The global crypto market cap is $1.67T 0.85%▲ with a 24-hour market volume of $42.40B 42.79%▼. Bitcoin's dominance is currently 41.90% 0.40%▲. CURRENT PRICES BY MARKET CAP | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Bitcoin BTC | $36,899.69 | 1.99% ▲ | | 2 | Ethereum ETH | $2,451.72 | 1.37% ▲ | | 3 | BNB BNB | $384.69 | 4.35% ▲ | | 4 | Cardano ADA | $1.03 | 0.26% ▼ | | 5 | Solana SOL | $90.85 | 0.58% ▲ | Source: CoinMarketCap, 14:30 EST
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The U.S. SEC granted BSTX LLC approval to operate a blockchain-based securities exchange. BSTX is jointly owned by tZero and Boston Options Exchange (BOX) Digital Markets. More: - The platform is based on tZERO technology.
- BSTX aims to provide immediate settlements for blockchain transactions.
- The exchange platform will cater to retail and institutional investors and will eventually support regulated crypto markets.
- BOX had tried to get SEC approval for an exchange since 2020 but has been unsuccessful.
- The SEC approval is conditional to the implementation of the national market system, which provides real-time market information.
- The complete SEC report is available here.
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TOP NFT COLLECTIONS (24hr Volume) | # | Name | 24h Volume | 24h % | | 1 | Bored Ape YC ETH | $9.29M | 13.18% ▲ | | 2 | Mutant Ape YC ETH | $4.78M | 58.13% ▼ | | 3 | Cryptopunks ETH | $4.5M | 0.89% ▲ | | 4 | CLONE X - X TAKASHI MURAKAMI ETH | $4.34M | 206.48%▲ | | 5 | Capsule House ETH | $2.92M | 25.15% ▲ | Source: DappRadar, 14:30 EST (0% royalty NFTs with the majority of their daily transaction volume on LooksRare omitted)
TOP ETH NFT COLLECTIONS (Floor Cap) | # | Name | Floor Price (ETH) | 24h % | | 1 | Bored Ape YC | Ξ 95 | 0% ▲ | | 2 | CryptoPunks | Ξ 84.9 | 6.79% ▲ | | 3 | Mutant Ape YC | Ξ 19.9 | 4.74% ▲ | | 4 | CLONE X | Ξ 9.49 | 4.29% ▲ | | 5 | Cool Cats | Ξ 14.7 | 2.08% ▲ | Source: NFT Price Floor, 14:30 EST
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A hacker exploited a bug in Qubit Finance’s Ethereum bridge to steal 206,809 BNB worth $80M. The DeFi platform has offered $250,000 to the hacker if he returns the stolen funds, per the conditions under the bug bounty program in collaboration with Immunefi, an ethical hacking site. More: - The attacker hacked the cross-chain bridge connected to Ethereum, used to mint Xplosive Ethereum (xETH) after users deposit Wrapped Ethereum (wETH), allowing him to mint xETH without any deposits.
- The Qubit team has contacted the hacker to negotiate the return of stolen funds, which can be seen lying in the hacker’s address.
- The company has not conveyed its plans to compensate users yet.
- Following the news of the hack, Qubit’s token dropped 27% on the last day.
Zoom out: - Several DeFi projects hosted on Binance Smart Chain were exploited in 2021.
- Meerkat Finance was hacked for $31M in March.
- Uranium Finance was exploited for $50M in April.
- Venus Finance was hacked for $88M in May.
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 🍋 Fresh Funding 🍋 Unblocked, NFT: $10M. The seed funding round was led by Tiger Global with participation from Dapper Labs, Marcy Venture Partners, Oaktree Capital Management, and others. More: - Unblocked partners with brands and celebrities to build a customized NFT platform.
- The company has already created bespoke platforms for Cypress Group and Billboard.
- Unblocked uses Dapper’s blockchain Flow to build platforms.
Astar Network, Smart Contracts: $22M. The funding round was led by Polychain with participation from Alameda Research, Alchemy Ventures, Crypto.com Capital, and others angel investors. More: - Astar Network facilitates interconnectivity and linkages between multiple blockchains to Polkadot.
- The fresh funding will be used to strengthen the interconnectivity between Ethereum and Polkadot smart contracts.
- It had previously raised $10M last June, led by Fenbushi Capital, OKX Ventures, and Huobi Capital.
Dropp GG, NFT platform: $8M. The funding round was led by Animoca Brands with participation from Three Arrows Capital, DeFiance Capital, Alameda Research, Spartan Capital, Genblock Capital, Anti Fund VC, and others. More: - Dropp GG is a social NFT minting platform.
- The startup is developing a Dropp Land project, where users will be given physical tokens of NFTs for every NFT token purchased in the metaverse.
