tl;dr
• Almost no news is more important than the EU outlawing all anonymous crypto transactions involving CEXs• It is looking like Meta plans on creating its own crypto exchange• Gamers are voicing their opinions of the FTX purchase of Storybook Brawl, and it ain't good• Helium raised $200M in a Series D...
• Almost no news is more important than the EU outlawing all anonymous crypto transactions involving CEXs
• It is looking like Meta plans on creating its own crypto exchange
• Gamers are voicing their opinions of the FTX purchase of Storybook Brawl, and it ain't good
• Helium raised $200M in a Series D round and changed their name to Nova Labs
• Polkadot will be integrating their 2 protocols, Acala and Karura, with Wormhole
Had to mention some macro news that shook the crypto market. Here is what's on my mind today.
1. Almost no news is more important than the EU outlawing all anonymous crypto transactions involving CEXs. This is a crazy move and, in my humble opinion, will have the opposite effect of what they are seeking. I think centralized exchanges were expecting this and many are already creating or have already created non-custodial versions of their services. There are new fiat onramps (and even some existing ones) where you can get fiat into the system and snatch up some digital assets. Illicit transactions are most likely happening OTC anyway. What are you really stopping? I stated in a video on March 7th that Coinbase identified over 25K addresses tied to illicit transactions in Russia alone.
2. It is looking like Meta plans on creating its own crypto exchange. This should not be a surprise to anyone if you have been paying attention. They already announced NFTs are coming to Instagram (following the push by Twitter). Not to mention, the patents they filed for seem to point to a very structured and vast approach to crypto technologies. Of course, there are still more than a small number of regulatory hoops they will have to jump through to trade digital assets. Given their history I am not expecting an easy road for them.
3. Gamers are voicing their opinions of the FTX purchase of Storybook Brawl, developers of Good Luck Games, and it isn't good. I know crypto companies want to get into the gaming space, but this kind of move may be a playbook for how not to do it. The backlash can be brutal.
4. Helium, Inc., the developers of Helium Blockchain, made 2 major announcements. They raised $200M in a Series D round and changed their name to Nova Labs. I was joking yesterday, but it seems like everyone out there has "Labs" after their name. Is this the new ".com" thing? With a new valuation of $1.2B, they are expected to increase their workforce. The funding round was led by Tiger Ventures, but includes the likes of Deutsche Telekom, Seven Seven Six Ventures (Alexis Ohanian), GV and Andreessen Horowitz to name a few. With that kind of cash infusion, one could expect some major moves in the very near future.
5. In a major announcement Polkadot will be integrating their 2 protocols, Acala and Karura, with Wormhole. Wormhole is a blockchain bridging platform. Wormhole is already bridged with eight other blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche, Polygon and Binance, to name a few.