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| Here is a quick look at the hits from the week's first Inside Cryptocurrency newsletter: - FTX's plans to sell Digital Custody to CoinList for $500,000,
- Metaco CEO's decision to part ways with the crypto custody firm,
- Crypto's limited existence in this year's Super Bowl event, and more.
Enjoy your reading! Doğa
p/dogayurduneri | |
| 1 | | Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, briefly surpassed the $50,000 mark in price on Monday, hitting a 26-month high. The last time Bitcoin touched this level was in December 2021. More: - The latest rise has brought Bitcoin's weekly price gain to 17% and monthly price gain to 16%.
- The main igniter for the latest price increase in Bitcoin has become the massive investor interest in the spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which received the green light from the regulators in the U.S. last month.
- The new funds recently surpassed the key $10B mark in assets under management (AUM) after seeing high amounts of inflows.
- Analysts also labeled the upcoming Bitcoin halving event, expected to happen in April or May, as another determinant in the upward trend.
- The inflation-easing process will decrease the miners' Bitcoin mining reward by half, reducing the number of new Bitcoins entering the network by 50%.
- Industry experts believe the event will cause a major price surge in Bitcoin in the long term since it would ultimately reduce the total amount of tokens in circulation.
Zoom Out: - In 2021, the year Bitcoin last hit $50,000, the popular cryptocurrency also reached its all-time high of around $69,000.
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| 2 | | 
What the numbers say: A recent research report from Wu Blockchain compiling the statistics of RootData has shown that the projects and firms in the crypto space raised $650M in venture capital (VC) funding during January. The figure represents a 28.6% increase from $910M in December 2023. It also refers to a 3.2% increase from $630M raised during the same month last year. The top 10 projects securing the highest amounts of funding made up 57% of the total investment in January. The Hong Kong-based digital asset firm HashKey Group took the lead on the list with its $100M of funding, which made it a unicorn by causing its valuation to exceed $1B. The firm was followed by Core Scientific, Flowdesk, Sygnum, Portal, Polymer, Ingonyama, Axiom, Kiln, and SkyArk Chronicles, respectively. Relevance: On the other hand, the data compiled by The Block pointed to a downward trend in VC funding to Web3 firms last month. The report revealed that the total amount of funding invested in crypto and blockchain startups declined by 68% in 2023 compared to the figure in the previous year. The decrease was mainly attributed to the prolonged crypto winter resulting from the collapses of high-profile crypto firms and projects like FTX and the Terra ecosystem in 2022. Analysts pointed out that these collapses caused a loss of trust in the industry for investors, paving the way for a significant drop in VC funding to the digital asset market within the following year. The market downturn also directed many investors to AI and more traditional sectors as they sought new spaces to make their investments. Brands that should care: However, some Web3 firms, such as Fnality, Line Next, BitGo, Wormhole, and Blockchain.com, managed to raise millions of dollars last year despite the decline in overall funding. | | | |
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| 3 | | Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed a motion to sell one of its subsidiaries, Digital Custody, to the crypto exchange CoinList for $500,000. The subsidiary was originally acquired by FTX for $10M in two transactions conducted in December 2021 and August 2022. More: - In the motion, FTX said the financing will be provided by Digital Custody's original CEO and founder, Terence J. Culver, in the upcoming sale.
- FTX purchased the firm, which still has a custodial license in the U.S. state of South Dakota, to provide crypto custody services in its U.S. arm, FTX US, and its crypto derivatives unit, LedgerX.
- However, Digital Custody was not fully integrated into the FTX ecosystem since the purchase was finalized three months before the bankruptcy.
- FTX's legal team pointed out that Digital Custody is no longer valuable for the firm since it has no plans to sell or restart FTX US and has already sold LedgerX in April last year.
- The bankrupt exchange has chosen Culver's offers among three interested parties since it has the potential to complete the sale quickly and obtain regulatory approval more easily due to the subsidiary's relationship with Culver.
- As part of the agreement, FTX will be able to seek a better offer until three days before the deal is closed.
- If the purchaser fails to complete the deal, a termination fee of $50,000 will be paid to FTX.
