Crypto Weekly 2/20/22
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($39,230): -7% / -17%
- ETH ($2,736): -5% / -27%
- XRP ($0.80): -1% / -6%
- UNI ($9.65): -7% / -44%
- Crypto Market Cap ($1.8T): -5% / -20%
- BTC Dominance: 42%
- ETH Dominance: 18%
STABLECOIN MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Tether ($79B): +1% / +1%
- USDC ($53B): 0% / +24%
NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Millions worth of NFTs from collections like Azuki, Doodles, and Bored Ape Yacht Club were stolen from 32 users this week in what is now presumed to be a phishing attack. Originally it was thought the hack was related to a brand new contract OpenSea was launching on Friday, which would have ensured inactive listings on its platform would eventually expire. It now appears that affected users were phishing victims who had signed malicious transactions. Users are encouraged to revoke any permission they have using revoke.cash or Etherscan. Link. Link. Link.
- The Canadian government authorized banks and financial service providers, including crypto companies, to freeze or suspend accounts without a court order. The emergency powers were a part of an effort to choke off fund flows to protesting truckers who oppose Covid-19 restrictions. Link. Link.
- Bitcoin and ethereum fell almost 8% in 24 hours, off geopolitical fears of Russia invading Ukraine and potential central bank tightening. Ethereum has fallen over 40% from its all-time peak of $4,892 in November 2021. Link.
- The number of addresses holding at least 0.1 ETH (~$280) hit an all-time high of almost 4 million, an increase of almost 50% over the last 2 years. Link.
- Crypto exchange Binance has renamed Binance Smart Chain to BNB Chain. Link. Link.
- Georgia and Illinois are the latest US states to consider potential tax incentives for crypto miners. Link.
- A rare alien CryptoPunk NFT sold for 8,000 ETH, worth $23.7 million at the time, doubling the previous record of $11.8 million set in June. It's the fourth-highest sale ever for a single NFT. Link. Link.
- Circle, the firm behind stablecoin USDC, announced new terms with SPAC Concord Acquisition Corp. Circle is new valued at $9 billion, up from $4.5 billion originally announced in July 2021, due largely to the circulation of USDC doubling during that time. Link. Link. Link.
- Web3 platform Metalink is working with OpenSea to launch three official channels for the NFT marketplace around announcements, support, and user feedback, with the aim of being a more secure alternative to Discord. OpenSea's Metalink channels will have verified community support staff from OpenSea spending a few hours a day in Metalink. Link.
- Snoop Dogg grossed more than $50 million in sales from the "Stash Box" NFT collection he released on Gala Games for the launch of his new album "Bacc on Death Row". Link.
- Decentralized wireless network Helium raised $200 million at a $1.2 billion valuation from Tiger Global. Helium pays users in $HNT tokens to run hotspots that provide bandwidth for IOT devices. Helium has over 500k active hotspots. Link.
- Dapper Labs' UFC Strike sold out in its debut release at the end of Jan, selling 100,000 packs for $50 each.60,000 new users signed up for Flow. Dapper Labs' NBA Top Shot had its largest month since April with $59 million in secondary sales in Jan partially driven by a new Kevin Durant marketing campaign. Link.
- Coinbase's Super Bowl ad showed a QR code on a black backdrop and drove almost 20 million users to its site within 1 minute. Installs for the app jumped 309% wow. Link.
- Mastercard will help banks and merchants with everything from crypto and NFT strategy to crypto cards and loyalty programs. It is also exploring developing CBDCs. Mastercard is launching crypto-focused payment cards for customers in Asia and it will be a payment option on Coinbase's upcoming NFT marketplace. Link.
- Chainlink oracles have secured more than $60 billion deposits into smart contracts, up from $7 billion at the end of 2020. DeFi in total has $203 billion total value locked (TVL), up 313% yoy. Link.
- Twitter users can now tip in ETH. Link.
