Stronghold

Bessie Liu

In the latest draft of the Pregame Maker Constitution — Rune Christensen, the founder of MakerDAO — requests 20,000 MKR tokens ($14 million) to be dedicated to a Scientific Sustainability Fund.



The Pregame Maker Constitution is a work-in-progress document that will shape Maker Governance prior to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/are-subdaos-the-future-of-dao-governance">the launch of SubDAOs</a>. The constitution will be a living document and be subject to updates and modifications.



In the <a href="https://forum.makerdao.com/t/wip-pregame-maker-constitution-mip-draft/19621">document</a>, Christensen notes that “MakerDAO will always share financial success with the world through charity that is distributed broadly and with thoughtful and genuine consideration of its impact.”



This practice would be implemented through a Purpose System, to be established by the Constitution and designed to allocate tokens to charities that will have a meaningful and verifiable impact.



Among the many charitable causes, Christensen highlights the importance of Scientific Sustainability — which he describes as a “core principle of the Maker Constitution that recognizes the unique, critical relationship between financial infrastructure and the global environmental risks of climate change.”



Stressing the catastrophic disasters that could result from climate change, Christensen empathizes that “immediate action is required,” and therefore asks DAO members to fund awareness campaigns and educational programs on energy solutions over decades.



“The Scientific Sustainability Fund is a temporary measure and will wind down and be fully replaced by the Purpose System in 2040,” he said.



Despite Christensen’s good intentions, MakerDAO Governance participant <a href="https://forum.makerdao.com/u/LongForWisdom">LongForWisdom</a> responded in the proposal’s <a href="https://forum.makerdao.com/t/wip-pregame-maker-constitution-mip-draft/19621/4">forum discussion</a> that the Constitution should not contain reasoning and only contain rules.



Though noting that explanations could be used in speeches or to convince someone to approve a proposal, he said, “it creates ambiguity that weakens the document as what is essentially part of a legal code.”



On Twitter, the proposal has also drawn critiques. Eden Au, a research director at The Block, <a href="https://twitter.com/0xedenau/status/1621209167381024768">tweeted</a> that, “Rune has gone full Effective Altruism.” With many other Twitter users noting that Christensen should “use his own money instead of the MKR treasury,” to achieve objectives that are arguably personal and political.



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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Why doesn’t he use his own money instead MKR treasury&mdash; Popcorn Kirby 🚀 (@PopcornKirby) <a href="https://twitter.com/PopcornKirby/status/1621211268794421248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 2, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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Christensen’s passion for climate activism is well known. He previously published documents on MakerDAO’s governance forum on “<a href="https://forum.makerdao.com/t/the-case-for-clean-money/10684">The case for Clean Money</a>,” and has <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/rune-christensen-wants-out-of-maker">participated in earlier conversations</a>, stating that <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/makerdao-votes-in-favor-of-rune-christensens-endgame-plan">the Maker Endgame plan</a> is not only the last chance for the DeFi protocol — it could be the last chance for humanity, too.



Christensen did not immediately respond to Blockworks’ request for comment.

MakerDAO Founder Seeks $14 Million in MKR to Fight Climate Change

Casey Wagner

Friday’s jobs data showed the economy added far more jobs than analysts expected, putting the unemployment rate at its lowest in more than 50 years. 



It sent markets into a frenzy trying to decipher what this means for interest rates. 



Markets slipped on the news initially before recovering later in the trading session. The S&amp;P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes each lost around 1% before paring losses to around 0.3% each as of 10:30 am in New York. Cryptos also bounced back to the green, with bitcoin (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a>) and ether (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/eth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ETH</a>) trading about 0.6% and 1.4% higher, respectively. 



The Federal Reserve opted to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/federal-reserve-raises-interest-rates-25-bps" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">increase interest rates</a> a quarter of a percentage point Wednesday, noting that “peak employment” was still a top priority for the central bank. The market remains tight though, with the number of posted jobs per unemployed worker rising yet again in December, according to <a href="https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 



“The past year the biggest risk to markets heading into each jobs report was that it would print ‘Too Hot’ and cause the Fed to hike rates even more than before and get more hawkish in its language,” Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research, wrote in a note ahead of Friday’s labor data release.&nbsp;



Markets were still pricing in an almost certain likelihood that the Fed would go for another 25 basis point interest rate increase in March, according to <a href="https://www.cmegroup.com/markets/interest-rates/cme-fedwatch-tool.html?redirect=/trading/interest-rates/countdown-to-fomc.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CME Group data</a>. 



“But given Powell did not push back on the market’s expectations for just one more rate hike and two-to-three rate cuts in late 2023, it implies that the labor market is not as big a hawkish risk as it seemed because there’s been little progress on restoring balance in the labor market (the balance the Fed stated it desired),” Essaye added.&nbsp;



Coming off of an exceptional month for asset performance across the board, analysts are speculating how long cryptos can sustain their run. Bitcoin still has not managed to break the $24,000 level while ether continues to flirt around $1,600.&nbsp;



“January was a robust month for crypto and the FOMC decision helped keep all risky assets going higher,” Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda, said. 



“Bitcoin is rallying as the post-Fed rally holds and global bond yields extend their declines. Bitcoin is riding this risk-on mood from Wall Street, but it might struggle to break above massive resistance from the $25,000 level.” 



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Jobs Data Crushes Estimates, Markets Rethink Fed Predictions

Ben Strack

Silvergate’s stock inched higher early Friday as two of the world’s largest financial institutions have revealed growing stakes in the crypto bank in recent days.



State Street owned 9.32% of Silvergate stock as of Dec. 31, according to a Thursday <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/93751/000009375123000093/Silvergate_Capital_Corp.txt" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a>.  



The filing came a few days after a separate disclosure showed that BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, upped <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1312109/000130655023005093/us82837p4081_013123.txt" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">its Silvergate stake</a> to 7.2%. 



Most of BlackRock’s position in the crypto bank is spread across a number of the fund manager’s ETFs, reflecting investor demand for exposure to indexes that comprise Silvergate.



BlackRock has roughly $10 trillion assets under management, while State Street manages about $3.5 trillion. The latter company also had nearly $37 trillion assets under custody and administration at the end of 2022.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Spokespeople for BlackRock and State Street declined to comment.



Silvergate stock was up nearly 2% on the day at 10:30 a.m. ET Friday. Though down about 80% from a year ago, the stock is up about 20% so far in 2023.



Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-02/silvergate-faces-doj-fraud-probe-over-ftx-and-alameda-dealings" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> Thursday that prosecutors in the US Justice Department’s fraud unit are investigating Sivergate’s dealings with bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and affiliate Alameda Research. 



Silvergate CEO Alan Lane <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/silvergate-has-ample-liquidity">previously described</a> the bank’s due diligence process on FTX and Alameda in a December letter.



“When Silvergate received payments directed to Alameda Research and credited it to the account of the same name, this was consistent with the instructions from the sender of the wire and industry practice,” Lane said at the time.&nbsp;



A Silvergate representative declined to comment further.



The Bloomberg report came a few days after US Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) and John Kennedy (R-La.) <a href="https://www.reuters.com/technology/silvergate-pressed-by-senators-after-evasive-responses-ftx-bloomberg-law-2023-01-31/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reportedly</a> sent a letter to Silvergate asking for details about its risk management practices and ties to FTX — following up on <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-bank-silvergate-asked-to-detail-records-of-purported-ftx-ties">a December inquiry</a>.



