• Metalink launches mobile app to create a token-gated space for NFT collectors
• Platform is funded by Web3 figures such as Guy Oseary, Gary Vaynerchuk and MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright
• App also plans to launch transaction functionality for users to buy, sell and swap digital assets

Metalink Launches Mobile App

Funded by notable Web3 figures Guy Oseary, Gary Vaynerchuk and MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto-Wright, Metalink has launched its mobile application with the goal of creating a token-gated space where NFT collectors can interact with one another, aggregate announcements and track their portfolio performance.

Features Of The App

The all-in-one NFT app serves as a complement to Metalink’s website which has already connected with 100,000 crypto wallets. It is available on the Apple App Store and includes features such as private chatrooms for CryptoPunks collectors and other blue-chip NFT projects such as Bored Ape Yacht Club. It also provides an easy way for users to connect their wallet and start typing without having to use Discord or Telegram.

Transaction Functionality

The platform also plans to launch a transaction functionality later this year so users can buy, sell and swap digital assets securely. This will help increase the liquidity of tokens across different networks in the growing NFT space.

Metalink’s Head Of Product Statement

Adam Ceresko, Head of Product at Metalink said “Our goal was to make it incredibly easy for anyone to quickly and safely chat with holders of any collection in their portfolio. With Metalink, you simply connect your wallet and start typing. Token holders only, one chat per collection. No Discord, Telegram or verification bots.“

Conclusion

With its mobile app now available on the Apple App Store backed by prominent Web3 figures such as Guy Oseary ,Gary Vaynerchuk ,and MoonPay CEO Ivan Soto – Wright ,Metalink aims to be the first mobile platform where NFT collectors can talk ,track ,and transact . In addition ,the platform plans on launching transaction functionality later this year which will help increase liquidity across different networks .

• FTX’s investment arm, Alameda Research, has reached an agreement to sell its interest in Sequoia Capital to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund for $45 million.
• The deal is subject to approval by the Delaware bankruptcy court and could close as soon as March 31st.
• The buyer is ultimately owned by the government of Abu Dhabi and already invests in Sequoia.

FTX Reaches $45M Deal with Abu Dhabi

FTX’s investment arm, Alameda Research, has struck a $45 million cash deal to sell its interest in Sequoia Capital to the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund. The agreement requires approval from a Delaware bankruptcy court as the failed exchange seeks to raise funds for creditors.

Details of Agreement

The agreement is subject to approval by Delaware bankruptcy court Judge John Dorsey and could be closed as soon as March 31st. The would-be buyer, Al Nawwar Investments RSC Limited, is ultimately owned by the government of Abu Dhabi and already invests in Sequoia.

Background on FTX Bankruptcy

FTX group filed for bankruptcy protection in November 2020 and was granted permission in January 2021 for some of FTX’s more easily separable assets to be offered for sale. Those included derivative arm LedgerX, stock-clearing platform Embed, and Japanese and European units. FTX management have said there is still a massive balance-sheet shortfall due to poor record keeping at the company.

Purpose of Sale

FTX decided to enter into this agreement based on its superior offer and ability to execute the Sale Transaction within a short time frame after receiving indications of interest from four parties and entering into negotiations with two for the sale of assets in the Sequoia Capital Fund.

Conclusion

The proposed sale between FTX’s investment arm, Alameda Research and Al Nawwar Investments RSC Limited should help raise funds necessary for FTX’s creditors while also helping Abu Dhabi expand their investments within Sequoia Capital Fund through this acquisition.

• Bitcoin mining industry is recovering from its long crypto winter, benefiting from the recent rally in BTC’s price
• Capital is starting to flow back into the sector and energy costs have also decreased
• Publicly traded bitcoin mining firms are outperforming Bitcoin this year with stock prices rising significantly

Bitcoin Mining Industry Emerging From Crypto Winter

The bitcoin mining industry appears to be getting back on its feet after a long crypto winter that saw major bankruptcies and fire sales. Even though mining economics have improved only marginally as bitcoin trades above $20,000, capital is starting to flow into the sector once again. Shares of publicly traded bitcoin mining firms have outpaced bitcoin this year.

