Blackrock launches a Metaverse ETF, Elon Musk envisions a blockchain-based social media platform and can Bitcoin be as bad for the planet… as beef?! These stories and more this week in crypto.
Blackrock Plans a Metaverse ETF
The world’s largest asset manager, Blackrock has plans to create a new ETF based on metaverse companies. The fund will track metaverse firms with exposure to virtual reality, NFTs, augmented reality, and financial gaming applications. BlackRock’s metaverse ETF would not be the first as there are also products from Subversive and Fidelity.
A Blockchain-Based Social Media Platform?
A series of text messages released as part of ongoing litigation over the failed Twitter takeover deal has revealed Elon Musk’s vision for a blockchain-based social media platform. Just days before his Twitter offer, Musk wrote “I think a new social media company is needed that is based on a blockchain and includes payments.”
Crypto Firms Accused of Market Manipulation
In the U.S., the SEC has filed charges against Bermuda-based Arbitrade and Canada-based Cryptobontix for carrying out an alleged pump-and-dump scheme. According to the complaint, the two firms falsely claimed that Arbitrade had acquired $10 billion in gold that was supposed to be used to back DIG tokens. In reality, however, the gold acquisition transaction was a ruse to boost demand for the DIG token.
The Hunt for Terra Founder Continues
South Korean authorities are seeking Terra founder, Do Kwon, and claim he is on the run. Authorities have now asked KuCoin and OKX exchanges to freeze more than $60 million worth of bitcoin linked to Kwon and Terraform Labs, the company behind the stablecoin terraUSD, whose $60 billion collapse sent shockwaves through the markets in May.
XRP Price Surges On Favorable Court Ruling
The price of XRP rose 10% after a federal judge overruled the Securities and Exchange Commission’s objections regarding a 2018 speech by former SEC director, William Hinman. Hinman’s speech — in which he argued that Bitcoin and Ether were not securities — has been a major point of argument between the SEC and Ripple.
Another Outage for Solana
The Solana network once again experienced a complete outage and stopped processing transactions. On Friday, the Solana Foundation posted that the network was experiencing “degraded performance” and that Solana developers were diagnosing the issue. Shortly after though, the network suffered a full outage, the network’s fourth since January.
JPMorgan: Decline in Demand for Crypto Payments
The Global Head of Payments for JPMorgan’s corporate division talked about a drastically declining client demand for crypto as a payment method. In an interview with Bloomberg, he said: they saw a lot of demand from their clients for crypto payments up until six months ago but they see very little right now.
Bitcoin is as Bad for the Planet as Beef
University of New Mexico researchers calculated the climate cost of mining Bitcoin against its average market price, and compared it with other commodities like crude oil, gold and beef. The results found that while Bitcoin is often referred to as digital gold, from a climate damage perspective, it operates more like ‘digital crude,’ – and has a similar relative impact as farming cattle.
That’s what’s happened this week in crypto, see you next week.
