Crypto Guides, Knowledge & Insights

Yuga Labs Threatened With Possible Class-Action Lawsuit

Last month, Yuga Labs, the $4 billion company behind popular NFT collection Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), generated headlines by suing a prominent artist for trademark infringement. 　　Now, the company may find itself on the other side of the courtroom.　　Law firm Scott+Scott is currently organizing a class-action suit against Yuga Labs, according to an announcement from the firm late this week. The lawsuit will allege that Yuga falsely promoted Bored Ape NFTs and ApeCoin, the collections native Ethereum token, as securities with guaranteed returns but which in reality plummeted in value over the last three months.　　The cases plaintiffs have not yet filed an official complaint in a federal court. Scott+Scott is still in the preliminary stage of seeking plaintiffs who suffered losses in association with the purchase of Yuga-backed NFTs and tokens from April to June. The firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.　　Key to the suit‘s success, once filed, will be the court’s determination as to whether non-fungible tokens are securities, similar to a share in a company that could appreciate in value. If a court finds the BAYC NFTs to be securities, then Yuga Labs would have failed to make the necessary

2022-07-25Deep Dive

Who is buying crypto? — Regional Market Overview: Asia vs Europe and the U.S.

Understanding the global market demands seeing beyond daily and weekly closes. The Month-over-Month (MoM) price change is one statistic that provides a solid picture of the markets overall health. This measure displays the 30-day change in regional pricing set during US, European, and Asian business hours. These regional prices are typically calculated by adding the cumulative sum of each regions price changes over a 30-day period.　　When the MoM price change for Bitcoin is examined from October 2021 to July 2022, some interesting trends emerge.　　A trend began in Asia around the beginning of May 2022, indicating the regions increasingly favorable sentiment about Bitcoin. The pattern in the graph above, shown in the black square, reveals that Asian investors have made the most money in the cryptocurrency business.　　The figure above plainly illustrates that Asian investors have dominated the crypto market over the last two years, and that the majority of the sectors smart money appears to be coming from Asia. Asian investors have been able to sell the early 2021 high and then buy the summer bottom of 2021, as well as sell the initial pump of the summer lows.　　When Bitcoin fell near $40,000 in late summer last year, Asian investors were

2022-07-25Deep Dive

Finland Sells 1,889 Seized Bitcoins for $47 Million — Proceeds Going to Ukraine

Finland Sells Bitcoin Seized From Narcotic Offenses　　Finnish Customs (aka Tulli), the customs service of the government of Finland, announced Thursday that it has sold “legally forfeited” bitcoins.　　“During the summer, Finnish Customs has realized its cryptocurrencies that had been legally forfeited to the state,” the announcement details, elaborating:　　The realization concerned 1,889.1 bitcoins. The state gained about 46.5 million euros in total in proceeds from their sale.　　The customs service explained that the bitcoins were seized “in connection with investigations into offenses related to narcotics and doping substances.”　　The coins “were sold by the two cryptocurrency brokers selected by Customs through competitive negotiated procedure in late spring,” the announcement continues.　　Finnish Customs further revealed that about 90 bitcoins still remained in its possession “awaiting a valid judgment of forfeiture.” At the time of writing, bitcoin is trading at $22,874, down 10% over the last seven days but up 14.4% in the past 30 days.　　Tulli added that it has also seized other cryptocurrencies. However, since the investigation into these cases is ongoing, “the currencies or their amounts cannot be revealed in detail,” Finnish Customs explained, adding they are worth “hundreds of thousands of euros at most.”　　Tulli Finance Director Pekka Pylkkänen told Finnish news agency STT that

2022-07-24Deep Dive

Should Victims of NFT Hacks Be Compensated by Creators?

