The global crypto market cap is $2.16T 0.77%▲ with a 24-hour market volume of $70.19B 27.67%▼. Bitcoin's dominance is currently 41.51% 0.06%▲. CURRENT PRICES BY MARKET CAP | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Bitcoin BTC | $47,392.59 | 1.15% ▲ | | 2 | Ethereum ETH | $3,814.29 | 0.72% ▲ | | 3 | Binance Coin BNB | $516.66 | 1.95% ▼ | | 4 | Solana SOL | $155.77 | 0.91% ▼ | | 5 | Cardano ADA | $1.25 | 1.20% ▲ | Source: CoinMarketCap, 6:00 EST
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 Nike acquired NFT collectible and sneaker company RTFKT for an undisclosed amount. Nike CEO John Donahoe stated that the acquisition will accelerate Nike's digital transformation. More: - Although terms of the deal weren't disclosed, the startup raised $8M in a seed funding round back in May at a valuation of $33.3M.
- RTFKT was co-founded by Benoit Pagotto, Chris Le, and Steven Vasilev in 2020.
- The platform has seen a total transaction volume of around $65M since its launch.
Sneakers & Collaborations (w/ Inside VC): - RTFKT collaborates with NFT projects, including CryptoPunks and Bored Apes, to design items like physical shoes that represent the art used in the respective NFT project.
- The company previously collaborated with the artist FEWOCiOUS to sell real sneakers paired with virtual ones, netting over $3.1M.
- The platform's recent "CloneX" drop with artist Takashi Murakami has already seen $65M since it launched three weeks ago.
Related: RTFKT Co-Founder Benoit Pagotto Presents at Mastering NFTs 2021 (Inside, YouTube)
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TOP NFT COLLECTIONS (24hr Volume) | # | Name | 24h Volume | 24h % | | 1 | CloneX ETH | $69.27M | 83.74% ▲ | | 2 | CloneX Mintvial ETH | $21.85M | 76.39% ▲ | | 3 | Axie Infinity ETH, RONIN | $9.43M | 5.63% ▼ | | 4 | CryptoPunks ETH | $4.77M | 8.23% ▼ | | 5 | Bored Ape YC ETH | $4.27M | 12.57% ▲ | Source: DappRadar, 6:00 pm EST
TOP ETH NFT COLLECTIONS (Floor Cap) | # | Name | Floor Price (ETH) | 24h % | | 1 | CryptoPunks | Ξ 63.99 | 1.57% ▲ | | 2 | Bored Ape YC | Ξ 53 | 1.85% ▼ | | 3 | Mutant Ape YC | Ξ 6.1 | 1.67% ▲ | | 4 | Vee Friends | Ξ 7.75 | 5.49% ▼ | | 5 | Autoglyphs | Ξ 150 | 6.25% ▼ | Source: NFT Price Floor, 6:00 pm EST
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Solana Ventures announced a $150M fund for blockchain-based gaming startups. The fund was launched in partnership with GameFi infrastructure provider Forte. More: - The newly announced fund will invest in equity and token rounds over the next 18 months.
- This is the second blockchain gaming fund announced by Solana Ventures, following last month’s $100M fund in partnership with Lightspeed Venture Partners and FTX.
- Forte raised $725M in a Series B funding round co-led by Sea Capital and Kora Management back in November and reached a unicorn valuation following its Series A in May.
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 🍋 Fresh Funding 🍋 NYDIG, Financial Services: $1B ⮕ The equity investment round was led by WestCap and participated in by MassMutual, Morgan Stanley, New York Life, FIS, Affirm, and others. More: - NYDIG is a financial institution focused on bitcoin (BTC) and digital asset services.
- The fresh funding will be used to expand institutional bitcoin-related offerings, including Lightning Network payments and asset tokenization.
- Prior to the funding round, NYDIG acquired bitcoin service provider Bottlepay in a $300M stock buyout.
- NYDIG reached a post-round valuation of nearly $7B.
Moonray, Metaverse/Gaming: $3.5M ⮕ The funding round was led by Animoca Brands and participated in by GBV Capital, Metavest Capital, LD Capital, and others. More: - Moonray is a metaverse, role-playing game built on the Stacks network.
