Issue #12

Market Overview

As of the time of writing (Monday 5pm), the total market cap of the crypto asset market $US969B, up 0.6% from last week.

Below is the weekly performance of the top crypto and NFT assets. 

News Headline Highlights

• Despite the 2022 drawdown in crypto valuations, Goldman Sachs reported that their cryptocurrency trading is significantly higher in native volumes, which translates to being flat in dollar terms.
• After announcing intentions to provide Ethereum services earlier in the year, Fidelity announced from October 28th, customers will be able to buy, sell and transfer Ether the second largest crypto asset.
• Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and chief executive of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has received significant community pushback from his recommendations on regulation for crypto and defi, resulting in him revising some comments and providing more clarity days later. Magnet quick take: The debate that ensued highlights the complexities but the importance of correctly regulating an open and free economy without succumbing to unnecessary oversight and policies that unnecessarily cripple innovation.
• The CFTC and the SEC are both reported to be investigating a range of legal violations in relation to failed hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. 
• European digital bank N26 launches crypto trading service to provide customers with access to 100 tokens, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. Services will first be rolled out in Austria with plans to expand across other European markets over the coming 6 months.

 Crypto Asset Project Updates

• After reporting last week that Flashbot’s MEV-Boost software was resulting in centralisation concerns for Ethereum, they announced an upgrade, called SUAVE, to address these concerns. SUAVE aims to progressively decentralise the block-building process by open-sourcing its code and development, allowing anyone to contribute.
• Aptos, a layer 1 blockchain that most recently raised at a $2b valuation, launched on October 18th. Touted as a hyper fast and scalable blockchain, Aptos failed to reach their testnet capacity of 130k transactions per second (tps), only achieving 7tps on their mainnet debut (less than Bitcoin). Further community concerns around the lack of transparency on their  token economics added to the turbulent start for Aptos.
• Polkadot founder and CEO, Gavin Wood, has stepped down as CEO from PArity Technologies, the leading development company of the Polkadot Blockchain. Wood’s co-founder, Björn Wagner, will step into the CEO role. 

The Weekly Deal Room

• Celestia Labs, who are building a modular blockchain network,  raised $55m in a combined Series A and B led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital and others.
• Archax, a London-based digital asset exchange, raised $32m at a valuation of $170m from abrdn and others.
• Stardust, a crypto gaming platform that provides development tools for crypto-powered game makers, raised $30m in their Series A led by Framework Ventures.
• ChainSafe, a blockchain development company focused on infrastructure and web3 gaming, raised $18.75m in their Series A led by Round13.
• New layer 1 sharded blockchain, Shardeum, raised  $18.2m in seed funding from a large group of investors that included Jane Street, Struck Crypto and Spartan Group.
• Crypto hardware maker Fabric Systems raised $13m in seed funding from TeraWulf, Metaplanet, Blockchain.com and others.
• Mercury, a student and college athlete fan experience company, raised $7.5m in a Seed Round led by Multicoin Capital with participation from North Island Ventures, Crosslink and Brevan Howard.
• Crypto security startup Web3 Builders raised $7m in a Seed Round from Road Capital, Open Sea, G20 and others to build a scam prevention tool for those transacting in NFTs, smart contracts and crypto.

Metric of the Week

A recent report released by the Bank of Canada demonstrates a significant increase of Bitcoin ownership by Canadians in 2021. Bitcoin ownership increased from 3% in 2016 to around 5% in 2018, which persisted through to 2020 before a sharp rise to 13% in 2021.

Source: Bank of Canada