Social media hacks are on the rise in the NFT community, and it‘s rare lately to see a day or two go by without some significant project or creator’s account being compromised.　　For collectors, the consequences can be significant: Users who engage with the scams shared by hacked accounts have collectively lost millions of dollars in NFT collectibles and other tokens, all because they connected their wallets to what they believed was a legitimate NFT mint or token claim.　　Whats the recourse in these cases, and what responsibility do NFT creators have to collectors when their accounts are hacked and used to perpetrate scams？ In some cases, NFT project creators have compensated affected users, typically by repaying the market value of the collectibles in Ethereum.　　However, there‘s rising sentiment among creators against reimbursing users who lose assets by engaging with social media scams. Some see that kind of make-good effort as rewarding the reckless actions of users who don’t take precautions, which goes against crypto industry tenets of self-custody, accountability, and performing adequate research.　　As social media hacks proliferate, heres how the debate over compensation is evolving and what notable builders in the NFT space are saying about it.Increasing attacks　　In the last few weeks

2022-07-24Deep Dive

The Animoca Brands Company Has Appointed Its New Management Team

Alan Lau has been promoted to the position of Chief Business Officer of the company. Lau has extensive expertise as a corporate and innovation leader spanning multiple decades. He served as the Chief Executive Officer of Tencent WeSure, a fintech company that he had co-founded with the intention of providing WeChat users with innovative and inexpensive internet insurance. Alan will supervise mergers and acquisitions as well as business development in his role as Chief Business Officer for Animoca Brands. He will also be responsible for providing oversight and support to the more than 340 portfolio companies owned by Animoca Brands.　　Minh Do will be responsible for the major scaling initiatives that will enable Animoca Brands to continue to maintain its leadership position in the blockchain gaming industry. Animoca Brands has also appointed Minh Do as its Co-Chief Operating Officer. Animoca Brands is a leader in the blockchain gaming industry. As the general manager of the Greater China businesses at Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG), a worldwide information services and consulting corporation with its headquarters in New York City, Minh enjoyed a fruitful career at Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG).　　In addition, Animoca Brands has hired Joanne Chan as the Deputy Chief Financial Officer, Benny

2022-07-22Deep Dive

KuCoin Acquires Strategic Investment Worth More Than $10 Million

According to CoinDesk, KuCoin and Susquehanna will work together to provide an incubator for cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and to establish networks for them. The cryptocurrency exchange places a special emphasis on projects that are constructed on the KCC chain, which is the blockchain network that is backed by KuCoin.　　According to statements made to CoinDesk by KuCoin, the company plans to utilize the funds to improve the infrastructure of its cryptocurrency trading platform and expand its product offering. Additionally, it intends to use the funds for efforts relating to worldwide expansion as well as to hire additional personnel. As of Thursday, the company reportedly had more than 300 unfilled positions available in several departments.　　According to Johnny Lyu, CEO of KuCoin, “KuCoin has been through a few crypto cycles, and we are committed to building regardless of what the future holds.” “The backing of SIG will enable us to further strengthen our leading status as a centralized exchange, and it will also make it easier for us to expand our ecosystem in the world of Web 3.0.”　　Lyu went on to say that the cash will enable KuCoin to continue programs that are beneficial to cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. These programs include research and development, incubation,

2022-07-22Deep Dive

Coinbase confirms no bankruptcy exposure

Coinbase announced Wednesday it had no risk-free exposure to bankrupt crypto businesses Celsius, Three Arrows Capital, and Voyager Digital.　　Coinbases stock price rose 14.34 percent, ending at $75.27, after the news broke.　　There has been a 70 percent drop in share prices this year, though.　　Because Coinbase has no exposure to Celsius, 3AC, or Voyagers credit risk, heres what they say:　　“We have not engaged in these dangerous lending tactics and instead have focused on expanding our financing business with caution and deliberate emphasis on the customer.”　　It was then revealed that through its venture capital division, the corporation had made a “immaterial investment” in Terraform Labs, the developer of the failed stablecoin project Terra. As a result of Terras problems at the time, the cryptocurrency world was thrown into disarray and a crypto winter was declared, leading mSeveralses to disband.　　One of Terraform Labs linked firms is Three Arrows Capital (3AC). The crypto hedge fund was unable to withstand the demise of LUNA and UST.　　As a result of their financial difficulties, the three companies listed above have filed for bankruptcy. Coinbase stated, “Many of these enterprises were overleveraged with short-term liabilities mismatched against longer duration illiquid assets.”　　It guaranteed investors that Coinbase wouldnt go down the