Zoom Out: - FTX, previously the third-largest crypto exchange, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022, with all 130 entities under the roof of FTX Group.
- The downfall followed the claims that the former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), used customer funds in FTX to compensate for losses at the sister company Alameda Research.
- The firm recently filed several other motions to sell its holdings, including its entire stake in AI firm Anthropic, to recover more funds as part of its plans to fully repay its former customers and debtors.
- Last month, an FTX attorney announced that the firm abandoned its plans to relaunch its crypto exchange, focusing on fully reimbursing customers.
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| 4 | | Jack Dorsey, Twitter's Bitcoin advocate founder and digital payments company Block's CEO, appeared in a T-shirt reading the name of Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, at the Super Bowl LVIII event this past weekend. The championship featured no official crypto ad other than Dorsey's T-shirt in contrast with previous seasons. More: - The worldwide-known CEO sat next to the music icons Beyoncé and Jay Z in the stands.
- Crypto advocate Elon Musk also attended the event with his son.
- An election campaign ad of the U.S. presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), who is most famous for his pro-Bitcoin statements and policies, aired during the competition.
Zoom Out: - The Super Bowl, the annual league championship game of the U.S. National Football League (NFL), hosted a final between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers this year.
- In previous seasons, the event featured many ads from crypto exchanges, such as Kraken, Coinbase, and Crypto.com, but FTX's bankruptcy in November 2022 caused the championship to distance itself from the digital asset space.
- In 2022, Coinbase spent a whopping $14M on its 60-second QR code ad moving around the screen at the Super Bowl, while FTX shelled out $6.5M for its spot.
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| 5 | | Ripple-owned Swiss crypto custody firm Metaco's CEO, Adrien Treccani, has recently parted ways with the company. A Ripple spokesperson confirmed that Metaco's chief product officer, Peter DeMeo, similarly departed. More: - Treccani was also the founder of Metaco.
- A Ripple spokesperson said the company appreciates the strong and industry-leading custody business built by Treccani and his team, praising the former CEO's leadership in integrating Metaco's team and solution with Ripple.
- The spokesperson added that custody would remain integral to Ripple's business.
Zoom Out: - Metaco was acquired by blockchain-based payment protocol provider Ripple for $250M in May last year.
- However, the Swiss firm continued its operations as an independent unit led by its CEO following the acquisition.
- The firm has partnerships with various European traditional banks, including DZ Bank, HSBC, and BBVA, looking for assistance with digital asset custody.
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| 6 | | Sui Foundation, an independent organization dedicated to advancing and adopting the Sui blockchain network, has announced its plans to establish a blockchain academy in collaboration with the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The foundation's managing director, Greg Siourounis, stated that the academy will aim to increase awareness about blockchain technology and its usability in building new applications and platforms that can solve problems. More: - The academy will hold seminars and workshops to educate young people about blockchain.
- The educational body will also give the students the right tools to filter the misinformation about blockchain technology.
- Siourounis said he noticed that seven out of 10 ideas from university students had a blockchain-related part as a solution, meaning that youngsters have started to understand the usefulness of blockchain.
Zoom Out: - The Sui network was developed by Mysten Labs, which was founded by former executives of tech giant Meta's now-abandoned blockchain project, Diem.
- Several other alumni of Diem were also later involved in the development of blockchain-related projects like Aptos.
- Besides, the Sui Foundation's plans to launch a blockchain academy in the UAE came amid a time when the emirate of Sharjah actively makes efforts to transform into a hub for blockchain research and education.
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| 7 | | Quick Hits: - Visa and Mastercard have come to a historic $5B settlement, marking a pivotal moment for small business owners.*
- The central bank of New Zealand's governor, Adrian Orr, has issued a warning about stablecoins, stating that the asset type cannot replace fiat currencies.
- Blockchain interoperability project Analog has raised $16M in funding in its latest strategic financing round at a fully diluted valuation of $120M.
- Hong Kong's financial market regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC), has warned citizens that a fraudulent platform posing as the crypto exchange MEXC is actively deceiving investors through social media and siphoning their funds.
- Dive into advanced tips and tricks with the Kubernetes Cookbook. Get your copy compliments of the cloud experts at DoiT.*
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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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