Crypto Saving Expert

W tej nowej, świeżej rundzie inwestycyjnej LayerZero ponownie połączyło 33 różnych darczyńców z kilkoma renomowanymi inwestorami, w tym a16z Crypto, Sequoia Capital, Circle Ventures, Samsung Next, OpenSea i Christie’s. Prawie rok temu LayerZero zebrało 135 milionów dolarów w rundzie inwestycyjnej prowadzonej wspólnie przez Sequoia Capital, FTX Ventures i Andreessen Horowitz, w tym Coinbase Ventures i PayPal Ventures, Tiger Global, Uniswap Labs i innych inwestorów. W poprzedniej rundzie inwestycyjnej LayerZero zostało wycenione na 1 miliard dolarów, czyli trzykrotnie mniej niż ogłoszono dzisiaj. Według Bryana Pellegrino, współzałożyciela i dyrektora generalnego LayerZero Labs, trudne warunki rynkowe w połowie roku były powodem, dla którego LayerZero zaczęło zabiegać o pieniądze na rundę pod koniec ubiegłego roku. Mimo to narzucił, że LayerZero nie potrzebuje pieniędzy i że pieniądze zostały zebrane na wsparcie celów ekspansji LayerZero. Pellegrino wspomniał również, że jednym z głównych celów na ten rok jest znaczące wejście na rynek Azji i Pacyfiku oraz do branży gier. W ramach dwóch rund finansowania LayerZero Labs otrzymało 263 miliony dolarów. Według tego, co powiedziało źródło The Block, wszystkie rundy finansowania mają tę samą strukturę SAFE (skrót od „prosta umowa na przyszły kapitał”) oraz symboliczne warrantów.

Raport opublikowany przez De.Fi Security ujawnił, że branża kryptowalut straciła ponad 450 milionów dolarów w wyniku włamań i oszustw w pierwszym kwartale 2023 roku. Całkowita strata znacznie spadła w porównaniu ze stratą 1,3 miliarda dolarów odnotowaną w pierwszym kwartale 2022 roku. De.Fi Security ujawniło że z 451 milionów dolarów straconych ponad 210 milionów dolarów utracono w pierwszych 20 dniach marca, a reszta rozłożyła się na styczeń i luty. „Chociaż cała uwaga skupiona była na rozwijającym się kryzysie bankowym i późniejszym wzroście na rynku Bitcoin, zaobserwowaliśmy, że straty w kryptografii wzrosły do ​​9-cyfrowej kwoty w marcu i drugi miesiąc z rzędu. Hakerzy i oszuści podnoszą stawkę ponieważ liczymy, że w pierwszym kwartale roku łączna strata wyniesie blisko 400 milionów dolarów” – czytamy w raporcie.

Najbardziej godną uwagi decyzją SEC jest akcja przeciwko firmie Ripple Labs w związku z wydaniem przez nią tokena XRP. W grudniu 2020 r. SEC skierowała do Ripple pozew dotyczący rzekomego pozyskania kapitału za pomocą niezarejestrowanych papierów wartościowych. Po dwóch latach obie strony nie chcą ustąpić ani na krok. Działania SEC doprowadziły do ​​zawieszenia obrotu XRP na kilku giełdach, co spowolniło wzrost i zmniejszyło wartość tokena. Jednak niezachwiani zwolennicy społeczności nie ustąpili w tej sprawie, wierząc, że Ripple wygra dla siebie i całej kryptowaluty. Ale nie tylko Ripple stał się celem. W 2021 r. SEC podjęła działania przeciwko Coinbase w związku z proponowaną funkcją „Coinbase Lend”, wystosowując do firmy zawiadomienie Wells. Powiadomienie Wells to pismo wydane przez SEC, które powiadamia firmę lub osobę o zakończeniu przeciwko niej dochodzenia i o podjęciu przez nią działań egzekucyjnych. W tym przypadku oznaczało to, że jeśli Coinbase będzie kontynuować proponowany program pożyczkowy, SEC pozwie ich. Coinbase stwierdziło, że „aktywnie współpracowało z SEC w sprawie pożyczki przez prawie sześć miesięcy”, co oznacza, że ​​zawiadomienie Wells było dla firmy bardzo nieoczekiwanym zwrotem.