Bullish Price Action Boosting Investor Sentiment

This shows that investor sentiment is still largely driven by BTC price action rather than mining fundamentals, according to Ethan Vera, chief operating officer at Luxor Technologies, a crypto mining-services firm. The rally in Bitcoin’s price has been providing some relief for miners and public markets are seeing significant increases in value with Core Scientific (CORZQ) leading the pack with 693% growth this year.

Lower Energy Costs Helping Miners To Stay Afloat

Lower energy costs in the last few months have also given miners some breathing room. A composite index of public mining rig manufacturers, foundries and miners compiled by Luxor is up by 52% so far this year compared to Bitcoin’s 44% rise. Digihost shares followed close behind with 225%, while Cipher Mining (CIFR), DMG Blockchain (DMGI), Bitfarms (BITF), Iris Energy (IREN) and Bit Digital (BTBT) all doubled or more.

Industry Still Has Long Way To Go To Reach Pre-Winter Levels

However, despite these gains, the industry still has a long way to go before it reaches pre-winter levels. Many miners are now focusing on reducing their cost bases further in order to increase their competitiveness against larger players who can take advantage of economies of scale and access cheaper electricity sources.

Conclusion: Increased Optimism For Crypto Mining Sector

Overall there seems to be an increase in optimism for the cryptocurrency mining sector as many companies are beginning to emerge from the brutal crypto winter that hit them hard last year. With positive sentiment driving investment back into the space combined with lower energy costs providing relief, it appears that miners may slowly be climbing out of the woods yet again

• Folkvang is a market-neutral, Cayman Island-based trading firm founded in 2020 by a team of seasoned crypto quant traders.
• The firm managed as much as $400 million in 2021 before suffering a major blow during November’s FTX crash.
• Despite the hit, Folkvang was able to survive and continue operations.

FinanceAlameda-Backed Crypto Trader Folkvang

Founded in January 2020, Folkvang is a market-neutral, Cayman Island-based trading firm managed by a team of seasoned crypto quant traders. In 2021 they managed as much as $400 million in assets, including equity and loans. However, the firm had half of its equity parked on FTX before it collapsed during November’s crash which resulted in a big hit for them.

The Aftermath Of The Collapse

The cryptocurrency industry is still reeling from the contagious collapse of the FTX exchange more than three months later. Speaking on a recent video call from a high rise Singapore office building, Folkvang founder Mike van Rossum provided an account of the „messy“ situation that ensued after their losses when he said „We were able to survive, but as we were quite active borrowers we had to pay the lenders back out of pocket.“ Despite this setback, however, Folkvang has been able to remain standing due to careful management and risk assessment measures taken by its founders prior to FTX’s closure.

Investment From Alameda Research

Alameda Research, which played a central role in FTX’s demise and is owned by Sam Bankman-Fried invested in Folkvang prior to FTX’s collapse. Similarly Folkvang returned the favor by investing part of their own portfolio into FTX which ultimately ended up costing them part of their gains made over 2021 when it collapsed unexpectedly.

Still Going Strong

Despite these setbacks however, van Rossum remains confident that his firm will be able to weather any future storms thanks to careful risk mitigation strategies employed throughout its operations: „This is the risk right? This is the risk of the game,“ he said.“I guess we’re happy we’re still standing.“ This sentiment was echoed further when he revealed that even though they’d lost around half their equity at one point they’d survived nonetheless thanks to smart money management techniques employed across all exchanges used by Folkvang traders alike.

Conclusion

The crash of FTX has left many firms reeling and while some have not been so lucky – such as Alameda Research itself – others such as Folkvang have managed to stay afloat due to clever risk management practices put into place prior to disaster striking again in November last year. While no one can predict what might happen next time – if there even ever will be another crash like this one – it’s clear that with firms like these around then at least some stability may yet prevail within cryptocurrency markets for years ahead yet still!

• TRU, the governance token of decentralized lending protocol TrueFi, surged 220% on Thursday.
• The rally appears to come from traders mistakenly connecting TRU with TUSD, a stablecoin that had been issued by TrueFi in the past but now no longer is.
• Binance minted $50 million of TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin sparking speculation among crypto traders about TUSD potentially gaining a larger role in trading on Binance after the regulatory crackdown on the Paxos-issued BUSD.

TRU Token Rallies Over 200%

The TRU token, which is the governance token of decentralized lending protocol TrueFi, rallied over 200% on Thursday in an hour according to CoinMarketCap data.

