Last Week in Crypto January 22-28 Top Stories You Might Have Missed
It is time again to discuss the top events in the crypto industry. While it has been only a week since we last talked, crypto did not have time to rest. There have been so many new launches and announcements, and even quite concerning events.
Thus, lets discuss what happened in crypto last week and how it may affect the overall evolution of the crypto market.
Table of contents
- 1. The Global Crypto User Base Exceeded Half a Billion
- 2. Hackers Developed a Phishing Scam by Impersonating Cointelegraph and Other Popular Platforms
- 3. We Might not See a Spot Ripple ETF Too Soon
- 4. The SEC Pushed Its ETH ETF Decision to March
- 5. Polygon Labs Will Launch a Web3 Music Accelerator Program with WMG
- 6. A Lawyer of OneCoin Was Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
- 7. Polygons User Base Growth Almost Equaled Ethereums in 2023
- 8. A 90s Video Game Now Runs on Dogecoin
- 9. Telefónica Partnered with Nova Labs to Develop Mobile Hotspots in Mexico
- 10. New Milestone for BlackRocks BTC ETF $2 Billion in AUM
1. The Global Crypto User Base Exceeded Half a Billion
Summary: A Crypto.com report shows that the crypto user base exceeded half a billion in December 2023.
Details: Its official we are over half a million crypto enthusiasts out there! According to Crypto.coms annual Crypto Market Sizing Report, the global crypto user base surpassed 500 million in 2023. The overall growth reached 34%. While in January 2023, there were approximately 432 million crypto users, in December 2023, the number reached 580 million.
The growth in worldwide crypto investors is truly surprising, considering that 2023 was not an easy year for crypto. With many conflicts in various areas (Europe, the Middle East) and a crypto crackdown that seems not to have come to an end, it was truly unexpected that so many users decided to join the crypto wave.
Source: Crypto.com
2. Hackers Developed a Phishing Scam by Impersonating Cointelegraph and Other Popular Platforms
Summary: Cointelegraph and other major crypto-related companies were affected by a phishing scam that was conducted through email.
Details: Various companies were affected by a coordinated crypto hack and phishing campaign through email. Hackers started sending phishing emails promoting token airdrops by using email addresses purporting to be from major companies, such as Cointelegraph, WalletConnect, Token Terminal, or De.Fi.
According to later updates, the phishing scam reached a surprising amount of $3.3 million in stolen funds. MailerLite, an email marketing firm, hackers managed to access approximately 117 accounts, but they only exploited a few of them in order to launch phishing campaigns.
Source: Cointelegraph
3. We Might not See a Spot Ripple ETF Too Soon
Summary: Crypto enthusiasts are awaiting a spot XRP ETF, but experts believe that this will not happen due to the current lawsuit between the company and the SEC.
Details: The launch of multiple spot Bitcoin ETFs led supporters of other cryptocurrencies to discuss the possibility of other such investment products. Thus, Ripple supporters started expecting a spot XRP ETF. However, analysts believe that this dream is far from coming true.
According to market experts, a spot XRP ETF would not be approved at the moment due to the lawsuit between Ripple and the US SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission). Ripple and the SEC have been fighting for a few years, and although the former had 3 partial court wins in 2023, the lawsuit is not closed yet.
Source: CryptoPotato
4. The SEC Pushed Its ETH ETF Decision to March
Summary: The SEC postponed its decision regarding Greyscales and BlackRocks ETH ETF filings to March 2024.
Details: The US Securities and Exchange Commission delayed Greyscales and BlackRocks applications for spot Ethereum ETFs to March 2024. Grayscale applied to convert its Ethereum trust product (ETHE) into an ETF.
While the SEC also denied the applications for spot BTC ETFs in the beginning, it then approved some of them in January 2024. This set a precedent for other cryptocurrencies to be approved for ETFs, thus many companies started filing for ETH exchange-traded funds.
It is believed that the SECs delay on ETH ETFs is similar to the delays BTC ETFs had, so it is not so surprising that Greyscale and BlackRock experience this at the moment. If things go as in BTC ETFs case, filers will update their documents and refile them until the SEC finally accepts the Ethereum exchange-traded products. m exchange-traded products.
