Edition #42 - 13 NOV 2022
Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange FTX has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S., according to a company statement posted on Twitter, followed by reports of the exchange getting hacked for over $400 million.
Bankman-Fried has also stepped down as CEO and has been succeeded by John J. Ray III, though the outgoing chief will stay on to assist with the transition.
gaming developments
Animoca Brands reveals 'limited' FTX exposure after SBF’s ecosystem failure;
“Crypto gaming needs to be fun to be successful — money doesn't matter”;
Roblox looking to web3 and NFT integrations after missing Q3 earning estimates.
metaverses & Adoption
El Salvador president Nayib Bukele denies storing Bitcoin on FTX: Binance CEO;
Brussels set to begin talks on EU crypto tax;
Criminal charges for Sam Bankman-Fried ‘on the table’, after FTX’s epic collapse;
Buyer of most expensive NFT offloading a 36 piece collection, including BAYC, Tiffany Punks and Otherside land at a steep discount;
Meta fires 11,000 employees due to metaverse losses;
Binance CEO calls out renowned news outlet Bloomberg for publishing fake news;
Web3 war: metaverse overlords band together to fight decentralization.
defi
FTX had only $900 million in liquid assets backing $9 billion in debt;
Tether freezes FTX USDT as dollar peg wobbles;
BlockFi suspends customer withdrawals;
DeFi Total Value Locked plummets to 20-month low while crypto market tanks;
82% of Tether reserves held in ‘extremely liquid’ assets, according to attestation;
FTX hack sparks revolution at Serum DEX as Solana developers plot Alameda’s ouster;
Terra Classic (LUNC) burn exceeds 27 billion with total staked tokens surpassing 850 billion;
Celsius reports $13 million in loans to Alameda Research;
DFX Finance hacked for $4 million – attacker moves funds through Tornado Cash.
funding rounds
Blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs raised $70M in a Series B funding round led by Thoma Bravo, with participation from Goldman Sachs, PayPal Ventures, Amex Ventures and Citi Ventures;
Crypto payments firm Ramp raised $70M in a Series B funding round led by Mubadala Capital and Korelya Capital. Cogito Capital and previous lead backer Balderton Capital are among investors;
Digital assets exchange Archax raised $28.5M in a Series A funding round led by Abrdn, with participation from Bitrock Capital, Blockchain Coinvestors and the Tezos Foundation.
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