-unicorn-status-by-end-of-2023/ 💰🪲 Immunefi https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/22/web3-bug-bounty-platform-immunefi-raises-24m-for-its-series-a-funding-round/ 🖼💰 Hyperlane https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/09/22/blockchain-startup-hyperlane-raises-185m-from-crypto-investor-variant/ #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (11.09.2022) - the last update before the merge 💡 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler seems to accept delegating oversight of bitcoin to the CFTC. 💸 The U.S. Department of the Treasury is advising the federal government to move forward with issuing a digital dollar - “if in national interest”. 🕵️‍♂️🌎 The White House has released a report urging the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to take measurable actions to control energy usage in proof-of-work crypto mining. Not the greatest news for Bitcoin. 💥👮 Crypto exchange Coinbase is funding a lawsuit against the Treasury Department over its decision to sanction coin mixer Tornado Cash. The lawsuit claims that the department entrapped law-abiding Americans conducting legitimate digital commerce through a service that provides enhanced privacy and security. 🖼🧑‍🎨 Andreessen Horowitz introduced the so-called "Can't Be Evil" licenses. These licenses establish the relationship between an NFT buyer and the creator of the original work to which it is linked. 💰 Coinbase hopes to keep MakerDAO from abandoning its USDC holdings amid fallout from U.S. sanctions on Tornado Cash, as Coinbase looks to acquire null.6 billion of MakerDAO`s USDC in exchange for 1.5% yield — or an estimated $24 million of MakerDAO revenue. 💥 Binance will convert its customers' holdings in the three competing stablecoins (USDC, Pax Dollar and TUSD) into its own stablecoin (BUSD). Users will still be able to withdraw funds in those currencies. This probably makes sense from a liquidity perspective. 💥 Metaverse trademarks are booming, with 4,150 trademarks related to Web3 and the metaverse filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) so far in 2022. That's more than twice as many trademark applications as the year. 💰👾 Crypto game developer Animoca Brands raised $110 million. The investors include Temasek, GGV Capital and Boyu Capital. 💰 Mysten Labs raised $300 million at a $2 billion valuation in a funding round led by FTX Ventures. Participants included some big names in the crypto industry, such as Binance Labs, Coinbase Ventures and Circle Ventures. The start-up is planning to build out its Sui blockchain and expand into the APAC region. 💰Web3 wallet Omni raised $11 million in seed capital, at a valuation of $50 million. Investors in the funding round include The Spartan Group, GSR Ventures and Eden Block 🤖💰Web3 data platform Spice AI closed a $13.5 million seed round. Spice AI enables data mining from blockchains to facilitate machine learning and AI applications for developers. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. 💡Gary Gensler/ SEC https://decrypt.co/109275/sec-chair-gary-gensler-backs-giving-cftc-bitcoin-oversight 💸 The U.S. Treasury Department https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/09/08/us-treasury-to-recommend-issuing-digital-dollar-if-in-national-interest-source/ 🕵️‍♂️🌎 The White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/09-2022-Crypto-Assets-and-Climate-Report.pdf 💥👮Coinbase/ Lawsuite https://www.theinformation.com/briefings/coinbase-funds-lawsuit-against-u-s-treasury-over-tornado-cash-sanctions 🖼🧑‍🎨 Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) https://www.theverge.com/2022/9/6/23331591/andreessen-horowitz-a16z-nft-cant-be-evil-copyright-creative-commons-licenses 💰 Coinbase/ Maker https://blockworks.co/coinbase-looking-to-acquire-1-6b-of-makerdaos-usdc/ 💥 Binance https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/05/binance-issuer-of-stablecoin-busd-to-discontinue-support-for-usdc-usdp-and-tusd/ 💥 Metaverse https://blockworks.co/web3-watch-gamestop-partners-with-ftx-and-sorare-creates-nba-fantasy-game/ 💰👾 Animoca Brands https://www.reuters.com/technology/crypto-gaming-firm-animoca-brands-raises-110-million-2022-09-08 💰 Mysten Labs https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/09/08/crypto-startup-mysten-labs-raises-300m-from-industry-heavyweights-at-2b-valuation-report/ 💰 Omni https://www.theblock.co/post/168262/web3-wallet-omni-raises-11-million-in-seed-funding-at-a-50-million-valuation. 🤖💰Spice AI https://www.theblock.co/post/168331/web3-data-platform-spice-ai-closes-13-5-million-seed-round #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
🪧👮🏼 A Tornado Cash developer was arrested for allegedly aiding money laundering, but the arrest is sparking protests in Amsterdam. The arrest could have harmful consequences for open source developers. Do we arrest gun manufacturers for school shootings? 🌪❌ DeFi protocols Aave, Uniswap, Balancer ban users after OFAC sanctions against Tornado Cash. Decentralization may be under attack as Aave, Uniswap, Balancer block wallets that have interacted with Tornado Cash. 🥶 Tether continues to stand by its decision not to freeze Tornado Cash addresses and is better off waiting for instructions from law enforcement. 💰👾 Ready Player Me - a Tallinn-based startup, has built a popular platform for creating dynamic, animated avatars for use in virtual worlds - received $56 million in funding led by a16z to grow its business. 🕸💰 Thirdweb, a platform for Web3 app developers, received $24 million in a Series A round at a valuation of $160 million, led by Haun Ventures - the investment firm founded earlier this year by former Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) partner Katie Haun. 💰🖼 NFT collective ownership platform Fractional is rebranding as Tessera and raised more than $20 million in a Series A round led by Paradigm. ♠💸 Symbolic Capital, a new crypto-focused VC, founded by Polygon founder Sandeep Nailwal raised $50 million for a fund to invest in early-stage Web3 companies. 💸🇺🇸 Shima Capital raised $200 million for its first fund and received support from notable investors such as Dragonfly Capital. 