World Wide Web3 Market Intel - week of 4/18/22
Market Summary
With spot volumes slipping and volatility continuing to crater, crypto markets have remained relatively muted, extending Bitcoin's trend of consolidation around the $40K level.
The conflict in Eastern Europe looms large, with increasingly aggressive Russian forces "claiming victory" over Ukraine's highly-strategic seaport Mariupol. In response, Western powers continue to enact harsh sanctions, with several major crypto firms getting caught in the fray. On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets (OFAC) sanctioned Switzerland-based crypto miner BitRiver, citing the company's "vast server farms" in Russia that help the country "monetize its natural resources." A 5th round of EU-based sanctions have also forced crypto exchanges to ramp up their KYC regimes, with Binance restricting Russia-linked accounts with crypto assets "exceeding the value of 10,000 EUR."
Even as regulators tighten their grip on the off-shore aspects of the crypto economy, many jurisdictions have welcomed the asset class's integration into the traditional financial system. Next week, the 21shares Bitcoin ETF (EBTC) is set to go live in Australia, making it the 4th country to offer a spot bitcoin ETF to investors. On Friday, Portugal's central bank gave crypto a major stamp of approval, enabling Bison Bank to become the nation's first banking institution with status as a "Virtual Asset Service Provider" (VASP).
In Singapore, LUNA leadership continues to execute on their plan to build a $10B Bitcoin treasury. Terraform Labs has reportedly 'gifted' the Luna Foundation Guard another $880M in funding, likely to be deployed in accumulating additional BTC, AVAX, and other reserve assets. At the same time, the ecosystem's flagship stablecoin TerraUSD (UST) has flipped Binance's BUSD, becoming the third-largest stablecoin behind USDT and USDC.
In the world of Web3, Coinbase is going live with their long-awaited NFT marketplace. After accumulating a waitlist of nearly 1.5M eager users, the company has begun to invite beta testers to trade Ethereum-based NFTs, and will reportedly allow a multitude of payment options, from MetaMask to Mastercard. For better or for worse, as fiat on-ramps and regulated funds continue to multiply, institutions will wield an increasingly influential stake in the future of the crypto industry.
Market Snapshot
News of the Week
Policy:
- State securities regulators order virtual casino firm to stop selling NFTs
- IMF Says Capital Control Powers Should Include Crypto
- Andre Cronje: 'regulated crypto' more feasible than ‘crypto regulations’
Geopolitical:
- FBI and CSIA issue alert over North Korean cyberattacks on crypto targets
- US Treasury sanctions Russian crypto miners, its first sanction on mining
Exchanges:
- Blockchain.com Eyes IPO
- Okcoin Is the Latest Exchange to Announce NFT Marketplace
- Robinhood Agrees to Acquire UK Crypto Platform Ziglu
- Binance.US Quits Blockchain Association
- Goldman Sachs Eyes Collaboration With Crypto Exchange FTX
Adoption:
- Crypto investors made $163 billion in gains in 2021: Chainalysis
- Twitter to test out Stripe's newly added support for USDC payments
Infrastructure:
- MetaMask Warns Users of New Apple iCloud Phishing Scam
- Blockchain interoperability protocol Connext unveils token
- Polygon has announced Supernet chains
- Quantum computing to run economic models on crypto adoption
- MetaMask stops working as Infura suffers another service outage
Stablecoins:
- Attacker Drains $182M From Beanstalk Stablecoin Protocol
- Terra’s UST flips BUSD to become third-largest stablecoin
- MakerDAO to integrate StarkNet to cut DAI transaction costs
- Justin Sun to launch algorithmic stablecoin USDD on Tron
NFTs & Metaverse:
- NBA Announces 'Dynamic' Ethereum NFTs for Playoffs
- NBA Pauses Minting of The Association NFT Collections After Spotting Serious Vunerability
- Louis Vuitton releases new NFTs
- Coinbase NFT marketplace goes live in beta for select customers
Deals & Funding
$1B Raised Across 42 Funding Rounds:
- Real Player DAO | Web 3.0 guild and a multi-task platform for GameАi.
