Welcome to Ztoog Crypto, previously often called Chain Reaction.
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Hello and welcome again to the fourth version of the new and improved Ztoog Crypto publication. You most likely know the deal already, however alongside our often scheduled information bits, I’ve added some recurring segments and options — so when you like what you see (or don’t), let me know at jacquelyn@techcrunch.com.
Anyways, let’s get into the massive headlines under.
This week in web3
- Decentralized social community Farcaster is attempting to attain mass adoption via Web 2.0 strategies
- Perhaps this is why the bitcoin spot ETFs are but to ship crypto costs to the moon
- SEC’s Hester Peirce nonetheless plans to push for a token ‘safe harbor’ plan
- a16z’s Chris Dixon thinks it’s time to deal with blockchains’ use instances, not hypothesis
- Bluesky is now open for anybody to be a part of
Crunching numbers
This week the crypto market was comparatively up as the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, rose 5.7 and 6%, respectively, on the week, in accordance to CoinMarketCap information. The international crypto market cap elevated 5.5% over a seven-day interval to $1.72 trillion.
Of the prime 10 tokens by market cap, Solana elevated the most on the week at 7.7% at the time of writing.
Our favourite ‘Crypto Twitter’ submit
That awkward second when your crypto associates and normie associates see “zero knowledge” as two totally different meanings. But in case you don’t know…see the definition right here.
Image Credits: X (opens in a new window)
The newest pod
This 12 months, Chain Reaction is doing month-to-month sequence diving into totally different matters and themes in crypto. To begin issues off, this month we’re specializing in NFTs.
For this week’s episode, I interviewed Devin Finzer, the CEO of NFT market OpenSea. This is additionally our first full video recording and it’s on Ztoog’s YouTube channel; test it out right here.
He co-founded OpenSea in 2017 and it rapidly climbed to grow to be one in all the most well-known — and properly funded — NFT marketplaces. Two years in the past, it raised $300 million in a Series C spherical at a $13.3 billion post-money valuation, bringing its complete capital raised to over $400 million. Some of its buyers embrace corporations Andreessen Horowitz and Paradigm, in addition to celebrities like Kevin Durant and Ashton Kutcher.
Despite the NFT market’s buying and selling quantity falling from all-time highs in late 2021 to early 2022, OpenSea is nonetheless pushing ahead, though different NFT marketplaces have popped up and challenged their dominance.
Devin and I focus on the significance of web3 video games integrating NFTs, Web 2.0 corporations launching their very own digital collectibles and challenges the market faces.
We additionally dive into:
- Big use instances for NFTs
- The firm’s future mission
- Retaining neighborhood members
- Gaining market share and buying and selling quantity
But wait there’s extra…
This week we even have a bonus episode with Hester Peirce, commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
I moderated a fireplace chat with Commissioner Peirce at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business alongside Eddie Cullen, a former candidate for New York City Mayor in 2021 and co-founder and CEO of Crescite Innovation Corporation.
We mentioned quite a few well timed matters, together with the SEC’s spot bitcoin ETF approval, coverage making to maintain crypto innovation alive in the U.S. and the commissioner’s Token Safe Harbor Proposal 2.0 and whether or not Peirce is contemplating a new one.
Subscribe to Chain Reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite pod platform to sustain with the newest episodes, and please depart us a assessment when you like what you hear!
Follow the cash
- Superform Labs raised $6.5 million to assist others distribute, handle and entry yield
- MediConCen raised $6.85 million to automate insurance coverage claims with AI and blockchain tech
- Immoblocks raised $5.67 million for its blockchain-based actual property funding platform
- Filecoin-centric staking protocol GLIF raised $4.5 million in a seed spherical led by Multicoin
- Tether led a $25 million Series A spherical for cell cost app Oobit
This checklist was compiled with info from Messari in addition to Ztoog’s personal reporting.
What else we’re writing
Want to department out from the world of web3? Here are some articles on Ztoog that caught our consideration this week.
- Why Latin American SaaS startups are totally different from their US friends
- Actually, it’s good for Spotify that Joe Rogan’s podcast is now not unique
- Apple Vision Pro assessment: The infinite desktop
- Adam Neumann is attempting to purchase again WeWork
- Mamoon Hamid and Ilya Fushman of Kleiner Perkins: ‘More than 80%’ of pitches now contain AI