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This week in crypto

@EQUITYMATES|23 February, 2023

While we don’t have a strong view on crypto here at Equity Mates, we are fascinated to watch the story unfold. Read on for some of the most interesting Tweets, articles and memes from the past week below. 


Prices of Top Cryptocurrencies

Top Five Cyptocurrencies - February 23

Tweets & Charts of the week

Blockworks Tweet - February 23
Watcher.Guru Tweet February 23
Bloomberg Tweet - February 23

Articles & Videos

Nefarious market participants are attempting to cash in on the ongoing ChatGPT craze in technology circles by issuing fake tokens branded after the artificial intelligence chatbot despite having no official association with the tool. These fake issuances follow software giant Microsoft’s move to integrate OpenAI’s chatbots for search services on Microsoft’s internet browsers.

As Hong Kong prepares for a consultation process that might eventually legalise a form or retail crypto trading, Bloomberg reports the mainland government in Beijing might be subtly endorsing the idea. According to Bloomberg, officials from China’s Liaison Office have been frequent guests at crypto gatherings in Hong Kong. The tone of their visits and followup calls with certain projects has been friendly.


Australia’s largest crypto gaming start-up is making 11% of its workforce redundant despite banking hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital funding over the last two years. Immutable, which banked a $280 million round that valued the crypto gaming company at $3.5 billion in March last year, announced the lay-offs internally on Wednesday morning.

With Bitcoin and Ethereum prices up 30% and 27% since the start of the year respectively, could the crypto winter that decimated the market in 2022 finally be thawing? Here’s a look at whether the recent trend is a blip or the sign of things to come.

Coinbase reported a fourth quarter loss as trading volume at the cryptocurrency exchange came under pressure from an industry-wide downturn triggered by a string of high-profile bankruptcies. The digital assets market suffered from dour sentiment over the last year, but the biggest blow to the sector came from the bankruptcy of Sam Bankman-Fried’s major crypto exchange FTX in November.

Some hard-core Bitcoiners aren’t happy over the prospect of ubiquitous internet memes like pixelated cats and smoking monkeys clogging up the blockchain. Until recently, NFT collections such as Bored Apes and CryptoPunks were predominately based on Ethereum and served as a catalyst that helped to make that platform the world’s most commercially important blockchain. 


A quick meme break

When you give someone an advice meme
Hey, wait! stop! Meme

Back to it

Bitcoin is largely not moving again, with the amount of dormant coins nearly at a new all-time high. According to blockchain analysis firm Glassnode, the number of Bitcoins that have not moved for at least six months—dubbed “old supply”—stands at 14.99 million, worth roughly $370 billion at today’s prices.
 Real Vision CEO and co-founder Raoul Pal believes nonfungible tokens (NFTs) will act similar to “high-end property” in the traditional economy, outperforming Ethereum during bull cycles.

With the cryptocurrency market slowly slipping away from the bearish movement in 2022, the market cap as well as the price of cryptocurrencies have risen. According to the latest data, Bitcoin has surpassed Visa in terms of market cap. The market cap of BTC currently stands at $473 billion compared to the market cap of Visa at 460.13 billion. 

This NSW farm is pushing a ‘new food movement’ that involves trading Beef for Bitcoin, rather than traditional currencies. Seated in the crowd of more than 100 people was an unusual coalition of farmers, health-conscious locals, business owners, and Bitcoin enthusiasts.

And another

Me checking my investment meme
When you drive for uber meme

In Focus: SEC cracking down on crypto

Crypto exchange Kraken agreed to shut down its U.S. cryptocurrency staking service and pay $30 million in penalties to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it failed to register the program, in a move that could cause headaches for platforms with similar offerings. The settlement marks the SEC’s first crackdown on staking
[Read the article]

This week, the Crypto Curious podcast chat about the SEC cracking down on crypto, and CBDCs on the rise. Blur Marketplace is making NFTs accessible, and celebs like Rihanna, Keanu, and Paul Pierce are all getting into the game. And, Bitcoin is still going up! 
[Listen to the episode here]


Some more of our favourite content

When you fumbled generational wealth meme
Me on my way to tell people meme

This is an excerpt from our Crypto Newsletter email. Once a week, for those investing in crypto or interested in learning more about this corner of the market, we’re featuring some of the most interesting content we’ve come across in this weekly email. No spam, we guarantee.

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The world of cryptocurrencies is a fascinating part of the investing universe these days. Questions abound about the future of the currencies themselves – Bitcoin, Ethereum etc. – and the use cases of the underlying blockchain technology. For those investing in crypto or interested in learning more about this corner of the market, we’re featuring some of the most interesting content we’ve come across in this weekly email.