📈 Polygon > Avalanche: Polygon (MATIC) is now the fourth-largest blockchain for TVL, surpassing Avalanche and Solana. 🤯📈 FTX seemingly increased its revenue by 1,000% during the crypto craze. The exchange's revenue rose from under $90 million in 2020 to more than null billion last year. 🇰🇷🥈 Samsung's investment division plans to launch its own cryptocurrency platform in South Korea in 2023, marking a second attempt by Samsung to launch a crypto exchange after its first plans reportedly failed due to a lack of key talent. 🇦🇺 Australia's new government will use 'token mapping' as framework for crypto regulation to “keep up with developments and protect consumers”. 🏆👟 Nike has made more than $185 million from the sale of NFTs, far outpacing other fashion brands. $93 million through primary sales and $92 million through secondary sales. By comparison, Adidas has made just $10.9 million. 🚨🔒 SudoRare, a decentralized exchange for non-fungible tokens (NFT), went offline on Tuesday - six hours after its launch. A "rug pull" looted over $800,000 worth of tokens from the platform's wallet address. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency#blockchain#web3 #metaverse#crypto#nft 🪧👮🏼 Tornado Cash developer: https://blockworks.co/tornado-cash-developers-arrest-sparks-protest-in-amsterdam/ 🌪❌ DeFi protocols: https://cryptoslate.com/defi-protocols-aave-uniswap-balancer-ban-users-following-ofac-sanctions-on-tornado-cash/ 🥶👎🏼 Tether: https://tether.to/en/tether-holds-firm-on-decision-not-to-freeze-tornado-cash-addresses-awaits-law-enforcement-instruction/ 💰👾 Ready Player Me: https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/23/ready-player-me-a-platform-to-build-dynamic-cross-game-avatars-for-virtual-worlds-raises-56m-led-by-a16z/ 🕸💰 Thirdweb: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/25/crypto-developer-platform-thirdweb-gets-katie-haun-backing-at-160m-valuation/ 💰🖼 Fractional: https://www.theblock.co/post/164001/paradigm-leads-20-million-round-for-fractional-as-it-rebrands-to-tessera ♠💰 Symbolic Capital: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/25/polygon-founders-crypto-vc-firm-raises-50m-fund/ 💰🇺🇸 Shima Capital: https://www.finsmes.com/2022/08/shima-capital-closes-200m-maiden-fund-to-support-web3-founders.html 📈 Polygon: https://twitter.com/crypto_wildwest/status/1560273630637879303?s=21&t=kILNfaWKiH0Aj5y3jf8I6w 🤯📈 FTX: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/08/20/ftx-grew-revenue-1000percent-during-the-crypto-craze-leaked-financials.html 🇰🇷🥈 Samsung: https://decrypt.co/108211/samsung-slates-crypto-exchange-launch-south-korea-2023-report 🇦🇺 Australia: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/08/22/australia-to-use-token-mapping-as-framework-for-crypto-regulation/ 🏆👟 Nike: https://tokenist.com/nikes-nft-revenue-hits-185m-92-21m-in-just-royalties/ https://twitter.com/Blockworks_/status/1561666150991335431?s=20&t=pMiiTW8_nNEsUS-Fe2Kbnw 🚨🔒 SudoRare: https://www.theblock.co/post/164970/nft-exchange-sudorare-suffers-800000-rug-pull-six-hours-after-launch
This week in Web3 (20.08.2022) 🇦🇷 Buenos Aires plans to establish Ethereum validator nodes in 2023. The effort has "exploratory and regulatory purposes" and will help the city of 3 million people develop "adaptable regulations" for crypto. 🏦 🇺🇸 The Fed has issued guidelines for banks on how to handle cryptocurrencies: All banks that want to do business with cryptocurrencies must notify the Fed in advance and all transactions must be legally compliant. 📈 New data from crypto analytics firm Messari shows that crypto firms have raised over $30,000,000,000 in nearly 1,200 funding rounds despite the bear winter. 💰 Funding Circle co-founder, Samir Desai, has unveiled Super Payments, which has received $27 million in investment in a funding round led by Accel. ❌💰 Galaxy Digital has canceled its planned null.2 billion acquisition of BitGo due to the crypto custody firm's inability to deliver audited financial statements. 🧑🏼‍💼🚫 Genesis Global Trading Inc. is laying off 20% of its 260 employees. This comes after the court announcement that the crypto brokerage firm lent $2.4 billion to the now bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital Ltd. Interesting that it takes a court announcement for them to realize that… ⛔️ Eqonex Ltd. will close its crypto exchange, to improve its financial situation. The exchange, which opened in 2020, will stop trading at 08:00 UTC on Aug. 22, and customers have until Sept. 14 to withdraw their funds. 🆕🌡 Bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network LLC apparently has received multiple offers for fresh capital to fund its restructuring process. Details are not yet available. ❄💸 Crypto exchange Binance has managed to freeze $450,000 from a hack of Curve Finance. Binance announced that the crypto exchange has recovered about 83% of the funds stolen from Curve Finance. 💥 ⬇ The Polkadot-powered stablecoin Acala dollar (aUSD) is not so stable anymore. It crashed to below 10 cents on Sunday after hackers minted 1.3 billion of the tokens for free. 🥈 ImmutableX overtook Solana in daily NFT dollar sales volume and settled in second place after Ethereum L1. Gods Unchained, DC Comics and Illuvium Land are responsible for the volume increase. ⛓ Jump Crypto and the Solana Foundation are planning to develop a second validator client for the Solana blockchain network. 👀 🇮🇹 Tether plans to hire auditing firm BDO Italia to review the reserves backing USDT stablecoin, the largest stablecoin in the world. Probably a good idea, to gain more trust. 🚨🥴 Some drama: A crypto marketplace claims to have been robbed for $350K by insider "Gabagool." According to Velodrome Finance, the employee drained the team's wallet due to his mental issues after losing the money in the crypto crash. