Crypto Weekly 7/2/22
A weekly summary of the latest crypto news...
PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- BTC ($19,291): -8% / -59%
- ETH ($1,074): -11% / -71%
- XRP ($0.32): -11% / -62%
- UNI ($4.92): +1% / -71%
- Crypto Market Cap ($874B): -8% / -61%
- BTC Dominance: 42%
- ETH Dominance: 15%
STABLECOIN MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD
- Tether ($66B): -1% / -16%
- USDC ($56B): 0% / +32%
NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES
THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO
- Bitcoin registers its worst quarter in 11 years, falling 56% in Q2. Meanwhile, traditional financial markets have been rattled over the past month as inflation increases and central banks around the world raise interest rates. Link. Link.
- Crypto mega hedge fund Three Arrows Capital (3AC) filed for bankruptcy. It was managing an estimated $10 billion in assets and was a major player in crypto finance. Its insolvency has forced major industry players to reshuffle operations and limit customer withdrawals amid a crypto selloff. Link. Link. Link.
- The 3AC bankruptcy filing emerged hours after Voyager Digital suspended trading and withdrawals, citing unpaid loans to 3AC totaling $646 million. 3AC had lost roughly $200 million when Terra's algorithmic stablecoin UST destabilized in May. Link. Link. Link.
- FTX US signed a deal with troubled crypto lender BlockFi to give them the option to buy the startup, recently valued at $2 billion, for up to $240 million based on certain milestones being hit. In addition to the acquisition offer, FTX US agreed to give BlockFi a $400 million revolving credit facility. Link. Link. Link.
- Tether, the world's largest stablecoin, cut its commercial paper holdings by 58% amid market rumors it is not backed by ample reserves. Link. Link. Link.
- A new Ethereum token standard, ERC-4907, would allow users to rent out their NFTs for a designated period of time. Link. Github.
- OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah is leaving the company, but will remain on the board. Atallah plans ot take a month off and then get back into building in crypto. Link. Tweet.
- Wonderland passes vote to invest $25 million in the token Sifu Vision, a crypto project founded by its former treasury manager known as “Sifu”. Sifu is an ex-convict who was fired from Wonderland after revealing his real identity as Michael Patryn, a co-founder of Canadian crypto exchange QuadrigaX which lost over $200 million of client assets. Sifu will make independent crypto investments in the crypto space with the funds, with the goal of making a return for Wonderland's treasury. Link. DAO Vote. Site. DAO discussion.
- Fashion brand Gucci is partnering with SuperRare to create a "Vault Art Space". Gucci's debut exhibition in virtual space, titled "The Next 100 Years of Gucci," will present a selection of NFT artworks from 29 artists. Link.
- MicroStrategy’s Bitcoin holdings have lost $3.4 billion of value from Q1 to Q2 and will likely require a substantial impairment in Q2 reporting. MicroStrategy has spent almost $4 billion acquiring 129,699 bitcoin since 2020. The stock has fallen 66% going into Q3. Link.
- Meta's Novi pilot will officially sunset on Sept 1, 2022. Users are advised to withdraw their balances as soon as possible. Link.
- Compound released code for a multi-chain lending protocol dubbed Compound III, marking a major step in cross-chain decentralized lending across EVM compatible chains. Link.
- Solana Mobile hopes to address poor mobile UX in crypto with its new Android phone called ‘Saga’ which is slated for release in early 2023.. The phone has blockchain-centric features including a baked-in hardware wallet Link. Link.
- North Korean hackers stole $100 million from bridging protocol Harmony. The hackers converted the stolen assets to 85,837 ETH through Tornado Cash. The attack was carried out by compromising keys of a multi-signature wallet. Harmony is offering $10 million for information leading to the safe return of the stolen funds. Link.
- BitGo introduces a new NFT hot wallet and custody solution aimed at marketplaces, retail platforms and NFT portfolio holders. Link.
- Citadel Securities names its global head of BD as CEO for its crypto trading venture which will focus on digital assets trading and brokering. Link.
- Universal Music is launching Frank Zappa NFTs after buying the late musician's estate and likeness from his family for an undisclosed sum. Universal Music Group plans to launch projects around Frank’s free speech activism and anti-establishment criticism. Universal plans for cross-platform deals including merchandise, feature films, interactive experiences, and NFTs. Link.
