Crypto News Bites 2022/12/5
NFT court summons / Moonpay soulbound NFTs / Reddit 4.4m Avatars / Nov DEX volumes doubled to $65b / Genesis owes $1.8b... so far
Top News Summaries
Using NFTs to issue court summons. Moonpay Soulbound NFTs. Alibaba Cloud supports Avalanche infrastructure.
Reddit’s NFTs have minted 4.4m. Timex limited BAYC watches.
DEX November volumes double to $65b. Genesis creditors $1.8b.
Ankr & Helio hack loses $20m. Bybit cutting staff. AAX Nigera office stormed by Lagos users.
More details, news and analysis below! Also follow me on Twitter!
Market Overview
Crypto markets slightly lower on declining volumes, with equities lower after last Friday’s NFP came in hotter than expected while unemployment rate was flat at 3.7%. There are some upcoming macro data but I’m expecting crypto to ignore those for until FOMC on 14 Dec where markets are pricing in 78% chance of a 50bps hike, after 4 consecutive 75bps hikes.
With the lack of volatility and thus volume, Ethereum is no longer deflationary. Ethereum burns ETH, removing it from circulating supply forever, for every transaction, and markets have settled down after the FTX bankruptcy drama so the daily burn no longer exceeds the daily issuance of ETH.
Adoption
An NFT has been utilized to issue a court summons in Italy. RBB Lab issued the summons to a former employee and a contractor on claims of attempted extortion and aggravated defamation of the firm. Serving a summons via the blockchain is more efficient than the traditional process, which can take weeks. Two courts in the UK and the US have approved serving summons with NFTs, potentially paving the way for more widespread use.
Alibaba Cloud expands support for Avalanche AVAX validators and infrastructure. Avalanche developers can use Alibaba Cloud’s plug & play infrastructure as a service to launch new validators, and add cloud infrastructure to support apps in times of peak demand.
Crypto payments firm MoonPay is launching a soulbound NFT loyalty program. Soulbound tokens are non-transferrable, and MoonPay will use them to represent its users’ identity as a Web3 Passport, granting owners access to exclusive events. With over 10m customers in 160 countries, MoonPay’s move could help hasten the adoption of this new tech.
Charity organization the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to test using blockchain for distributing aid to people in conflict zones. The prototype is a crypto alternative to cash-and-voucher assistance through a partnership with layer one network Partisia Blockchain that began earlier this year. The advantage over cash or vouchers is that ICRC would be able to better manage the inflow and outflow.
Web browser Opera will roll out a NFT creation tool in January. The tool, created by cloud-based company Alteon and integrated into the Opera browser, gives users a no-code way to create NFTs and review simplified properties of their smart contracts. Media files can be dropped in the launchpad, previewed, turned into NFTs and then shared, stored or sold. Opera has 350m users as of Nov 2021.
Mozilla, developer of another web browser Firefox, acquired Active Replica, an immersive experience developer, in another sign of web2 companies rushing into web3 and the metaverse.
Tradfi broker TP ICAP gains UK crypto license, attempts to break into the crypto world with its Fusion Digital Assets marketplace, will be using Fidelity Digital Assets as custodian. Another data point for insto crypto adoption.
NFT
Reddit’s Digital Collectible minting hits all-time high, with about 255k minted on Saturday, bringing the total number of Reddit’s Polygon MATIC based NFTs to almost 4.4m. To my knowledge, this is by far the largest NFT collection in terms of number of users, and most Reddit Avatar holders probably doesn’t even know they are NFTs. Best adoption is when users don’t even know or care.
Watchmaker Timex to create limited edition watches exclusively for 500 holders of bluechip NFT collections Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC). The NFTs will be available for 2 ETH, holders can create their watches online this month, and the watch will ship 2Q23.
Follow the Money
Ngrave, a crypto hardware wallet manufacturer, is aiming to raise $15 million in a Series A, led by Binance Labs. This would give it a pre-money valuation of $60m.
Thai VC fund purchases troubled crypto exchange Zipmex for $100m. Zipmex is planning to use cryptocurrency assets received from the transaction to unlock frozen customer accounts on the exchange by April 2023.
Korean VC firm Daesung announces $83m Metaverse fund, claims to be Korea’s biggest private fund in the sector.
FTX bankruptcy fallout
Following the collapse of crypto exchange FTX, decentralized exchanges (DEX) saw volumes in November doubling to $65b from the month before. This data excludes Ethereum layer 2s, which are scaling solutions designed to improve the speed and reduce the cost of transactions, so the impact could be even higher. Just another data point showing users are preferring to self-custody over staying on a centralized exchange (CEX).
Crypto derivatives exchange LedgerX is for sale, attracting multiple interested parties. LedgerX is one of the few solvent entities remaining in the FTX group, and hopefully this sale could help FTX victims recover more of their losses.
The Digital Commodities Consumer Protection Act (DCCPA) has been put on hold until next year, due to the association with FTX founder SBF. Senators have asked for more regulatory authority over crypto, DCCPA may be pushed back even further.
Genesis now owes creditors at least $1.8b. Earlier FT wrote Genesis owes $900m to Gemini customers, and now another group of creditors have loans also amounting to $900m. It’s been about a month since the FTX collapse, and I still recommend everybody to learn to self-Custody!
Dark Side of Crypto
Still not sure whether crypto exchange AAX was impacted by FTX, as most staff have been fired/resigned after the exchange has halted withdrawals citing ‘system upgrade’. Some clients have taken matters into their own hands, as users in Nigeria have reportedly attacked the company's office in Lagos and harassed its employees.
Crypto derivatives exchange Bybit is reducing its workforce due to the deepening bear market. Crypto winter continuing to claim victims.
Last Friday, BNB-chain based Ankr protocol got hacked which allowed the attacker to mint 20 trillion of their aBNBc tokens which were exchanged into 5m USDC. Defi & crypto is still quite experimental, diversify your investments.
Following the Ankr hack, staking platform Helio then lost $15m, as aBNBc tokens were used to borrow $16m of their HAY stablecoin which was then swapped for Binance’s BUSD stablecoin.
Bankrupt crypto fund Three Arrows Capital’s liquidator starts taking control of assets, including USD 35.6m fiat held by Singapore banks and/or lawyers, Starware tokens, exchange accounts, etc.
Ongoing Trends
Bankruptcy of 2nd largest crypto exchange FTX causes contagion risks. How many funds & protocols have yet to announce their exposure? Learn to self-Custody!
Decentralization no longer just a tagline. Centralized to decentralized movement for remaining crypto traders & investors.
Global crypto adoption and increased regulation, launches of Centralized Bank Digital Currencies.
Bitcoin mining industry consolidation as margin squeezed on low BTC prices and higher costs (electricity, funding, hashrate difficulty etc).
Macro: US CPI peaking & potential slowing of Fed rate hikes / Russia Ukraine war may be thawing / China pivoting from zero-Covid policy
Tokens Mentioned Today
BTC ETH aBNBc USDC AVAX HAY BUSD MATIC
keep winning