Bitcoin rozpoczął rok znakomicie, rosnąc z 16 500 dolarów do ponad 28 000 dolarów, zamykając długo oczekiwaną lukę na CME przy minimalnych spadkach lub oznakach słabości. We wczesnych godzinach czwartkowych Bitcoin przebił poziom 29 000 dolarów, aby ugruntować nowy szczyt, ponieważ siła i dynamika zwyżki wydają się nie słabnąć. Jest to istotne, ponieważ cena próbuje powrócić do poprzedniego zakresu handlowego, aby otworzyć drzwi do 32 000 dolarów. W momencie pisania tego tekstu Bitcoin wzrósł o ~73% w skali roku, a rynek kryptowalut z pewnością podążał własnym torem, gdy omijał wydarzenia z 2022 roku.

Argentyńska Policja Federalna (PFA) aresztowała członków krypto-hakerskiej grupy, która w sposób oszukańczy uzyskała pożyczki w cyfrowej walucie na kwotę setek tysięcy dolarów z giełdy kryptowalut Buenbit. Giełda ma siedzibę w Argentynie, a jej działalność obejmuje inne kraje Ameryki Łacińskiej, w tym Meksyk i Peru.

Wykorzystywane kredyty kryptograficzne

Buenbit zaczął oferować pożyczki kryptograficzne zaledwie dziewięć miesięcy temu, co pozwoliło użytkownikom pożyczyć do miliona w argentyńskich peso-potwierdzonych stablecoin nuARS. Pod warunkiem dostarczenia 80% żądanej kwoty w DAI stablecoin jako zabezpieczenia. Policja powiedziała, że ​​gangi używały botów do masowej produkcji sfabrykowanych wniosków pożyczkowych, używając jedynie określonego wirtualnego portfela jako gwarancji. W ten sposób podobno zabrali z giełdy do 800 000 dolarów. Czterech członków grupy zostało aresztowanych wczoraj w całej prowincji Buenos Aires. Policja poinformowała również, że podczas nalotów skonfiskowała karty debetowe, 15 telefonów komórkowych, komputer przenośny, dyski flash i trzy tablety, co pomogło w rozbiciu operacji hakerów.

Rząd Indii zgromadził 157,9 crore rupii (19,2 mln dolarów) podatków od handlu kryptowalutami i przelewów bezpośrednich w roku podatkowym od 2022 r. do 20 marca 2023 r.

Indie pozyskują 19 mln USD z podatków od kryptowalut

Według doniesień CNBC, Ministerstwo Finansów Indii ujawniło tę liczbę Ram Nath Thakur, przedstawicielowi partii Janata Dal w Rajya Sabha, w pisemnym oświadczeniu o podatkach otrzymanych przez rząd. Ministerstwo ujawniło, że budżet Unii na lata 2022–2023, w którym odliczono 30% podatku od transakcji wirtualnymi aktywami cyfrowymi (VDA) i 1% podatku odliczanego u źródła (TDS) od przelewów, wygenerował 19,2 mln USD w roku finansowym 2022–2023. Przypomnijmy, że rząd wprowadził system podatkowy w lutym ubiegłego roku i wdrożył go w okresie od kwietnia do lipca. Chociaż kryptowaluty pozostają nieuregulowane w Indiach, kraj ten uważa, że ​​polityka podatkowa zapewni inwestorom jasność i pokieruje regulacją branży. Z drugiej strony Bank Rezerw Indii (RBI) zasugerował zakazanie kryptowalut, ponieważ takie aktywa są bezgraniczne i wymagają międzynarodowej współpracy w celu uniknięcia arbitrażu regulacyjnego.

It is suspected that a new Safemoon contract upgrade may have introduced “a public burn bug,” which enabled the hacker to remove a large amount of SFM tokens from “Safemoon-WBNB Liquidity Pool.” By doing this, the hacker artificially inflated the price of SFM and sold back the tokens into the same liquidity pool, to drain $8.9 million in WBNB. “To the SAFEMOON community: We want to inform you that our LP has been compromised,” the team confirmed the attack. “We are taking swift action in an attempt to resolve the issue as soon as possible.”