- The SEC rejected two applications for bitcoin spot ETFs. One of the firms, Grayscale Investments, filed a lawsuit against the agency. Link. Link.
- Lido put forward a governance proposal to limit the amount of Ethereum users can stake after facing criticism from the crypto community. Despite centralization worries, voting for this latest proposal has thus far been extremely one-sided, with nearly 99.8% of the Lido community voting against limiting how much Ethereum Lido can service. Link. These concerns come just two months before Ethereum's Merge event. Various validators currently stake approximately 12.9 million Ethereum on the Ethereum Beacon Chain. Lido accounts for 31.80% of this total, or approximately 4.126 million ETH. Lido's dominant staking position could pose risks to the decentralized model of the network and lead to attacks. Link.
- a16z leads $7.5 million seed round for web3 authentication startup Dynamic. Dynamic is building dev tools for web3 authentication and authorization. Alpha customers include Llama, Popartcats, Handstamp and Lunchclub. Link.
- OpenSea warned users of email phishing attempts after its email vendor customer.io announced a data breach where more than 1.8 million OpenSea users had their information compromised. It's alleged the customer.io breach was the result of actions of an employee who had role-specific access privileges that were abused. Link.
- Crypto exchange Coinbase looks to expand into Europe, even as market pricing falls and regulations increases. Link.
- Facebook Begins Testing Ethereum and Polygon NFTs on Profiles
- Meta has begun rolling out ethereum and Polygon NFTs for U.S. creators on its network. Users will have a "digital collectibles" tab on their Facebook profiles where they can showcase their NFTs. Meta began rolling out NFTs on Instagram for some creators in May. Link.
- Coinbase NFT is adding more new features including an NFT "Bulk Manage" feature, a "Liked" tab, the ability to edit list prices, an insights page, and a notification hub. Though usage of the platform has been minor to date, the company is focused on product more than monetization right now. Link.
- El Salvador's president bought 80 BTC for $1.5 million after losing more than $60 million in market o market values as the price of bitcoin crashed. Link.
- CFTC has charged Mirror Trading with operating a 29.421 (worth $1.7 billion) crypto multilevel marketing scheme. Link.
-The DOJ announced criminal charges against the creator of the Baller Ape Club NFT collection for orchestrating a so-called "rug pull" scheme in which an NFT project's creators sell NFTs on false promises of community benefits and utility, only to abandon the project and make away with investors' funds. Le Anh Traun, a Vietnamese national, has been charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. Traun allegedly collected $2.6 million from Baller Ape NFT buyers, only to shortly thereafter delete the organization's website and launder the funds. Link.
- Voyager Digital has temporarily halted all withdrawals, deposits, and trading on its platform after issuing a default notice to hedge fund 3AC. 3AC reportedly owes Voyager about $646 million worth of crypto. Voyager said that it had retained the services of financial advisors Moelis & Company and The Consello Group, and legal advisors Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Link. Link. Link.
- The FBI has added Ruja Ignatova, the self-proclaimed “Cryptoqueen" behind the massive OneCoin ponzi scheme, to its list of ten most wanted fugitives. It's rumored that she could be the largest bitcoin holder with 230,000 bitcoin worth roughly $4.6 billion. Link. Link.
- Blockchain analytics firm Nansen added support for Solana NFTs to its platform. Link.- The total volume of Ethereum NFT trades declined by 55% over the past month, from 1.3 million ETH to 584,000 ETH, a roughly 70% decrease when valued in USD. The average sale price for an Ethereum NFT went from $2,463 in May to $703, a 71% decrease. The number of transactions remains the same month over month. Link.
- NFT game Axie Infinity’s Ronin sidechain is back online. It was taken down in late March after $622 million worth of crypto assets were stolen through an exploit. The bridge, which allows users to transfer assets between Ronin and Ethereum's mainnet. Link.
- Coinbase has denied a report that the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is using its proprietary "historical geo tracking data" to track and identify people based on their crypto transaction history. Link.
- The EU has finally agreed on landmark anti-money laundering rules for crypto transactions. User identities will need to be verified for even the smallest crypto transfers between two regulated digital wallet providers. Payments to unhosted private wallets will largely be left out of laundering checks. Link.