Google, the leader in investing in crypto-blockchain

• Alphabetthe parent company of Google and YouTube, has invested over $1.5 billion in crypto-blockchain companies between September 2021 and June 2022. An amount that clearly exceeds the holdings of the largest banks such as Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citi Bank or even those made by the world’s largest fund manager BlackRock. Alphabet mainly invested in FireBlocks, a company that offers institutional solutions for the custody of cryptocurrencies. We also find Samsung and Microsoft in the largest funding rounds of this period, which proves the desire of the tech giants to take the cryptosphere with billion-dollar strikes. We could have suspected, but the decentralization of the blockchain system is therefore gradually returning to the hands of the Web2 giants. More information in the article: these stock market giants are investing heavily in Blockchain
• CoinbaseAmerica’s leading cryptocurrency exchange, has announcement what would suspend all ether (ETH) deposits and withdrawals as well as tokens that are backed by the Ethereum blockchain (ERC-20 token) during the network merger. This long-awaited merger of the crypto community, called The Merge, is set to take place on September 15 and will move Ethereum’s consensus model from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. of-Stake). The company explains that this exchange freeze is necessary so that it can “properly ensure the transition of its systems”. So we’re bound to see some turmoil and maybe some panic or euphoria on the airwaves around September 15th.
• Canada Pension Fund (CDPQ), one of Canada’s leading pension managers, wrote off its $150 million investment in bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network. The company reported a total loss of over $26 billion for the first half of 2022, a negative return of -7.9% according to the data CDPQ press release. Alexandre Synnett, the pension manager’s head of technology, said the company added Celsius Network to its portfolio in October 2021, a month before the market crash began. A bad choice for the Canada Pension Fund, and therefore for all its subscribers.
• Buenos Airesthe capital of Argentina, announced through the city council that the city will become one of the first public entities in the world to manage the Ethereum network infrastructure. Specifically, private companies will contract with the city to set up one or more nodes that will allow them to become validators on the Ethereum network. The announcement comes a few months after Mayor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta announced that citizens can pay taxes using cryptocurrencies. With inflation that could reach 90% in 2022, the country has no choice but to offer an alternative to its citizens, but it is also an opportunity to attract crypto-investors.
• European Union plans to create the new Anti-Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Authority (AMLA) on financial markets, including cryptocurrencies. In other words, it will be a regulator whose goal will be to supervise, among other things, companies that offer services in the field of cryptosphere in order to reduce money laundering and terrorist financing operations as much as possible. A announcement which comes in addition to the Agreement on the Market of Crypto Assets (MiCa) which was signed in early summer 2022. A sign of tightening and more precise regulation of the crypto regulatory framework in Europe in the coming months.
• The team Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL), the Dallas Cowboys, announced that they have become the first entity in the league to sell tickets with digital assets to attend games from the stadium boxes and, as of now, there is no indication that it will be possible to buy regular seats with cryptocurrencies. The partnership was made with BitWallet, a crypto exchange founded in 2017 in Houston. For reference, a seat in the stadium boxes costs between $14,000 and $25,000. Therefore, it will currently be necessary to sell a little more than one bitcoin to take advantage of the best boxes.
• general manager of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, posted a photo on Facebook of his own avatar in front of miniature models of Barcelona’s Tibidabo Cathedral and our beloved Parisian Iron Lady in the “Horizon of Worlds” metaverse. An opportunity for the California boss to announce the launch of his metaverse in France and Spain. But the displayed graphical quality is far from what would be expected in a 3D virtual world in 2022. Netizens had a blast taking to social media to poke fun at the tech giant across the Atlantic, especially since the company recently announced that it has posted more than $16 billion in losses over the past 18 months at its dedicated Metaverse division, Reality Labs. But that is unlikely to discourage the American giant, determined to offer its Ready Player One with Zuckerberg sauce.

Source: Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook account

• We end this Crypto Recap with some unusual news straight from theElon Musk. fake cryptocurrency Manchester United Fan Token (MUFC)implying that, by its name, it might belong to Mancunian Football Club, jumped 3000% after Mr. Musk’s tweet. The capricious head of Tesla announced on August 17 on Twitter that he would buy the English club, only to later admit that it was a joke. Time that was enough to blow up the flow of MUFC. But digging into the dark corridors of this cryptocurrency, we notice that behind it is a team of developers who have deceived users by promising them mountains and miracles in August 2021, which, after this scam was discovered in the past year, lowers the price by 100% . A year later, in 2022, a tweet from the American billionaire again sparked a surge of enthusiasm for the property in question from some speculators. An increase that should be minimized by volume, as they peaked at $39,000 within 24 hours of the tweets. A dollar volume that therefore qualifies with $25 billion worth of bitcoins exchanged in the last 24 hours at the time of writing. In short, Musk’s powerful influence continues to make waves in the cryptosphere.

Readings:

The crypto geniuses who blew $3 trillion (Intelligent, in English).

Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are trying their hand at offsetting carbon (The Verge, in English).

The Ethereum merger is a big deal for cryptocurrencies and the planet (wired)

NFTs conquer football (wired, in English).