Binance’s TUSD Mint Sparks Speculation

The rally appeared to be caused by traders mistakenly connecting TRU with TUSD, a stablecoin that had been issued by TrueFi in the past but now no longer is. Before this surge took place, Binance had minted $50 million of TrueUSD (TUSD) stablecoin and this sparked speculation among crypto traders about TUSD potentially gaining a larger role in trading on Binance after the regulatory crackdown on the Paxos-issued BUSD.

TrustToken & Techteryx Partnership

TrustToken sold TUSD in 2020 to a firm called Techteryx, an „Asia-based conglomerate with businesses … in traditional real estate, entertainment, environmental and information technology industries“ according to TrustToken Chief Executive Rafael Cosman at the time. This partnership led to TrustToken separating from the TrueFi protocol and renaming itself Archblock last year as well as TrueFi embarking upon its journey towards decentralization.

TRU Reaches 14.6 Cents Before Paring Gains

As news spread about the potential for increased support for TUSD on Binance due to its separation from TrustToken/Archblock and TrueFi respectively, TRU surged as high as 14.6 cents from 4.4 cents before later paring some of its gains back down again – it was trading at around 11 cents at press time when this article was written.

Paxos Halts Minting Of B USD Earlier this week Paxos announced that it would halt minting of B USD due to regulatory concerns which has added further fuel to speculation around what role T USD might play within trading platforms moving forward

Summary of Article

• Kraken recently settled with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sunset its crypto staking service.
• The settlement caused governance tokens of the largest liquid staking protocols to rally, counteracting the broader crypto market downturn.
• This event may be a boon for decentralized rivals in grabbing market share from centralized service providers.

Liquid Staking Tokens Rally as Kraken Shuts Staking Service to Settle With SEC

The sudden price uptick of governance tokens for the largest liquid staking protocols – Lido Finance, Rocket Pool and Frax Finance – was a counterweight to the decline of the broader crypto market. This was due to an announcement by U.S.-based crypto exchange Kraken settling with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Thursday to sunset its crypto staking service. The LDO governance token of Lido Finance, which has some $8.4 billion worth of ETH staked on its platform, jumped 10.4% in an hour according to CoinGecko data while competitor Rocket Pool’s RPL saw a 7.3% increase in price. Smaller liquid staking platforms such as Persistence’s pSTAKE and StaFi’s FIS gained 6.7 and 11.4%, respectively, following this news as well; however prices have since pared back some of their earlier gains.

Staking Services & SEC Regulations

Staking is a consensus mechanism used by proof-of-stake blockchains such as Ethereum that offers investors a way to earn yield on their digital asset holdings; however, the SEC has been vocal about its concerns that these services are considered unregistered securities according to present regulations – thus prompting Kraken’s decision for settlement with them earlier this week.

Impact on Liquid Staking Protocols

This event from Kraken may be beneficial for decentralized rivals that seek to grab more market share from centralized service providers; not just because it eliminates one competitor but due to the fact that it further draws attention towards these alternative options available in terms of earning yield through staking digital assets while adhering with regulatory requirements at the same time – something that centralized exchanges may not be able to do anymore going forward given recent developments in this space regarding their operations under current governing laws .

Conclusion

All things considered, Thursday’s events combined served as a testament reminding us why decentralization is so important within this industry; not only does it provide individuals more ways for gaining returns through passive means but also lessens our dependence towards third party entities like exchanges when it comes down providing us access into participating within blockchain networks without having any legal implications due being compliant with relevant regulatory bodies globally – all while allowing us maintain full control over our own funds at all times too!

• Binance has asked WazirX to move its customers‘ funds out of their wallets.
• The two crypto exchanges are in a dispute about the matter and it appears to have escalated.
• WazirX has begun the process of transferring assets to multi-sig wallets and expects it to be completed within a few hours.

Binance-WazirX Dispute Rages

Binance has invited Zanmai Labs, the entity operating the Indian crypto exchange WazirX, to work out arrangements to withdraw any remaining assets held in Binance wallets, according to a blog post on Friday. This solution is intended to end worries about what would happen if Binance and WazirX stopped collaborating, but it appears that tensions between the two crypto exchanges have now escalated further.

