The global crypto market cap is $2.02T 2.42%▲ with a 24-hour market volume of $51.51B 33.36%▼. Bitcoin's dominance is currently 40.20% 0.13%▲. CURRENT PRICES BY MARKET CAP | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Bitcoin BTC | $42,928.74 | 2.56% ▲ | | 2 | Ethereum ETH | $3,220.40 | 3.01% ▲ | | 3 | Binance Coin BNB | $464.99 | 1.21% ▼ | | 4 | Cardano ADA | $1.39 | 1.39% ▲ | | 5 | Solana SOL | $140.25 | 2.57% ▲ | Source: CoinMarketCap, 15:00 EST
| |
NFT trading volume crossed the $4B mark for the first time on OpeaSea, 20% higher than the previous peak of $3.4B in Aug. 2021. The world's largest NFT marketplace has been averaging daily volumes of $261M. More: - The surge in activity has been driven by the increasing number of celebrities and sports franchises embracing the digital collectibles medium.
- Celebrities Britney Spears, Eminem, and Jimmy Fallon have been linked to the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
- Eminem's "EminApe" was purchased for $460,000.
- The digital collectible medium features pictures of cartoon apes which have amassed a market value of $2.4B and a trading volume of $43M in the last week alone.
- One BAYC image was sold for $1.4M this month.
- BAYC's collection of 10,000 Ethereum-based NFTs sold on OpenSea for a price averaging over $300,000.
- NFT trading volumes increased 20,000% to $23B in 2021, up from $100M a year prior.
- OpenSea accounted for 88% of the total NFT trading volume transactions in 2021, amounting to ~$12.5B.
| |
TOP NFT COLLECTIONS (24hr Volume) | # | Name | 24h Volume | 24h % | | 1 | Axie Infinity ETH RONIN | $6.97M | 32.94% ▲ | | 2 | Bored Ape YC ETH | $3.5M | 21.34% ▼ | | 3 | Fluf World ETH | $3.12M | 20.51% ▲ | | 4 | Decentraland ETH | $2.64M | 315.35% ▲ | | 5 | Wolf Game ETH | $2.61M | 37.21% ▼ | Source: DappRadar, 15:00 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 84.5 | 8.33% ▲ | | 2 | CryptoPunks | Ξ 62.3 | 0.56% ▲ | | 3 | Mutant Ape YC | Ξ 15.6 | 0.64% ▼ | | 4 | CLONE X | Ξ 6.2469 | 8.64% ▲ | | 5 | VeeFriends | Ξ 12 | 2.44% ▼ | Source: NFT Price Floor, 15:00 EST
| |
Secret Network announced it is offering $400M to projects, split into a $225M ecosystem fund and a $175M accelerator pool. The platform claims to be the first blockchain that provides a default data privacy option, including permissionless and privacy-safeguarding applications. More: - The ecosystem fund is established to provide long-term strategic and financial support to developers already building applications for the privacy-oriented blockchain ecosystem.
- This fund is expected to empower developers to bring their products to market and facilitate self-sustainability.
- The accelerator fund will invest in DeFi, NFTs, gaming, metaverse, and other applications through grants, capital, and incentives.
- This pool is managed by SCRT Labs.
- Alameda Research, DeFiance Capital, CoinFund, HashKey, Kucoin Labs, and Huobi Ventures have acquired SCRT tokens, which is the 80th largest cryptocurrency with a valuation of $1.3B.
- Secret is best known for hosting Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction NFT auction.
| |
 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
| |
 🍋 Fresh Funding 🍋 SEBA, Swiss regulated crypto bank: $120M ⮕ The Series C funding round was co-led by a consortium of investment firms Altive, Ordway Selections, Summer Capital, and DeFi Technologies, with participation from Alameda Research, Julius Baer, and others. More: - SEBA, founded in 2017, is a Switzerland-based regulated crypto bank with a presence in over 25 markets.
- The fresh funding will be used to fuel international expansion into UAE, Hong Kong, and Singapore; double workforce to 100; and product expansion.
