headlines
Reddit may launch NFT avatar function, currently under internal testing
According to TechCrunch, Reddit is testing a feature that allows users to set NFTs as avatars and verify ownership. The feature is currently being tested internally, according to company spokesman Tim Rathschmidt, who said Reddit has not yet decided whether to make the service more widely available.
TechCrunch added that the feature is not yet available to public users. However, Nima Owji, an app developer not affiliated with Reddit, discovered a banner promoting the feature earlier this week, meaning it may already be semi-public.
Diem Association to sell its technology to crypto bank Silvergate Capital for $200 million
Diem Association is selling its technology to Silvergate Capital, a small California bank that serves Bitcoin and blockchain companies, for about $200 million. The bank earlier struck a deal with Diem to issue stablecoins. (Wall Street Journal)
U.S. SEC rejects Fidelity’s Bitcoin spot ETF application
According to the latest documents released by the US SEC, the SEC rejected Fidelity’s application for a Bitcoin spot ETF, which aims to prevent fraud and manipulation and protect investors and the public interest. It is reported that the SEC rejected First Trust and Skybridge Capital’s Bitcoin spot ETF applications last week for the same reason. (The Block)
cryptocurrency
Crypto companies Celsius, Voyager Digital, Gemini are facing U.S. SEC scrutiny
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is examining cryptocurrency companies Celsius Network, Voyager Digital Ltd. and Gemini Trust Co. as part of a broader investigation into companies that offer interest-bearing products on virtual tokens, according to people familiar with the matter.
Solana Foundation may launch Solana Pay
According to the Solana Foundation’s Github, the organization may launch the decentralized payment application Solana Pay and has released relevant code. The product enables businesses and developers to accept payments in SOL or any SPL token without the need for an intermediary. It provides frictionless and portable integration options such as payment links, pay now buttons or QR codes on apps, DApps, websites, blogs, and more.
Yearn.finance founder Andre Cronje tweeted that while he still supports Wonderland founder Daniele, there is a bottom line. The history of continued fraud, theft and malicious behavior is real and intentional. Letting 0x Sifu (Wonderland CFO, QuadrigaCX co-founder Michael Patryn) manage funds, especially user funds, can be said to be negligent.
The VeChain Foundation released an overview of its 2021 financial report on its official website. Reports show that the value of the VeChain Foundation’s crypto-asset reserves reached $1.37 billion at the end of 2021, which is four times that of the beginning of the year ($340 million), largely due to the five-fold increase in the price of VET held by it during 2021.
Specifically, the reserve assets are worth $93 million in stablecoins and $1.28 billion in BTC/ETH/VET. Additionally, the VeChain Foundation’s total expenditures in 2021 exceeded $18.57 million.
IOTA token holders will vote to decide what to do with unclaimed tokens
IOTA token holders will vote to decide what to do with unclaimed tokens. There are two voting options: 1. Used to support and fund projects and programs that are critical to the IOTA community ecosystem. These funds will be fully managed by the community. 2. Removed from the IOTA ledger, the total supply will decrease.
The voting process will be divided into three stages: proposal announcement; voting (seven days); vote counting (10 days). Voting results will be generated and verified in a decentralized manner by each node participating in the count. Each node can expose its current and final results via API endpoints.
According to previous news, during last year’s Chrysalis network upgrade, the IOTA Foundation asked the IOTA community to decide how to use more than 50 Ti of unclaimed IOTA tokens.
For detailed information, please click on the original link.
Kava officially launches Terra IBC repeater
According to official news, Kava has officially enabled the Terra IBC relay, and assets can be moved freely between the Terra and Kava networks. UST will be added to Kava Mint as collateral, and soon LUNA will be able to be deposited into Kava Lend to obtain income.
Wegrocoin (WEGRO) suffered a Rug Pull, losing more than 1,000 BNB
PeckShieldAlert tweeted that it detected a rug pull on the BSC project Wegrocoin (WEGRO), resulting in a loss of more than 1,000 BNB.
NFT
Coinbase Vice President of Product Sanchan Saxena announced a user experience preview of the Coinbase NFT Market on Twitter. The short video shows that the Coinbase NFT platform supports the purchase of NFTs using self-hosted wallets (CB Wallet, Metamask, etc.), while revealing the interface, UI design, and purchase process of its NFT marketplace.