Silvergate disclosed last month <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/silvergate-stock-plummets-45-on-major-staff-cuts-massive-withdrawals">it was forced to sell assets</a> at a major loss during the fourth quarter to fulfill roughly $8 billion of customer withdrawals.



The crypto bank held $4.3 billion of short-term Federal Home Loan Bank advances, as of Dec. 31, according to a Jan. 5 company <a href="https://ir.silvergate.com/news/news-details/2023/Silvergate-Announces-Select-Preliminary-Fourth-Quarter-2022-Financial-Metrics-and-Provides-Business-Update/default.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a>. This funding <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/silvergate-home-loan-bank-advances">was used to satisfy outflows</a>, according to the company.



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State Street and BlackRock Boost Silvergate Stake. What is the Stock Doing?

David Canellis

Ripple Labs’ XRP token has dropped 20% since the SEC sued the firm, and two top executives, over alleged unregistered securities sales back in Dec. 2020.



And since then, Ripple Labs has poured billions of dollars into buying back the XRP token on secondary markets.



Some <a href="https://fortune.com/crypto/2023/02/01/despite-sec-litigation-ripple-sold-226-million-of-xrp-last-quarter-and-the-token-gained-21-last-month/">reports</a> have focused on Ripple Labs’ direct XRP sales in the fourth quarter of 2022. The move to acquire XRP tokens — ostensibly a bullish indicator — has been trumpeted as boosting the ecosystem’s liquidity.



Those reports often link the nearly $3 billion of in-house sales to XRP’s fast-moving 27% pump in January. They have propped up a narrative in which XRP’s latest revival has been made all the more notable by the fact that it’s played out with an uncertain, and, likely decisive, regulatory outcome hanging in the balance.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



Those sales specifically refer to institutions and other corporate clients acquiring XRP from Ripple directly for use within its On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) network, a product pitched to help smooth the cross-border remittance process via XRP-powered crypto rails.



Blockworks compiled the full six-year history of Ripple Labs’ quarterly markets reports, stretching back to the inaugural edition in the fourth quarter of 2016.



Ripple’s direct XRP sales only tell one part of the story. It’s true that Ripple sold around $2.97 billion of XRP last quarter — on par with the previous period’s $2.82 billion — but the reality is that Ripple has appeared to push much of that money into buying XRP on public markets, per its own disclosures.



In total, Ripple Labs has publicly reported $11.1 billion in ODL-related sales from the beginning of 2021 until the end of 2022. Since then, the firm has shelled out nearly $8.4 billion throughout a sustained XRP buying campaign initially pitched to protect the token’s markets and its customers, averaging more than $1 billion per quarter.



Ripple Labs’ disclosures indicate the firm has, since the SEC’s charges, essentially recycled 75% of the revenue generated from direct XRP sales on buying its own token on secondary markets, and 67% of overall sales revenue from the start of 2016’s fourth quarter.



Blockworks reached out to several contacts at Ripple on multiple occasions with the specific details contained in this story, and did not receive any response.



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<h2>Ripple spends billions on XRP market ‘health’</h2>



Collating figures contained in each of Ripple’s quarterly market reports (including the most <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/q4-2022-xrp-markets-report/">recent</a>), across the six years of disclosures, Blockworks found that Ripple sold $12.55 billion in XRP directly to customers across that period.



Of that, $744.6 million was sold “programmatically,” a common term for selling on public markets, such as crypto exchanges.



Ripple stopped programmatic sales after the third quarter of 2019. No particular reason was given in the underlying <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/q3-2019-markets-report/">disclosure</a>. But the firm then said it was focusing on over the counter (OTC) sales with partners working in “strategically important” regions including EMEA and Asia.



The following year, Ripple said it was <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/q2-2020-xrp-markets-report/">focusing</a> “solely on its OTC sales as part of providing increased XRP liquidity to RippleNet’s ODL customers.” It described that liquidity as “vital” as ODL grows.



Ripple first disclosed that it was an XRP buyer on secondary markets in 2020&#8217;s second <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/q2-2020-xrp-markets-report/">quarter</a>, although purchase <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/q3-2020-xrp-markets-report/">figures</a> didn’t appear until the third quarter of that same year.&nbsp;



“A healthy, orderly XRP market is required to minimize cost and risk for customers, and Ripple plays a responsible role in the liquidity process,” Ripple <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/q2-2020-xrp-markets-report/">said</a> in Q2 2020.



“As more financial institutions leverage RippleNet’s ODL service, more liquidity is added into the XRP market. That said, Ripple has been a buyer in the secondary market and may continue to undertake purchases in the future at market prices.”



To start, Ripple Labs was snapping up around $40 million per quarter, in Q3 and Q4 2020. It then took a break until Q4 2021, when it ramped up efforts significantly by spending $322 million.



Around $1.08 billion was spent in the first three months of 2022, then $1.71 billion in the following quarter. That expenditure jumped almost 50% in the quarter after that, when Ripple <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/q2-2022-xrp-markets-report/">reported</a> $2.5 billion in secondary purchases.&nbsp;



Last quarter, it spent $2.74 billion on XRP. The price of XRP, meanwhile, dropped by 30%.



Ripple described its buying campaign as a “near-term product solution” for an XRP lending operation <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/fund-instant-cross-border-payments-with-a-line-of-credit-from-ripplenet/">announced</a> in Oct. 2020.



The firm said in its Q3 2020 <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/q3-2020-xrp-markets-report/">report</a> that it was building “new ODL capabilities to dynamically source XRP liquidity from the open market, not just Ripple,” hinting that its XRP buys on secondary markets would eventually slow — but its budget for XRP buybacks has only increased.



<h2>Centralization and securities laws</h2>



The question of whether XRP and its underlying crypto infrastructure are sufficiently decentralized to avoid SEC scrutiny plagued San Francisco-headquartered Ripple Labs for years.



That debate culminated in the SEC’s lawsuit, which seeks to prove that purchases of the XRP token constitute investment contracts. Ripple Labs holds sway over the network and the value XRP, the regulator has argued, which would mean that its token offering falls under securities law per the Howey test.



Companies selling securities must register with the SEC and lodge regular financial disclosures, among other things, in order to provide reliable information on which investors can base their decisions.



In a landmark <a href="https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/speech-hinman-061418">speech</a> in 2018, William Hinman of the SEC noted that “If the network on which the token or coin is to function is sufficiently decentralized – where purchasers would no longer reasonably expect a person or group to carry out essential managerial or entrepreneurial efforts – the assets may not represent an investment contract.” He specifically named Bitcoin and Ethereum as tokens that met this standard. XRP’s omission from his speech was the first sign that XRP was potentially under the gun.



Still, decentralization is a spectrum, and there are many ways by which to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/measuring-decentralization-is-your-crypto-decentralized">gauge decentralization of crypto projects</a>. Some relate to their technological underpinnings — how many validator nodes the network has, for example, and how they’re chosen.&nbsp;



Another is the centralization of supply; if one party holds too many tokens, they could wield outsized influence over markets.



In October 2022, Ripple <a href="https://twitter.com/bgarlinghouse/status/1585777993359642625">declared</a> that it — for the first time — owned less than 50% of the outstanding supply of XRP, which is currently about 50.8 billion ($21.08 billion). In 2017, that <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/29/ripple-soars-becomes-second-biggest-cryptocurrency-by-market-cap.html">figure</a> was as high as 61%.&nbsp;



Ripple distributing XRP through its direct and ODL-related sales contributed to that reduction.&nbsp;



It’s difficult to gauge the actual market impact of Ripple consistently buying so much XRP over the past two years (it’s now the sixth largest digital asset by market value, in <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/historical/20150101/">2015</a> it was the second-biggest behind bitcoin).