Source: CoinDesk
5. Polygon Labs Will Launch a Web3 Music Accelerator Program with WMG
Summary: Polygon Labs and WMG will collaborate to develop the Web3 Music Accelerator program.
Details: Polygon Labs announced a new collaboration with the giant entertainment company Warner Music Group (WMG). The companies will work together to develop WMGs project, the Web3 Music Accelerator program.
Polygon Labs and WMG announced two recipients of their project: MITH and The Muus Collective. MITH is a fan engagement platform that allows artists to get data-driven insights and own first-party fan data. The Muus Collective is a company focusing on building fashion-centric mobile games, entertainment, and digital collectibles.
The two recipients were chosen from over 120 applicants based on various criteria, such as interactive fan experiences and decentralized systems. As part of the program, MITH and The Muus Collective will receive advising, networking opportunities, endorsements, and marketing support from Warner Music Group and Polygon Labs.
Source: The Crypto Times
6. A Lawyer of OneCoin Was Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
Summary: OneCoin lawyer Mark Scott was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of multiple charges.
Details: A lawyer accused of bank fraud and money laundering through the OneCoin scheme was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a hearing on January 25, 2024. Judge Edgardo Ramos of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York was the one to give lawyer Mark Scott the prison sentence.
Mark Scott was found guilty of laundering millions of dollars through OneCoin and was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Along with Mark Scott, OneCoin co-founder Karl Greenwood was also sentenced to 20 years in prison. Furthermore, former OneCoin CCO Irina Dilkinska is waiting to get her sentence after pleading guilty to money laundering and fraud charges in November 2023.
Source: CoinGeek
7. Polygons User Base Growth Almost Equaled Ethereums in 2023
Summary: Polygon stated that its number of acquired users in 2023 almost equaled Ethereums, with just 160,000 users left to reach the 2nd crypto project in the world.
Details: Polygon, a layer-2 scaling network, almost reached Ethereums user base growth in 2023. Last year, the crypto project acquired 15.24 new users, approximately 160,000 less than Ethereum, which managed to acquire around 15.4 million new users.
According to the company, The acquired user increase began in March, coinciding with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, which may have shaken confidence in centralized entities and ignited a flee to decentralized custody alternatives.
Source: Cointelegraph
8. A 90s Video Game Now Runs on Dogecoin
Summary: Doom, a 90s video game, was deployed on Doginals on its 30th anniversary.
Details: Doom, one of the most popular video games from the 90s, was recently added to the Dogecoin network through a new protocol that allows users to stash large amounts of data on a blockchain.
Doom was released in 1993 and was among the first computer games that became popular in the 1990s. The game was deployed on Doginals on its 30th anniversary, according to @minidogeart, the developer who moved the game to Dogecoin.
Source: Yahoo Finance
9. Telefónica Partnered with Nova Labs to Develop Mobile Hotspots in Mexico
Summary: Telefónica and Helium-based Nova Labs will develop the formers mobile hotspot feature, making it available in important cities in Mexico.
Details: Telefónica, one of the largest telecommunication services providers, announced that it plans to offer mobile hotspots in Mexico City and Oaxaca. To do this, Telefónica will partner with Nova Labs, a crypto project that is built on top of the Helium blockchain.
Through the new partnership, Telefónica customers will be able to access Heliums mobile hotspots to improve mobile coverage through data sharing.
Helium has had other such partnerships in the past. In 2021, the company partnered with Dish to build its 5G network, which now gathers 1 million hotspots across over 170 countries.
Source: CoinDesk
10. New Milestone for BlackRocks BTC ETF $2 Billion in AUM
Summary: In just one week, BlackRocks spot BTC ETF moved from $1 billion AUM to a surprising amount of $2.11 billion in assets under management.
Details: After it reached $1 billion in AUM last week, this week, BlackRocks spot Bitcoin ETF (Exchange-Traded Fund) surprised investors and reached an unexpected $2 billion in assets under management. The ETF is also known as iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) and reached a market capitalization of approximately $2.11 billion.
BlackRocks IBIT currently is the largest spot Bitcoin ETF. However, it is followed by 10 other such investment products, the most popular including GBTC (Greyscale Bitcoin Trust), BITO (ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF), and ARKB (ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF).
Source: Cryptonews
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