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment etc P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft 🇦🇷 Buenos Aires: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2022/08/11/buenos-aires-city-to-deploy-ethereum-validator-nodes-in-2023/ 🏦 🇺🇸 The Fed: https://www.handelsblatt.com/finanzen/geldpolitik/bitcoin-und-co-us-notenbank-fed-gibt-kryptowaehrung-richtlinien-fuer-banken-heraus/28604716.html 📈 Crypto analytics: https://dailyhodl.com/2022/08/09/crypto-firms-raised-over-30000000000-in-first-six-months-of-2022-despite-bear-winter-analytics-company/ 💰 Super: https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/17/funding-circle-cofounder-unveils-super-payments-fintech-venture-with-27m-investment/ ❌💰 Galaxy Digital: https://news.crunchbase.com/fintech-ecommerce/crypto-acquisitions-galaxy-digital-bitgo 🧑🏼‍💼🚫 Genesis Global Trading Inc.: https://www.wsj.com/articles/crypto-lender-genesis-lays-off-20-of-workforce-ceo-to-depart-11660748873 ⛔️ Eqonex Ltd.: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/15/blockchain-services-firm-equonex-closes-crypto-exchange-citing-volatility-and-dwindling-volume/ 🆕🌡 Celsius Network LLC: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-16/bankrupt-crypto-lender-celsius-considers-financing-proposals ❄💸 Binance: https://decrypt.co/107309/crypto-exchange-binance-freezes-450000-curve-finance-hack 💥 ⬇ Acala dollar: https://blockworks.co/polkadot-powered-stablecoin-tanks-as-hackers-mint-1-3b-tokens/ 🥈 ImmutableX: https://twitter.com/blockworksres/status/1560292557975801856?s=20&t=pwXGT7D98IcS1f4xjNnT0w& ⛓ Jump Crypto: https://decrypt.co/107521/jump-crypto-plans-solana-validator-client-boost-performance-decentralization 👀 🇮🇹 Tether: https://news.crunchbase.com/fintech-ecommerce/tether-names-new-accounting-firm-to-verify-stablecoins-stability/ 🚨🥴 "Gabagool”: https://blockworks.co/crypto-marketplace-alleges-350k-stolen-by-insider-gabagool/
This week in Web3 (13.08.2022): 🚨⏳ Big news: The Ethereum merge finally has a date - mainnet is expected to move from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake on Sept. 15 or 16. 🇺🇸🌪 The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced that it has banned American companies and individuals from using a so-called crypto-mixer called Tornado Cash, which enables the obfuscation of crypto transactions. The implications for the broader defi ecosystem are not fully clear yet. ❌📧 Intuit Mailchimp reportedly suspended the accounts of several crypto-related companies. News platform Messari, as well as media company Decrypt, reported the blocking on Twitter. 🆘 Berlin-based fintech Nuri enters insolvency proceedings. This step is necessary to ensure the continued operation of the app. Talks with venture capitalists have apparently failed. ⛔️🇸🇬 Singapore-based crypto platform Hodlnaut is halting withdrawals, deposits, and token swaps, citing market volatility, joining the long list of crypto platforms possibly going bust. 🧸🤝 FTX Pay is now working with Reddit, Inc. and Arbitrum to allow users to pay gas fees on Reddit, Inc.'s "Community Points" tokens with fiat. This is the latest example of FTX's massive buyout on the bear market of the crypto exchange. 📱💰 @Unstoppable Finance raised €12.5 million in its Series A funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners. The money is to be used to launch the Ultimate (by Unstoppable Finance) crypto app/ wallet. Congratulations Peter! 💰 Layer 1 blockchain Injective Labs has received $40 million in a round led by Jump Crypto to bring new valuable stakeholders into the ecosystem. Brevan Howard Digital also participated in the funding round. 💰👩🏼‍🎨 CreatorDAO has received $20 million in a seed funding round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Initialized Capital. Paris Hilton and The Chainsmokers participated in the funding round and plan to share their expertise. 🇸🇬💰 Merkle Science, a Singapore-based provider of a predictive crypto risk and intelligence platform, has received more than $24 million in Series A expansion funding led by BECO Capital and K3 Ventures. 💰🌐 Andreessen Horowitz invested $6 million in Web3 startup Halliday, which allows its players to buy and use digital assets in the Metaverse. Hashed, A* Capital, SV Angel participated in the funding. 🪅💰 Pinata, a platform focused on NFT media distribution, raised a Series A of $18 million. ❄️📉 Coinbase Q2 figures: the exchange reported net revenue of $802.6 million and earnings per share of -$4.98 (diluted), behind analyst expectations (again). 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. 🚨⏳ Ethereum: https://decrypt.co/107266/ethereum-merge-may-come-sooner 🇺🇸🌪 The U.S. Treasury Department: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-08/crypto-mixer-tornado-s-accounts-are-disabled-after-us-sanctions?srnd=technology-vp ❌📧 Mailchimp: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/11/e-mail-marketing-firm-mailchimp-suspends-several-crypto-related-accounts/ 🆘 Nuri: https://www.faz.net/aktuell/finanzen/fintech-nuri-ist-insolvent-auswirkung-der-pleite-von-celsius-network-18232379.html ⛔️🇸🇬 Hodlnaut: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/08/09/hodlnaut-suspends-withdrawals/ 🧸🤝 FTX Pay: https://blockworks.co/ftx-bringing-crypto-swaps-to-reddit/ 📱💰 Unstoppable Finance: https://financefwd.com/de/unstoppable-finance-lightspeed/ 💰 Injective: https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/10/jump-crypto-leads-injectives-40m-round-to-help-expand-defi-applications/ 💰👩🏼‍🎨 CreatorDAO: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/08/09/venture-capital-giant-a16z-leads-20m-round-for-creatordao/ 🇸🇬💰 Merkle Science: https://www.finsmes.com/2022/08/merkle-science-raises-extension-of-series-a-to-over-24-million.html 💰🌐 Andreesen Horowitz: https://decrypt.co/106780/buy-now-pay-later-platform-halliday-raises-6-million-in-new-seed-round 🪅💰 Pinata: https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/09/pinata-raised-21-5m-to-scale-nft-media-infrastructure/ ❄️📉 Coinbase: https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/09/coinbases-earnings-fall-short-of-expectations-as-crypto-winter-rages/ #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (07.08.2022): 📲🖼 Meta launches the international expansion of NFT support on Instagram 100 countries. In addition, Coinbase Wallet and Dapper Wallet will now be accepted as compatible third-party wallets. 