The Friday Focus: Issue 17

Jan 21, 2022

Welcome to our Friday newsletter. Here you find the most exciting crypto content from the previous week - curated for you by us.

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Weekly happenings

This week was the most eventful in a long time, especially on the regulatory front. The SEC once again rejected a spot bitcoin ETF, but we’re starting to get used to that. U.S. Congress held a hearing on crypto mining’s environmental footprint on Thursday.

Like in the US, European regulators don’t want to miss out on a chance to debate the energy consumption of cryptocurrencies, with an EU market regulator calling for a ban on proof-of-work mining. Further east, the Russian Central Bank proposes a blanket ban on crypto.

Regulators' attitudes towards crypto differ enormously based on jurisdiction, with Latin American lawmakers being more positively inclined. El Salvador plans to offer SMEs crypto-based loans, and Rio de Janeiro looks to invest 1% of the city’s treasury in bitcoin.

Money continues flowing around in the crypto industry, with yet another week of massive M&As and capital raises. Last week, the biggest deal was Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69B in a gigantic metaverse bet. The NFT investment company Animoca Brands reaches a $5.5B valuation. Andreesen Horowitz is not done shoving capital into the crypto market and looks to raise $4.5B for new crypto funds. FTX doesn't want to miss out on the VC fun and establishes a $2B fund to invest in crypto startups. Several more unicorns were created, with crypto IRA platform iTrustCapital raising money at a $1.3B valuation, bitcoin miner Rhodium set for an IPO valued at $1.7B, and blockchain data startup Lukka reaching a $1.3B valuation.

Other notable deals include privacy-focused blockchain Secret Network securing $400M in funding and Tom Brady's NFT platform Autograph raising $170M. Among the most interesting strategic acquisitions was BitMEX’ purchase of a German bank to expand into the EU.

Companies outside of crypto are increasing efforts to get a foot inside the industry, with Google hiring a PayPal veteran as part of a crypto push and Intel producing a new chip for bitcoin mining.