Date: 08/20/2021
“The intersection of crypto and gaming is one of the most exciting areas in tech today.” — Arianna Simpson, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz
Weekly News Report:
1. Decentralized gaming startup Yield Guild Games (YGG) has raised $4.6 million in a funding round led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), YGG announced Thursday. Funding will be used by YGG to invest in digital assets in the play-to-earn games virtual world and to expand its community of over 48,000 gamers.
2. South Korean internet giant Kakao Corp. has started a blockchain business in Singapore, media outlets said Monday, as the Southeast Asian financial hub morphs into a regional center for fintech. The firm picked Singapore, the report says, “due to multiple restrictions at home.”
3. The major trends in the fintech space reveal that investments in the crypto market have grown significantly. The total investment in blockchain and cryptocurrency so far is nearly double that of 2020, at $3.7 billion compared to $2.2 billion.
4. Vietnam leads globally in cryptocurrency adoption with 41 percent of respondents claiming to have bought Bitcoin and the like. Despite having the 53rd largest economy based on gross domestic product, Vietnam placed 13th in realized Bitcoin gains for 2020. Vietnam had the second-highest rate in terms of cryptocurrency use among 74 surveyed economics, driven by remittance payments.
5. Cardano price hits an all-time high, overtakes Binance Coin as third-most valuable crypto. The crypto has been on a tear in recent weeks and is up 150% from July 21 lows of $1.
6. Dan Tapiero’s 10T Holdings and Akuna Capital have invested $100 million in BTC futures exchange Deribit, one of the world’s biggest crypto options exchanges by volume
7. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is up 6% over the last 24 hours and has broken the $48,000 mark for the first time since May. The institutional world is turning cautious on stocks and that is making cryptocurrencies look very attractive.
8. BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, had nearly $400 million invested in BTC mining companies at the end of the second quarter, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings.
9. Crypto exchange OKEx said it is launching a $10 million fund to help develop GameFi, or “play-to-earn,” projects. The cash will come from the exchange’s $100 million OKEx BlockDream Ventures fund, which invests in blockchain projects.
10. Wells Fargo launches passive bitcoin fund for wealthy clients. JPMorgan also registered its passive bitcoin fund with U.S. regulators Thursday.
11. The surging popularity of NFTs is pushing play-to-earn NFT games to experience even greater adoption. As cryptocurrencies and decentralization appear to permeate the conversation across social, political and economic lines, the apparent hype surrounding NFTs seems to be incentivizing greater adoption of digital currencies.
12. All Binance users are now subject to immediate KYC verification. The crypto exchange will limit services for existing users unless they adhere to the new KYC and AML requirements.
