“In the short run, the market is a voting machine. In the long run, it is a weighing machine.” - Benjamin Graham
Hey everyone,
Let’s be honest. After the initial excitement terror, bear markets can be a little boring.
They are a great time to spot quality projects trading at a steep discount, though.
How do we find quality? Let’s see what the crypto devs are working on. After all, investing in crypto is all about investing in innovation.
Dev Spotlight 👨💻
yearn.finance is a project that’s been around a little while now, so it’s interesting to see activity from developers recently spike.
They offer a suite of DeFi product that provide lending aggregation, yield generation, and insurance on the Ethereum blockchain.
Check out how busy the devs have been over the past few months. It’s great to see continued activity throughout the bear market, while valuations are this cheap.
Disclosure: I already hold a bit of yearn.finance, so it’s comforting to see those commits rolling in. I’ll be considering topping up as a result.
We found 27 other projects showing a recent spike in dev activity. Subscribe today to view them all.
The Weekly Roundup
Audius Hacked with $6M Stolen and Coinbase Faces SEC Probe on Crypto Listings
The decentralized music streaming platform known as Audius (AUDIO) was hacked.
A total of $6 million was stolen. The hacker siphoned funds out of the community treasury through the process of assigning himself as the sole guardian of the governance contract.
There was a malicious proposal that requested the transfer of 18 million AUDIO tokens. Since the hack occurred, Audius has restored the smart contract and AUDIo token functionality.
Coinbase Global Inc. is also facing a U.S. probe that aims to discover if it improperly let Americans trade digital assets, which should have been registered as securities.
The company's shares have also seen a drop of 21%. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's scrutiny of Coinbase has increased ever since the platform expanded the number of tokens that it offers. The probe predates the agency's investigation into an alleged insider trading scheme.
Ledger could raise a further $100M, despite recent crypto crash
Ledger, a company that creates hardware wallets for cryptocurrency investors, is in discussions to raise at least $100 million in a funding round that will give it a higher valuation than what it commanded at its most recent financing.
The business last raised $380 million in June 2021 at a valuation of over $1.5 billion. They are seeking further financing at the higher rate, despite the broad decline in the crypto markets.
While some businesses have seen their fundraising negotiations fall through, other cryptocurrency entrepreneurs, including as Aptos Labs and Magic Eden, have been successful in raising new money at greater values.
Meta's Metaverse Division Lost $2.8 Billion in Q2
Meta's second-quarter results showcased losses in the Virtual Reality (V.R.) division of $2.8 billion, despite the VR hardware and software sales market continuing to grow.
The company released their “Meta Reports Second Quarter 2022 Results” on July 27, 2022, and in this report, they reported the financial results that ended on June 30, 2022.
Reality Labs generated $425 million in revenue in the second quarter by the end of June 30, up from $305 million a year prior and $695 million in the first quarter. The loss in the quarter was $2.8 billion in Q2, compared to a loss of $2.4 billion a year earlier and $2.96 billion in the first quarter.
FTX.US Opened Stock Trading to All 50 American States
According to a statement by President Brett Harrison initially posted on Twitter, FTX.US has opened up stock trading to users in all 50 American States.
The cryptocurrency exchange now allows users to trade hundreds of stocks and exchange-traded funds online by utilizing the FTX.US Pro mobile application.
This U.S. unit of the exchange piloted the feature to a group of customers initially in May 2022. FTX said that it would not charge fees or monetize trades similarly to Robinhood, which has been criticized for its business model encouraging irresponsible investing.
Zipmex Files for Bankruptcy Protection in Singapore
The Southeast Asia-focused cryptocurrency exchange known as Zipmex said that it has filed for bankruptcy protection in Singapore, which makes it the latest victim of the global downturn when it comes to digital currencies.
The exchange resumed withdrawals throughout the previous week, a day after they suspended them on July 20, where they claimed that they were working towards addressing the exposure of $53 million to crypto lenders Babel Finance and Celsius.
The companies solicitors submitted five applications on July 22 aimed at prohibiting legal proceedings against Zipmex for up to six months. Under the law in Singapore, this filing grants companies an automatic moratorium of 30 days, or until the Singapore Court decides on the application.
Amazon.com Delivered Positive Earnings Outlook, Supporting The Broader Crypto Market
Amazon released its fiscal second-quarter earnings, where they indicated that the revenue was up $121.23 billion when compared to a $119.09 billion estimation, whilst recording a net loss of $2.0 billion for the quarter (EPS loss of 0.20 cents).
Furthermore, Amazon.com also delivered a positive outlook, leading to a 13.62% jump in the AMZN share price during the extended trading hours. The correlation of the crypto market with the NASDAQ 100 remains firmly in place, despite the U.S. economic woes and positive crypto network updates.
Thanks for reading,
James