🏦 Bitcoin & Ether are to be regulated as Commodities by the CFTC, per new senate bill. The SEC will still control some aspects of crypto governance under the new bill, but its reach would be shortened 👮🏼 Caroline Pham, one of five commissioners at the CFTC, has expressed concern about the potential impact of a case brought by the SEC against a former Coinbase product manager. 💰 Brevan Howard Asset Management has launched one of the largest crypto hedge funds to date. The firm's flagship fund has received more than null billion from institutional investors. ✅🇦🇪 FTX has received full approval to operate its exchange and clearing house in Dubai. The company will offer regulated crypto derivatives and trading services to institutional investors, as well as operate a marketplace for NFT. 🪪 The world's largest crypto exchange will release the Binance Account Bound (BAB) token, its first “soulbound” or non-transferable token based on the company's proprietary BNB chain. 📈 Coinbase shares surged more than 16% on news of its partnership with investment firm BlackRock. BlackRock is planning to provide institutional investors with access to cryptocurrencies. 🦹‍♀️Solana Labs has become the target of the crypto sphere’s latest hack after users reported that funds have been drained from internet-connected “hot” wallets. Cold wallets and SOL stored on exchanges appeared to be safe. 🚨 The Nomad bridge was exploited, during which the attackers stripped the protocol of virtually all its funds - nearly $200 million. The attack is the latest to call into question the security of cross-chain bridges. 🎮🏆 Chipotle Mexican Grill will let its customers win more than $200,000 in cryptocurrency with its online game "Buy the Dip." The prize consists of Bitcoin, Ether, Solana, Avalanche, and Dogecoin. 👗💸 Gucci is the first luxury house to accept the cryptocurrency ApeCoin (APE) in its U.S. stores. Customers now have the option to make purchases in stores using ApeCoin via BitPay. 💎 For about $50,000 (30 Ethereum), CryptoPunk owners can get a handmade pendant from Tiffany & Co. in the design of their own NFT. The offer is exclusive to people who own a CryptoPunk. ⚽️ FC Barcelona's blockchain-powered fan motivation and rewards platform Socios.com, is to become a strategic technology partner to accelerate FC Barcelona's strategies in blockchain, NFT and digital assets, and Web3. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
🔐 Ethereum developers confirm the "Goerli" testnet merger date, Aug 6 - 12, the last test before the official transition to a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain (planned in September). ⬇️ Venture funding to blockchain and crypto startups declined for the first time in 2 years in Q2’22 amid the crypto downturn. But at $6.5B, the quarter’s dollar total still marks the fourth largest ever for blockchain companies. 🇪🇺🏆 Europe rises: Europe saw record funding, with 6 of the continent’s top 10 rounds going to Web3 startups. It was the only global region to see funding growth in the quarter. 💰🦄Aptos, the startup founded by former Meta employees, has raised $150 million in a Series A round led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto, more than doubling its valuation to $2bn. 🦄💰 Unstoppable Domains, a popular blockchain name system and identity platform provider, is the latest crypto startup to become a unicorn. In their Series A funding round, they raised $65 million at a null billion valuation, led by Pantera Capital. 💰 Blockchain ecosystem Topl has closed its Series A funding round with $15 million and is now continuing to pursue and monetize social initiatives. The round was led by Mercury, Republic Asia and Cryptology Asset Group. 🇬🇧💰 British bank Barclays will be among the investors in cryptocurrency custodian Copper.co's funding round and is ready to invest millions of dollars, according to a Sky News report. 🤝 Clearpool, the first decentralized marketplace for unsecured lending, launches on the Polygon Technology network with the goal of providing greater capital efficiency and an enhanced user experience. Congrats Jakob 💪 🚨 Yuga Labs, the $4 billion startup, could face a class action lawsuit. The startup is accused of using prominent promoters to "inflate" the price of its NFTs by overpromising returns. 🐙👮🏻‍♂️ Cryptocurrency exchange Kraken Digital Asset Exchange is reportedly under investigation for allegedly allowing users in Iran to trade digital assets in violation of US sanctions. 🪙 The founder of Curve Finance (a huge exchange liquidity pool for stable coins) discussed the possibility of a “Curve” stablecoin. 💰 Crypto VC firm Variant has raised two new funds to invest in Web3 startups: a $150 million fund for seed capital and a second $300 million fund to support projects with "proven traction." 📉 Despite Coinbase’s brutal 2022, its venture arm was still the #1 most active corporate VC investor (tied with GV) in the second quarter. Global financings with CVC participation fell 32% quarter-over-quarter to $26.6 billion in Q2 2022, while CVC deals declined 18% to 1,148. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (24.07.2022) 📈 BTC and ETH are up about 10% and 45%, respectively, after the latest Consumer Price Index numbers were published. 🇬🇧 The UK Parliament introduced a bill that aims to regulate stablecoins as a means of payment through financial services and markets. This is aimed at strengthening the UK's financial system post-Brexit. 🌐🇦🇪 Dubai has officially launched the Dubai Metaverse Strategy, aiming to become one of the 10 largest metaverse economies in the world and creating more than 40k jobs in the space. 💰🆕 Crypto exchange KuCoin Exchange said on Thursday that it had secured $10 million from Susquehanna International Group, LLP (SIG) Group, one of Wall Street’s largest trading firms cofounded by U.S. billionaire Jeff Yass. 💰🆕 Crypto-asset manager Valkyrie, also known for bitcoin futures ETFs in the U.S., is moving into venture capital. Investor Lluís Pedragosa will lead the new business arm as a managing partner. 🎨💰 Christie's, the auction house, has launched an investment fund. The fund is designed to provide financial support to companies in the Web3 sector, "art-related financial products and solutions," and technologies related to art and luxury goods. 