It’s a hen, it’s a airplane, no, it’s a crypto whale

Observe me on Twitter @Jacqmelinek for breaking crypto information, memes and extra.

Welcome again to Chain Response.

Earlier this week, I took a take a look at what some main crypto whales’ wallets have been doing, the place they parked their funds and the way their exercise indicators motion within the broader market.

I examined six wallets, which have been offered to starcrypto by on-chain portfolio information from Nansen. The wallets are price virtually half a billion {dollars}, with the vast majority of their belongings allotted on the Ethereum blockchain, the information confirmed.

A majority of the wallets embody “wrapped” crypto belongings, which is a tokenized model of the unique coin that holds the identical worth. For instance, there’s bitcoin (BTC) and wrapped bitcoin (wBTC) and an investor would personal the latter in the event that they needed to make use of bitcoin on the Ethereum community, which it doesn’t function on. It might, although, by means of the wrapped model.

General, these whales are usually risk-off, given the bulk are holding liquid staking tokens, stablecoins and wrapped bitcoin and ether, signaling a conservative mindset.

There have been additionally some shocking points to a couple of the wallets, which we dive into additional right here.

This week in web3

Former SEC chair Jay Clayton feels ‘overwhelming majority’ of crypto tokens are securities (TC+)

The definition of a safety is “deliberately broad and versatile,” Former SEC Chairman Jay Clayton mentioned. However, there’s an opportunity that one thing as soon as labeled a safety, “may not all the time be a safety.” So what may trigger that shift? Current utility versus future utility, Clayton mentioned. Take broadway present tickets for instance: If somebody purchased 1,000 tickets for $10 and advised their family and friends they might be capable to resell these tickets for $100 or $1,000, then it’s a safety, he mentioned. “However when you simply purchase the ticket 10 years later, it’s only a ticket.”

Hong Kong eyes stablecoin regulatory regime by 2024

Whereas the Western world debates the right way to regulate stablecoins, Hong Kong is forging forward with a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies pegged to conventional monetary belongings. The Hong Kong Financial Authority (HKMA) is within the technique of searching for feedback from the general public concerning stablecoins and goals to introduce a regulatory framework by the top of 2024, mentioned the town’s Undersecretary for Monetary Providers and the Treasury, Joseph Chan Ho-lim, in line with native media.

London lures a16z’s first worldwide workplace with ‘predictable’ crypto regs

US VC large Andreessen Horowitz — which has about $35 billion in belongings below administration — is to open its first (sure, the primary) worldwide workplace in London, led by one of many agency’s common companions, Sriram Krishnan. The workplace will deal with supporting the event of crypto, blockchain applied sciences and related web3 startups. a16z has dedicated $7.6 billion to crypto startups globally.

Robinhood’s choice to restrict crypto buying and selling makes good sense (TC+)

Shopper buying and selling and funding app Robinhood is transferring to limit the holding and buying and selling of sure main cryptocurrencies on its platform, barely per week after the U.S. Securities and Alternate Fee’s lawsuits in opposition to crypto exchanges Binance and Coinbase. After reviewing Robinhood’s most up-to-date quarterly outcomes, we really feel that the choice is backed by some quantity of cause.

US DoJ costs two Russians for hacking crypto trade Mt. Gox

The U.S. Division of Justice has charged two Russian nationals for hacking and inflicting the next collapse of Mt. Gox, one of many largest and hottest crypto exchanges. In an unsealed indictment, the DoJ named Alexey Bilyuchenko, 43, and Aleksandr Verner, 29, of hacking the trade and conspiring to launder about 647,000 bitcoins, price about $17.2 billion right this moment. Mt. Gox shutdown in 2014 after submitting for chapter when the theft was revealed, after which was ordered to liquidate.

The newest pod

For this week’s episode, Jacquelyn interviewed Patrick Kaminski, the director of digital innovation for web3 and metaverse at L’Oreal, and Manon Cardiel, head of strategic planning and partnerships inside web3 and metaverse at L’Oreal.

Patrick is the chief behind NYX Skilled Make-up’s GORJS DAO, which launched in mid-January with hopes of mixing the NFT world and the wonder trade within the metaverse. Whereas Manon labored on the GORJS mission, she additionally helped launch NFT collections for firms like Mugler and Yves Saint Laurent.

L’Oreal is finest recognized for its magnificence merchandise, however the over 100 12 months outdated firm can be house to a plethora of manufacturers that many people use and personal like Maybelline, Yves Saint Laurent, Armani, Kiehls, Valentino, Prada, CeraVe and extra.

We mentioned why L’Oreal needed to get into the web3 ecosystem, what it’s like incorporating a DAO into a conventional model and the way different manufacturers and firms are – or aren’t – moving into the cryptosphere.

We additionally dove into:

• Rising model loyalty
• Shopper demand and suggestions
• Manufacturers skepticism of NFTs, metaverse
• Recommendation to manufacturers seeking to get into web3

ICYMI: We had a bonus episode! Jacquelyn interviewed Paul Grewal, chief authorized officer at Coinbase.

Grewal has been at Coinbase, the second largest crypto trade globally, for nearly three years. Beforehand he was the vp and deputy common counsel at Fb, amongst different roles.

Final week, the SEC sued Coinbase for securities legal guidelines violations, simply in the future after the SEC sued Binance, the world’s largest crypto trade.

We received into:

• Potential crypto laws from Congress
• U.S. businesses sentiment towards digital belongings
• Way forward for belongings listed on its trade
• Binance’s SEC case

Subscribe to Chain Response on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite pod platform to maintain up with the newest episodes, and please go away us a evaluate when you like what you hear!

Observe the cash

1. Gensyn raised $43M in spherical led by a16z for blockchain-based AI protocol
2. Ironforge raised $2.6M for its Solana-focused interface
3. Crypto funds resolution BoomFi raised $3.8M to enhance crypto and fiat settlements
4. Interoperability protocol Connext raised $7.5M to assist devs construct multi-chain apps
5. Collectibles.com raised $5M seed spherical to launch web3 group and market

This checklist was compiled with info from Messari in addition to starcrypto’s personal reporting.

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