| Here is a quick look at the hits from the week's first Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter: - The Venezuelan government's decision to wind down its national Petro cryptocurrency,
- Google Play Store's removal of the apps of a bunch of foreign crypto exchanges in India,
- The first-ever rental agreement denominated in Bitcoin in Argentina, and more.
Enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | The U.S.-based video game retailer GameStop has announced that it would shut down its NFT marketplace on Feb. 2, citing the continuing regulatory uncertainty in the crypto space. The firm pointed out that users will not be able to buy, sell, or create NFTs through its marketplace as of the specified date. More: - Customers will be able to continue accessing and selling their NFTs on other marketplaces since the assets were minted on blockchains.
- GameStop's gaming asset-focused NFT marketplace was launched in 2022 in partnership with ImmutableX, the Ethereum-based Layer-2 blockchain network.
- The platform's account on X, formerly known as Twitter, has not been active since September 2023.
- In December 2022, the company announced it would gradually withdraw from the crypto market after reporting a $94.7M net loss for Q3.
- At the time, the firm also had to reduce its headcount, which mainly affected its employees working on crypto and blockchain technologies.
Zoom Out: - As part of its exit from the crypto market, GameStop similarly halted its crypto wallet services in November last year, citing regulatory uncertainty.
- The firm's crypto wallets allowed players to manage their crypto and NFT holdings and to use decentralized apps (dApps) built on the Ethereum network.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: A recent research report from the crypto data platform CoinGecko has shown that more than 50% of cryptocurrencies have died since 2014. The report pointed out that over 24,000 tokens were launched on CoinGecko from 2014 to 2023, and 14,039 of them have become deactivated, representing a 58% portion. The crypto market experienced the highest amount of failure in the cryptocurrencies listed in 2021, with 5,721 tokens having shut down until January 2024. The figure also means that over 70% of cryptocurrencies launched in 2021 have died. On the other hand, 2023 saw only 289 newly-launched cryptocurrencies' failures. Relevance: In September last year, a study conducted by DappGambl pointed to a much more dramatic trend for NFTs, revealing an increased loss of worth in the digital asset type. The study results showed that 69,795 of the NFT collections, accounting for over 95% of the total, had a market cap of zero Ether (ETH). DappGambl also indicated that these dead NFTs were owned by 23 million investors. At the time, the exacerbated loss of worth was attributed to an NFT market downturn that increased its effect within the past months. Brands that should care: On the other hand, the record number of deactivated cryptocurrencies from 2021 is mainly related to the fact that the period became an optimistic year for the crypto industry, with Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, reaching their all-time highs. This optimism paved the way for an increase in the number of newly emerged tokens within the same year. However, the collapses of high-profile crypto firms and projects, such as the previously third-largest crypto exchange FTX and the multi-billion dollar Terra ecosystem, within the next year forced many of those cryptocurrencies to fail by the end of 2023 as investors lost confidence in the new projects in the industry. | | | |
| 3 | | Tech giant Google's mobile app store, Play Store, has blocked access to the apps of several foreign crypto exchanges, including Binance, in India. The removal followed a similar move by Apple's App Store. More: - The removed platforms include Binance, Kraken, OKX, Huobi, Gate.io, Bittrex, and Bitfinex.
- The tech giants' moves came amid an increased crackdown by India's Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) on offshore crypto exchanges.
- In late December, the FIU, which runs under the Indian Finance Ministry, issued a compliance notice against nine foreign crypto trading platforms, stating that these exchanges operate illegally in the country without complying with the local anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regulations.
- The notice pointed out that the relevant exchanges must register with regulators and file statements with the income tax authorities.
- At the time, the unit also requested the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block the exchanges' URLs, preventing access to their websites in India.
- Following the request, various local telecom networks and internet service providers similarly began blocking the URLs of the websites of the crypto exchanges that received compliance notice.
- However, the removal of the relevant platforms from Apple and Google's app stores did not affect users who have already downloaded the apps, preventing access for only new users.
Zoom Out: - Due to the growing adoption of crypto in India, the country's finance ministry started mandating digital asset firms to register with the FIU and comply with the provisions of the local anti-money laundering laws to protect investors as of March 2023.
- The government also began imposing high taxes, including a 30% tax on crypto profits and a 1% tax on crypto transactions, in India in July 2022, causing citizens to rush into foreign crypto exchanges to avoid the high taxes.
- The latest regulatory actions also partly aim to prevent this tax avoidance.