Safemoon’s Hacker Willing to Return Stolen Funds

Hours after the incident, the hacker sent on-chain messages to Safemoon Deployer address, asking to set up a secure communication channel for talks about returning the fund. “Hey relax, we are accidently frontrun an attack against you, we would like to return the fund, setup secure communication channel , lets talk,” the messages reads. “Lets discuss the detail, please send a message from same address containing your email address, and contact us by email.” A similar scenario happened with Euler Finance, which saw more than $196 million in cryptocurrency stolen earlier this month. In an on-chain message, the hacker showed a willingness to return the funds, adding that they had “no intention of keeping what is not ours.” The hacker returned 51,000 ETH worth around $89 million to Euler Finance last week. So far, over $176 million of the stolen funds have been returned, according to reports. At the time of writing, SFM is down 23% to $0.00019077 in the last 24 hours.

Disney is no longer interested in the Metaverse. According to a Wall Street Journal report, the one-hundred-year-old media and entertainment company has eliminated the small division charged with ‘developing metaverse strategies.’ The move is part of a company-wide downsizing plan to reduce Disney’s workforce by 7,000 in the next two months. ‘The difficult reality of many colleagues and friends leaving Disney is not something we take lightly,’ Disney CEO Bob Iger wrote in an internal memo. ‘This company is home to the most talented and dedicated employees in the world, and so many of you bring a lifelong passion for Disney to your work here. That’s part of what makes working at Disney so special. It also makes it all the more difficult to say goodbye to wonderful people we care about,’ he added. Other divisions affected by the layoffs include Disney Entertainment, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, and corporate.

Disney Had Only Begun Venturing into the Metaverse

The sudden end to Disney’s Metaverse ambitions comes less than a year after the company enthusiastically embraced the industry, picking six startups to participate in its annual Disney Accelerator program. The six companies specialised in Web3, augmented reality (AR), non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and artificial intelligence. The Ethereum layer two scaling solution, Polygon (MATIC), was the only blockchain project chosen by Disney in last year’s accelerator program. Disney additionally hinted that its Metaverse strategy might include fantasy sports, theme-park attractions and other customer-centric experiences. CEO Iger had also been bullish on the Metaverse last year, having invested in and joined the board of Genies Inc., a startup that allows users to create online avatars for use in the Metaverse.

Facebook’s Meta has Also ‘Dumped’ the Metaverse

However, Disney is not the only major global company backtracking on its quest to conquer the Metaverse. In late February, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg quietly shifted focus away from the Metaverse by introducing ‘a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI to turbocharge’ the company’s work in this artificial intelligence arena.

The number of bitcoin investors holding 0.1 or more BTC has hit a new all-time high of 4,280,062. This new milestone was captured by the team at Glassnode, who shared the following chart providing a visual cue of the growth of this category of bitcoin investors.

Number of bitcoin addresses holding more than 0.1 coins. Source: @glassnodealerts on Twitter.com

Bitcoin Traders are Increasingly Looking Forward to a Bull Run

The number of addresses holding 0.1 or more BTC hitting an all-time high comes when more and more bitcoin traders express optimism that a BTC bull run is on the horizon. For example, in a Tweet over the weekend, crypto Twitter community member @seth_fin speculated that Bitcoin was entering an up trend on the higher time frames. Their analysis was based on the fact that BTC was about to close the week above the mid-band of the Gaussian channel.

Source: @seth_fin on Twitter.com

Bitcoin Confidently Recaptures the 200-Week MA as Support

Further analysing the one-day BTC/USDT chart below, it can be observed that Bitcoin is in clear bullish territory above the 50-day (red), 100-day (yellow), 200-day (green) and 200-week (black) moving average.

Source: Trading View

To note is that Bitcoin traders have long used the 200-week moving average to determine whether the number one digital asset hit a bottom after a bear market. Consequently, and if Bitcoin maintains a value above this crucial line, the November 21st low of $15,476 could now be declared the bottom of the 2022 bear market.

Bitcoin Could Still Dip to $25,250 in the Short-term

However, concerning short-term price action, Bitcoin’s one-day MFI (green), MACD and RSI (red) hint at a pending pullback by the number one crypto that could result in a retest of the $25,250 support. The latter price level is around the current position of the 200-week moving average, and a dip to this level could be quickly bought up by traders and investors looking for a bargain.

During the recent banking crisis, the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the US, has increased its balance sheet for the first time in a year. The Fed has been raising interest rates since March 2022 to combat inflation rates. Alongside raising rates, the Fed has been reducing its balance sheet by undergoing quantitative tightening (QT). The opposite of QT is quantitative easing (QE), the formula adopted in 2020 and 2021 to help stimulate the economy. The Fed’s actions in tackling inflation have suppressed financial markets as they removed money from the economy. The Fed's liquidity injection stimulated the U.S. economy following months of lockdowns and was partly the reason for the massive rally in the stock and cryptocurrency markets.