Background of Dispute

The public disagreement between Binance and WazirX began on August 5th 2022 when Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted claims that “Binance does not own any shares in Zanmai Labs” – the entity operating WazirX which was established by its original founders. Since then, both companies have been embroiled in an ongoing dispute over this issue.

Binance Invites WazirX To Move Funds Out

In order to resolve this dispute, Binance has now invited Zanmai Labs (the company running WazirX) to work out arrangements for withdrawing any remaining customer funds from their wallets. However, they also noted that it is ultimately up to Zanmai Labs as a company to make sure these withdrawals take place quickly and efficiently.

WazirX Begins Transferring Assets

In response, WazirX announced via tweet on Friday at 14:58 UTC that they had begun transferring assets into multi-sig wallets with an expectation that this process will be completed within the next few hours.

Conclusion

The situation between Binance and Wazirx remains unresolved but this latest step may help mitigate some of the fears surrounding customer funds if their collaboration comes to an end.

• Floki Inu’s DAO recently passed a proposal to burn 4.2 trillion FLOKI tokens and reduce the transactional tax to 0.3%.
• The token burn is worth over $100 million and is expected to occur at 8 p.m. UTC on Feb. 9, 2023.
• Burning tokens is a way of reducing supply which adds value to each token as long as demand remains the same.

Floki Inu, a popular decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) with a cryptocurrency of the same name, recently passed a proposal to burn 4.2 trillion FLOKI tokens. This token burn comes with a reduction in transactional tax to 0.3%, which will take effect at 8 p.m. UTC on Feb. 3, 2023. The token burning is expected to occur at 8 p.m. UTC on Feb. 9, 2023.

The proposal passed with a 99.97% majority voting in favor of the token burning, while 0.03% voted against the proposal. According to CoinGecko data, the token burn is worth over $100 million as of Monday.

The token burning is a way of reducing the supply of the token, subsequently adding value to each token as long as the level of demand remains the same. The proposal also pointed out security risks associated with cross-chain bridges, as more exploits and data have emerged to show how much of a threat these bridges could pose, especially if they hold a significant amount of a token’s supply. Last year alone saw over $2 billion lost or stolen from cross-chain bridges.

As for the FLOKI token, it has seen a strong rally in the past week, with its price more than doubling. This token burn could further add to its price growth, as it will reduce the supply of the token.

The Floki Inu community has been quite active in the governance of its project, with the token burn being the latest example of its efforts. It remains to be seen if this proposal will have the intended result of increasing the value of the token, but if the demand for FLOKI tokens remains high, it is likely that the token burning will have a positive effect on its price.

• MakerDAO’s community approved a proposal to deploy up to $100 million in USDC from its reserve on DeFi protocol Yearn Finance.
• The deposited stablecoin will earn a yield, estimated to be 2% annually.
• 72% of voters favored the plan.

The MakerDAO community has taken a major step towards the deployment of $100 million in USDC on the decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol Yearn Finance. The move is expected to yield an estimated 2% annual return for MakerDAO, as well as provide liquidity to the DeFi protocol.

The proposal was submitted back in November, and Monday saw the MakerDAO community voting to approve the plan. With 72% of voters in favor of the proposal, the way has been opened for MakerDAO to open an individual, non-custodial vault on Yearn with a ceiling of $100 million. The funds will come from the MakerDAO’s „peg stability module“ (PSM), which helps back the value of the decentralized stablecoin DAI.

The funds will be used to deposit USDC, and MakerDAO will be able to earn a 2% annual yield on the USDC stablecoin deposits. This yield is expected to help MakerDAO cover its costs and offer more stability to its DAI stablecoin.

The move by MakerDAO is a sign of the growing importance of DeFi protocols and the increasing focus on yield earning. It is also a sign of the growing trust in the USDC stablecoin, which has been increasing in popularity in recent months.

Moreover, the move is a boost for Yearn Finance, which will now have access to additional funds and liquidity. Yearn Finance is one of the most popular DeFi protocols, and the addition of the $100 million in USDC will help it to continue to grow and expand its services.

Overall, this is a major step forward for MakerDAO, Yearn Finance, and the DeFi space. It is a sign of the increasing demand for yield-earning strategies and the growing trust in stablecoins. As the DeFi space continues to grow, the MakerDAO community’s decision to deploy funds on Yearn Finance could be a major step forward in the development of the sector.