Weekly Web3 Roundup

THIS WEEK IN NUMBERS

• Ethereum transaction fees have dropped to 2020 levels as trading volumes drop.
• AVAX and SOL lead other L1s in terms of annual price performance, while BNB is down the least since BTC’s all-time-high.
• The price of BTC fell ~85% from peak-to-trough in each of the last two major bear markets. Right now it’s down ~72% from its high, but if history repeats it would imply a low of just above $10K and another 50% drawdown from current levels.
• BTC’s outflow from exchanges hit an all-time-high last week. This is a historically bullish indicator, as it implies more BTC is being moved to cold storage.
• ⅓ of Ethereum nodes currently run on AWS, highlighting the need for decentralized hosting infrastructure.

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🟣 Use of crypto to pay salaries in developing countries on the rise

• More and more companies in developing nations, particularly those with inflationary fiat currencies, are turning to crypto to pay their employees.
• This highlights one of blockchain’s most promising real-world use cases- remittances. 
• According to a World Bank report in 2020, the average fee for a remittance is a staggering 6.5%. Cryptocurrencies present an opportunity to remove remittance fees entirely.
  

🟣 Tracking 3AC

• 3AC co-founders Su Zhu and Kyle Davies remain silent, aren’t cooperating with liquidation proceedings
• Blockchain.com reveals $270M in losses from 3AC loan, states that operations are unaffected
• Bankruptcy judge passes judgment allowing Teneo to serve subpoenas to 3AC founders for discovery
• Zhu Su breaks his silence
• Defiance Capital materially affected by 3AC liquidation proceedings
  

🟣 Tracking Celsius

• Celsius hires new restructuring lawyers as the troubled lender continues to attempt to pay-off its debt obligations
• Celsius moves $124M of WBTC from Aave
• Vermont regulator - Celsius is deeply insolvent
• Celsius refuses to make financials public, misses out on potential $6B bailout
• Celsius has paid off over $800M of its debts to dApps
• Celsius declares Chapter 11 bankruptcy
• Celsius Network could survive bankruptcy, according to restructuring expert 
  

🟣 CPI report comes in at 9.1%

• Inflation is still on the rise as the US’ Consumer Price Index report reads an inflation rate of 9.1%, a 40-year high.
• The report has affected prices across markets.
  

‍🟣 Terra projects begin move to Polygon

• Over 48 projects previously hosted on Terra have begun to transition to Polygon, with $20M earmarked to help the transition.

🟣 74% of Latin Americans prefer businesses which accept crypto payments

• A new report by Ripple shows how Latin Americans enjoy crypto payments more than other regions.

🟣 Mastercard partners with Fasset

• Mastercard has partnered with Middle Eastern digital asset gateway, Fasset, to expand financial services in Indonesia.
• The partnership will increase financial inclusion in Indonesia, where there are currently 92 million unbanked people.

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🟡 GameStop launches long-awaited NFT marketplace

• The marketplace hosts projects on the Ethereum network, as well as on Loopring.
• Currently the marketplace only hosts artwork, but has plans to become a player in the gaming industry.

🟡 OpenSea lays off 20% of employees

• OpenSea joins other major crypto firms as it downsizes its workforce by 20%. 

🟡  NFL to offer NFT ticket stubs to over 100 games in 2022

• The NFTs, which are minted on the Flow blockchain, are commemorative tickets for each game.
• This promotion is done through a partnership with Ticketmaster.

🟡 Coinbase set to premier Bill Murray’s biographical NFT

• Murray has partnered with Coinbase, theCHIVE, and Project Venkman to release a series of one-of-one NFTs.
• The NFTs contain advice, memories, anecdotes, observations, and more.

🟡 Court in the UK allows lawsuit via NFT airdrop

• The firm Giambrone and Partners were granted permission to serve legal proceedings to an anonymous individual via NFT airdrop.
• The anonymous person, as well as several crypto exchanges, are being sued over a loss of funds. 

🔵 Magic Eden launches Magic Ventures

• Alongside the new venture arm, Magic Eden has expanded its gaming division, Eden Games, onboarding several key hires and new partnerships.

🔵 Axie Infinity Co-founder claims project is ‘healing’ as volumes surge 205% in Axie Infinity NFT sales

• Axie Infinity volume sales pump 205% over the past 7 days.
• Some of the contributing factors for the recent pump are Axie Infinity Land staking, the launch of Origin, and the relaunching of Ronin Bridge after the $600M hack.

🔵 Tencent shuts down their NFT platform amidst government policy changes

• NFT buyers are prohibited from selling their NFTs in private transactions after purchase, meaning there is no secondary market.
• Alibaba also launched an NFT platform in June, but later deleted all mentions of it from the internet.

🔵 Cryptopunk #4464 sells for over $2.6 million

• Despite the downturn in the market, this sale is tied for the fourth largest Cryptopunk sale of all time (in ETH pricing).
• This is the single largest NFT sale over the past 30 days.

🟢 Shanghai dedicates $1.5B to Metaverse development

• This financing aims to create 10 leading companies and 100 smaller firms in the industry.
• This fund will aim to encourage Metaverse use in public services and business offices.

🟢 Playboy has plans to launch ‘MetaMansion’ in The Sandbox

• The MetaMansion will host gaming, social, and programmed events.
• This builds off of Playboy’s first foray into NFTs, Rabbitars.

🟢 Disney announces metaverse accelerator programme

• Disney has announced six companies that are part of the programme, including Polygon.

🟢 HTC releases Desire 22 Pro — A metaverse smartphone with Ethereum and Polygon compatibility

• HTC jumps into web3 with its new phone, Desire 22 Pro.
• Desire 22 Pro is priced at $403 and is currently available in Taiwan, Japan, and across Europe.

🟢 A Movie Studio is being built in Sandbox

• Animoca Brands announces partnership with Planet Hollywood to create a movie studio themed experience in the Sandbox, Metathollywood.
• The goal of the partnership is to bridge the gap between movie fans, studios, and creators. 

🟠 5ire announces $100M raise

• NFT Technologies portfolio company, 5ire, has announced a $100M Series A raise at a $1.5B valuation.
• 5ire adopts an innovative proof-of-benefit consensus mechanism, which is based on accelerating progress towards the UN SDGs.

🟠 Justin Sun ready to deploy $5B to help struggling crypto firms

• The TRON founder is making these bold claims despite TRON’s stablecoin USDD still trading at a discount, below $1M, which has led some to question Sun’s claims.

🟠 Lightspeed announces $7B raised over four funds

• The VC has also launched a crypto team, Lightspeed Faction.

🟠 Multicoin Capital announces new $430M crypto fund

• Multicoin aims to continue investing in startups that will increase web3’s adoption.

🟠 Gnosis Safe rebrands to Safe

• The EVM multisig wallet has separated from its infrastructure builder, Gnosis, following a community vote.
• The company has secured over $40B of assets.

🟠 Starkware confirms StarkNet token

• The zero-knowledge layer-2 blockchain’s token has been long-awaited.
• The token will be used for transaction fees, governance, and consensus.