- The bank, which has received ~$295M in funding to date, is also exploring an entry into the NFT and DeFi markets.
Shakepay, Canada’s bitcoin trade marketplace: $35M ⮕ The Series A investment was led by QED Investors with participation from Golden Ventures, Broadhaven, entrepreneurs Henri Machalani and Mike Murchison, and others. Shopify’s product leaders also participated in the funding. More: - Shakepay allows customers in Canada to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as send money to other users.
- The company’s beta version of Shakepay Visa Prepaid Card, which grants bitcoin cashback rewards, already has 180,000 customers during the early access phase since launching in December.
- The fresh funding will be used to scale the business and launch new products.
- QED Investors partner Matt Burton will join the board of directors as part of the investment terms.
BlockFills, Crypto trading platform: $37M ⮕ The Series A funding round was led by Susquehanna Private Equity with participation from CME Ventures, Simplex Ventures, C6E, Nexo Inc, and others. More: - BlockFills, a Chicago-based company founded in 2018, provides an end-to-end trading platform for Cryptocurrency and other digital assets.
- The company currently has over 600 institutional clients and has averaged 20x monthly trading volumes since Jan. 2020.
- The fresh funding will be used for global expansion.
Soma.Finance, Decentralized exchange (DEX): $6.5M ⮕ The seed funding round was led by Animoca Brands, with participation from Kenetic Capital, Griffin Gaming Partners, GSR, Token Bay Capital, Mind Fund, Unknown VC, Fomocraft, BCW Group, Tai Ping Shan Capital, Gate Ventures and 0x Ventures, and others. More: - Soma.Finance is a decentralized exchange for institutional and retail investors.
- The funding will be used to develop KYC, anti-money laundering, permissionless regulated automated market functions in what is aimed to be a fully regulatory compliant platform.
| |
▲ TOP GAINERS | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | WOO Network WOO | $0.897 | 11.60% ▲ | | 2 | BORA BORA | $0.9084 | 6.86% ▲ | | 3 | Quant QNT | $146.42 | 6.84% ▲ | | 4 | Crypto.com Coin CRO | $0.4631 | 6.77% ▲ | | 5 | Helium HNT | $30.73 | 6.40% ▲ | ▼ TOP LOSERS | # | Name | Price | 24h % | | 1 | Secret SCRT | $8.52 | 6.07%▼ | | 2 | BitTorrent BTT | $0.0025 | 4.67%▼ | | 3 | IoTeX IOTX | $0.1074 | 3.04%▼ | | 4 | Theta Fuel TFUEL | $0.1966 | 2.97%▼ | | 5 | Flow FLOW | $7.19 | 2.49%▼ | Source: CoinMarketCap, 15:15 EST
*Limited to cryptocurrencies in the Top 100
| |
China’s digital yuan wallets (e-CNY) were activated by over 261 million citizens at the end of 2021, as claimed by the People’s Bank of China (PBoC). The digital wallet is currently accessible in pilot zones of Beijing, Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Chengdu. The official pilot app released earlier this month was downloaded by over 20 million residents. More: - The digital wallet is offered currently by nine commercial banks, a few state-owned, and other private financial entities.
- Tencent’s WeChatPay and Alibaba also offer digital wallets.
- PBoC Director Zou Lan claimed transaction volume crossed $13.8B (87.5B yuan) last year after being adopted by 8 million merchants.
- China Southern Airlines joined two other major airlines in incorporating digital CNY payment options.
- Meituan, a food delivery application, in collaboration with the Bank of China will roll out a promotional offer that rewards up to $6.30 e-CNY cashback on the usage of digital yuan for payments.
- The cashback funds can be used for bicycle hires, plastic-free food delivery, and train ticket purchases.
