Bitcoin jumped and Coinbase’s app crashed, whereas Aptos eyes Hong Kong and Telegram rolls out rewards with TON

Welcome to starcrypto Crypto, previously generally known as Chain Response.

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Whats up and welcome again to the starcrypto Crypto publication. I used to be out final week, so there was no publication, however we’re again to usually scheduled information bits and a few recent recurring segments and options — so if you happen to like what you see (or don’t), let me know at jacquelyn@techcrunch.com.

Right here’s what was the most important information this week: bitcoin’s value jumped over $60,000 and Coinbase’s app crashed, Telegram rolled out a plan to pay out rewards utilizing toncoin on the TON blockchain and Nigerian crypto customers confronted difficulties with some exchanges. Let’s get into it.

This week in web3

1. Ex-Meta staff’ Aptos assessments Hong Kong’s crypto urge for food
2. Bitcoin’s so excessive, it crashed Coinbase
3. Telegram is launching advert income sharing subsequent month utilizing toncoin
4. Crypto customers in Nigeria briefly lose entry to Binance, Kraken and Coinbase
5. Starbucks Odyssey’s neighborhood lead sees NFTs as one of the best ways to construct model loyalty

Crunching numbers

This week the crypto market was very puffed up as the 2 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, each jumped about 23.6% and 18%, respectively, on the week, in line with CoinMarketCap knowledge. The full crypto market cap elevated 19.4% over a seven-day interval to $2.34 trillion.

The latest value bounce for bitcoin, coupled with the incoming bitcoin halving and spot bitcoin ETF approvals in early January boosting demand, has many crypto market gamers questioning if the grandfather of cryptocurrencies will hit a brand new all-time excessive quickly or if this rally is short-lived.

Our favourite ‘Crypto Twitter’ publish

ICYMI, final week a number of crypto folks had been tweeting about emails from Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of Bitcoin. Satoshi mentioned a number of attention-grabbing issues, however this publish on X by Tom Schmidt, companion at Dragonfly Capital, received a number of consideration and even induced some Bitcoiners to exit and purchase a pineapple and jalapeno pizza in honor of it. Which brings me to the query…would you eat that?

Picture Credit: Tom Schmidt on X(opens in a brand new window)

The newest pod

Chain Response is doing a month-to-month collection diving into completely different matters and themes in crypto. This month we’re specializing in NFTs.

As a result of there was no publication final week, we’re highlighting final week’s episode, the place I interviewed Steve Kaczynski, co-author of the e book “The All the pieces Token,” and co-host of a web3 morning present, Espresso with Captain.

He additionally co-authored the primary Harvard Enterprise Evaluate article about NFTs. Exterior of that, he consults with companies and types about constructing their web3 methods, together with his function with Starbucks, the place he’s a neighborhood lead for its NFT-focused loyalty program, Starbucks Odyssey.

Earlier than entering into the web3 world, Steve labored in communications and advertising roles for greater than 15 years.

Jacquelyn and Steve mentioned what received him all in favour of NFTs, how essential it’s to construct understanding for the sector and why communities matter greater than flooring costs.

In addition they dove into:

• Future adoption for Bored Ape Yacht Membership
• Rising Starbucks’ NFT-based loyalty program
• What companies and types must learn about web3
• Tips on how to get began within the NFT house

BONUS: For this week’s episode, we’re resharing a dialog I had in June 2023 with Jack Lu, CEO and co-founder of Magic Eden.

Once we recorded this episode, NFT gross sales had been down round $640 million at the start of the month, in comparison with at present the place February 2024 NFT gross sales quantity hit $1 billion, for the primary time since February 2023.

Trying again on this dialog, we determined this episode was an awesome addition to the NFT collection so as to add some context for what a loopy 12 months it has been and the way a lot issues have modified (and a few issues stayed the identical) — particularly for folks constructing within the NFT house.

Magic Eden initially started as a Solana-based NFT buying and selling platform, however has expanded its help to different blockchain networks like Polygon, Ethereum and Bitcoin. In June 2022, Magic Eden raised $130 million in a Collection B spherical that granted it unicorn standing.

We mentioned why the NFT market expanded its help to different blockchains, its BRC-20 token help and the way the corporate plans on staying aggressive within the continuously altering market.

We additionally talked about:

• NFT market volatility
• Royalty charges
• Web3 gaming growth
• Recommendation for NFT neighborhood

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 overview if you happen to like what you hear!

Observe the cash

1. Silence Laboratories, a cryptographic safety startup, secures $4.1 million in funding
2. Initia raises $7.5 million seed spherical to simplify blockchain improvement
3. Uneven Monetary has a plan to unlock Bitcoin’s trillion-dollar potential with devoted DeFi fund
4. Crypto pockets and alternate Backpack raised $17 million in strategic Collection A spherical
5. Ethereum-based Etherfi raised $27 million in a spherical led by Bullish and CoinFund

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

What else we’re writing

Wish to department out from the world of web3? Listed below are some articles on starcrypto that caught our consideration this week.

1. Why VCs are investing in startups that assist different startups shut down
2. Don’t ignore Asia tech
3. Mark Zuckerberg woos Massive Tech in Asia to double down on AI chips
4. The Apple Automobile that by no means was: A timeline
5. Tim Cook dinner says Apple will ‘break new floor’ in GenAI this 12 months