Sanchan Saxena said users can purchase NFTs minted on any platform on the marketplace. Finally, these NFTs also appear on the users profile and can be hidden at any time, or immediately put up for sale. Next week, Saxena will share a preview of the platform’s social discovery feed and how users can track artists to discover new NFTs.
Arbitrum Network NFT trading market TROVE releases white paper
On January 27, Arbitrum Network NFT trading market TROVE released a white paper on its official Twitter.
It is reported that TROVE was established by the TreasureDAO community with the goal of becoming the Arbitrum network NFT trading platform that benchmarks OpenSea.
dYdX announces Hedgies NFT series, casting will start in February
dYdX announced on Twitter the launch of the Hedgies NFT series, which contains 4,200 NFTs and will be minted in February.
The Heart Project and CULTRAIN will launch joint NFT sneakers
NFT project The Heart Project has cooperated with the crypto fashion brand CULTRAIN and will release joint NFT sneakers at 9:00 on January 28th, Beijing time.
Japanese fashion brand AMBUSH launches its first NFT item
Japanese fashion brand AMBUSH® recently launched its first NFT item. The image comes from the most famous POW! ring in the early days of the brand. Kanye West, G-Dragon, Pharrell, A$AP Rocky and other stars have worn this classic piece. AMBUSH® switches the modeling of this product back and forth between pixelation and immersion, forming an NFT video. Specific sale information has not yet been announced. (NOWRE)
global policy
Powell: Balance sheet reduction will occur after interest rate hikes begin
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said at a press conference after the interest rate decision that the reduction of the balance sheet will occur after the interest rate hike begins.
Powell said that the balance sheet reduction will occur in a predictable manner. The Fed has not yet made a decision on the timing and speed of the balance sheet reduction. More details about the balance sheet reduction will be discussed at the next meeting. The Fed will be prepared to adjust all the details of its path to shrinking its balance sheet and will be guided by data and the evolving outlook.
Powell also said he would not rule out raising interest rates at every Federal Open Market Committee meeting. There is plenty of room to raise interest rates, and the Fed is still discussing how to reduce the size of its balance sheet.
Russian government proposes to allow regulated crypto mining, President Putin expresses support
According to market news, the Russian government proposed allowing regulated crypto mining activities, and President Vladimir Putin expressed support for this. (Golden Ten)
Investment and Financing
News digital asset custody platform Fireblocks completed a US$550 million Series E financing at a valuation of US$8 billion, led by D1 Capital Partners and Spark Capital, Parafi Growth Fund, Canapi Ventures, Altimeter, General Atlantic, Index Ventures, Mammoth, CapitalG and Iconiq Strategic Partners participated in the investment.
Institutional-level blockchain infrastructure company Blockdaemon announced the completion of a US$207 million Series C financing at a valuation of US$3.25 billion. Sapphire and Tiger Global led the investment, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Boldstart Ventures, StepStone Group, Matrix Capital Management, Lerer Hippeau, Galaxy Digital participated. The company also announced a partnership with Stakewise to increase liquidity staking as well as its own DeFi fund to provide more economic opportunities in the crypto ecosystem.
According to reports, Blockdaemon provides back-end support for projects across multiple blockchains, and its services include slave node operations and pledge-as-a-service. Blockdaemon achieved net profitability in 2021 and added more than 150 full-time employees (mostly engineers) while expanding its international operations in Germany and Singapore. With the new financing, Blockdaemon will accelerate strategic acquisitions, continue to enhance its full-stack product suite, and launch a fund to reinvest earning assets.
CoinTracker completes $100 million in Series A funding at $1.3 billion valuation, led by Accel
Crypto tax reporting platform CoinTracker has raised $100 million in Series A funding at a valuation of $1.3 billion. Accel led the investment, with participation from Coinbase Ventures, Kraken Ventures, Intuit Ventures, General Catalyst, Initialized Capital, Y Combinator Continuity and Seven Seven Six Ventures.