🧑🏼‍💻 💰 Tribe Capital has given birth to its incubator program, Tribe Crypto Labs, which has already received $25 million. The company has around null.5 billion in assets under management. 🇫🇷🏦 French bank BNP Paribas is getting into cryptocurrency custody through a partnership with METACO. Fireblocks is also said to be involved in infrastructure. ⚖️🧬 Polygon Technology is another step closer to a secure, scalable roll-up based on zero-knowledge technology called ZkEVM, which they call “the holy grail of scaling”. 🚨 Tesla sold $936 million worth of Bitcoin in Q2. This represents 75% of Tesla's bitcoin holdings. ⛏️Major bitcoin miner Core Scientific is raising capital by agreeing to sell $100 million in equity over the next two years to investment firm B. Riley Principal Investments. The miner sold 7,202 bitcoin for roughly $167 million in June. 🚓 Federal agents arrested a Coinbase product manager and his brother on charges of using the cryptocurrency exchange to stage a years-long insider trade that netted null.5 million in illegal profits. 🖼🚫 Minecraft says no to NFTs and blockchain technology on its servers. One of the best-selling video games of all time draws a line under the hype in an attempt to “stop exclusivity and profiteering”. 🍷 €30.000 - for a bottle of wine from Germany. To be more precise, it is a “Flutwein” (flood wine) from the Ahr Valley that was auctioned off by Zurich Group Germany including an NFT for a good cause. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below.
This week in Web3 (18.07.2022): 💣 The Ethereum "difficulty bomb" (a kind of self-destruct mechanism meant to incentivize the transition to an environmentally-friendly proof-of-stake model) was delayed by about 100 days. The long-awaited transition to POS has been set for mid-September. ⬇️💰 Investment in VC-backed crypto companies slowed during the first half of the year, from a record $12.5 billion invested during last year’s first half to about $9.3 billion invested through the first six months of this year. 🆕⏱ Binance.US hired former PayPal executive Jasmine Lee as CFO. Fitting with current plans to go public in the next 2-3 years. 💸🚨 Blockchain.com could lose $270 million on its loans to bankrupt crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC). 💰 Mysten Labs (founded by former Meta crypto execs) is in talks with investors to raise a Series B round of at least $200 million led by FTX Ventures and is targeting a $2 billion valuation. 🕵🏼 Crypto is increasingly being used to pay salaries in developing countries, as companies are finding blockchain technology can help them source talent worldwide. 📍🥶 The current whereabouts of Three Arrows Capital Pte Ltd founders Kyle Davies and Su Zhu are unknown, according to a court filing. 💰🌐 Gnosis spinoff Safe receives $100 million in a round led by early-stage crypto fund 1kx to promote its ecosystem of Web3 applications and wallets. Tiger Global Management, A&T Capital, and Blockchain Capital LLC participated. ❄️🚨 OpenSea lays off 20% of its staff. 🧑🏼‍⚖️🌡 Another week, another crypto lender files for bankruptcy. Embattled lender Celsius filed for Chapter 11 protection in an effort to “stabilize its business and consummate a comprehensive restructuring transaction” 🇪🇺 The ECB releases three reports on the adoption of the largest crypto law in Europe. "MiCA" intends to increase the transparency of stablecoin reserves, carbon emissions, and crypto exchange practices. 🏦 The Bank for International Settlements – BIS issued new guidance that states that if a stablecoin acts as a means of transferring and is deemed “systemically important” it must follow traditional Principles for Financial Market Infrastructures (PFMI). 🇷🇺 Vladimir Putin signed a law that bans digital payments, forbidding the use of digital securities and tokens in paying for goods and services 🖼 GameStop has launched its NFT marketplace at a time when industry-wide NFT sales are slumping. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (09.07.2022): ⬇️🖼 OpenSea marked $646.6 million in trading volume in June. That's down more than 65% from May. In comparison, the Solana NFT marketplace Magic Eden recorded a volume of almost 111 million US dollars, a decrease of 63.5%. 🔥🔝 RTFKT studios - owned by Nike - announced a hotly anticipated 3D avatar for their CloneX NFT. 📲 Meta has begun rolling out Ethereum and Polygon NFTs to some U.S. creators on its flagship social network. Soon, support for NFTs on Solana Labs and Flow will also be added. 💳 Reddit, Inc. is launching a new NFT-based avatar marketplace that allows blockchain-based profile pictures to be purchased for a fixed price. Users don't need a crypto wallet, just their credit or debit card. 📈⚠️ Regulators around the world have increased the number of measures related to digital assets by 7,436% since 2018, according to CUBE. In just 4 months, 2022 is the biggest year yet, with over 4,666 regulatory messages. 📉 Depressed Bitcoin markets are weighing heavily on the balance sheets of some of the world's largest publicly traded companies, including crypto bulls Elon Musk, Jack Dorsey and Michael Saylor. Together, they have lost more than $2 billion on Bitcoin to date. 📝 Cryptocurrency lender Nexo (a rather conservative player that is not in trouble) announced that they have signed an indicative term sheet with their competitor Vauld for a potential acquisition. This gives Nexo a 60-day exclusive exploratory period to acquire the company. 🐂🚫 Cryptocurrency exchange Bullish.com is not bullish anymore and is following other crypto companies with many layoffs in its fight against the massive market downturn. 🔱 Crypto broker Voyager Digital is the latest victim of the financial turmoil that has rocked the cryptocurrency world. Voyager (carelessly?) gave massive loans to Three Arrows Capital Pte Ltd, a major crypto hedge fund, which is now filing for bankruptcy. Investors fear a domino effect that could lead to further bankruptcies. 🕹🥳 The former head of TikTok's gaming unit, Jason Fung, is launching a blockchain gaming startup, Meta0. 