Another crypto unicorn is born

Dear member,

The skies in crypto are starting to clear after weeks of banking turmoil and regulatory clampdowns. Last week started with big news; LayerZero, a novel interoperability protocol, raised $120 million against an eye-watering $3 billion valuation. This firmly places the startup in the rarified air of crypto unicorns.

Alchemy Pay, which works with Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay, and Apple Pay, raised $10 million in funding, bringing its total funding to date to $160 million. All these amidst a wave of new institutional investments and renewed optimism, likely against falling confidence in TradFi. Most notably was MicroStrategy’s purchase of an additional 1,045 Bitcoins, bringing their total Bitcoin investment value to $4 billion at present value.

While Bitcoin’s rally has stalled at resistance levels of just under $28,500, gold has been on a tear. Tokenized gold assets have reached over $1 billion market capitalization for the first time. As gold has often been a safe haven asset, could this signal deepening fears of a looming global financial crisis?

This may be the case, but more importantly, it signals increased capital flight from traditional markets to Web3. Some countries are taking notice, like Germany’s new act that allows companies to tokenize their stocks. On the other side of the globe, Hong Kong's new crypto rules are demanding the same strict compliance standards as traditional financial firms. While it may cause short-term pain for Web3 companies, it augurs well for the long-term health of the industry.

Named brands in the luxury space have been grabbing headlines through partnerships and payment gateways. This past week saw Ralph Lauren's newly opened store in Miami accepting crypto payments. Another major announcement was Bugatti and Asprey’s collaboration on a limited-edition egg collection that will be minted on the Bitcoin Ordinals protocol.

These strides forward benefits not only crypto but also traditional markets. Whether one will replace the other or there will be an integration of sorts, remains to be seen. What matters is more bridges are being built between the two - Web2 and Web3. And like LayerZero, when different networks can interoperate and communicate seamlessly, it often brings seismic shifts of growth and progress.

Best regards from the Future,
RFTF.ai 

Market Intel

Up to 75% of surveyed institutions are “extremely interested” in crypto ETFs, with the highest interest coming from fund managers in China, the U.S. and Europe.

Tokenized gold assets reached over $1 billion in market capitalization, in parallel with the surge in physical gold’s price nearing its all-time high.

Bloomberg analyst predicts Bitcoin to outperform other risk-on assets, believes Bitcoin will continue its bullish run and become global digital collateral.

Institutional traders exceeded $1 billion in trading volume on Liquid, OKX’s marketplace for institutional traders. The world’s second largest exchange enables traders to execute low-risk spread trading, generate yield, and roll expiring futures hedges.

MicroStrategy adds 1,045 Bitcoin, bringing its total holdings to 140,000 Bitcoin worth $3.97 billion at current value. The firm now owns 1 out of every 150 Bitcoin in the market.

Funding Trends

LayerZero becomes crypto’s latest unicorn after raising $120 million in Series B funding against a valuation of $3 billion. The funding round was backed by a16z, OKX Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, among others.

Alchemy Pay, a Singapore-based payments provider, received a $10 million investment from DWF Labs, which marks the latter's eighth investment of $10 million or more in the past six weeks. Alchemy Pay has worked with major players such as Visa, Mastercard, Google Pay, and Apple Pay.

Crypto startup Li.Fi raised $17.5M in a Series A funding round, co-led by crypto investment firms Superscrypt and CoinFund, and comes amid an uncertain global macro environment and drying up of liquidity.

Ecosapiens raised $3.5 million in seed funding for its NFT project focused on environmental sustainability. Collab + Currency led the funding round, and other investors included gmoney, Shan Aggrawal, and Ryan Carson.

Web2 → Web3 Immersion

Astar Network and Sony Network Communications launched a 3-month-long Web3 incubation program to support the development of real-world use cases for NFTs and DAOs.

OpenEden, a DeFi platform, launched a smart contract vault to offer access to US Treasury Bills (T-Bills). This allows stablecoin holders to earn a US risk-free rate with yields of about 4.8 percent per annum starting from March 2023.

Ralph Lauren's newly opened store in Miami's Design District will accept crypto payments using BitPay, becoming the retailer's first location to do so.

Bugatti and Asprey are collaborating on a limited-edition egg collection that will be inscribed on the Bitcoin blockchain using the Ordinals protocol, making it the premier digital art platform for high-end collections.

Regulatory Round-up

APAC

Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) issued warnings to 4 crypto exchanges, including Bybit, for being unregistered. The FSA has made it mandatory for crypto exchanges to register themselves as cryptocurrency exchanges to conduct their operations.

South Korean authorities have seized assets worth $160 million, largely consisting of property, belonging to executives of Terra.

Hong Kong's crypto rules require Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to meet the same compliance standards as traditional financial firms, aiming to attract more well-capitalized financial firms and help promising startups get off the ground.

EU

Germany approved a new act that allow companies to issue 'crypto shares', which will enable them to tokenize their stocks.

US

Senator Warren shoots another salvo by advocating for CBDCs over Bitcoin, citing CBDCs as a better solution for legacy issues within banking.

SEC continues its anti-crypto stance by warning investors that deal with crypto assets while encouraging investments in traditional assets instead.

Paxful, a large P2P cryptocurrency marketplace, suspended its operations due to staff departures and regulatory challenges.

Buncombe County in North Carolina may impose a 1-year moratorium on all Bitcoin mining operations in the area, intending to help the county establish clearer environmental standards for Bitcoin mining.

The Raven Also Spotted

Dogecoin surges over 20% after Twitter changed their logo on the microblogging platform to the popular Shiba Inu’s logo.

MicroStrategy’s share price increased over 146% due to Bitcoin’s recent rally, with their $4 billion investment in Bitcoin moving closer to profitability.

Coinbase research claims traditional remittance fees can be slashed by 97% from the average yearly spend of nearly $12 billion.

Bitcoin whitepaper found hidden within every macOS since 2018. No official announcement has been made by Apple to date regarding this recent finding.