Issue #71

Written by Magnet Capital | Dec 12, 2023 5:45:00 AM

Market Overview

As of the time of writing (Monday 5pm), the total market cap of the crypto asset market is $US1.64T, up (1.7%) from last week.

Below is the weekly performance of the top crypto assets.

News Headline Highlights

El Salvador, the country which gave Bitcoin legal tender status in 2021, launched a $1 million “Adopting El Salvador Freedom Visa” program. The program is limited to 1,000 applications per year. The visa aims to attract those seeking residency and citizenship via investment, similar to Golden Visa programs in other countries.
Auction house Sotheby's has begun its first Bitcoin Ordinals sale. The sale is taking place over a week (Dec 6-13) via an online-based auction, featuring three items from the BitcoinShrooms collection of 222 works.
Asset managers BlackRock and Fidelity and crypto investment firm Bitwise all filed amended S1 forms with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), answering further questions likely asked by the regulator in earlier conversations.
Online brokerage giant Robinhood is launching a cryptocurrency trading feature in the European Union, pushing further outside the United States as the company looks to unlock growth from international markets.
Brazilian bank Itau Unibanco launched cryptocurrency trading services for clients of its investment platform. The move makes Brazil’s largest lender the latest local player to enter the market for the digital asset's exchange.
Société Générale, France’s third-largest bank, is launching its own stablecoin, EUR CoinVertible, on a cryptocurrency exchange, becoming the first big bank to offer digital tokens tracking the price of hard currencies. The stablecoin will debut trading on Bitstamp, an exchange based in Luxembourg.

Crypto Asset Project Updates

Magnet Portfolio Company Update: The weekly inflation of Synthetix's native token, SNX, has been reduced to zero. The rationale for inflation was to bootstrap the ecosystem. However now that Synthetix yields 4-7% from fee generation, token inflation is no longer necessary as the key driver of for stakers and synth liquidity.
A new version of Bitcoin Core, 26.0 has been released. The upgrade includes changes that will improve network connectivity and syncing speed for nodes.
LayerZero, a blockchain interoperability protocol, clarified it will launch a token after months of ardent speculation. The team stated on twitter that "there will be a LayerZero token. Its distribution is something we’re committed to getting right and expect it to happen within the first half of 2024".
The Starknet Foundation, the organisation behind the Ethereum Layer 2 network Starknet, plans to distribute 1.8 billion tokens as user rewards and rebates, with precise details still under development.

Regulation Station

Montenegro’s top justice official has privately declared his plans to send disgraced crypto tycoon Do Kwon to the U.S. rather than South Korea to face criminal charges. Both jurisdictions have requested Kwon’s extradition.
The cryptocurrency industry is on track to hit a new record for federal lobbying spending in 2023. Crypto companies spent $18.96m in the first three quarters of 2023 on lobbying, compared with $16.1m during the same period in 2022.
The Basel Committee wants to consult on the criteria for stablecoins to receive group 1b regulatory treatment, referring to "cryptoassets with effective stabilisation mechanisms".

The Weekly Deal Room

GFO-X, a crypto derivatives venue regulated in the UK, raised $30m in a Series B led by M&G Investments.
Babylon, a bitcoin staking protocol under development, raised $18m in a Series A co-led by Polychain Capital and Hack VC.
QANplatform, a Quantum-resistant Layer 1 hybrid blockchain platform, raised $15m in a private round from MKB Holding.
Mocaverse, a layer for Web3 culture and entertainment, raised $11.88m in a Series A+ led by Animoca Brands.
Shadow, a crypto data platform, raised $9m in a Seed Round led by Paradigm.
Sindri, zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) DevOps and proving stack, raised $5m in a Seed Round led by Coin Fund.
Poglin, a web3 IP platform, raised $3m in a Seed Round led by Animoca Brands.
Gacha Monsters, an entertainment and gaming web3 startup, raised $3m in a Seed Round led by Animoca Brands.
Brahma, an on-chain execution and automation stack, raised $2.5m in a Seed+ Round led by Greenfield Capital.
Versatus Labs, a blockchain scaling startup currently focused on Ethereum , raised $2.3m at a $50m valuation in a Seed Round from NGC Ventures, Republic Crypto, Hyperithm and others.

Metric of the Week

Bitcoin is way out there on the risk-return spectrum, so for most portfolios, a little could go a long way. From a purely rear view perspective, of course, Bitcoin has been in a risk-reward class by Itself so far this decade.

Source: Fidelity

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