Though times are tough for many crypto projects and investors, we’re happy to share positive news this week in the form of rescue funding, the continuation of large investments, and NFT points of interest.
Recovery Funds for Crypto Projects in Crisis
Help is on the way for promising crypto projects that have found themselves in liquidity crunches; an unfortunately common result of prominent cryptocurrency exchange FTX filing for bankruptcy. Well known exchanges Binance and OKX have both announced ‘recovery funds’ in the past week.
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, said in a tweet that Binance is launching the fund to help projects “who are otherwise strong, but in a liquidity crisis.” Qualifying projects are encouraged to apply and Binance is welcoming investors to make contributions to the fund.
OKX has launched a $100m ‘market recovery fund’, intending to prop up otherwise strong crypto projects that are suddenly facing collapse.
Even in a Slump, Big Funding Continues
In other good news, despite current market conditions, there are still many projects being funded. Matter Labs, the company behind Ethereum scaling solution zKSync, announced a massive $200M raise this week. “No matter how bad this bear market gets, we are well positioned to grow our team,” said Steve Newcomb, CPO at Matter Labs.
Other investments this week have included funding for projects that focus on NFT fraud detection, non-custodial crypto wallets, and a ‘web3 energy grid’.
NFT fraud detection startup Yakoa has raised $4.8 million in a seed funding round.
Colombia-based crypto wallet platform Zulu has raised $5 million in a seed round with plans to expand its user base in Latin America.
Anode Labs has raised $4.2 million in a seed round with plans to create a decentralized energy network. The network will pay both individuals and small businesses for their energy storage assets.
NFT News from Nike, Binance & Sony
Go big or go home. Nike is already one of the biggest and most successful brands to embrace web3, with earnings of $185 million in NFT revenue to date. The sports giant has now announced .Swoosh; a platform which will allow Nike fans not only to collect, but also co-create virtual items.
The site (pronounced “dot swoosh”), which is currently in beta testing, intends to launch its first digital collection in 2023. Look out for virtual shoes and other NFT merchandise in the year to come.
More news from Binance this week. The company will be releasing a Cristiano Ronaldo NFT collection ahead of the World Cup. The first in a series of Ronaldo-themed NFTs dropped today. (November 18.)
News from Sony Interactive Entertainment; the massive gaming arm of the multinational conglomerate appears to be considering the integration of NFT and blockchain technology usage in games. The company filed to patent a system for tracking unique in-game digital assets using tokens on a distributed ledger. Though their attempt at a patent has not met the criteria, it is interesting to note that another large gaming company appears to be formulating a Web3 strategy, following in the recent footsteps of rivals Square Enix, makers of the popular Final Fantasy series.
Shifting Crypto Trends
Following the recent FTX debacle, the trend away from centralized cryptocurrency exchanges and instead towards self-custodied hardware crypto wallets is on the rise.
Trezor, a major hardware wallet provider, has recorded a significant uptick in wallet sales in the last week since the crash. “We expect this trend to continue in the short to mid-term, as the contagion of FTX failure continues to unwind and Bitcoin or cryptocurrency holders lose trust in custodians and finally start to explore their options to self-custody their digital assets,” said the firm’s brand ambassador Josef Tetek.
The same has been true for Ledger, another crypto hardware wallet company. Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier confirmed record-high figures since the crash. “People are realizing that we must return to decentralization and to self-custody. ‘Not your keys, not your coins.’ A saying as old as crypto itself, but it has never been more relevant,” said Gauthier.
At Marfire, we offer tailor-made digital asset/web3 solutions. We invite you to follow our LinkedIn page and don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or if you’d just like to chat.
NFA DYOR (Not financial advice. Do your own research.)
