Future of Crypto | Edition #9 – April 2022
We’re back with a new edition of the Future of Crypto Newsletter! If you're new and curious, read on to satisfy your curious taste buds and join other crypto nerds in receiving some fresh Weekly Crypto Cuppa, delivered right to your inbox every Saturday!
Edition #9?brings intriguing headlines from around the Cryptosphere to keep your cup of curiosity filled. A plethora of innovative launches and market expansions remained at the forefront for the week. The?NFT?and?Metaverse?verticals were bustling with activity, noticeably the most active segments of this edition.
Here’s the TL;DR:
The?CBDC?segment continues to gain momentum as more and more countries around the globe are developing ways to utilize CBDC potentialities.
In Europe, the?European Central Bank?was in the news as it hints to opt for a centralized solution for its new digital euro, raising questions about state snooping. In North America, the residents of Jamaica can now open a digital wallet that supports the country’s Jam-Dex CBDC as the?Bank of Jamaica?(BOJ) prepares to launch the CBDC during the April to June quarter of 2022. In Asia, the?People's Bank of China?plans to expand its trial for its CBDC to include more cities following good responses during their pilot and the Winter Olympics venues.
In other news,?Nationwide Payment Systems?(NPS), which works in commerce enablement, has rolled out its global processing platform Worldwide Digital Payments which will power payments for crypto businesses and those working in related sectors. Barclays released a paper setting out a methodology for the mitigation of potential fragmentation risk presented by CBDC, through an architecture that places CBDC and commercial bank money on a similar footing.
Although?crypto-coins?continue to enter the mainstream with varied players from sectors far and wide trying to support possibilities, the skepticism still remains.
The crypto segment has also achieved a couple of milestones in the past week.?FTX US?announced a strategic investment in the fifth-largest US-based stock exchange operator?IEX?to create a market structure for trading digital asset securities. Australian convenience store?On The Run?(OTR) was also on the news as it plans to allow clients to pay for products in cryptocurrencies by partnering with the digital asset exchange?CryptoCom.?Binance.US?raised over?$200M?in its first external funding round, putting its pre-money valuation at $4.5B as it builds out a roadmap for an IPO.
On the other hand, chip giant?Intel?launched its second-generation Bitcoin mining chip called Intel Blockscale ASIC which will offer miners more efficient mining rigs than most models available in the market. Investment goliath?Goldman Sachs?announced that they are gearing up to launch crypto investment services for its high-net-worth clients. Kakao's Japanese webtoon subsidiary?Kakao Piccoma?also made it to the headlines after acquiring Japanese cryptocurrency exchange?Sakura Exchange BitCoin?in a bid to accelerate the adoption of cryptocurrency and NFT systems to webtoon services.?Coinbase?made its much-awaited debut in the Indian markets by adding support for UPI payments.
The stablecoins segment has been quickly gaining traction with a series of head-turning events this past week.
The?United Kingdom's government announced that it will soon bring in legislation to embed stablecoins into its payment systems as a part of its plans to become a global crypto hub. Bitcoin (BTC) software firm?Lightning Labs?has secured a $70M Series B funding round led by Valor Equity Partners to enable and further develop the Lightning Network for faster and cheaper Bitcoin and stablecoin transactions.?
The?NFT?space was abuzz with eventful happenings, highlighting several product launches, and funding activities.
Ledger?unveiled the latest version of its crypto hardware wallet called the Ledger Nano S Plus prioritizes the needs of NFT collectors by offering support for clear signing via the company’s web app to ensure their safety when signing transactions. While global crypto trading platform?KuCoin?announced the launch of its NFT launch platform KuCoin IGO, real estate media production company?HomeJab?launched an NFT marketplace called real, specifically for original real estate images.?Snoop Dogg?also hit the headlines after partnering up with?Clay Nation?to launch some of his unreleased music and limited edition pitches as NFTs on the Cardano blockchain. Similarly,?Mike Tyson?launched a Mystery Box NFT collection via the Binance NFT marketplace.
On the fundings front, gaming NFT marketplace?Fractal?closed a $35M seed financing round led by Paradigm and Multicoin Capital to focus on building an engineering team and making new products for gaming companies. NFT marketplace?Hot Drops,?which allows mainstream and adult NFTs to safely coexist on the same platform, raised more than $2.4M in seed funding led by Transform Ventures founder Michael Terpin.