🎮 Web3 company Polium is trying to build a gaming console that supports multiple blockchains and NFTs. This is intended to "bring mass adoption to the Web3 space" in order to lure traditional gamers away from PC-only gaming. 🤝 ConsenSys announced a partnership with StarkWare, the blockchain software company building ZK rollup solutions on Ethereum. As part of this partnership, MetaMask, and Infura, the leading blockchain infrastructure platform, have integrated StarkNet. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (02.07.2022): 🏹 Three Arrows Capital Pte Ltd plunged deeper into financial turmoil after a court ordered the crypto-focused hedge fund, into liquidation following its failure to repay creditors. 🧑🏼‍⚖️🚨 Following the collapse of LUNA and UST in May, the hacker collective Anonymous pledged in a video to ensure that Terra co-founder Do Kwon is "brought to justice as soon as possible." 🧑🏼‍⚖️🇺🇸 The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rejected Grayscale Investments' application to convert its Bitcoin trust into an exchange-traded fund (ETF). As a result, the company, filed suit against the SEC. 🇸🇻El Salvador buys another null.5M in Bitcoin, but is heavily in the red. In total, the nation’s BTC portfolio is down about $60 million, or -57%. 💸🤝 Crypto exchange FTX is about to sign an agreement to buy struggling crypto lender BlockFi for $25 million. In real terms, this would be a 99% discount from their $4.8b series E valuation in July last year. 👔🖼 Gucci joins its first DAO through a partnership with SuperRare Labs, a non-fungible token (NFT) marketplace. Gucci acquired $150,000 RARE tokens totaling approximately $31,000 to join the DAO and gain governance rights within the SuperRare community. 🖼🏎 Porsche AG has announced the launch of its NFT trading card platform. The fanzone platform is designed to enable fans to exchange cards from their favorite sports. ⚽️ WAGMI United: a crypto group that bought Crawley Town FC, a small English Football League 2 club, with the intention of turning it into the "Internet's Team”, has confirmed that adidas has become their official kit manufacturer and apparel partner. 💸❓ Despite the current market weakness, OP Crypto is launching a $100M fund of funds to support budding fund managers of early-stage crypto startups. The latest fund builds on the success of its venture capital fund, which is backed by companies such as Galaxy Digital. ⬆️ Crypto companies and startups have received a total of $3.657 billion in venture funding so far in June, down from $4.219B in May. 💰Crypto exchange CoinFLEX is raising $47 million through a new coin after a long time customer ran into negative equity, offering a 20% interest. Sounds a bit like Luna 2.0. 💰🧒🏼 Zigazoo, a child-safe social network that recently launched a collection of NFTs, has received $17 million in a Series A funding round led by Liberty City Ventures to become the largest children's company in the world. 🌐💸 KPMG announced opening its first Metaverse Collaboration Hub with a $30 million investment to help its employees and clients pursue growth opportunities in the digital age. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (26.06.2022): 📱Solana Labs has unveiled its own crypto phone called Saga, developed in collaboration with Osom. This device is planned for people rooted in the universe of crypto wallets, Web3 and NFTs. 🪙 Circle is launching a euro-based version of its popular USDC stablecoin called EUROC. 🆕 Coinbase customers will be able to send and receive ETH, MATIC, and USDC on Polygon, and USDC on Solana. The Polygon Technology integration marks the first time Coinbase has enabled the ability to send and receive these assets on an L2. 🌐🤝 KPMG US and Canada are opening a “metaverse collaboration hub" to connect employees and customers with Web3. ⚽️🤝 Cristiano Ronaldo signs an NFT deal with crypto exchange Binance. As part of the multi-year agreement, the Portuguese soccer star and Binance will create a series of NFT collections for sale on the company's platform 🚫🇭🇰 Crypto asset management firm Babel Finance, which recently raised $80 Mio, has halted redemptions and withdrawals due to "unusual liquidity pressure."Investors who have deposited cryptocurrencies will no longer be able to withdraw them. 💰🥶 Crypto lender BlockFi has received a $250 million revolving line of credit from crypto exchange FTX to bolster its balance sheet. Just last week, BlockFi rival Celsius froze all withdrawals and transfers. 🪄💰 NFT marketplace Magic Eden, launched just nine months ago, has raised $130 million in a Series B round led by Electric Capital and Greylock Partners, bringing its valuation to null.6 billion. 💰🇺🇸 San Francisco-based FalconX has closed a $150 million Series D led by GIC and B Capital, more than doubling its valuation from 10 months ago. 💸🖼 Uniswap Labs announced that it has acquired NFT marketplace aggregator Genie. The acquisition enables the addition of features that allow the web app to buy and sell NFTs on major marketplaces 🥳🖼 eBay has acquired NFT marketplace KnownOrigin, making its biggest move yet into the world of digital collectibles. 🧐🇦🇪 Dubai-based crypto asset exchange, Bybit takes "extreme measures" and cuts staff amid turbulent markets. New ways to eliminate overlapping functions and create smaller but more agile teams are being explored. 🗳⚠️ Users of Solend voted Sunday to force a takeover of the protocol's largest account - a "whale" - whose "extremely high margin position" came dangerously close to a catastrophic liquidation cliff on the chain. Is it really defi if things like this can happen? 💱 Decentralized exchange dYdX announced to build its own blockchain on Cosmos, moving away from StarkWare's L2 & Ethereum's security. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (19.06.2022) - “The Winter Episode ❄️”: 📉 The total global market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies has fallen below the null trillion mark for the first time since January 31, 2021. The total value of all cryptocurrencies dropped to just $994 billion. Bitcoin dropped below the 20k mark and ETH below 1k. 🚫🇺🇸 Exchange company Coinbase will lay off about 18% of its employees. 