Money Printer Go Brrrrrrr

Since March 2022, the Fed’s balance sheet has shrunk by 7%, reducing by approximately $626bn following the hawkish monetary policy Jerome Powell has adopted.

An outlook of the Fed balance sheet. Source: Tradingview

As of the 1st of March 2023, the balance sheet was valued at around $8.33 trillion. The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) prompted the current banking crisis, which has begun to creep worldwide. Other banks, such as Signature Bank, followed SVB out of the door, with other banks facing an emerging liquidity crisis’. But it isn't just a liquidity crisis causing the banking woes. Banking stocks are being obliterated in fear of an ever-worsening situation. This leads to bank runs and a severe loss of confidence in the traditional financial system from its customers who trust banks to custody their money. The Fed appears to be prepared to solve liquidity issues as it has printed around $393Bn since the crisis began. This has increased the balance sheet by approximately 4.71%, reversing months of monetary tightening. U.S. officials are working to increase the $250,000 FDIC insurance limit with billions of dollars at stake and an uncertain road ahead for Banks. This could be partly the reason for the increasing balance sheet or if the Fed is preparing to bail Banks out instead of allowing them to go bust. The U.S. certainly has a rocky few weeks ahead, and the Biden administration will be scrambling to resolve the situation with the Presidential vote approaching in 2024.

Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest Bank, sent shockwaves through the banking system on Friday, bringing fresh fears following the Credit Suisse saga. Last week we reported on the Credit Suisse situation as it unfolded as it took an emergency loan from the Switzerland National Bank. The crisis began in the U.S. with the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), but the contagion risk has now made its way to Europe and is spreading like wildfire. After the Credit Suisse saga appeared to have come to a resolution, the situation in Europe had subsided until the news regarding Deutsche Bank unfolded. It was reported to be a rise in the cost of insuring against the bank's default, which rose to a four-year high, that dealt a blow to the stock price, but the situation appears to be worsening. In February, Deutsche Bank published it had generated a profit of €5.6Bn before tax in 2022. Despite this, its finances are allegedly in a mess and could be another domino in the downfall of the traditional banking system. The issue stems from how banks store their customer deposits. Typically, these deposits are invested into long-term bonds, tying the money away for a long-term guaranteed interest rate. Usually, this is fine but leaves the bank vulnerable to a run. It was reported for the 2022 fiscal year-end, Deutsche Bank had ~$1.35 trillion in liabilities. That staggering number sets the scale for this possible disaster unfolding. When the system is shaken, as what has been happening over the past few weeks, customers rush to withdraw their funds, something banks can’t process if the deposits are illiquid. Therefore, the Bank then needs to make a plea for liquidity.

Deutsche Bank Chart

The Deutsche Bank ($DB) Chart. Source: Tradingview

The bank's stock price fell to a daily low of ~$8.85, around 8.31% from where it closed trading on Thursday. At the time of writing, the stock has seen some relief, bouncing back to around the $9 mark. At first glance, it may not appear so bad, 5-8% down, but this isn't an altcoin; it is one of Europe's largest banks but is currently trading as if it were an altcoin. Millions of people have their funds on the line in just this one bank, in addition to the effect on other European banks any negative sentiment could have. From the end of January, $DB is down over 30%, which demonstrates this isn't a one-day occurrence; it has been building up for a while.

Ominous Signs

Curiously, Friday seems to be a day on which large banks have issues. Going back to the Global Financial Crisis of 2008, Washington Mutual filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday, 26th September 2008. Friday, 12th September, was the last trading day for Lehman Brothers before their bankruptcy was declared. Friday has been critical in this current banking crisis too. Regulators seized Silicon Valley Bank on Friday, March 10th. That day was also the last working day for Signature Bank before its seizure two days later. The bid by UBS for Credit Suisse also came in last week, on Friday, 17th March. What might be in store this Friday?