In other news, the official Formula 1 NFT and crypto-powered racing game?F1 Delta Time?which launched back in 2019, shut down after the owners?Animoca?were unable to renew the F1 license, leaving all tokens worthless. The?UK government?has announced its plan to mint its NFTs in the summer of 2022 as part of its global crypto plans. While?Volkswagen South Africa?launched an integrated metaverse campaign to promote the safety and intelligence features of its latest Polo model through an NFT treasure hunt game called Game on, Cardano’s decentralized cross-chain NFT marketplace?Da Vinci Locker (DVL)?started a private sale that kicked off on 5th April 2022.?
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Some funding rounds and head-turning partnerships were the key highlights for the?DeFi?space during the week.
DeFi hub?ApeSwap?partnered with?Gauntlet Networks, the largest financial modeling platform in DeFi, to better optimize the former’s token emissions, leading to more efficient usage of liquidity and growth for the platform’s daily trading volume.?DiversiFi?partnered with cross-chain oracle?SupraOracles?which will allow DiversiFi to develop the premiere rewards token ecosystem on the Binance Chain and beyond.?
On the funding front, DeFi platform?Parallel Finance?raised $5M at a $500 million valuation in a strategic funding round in a bid to become a one-stop-shop for DeFi systems. Similarly, another DeFi platform?AlgoBlocks?raised $1.9M in its strategic and private funding to push product development and growth initiatives, such as partnership and technical integration with other protocols.
Additionally, cross-chain?DeFi infrastructure?officially launched its DeFi services, becoming the first regulated provider allowing users to send, receive, and hold digital finance assets on the blockchain.?DeFi Technologies?also made it to the news after announcing its wholly-owned subsidiary and digital assets ETP pioneer Valour will begin trading Valour Cardano, Valour Polkadot, and Valour Solana on the Euronext exchange in Paris and Amsterdam.
Many players from different industries and sectors expanding into the?metaverse?have created quite a stir around the theme.
HSBC Holdings?has launched a fund to capture investment opportunities in the metaverse for its high-net-worth clients in Hong Kong and Singapore. While beverage giant?Coca-Cola?announced that it is launching a gaming-inspired version of its fizzy pop virtually before it rolls out in the real world, Metaverse game ecosystem?DeHorizon?announced that their first game DeVerse is to launch on Polygon Mainnet which may enable low-cost transactions and friendly interactive experience for DeVerse players.
On the partnerships front, cryptocurrency hardware wallet provider?Ledger?has partnered with blockchain game?The Sandbox?to promote crypto education and bring security to its virtual world. English footballer?Phil Jones?was also on the news for teaming up with Stockholm-based media platform,?Antourage, to launch a new metaverse membership project called Red Lion Sports Club.
In other news, cryptocurrency?Shiba Inu?hit the headlines as it will soon be launching its own metaverse, with 100,595 plots of virtual lands in a phased manner with prices starting at 0.2 ETH each.?Lamborghini?was also on the news after its last Aventador Coupe was auctioned off at the Sotheby’s with a metaverse skin and a soundtrack composed by Aoki. Similarly,?Adidas?also made it to the headlines after it plans to launch a platform to create metaverse avatars for fans based on their personalities and preferences for the brand's latest Ozworld shoe.?
A plethora of funding rounds made most of the news in the?DLT?vertical.
In other news,?Gamefi.org?joined forces with a cybersecurity team from the Icetea Labs ecosystem,?Securichain,?to level up the security of the products for its users.
And that's a wrap ??
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Weekly Crypto Brew, and we'll be back with more next week!?
If you're hungry for more FinTech insights, check out some of our other work at?WhiteSight.?
Our latest publications include entering the immersive universe of?Gamification—Into The Metaverse, and exploring the many?Female-focused Crypto Initiatives?that are ‘DeFi’ning the way for women in the blockchain world.?
If you're someone who likes to read think pieces, you will likely love our monthly blog?Fintersections, where our team members analyze the convergence of FinTech with the world. The latest fintersection analyzes?Apple's acquisition of Credit Kudos.
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