🔻💥 BlockFi will also lay off hundreds of employees or the equivalent to a fifth of their workforce, as they struggle to survive the second wave of the ongoing crypto crash. 🤯 "Web5" - A Block subsidiary has announced plans to build a new decentralized web around Bitcoin (BTC), underscoring founder Jack Dorsey's belief that the largest blockchain network will play an important role in the evolution of the Internet. 🇦🇪💸 Dubai-based crypto fund Three Arrows Capital Pte Ltd (3AC) may be facing insolvency after suffering at least $400 million in liquidations. ✋🏼🌡 Crypto lender Celsius pauses withdrawals due to "extreme market conditions." The company had lent more than $8 billion to customers and nearly $12 billion in assets under management. As a result, bitcoin and other tokens crashed. 💰Immutable earmarks $500M fund for gaming and web3 development. 💰🇩🇪 Crypto API provider Pile has received €2.8 million in a pre-seed funding round. Led by Barclays' Female Innovators Lab and Anthemis Group, the round also brought in money from Auxxo Female Catalyst Fund, fintech investor Ilavska Vuillermoz Capital and a host of angels. 💳 Mastercard has announced plans to expand access to the NFT market through the use of card payments. Partnerships with Immutable X, Candy Digital, The Sandbox - We Are Hiring! and MoonPay are to be entered into for this purpose. ⛔Bill Gates is not a fan of crypto & NFTs. He says they are "100% based on greater fool theory. I agree with him with regard to many projects, but not with the generalizing nature of his statement. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (12.06.2022): ☁️ Cloud software company Salesforce has launched a pilot program for its enterprise customers to create and trade NFTs. The software, called NFT Cloud, is designed to help companies create and manage NFTs. 📲 $40 billion fintech Checkout.com announced that it will process payments in the stablecoin USDC through a partnership with crypto security company Fireblocks, following Stripe. Good move, Guillaume 🇺🇸🔎 Binance is being investigated by U.S. regulators in connection with its 2017 initial coin offering (ICO), increasing pressure on allegations that it brokered billions of dollars in illegal funds. 🌏 According to a new report from Accenture, 73% of wealthy investors in Asia plan to hold some form of digital assets by the end of 2022. They are increasingly looking to digital assets to build personal wealth. 💰🤝 The null.5 billion venture capital firm Cathay Innovation is entering the crypto market with a new $110 million fund dedicated to the sector that it will run in partnership with Ledger, a French company focused on digital asset security. 💰🪙 ‘Data DAO’ Delphia has raised $60 million in a Series A round led by Multicoin Capital to launch a native rewards token, increase the number of options for users and grow its staff. 💰🪐 Calaxy, a social web3 marketplace, has received $26 million in strategic funding led by Animoca Brands and The HBAR Foundation with support from Polygon Technology to give creators their own social tokens. 🇮🇩💰 Indonesian crypto trading app Pintu has received a $113 million Series B from Intudo Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Northstar Group and Pantera Capital. 💰DeFi lending protocol Euler announced it has received $32 millions of dollars in new funding from industry veterans to diversify its DAO treasury. The round was led by San Francisco-based venture capital firm Haun Ventures. 💡OMR co-founder Christian Bzya is developing an interactive platform cryptohunt that aims to teach the basics of crypto through online courses. The "Duolingo for Crypto" is co-funded by Coinbase. 🥷🏼Consumers lost more than null billion to crypto fraud from January 2021 to March this year. That's an average of $2,600 for every 46,000 people. The top three cryptocurrencies consumers said "scammers" used to pay were Bitcoin, Tether and Ether. 🌌💸 Aurora, an Ethereum virtual machine based on the NEAR protocol, recently paid a $6 million reward to the white-hat hacker, pwning.eth, for discovering a major exploit opportunity. “Friendly hackers” exist and are doing an important job! 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (04.06.2022) 💰Binance Labs, the VC arm of the world's largest crypto exchange, launched a $500 million fund to invest in digital asset projects. 🇨🇾Cyprus is aiming to become the global crypto center with a new law on distributed ledger technology which is undergoing legal review after the public comment period. 👮🏼A former OpenSea employee has been charged in the first-ever NFT insider trading case and faces up to 40 years in prison. He allegedly used confidential information to capture 19 ETH. 👨🏻‍⚖️ PoolTogether, is fighting against an (imho ridiculous) class-action lawsuit that is seen as a test case to change the landscape of DeFi regulation. PoolTogether created NFTs to raise funds to cover legal costs. I minted a "Pooly" as support as well 🐦 🇰🇷🔍 The investigation into Terraform Labs has reached a new level in South Korea. The employees of the troubled startup are now under investigation to determine whether they knew about and neglected design flaws in UST. 🌝📉 At the same time Terra is trying to revamp its blockchain ecosystem but the new LUNA Token dropped 70% one day after its debut. ❌ Solana - another L1 blockchain - continues to be plagued by outages as it halted (again) last week... 💰🗿Decentralized blockchain infrastructure provider InfStones received $66 million in another round of funding. 🌐Unstoppable Domains partnered with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office to gift blockchain domain names to 1M women in Abu Dhabi as part of a Web3 education initiative. 🇸🇬🏦 Singapore's central bank, announced that it has launched "a joint initiative with the financial industry to explore the economic potential and value-added use cases of asset tokenization." 🇺🇸🤝Goldman Sachs is in talks with crypto exchange FTX to integrate aspects of its derivatives business. FTX currently offers crypto trading to U.S. investors through a branch called FTX US and recently acquired a U.S.-regulated derivatives exchange. 