- The fresh funding will be used to develop its mixed reality events framework.
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▲ TOP GAINERS | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Flow FLOW | $5.51 | 10.38% ▲ | | 2 | Symbol XYM | $0.1698 | 8.84% ▲ | | 3 | BORA BORA | $1.02 | 6.46% ▲ | | 4 | Chainlink LINK | $15.74 | 6.14% ▲ | | 5 | BNB BNB | $388.34 | 5.86% ▲ | ▼ TOP LOSERS | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Terra LUNA | $48.86 | 12.54%▼ | | 2 | Convex Finance CVX | $23.33 | 7.83% ▼ | | 3 | NEAR Protocol NEAR | $10.42 | 3.93% ▼ | | 4 | Helium HNT | $26.69 | 3.84% ▼ | | 5 | Theta Fuel TFUEL | $0.1722 | 3.65% ▼ | Source: CoinMarketCap, 14:45 EST
*Limited to cryptocurrencies in the Top 100
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 HashKey Hong Kong-based HashKey Group’s new blockchain fund obtained a $360M commitment from investors. The digital asset company, a subsidiary of China-based Wanxiang Group, will invest funds in blockchain and cryptocurrency startups. More: - The group will target early-stage startups and major liquid tokens in Asia.
- Executive President of HashKey Group Michel Lee considers the timing to be right to invest in and take advantage of the early adoption of blockchain startups, citing the technological advancements and rise in business cases for the deployed technology.
- HashKey has invested in over 110 companies across 14 nations, including blockchain projects such as Polkadot, BlockFi, Terra, Animoca Brands, and Blockdaemon.
- The fund aims to encompass a full spectrum of blockchain technology and crypto-assets.
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 Bitcoin's global energy consumption BTC mining network accounts for less than 0.08% of total CO2 emissions, per crypto investment firm CoinShares. The network produced 41Mt of CO2 in 2021, 5Mt up from the 36Mt produced in 2020. More: - For comparison, fiat currency printing is estimated to generate 8 Mt CO2 per year.
- Bitcoin mining has been criticized by worldwide governments for its energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
- Yesterday, Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. and Riot Blockchain Inc. were asked to provide their annual electricity consumption figures and impact on local prices by eight lawmakers.
- However, the report by CoinShare highlights that Bitcoin mining accounts for ~0.05% of the total energy consumption.
- The report also mentions that BTC will consume less energy once 99% of the BTC are minted by 2040 and will only require energy for transaction settlement.
- BTC's total mining energy consumed came from sources such as coal (35%), natural gas (24%), hydro (21%), nuclear (11%), and wind (4%).
- BMC data shows BTC mining absorbed 3.2% of the wasted energy last year.
- The full CoinShare report about the energy and carbon impact can be viewed here.
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Russian authorities have charted a road map to have cryptocurrency regulations in place by year-end, per documents seen by RBK. The documents indicate the introduction of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) rules. More: - The plan was drafted in conjunction with several government agencies, such as the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Economic Development, General Prosecutor's Office, Federal Tax Service, Ministry of Digital Development, Bank of Russia, Federal Security Service, Ministry of Interior, and Rosfinmonitoring.
- The latter is responsible for the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing and will serve as a watchdog to monitor transactions through Transparent Blockchain.
- Sources close to RBK said the Bank of Russia called for an outright ban on cryptocurrency in the nation.
- Certain milestones have been highlighted in the road map before completion of the full set of regulations:
- The Ministry of Finance will design a compliance system for peer-to-peer platforms by May.
- Adoption of global Financial Action Task Force's AML standards by November.
- Cryptocurrency registration and reporting rules by December.
- The plan will also outline the structure of a monitoring body and define penalties in case of non-compliance.
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- LeBron James' charity, the LeBron James Family Foundation (LJFF), has linked a multi-year partnership with Crypto.com to educate underserved communities and create job opportunities in the blockchain and decentralized application sector.
- Johnny Depp is set to release 11,111 NFTs under the "Never Fear Truth" collection. The collection features artwork created by the actor himself. One high-resolution physical copy of the artwork will also be given to each owner.
- Brevan Howard will invest $250M in the crypto sector through its BH Digital unit. It has also hired Peter Johnson, former Jump Capital Partner, and Cem Paya, former lead security at Gemini, to lead the investments.
- WisdomTree's crypto assets under management averaged at $406M in Q4. The Nasdaq-listed firm managed a total of $77.5B worth of assets across all businesses at quarter-end, with net income of $11.2M for the period.
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 |  | Karan Chafekar is a Management Consultant, Business enthusiast, and Licensed Pilot. | | | | 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. | |
In SuperWorldapp.com users can explore and create AR, engage in a virtual real estate marketplace, or buy/sell NFTs in our Salon. | |
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