- Flipside Crypto ($350M) | Community-enabled data analytics for DeFi & crypto projects.
- CoinDCX ($135M) | Indian company specialized in crypto-enabled financial services.
- Doxa ($2.2M) | Taking procurement to the next level with blockchain, microservices, and financing.
- FanTrade ($165k) | A mobile app to earn money by playing daily contests based on real-time crypto and stocks.
- Binance.US | Proudly serving the US with 85+ cryptocurrencies, low fees, and cutting-edge technology.
- Mytaverse ($7.6M) | A cloud-based platform that provides 3D multiplayer virtual and augmented meetings and workspaces.
- Inca Digital | Digital asset data and analytics technology for investors.
- Hatchfi ($120k) | Connect any crypto wallet to any application with just a few lines of code.
- Veritx ($4.5M) | Trusted B2B Marketplace for Industry 4.0.
- Fasset ($22M) | A globally regulated digital asset exchange for the next billion.
- EPNS ($10.1M) | Decentralized notification protocol on Ethereum.
- Oasis ($6M) | Deploy your crypto into DeFi.
- Mask | A peer-to-peer encrypted messaging application, with new functions continuously being created around this foundation.
- Blockdaemon | A blockchain deployment facilitator that manages nodes and payment rails for blockchain networks.
- Impervious | Enabling a new P2P internet standard.
- Sooho ($4.5M) | We build automated audits, Defi, and Blockchain Infrastructure.
- Merit Circle | Building a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) with a mission to maximize value accrual across different games in the metaverse.
- Blast Royale ($5M) | Players are pitted against each other in a 'last one standing' Battle Royale survival match.
- Context ($19.5M) | Watch any wallet to see what people are minting and buying.
- Loop Crypto ($4M) | Seamlessly automate on-chain crypto payments.
- Legends of Elumia | A next-generation play to earn, massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
- Retrograde | Supercharging yields and governance on Terra.
- Reputation DAO ($4.75M) | Unlock DeFi with reputation.
- Aura Network ($2.5M) | A layer-1, NFT-centric blockchain that focuses on expanding the use of NFTs across various industries.
- Wombat Exchange | Swap stablecoins at minimal slippage and stake at maximum yield.
- Reactor | Optimized yield platform on Terra.
- BikeRush ($1.5M) | A Web3 lifestyle App.
- Paladin Pandas ($4M) | NFT collection with Play-to-Earn game.
- FLUID ($10M) | The ultra-low latency CeDeFi liquidity aggregator.
- Swoops ($3.5M) | Blockchain and NFT-powered strategy basketball game.
- Firework Games ($1M) | A decentralized self-development and release platform for blockchain games.
- Coinpanion ($330k) | Enables you to invest in cryptocurrencies automatically and securely without any previous knowledge.
- Gripnr ($2.5M) | A Web3 technology company bringing tabletop games to the blockchain.
- Voyager Innovations ($210M) | A digital innovations company creating platforms for emerging markets.
- RociFi ($2.7M) | The multi-chain DeFi primitive for zero and under-collateralized lending.
- CoinStats ($3.2M) | Manage your crypto and DeFi portfolio from one place.
- Dnfs ($13.5M) | Crypto custody as an API.
- BloXroute Labs ($70M) | A blockchain distribution network to help your blockchains scale to thousands of transactions/second on-chain.
- Glow Labs ($4.1M) | A white-label loyalty rewards program on the blockchain built by the community.
- Socket Supply Co. ($3.5M) | Decentralized cloud computing tools for developers.
- GENIES ($150M) | An avatar technology company that builds avatars for people and communities.
World Wide Web3 is curated by @jackofcrypto. To stay abreast of the latest and greatest in crypto/blockchain/web3, subscribe on Substack and receive these insights directly in your inbox!
Sources: Coin Metrics, Messari, Viewbase, Nansen, Dove Metrics, & more.