🙁👯‍♂️ The Winklevoss twins' crypto exchange Gemini is laying off 10% of employees for the first time since the company's inception. This is the latest sign of turmoil surrounding the recent slump in crypto prices. 🇺🇸👩🏼‍💼 Senators Cynthia Lummis and Kirsten Gillibrand released details of their highly anticipated bipartisan cryptocurrency bill, which they said is expected to be introduced as early as next week. 🔎🌐 The World Economic Forum (WEF) commissioned a survey to find out how much the world believes the metaverse will change lives - more than two-thirds were optimistic. While the metaverse is exciting, we should probably focus a little more on making the real world a better place as well. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (28.05.2022): 🥳 An Ethereum core dev has confirmed that the Ethereum Merge is ready. The merge can be expected in August. This is big news and one of the most important events in crypto history. 🛍 eBay announced that it will launch the very first collection of NFT in collaboration with web3 platform OneOf. 🎮 GameStop is launching a digital wallet for cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), expanding its core business beyond video games. 🌿 Aave has unveiled Lense protocol - a web3 social protocol. The open-source technology enables developers to build Web3-powered social media applications, marketplaces and recommendation algorithms. Most important news, without this, this post would not exist :) 🏦 J.P. Morgan stated that Bitcoin is undervalued by 28% and cryptocurrencies are now a "preferred alternative investment." The bank maintains its estimate of Bitcoin's fair value at $38,000. 🏆 Coinbase became the first company in the crypto space to make it into the Fortune 500 with recorded revenue of $7.8B in 2021. 🔝 Coinbase Ventures was the most active corporate venture capital fund in Q1’22, backing 37 companies. 💳 A new hardware wallet with the look and feel of a regular credit card was introduced at World Economic Forum by crypto custodian Trustody. With the self-hosted wallet, cardholders can simply tap and pay at Trustody terminals. Victor 💪 💰 Andreessen Horowitz has closed the largest ever crypto fund - the new $4.5 billion fund doubles the size of their last fund. 💰🇸🇬 ADDX, a digital securities exchange backed by Singapore state investment firm Temasek, has closed a $58 million pre-series B round. 💰 StarkWare Industries, a company that provides solutions to make blockchain technology more scalable (L2s), has received $100 million in a Series D funding round at a valuation of $8 billion. 💰🇭🇰 Crypto asset manager Babel, founded in 2018 and based in Hong Kong, is valued at $2 billion in its $80 million Series B funding round. 🪙🇲🇽 Tether.to has expanded its stablecoin offering, launching the MXNT token pegged to the Mexican peso. This will enable them to participate in the huge Mexican remittances industry. 🇵🇹 Portugal's parliament rejected a proposal to tax bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. 👀 Crypto exchange FTX is quietly looking to brokerage startups to get into equity trading. The hunt for deals comes as the cryptocurrency exchange moves into stock trading. 🇺🇸🧑🏼‍⚖️ Former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes was sentenced in federal court in New York to two years of probation with six months of house arrest and site supervision as they failed to implement an anti-money laundering program at the exchange. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below. #cryptocurrency #blockchain #web3 #metaverse #crypto #nft
This week in Web3 (first posted on 22.05.2022): 🌝 CEO and co-founder of Terraform Labs, Do Kwon, unveiled his new plan to revive the Terra ecosystem (LUNA) by transforming the Terra network into a new chain without the algorithmic stablecoin terraUSD (UST), whose failure originally led to the ecosystem's collapse. 🪙🌫 Economist Nouriel Roubini, known as "Dr. Doom" for his dire predictions, is working on a stable coin that will be resilient in the face of high inflation, climate change, and other factors. 🇵🇹 Portugal, while considered a European crypto oasis until now, is considering having crypto profits taxed in the near future. The corresponding draft law is being discussed as part of this year's budget. 🇩🇪 Binance is in talks to obtain regulatory approval in Germany. Binance is recruiting compliance staff for its team in Germany and hopes to obtain a license there. The company is now looking to secure licenses in the world's largest marketplaces. 💰🔐 European VC firm Dawn Capital and global banking giant Goldman Sachs invest $70 million in crypto infrastructure provider Elwood Technologies. The Series A capital will go toward expanding the company's product line and global operations. 📑🇺🇸 FTX US, the Chicago-based sister company of the global crypto exchange FTX, will offer stock trading in the future. Initial users will initially be allowed to trade stocks and ETFs without having to pay commissions on transactions. The move also deepens competition with neobroker Robinhood (even though FTX’s founder invested in Robinhood). 🏹 Robinhood announced a Web 3 wallet this week. Web 3 wallets will become a normal part of a financial companies' offering within the next years and will serve as the onramp for defi, nfts and the (financial) metaverse. 📈 The number of monthly active users of the largest crypto wallet - MetaMask - increased from 1 million in October 2020 to 30 million in March 2022. ⚾️ Sorare, the maker of an NFT fantasy soccer game, will launch a Major League Baseball fantasy game this summer along with MLB and the MLB Players Association. 🇳🇴 ✅ A majority vote by the Norwegian parliament overturned a proposal to ban bitcoin mining. 🔨🧑🏼‍💻 Google is building a team specializing in Web3 that will develop back-end services to help companies develop Web3 software. The Web3 services will add to Google Cloud's existing list of software development capabilities. 💌 If you liked the summary, please like, comment & reshare. P.S: None of this is financial advice. It’s just a summary of the things that I read over the weekend that I find interesting. Links to articles/ sources are in the comments below.