Here's your Monday edition of Cryptonews Crunch, featuring the latest stories on why the law firm Scott+Scott is organizing a class-action suit against Yuga Labs, Audius identified the bug that allowed a hacker to exploit USD 6m from the protocol, and episode 146 of the Cryptonews Podcast.
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Source: CoinMarketCap.com
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- The crypto market saw declines across the board over the past 24 hours, as Bitcoin ended the week below a key technical level and market participants appeared uncertain about the near-term direction. As usual, the crypto sell-off was accompanied by liquidations of leveraged derivatives traders, with long liquidations of leveraged bitcoin positions reaching USD 12.7m in the four hours from midnight to 4 am UTC on Monday. Still, the level of liquidations was not out of the ordinary, with a sell-off as recently as last Friday leading to even larger liquidations.
- USA-headquartered law firm Scott+Scott is trying to organize a class-action suit against Yuga Labs, the entity behind NFT collections Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC), and Otherside. The lawsuit will argue that Yuga Labs "inappropriately" promoted BAYC and ApeCoin (APE), the collection’s native Ethereum token, "inducing" investors to buy these "financial products," while both the collection's floor price and the token's value have slumped over the last three months, according to an announcement from the firm.
- The US Federal Reserve (Fed) is set to announce another significant interest rate hike on Wednesday this week, and crypto market participants are watching closely for any clues about how aggressively the Fed will move. Judging from the derivative exchange CME’s FedWatch Tool, traders are generally expecting the Fed to raise rates by 75 basis points, with a 77.5% probability of this outcome. However, that also means that the market prices in a 22.5% probability that the Fed will raise rates by 100 basis points – a hike described by Bloomberg as the “largest increase of the modern Fed era.”
- Decentralized music platform Audius has identified the bug that had allowed a hacker to pass a malicious governance proposal and transfer tokens worth USD 6m, adding that they have applied a patch to regain control of the protocol.
- Voyager Digital argued that a joint offer proposed by crypto exchange FTX and linked trading firm Alameda is a “low-ball bid” that could disrupt the company’s bankruptcy process, to which FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried replied that the offer would provide Voyager customers with 100% of the remaining assets that Voyager has, as opposed to the “traditional” process under which, before customers obtain their assets, “they get fucked.”
- Barclays reportedly aims to invest in crypto custody firm Copper despite the declining global appetite for risk-on assets like cryptoassets. The UK-based bank is one of several new investors joining a funding round for Copper, Sky News reported Sunday, adding that the bank would invest an undisclosed sum, probably in the “millions of dollars" range. The fundraising will be finalized in a couple of days. The fundraising would conclude Copper's USD 500m Series C funding round, which started in late 2021 with the crypto platform seeking to raise funds at a USD 3bn valuation. However, due to the recent crypto meltdown, Copper has reduced that figure to USD 2bn.
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Michael Rubinelli is the Chief Gaming Officer at WAX Studios. He's a technology & gaming leader with 15+ years of progressive experience in executive leadership, product development, and continual revenue growth and is renowned for his success at top corporations (including Disney, THQ, and Electronic Arts). Michael has now turned his attention to Play-to-Earn games and spends most of his time expanding the Gaming Division of WAX Blockchain.
In this conversation, we discuss:
- Sports stories from days at Electronic Arts - Blockchain Sports games + ecosystems - WAX blockchain - Giving people a better use of their free time - Selling engagement and entertainment - Earning is not the goal, it’s a result - Play-to-Own > Play-to-Earn - Social good from blockchain gaming - 13.3 million WAX accounts
Tune In!
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- Peer-to-peer application building platform Holepunch announced the alpha launch of its encrypted video calling application called Keet, backed by stablecoin issuer Tether, crypto platform Bitfinex, and distributed systems developer Hypercore. Holepunch protocol is currently closed source and will remain so until it completes alpha testing, after which it will move to open source code in Q4 of 2022, they added. Tether, Bitfinex, and Hypercore have invested USD 10m into Holepunch to fund startups building on the platform. "The fund size is looking to be in the tens of millions and while the aforementioned are committed to providing funding themselves, they are also seeking out other investors," per their spokesperson.
- Aptos Labs, a blockchain startup founded by former crypto executives at Meta announced a USD 150m series A funding round, led by FTX Ventures and Jump Crypto, among other investors. "Aptos has seen growth not only in funding, but also in active network participation from builders before the network has launched its mainnet. The company will also use this latest funding to expand its team and build out initiatives such as ecosystem funds, designed to attract developers into its growing community," they added.
- Ledger-as-a-Service project Chain is acquiring data project Measurable Data Token (MDT) and its ecosystem products in a deal valued at over USD 100m. Chain will be acquiring RewardMe, a cashback app, and MeFi, a blockchain oracle, both of which are part of the wider MDT ecosystem.
- Zipmex has received a memorandum of understanding from a potential investor, which could be looking to buy out the firm. Zipmex confirmed to Bloomberg that they're seeking to raise at least USD 50m. They have also re-enabled withdrawals from their Trade Wallet, but added that transfers from the exchange’s Z Wallet remain disabled until further notice.
- The Fair Political Practices Commission in California, US voted to approve new rules allowing donations of crypto, per Los Angeles Times. Candidates can accept crypto donations as long as they immediately convert them into US dollars, and must use a registered crypto processor to handle the transaction that will collect the name, address, occupation, and employer of each contributor.
- US-based major investment bank Moelis & Company launched its Global Blockchain Group which will provide bespoke advisory services to both corporations utilizing blockchain as well as emerging and leading blockchain companies, including those seeking to build a presence in Web3. The Group is led by John Momtazee, Moelis & Company Co-Founder and Global Head of Media Investment Banking, and will include a team of senior bankers across multiple industry groups with experience in advising blockchain companies, they added.
- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) condemned remarks by a senior US White House official about Pyongyang's cyberattack capabilities and said it would continue to stand against what it called US aggression towards it, per Reuters. They stated that, “the DPRK will face off the US, the world's one and only group of criminals,” the outlet added.
- Blockchain-related platforms Alien Worlds, Animoca Brands, Dapper Labs, Decentraland, Space, Superworld, The Sandbox, Upland, Voxels, and Wivity have formed the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web 3 (OMA3) to “address interoperability challenges by proposing standards and by facilitating collaboration between various stakeholders of Web3 and other industries,” they said.
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