<h2>Buybacks common Wall Street practice</h2>



While order book depth is a fluid metric and changes rapidly, CoinGecko recently <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/xrp#markets">place</a>d the 2% depth of Binance’s XRP/USDT market at about $2.3 million on the upside and $1.6 million on the downside — meaning bids of those sizes would shift XRP’s price 2% in either direction.&nbsp;



When averaged out on a daily basis, Ripple’s XRP buys over 2022 would’ve amounted to $22 million per day – more than 10 times the reported amount required to move the needle on markets. (Ripple disclosed sales were executed daily in its Q2 2017 <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20220124004742/https://ripple.com/insights/q2-2017-xrp-markets-report/">report</a>, although no information has been given about the rate of purchases)



Ripple has openly telegraphed its buys. And, for what it’s worth, token buyback schemes are common in crypto markets. Crypto exchange tokens often <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/native-crypto-exchange-tokens-hint-at-first-sign-of-broader-market-recovery">acquire and burn their own token</a>s; crypto lender Nexo has been <a href="https://nexo.io/media-center/nexo-commits-additional-50-million-to-long-standing-buyback-initiative">running</a> buybacks for years, a move that has carried over to buzzy projects like <a href="https://twitter.com/blockworksres/status/1612056633718476801">BitDAO</a>.



(Ripple doesn’t burn XRP directly, instead its ledger automatically <a href="https://xrpl.org/transaction-cost.html">burns</a> a small amount for every transaction).&nbsp;



Token buybacks, while an unregulated process, mimic stock buybacks seen in traditional equities markets (which are all securities). Meta just <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/01/facebook-parent-meta-announces-40-billion-stock-buyback.html">announced</a> a $40 billion buyback scheme which appears to have heavily influenced its recent 27% rally, despite somewhat lackluster earnings.&nbsp;



Stock buyback schemes are intended to return capital to shareholders. They can present their own <a href="https://corpgov.law.harvard.edu/2020/10/23/the-dangers-of-buybacks-mitigating-common-pitfalls/">concerns</a>, including executive compensation gaming and destroying long-term value propositions.



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Whether XRP <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ripple-sec-final-briefs-provide-case-summary">is a security</a> has yet to be determined. A ruling is expected sometime this year. 



On Dec. 22, the day SEC filed charges against Ripple, co-founder Chris Larsen and CEO Brad Garlinghouse, the latter stated in a <a href="https://ripple.com/insights/the-secs-attack-on-crypto-in-the-united-states/">blog</a>: &#8220;Unlike securities, the market value of XRP has not been correlated with Ripple’s activities. Instead, the price of XRP is correlated to the movement of other virtual currencies.&#8221;



Crypto prices across the board indeed tend to correlate. But based on Ripple’s own disclosures, it’s clear the firm has been busy directly maintaining the “health” of XRP markets throughout its battle with the SEC — to the tune of billions — all while attempting to <a href="https://dfpi.ca.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/337/2022/09/Ripple-comment-letter-8.5.22.pdf?emrc=4cdda7">disprove</a> its influence over XRP.

Ripple Bought $8.4B XRP Since SEC Lawsuit ‘To Support Healthy Markets’

Reddit’s native cryptocurrency moons (MOON) has, well, mooned over the past month.



Currently trading at $0.13 per token, the cryptocurrency has soared by about 73% since the start of the year, <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/moon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> from CoinGecko show, with the caveat that there are few markets where it trades and liquidity is miniscule. 



Moons is a token built on Ethereum’s blockchain that powers the<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener"> r/Cryptocurrency </a>subreddit — an online forum for crypto enthusiasts to discuss — and, often, debate — their favored digital assets and related protocol projects. It’s also evolved into an industry hub to share notable news, often as emerging information impacts a token’s price and market capitalization.



Participating Redditors are rewarded with moons tokens, and the token is stored in the social platform’s in-house digital asset wallet.



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<h2>Moons&#8217; use cases </h2>



Moons can be used for a variety of purposes on Reddit, including the purchase of a membership to the r/Cryptocurrency forum for 466 moons a month. Subscribers also receive four new loyalty badges monthly and can include gifs in comment threads. 



The moons token also allows users to partake in polls and tip their peers on content shares, generally those perceived to add value for industry participants.



A Reddit user who wished to remain anonymous told Blockworks that they don’t recall when or why they opened their Vault on Reddit, but it was likely due to the fact that “it was there.”



The user said they have used the cryptoassets on a couple of occasions to tip helpful users. Reddit’s nascent crypto tipping mechanism adds an extra incentive for savvy posts on the forum in particular, they said.



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Another user, <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/No_Scientist_7094" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">No_Scientist_7094</a>, told Blockworks that they view the token as similar to the Basic Attention Token (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/bat">BAT</a>) — a blockchain system designed to reward users for their attention on websites via the web browser Brave, a popular pick for digital assets advocates concerned with digital <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2021/05/13/brave-integrates-crypto-blockchain-domains-expanding-access-to-web-30/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">privacy</a>.



On Web2 platforms, if a user looks at ads, the company often pockets the ensuing revenue. But with the introduction of moons on Reddit, the user credited for bringing eyeballs onto the screen would earn money, they said.



“It&#8217;s a revenue sharing scheme…I hope it will expand and other platforms will use a similar setup,” they said.&nbsp;



No_Scientist_7094 said that the emerging ecosystem could also be used as pocket money, though they personally had yet to sell any of their tokens — and were not looking to do so for a long time.&nbsp;



“I just tip some here and there and use it to vote on new proposals,” they said.



<h3>Reddit&#8217;s r/Cryptocurrency succeeding where rivals failed  </h3>



The Reddit user <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Mr_Bob_Ferguson" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mr_Bob_Ferguson</a> told Blockworks that he had contributed to a slew of internet messaging boards, forums and platforms since the 90s. And there had never been an expectation for financial rewards until moons came along.



Despite other subreddits having attempted something along the same lines —&nbsp; and failed (BRICK is a prime example), the reward system has managed to pick up steam.&nbsp;



“Use-cases for moons are slowly building, beyond the initial ‘sub governance voting power,’ through to a new Moonplace.io site, and many are hopeful that Reddit will provide further official integration, such as allowing moons to be used to purchase the popular Reddit Limited Edition Avatars (NFTs) in the future on a marketplace,” he said. 



Companies are also using moons to pay for banner advertising and AMAs (ask me anything) in the sub, he said. “These payments are not insignificant, costing several thousand dollars.”



Moons tokens <a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/moon" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">currently</a> have a market cap sitting around $15 million, and Mr_Bob_Ferguson remains optimistic on the potential for the cryptocurrency to continue on its upward trajectory. 



<h2>One downside: ‘moons-farming’</h2>



Although the sentiment around the moons ecosystem has mostly been positive among Reddit community members, users said the token’s introduction also added more fuel to the fire of so-called “moons-farming” behavior.



The practice entails commenting merely for clout’s sake, rather than to contribute to advancing thoughtful discussion contributions.



“The Reddit voting system often doesn’t reward the highest effort content, but instead often low value content that follows a certain narrative,” Mr_Bob_Ferguson said. “For example, after the recent FTX collapse a simple comment of “they should be in jail” would always be rewarded more than a detailed, well thought out, reply.”



Even so, he said, the introduction of moons has upped his own personal engagement on r/Cryptocurrency.



