- November 3, 2024
- Category: Crypto
In the latest issue of Weekly Crypto Digest, read about how 83 Crypto Projects Raised $351M, 20 Years in Prison for Gotbit CEO, Bitwise predicts Bitcoin at $200,000, and more news.
Bitwise predicts Bitcoin at $200,000
Bitwise Investment Director Matt Hougan allowed the growth of the first cryptocurrency quotes to the level of $200,000.According to him, the collapse of the US dollar is not necessary for this. BTC capitalization is approximately 7% of gold’s $18 trillion. If Bitcoin “matures” and reaches 50%, its price will soar above $400,000, Hougan believes. To reach the $200,000 mark, digital gold needs to continue “its current path of maturation as an institutional asset,” the expert noted. And the collapse of the US dollar is not a prerequisite for such growth.
MicroStrategy to Raise $42 Billion to Buy Bitcoin
In its financial results for Q3, MicroStrategy reported a loss of $340.2 million and presented a plan to raise $42 billion to continue its strategy of buying Bitcoin. The business analytics software provider posted revenue of $116.1 million, missing the consensus estimate by about $8 million and down 10.3% year-over-year. The firm attributed the decline to a drop in revenue from product licenses and support. Operating expenses for the quarter reached $514.3 million, which wasmainly due to losses from depreciation of digital assets in the amount of $412.1 million. During the quarter, MicroStrategy acquired 25,889 BTC at an average price of $60,839, spending ~$1.6 billion. As of September 30, MicroStrategy owned 252,220 BTC with a market value of $16 billion. The current figure is about $18.3 billion. In total, since August 2020, the company has spent $6.9 billion on digital gold purchases.
Changpeng Zhao Appears in Public for the First Time Since His Release
Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has appeared in public for the first time since his release from prison. The entrepreneur spoke at the Binance Blockchain Week event and discussed various topics with its participants.
The former head of the exchange shared with those present the experience he gained in a US correctional facility. According to him, in such places, a person begins to acutely feel the lack of what he needs most. In the case of CZ, this factor turned out to be communication with people and the community, the businessman himself admitted.
Zhao said that during his sentence, several guards asked him for recommendations on purchasing cryptocurrency. They wanted to know which assets were worth investing in, the entrepreneur noted.
Over the Past Week, 83 Projects Raised $351 Million
From October 26 to November 2, 2024, 83 projects attracted investments totaling $351 million. The leaders in terms of the amount of capital raised were:
$100 million—Kraken Exchange disclosed information about a previously received grant from the Optimism Foundation. At the time of signing the agreement, this asset volume was worth $100 million. However, due to the decline in the OP rate, the investment amount actually decreased to $37.4 million.
$67.7 million — Infinex. The decentralized exchange reported raising capital as part of the sale of the Patron NFT collection. One of the key investors in this case was the Founders Fund.
$30 million — Glow. The project for decentralizing electrical networks closed the round. It was led by venture companies Framework Ventures and Union Square Ventures.
$25 million — Nillion. A decentralized public network with a focus on privacy announced the receipt of investments from Hack VC, HashKey Capital, and Distributed Global.
$21 million — Ellipsis Labs. The blockchain company’s team attracted capital from Haun Ventures, Paradigm and Electric Capital, and Anatoly Yakovenko during the Series A round.
$14 million — Citrea. The developers of a rollup that facilitates the creation of dApps have attracted Series A investments from Founders Fund, Mirana Ventures, Maven 11 Capital, dao5, ZKValidator, Axiom, echo, and others.
$11 million — Gelato. The Rollup-as-a-Service platform has closed a Series A round from Hack VC, Animoca Brands, IOSG Ventures, and Bloccelerate VC.
$10.5 million — Sapien. The GameFi data collection company has attracted investments from Variant with the participation of Animoca Brands, Yield Guild Games, Primitive Ventures, and other venture funds.
$10 million — PumpBTC. Attracted funding from ten investors. The seed round was led by venture firms Mirana Ventures and SevenX Ventures, Mantle, Arcane Crypto, UTXO Management, and a number of other market representatives.
$10 million — bitSmiley. Investments came from venture firms such as KuCoin Ventures, MH Ventures, Cypher Capital, Dutch Crypto Investors, Skyland Ventures, NxGen and four more companies.
Gotbit CEO May Face Up to 20 Years in Prison
The CEO of crypto market maker Gotbit, Alexey Andryunin, has been charged with fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the market. The US Department of Justice’s indictment also names two other Gotbit employees, Fedor Kedrov and Kuavi Jalili. For all the charges, Andryunin could face up to 20 years in prison. Andryunin was detained in Portugal on October 6 at the request of the US. This and other detentions were part of the indictments by the Justice Department and the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against Gotbit and three other companies, ZM Quant, CLS Global, and MyTrade.
All companies are accused of market manipulation and wash trading to artificially inflate trading volumes for tokens. According to prosecutors, this was the first criminal prosecution for market manipulation in the cryptocurrency sector.
The detained Andryunin said in several interviews with YouTube bloggers that his company is engaged in “creating liquidity” and mainly negotiates with developers whose tokens are outside the top 100 largest cryptocurrencies and are not traded on major exchanges.
BlackRock CEO predicts at least one more Fed rate cut by the end of the year
BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says don’t expect multiple Fed rate cuts in 2024. According to him, only one 25-basis point cut is likely before the end of the year. Speaking at the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, he walked back his forecast, defying market expectations for further cuts. BlackRock, which manages more than $10 trillion in assets, disagrees with other Wall Street forecasts calling for two cuts.