This Week in Crypto – 21 May To 27 May 2022

Capitalizing on the market collapse, venture capital company Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) is investing $4.5 billion in cryptocurrency firms. They plan to invest around $1.5 billion in seed investments and around $3 billion in venture investments from the fund. Their overall investment amounts to $7.6 billion now.

Cryptosat, via a SpaceX Falcon 9, launched the first crypto satellite into low-Earth orbit from Space Florida. This is the first time blockchain technology has been used in space.

Lido sank all the way from its high of $20.5B to approximately $8B now. This is mainly due to the decline of Terra. What was worth $9.6B on Terra LDO TVL, sank to $15,000, a 99% decline. It currently ranks third on the charts just below MakerDAO and Curve.

Drake, the Canadian rapper, lost more than $230,000 in BTC when he bet on Charles Leclerc to win at the Spanish Grand Prix. It was going all well for him till the middle when he had to stop due to engine power failures. This cost Drake $230,000 in BTC. However, if Leclerc had finished first, Drake would have won $353,000.

Balenciaga, a well-known fashion label, has announced that it would begin taking cryptocurrency as payment in the United States. The apparel floor plans to accept cryptocurrency payments both in-store and online. Customers will most likely be able to choose between bitcoin and ethereum at first, with other cryptos perhaps introduced later.

According to a survey by the Federal Reserve Board of the United States, the majority of crypto investors in the United States hold it for investment purposes, and those who do tend to be high-income earners. 46% of cryptocurrency owners make more than $100,000, while 29% earn less than $50,000. Last year, just 12% of Americans possessed or utilized cryptocurrency.

A financial publishing business recently announced the purchase of a large plot of virtual land in TCG World, a metaverse. 12 128m × 128m city plots and 7 256m x 256m city plots were purchased for $5 million. This shattered the previous high of $4.3 million for a Sandbox plot.

India has climbed to the top of the Play-to-Earn rankings (P2E). According to a recent poll, 34% of Indian respondents had played a P2E game. Hong Kong is second with 29%, UAE is third with 27%, and Sweden on the other end, has 4 percent.

STEPN has prohibited China-based users due largely to Chinese rules influencing the app. STEPN’s GPS service in China will be switched off starting July 15. In a series of tweets, it also advised China-based users to withdraw their assets. Following this statement, GMT’s price dropped from $1.4 to $1.

Due to rising sales, the Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) collection is now ranked the fourth-highest in terms of all-time sales volume just after Axie, Cryptopunks, and BAYC.

Red Bull is said to be launching Tezos-based digital collectibles. An NFT collection will be unveiled at the Monaco Grand Prix, which will be sold on the ByBit NFT marketplace, their Principle Team Partner. This collection will be auctioned for a week, as well as a one-of-a-kind playseat simulator. The NFT will be given to the highest bidder on this Monaco-edition asset, as well as access to a real simulator at the Monaco Energy Station.

The total value locked (TVL) of MakerDAO (MKR) plummeted to new lows in the last week of May as investor interest in decentralized finance (DeFi) waned. It is, however, still number one, ahead of Curve (which was formerly number one). It now has a TVL of $9.8 billion, down from $20 billion.

Following the stunning collapse of the UST stablecoin and its sibling token LUNA last week, a request has been made to shut down DeFi credit protocol Mars. It comes as Mars’ entire worth dropped from $270 million to $2.6 million, a 99 percent drop. According to Delphi Labs, the proposal to separate Terra caused a slew of issues for the Mars Protocol.

Beeple has become the latest victim of a phishing attack after his Twitter account was hacked. The hacker used Beeple’s Twitter account to send phishing links to bogus NFT collections, promising a free mint for unique NFTs if they followed the instructions. A total of 200 Ethereum (ETH) worth over $400,000 was stolen.

Wormhole has compensated a white-hat hacker $10 million for finding a critical flaw in their technology. The hacker discovered a flaw that prevented user cash from being locked up. This is part of the reward program introduced in February after an exploit cost the company $323 million.

Two independent proposals to tax digital assets were rejected by the Portuguese parliament. Two tax measures from the Livre and Bloco parties were rejected by the ruling party. Currently, there is no capital gains tax on cryptocurrency in Portugal, although this is expected to change in the future.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has received an application from ARK Invest for a physical bitcoin exchange-traded fund (EFT). This ETF offers exposure to the price of bitcoin in spot markets. A physical bitcoin ETF is yet to be approved by the SEC.

The United States House of Representatives has introduced legislation to allow Bitcoin to be included in 401(k) plans.

On Thursday, three US senators presented legislation to prohibit the digital yuan from app shops in the United States. It fears that apps hosted on Google and/or Apple’s app stores could be used to spy on U.S. citizens. The law, according to the Chinese embassy, is another example of “bullying foreign nations.”

Following investigations into LFG , Seoul police have demanded an exchange freeze for their funds . As the UST stablecoin controversy takes another turn, South Korea is starting to tighten the screws on Terraform Labs and Luna CEO Do Kwon. Do Kwon has claimed the nickname of “Korea’s Most Hated Man.”