“It is a highly unique way of rewarding users for content,” he said. “It feels as though this type of model may be the future for contributing on social networks.”



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Reddit’s Crypto Moons Upvote a 73% Surge in 2023

Shalini Nagarajan

Online marketplace eBay is looking to prop up its Web3 ambitions by hiring specialists for its NFT marketplace KnownOrigin.



Those who come onboard will be building an understanding of the market, championing the Web3 sector and improving go-to-market outcomes.&nbsp;



Not all roles require candidates to have crypto-native experiences, but a crypto counsel role is expected to bring legal experience in law related to NFTs, Web3 or blockchain.



Crypto <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3462689513/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">counsel</a> aside, LinkedIn postings from eBay show open spots a head of <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3434316689/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">community</a> at KnownOrigin, content <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/search/?currentJobId=3393201099&amp;f_C=1481%2C270603%2C3710655%2C6121%2C853612%2C78768%2C2340505%2C74513497&amp;geoId=92000000&amp;originToLandingJobPostings=3457213846%2C3457215686%2C3465525458%2C3434316689%2C3465523839%2C3434317651%2C3455923176%2C3428722174%2C3393201099" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">designer</a>, artist liaison <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3447490680/?eBP=JOB_SEARCH_ORGANIC&amp;recommendedFlavor=SCHOOL_RECRUIT&amp;refId=H82HTaAru8y8n15rKjsuXg%3D%3D&amp;trackingId=Cxg6JmAqSSN1PeTlPbPvbQ%3D%3D&amp;trk=flagship3_search_srp_jobs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">manager</a>, a product marketing <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3434317651/?eBP=JOB_SEARCH_ORGANIC&amp;recommendedFlavor=SCHOOL_RECRUIT&amp;refId=Cocra09cvvmIAKoawTdI5Q%3D%3D&amp;trackingId=8n0x5xQvNRm%2FkQ4bKAh1nw%3D%3D&amp;trk=flagship3_search_srp_jobs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">manager</a> and tech <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3406685694/?eBP=JOB_SEARCH_ORGANIC&amp;recommendedFlavor=SCHOOL_RECRUIT&amp;refId=Cocra09cvvmIAKoawTdI5Q%3D%3D&amp;trackingId=c2L%2FfDlkUYt2zd613WK8Hw%3D%3D&amp;trk=flagship3_search_srp_jobs" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">lead</a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Most of the jobs are based in Manchester, United Kingdom, but some mention hybrid working environments.



Last June, eBay <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ebay-acquires-uk-based-nft-marketplace-knownorigin" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">acquired</a> UK-based KnownOrigin for an undisclosed amount. Yet NFTs were already sold on the platform. EBay <a href="https://www.ebayinc.com/stories/news/ebay-and-digital-collectibles-our-tech-led-reimagination-continues/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">announced</a> in 2021 an expansion into the collectibles category as they “offer greater access to a broader audience of collectors and creators.”



EBay describes KnownOrigin as an “early Web3 pioneer” looking to empower NFT creators who want to to express themselves and maintain livelihoods through their passion.&nbsp;



EBay <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/ebay-nfts-connect-athletes-fans" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recently partnered</a> with events platform Notable Live to provide fans with a new way to connect with players.&nbsp;



Both firms have a multi-year contract under which Notable will add exclusive player merchandise, NFTs and other interactive experiences on eBay. It isn’t yet known which blockchain will support Notable Live’s NFTs.



Google searches for Web3 jobs have been steadily rising and companies are still hiring despite a bearish background.&nbsp;



Amazon, one of eBay’s biggest rivals recently put up a job posting for a senior go-to-market <a href="https://www.amazon.jobs/en/jobs/2320871/senior-gtm-specialist-web3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">specialist</a>, who would be responsible for growing adoption of Web3 workloads on its cloud computing division. The role requires knowledge of blockchain-based architectures and developer workflow in Layer-1 and 2.&nbsp;



EBay’s KnownOrigin push comes after Blockworks reported that Amazon is soon expected to <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/amazon-nft-marketplace-web3" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">launch an NFT initative</a>, pegged to inspire customers to play crypto-based games and claim digital collectable rewards.



H/T: CoinDesk



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EBay NFT Job Openings Hint At Web3 Showdown With Amazon

Sebastian Sinclair

They say a rising tide lifts all boats.



That certainly rings true for the altcoin market over the last 30 days, courtesy of strong momentum from leading majors like bitcoin and ether.



Ether’s dominance has inched up ever-so-slightly over 30 days to 17.8% while crypto assets such as <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/sol">solana</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/doge">dogecoin</a>, <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/xrp">XRP</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/ada">cardano</a> have seen a small decline of less than 1%.



Total market capitalization is now up 33% from $839 billion to $1.1 trillion since the new year, while the total value locked (TVL) in <a href="https://blockworks.co/category/defi">DeFi</a> has jumped 30% from $50 billion to $65 billion, DeFiLlama <a href="https://defillama.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> show.



Of the top 50 altcoins with a market value above $200 million that Blockworks analyzed, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/aptos-surge-mirrors-ripple-bull-run">aptos</a>, whose reported market cap tops $2.7 billion, remains the sector&#8217;s largest gainer this year.



Up more than <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/apt">350% over 30 days</a>, the protocol previously dubbed as an “<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/aptos-not-out-to-kill">Ethereum Killer</a>” has roughly <a href="https://tokenterminal.com/terminal/projects/aptos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">50-60 active developers</a> — similar to non-Ethereum smart contract platforms such as Cosmos, but with far less established dapps and a TVL of <a href="https://defillama.com/chain/Aptos" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$61.3 million</a>.



Skepticism from analysts centers around the true value of its <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/issue/30389460">circulating supply</a> and eye-popping fully-diluted valuation just north of $17 billion — which puts it as the sixth most valuable cryptoasset (excluding stablecoins) on an FDV basis.



For the token to justify its market value, a few things need to happen: grow its user base and liquidity, according to a spokesperson at Asia-based crypto services firm First Digital.



“Aptos investor unlocks are not set to begin until [October] this year, I believe, and the extreme negative positioning precipitated a massive short-squeeze. This pushed the price up quickly,” they said.



Still, many other altcoins with a market cap above $200 million have experienced considerable growth year-to-date. Layer-1 protocol Fantom’s native token <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/ftm">FTM</a>, for instance, has almost quadrupled in value — up 180% YTD, while DeFi protocol Injective (<a href="https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/injective">INJ</a>) closely follows suit at 174%.



And let’s not forget Ethereum rollups <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/Optimism">Optimism</a> and <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/Arbitrum">Arbitrum</a> whose transactions now exceed that of the Ethereum mainnet alongside both platforms witnessing an uptick in <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/arbitrum-optimism-exceed-ethereum">daily active users</a>.



<h2>Ether is “world’s best-performing asset”</h2>



But what’s driving the value of the altcoin market, and where are traders expecting prices to go next?



The rally in digital assets has been “broad-based,” with several altcoins — which were oversold in the December bloodbath of liquidations and year-end selling — having bounced back, BitOoda told Blockworks in an email.



When looking at the major bellwether crypto assets, ether is up 34% YTD to bitcoin’s 40% rise.



“This is counterintuitive, as ether has historically acted more as an altcoin and outperformed bitcoin during rallies,” a BitOoda spokesperson said. “One explanation for ETH’s underperformance could be the potential upcoming sell pressure overhang from staking withdrawal unlocks.”



