The global crypto market cap is $1.98T 0.11%▼ with a 24-hour market volume of $77.20B 1.52%▼. Bitcoin's dominance is currently 40.11% 0.15%▲. CURRENT PRICES BY MARKET CAP | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Bitcoin BTC | $41,858.24 | 0.34% ▲ | | 2 | Ethereum ETH | $3,124.64 | 0.02% ▲ | | 3 | Binance Coin BNB | $471.35 | 1.81% ▲ | | 4 | Cardano ADA | $1.36 | 4.71% ▼ | | 5 | Solana SOL | $136.87 | 0.30% ▼ | Source: CoinMarketCap, 15:30 EST
| |
 Crypto.com Arena Crypto.com Capital, the seed and early-stage funding venture arm of the crypto exchange firm, increased its fund size to $500M. The company’s cash is earmarked for the venture arm and contains no outside investment. More: - The fund has invested in 20 startups until now, including YGG SEA, DeBank, Efinity, Matter Labs, Ledger, Frax Finance, and others.
- Capital of up to $10M is invested via seed and series A funding into early-stage startups broadly focusing on gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), NFT, and cross-chain solutions.
- Crypto.com’s fund size was $200M, as announced earlier in March 2021, and the added investment will be utilized to expand the crypto ecosystem.
Zoom out: - Investments into the crypto/web3 domain increased to $33B in 2021.
- The sum of investments last year was more than investments of all previous years combined.
- Following are key crypto focussed funds announced recently:
- Last week FTX announced a $2B crypto fund.
- Andreessen Horowitz announced a $2.2B crypto fund.
- Paradigm unveiled a $2.5B fund.
- Hivemind Capital Partners announced a $1.5B fund.
| |
TOP NFT COLLECTIONS (24hr Volume) | # | Name | 24h Volume | 24h % | | 1 | Wolf Game ETH | $5.59M | 63.99% ▲ | | 2 | Axie Infinity ETH RONIN | $5.32M | 1.18% ▲ | | 3 | Bored Ape YC ETH | $4.89M | 64.02% ▲ | | 4 | Mutant Ape YC ETH | $4.61M | 24.06% ▼ | | 5 | CryptoPunks ETH | $2.84M | 14.78% ▲ | Source: DappRadar, 15:30 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 78 | 4.88% ▼ | | 2 | CryptoPunks | Ξ 61.95 | 1.56% ▲ | | 3 | Mutant Ape YC | Ξ 15.69 | 0.57% ▼ | | 4 | VeeFriends | Ξ 12.3 | 0.81% ▼ | | 5 | CLONE X | Ξ 5.75 | 1.23% ▲ | Source: NFT Price Floor, 15:30 EST
| |
The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) of the U.K. published draft guidelines today suggesting restrictions on the marketing of some crypto assets. The FCA aims to ensure crypto is marketed to investors who are knowledgeable about investing in crypto and are aware of the risks associated with the asset. More: - Conditions including categorization of potential consumers, sufficient risks warnings, ban on investment provocation, and inducing positive frictions have been recommended in the draft.
- The FCA is seeking public feedback on its proposed rules by March 23, with rules expected to be finalized by mid-year.
- A copy of the draft rules is available here.
- Yesterday, U.K. Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced the Treasury's plans to restrict misleading crypto advertising.
Zoom out: - CNMV, Spain's regulatory authority, toughened its restrictions around crypto promotions earlier this week, prohibiting advertisements and influencers from reaching more than 100,000 individuals without prior authorization.
- Singapore has also increased restrictions on crypto marketing, including a ban on advertising the asset on social media or on public transport.
| |
 A message from LOHIKA Learn Why Web3 Matters to Your Business. Web3 is the next evolution of the Internet. If Web 2.0 was about user-generated content and social media platforms, Web3 is about decentralized services powered by the blockchain. Smart contracts and NFTs are Web3 technologies that run on the blockchain. Lohika is hosting an online event with our friends from Refresh Miami. We gathered a panel of Web3 experts that will explain what blockchain, smart contracts and NFTs are, then discuss related business opportunities in the present and future. The panel: Join us on January 26, 2022 at 10am PT / 1pm ET. Register Here
| |
 🍋 Fresh Funding 🍋 Rain Financial, Cryptocurrency exchange: $110M ⮕ The Series B funding was co-led by Paradigm and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Middle East Venture Partners, CMT Digital Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and Cadenza Ventures. More: - Rain Financial is Bahrain’s first cryptocurrency exchange. It secured its regulatory license in 2019.
