Bitcoin Miner Bitdeer 🔑, Bruce Lee Enters Web3 🥊, Attorneys Crypto's SEC 🔖
Daily Crypto, Blockchain & Web3 Update 2023-04-13
BUSINESS
How Shanghai Could Change Institutional Appetite for Ethereum (3 min read)
According to Diogo Mónica, co-founder of Anchorage Digital, the upgrade will increase investment liquidity and appeal to cautious, big investors. In his opinion, the lack of liquidity previously scared funds away from Ethereum. It could encourage institutions that previously only bought ETH without staking it to consider pledging their ETH.
Furthermore, he stated that the transition will draw in major funds with an ESG investment strategy, as Ethereum is now 99.95% more energy efficient, making it a more environmentally friendly digital asset.
Bitcoin Miner Bitdeer Expected to Finally Go Public This Friday (2 min read)
After three previous delays, Bitcoin miner Bitdeer now expects to finally start trading on the Nasdaq on April 14, 2023. This will be part of a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger after multiple delays in closing the $4 billion deal.
Bitdeer Technologies Group is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol "BTDR". Bitdeer operates six mining data centers globally with the purpose of proprietary mining, hash rate sharing, and hosting.
Alameda-linked Ren Protocol Transfers $13M in Bitcoin to FTX Debtors (3 min read)
Ren took to Twitter to inform its community that it must transfer the protocol’s assets to FTX debtors’ cold wallets.
"The cryptocurrency assets will be transferred to distinct segregated wallets cold storage wallets designated for these assets transferred by Ren, separate from the other Debtor cold storage wallets," reads the announcement.
The price of the project's governance token has dropped 8% following the news, per CoinGecko.
NFTs
Bruce Lee Enters Web3, Starting With Open Edition NFT From Pplpleasr (3 min read)
The Bruce Lee Estate will establish a Web3 presence for the late, legendary martial artist and actor thanks to a new partnership with Shibuya, an NFT-driven video platform.
The $15 NFT is billed as “your ticket to the House of Lee”. The artwork in "House of Lee: Genesis" NFT is a hand-drawn portrayal of Lee by Emily "pplpleasr" Yang, created in partnership with Shannon Lee, founder and President of the Bruce Lee Estate.
Azuki NFT Creator Chiru Labs Reveals Collab With Line Friends (3 min read)
On Wednesday, Chiru Labs, known for their Azuki NFT project on Ethereum, announced a partnership with IPX, parent company of Line Friends.
Line Friends is a collection of cartoonish animal characters inspired by stickers in the top Japanese messaging app Line and from South Korean internet giant Naver. Line Friends, which started in 2011, has launched several stores featuring themed merchandise, amusement parks, partnered with K-pop band BTS, produced a "Brown and Friends" series on Netflix, and much more.
COINS
SEC Is Adding Attorneys to Crypto Enforcement Unit (1 minute read)
Amid a crackdown on the crypto industry led by Chairman Gary Gensler, the SEC is hiring attorneys for its Crypto Asset and Cyber Unit to investigate and enforce federal securities laws.
Lending Platform Maple Prepares New U.S. Treasury Pool; MPL Token Rises 23% (3 min read)
Maple Finance is set to launch a lending pool made up of U.S. Treasury bonds, according to CEO Sidney Powell. The company is also planning a community vote on new tokenomics and utility for its native token, MPL. Maple Finance is coming back from a challenging year in crypto lending, with a significant decrease in total value locked and a drop in the MPL token's value. To rebuild, the platform released an upgraded version and started a new tax receivables lending pool. The new U.S. Treasury Bond pool will enable accredited investors and corporate treasuries to invest stablecoins in these U.S. Treasuries, while Maple works on expanding its lending offerings.
Binance US to Delist Justin Sun's Tron Token Next Week (3 min read)
Three weeks after the SEC accused Justin Sun of manipulating the price of TRX, Binance US said it would delist the asset.
Both tokens will be removed from Binance US on April 18. Although withdrawals for TRX and SPELL will still be possible, trading and deposits will no longer be available. The exchange said it will continue to support USDT and USDC stablecoins issued on the TRON network.
Bitcoin Edges Higher as Inflation Cools More Than Expected in March (5 min read)
Fresh off its climb past $30,000 the day before, Bitcoin inched higher after a widely-watched inflation gauge showed rising prices continued to cool in March.
The Consumer Price Index rose 5% in the 12 months through March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said Wednesday, coming in lower than economists’ forecasts. On a monthly basis, the index rose 0.1%, a notable deceleration from 0.4% in February.
Bitcoin rose 0.6% to $30,276 while Ethereum was down 1.5% to $1,887 ahead of the network’s Shanghai upgrade, according to CoinGecko.
Bitcoin Privacy Tool Aims to 'Confuse' Surveillance Companies (5 min read)
Dan Gould, a Bitcoin developer and privacy expert, has created a privacy tool to thwart Bitcoin analytics companies trying to track ownership of Bitcoin.
Bitcoin transactions aren't very private; seeing every Bitcoin transaction ever made is as easy as pulling up any Bitcoin block explorer. Bitcoin analytics firms like Chainalysis, often referred to as surveillance firms, utilize transaction patterns to provide details to both governments and companies regarding Bitcoin transfers and the parties involved.
Ethereum Holds Steady Following Shanghai, Defying Expectations (3 min read)
After the successful implementation of Ethereum's Shanghai upgrade on Wednesday night, allowing network participants to withdraw their staked ETH, the price of ETH remained mostly steady and even increased slightly.
ETH stayed steady in the minutes following the merge, crawling up just a hair, 0.21%, to $1919.50 at writing, according to CoinGecko. That's up roughly 3% since yesterday evening.
GAMING
LimeWire Launches Nostalgic Music Downloading Game With Crypto Rewards (3 min read)
LimeWire, the early 2000s peer-to-peer music file-sharing service that evokes nostalgia, has been revived in Web3. A music-downloading game that capitalizes on its history was launched today.
Any early 2000s musician, song, or movie can be searched for; the majority of results will appear. Players then have to decide which items to "download." No matter what kind of download it is, if it doesn't have a "virus," the player will receive 10 points. The LimeWire simulation keeps going until either the timer expires or the user encounters a "virus."