- Stacks is a smart contract blockchain that enables transactions and settlements to occur on the Bitcoin (BTC) network.
- Early access is expected to be available for beta testing in March 2022.
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▲ TOP GAINERS | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Dogecoin DOGE | $0.184 | 15.92% ▲ | | 2 | PancakeSwap CAKE | $12.36 | 12.04% ▲ | | 3 | Huobi Token HT | $10.00 | 10.41% ▲ | | 4 | Terra LUNA | $58.37 | 7.80% ▲ | | 5 | Tezos XTZ | $4.39 | 6.84% ▲ | ▼ TOP LOSERS | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Revain REV | $0.009612 | 15.28%▼ | | 2 | Quant QNT | $170.12 | 6.32%▼ | | 3 | Voyager Token VGX | $3.16 | 6.29%▼ | | 4 | Gala GALA | $0.4883 | 5.34%▼ | | 5 | Unus Sed Leo LEO | $3.45 | 4.93%▼ | Source: CoinMarketCap, 6:00 EST
*Limited to cryptocurrencies in the Top 100
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 Andreessen Horowitz has invested in NFT investment DAO PleasrDAO. The total amount invested and allocation of governance tokens is unknown at this time. More: - A member of the PleasrDAO council stated that a16z will receive less than 5% of the governance tokens.
- This is a16z's second public investment in a DAO. The firm invested $10M into the community DAO Friends With Benefits (FWB).
- Members of PleasrDAO include Variant Fund's Jesse Walden, Spencer Noon, and Li Jin as well as a16z partner Ali Yahya.
Notable PleasrDAO Investments: - DOGE NFT, $4M: After purchasing the original image of Doge, PleasrDAO fractionalized the NFT into DOG, which currently has a market cap of $100M.
- Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, $4M: The one-of-a-kind, unreleased Wu-Tang Clan album that was previously purchased by Martin Shkreli.
- Stay Free NFT, $5.4M: The NFT created by Edward Snowden was auctioned off on behalf of the Freedom of the Press Foundation.
- Ross Ulbricht Genesis Collection, $5.8M: The NFT, created by Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht, was sold on behalf of the Free Ross Foundation and has become the inaugural piece of PleasrDAO's FreeRossDAO.
This story additionally appears in today's Inside VC newsletter.
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Switzerland-based online bank Swissquote announced the upcoming launch of a crypto trading platform. The largest online bank in Switzerland plans to launch the exchange in the first half of 2022. More: - The bank currently offers wallet support for 24 cryptocurrencies, including BTC, ETH, XRP, LINK, and DOGE.
- Swissquote’s net income from crypto investments has exploded 1,000% since the first half of 2021.
- In addition to offering a crypto exchange, the bank plans to also include stablecoin and staking services.
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QUICK HITS: - The Unlock Protocol launched a WordPress plugin that enables NFT membership access to WordPress sites.
- Mintable announced a partnership with Immutable X to bring Immutable X NFTs onto the NFT platform.
- FTX US signed a $10M partnership deal with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors to create and launch Golden State NFTs on FTX.
- AccuWeather launched a Chainlink (LINK) node to provide weather data to smart contracts.
- Dogecoin (DOGE) surged 25% after Elon Musk announced that Tesla will accept DOGE for merchandise purchases.
- Katy Perry announced her inaugural NFT drop on the Theta (THETA) network.
- The Ethereum Foundation launched its Client Incentive Program, offering Client teams 144 validators (4,608 ETH) to operate on the mainnet.
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UPCOMING EVENTS: - December 14 - [Inside] State of the Union (Register Here)
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- February 17 - Customer Acquisition in a post iOS 14 world (Register Here)
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 |  | Griffin McShane is a New York transplant currently living in Brooklyn, NY. He is a graduate of Providence College, where he studied both computer science and business, and the University of Maine School of Law, where he earned his JD. Beyond his work at Inside, Griffin has written articles for CoinDesk and is a member of the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). |  | | Editor | Aaron Crutchfield is based in the high desert of California. Over the last two decades, he has spent time writing and editing at various local newspapers and defense contractors in California. When he's not working, he can often be found looking at the latest memes with his kids or working on his 1962 Ford. | |
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