- The portal caters to many Middle Eastern countries, including Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, and more.
- The exchange had raised $2.5M seed funding in mid-2019, followed by a $6M Series A in January 2021.
- The fresh funding will be used for regional expansion and scaling up the workforce.
PlotX, GameFi dApp: $5M ⮕ The pre-series funding round was led by Polygon Studios and Hashed, with participation from Animoca Brands. More: - PlotX is part of the polygon ecosystem and has over 80,000 users, reporting a user growth of 144% MoM.
- The company currently has a skill-based trivia game where users can earn rewards.
- The incoming funds will be used to replicate the play-to-earn game Axie Infinity and create a sustainable GameFi system.
iTrustCapital, Crypto individual retirement account (IRA): $125M ⮕ The Series A funding was led by Left Lane Capital. More: - The iTrustCapital platform, which now supports 25 cryptocurrencies as well as physical gold and silver, enables qualified U.S.-based investors to trade cryptocurrencies while still benefiting from the tax advantages of an IRA.
- iTrustCapital, which has a market capitalization of more than $1.3B, plans to add 180,000 to 200,000 users by 2022, up from 27,000 funded accounts.
- The platform’s total transaction volume crossed $4.5B in the past six months.
- The incoming funds will be used for product expansion, scale its teams, expand marketing outreach, and explore potential acquisitions.
Autograph, NFT Platform: $170M ⮕ The Series B funding was co-led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) and Kleiner Perkins, with participation from Nicole Quinn and Katie Haun. More: - The NFT platform, co-founded by NFL player Tom Brady, includes collections featuring Brady, Tiger Woods, Naomi Osaka, The Weeknd, Simone Biles, Tony Hawk, and Darek Jeter.
- Katie Haun, a16z general partners Arianna Simpson and Chris Dixon, and Kleiner Perkins partner Ilya Fushman will join the board of directors as part of the investment.
| |
▲ TOP GAINERS | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Theta Fuel TFUEL | $0.2036 | 11.60% ▲ | | 2 | Loopring LRC | $1.21 | 8.97% ▲ | | 3 | Flow FLOW | $7.36 | 6.75% ▲ | | 4 | FTX Token FTT | $46.13 | 6.12% ▲ | | 5 | Theta Network THETA | $4.38 | 5.86% ▲ | ▼ TOP LOSERS | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Aave AAVE | $214.86 | 6.73%▼ | | 2 | Stacks STX | $2.15 | 6.45%▼ | | 3 | Neo NEO | $24.07 | 6.43%▼ | | 4 | Harmony ONE | $0.2921 | 5.88%▼ | | 5 | Quant QNT | $136.80 | 5.61%▼ | Source: CoinMarketCap, 15:45 EST
*Limited to cryptocurrencies in the Top 100
| |
 Opera Crypto Browser Opera launched the beta version of a Crypto-focused Web3 browser named Crypto Browser Project to provide an easy-to-use interface for mainstream users. The browser consists of a non-custodial wallet and dApps support built-in. More: - The in-built wallet will facilitate deeper integration than traditional browsers and will support Ethereum, Bitcoin, Celo, and Nervos at launch, with an option to use third-party wallets.
- In addition, the browser also has a dedicated crypto corner for the latest news, events calendar, educational content, podcast and videos, and a dedicated crypto prices and market sentiment indicator.
- Opera anticipates adding the energy-efficient Etherium Layer 2 standard to the browser soon and will transition from “proof of work” to “proof of stake” methods.
- The new Layer 2 is estimated to reduce the blockchain’s impact by 95%.
- The browser is currently available for Android, Windows, and Mac, with an iOS version expected soon.
| |
 A message from MODERN TREASURY Why you need to care more about payment operations. If your business moves money, you have payment operations. Payment operations include processes to initiate, approve, track, and reconcile payments. Just like the money they manage, payment operations are critical to a functioning business. In fact, survey data show that 86% of finance leaders view upgrading their payment operations as a priority. To better understand the current state of payment operations, Modern Treasury partnered with the Harris Poll to survey 300 leaders and uncover their top payment operations problems and priorities. In our first-ever report on payment operations, we reveal: - The costliest payment-related challenges companies face
- The 5 upgrades to payment operations leaders believe are most important
- The 7 most common barriers to upgrading payment operations
And more. Download the Report
| |
 Gemini and Omniex Cryptocurrency platform Gemini Trust Co. acquired trading platform Omniex for an undisclosed amount. Gemini also announced its foray into prime brokerage with its Gemini Prime service. More: - Omniex will be integrated into the Gemini Prime service in Q2 2022 when the latter will complete its full rollout.