The market research company Polaris Market Research published their latest report on the blockchain gaming industry in February this year. The 116-page report, “Blockchain Gaming Market Share, Size, Trends, Industry Analysis Report, By Game Type; By Platform; By Region; Segment Forecast, 2023-2032”, is based on the company’s comprehensive analysis of the current market, emerging trends, and current and predicted growth rates. The research firm collates and bases its analysis on data from validated websites, analyst reviews, press releases, whitepapers and reputed paid databases. Based on the latest market trends, the report predicts the value of the global blockchain and play-to-earn gaming industry to increase at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 68.9% from US $9.12 billion in 2023 to US $1020.02 billion in 2032. That represents a massive 11084% increase in just nine years. The report provides a complete synopsis of the various factors predicted to drive the growth of the blockchain gaming industry. Their research found that a substantial increase in investment in the sector is underway, which could drive an exponential market expansion.

Burgeoning Interest from Traditional Gaming Companies

The first key indicator is that massive players in the traditional gaming sector are beginning to take a serious interest in developing blockchain and play-to-earn products. ‘Most of the world's biggest gaming companies are investing and collaborating with other platforms to provide blockchain gaming infrastructure,’ the report states. Indeed, just recently, gaming behemoth Sony has filed a patent, ‘NFT Framework For Transferring And Using Digital Assets Between Game Platforms, ’ for developing in-game assets that are player-owned and can be swapped between players, games, and gaming platforms. According to the patent, Sony also envisions NFTs, such as unique NFT weapons, awarded to players for achieving certain milestones. The Pokémon Company, owned by Nintendo, recently revealed their interest in exploring the blockchain gaming world when it advertised a job listing on LinkedIn for a Corporate Development Principal. The advertisement lists “Deep knowledge and understanding of Web 3, including blockchain technologies and NFT, and/or metaverse” and “Deeply connected to a network of investors and entrepreneurs in the technology sectors above (Web3 and metaverse)” among the qualities the candidates are expected to bring to the company. The position is in a company department responsible for Pokémon's corporate strategy and development.

Rewards for Gaming

Another critical driver of growth is the fact that gamers are rewarded with assets with real-world value, such as cryptocurrencies and NFTs, for playing. This revolutionary concept allows gamers to profit and make a living from their skill, time, and effort. Gaming NFTs provide gamers verifiable ownership of in-game assets, including weapons, spells, armour, avatar skins, pets, up-grades and power-ups, and the ability to sell these on the secondary market to other gamers. The report's authors see role-playing games as having the most growth potential. The report concluded that although the Ethereum ecosystem currently holds the largest market share, and the most popular blockchain games have been developed on this platform, Binance Smart Chain is expected to be the ecosystem that sees the fastest growth in the future.

Asia-Pacific Will be Hub of Industry Growth

The report pinpointed the Asia-Pacific region as a critical growth area for blockchain gaming. The popularity of gaming and the number of potential gamers in the region are cited as being major factors, as well as the increasingly favourable blockchain regulation being set up by governments in the region. The region is known to have one of the world's highest levels of crypto adoption. Research by Triple A, a crypto payment company, found that 130 million of the 320 million owners of crypto worldwide are located in Asia. Both Singapore and Hong Kong are aiming to become global crypto hubs. Hong Kong has allocated US $6.4 million of its 2023-2024 budget to develop its Web3 infrastructure. The Securities and Futures Commission of the country has also passed recent regulations allowing digital asset trading. The Hong Kong government plans to implement a ‘virtual-asset development’ task force to advise on sustainable and responsible ways to develop the crypto sector.

Increased Investment from the Crypto Sector

The blockchain gaming sector is booming, with multiple new gaming projects being released and developed throughout the bear market. Together, Binance Smart Chain and Animoca Brands have launched a US $200 million asset program that will support the growth of the GameFi industry and foster startup crypto gaming projects. The report also mentions the following crypto companies as key players in the global GameFi market: Sky Mavis, Mythical Games, Dapper Labs, Open Sea, Voxie Tactics, Rokosoft, Gamestation, Pocket Arena, Planet Sandbox, Splinterlands, Animoca Brands, Wemade, AlwaysGeeky Games, G.JIT Japan, Immutable, Horizon Blockchain Games Planetarium, Codebit Labs, and Binamon.

Concluding Thoughts

Despite the huge backlash against play-to-earn gaming and NFTs from traditional gamers and the largely negative sentiment in the gaming sector press, it seems blockchain gaming has only started its journey. If the analysis in this report is accurate, GameFi is set to become a huge industry, especially in the East, where it has been the most favourably received.