- Crypto mobile wallet Rainbow raised an $18 million Series A led by Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six. Link.
- Draft legislation for regulating stablecoins was introduced in Congress today, which would require stablecoins to be redeemable on demand on a one-to-one basis for US dollars and issued by qualified issuers which would include banks and require FDIC insurance. Link. Draft Legislation (PDF).
- Crypto payments and accounting tooling startup Multis raised $7 million in a round led by Sequoia Capital, with participation from investors including Sound Ventures. Multis lets users streamline crypto payments to employees and is also creating crypto to fiat offramp. Link.
- Sequoia Capital raised a dedicated $600 million fund to invest exclusively in liquid crypto tokens. So far the fund has invested in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Strips Finance, Parallel Finance, Ironfish, DeSo, and Filecoin. Link.
- The FBI is launching a Virtual Asset Exploration Unit focused on crypto-related crimes. The Justice Department also announced the appointment of Eun Young Choi as the first Director of the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET). Link. Link.
- Disney CEO Bob Chapek told employees in an internal email that the company was working towards building its own metaverse experiences. The company also recently posted job listing for NFT experts. Link. Job Listing.
- Fluence Labs raised $9 million in a Series A led by Multicoin Capital. The startup offers peer-to-peer infrastructure as a decentralized alternative to cloud computing services like AWS. Link.
- A Chainalysis report found that criminals held $11 billion worth of crypto assets with known illicit sources at the end of 2021 compared to just $3 billion at the end of 2020. Stolen funds accounted for 93% of the total balance at $9.8 billion. Darknet market funds accounted for $448 million followed by scams at $192 million. Link.
- Coinbase is launching a pilot program with money transfer service Remitly to allow users in Mexico to convert crypto into pesos for free at more than 37,000 stores. Link.
- Computer chip manufacturer Nvidia saw its crypto mining hardware revenue decline 77% from $105 million in Q3 2021 to $24 million in Q4. Crypto Mining Processors made up only 0.2% of Nvidia's 2021 revenues of almost $27 billion. Link. Q4 filing (PDF).
- Wyoming lawmakers want to create a state stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. Link.
- Decentralized streaming service Audius is allowing users to wrap and bridge their AUDIO tokens from Ethereum to Solana using the Wormhole Portal. Audius has embraced Solana as a way to scale to meet increasing demand. Link.
- The creators of Magic: The Gathering card game are exploring NFTs, news which came out after it told mtgDAO any NFTs it released based on the game would constitute copyright infringement. Link.
- Bud Light is selling 12,000 NFTs for $399 each around the launch of a new beer brand. NFT holders will receive a real pair of NounsDAO inspired glasses. Link.
- NBA Top Shot will auction off 30 NFT collectibles, each which will earn holders access to the next five NBA All-Star Games and related events, including a shoot around with an unnamed "NBA legend" on the All-Star court. Link.
- Crypto protocol Housecat emerged from stealth today, and will allow anybody to copy trades made by any crypto wallet on Polygon. Link.
- x2y2 launched a vampire attack on OpenSea, following in the steps of LooksRare though it plans to only reward users for staking the native token in an effort to reduce wash trading. Link.
- Former US presidential candidate Andrew Yang launched Lobby3, a DAO where users can purchase tokens to engage with policymakers. Link.
- Senior staff at the Fed will no longer be allowed to buy or trade cryptocurrencies, stocks, commodities, bonds, or other securities. Link.
- Kickstarter is rolling back its crypto ambitions following customer backlash - it will create an advisory board and will dig into environmental concerns prior to launching any protocol. Link.
- Colorado will accept state taxes and fees in crypto by the summer of 2022. Link.
- YouTube is hiring a director of Web3 product manager. Link.
- NFT marketplace Cent, which sold an NFT of Jack Dorsey's first tweet for $2.9 million, paused NFT sales on its platform because people were selling tokens of content that didn't belong to them. Link.