2022-07-22Deep Dive

Skybridge Capital to launch Web3 and crypto fund

Traditional venture and growth equity will be used in the fund, which will be offered only to authorized investors. It will largely invest in privately held web3 financial technology companies as well as growth and late-stage crypto businesses.　　On September 12, SkyBridge will make an announcement about the new venture capital fund during its annual Salt conference.　　Decentralised finance is a key component of Scaramuccis financial strategy, as reported by those with direct knowledge of the situation. According to the article, SkyBridge will target companies that trade at a discount on the secondary market and companies that continue to raise primary rounds of capital..　　Cryptocurrency became an important focus for SkyBridge earlier this year. Investors Investments Are Being Impacted by Market Volatility　　A few days ago, SkyBridge became the latest company to suspend withdrawals from one of its crypto-exposed funds, joining a growing list of companies that have done so. SkyBridge put a halt on withdrawals from its Legion Strategies Fund on July 19th due to the funds exposure to cryptocurrency.　　Only 18%, or around $45 million, of Legion Strategies $250 million in assets are invested in cryptocurrencies. Investments in the Sam Bankman-Fried-led FTX exchange, as well as exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Algorand, provide

2022-07-22Deep Dive

Rich Dad Poor Dad's Robert Kiyosaki Warns Inflation May Lead to Greater Depression

Robert Kiyosakis Depression Warnings　　Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, expressed new concerns about the US economy on Wednesday. Kiyosaki and Sharon Lechter co-wrote Rich Dad Poor Dad in 1997. It has spent nearly six years on the New York Times Best Seller List. More than 32 million copies of the book have been sold in more than 51 languages and 109 countries.　　“Warning: Inflation may lead to greater depression,” he tweeted. According to the famous author, real estate is collapsing, foreclosures are up 700 percent over last year, and layoffs are beginning.　　This was not Kiyosakis first warning about an impending Great Depression. “Every 90 years, a massive stock market crash is followed by depression.” “90 years ago was 1929, followed by [the] Great Depression, which lasted 25 years and ended in 1954,” he tweeted in August 2020, adding: “ ”Will history repeat itself？ I think so.　　In April, Kiyosaki warned of hyperinflation and misery, warning that the US dollar was going to implode. “Bad News,” he said again in May. “Depression on the way.” In another tweet, he warned that equities and bonds are collapsing, predicting depression and civil upheaval.　　Last week, the Rich Dad Poor Dad author stated that

2022-07-22Deep Dive

NFTs and Crypto Key to an Open Metaverse: Former Amazon Exec Matthew Ball

According to author and venture capitalist Matthew Ball, NFTs are the finest technical option for a more open metaverse.　　In an interview following the release of his book, “The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything,” Ball discussed the definition of the metaverse, who will rule it, whether cryptocurrencies will play a role, and how NFTs—unique blockchain tokens that signify asset ownership—could solve the metaverses biggest problem.　　Ball is a former Amazon Studios executive who has been cited as a significant thought leader for all things metaverse by Mark Zuckerberg, Epic Games Tim Sweeney, and Coinbases Brian Armstrong. He stated that the metaverse is fundamentally a “parallel virtual plane of existence.”　　He believes that we are still in the early phases of building and defining the metaverse, and that its most important participants will most likely be unknown to us. So Meta, Twitter, or even crypto-focused firms like The Sandbox or Decentraland will not govern the virtual sphere.　　Instead, companies that are “underappreciated right now” or do not yet exist will become the metaverses heavyweights.　　“I hope we dont recognize such companies,” he remarked, recalling how every technological revolution or huge wave of innovation has spawned new and previously unknown brands.　　A Decentralized Metaverse　　Ball sees a

2022-07-22Deep Dive

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