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| 4 | | The 280-year-old auction house Sotheby's has recently listed a curated Bitcoin Ordinals collection dubbed Natively Digital: An Ordinals Curated Sale for auction. The curated collection contains 19 Ordinals pieces, including pseudonymous Bitcoin Ordinals artist Shroomtoshi's work, rare Satoshi assets, and an item connected to the Bitcoin Ordinals startup Taproot Wizards. More: - The auction will continue until Jan. 22.
- The new collection came more than a month after Sotheby's auctioned a Bitcoin Ordinals collection for the first time in its history.
- The first auction included three works from the 222-piece BitcoinShrooms collection created by Shroomtoshi.
- Sotheby's concluded the auction on Dec. 13 and generated $450,850 upon close, five times higher than the estimations for the three pieces combined.
- The auction house's head of digital art, Michael Bouhanna, said its first Bitcoin Ordinals sale was a test case to introduce Ordinals to the auction market, pointing out that the first sale was a big success.
Zoom Out: - Ordinals refer to the digital assets permanently attached to a satoshi or 1/100,000,000 of a full Bitcoin (BTC).
- The Ordinals protocol was launched by programmer Casey Rodarmor in January 2023, allowing developers to inscribe various data file formats, including text, images, videos, and video games, onto the Bitcoin network.
- The protocol also paved the way for Bitcoin-based NFTs, and since then, it gained massive popularity.
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| 5 | | The Venezuelan government has ended the operations of its national cryptocurrency, Petro (PTR), as of Jan. 15, nearly six years after launching the token. The government has announced the move through a message released on the Patria platform, the only website where Petro was tradeable. More: - The Petro coin was launched in February 2018 to combat the economic crisis exacerbated by the sanctions imposed by the U.S. and support the country's official currency, the bolivar (VES).
- The token was backed by the nation's oil reserves.
- The issuance of the coin was ordered by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro but faced opposition from the parliament with the claim that borrowing against the oil reserves was illegal.
- The government made several attempts to increase the adoption of Petro in the country, such as making the minimum wage 50% pegged to PTR, but the token was never widely used.
- Also, Petro was never made legal tender, meaning that its acceptance always remained optional, and it was never traded abroad.
- The wind-down will see the remaining Petro tokens being converted into bolivars.
Zoom Out: - Venezuela's central bank also announced its plans to launch a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in 2021, though the plans have yet to materialize.
- The country's government shut down crypto mining facilities and digital asset exchanges in March 2023 as part of an investigation.
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| 6 | | A tenant and a landlord have recently signed a rental agreement denominated in Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, in Argentina. The move marked the first time Bitcoin was used as a settlement method in such an agreement in the country. More: - The agreement was registered in Rosario, Argentina's third most populous city.
- As part of the deal, the tenant will pay the landlord $100 of Bitcoin per month.
- The parties will use the national crypto exchange Fiwind to determine the exchange rate and execute the payments.
- Though the rental agreement marked a first in Argentina, Bitcoin has been used in real estate sales in the country before.
- The latest move came around a month after Argentina legalized the use of digital assets, including Bitcoin, as currency in official contracts for settlements under a new economic decree.
- The decree was part of a broader economic reform amid the Argentine government's ongoing battle with hyperinflation and devaluation.
Zoom Out: - Bitcoin-advocate libertarian candidate Javier Milei won the presidential election in Argentina in November 2023, becoming the country's new president.
- Under Milei's leadership, the country's government is expected to adopt crypto on a larger scale as a tool that would help it deal with a weakened economy.
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- A recent United Nations (UN) report has defined Tether (USDT) as one of the prominent payment methods for money laundering, underground fraud, and scams in Southeast Asia.
- Investment management giant BlackRock's CEO, Larry Fink, has stated that he does not believe Bitcoin (BTC) will become a currency used in everyday transactions, though he believes it is an asset class.
- A father and son have been sentenced to 19 months and 54 months, respectively, in federal prison in the U.S. for their involvement in a Bitcoin money laundering scheme.
- Sportswear brand Nike's Web3 division, .Swoosh, has announced that it will go deeper into the video game space in the coming year, launching a new line of virtual in-game wearable products.
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 | Staff Writer | | Doga is a tech and science editor who has been writing news for nearly 10 years. She worked for leading tech platforms and mainstrem media channels as an editor and presenter throughout his career. Then, she carried her know-how to more than one platform. She is a part-time cat lover and binge-watcher, and also fond of science, space, and emerging tech. She always has a story to tell. She is a bit addict to the laughter and -unfortunately- the '90s culture. | | This newsletter was edited by Aaron Crutchfield | |
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