That may be true this year, but when looking over a larger timeframe, the story appears different.



Analysis conducted by Galaxy Digital and <a href="https://www.galaxy.com/research/insights/top-stories-of-the-week-1-27-23/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">published</a> last week found ether to be the world’s best-performing asset over a number of timeframes when viewing from a total return and risk-adjusted return lens.



The research took into account the seven, five and three-year returns as well as 2022 performances and a COVID low (March 2020) to present.



“Across every single time frame, except 5 years, ether is the best-performing asset against equity indices, major tech stocks, bonds, commodities and really anything else,” Galaxy said.



That’s despite industry windfalls last year, including several major bankruptcies, contagion woes and ecosystem failures that rocked prices across the board.



According to Australian digital asset trading and custody infrastructure firm Zerocap, altcoins largely act as high-beta assets to ether and their prices have been positively correlated with ether’s performance in recent weeks.



Arbitrum and Optimism have shown growth in on-chain metrics but are less stable in downward trends compared to ether, according to Zerocap analyst Sam Holman.



Their integration into crypto infrastructure is allowing for easier access to new apps on alternative chains, compared to non-EVM chains, due to their rapid growth and addressing the complexity of bridges and lack of liquidity, Holman said.&nbsp;



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote">
“This trend is expected to continue if the market remains strong.”
</blockquote>



A <a href="https://www.jpmorgan.com/solutions/cib/markets/etrading-trends" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">recent survey</a> of 835 institutional traders conducted by JPMorgan found crypto, commodities and credit are likely to have the biggest increases in electronic trading volumes over the coming year. 



Asked what percentage of their trading volumes would be through e-trading channels, the traders predict crypto will top the list, and have a 2% greater impact on those volumes than commodities.



That’s incongruous considering JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently called bitcoin a &#8220;<a href="https://twitter.com/SquawkCNBC/status/1616039056961323008" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">hyped up fraud</a>&#8221; and “pet rock” on CNBC’s Squawk Box during a sideline interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.



Despite perennial skepticism from the head of the world’s largest multinational bank, the performance of ether and bitcoin continue to drive the entire digital asset market forward.



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Where’s the Non-Bitcoin Market Headed Over Coming Months?

In Australia, crypto startups are preparing for the government’s multi-stage approach to regulating crypto, pitched to protect consumers from what it considers unsustainable business models.



The previous government failed to take the time to future-proof regulatory frameworks, leading to consumer exposure to recent risks, Treasurer Jim Chalmer’s office said in a joint <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/jim-chalmers-2022/media-releases/making-crypto-safer-consumers" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">statement</a> Friday.



“While the industry continues to develop and expand, crypto assets are still commonly associated with speculative trading, posing significant risks,” an accompanying <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2023-02/c2023-341659-cp.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">consultation paper</a> reads.



Beginning with the first of its three-stage approach, the Australian Securities &amp; Investments Commission, the country’s main financial regulator, will begin bolstering the size of its crypto team.



It will also ramp up efforts to undertake legal action against certain project offerings that fail to register for appropriate credit or financial services licenses while ensuring risks to consumers are clearly disclosed.



Additionally, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will scale up its operations to prevent digital asset scams, per the statement. A spokesperson for the Treasury department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



<h2>Parts two and three: licenses and token mapping</h2>



The previous federal center-right party, the Liberal National Party (LNP), which had retained power in Australia for more than a decade, had made efforts to reinforce existing crypto regulatory frameworks. 



That included a “token mapping exercise” which attempts to define digital assets as it pertains to existing financial law.



The exercise formed part of a recommendation by way of the “Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre Senate select committee” in 2021, spearheaded by Liberal Party Senator Andrew Bragg.



While the LNP had dabbled in crypto regulation, it had prematurely jumped straight to options without first understanding what was being regulated, the new <a href="https://ministers.treasury.gov.au/ministers/stephen-jones-2022/media-releases/work-underway-crypto-asset-reforms" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Labor government</a> said last year.



As part of its second stage, the government will reform the licensing and custody of crypto assets and establish a set of obligations and operational standards for crypto asset service providers.&nbsp;



It’s particularly interested in the subset of digital assets that currently fall outside the financial services <a href="https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/financial-services/#:~:text=The%20regulatory%20framework%20covers%20a,and%20means%20of%20payment%20facilities." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">regulatory framework</a>. Consultation on the design of a custody and licensing framework is expected to begin later this year.



In part three of its multi-pronged approach, the Labor government is seeking to establish a framework for reform based on the token mapping exercise in an attempt to discover which assets require additional regulatory attention.



“This will help the government and stakeholders to focus on regulatory gaps and ensure emerging risks are identified and controlled,” per the statement.



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Australia To Tackle Crypto Regulation in Three Stages

MicroStrategy’s net loss jumped quarter over quarter to $250 million — though executives said the firm is going to keep up its longtime strategy of buying and holding bitcoin on its balance sheet.&nbsp;



MicroStrategy’s stock closed the day at $292.13 — down about 14% in the past year, but up 100% from a month ago. The stock was down about 3% in early after-hours trading in New York.



MicroStrategy, co-founded by bitcoin bull Michael Saylor, increased its bitcoin holdings by 2,500 BTC in the fourth quarter to 132,500 BTC, according to the company’s earnings out Thursday. 



“Our corporate strategy and conviction in acquiring, holding and growing our bitcoin position for the long term remains unchanged,” MicroStrategy Chief Financial Officer Andrew Kang said in a statement.&nbsp;



Bitcoin is up about 43% year to date after a brutal 2022 for the asset.&nbsp;



Saylor, who is MicroStrategy’s executive chairman, said Thursday that bitcoin was up 98% from August 2020 — when the company began its bitcoin acquisition strategy — to Feb. 1. The S&amp;P 500 is up 23% over that span, he added.



The executive noted the bankruptcies of companies such as Voyager Digital, Celsius, BlockFi and FTX last year, as well as the collapse of tokens such as UST, LUNA and FTT.&nbsp;&nbsp;



“In our opinion these were all very weak use cases, they were very fragile structures and it was a matter of time before they did melt down,” Saylor said. “The meltdown of that has created short-term negative headwinds for bitcoin…but long-term the rationalization of the crypto market will be beneficial for bitcoin.”&nbsp;&nbsp;



MicroStrategy’s fourth quarter results came after the Virginia-based business intelligence firm reported a net loss of $27 million in the third quarter — a drastic improvement from its <a href="https://blockworks.co/microstrategys-saylor-to-step-down-as-ceo-to-double-down-on-buying-bitcoin">$1.1 billion net loss</a> in the prior three-month period. 



MicroStrategy’s digital asset impairment charges — which comes into play if the market value of bitcoin decreases below its market-adjusted purchase value — were $700,000 during the third quarter, compared to $918 million in the second.&nbsp;



Digital asset impairment charges reached roughly $198 million during the fourth quarter.&nbsp;



MicroStrategy <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/microstrategy-bitcoin-wash-trading-tax-harvesting">sold 704 bitcoins on Dec. 22 for roughly $11.8 million</a>, according to a <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1050446/000119312522313098/d398241d8k.htm" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">filing</a> — receiving about $16,700 per bitcoin. Two days later, the company bought 810 BTC for about $16,800 per token.&nbsp;



“MicroStrategy plans to carry back the capital losses resulting from this transaction against previous capital gains, to the extent such carrybacks are available under the federal income tax laws currently in effect, which may generate a tax benefit,” the filing stated.