- The full rollout schedule was not shared, although visiting athletes at the upcoming Olympics in Beijing will be offered to try digital yuan-compatible smartphone apps and wristbands.
| |
 A message from INDEED The 7 best programming languages to learn in 2022. Which programming language should you learn? An experienced software engineer highlights languages in high demand, which often offer significant salary opportunities and can be leveraged in several types of roles. Indeed also offers top resources for tech talent: - Easily search over 670,000 technology jobs in the United States including software engineer, product manager, UX designer and more. (Indeed data, 2021) - Discover high-paying jobs and companies, and discover your worth with Indeed's salary calculator. - Optimize your resume with proven templates for a range of tech roles. - Learn how to stand out to employers with an Indeed Resume. Learn More
| |
Terraform Labs announced the establishment of the Luna Foundation Guard, a Singapore-based nonprofit organization that will focus on ensuring the price stability of its stablecoin and drive ecosystem growth. The LFG was given a 50M LUNA donation, estimated to be worth $4.1B. More: - TerraUSD, Terra's flagship algorithmically-governed stablecoin product, has a supply of roughly 10.8 billion coins, making it the largest decentralized stablecoin by market capitalization in the industry.
- Despite being the fourth-largest stablecoin by supply, the asset is not backed by any traditional or crypto assets collateral. Instead, it depends on an algorithmic balance maintained with LUNA for price stability.
- The LFG has been created to ensure TerraUSD's pricing mechanisms' long-term sustainability.
- The fund will also provide grants to DeFi projects and open-source blockchain technology.
| |
 WAX's NFT drop Worldwide Asset eXchange (WAX) is celebrating crossing the 10 million total wallet accounts milestone by distributing 10 million free NFT collectibles, one each per wallet holder. The platform, which currently has 11 million active accounts, will provide a free unique NFT pin. More: - WAX's registered user base has grown 20 times since the end of 2020, when it had ~500,000 users on its platform.
- The platform growth coincides with NFT market growth overall, which has increased from $100M in trading volume in 2020 to $23B last year.
- William Quigley, CEO and co-founder, claims this would be the largest NFT drop yet, highlighting the WAX platform's processing prowess to handle a load of millions of NFTs in comparison with Ethereum's NFTs, which he claims would be "slow and very expensive to mint."
- The CEO highlighted the speed gains are due to its adoption of the proof-of-stake method, which also helps it remain carbon-neutral.
- Reebok, Mattel, Capcom, Atari, and others have partnered with WAX citing its scaling capabilities and low fees.
| |
Quick Hits - B2B leads slip through the cracks more often than they should. Fix your inbound funnel and double inbound conversions with Chili Piper. Learn how.*
- Andreessen Horowitz, popularly known as a16z, is planning to raise $4.5B toward new crypto funds, of which $3.5B will be earmarked for venture funds while the remaining $1B will be for web3 sector seed investments. If successful, the funds would be the largest raised to date toward crypto assets.
- NYC Mayor Eric Adams received his first paycheck, which has been automatically converted into cryptocurrency (BTC and ETH) in line with his previous pledge.
- Citadel Securities disclosed on Tuesday that it had secured $1.15B in a funding round led by Sequoia Capital and crypto venture capital firm Paradigm. The incoming funds will fuel Citadel’s global expansion and into new asset classes, possibly including crypto.
- Crypto.com acknowledged losing $33.84M (4,836.26 ETC and 443.93 BTC) during the recent hack, which affected 483 users. The company initially claimed to have lost ~$15M, but online blockchain analyst ErgoBTC tweeted that the numbers would be higher than suggested, estimating the loss to be around $34M.
- Meta Platforms Inc. has drawn up plans to create its own NFT marketplace and accordingly link NFTs with Facebook and Instagram profiles.
- Crocs filed for trademark applications for creating and selling digital assets, collectibles, and NFTs.
- Russia’s central bank proposed a ban on mining and trading cryptocurrency, citing the volatility of the digital asset.
- Twitter announced the rollout of integration of NFT profile pictures, currently limited to iOS devices. The API integration is powered by OpenSea.
- Sign up for free and find out why Splinterlands is the world’s #1 NFT game. Own your own assets. Get daily airdrops. Earn with every win.*
*This is sponsored content
| |
Upcoming Events: - 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. | |
| |
Which programming language should you learn? Ask Indeed. | |