- The acquisition will help Gemini simplify trading for investors through OTC liquidity sources, multi-exchange access, deal execution via sophisticated algorithms, and full API connectivity.
- Omniex provides price discovery across 35 exchanges and OTC sources.
- The California-based Omniex will be Gemini’s sixth acquisition to date.
- Last week Gemini acquired Bitria to expand its service offerings to wealth and asset managers.
- Gemini was valued at $7.1B at its last funding round of $400M in Nov. 2021.
| |
The vice-chairman of the European Securities and Markets Authority, Erik Thedéen, called for an EU-wide ban on cryptocurrency mining using “proof of work” methods, citing the high amount of renewable energy consumed by this mining during an interview with FT. He proposed moving to the sustainable “proof of stake” methodology. More: - The Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index data highlighted the high power consumption of cryptocurrency mining, which accounts for 0.6% of total energy consumption in the world.
- “Bitcoin is now a national issue for Sweden because of the amount of renewable energy devoted to mining,” said Thedéen, in addition to calling on “the EU to consider an EU-level ban on the energy-intensive mining method proof of work.”
- He believes that the mining of cryptocurrency will hinder goals set under the Paris climate agreement.
- Sweden considered banning the PoW method last November.
- Ethereum announced in early Jan. 2022 that it will transition to the proof of stake model in June.
- China banned the energy-intensive “proof of work” process, which relies on transaction verification by all participants on the blockchain digital ledger, last year.
| |
Quick Hits - The #1 play-to-earn blockchain game is free to get started. Sign up for Splinterlands now to get daily airdrops and earn tokens for every win.*
- Crypto investment firm Pantera is trying to raise $1B for a new crypto-focused fund. The firm will take investments toward the fund until April.
- Intel will supposedly launch its ultra-low-voltage energy-efficient Bitcoin mining “Bonanza Mine” ASIC processor during the upcoming International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in February. Bitcoin mining startup GRIID, which may receive the first Intel chips along with a significant share of production volumes, plans to go public via SPAC at an expected valuation of $3.3B.
- ErgoBTC, an analyst at OXT Research, claimed that the Crypto.com hack has allegedly led to a theft of ~$33M, much higher than the $15M (4,830 ETH) reported by the crypto exchange app. Later in the day, CEO Kris Marszalek confirmed the breach affected 400 accounts.
- Coinbase has partnered with Mastercard to make Mastercard’s card payment option available for purchases on the former’s upcoming NFT platform.
- Sci-fi trading game Parallel will sell a single edition NFT through auction, the proceeds of which will be diverted to the online learning platform Khan Academy.
- Demand Gen Chat is a podcast for B2B marketers, by B2B marketers. No fluff, just the hottest takes on driving revenue from today’s marketing leaders.*
*This is sponsored content
| |
Upcoming Events: - January 19 - Music in the Metaverse with Jonathan Gray (Encore) (Register Here)
- January 25 - Need To Know NoCoder - Leon Young (Cogniss) (Register Here)
- January 25 - Venturing in VC - Episode #4 with David Cowan (Bessemer Venture Partners) (Register Here)
- January 26 - Join Ketch & Kelley Drye's data privacy experts for a joint webinar. Privacy Priorities for 2022: Legal and Tech Developments to Track and Tackle. (Register Here) *
- January 27 - Understanding the Metaverse (Register Here)
- February 01 - Venturing in VC - Episode #5 (Register Here)
- February 03 - Blockchain Gaming & Play-to-Earn Economies (Register Here)
- February 10 - The Business of Wellness (Register Here)
- February 17 - Efficient Marketing Strategies in a Post iOS 14 World (Register Here)
- February 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Derya Sousa (Kianda Technologies) (Register Here)
- February 24 - Alternative Investments (Register Here)
- March 03 - The $12B Appetite for Amazon Aggregators (Register Here)
- March 10 - NoCode's Impact on the Gig Economy (Register Here)
- March 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Nichole Bestman (Bubble) (Register Here)
*This is a sponsored listing
| |
 |  | 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. | |
Join our Refresh Miami panel of experts to learn what is Web3 and why it matters to your business. | |
| |