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Bitcoin-hungry MicroStrategy Posts $250M Net Loss in Q4

It happened. Bitcoin runs DOOM.



To the delight of crypto Twitter and <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/10rt887/someone_uploaded_doom_on_bitcoin/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reddit</a> circles, someone has uploaded a cloned version of the 30-year-old video game classic DOOM to the Bitcoin blockchain as an inscription on the network’s own NFT protocol, Ordinals.&nbsp;



Thanks to a happenstance loophole enabled by Bitcoin’s Taproot upgrade pushed in Nov. 2021, a budget (read: free) version of DOOM has been permanently etched on a <a href="https://ordinals.com/sat/1905393798236699" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">single satoshi</a> via block 774526, which was added to the blockchain on Wednesday morning.



Being written to Bitcoin means the <a href="https://ordinals.com/inscription/521f8eccffa4c41a3a7728dd012ea5a4a02feed81f41159231251ecf1e5c79dai0" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">functional game</a> will forever live on the immutable blockchain. As long as the network is online, folks can play this version of DOOM.



Web browsers are still required to compile the code, but forcing unconventional technologies to run DOOM is a meme in tech culture. Crafty hackers have made DOOM <a href="https://www.gamesradar.com/12-things-that-prove-that-doom-will-run-on-literally-anything/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">run</a> via pregnancy tests, calculators, ATMs, smart watches, toasters and Pelotons — even “unhackable” crypto <a href="https://thenextweb.com/news/hacker-doom-bitfi-cryptocurrency-wallet" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wallets</a>, among other zany conduits.



While the clone is fun in its own blocky-and-basic way, an actual copy of the real DOOM looks destined to make it to the Bitcoin blockchain sometime soon (a Reddit <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/itrunsdoom/comments/7ue6vd/it_runs_on_the_ethereum_blockchain_doom_at_745/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">thread</a> from Feb. 2018 suggests DOOM was once playable on Ethereum, however the linked YouTube video is now unavailable).



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="514" height="590" src="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/bitcoindoom3.gif" alt="" class="wp-image-46304"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">DOOM on Bitcoin via a single satoshi</figcaption></figure>



Meanwhile, Ordinals continues to pepper conversation amongst Bitcoiners as the community parses what bringing NFTs to the oldest blockchain really means for the future of network and the NFT ecosystem writ large.



The protocol notably just enabled the <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/inside-bitcoin-biggest-block" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">biggest-ever Bitcoin block</a> to be mined. A high-definition “Taproot wizard” was inscribed to a satoshi this week, clocking a 3.96MB transaction — close to Bitcoin’s 4MB block size limit (originally 1MB but stretchable via SegWit).



As for the DOOM Ordinal, it was only 31.2 KB big.&nbsp;



Remember: It’s not the size that matters. The ability to run DOOM is far more important.



Updated Feb. 3, 2022 at 3:42 am ET: Added context.



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You Can Now Play DOOM Directly On Bitcoin

Canadian crypto exchange Bitbuy’s upcoming Super Bowl ad has a different vibe than the company’s 2022 spot after an eventful year shook the industry.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Bitbuy is expected to be <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/whos-coughing-up-crypto-winter-dollars-for-super-bowl-ads">among the only crypto firms</a> set to advertise around the NFL championship game on Feb. 12 as companies in the space cut budgets and look to regroup as the crypto winter continues.



Of last year’s crypto advertisers, FTX <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/whats-next-for-ftx-and-its-customers-after-bankruptcy-filing">went bankrupt</a> and online brokerage eToro told Blockworks it won’t be running an ad. Coinbase last month implemented <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/coinbase-lays-off-950-staff-cuts-operational-costs-by-25">cost-saving measures</a> and exchange OKX, which <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-crypto-super-bowl-ads-can-we-expect-in-2023">planned to buy an ad</a>, has changed its mind.



The Bitbuy ad, which <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02ivqdVzwS8" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">went live</a> online Thursday, will be the firm’s second consecutive Super Bowl showing. NBA star Kyle Lowry appeared in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI3LNq_lres&amp;t=2s" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">the company’s ad</a> last year featured during the game’s Canadian broadcast. 



Bitbuy’s upcoming 60-second commercial, also to appear only in Canada, is set to run within an hour before the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles kick off.&nbsp;



Crypto markets plummeted amid the collapse of Terra’s algorithmic stablecoin in May and the subsequent bankruptcies of companies such as <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/3ac-files-for-bankruptcy-as-co-founders-location-unknown" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Three Arrows Capital</a>. The industry was once again rattled as FTX crashed in November, shaking confidence in centralized exchanges and similar entities. 



“Whereas the theme for Bitbuy&#8217;s 2022 commercial was missed opportunities, 2023&#8217;s theme is trust,” Binu Koshy, Bitbuy’s branding and communications director, told Blockworks.&nbsp;



“We wanted to remind people in a sort of outlandish way that by being locally based and fully regulated, Bitbuy provides investing services with a personal touch.&#8221;&nbsp;



The new Bitbuy spot features Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes, who Bitbuy <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AjDKl6h_vA" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">marketed</a> as a brand ambassador Tuesday.



Exchanges typically send a confirmation email to a user who makes a digital transaction. In the upcoming Super Bowl commercial, Barnes gives a Bitbuy user a confirmation hug.&nbsp;



Koshy declined to comment on how much Bitbuy spent on the commercial.&nbsp;The executive previously <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/exchanges-compete-to-grab-super-bowl-spotlight">told Blockworks</a> that roughly 25% of the company’s 2022 marketing budget went to signing Lowry, as well as producing and buying last year’s Super Bowl ad.



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Bitbuy Shifts Super Bowl Ad Focus From ‘Missed Opportunities’ to ‘Trust’

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has his eye on a bipartisan regulatory framework for crypto following the crash of FTX and other industry players in 2022.&nbsp;



To serve as ranking member of the US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs, Scott is set to work with US Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, a crypto critic who chairs the unit. 



Scott, a Republican elected to the Senate in 2013, acknowledged “expansive growth” of the digital assets industry in <a href="https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000186-0fe2-df27-abcf-8fefd8610000" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a Thursday memo</a>, first <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/morning-money/2023/02/02/the-debt-ceiling-is-not-powells-problem-00080804" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a> by Politico, adding that an increasing number of consumers are interacting with crypto.



“Several high-profile failures resulted in lost consumer assets, exposed regulatory gaps, and highlighted concerns with illicit finance,” the memo states. “Moving forward, the committee should work to facilitate a bipartisan regulatory framework.”



The senator could not immediately be reached.



Brown, who became chair of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee in February 2021, has historically compared crypto to risky mortgage bonds and over-the-counter derivatives during the lead up to the financial crisis.&nbsp;



After the bankruptcy of crypto exchange FTX in December, Brown <a href="https://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/sherrod-brown-on-ftx-crypto-puts-consumers-and-our-national-security-at-risk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">called for</a> a framework “that looks at crypto products for what they are, not what crypto executives want them to be.”



“The things that look and behave like securities, commodities, or banking products need to be regulated and supervised by the responsible agencies who serve consumers,” he added at the time. “Crypto doesn’t get a free pass because it’s bright and shiny. Or because venture capitalists think it might change the world.”



Brown also urged US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in <a href="https://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/sherrod-brown-to-treasury-we-need-to-work-together-on-crypto-legislation" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">a November letter</a> to work on legislation that would create authorities for regulators to supervise crypto players. He noted that single agencies “currently generally do not have a comprehensive view of crypto asset entities’ activities.”



