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Hello and welcome back to the third edition of the new and improved TechCrunch Crypto Newsletter. As mentioned earlier, alongside the regularly scheduled news, I’ll be adding some recurring new clips and features – so if you like what you see (or don’t), let me know at jacquelyn@techcrunch.com.
Happy February, friends! We have passed the twelfth day of the year; That wasn’t difficult, was it? You only need to do this 11 more times to get to 2025.
As January came to an end, hackers got busy and made theft a lot More Below.
This week on web3
- Polygon Labs CEO says company is laying off 60 employees, about 19% of its staff
- AI and blockchain may need each other to evolve, according to a new report (TC+).
- Hackers steal $112 million in XRP Ripple cryptocurrency
- Ethereum developer interest reaches all-time high in 2023 despite bear market (TC+)
- Solana Mobile still has a long way to go until it breaks even (TC+).
Number crunching
The cryptocurrency market this week has been very bullish, with the two largest cryptocurrencies by market cap, Bitcoin and Ether, rising 7% and 4.4% respectively during the week, according to CoinMarketCap. Data. The global market value of cryptocurrencies rose 5.2% over seven days to $1.62 trillion.
Separately, the cord mentioned In the fourth quarter of 2023, it achieved “record” net profits amounting to $2.85 billion, which constitutes 46% of the total net profits of $6.2 billion last year. Tether is the world’s largest stablecoin by market cap and volume and the third largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and Ethereum. Its total assets (which back its stablecoins) are $97 billion, as of December 31, 2023. Its liabilities are about $91.6 billion and it has about $5.4 billion in excess reserves, which “fully cover” its outstanding collateralized loans of $4.8 billion. The report added.
If you’re thinking, “These are big numbers,” you’re right. see below.
Our favorite post is “Crypto Twitter”.
After all the talk about Tether…
this mail On X by Bitwise Asset Management CIO Matt Hogan speaks for himself. Sorry Goldman Sachs, better luck next quarter:
Tether made more money last quarter than Goldman Sachs. Tether: $2.85 billion. Goldman: $2.01 billion
Latest pod
For this week episodeI interviewed Chris Dixon, General Partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Chris has been at the firm since 2012 and founded and leads the cryptocurrency team at a16z, which invests in the web3 universe through four mega funds with over $7 billion under management. He is also the author of the recently released book Read and Write Yourself: Building the Next Age of the Internet.
Prior to a16z, Chris co-founded two startups, SiteAdvisor and Hunch, which were acquired by McAfee in 2006 and eBay in 2011, respectively. He also attended Columbia University for his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees and received his MBA from Harvard University.
In this episode, we discuss the new book, how it has changed the concept of cryptocurrencies and what purpose blockchain technology can ultimately bring to the world.
We also delve into:
- Big Tech Companies vs. Cryptocurrencies
- The importance of decentralization
- a16z web3 investments
- Blockchain games
- Embrace the future
participation in Chain reaction on apple podcast, Spotify Or your favorite pod platform to keep up with the latest episodes, and please leave us a review if you like what you hear!
Follow the money
- Squid has raised $4 million in a strategic round to help support cross-chain interoperability
- Vilar raised $3.5 million to build a permanent decentralized exchange on Bitcoin
- Web3 gaming startup Yooldo has raised $1.5 million, taking its valuation to $13 million
- Options-focused protocol Ithaca Finance has raised $2.5 million in seed funding
- The portal has raised $34 million in a seed round to develop its decentralized Bitcoin ecosystem
This list was compiled with information from Messari as well as TechCrunch's own reporting.
What else do we write?
Do you want to branch out from the world of web3? Here are some articles about TechCrunch that caught our attention this week.
- Why There Is No Clear Winning Pricing Strategy in B2B SaaS (TC+)
- Three San Francisco supervisors received threats after YC President Gary Tan's tweet
- Apple Vision Pro will launch with more than 600 apps and games optimized for the new headphones
- The Senate hearing with five social media CEOs was a missed opportunity
- Technology layoffs rise to three-quarters (TC+)