Weekly Headlines 2023.4 W2
The possibilities that Web3 can offer are vast and only limited by our own imaginations.” – Haider Rafique, global chief marketing officer at OKX
Weekly News Report:
News
1. Amazon launches new Bedrock AI service to take on Google and OpenAI
– AWS is launching Bedrock, an AI service that will allow users to build out generative models from AI21 Labs, Anthropic, Stability AI and Amazon.
2. Solana’s Crypto-Ready ‘Saga’ Smartphone Goes on Sale May 8
– Solana Labs’ crypto-forward smartphone Saga will go on public sale May 8, the company behind the Solana blockchain said Thursday. Pre-ordered devices are shipping now.
3. Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade Is Complete, Starting New Era of Staking Withdrawals
– Ethereum’s Shanghai hard fork, also referred to as “Shapella,” has been finalized, enabling withdrawals for users who have “staked” their ether to secure and validate transactions on the blockchain.
4. SushiSwap to Launch Claims Website for Vested SUSHI Tokens
– Claims will expire on April 23 and unclaimed tokens will go to SushiSwap’s treasury.
5. Crypto Exchange FTX Could Reopen, Its Attorney Says; Firm’s FTT Token Surges
– FTT’s price more than doubled.
6. Swiss court gives green light for FTX to sell its European arm
– The approval of a petition in Switzerland allowing FTX Europe AG’s sale would be in accordance with the U.S. bankruptcy court, where FTX’s global business filed for Chapter 11.
7. Paxos set to withdraw from Canada amid regulatory uncertainty
– Paxos assured its customers that their funds would “remain safely” in their accounts but advised users to withdraw all balances at their earliest convenience.
8. El Salvador Grants First Digital Asset License to Bitfinex
– The new license was issued subsequent to a law passed in January by the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador that regulates digital securities and created a framework for the Central American country to launch bitcoin-backed bonds, also known as “Volcano Bonds”.
Institution
1. Swedish Riksbank report looks at collaboration with potential e-krona in retail payments
– The report also touched on the Riksbank’s participation in Project Icebreaker, involving cross-border retail payments and remittances.
2. Swiss Bank PostFinance to Offer Bitcoin and Crypto Services
– The fifth-largest financial services provider in Switzerland, PostFinance, has announced a partnership with regulated digital asset services provider Sygnum Bank to start providing Bitcoin and cryptocurrency services for their customers.
3. Argentina’s National Securities Commission Approves Bitcoin Futures
– The agency authorized the regulation of a futures contract based on a bitcoin index of Matba Rofex, an Argentinian stock exchange.
4. Stablecoin Issuers, Conglomerates Targeted by IMF After Crypto’s ‘Rough Year’
– FTX and banking sector collapse show the need for stronger consumer protection, governance norms, the agency said.
Market
1. Ethereum Layer 2 Network zkSync Era Jumps to Nearly $250M in Locked Value
– More than 7 million transactions have been conducted on the network since launch, which can process 3.5 transactions per second, data shows.
2. Avalanche Surges to 6-Month High in Daily Active Addresses
– The spike coincided with a bevy of financial institutions joining Avalanche’s Evergreen subnet “Spruce.”
3. Dogecoin Surges 5.8% as Traders Anticipate Elon Musk’s Next Move
– DOGE has risen from Wednesday’s low of 8 cents with a 5.89% move to the upside after Twitter struck a deal with eToro to offer crypto trading.
4. Ether’s Post-Shanghai Rally Knocks Bitcoin Dominance From 21-Month High
– ETH’s share of the total crypto market capitalization rose to a one-month high, according to TradingView data.
5. ApeCoin surges 1,950% on South Korean crypto exchange Upbit
– The APE/BTC trading pair reached an all-time high of around $90 apiece on the exchange.
6. Bitcoin continues to shine with 98% of inflows into crypto investment products
– According to CoinShares, Bitcoin saw $56 million of inflows last week, which accounted for 98% of all investments into digital asset investment products.
7. Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade Will Permanently Alter ETH Economics
– Being able to unlock staked ether will not cause a mass exodus or price collapse for the cryptocurrency, Amphibian Capital CEO James Hodges says.
8. Ethereum’s Shanghai Upgrade: Here’s Our Guide to Watch Parties, Blockchain Tools
– Various factions of the Ethereum community are planning watch parties to witness the first-ever withdrawals of staked ether, with the blockchain’s Shanghai upgrade (aka “Shapella”) set for Wednesday at 22:27 coordinated universal time (6:27 p.m. ET).
9. Bitcoin Breaks Above $30K for First Time Since June 2022
– The move continues a 2023 rally that has now seen the most popular crypto gain more than 80%.
10. AI-Focused Blockchain CryptoGPT Raises $10M Funding at $250M Valuation
– CryptoGPT recently rolled out AI assistant “Alex” and is developing its ZK rollup layer 2 blockchain and a data-to-AI engine, which collects, encrypts and transfers data for commercial applications.
11. How will the Shanghai upgrade impact ETH price? Expert explains
– While it may cause downside pressure in the short run, the Shanghai upgrade will be extremely bullish for Ether’s price in the mid-to-long term, according to Vivek Raman.
12. Polygon becomes second-largest gaming blockchain after user activity surges in March
– Polygon overtook Hive for the second spot last month, with the Hunters On-Chain RPG partly driving the growth in unique active wallets.
NFT
1. Mastercard Drops Free NFTs, Launches Web3 Music Accelerator
– The Mastercard Music Pass NFT allows musicians to access its Mastercard Artist Accelerator Program, giving artists tools and resources to bolster their Web3 music careers.
2. Bored Ape Yacht Club Floor Price Slides to Five-Month Low as Prominent Investor Dumps Holdings
– The floor price of the BAYC collection has slumped to a five-month low of 55.59 ether, according to Cryptowatch data.
3. MonkeDAO Plans to Buy Rights to Popular Solana Monkey Business NFT Collection for $2M
– MonkeDAO, a decentralized autonomous organization formed by owners of the Solana Monkey Business NFT project, will purchase all intellectual property rights to the collection from its current owner HadesDAO.
4. Reddit Keeps Upvoting NFTs, Drops Third-Generation Collection
– According to data from Dune Analytics, the Polygon-based NFT collection has 7.4 million unique holders.
5. Adidas Releases Chapter 1 of Its ALTS Dynamic NFT Collection
– Global sneaker and lifestyle brand Adidas has expanded its Into The Metaverse NFT ecosystem with the release of the ALTS by Adidas collection.
6. NFT Collective Proof Launches New Moonbirds Collection With Beeple, Other Artists
– The “Moonbirds: Diamond Exhibition” collection is available exclusively to holders that reached “Diamond Nest” status by staking their NFTs.
Metaverse
1. AI Will ‘Accelerate’ the Metaverse, Empower Creators: The Sandbox Co-Founder
– The use of artificial intelligence, or AI, may speed up the pace at which original work is created in the metaverse, said Sebastian Borget, co-founder of The Sandbox and a speaker at Consensus 2023.
2. France Publishes Metaverse Consultation, Seeking Alternative to Dominance by Web Giants
– The economic ministry is interested in the virtual world’s impact on privacy, health and the environment.
Web3
1. A ‘Super App’ May Be Web3’s Super Power
– Elon Musk has the vision to turn Twitter into an all-in-one app, like WeChat. Turns out, permissionless and composable crypto platforms together form something better than the sum of its parts.
2. A16z Highlights Web3 Strength in Its Second ‘State of Crypto’ Report
– The venture capital giant sees bear markets as a time for builders, particularly blockchain infrastructure projects.
3. Crypto Exchange Bitget Starts $100M Asia-Focused Web3 Fund
– The firm started its fund as more crypto projects seek non-U.S. jurisdictions.
4. Hong Kong’s Financial Secretary Declares Now Is the ‘Right Time’ for Web3 Adoption
– Finance chief Paul Chan said in a blog post that despite recent volatility in crypto, now is the time to push forward Web3 technologies.
April 15, 2023