Crypto firms are seemingly anticipating intensified regulatory scrutiny this year, as companies including Binance, Tether, and a16z have <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mike-pence-nephew-binance-newest-lobbyist">added lobbyists in recent months</a> to boost their presences in Washington, DC.



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Crypto Framework a Priority for Republican Senator Scott

A cryptocurrency linked to a cost of living index is now available to select users on Ethereum scaling solution Arbitrum.



DeFi protocol Nuon announced in a blog post that it would be gradually rolling out its <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-are-flatcoins-and-are-they-a-better-inflation-hedge">NUON flatcoin</a> over the course of a month-long trial.&nbsp;



Once operations are confirmed to run smoothly, the cryptocurrency will be available to all users for permissionless minting via added collateral.



The protocol has chosen this “guarded launch” approach to minimize financial risks and repercussions.



“The guarded launch means that the WebApp will be alternating between Open and Closed states so as to better manage and control the launch and protest user’s funds,” the company said in a <a href="https://nuon.fi/blog/launch-release-note-and-faqs/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a>.



<h2>What is a flatcoin?</h2>



Flatcoins operate similarly to stablecoins, but rather than being pegged to the value of an asset — such as the US dollar or gold — it is pegged to an independent measure of the cost of living and its purchasing power remains “flat.”&nbsp;



The concept of this type of cryptocurrency is not entirely new. It has been discussed by the likes of Brian Armstrong and Vitalik Buterin, who <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUhDXUA4mfQ&amp;ab_channel=Coinbase" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">noted</a> in a podcast in August last year that “there is value in having some kind of cryptoasset that is intentionally designed to be as stable as possible.”



In the case of Nuon, its flatcoin is designed to hedge against inflation by recalibrating its daily value to account for the rising cost of living, <a href="https://truflation.com/methodology" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">using</a> the Truflation Index as an <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/glossary#oracles" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">oracle</a>.



<h2>Stability and design&nbsp;</h2>



Nuon maintained its peg through what the team calls a “triple redundancy mechanism” where the protocol incentivizes users to “mint or burn NUON.”



If the price goes above the peg, the liquidation ratio drops, creating an incentive for users to mint more and sell the token. On the other hand, when the price of the token dips, the liquidation ratio increases, urging users to increase collateral or burn NUON to maintain safe collateral.



That means minters will have to have a reason to risk their collateral and watch the liquidation ratio closely.



Nuon CEO Stefan Rust acknowledges the risk but remains optimistic.



“Our vision for Nuon — inflation-proof money — is ambitious to say the least,” Rust said.



The mechanics differ from the failed <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/terra">Terra USD</a> design in that NUON is only minted from collateral. In theory, that should put a buffer for the arbitrage mechanism to keep the peg.



Just as decentralized protocols are the answer to risks posed by centralized currencies, and over-collateralization is the answer to maintaining value in the face of market instability, inflation-proof flatcoins are the solution to preserving value over time.”



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‘Flatcoin’ Targets Inflation With Collateral-backed Arbitrum Stablecoin

Michael Bodley

What’s an institutional allocator to do in a crypto winter like this?&nbsp;



Pay attention to the online footprints of the traders vying for the players with abundant dry powder still in the wings. Keep dialing up references. Call them again. And then call them again.



In sum: due diligence checks that run the gamut from crypto natives to Wall Street types with a vested interest, according to Joe Marenda, a partner at Cambridge Associates.&nbsp;



Marenda, for going on a year now, has held the title of global head of crypto investing for the Boston-based Cambridge, which specializes in devising customizable portfolio blends for the likes of pensions and endowments. He’s been drawing on his deep experience in vetting traditional asset management strategies to do due diligence on digital asset portfolio managers. And he has a suggestion or two along those lines.



Marenda spoke to Blockworks <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/regulators-speeding-up-crypto-timeline">at the iConnections Global Alts conference</a> in Miami this week, dishing out his thoughts on where we are in the cycle, how we got here and where we are going.



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">&quot;Managers that are trying to raise now, wait until third quarter.&quot; &#8211; Joe Marenda<a href="https://twitter.com/michael_bodley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Michael_Bodley</a> moderated the &#39;Fundraising Outlook for 2023&#39; panel today, joined by Zoe Cruz, <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveKurz?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SteveKurz</a>, Joe Marenda and Katherine Molnar.<a href="https://twitter.com/Blockworks_?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Blockworks_</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/galaxyhq?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@galaxyhq</a> <a href="https://t.co/Fdw2I6jIwk">pic.twitter.com/Fdw2I6jIwk</a>&mdash; iConnections (@iconnections_io) <a href="https://twitter.com/iconnections_io/status/1620496398327382016?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 31, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



The gist: The bottom may well be in. “Crypto is still very much emerging, with very few exceptions,” valuations are returning to something approaching normal, and volatility at the moment should <a href="https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1yhfhknybjnrg/Crypto-Hedge-Funds-Deliver-Bitcoin-Like-Returns-Without-the-Volatility" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">surprise</a> no one.



Picking up the phone and knocking on doors and doing the (due diligence) work is perhaps now <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-do-crypto-traders-tell-their-lps">more important in the industry than ever</a>, the San Francisco-based Marenda said. Managers may want to err on the side of patience for the foreseeable as those rigorous processes play out.&nbsp;



Read More: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/what-do-crypto-traders-tell-their-lps">How “radio silence” from crypto traders drove LPs “all but mad” in Q4</a>



Here’s how he’s going about it. Marenda declined to comment on specific funds or clients, and expressed his personal opinion throughout.&nbsp;



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Blockworks: Cambridge has been around for decades. Crypto has not. You all have due diligence on traditional strategies down, right? What’s different?



Marenda: There’s a lot more reference checks, to start…What the entrepreneurs in the space think of [venture capitalists] is crucial. And it’s their reputation that gets them deal flow — one of the fascinating things about crypto entrepreneurs is they have no filters. So, when you actually interview them, they’re very blunt and honest about <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/crypto-due-diligence-startup-vying-to-bring-transparency-to-opaque-industry">how they evaluate what they think</a> of this VC versus that VC.



They’ll just tell you if somebody promised something to get on the cap table, and they didn’t deliver, they will throw them under the bus.



Blockworks: Which you would almost never see in TradFi.



Marenda: Exactly…that has been wonderful. That tells you more about a fund than anything else. And the fact that they will talk about other funds when you’re like, “I’ll call them about Fund X. And then they start talking about Fund Y, Z, ABC.”&nbsp;



It’s incredibly useful, because the reputation of the fund ultimately is what drives the deal flow. That’s very different from traditional finance.



Blockworks: What else is different?



Marenda: The other aspect I think that’s really different is the fact that this is such a [broadly] social-dominated industry. There’s a lot more information out there that you have, that you can call on — and it’s not just crypto Twitter. It’s Reddit…It’s Substack and everything.&nbsp;



Because there, you can build an entire history of their thought processes on investing. And if they tell a different story now [compared to earlier in Cambridge’s due diligence process]…I see there’s a difference between what you say now and what you said before, so that’s a big deal.&nbsp;



The other one is something that I’ve been asking about recently, looking at their true social posts to see what kind of lifestyle they’re living.



Blockworks: The lambo lifestyle? A little less buttoned-up lifestyle?&nbsp;



Marenda: I’ve been thinking about whether they’re actually more interested in investing or in the lifestyle than investing, you know. [Crypto] allows them to do that, and I want people that just love investing, and, if they walk everywhere, that’s probably something that’s pretty exciting.&nbsp;



As long as they’re looking both ways when they cross the street.&nbsp;



This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.



