Welcome to KryptoCoinz Crypto, previously referred to as Chain Response.
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Hiya and welcome again to the KryptoCoinz Crypto publication. I used to be out final week, so there was no publication, however we’re again to frequently scheduled information bits and a few contemporary recurring segments and options — so in case you like what you see (or don’t), let me know at jacquelyn@techcrunch.com.
Right here’s what was the largest information this week: bitcoin’s value jumped over $60,000 and Coinbase’s app crashed, Telegram rolled out a plan to pay out rewards utilizing toncoin on the TON blockchain and Nigerian crypto customers confronted difficulties with some exchanges. Let’s get into it.
This week in web3
- Ex-Meta workers’ Aptos checks Hong Kong’s crypto urge for food
- Bitcoin’s so excessive, it crashed Coinbase
- Telegram is launching advert income sharing subsequent month utilizing toncoin
- Crypto customers in Nigeria briefly lose entry to Binance, Kraken and Coinbase
- Starbucks Odyssey’s group lead sees NFTs as one of the simplest ways to construct model loyalty
Crunching numbers
This week the crypto market was very overrated as the 2 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, each jumped about 23.6% and 18%, respectively, on the week, in response to CoinMarketCap information. The entire crypto market cap elevated 19.4% over a seven-day interval to $2.34 trillion.
The current value leap for bitcoin, coupled with the incoming bitcoin halving and spot bitcoin ETF approvals in early January boosting demand, has many crypto market gamers questioning if the grandfather of cryptocurrencies will hit a brand new all-time excessive quickly or if this rally is short-lived.
Our favourite ‘Crypto Twitter’ publish
ICYMI, final week a number of crypto individuals have been tweeting about emails from Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Satoshi mentioned a number of attention-grabbing issues, however this publish on X by Tom Schmidt, accomplice at Dragonfly Capital, bought a number of consideration and even prompted some Bitcoiners to exit and purchase a pineapple and jalapeno pizza in honor of it. Which brings me to the query…would you eat that?
The most recent pod
Chain Response is doing a month-to-month collection diving into completely different subjects and themes in crypto. This month we’re specializing in NFTs.
As a result of there was no publication final week, we’re highlighting final week’s episode, the place I interviewed Steve Kaczynski, co-author of the guide “The The whole lot Token,” and co-host of a web3 morning present, Espresso with Captain.
He additionally co-authored the primary Harvard Enterprise Evaluate article about NFTs. Exterior of that, he consults with businesses and types about constructing their web3 methods, together with his position with Starbucks, the place he's a group lead for its NFT-focused loyalty program, Starbucks Odyssey.
Earlier than entering into the web3 world, Steve labored in communications and advertising and marketing roles for greater than 15 years.
Jacquelyn and Steve mentioned what bought him desirous about NFTs, how vital it's to construct understanding for the sector and why communities matter greater than flooring costs.
Additionally they dove into:
- Future adoption for Bored Ape Yacht Membership
- Rising Starbucks’ NFT-based loyalty program
- What businesses and types have to find out about web3
- How one can get began within the NFT area
BONUS: For this week’s episode, we’re resharing a dialog I had in June 2023 with Jack Lu, CEO and co-founder of Magic Eden.
After we recorded this episode, NFT gross sales have been down round $640 million initially of the month, in comparison with at the moment the place February 2024 NFT gross sales quantity hit $1 billion, for the primary time since February 2023.
Trying again on this dialog, we determined this episode was a fantastic addition to the NFT collection so as to add some context for what a loopy 12 months it has been and the way a lot issues have modified (and a few issues stayed the identical) — particularly for individuals constructing within the NFT area.
Magic Eden initially started as a Solana-based NFT buying and selling platform, however has expanded its help to different blockchain networks like Polygon, Ethereum and Bitcoin. In June 2022, Magic Eden raised $130 million in a Collection B spherical that granted it unicorn standing.
We mentioned why the NFT market expanded its help to different blockchains, its BRC-20 token help and the way the corporate plans on staying aggressive within the continually altering market.
We additionally talked about:
- NFT market volatility
- Royalty charges
- Web3 gaming growth
- Recommendation for NFT group
Subscribe to Chain Response on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite pod platform to maintain up with the newest episodes, and please go away us a evaluation in case you like what you hear!
Comply with the cash
- Silence Laboratories, a cryptographic safety startup, secures $4.1 million in funding
- Initia raises $7.5 million seed spherical to simplify blockchain growth
- Uneven Monetary has a plan to unlock Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar potential with devoted DeFi fund
- Crypto pockets and alternate Backpack raised $17 million in strategic Collection A spherical
- Ethereum-based Etherfi raised $27 million in a spherical led by Bullish and CoinFund
This record was compiled with info from Messari in addition to KryptoCoinz’s personal reporting.
What else we’re writing
Need to department out from the world of web3? Listed here are some articles on KryptoCoinz that caught our consideration this week.
- Why VCs are investing in startups that assist different startups shut down
- Don’t ignore Asia tech
- Mark Zuckerberg woos Massive Tech in Asia to double down on AI chips
- The Apple Automotive that by no means was: A timeline
- Tim Cook dinner says Apple will ‘break new floor’ in GenAI this 12 months