- Bitcoin is back above the $40,000 level and Ethereum above the $3,000 mark.
- As NFT trading volumes reach new heights, less than 0.04% of the world's population owns them.
- Wormhole, the token bridge linking Solana to Ethereum has just been the subject of an attack where the loot amounts to 326 million dollars! (CoinDesk)
- According to a recently published report by Chainalysis, over $8 billion was laundered through cryptocurrencies in 2021.
- The FTX exchange raised $400M and is now valued at $32B (Coindesk) , almost as much as Coinbase ($38B) and more than Nasdaq ($29,2B) or Twitter ($28,2B).
- Meta drops its cryptocurrency Diem (ex-Libra) but joins the Crypto Open Patent Alliance board, allowing anyone to use its cryptocurrency patents. (Coindesk)
- The Reddit co-founder has raised $500 million for two cryptocurrency-focused startups. (Theblockcrypto)
- The founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, announced the creation of a "decentralized exchange allowing to easily switch from fiat to Bitcoin. (Blockworks)
- The Google CEO said his company sees Web3 as a powerful technology with broad applications. (CNBC)
- The CEO of American Express said his company is looking for ways to get involved in NFTs.
- The CEO of Visa said $2.5 billion in payments were made with Visa crypto cards in the first fiscal quarter. He added that more than 100 million vendors worldwide now accept crypto payments through the Visa network. (CoinDesk) (see my post "4 cashback crypto debit VISA cards")
- Cryptocurrency has been legalized in India. A digital rupee is expected to be issued by the country in 2022-23. And a 30% tax on all digital asset transactions will be imposed. According to a study, 82% of Indians are ready to invest in bitcoin, which would represent 15% of the world's population in cryptocurrencies. (news.bitcoin.com)
- Thailand canceled its proposed 15% withholding tax.
- Russia states that its citizens have invested more than $200 billion in cryptocurrencies, or about 13% of the total capitalization. (Bloombergquint)
- Saudi Arabia plans to create a copy of its $500 billion "NEOM" futuristic city project on the metaverse. (Wired)