Accel partner Sagar Sanghvi is understood to have joined CoinTracker’s board of directors. CoinTracker co-founder and CEO Jon Lerner said that CoinTracker will use the funds raised to expand the team; global expansion. CoinTracker currently has users from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and hopes to expand to European countries in the near future; support more Multiple blockchains and protocols to help users file taxes across crypto assets. (The Block)
The Sandbox partners with Animoca Brands, Brinc to launch $50 million Metaverse accelerator program
The Sandbox has announced a $50 million accelerator program, The Sandbox Metaverse Accelerator Program, in partnership with Animoca Brands and Brinc, which will invest up to $250,000 in 30-40 Metaverse startups annually over the next three years.
Specifically, the project will make equity investments worth between $150,000 and $250,000 per startup, plus SAND tokens worth up to $150,000. The project will also offer LAND, which can be sold as NFT assets, customizable, and monetized within the game world. The first list of funded recipients will be announced at the beginning of the second quarter. (Decrypt)
TKX Capital completed the first phase of digital asset fund financing of US$25 million, led by Huobi, Kenetic Capital, Celo, MOBOX and Boyu Capital. TKX Capitals key investment directions are applications and infrastructure for Web3.0, NFT, Metaverse, GameFi and DeFi.
It is reported that TKX Capital was established in March 2021. It was co-founded by former OKEX CEO and former Huobi Group CFO Chris Lee and former Huobi Group’s North American investment department and business development head Will Wang. The institutional investment services include O 3. Sidus, Duet, Roll, Bit 2 Me, Dehorizon, IronSail, Lootex, Bulliverse, Cross The Ages, Outer Ring, Bloktopia and Alien World and many other projects.
Privacy solution Railgun receives over $10 million investment from DCG
Digital Currency Group (DCG) has reached a strategic cooperation with Railgun DAO with the goal of bringing privacy protocols to DeFi. As part of the partnership, DCG has acquired and staked over $10 million in Railgun’s native token RAIL and donated over $7 million in stablecoins to the project’s DAO treasury. DCG is also investing resources through its mining and staking subsidiary Foundry Labs to ensure Railgun’s backend is robust enough to withstand high demand.
HAL completes US$3 million in seed round financing, led by Animoca Brands, CoinFund and Eden Block
Blockchain analysis platform HAL completed a US$3 million seed round of financing, led by Animoca Brands, CoinFund and Eden Block, with participation from Hashkey Capital, Wintermute, SkyVision, imToken Ventures, Bitcoin.com, Piquet Ventures and others. The new funding will be used to expand the team while launching new products serving the gaming and fintech industries.
Binance Labs Announces Strategic Investment in Solv Protocol, Will Collaborate to Launch NFTs
Binance Labs tweeted to announce a strategic investment in the Solv protocol. As part of the investment, Binance Labs and Solv Protocol will collaborate to launch NFTs on the Binance NFT marketplace and help Binance Labs portfolio companies issue financial NFTs. It is reported that SolvProtocol is a decentralized platform for creating, managing and trading financial NFTs on the chain, and has cooperated with more than 30 DeFi projects. Solv is preparing to launch a financing tool ConvertibleVoucher that can help DAOs obtain liquid assets by leveraging native tokens while minimizing liquidation risks.
Character*Voice
Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) retweeted two tweets about the BSC ecosystem’s 2022 plans in succession on Twitter. The tweet shows that the BSC ecosystem will expand to cross-chain and multi-chain this year, and the BSC chain plans to introduce a series of updates and upgrades.
Source: Coinbase is about to list Solana ecosystem token
Four sources revealed that Coinbase is about to list the Solana ecosystem token. The exchange plans to allow withdrawals of SPL tokens, and Solana Ecosystem USDC, which has a $4.8 billion circulating supply, will be one of the supported assets, sources said. Coinbase declined to comment. (CoinDesk)
Ripple CEO: Move forward with IPO plans once litigation with SEC ends
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said in the latest interview: I think Ripple will eventually become a public company. However, Garlinghouse admitted that an IPO is not a priority for Ripple at this stage because they are in a difficult battle with the US SEC. legal battle. He emphasized that Ripple will move forward with its IPO plans once the litigation issues are resolved. (Protocol)
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