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Inside Crypto LP Big Leagues: ‘A Lot More Reference Checks’

The biggest Bitcoin block ever has just been mined, 14 years after the blockchain went live.



It contained an Ordinal, the controversial <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cant-ignore-bitcoin-nfts">new genre of NFT which recently debuted on Bitcoin</a>.



In an apparent tease for a forthcoming bitcoin NFT collection, Luxor Mining and popular Bitcoin figure Udi Wertheimer mined the largest-ever bitcoin block, the company announced Tuesday.&nbsp;



Block <a href="https://mempool.space/block/0000000000000000000515e202c8ae73c8155fc472422d7593af87aa74f2cf3d" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">774628</a> housed the “Taproot Wizard,” a play on the legendary “magic internet money” meme featuring a bitcoin wizard. It was 3.96MB large, close to Bitcoin’s block size limit (which can be <a href="https://blog.bitmex.com/the-segwit-transaction-capacity-increase-part-1/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stretched</a> to 4MB with SegWit). 



The <a href="https://mempool.space/tx/0301e0480b374b32851a9462db29dc19fe830a7f7d7a88b81612b9d42099c0ae" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">transaction</a> containing the Ordinal made up 3.94MB, about 99.5%. There were 63 transactions in total, including the 6.25 <a href="https://blockworks.co/price/btc" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BTC</a> ($149,000) coinbase reward, which also went to Luxor.



&#8220;The image is higher resolution so it contains more pixels (and thus more bytes),&#8221; Colin Harper, head of research and content at Luxor Mining, told Blockworks.



Luxor announced the block via <a href="https://twitter.com/LuxorTechTeam/status/1620921129287430144?s=20&amp;t=vje_Chh6vf4U_Q9UbW0bzQ" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Twitter</a> Tuesday evening, teasing followers that other wizards may be available soon. The firm earned an additional 0.009 BTC ($209) in fees for successfully mining the block.



<a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cant-ignore-bitcoin-nfts">Ordinals</a> — the new platform taking the industry by storm — store texts, images, SCG or HTML on-chain, attached to individual satoshis, bitcoin’s smallest unit currently worth $0.000231.&nbsp;



Read More: <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/cant-ignore-bitcoin-nfts">Bitcoin NFTs: Love ‘Em or Hate ‘Em, You Can’t Ignore ‘Em</a>



Similar to the NFT concept, inscribed satoshis can then be transferred freely via the Bitcoin blockchain.



<figure class="wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">Behold, the Taproot Wizard, untethered and freed from his bondage! In his ubiquity, he&#39;s present in the hearts, minds, and hard drive space of Bitcoin node operators the world over. He refuses to be censored, he refuses to be silenced.<a href="https://t.co/WCjQpTRMLg">https://t.co/WCjQpTRMLg</a> <a href="https://t.co/gkxeAS4rOm">pic.twitter.com/gkxeAS4rOm</a>&mdash; Luxor Mining (@LuxorTechTeam) <a href="https://twitter.com/LuxorTechTeam/status/1620922782845669378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 1, 2023</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">This image is&nbsp;<a href="https://ordinals.com/sat/1308063627208201" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">inscribed</a>&nbsp;forever to satoshi 1308063627208201</figcaption></figure>



The features are made possible using a loophole from the Taproot upgrade in 2021, which enabled “practically unlimited (capped by block size) storage using Opcodes, an executable script in a txn that can store arbitrary data,” <a href="https://www.blockworksresearch.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Blockworks Research</a> analyst <a href="https://twitter.com/MattFiebach" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Matt Fiebach</a> said.



Ordinals creator Casey Rodarmor boasts the NFT protocol holds digital artifacts to a “higher standard,” he wrote in a <a href="https://rodarmor.com/blog/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">blog post</a>. Ordinals cannot be stored off-chain or on centralized servers, he said.&nbsp;



Industry members continue to take a mixed view on Bitcoin NFTs, but Ordinals appear to be here to stay.



Updated Feb. 2, 2023 at 12:05 pm ET: Added comment from Luxor Mining&#8217;s Colin Harper.



Updated Feb. 2, 2023 at 1:39 pm ET: Adjusted excerpt.



Updated Feb. 2, 2023 at 4:33 pm ET: Corrected Bitcoin&#8217;s block size limit.



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What Was Inside Bitcoin’s Biggest Block?

The world’s largest custodian bank has named a leader for its digital assets division as it seeks to accelerate initiatives in the segment despite the ongoing crypto winter.&nbsp;



BNY Mellon named Caroline Butler as its CEO of digital assets Thursday. The post is a newly created role for the bank. 


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="alignright size-medium"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" width="241" height="300" src="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/caroline-butler-ceo-digital-assets-241x300.jpeg" alt="BNY Mellon's CEO of Digital Assets Caroline Butler" class="wp-image-46260" srcset="https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/caroline-butler-ceo-digital-assets-241x300.jpeg 241w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/caroline-butler-ceo-digital-assets-206x257.jpeg 206w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/caroline-butler-ceo-digital-assets-210x261.jpeg 210w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/caroline-butler-ceo-digital-assets-176x219.jpeg 176w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/caroline-butler-ceo-digital-assets-64x80.jpeg 64w, https://cms.blockworks.co/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/caroline-butler-ceo-digital-assets.jpeg 628w" sizes="(max-width: 241px) 100vw, 241px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">BNY Mellon&#8217;s CEO of Digital Assets Caroline Butler | BNY Mellon</figcaption></figure></div>


Roman Regelman, CEO of BNY Mellon’s securities services and digital, said in a statement that Butler would lead their enterprise-wide initiatives as the company accelerates its efforts around digital assets and other emerging technologies.



“As institutional adoption of digital assets continues to evolve, we are committed to being a trusted provider of services to the broader financial ecosystem,” Regelman added.



A spokesperson declined to comment further.



Butler, who joined the company in 2020, was previously CEO of the bank’s custody services. In that role, she led development of BNY Mellon’s digital custody and administration platform for traditional and digital assets.



That platform went live in the US for select institutional clients in October.



BNY Mellon had $44.3 trillion in assets under custody or administration, as well as $1.8 trillion in assets under management, as of Dec. 31.&nbsp;



<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroline-butler-b489821/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Butler</a> said in an October statement that as the world’s largest custodian, BNY Mellon is the “natural provider” to create a safe custody platform in the space for institutional clients.



A research <a href="https://www.bnymellon.com/content/dam/bnymellon/documents/pdf/insights/migration-digital-assets-survey.pdf?mkt_tok=MzUzLUhSQi03OTIAAAGHvmLXAzH2AAbtr4WhHPMQ9VVq5uJ1KZRfRulJLv16X1_ZoOjbzOvT6K_QZLbyEh56IoS06me2xKP5MVsRYWOmWjfHUvagHGV1EWrMvzGY" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">report</a> by the bank published that month found 70% of surveyed institutional investors would increase digital asset activity “if services like custody and execution are available from recognized, trusted institutions.” 



Ed Groshans, a senior research and policy analyst at Compass Point Research &amp; Trading, told Blockworks last month, <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/banks-crypto-efforts-undeterred">BNY Mellon could be well-positioned to be a leader in the space</a> after events such as the crash of FTX shook the industry.&nbsp;



“They can really flesh out their business model over the next several months to several years to put themselves as a linchpin of trust in the crypto space from a custody perspective,” he said.



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