The first week of January was memorable because Bitcoin hit 20,000 for the first time in 3 months, and other major altcoins gained some substantial value; not so good news as top meme coins lost dollar value, maybe because of the lack of meme jokes by Elon Musk. News just reaching us confirms that many people who threw their hardware wallets during the turbulent times of 2021 are looking for some ways to find their wallets. Still, not much luck for a trader who threw his wallet to the bottom of the pacific ocean – maybe he’ll find it during the apocalypse.
Bitcoin hit $22,000 last week, and the price is expected to increase further this year. Some are other memorable events that happened last week.
1. Binance was given the order to buy voyagers’ assets
World’s second-largest, oh sorry, world’s largest decentralized exchange, we now find it challenging these days to know if Coinbase or Binance is the largest centralized exchange in the world. Anyway, Binance has seen a green light in the Voyager Digital takeover deal.
Voyager is one of the companies that went bankrupt during the crypto crisis, which was caused by a lack of proper money management, risking users’ funds without fully informing the users and the overexcitement of the 2020 bull run. A Bankruptcy Court in New York has allowed Voyager to enter a purchase agreement with Binance worth around $1.02 billion. Still, the court has indicated that the purchase will not happen until a further Court hearing.
2. Metaverse could create a 5 trillion value
Metaverse is one of the most innovative technologies in the world today not only because it gives someone with $100 in real life the to own $10 million in liquid cash, a private yet, fully furnished mansion with Jacuzzi and a Bugatti La Voiture Noire. It is because tokenization with cryptocurrency helps to facilitate the technology.
According to the latest international consulting firm McKinsey report, Metaverse spending could reach $5 trillion by 2030. The report is not from random naysayers, but the data of the 77-page report was gathered from more than 3,000 customers across 11 countries, and executives from 448 companies account for 15 industries in 10 different countries.
The report also found that eCommerce will be the primary cash flow in the metaverse and will make up for around 2 trillion of all the Metaverse spending in 2030. Virtual advertising will also take up to $144 billion in the Metaverse world. The report also stated that the Metaverse is a fast-growing space in which investors and big brands need to embrace the Metaverse if they still want to remain relevant in the future.
3. Mastercard partners polygon for web3 accelerator
The good news for crypto enthusiasts and traders is that instead of waiting for your coins to boom or to avoid being screwed by Sam Fried, Global payments giant Mastercard is creating a Polygon-based accelerator to help musicians build careers through Web3.
Mastercard is also launching an NFT collection called the Mastercard Music Pass to provide holders with educational materials to help them to learn more about Web3 integrations with the music sector. Mastercard has been involved in the crypto world recently, including launching a crypto fraud protection tool, and the company also offers crypto trading services to customers.
4. Digital Currency Group investigated by DOJ and SEC
Federal prosecutors in New York and the SEC are investigating Digital Currency Group for internal transfers to lending subsidiary Genesis. DCG is the parent company of the crypto news website Coindesk, crypto exchange Luno and crypto mining service provider Foundry Digital. It’s easier to trust a cat to protect fried fish than to trust a crypto company these days because many companies, including Genesis, screwed up big time.
5. Wrye imposes a 90% withdrawal limit
Wrye is one of the latest crypto companies to make suspicious moves. The company announced that it would be modifying its withdrawal policy. Wrye team has limited customers to withdrawals of at most 90% of funds in their accounts, meaning that a user with a balance of 0.05 BTC can only withdraw 0.045 BTC from their accounts. The company added a withdrawal limit of 5 BTC and 50 ETH per day and limits on fiat withdrawals. This move suggests a possible liquidity crisis facing the company.
