Crypto Market Highlights on February 3, 2022

Money laundering in NFT, cryptocurrency ads revolving, Cardano gets more space and more crypto market news compiled in the last 24 hours.

Crypto Market Highlights: Investment News

Enterprise software maker MicroStrategy posted a fourth-quarter loss after charging a $146.6 million loss for writing down the value of its BTC holdings, according to Bloomberg. Net loss was $90 million, or $8.43 per share on a diluted basis.

Blockchain data analytics firm Dune Analytics has raised $69.42 million in a Series B round led by Coatue. This money should be used to train, reward and empower the new breed of Web-3 data analysts they call Dune Wizards.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked asset manager Bitwise how it intends to prevent stock manipulation, fraud and other potential problems with spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). The agency also raised concerns about the Bitwise Bitcoin ETP Trust’s liquidity and transparency, and asked for more color regarding Bitcoin’s “suitability” as an underlying asset for the fund.

Venture capital firm 776 Management, led by Reddit’s co-founder, plans to focus on crypto next year after raising $500 million through two new funds. The newly launched Fund II includes a $300 million early-stage focused vehicle and a $200 million fund that will invest in Series A and Series B funding rounds.

Banking Platform as a Service Fiat Republic announced it has raised $3.5 million in seed funding from tech investors Speedinvest, Seedcamp and Credo. The startup seeks to reduce the time and cost of processing fiat currencies for crypto platforms, both at the individual consumer and corporate treasury level.

Crypto Market Highlights: NFTs News

Analytics firm Chainalysis says it has detected money laundering and some money laundering in non-fungible tokens (NFTs). They found that 110 profitable traders earned nearly $8.9 million while the value sent to the NFT market from illegal addresses reached $1.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2022.

The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, set to return this April after a two-year hiatus, has announced a series of NFTs in partnership with crypto exchange FTX, offering on-site perks and VIP access to the event.

Sports Illustrated magazine, 68, has announced an alliance with NFT startup OneOf to launch a sports NFT series on Polygon (MATIC), with an initial lineup of nine sports icons including Muhammad Ali, Wayne Gretzky and Mia Hamm . NFTs will provide reimagined versions of vintage magazine covers for each of its original athletes, all designed by artist Jonathan Winbush.

Crypto Market Highlights: News on new products and services

Global internet finance company Circle announced it will run full-page print ads and homepage takeovers across several major news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Washington Post, to find the answer to the question, “How Can the US Win the Digital Currency Space Race? They claim that the “free market alternative” to central bank digital currency (CBDC) will use Circle-issued USD stablecoin (USDC).

Peer-to-peer platform Paxful has announced the opening of a new education and training center in El Salvador offering free Bitcoin (BTC) learning opportunities to build financial inclusion dubbed “La Casa del Bitcoin.” The hub aims to power the next wave of Bitcoin mass adoption and provide growing segments such as small merchants and local businesses with the tools to connect with the global user community.

Cryptocurrency donations to the privacy-focused nonprofit saw the Tor project grow 841% year over year in 2021 — of the $940,000 raised, 58% of the donations were electronic money. For comparison, in 2020, donors sent $58,000 in crypto.

Crypto Market Highlights: Blockchain News

Cardano (ADA) will improve its network capacity and performance by increasing block size by 11% on Feb. 4, according to Input Output led by blockchain platform developer Charles Hoskinson (IOHK), the sixth largest by market cap. They said the block size will increase from 72 KB to 80 KB. According to the company, this planned update will also enable a smoother experience for decentralized applications (dapps) powered by Cardano.

Crypto Market Highlights: Regulatory News

The South African Financial Sector Regulatory Authority (FSCA) warned the public to exercise caution when dealing with crypto exchange FTX, as the platform could offer derivatives trading to residents of South Africa if they are not authorized to do so. They added that the watchdog tried unsuccessfully to contact the exchange.

According to Bloomberg, Botswana lawmakers have passed legislation regulating cryptocurrency trading as part of efforts to tighten anti-money laundering measures.

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