The Week in Crypto #2
New week of the new year but I still write 21 instead of 22 and I guess you feel the same way! The time flies really quickly but you know that in crypto you count two seconds as one!
In this letter:
🚀CBDCs, FED, and something more…
🚀Crypto derivatives on the radar of stock exchanges
🚀Jack Dorsey dedicated to Bitcoin
🚀Rio de Janeiro the latest crypto newbie
🚀NFT update
🚀CBDCs, FED, and something more…
The big topic that did not receive enough attention last year remained the CBDCs (central bank digital currencies). However, once 2022 beat the gong something started to change this trend. Last week many countries shared some plans. The most notable came from China where the government launched its digital yuan wallet (+ the fact that the Winter Olympics will be held there next month).
With the digital yuan rising in popularity, last week the tone for the digital dollar gained momentum. JP (Jerome Powell) said the report for CBDCs is "ready to go" and would be released in the coming weeks. However, what the report will reveal remains a mystery at the moment.
Another significant moment for the Fed in the last 7 days was Tom Emmer’s introduction of legislation that aims to prevent all US citizens from Fed. In the bill, he explained his worries about the powers that the digital dollar would give to JP and his company.
In particular, Emmer believes that the digital version of the cash could threaten the freedom of Americans if one day they could be forced to register in front of the Fed to access their funds. This will give the Fed the power to track every transaction, to monitor account balances. Even more frightening is the scenario in which someone decides whether you can make a payment to a business (public behavior).
🚀Crypto derivatives on the radar of stock exchanges
If you're wondering why this is a topic in the despatch, well, it's because it hides an option for big profits, including for stock exchanges. In the last 24 hours, the total volume of the top three largest crypto spot exchanges is about $ 16 billion, and of the top three crypto derivative exchanges - $ 63 billion. Binance is definitely pouring its bags with money but some other crypto exchanges spotted the niche. Â
Last week, Coinbase acquired the derivatives exchange FairX with the idea of ​​using the infrastructure to provide crypto derivatives to all Coinbase customers in the United States.
It is important to note that FairX is not a random company, but is registered with the CFTC, the body which regulates all derivatives and commodities.
Coinbase is not the only one who wants a piece of the cake - recently FTX.US has acquired LedgerX, and Crypto.com - North American Derivatives Exchange.
🚀Jack Dorsey dedicated to Bitcoin
Last year Dorsey resigned as CEO of Twitter only to give 100% of his time to Block (Square) and… Bitcoin!
Last week, he announced the creation of the Legal Defense Fund, a fund that will protect the legal cases of anyone helping develop Bitcoin and the Lightning Network. The rise of cryptocurrencies is a problem for many, and the voluntary help of lawyers and other crypto developers aims to make it easier to get through the hell of the courts.
The second news from Dorsey is related to Square, which is building Bitcoin mining systems.
"We are officially building an open Bitcoin mining system," the CEO wrote in response to a tweet from Thomas Templeton (Block's hardware manager). According to Templeton, the company is working on affordable Bitcoin mining facilities that anyone can use at home.
Made in Blue - if you go to Sofia, Bulgaria and you are foodie like me make sure to visit this place!
🚀Rio de Janeiro - the latest crypto newbie
During the week, the Innovation Week was held in Rio de Janeiro and among the guests was the Mayor of Miami - Francis X. Suarez. Eduardo Paes, the mayor of Rio, was so inspired by Miami's development as a crypto hub that he announced that 1% of Rio's Treasury would be invested in Bitcoin.
Rio will pursue a crypto transformation that aims to bring more fans to the carnival city. Ideas were also mentioned about paying taxes in Bitcoin.
Dreams have spread on Twitter that crypto-adaptation will help Latin America emerge from the economic pit.
🚀NFT update
Although the crypto market went up and down during the week, the NFTs seemed to stay hot!
FTX has announced the launch of a $ 2 billion web 3 venture fund that will focus on Web 3 games as well as Web 3 social media applications. It will be led by Amy Wu, who has been a lead partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. The fact that one of the leading crypto exchanges has focused on metaverse is proof that web 3 should be on our radar in 2022.
While for a long time OpenSea seemed like a platform that would never be pushed out of the forefront of the NFT market, the launch of LooksRare gave rise to various theories.
LooksRare is a new NFT marketplace that enjoyed $ 110 million in trading on its first day. The platform attracts customers not only with lower fees of 2% (OpenSea has a fee of 2.5%) but also with something highly desired by all OpenSea users - TOKENS.
LooksRare offers an airdrop of LOOKS tokens to all OpenSea users who have transited at least 3 Ethereums between June 16 and December 16, 2021.
If that is not enough, there's more. Fees generated by LooksRare will be distributed as rewards to LOOKS holders who stack the token on the platform.
With all these advantages, LooksRare seems to be a good alternative to OpenSea. On the day of its launch, the OpenSea exchange had $ 180 million in trading and LooksRare $ 110 million, which is a great achievement for a newborn NFT platform.