In Crypto: Cryptocurrency firms ‘must stop huge DotCom-era errors’

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Some major crypto firms need to stop making obvious, avoidable mistakes that destabilise the industry, says the CEO of deVere Group.

Nigel Green, who runs one of the world’s largest advisory, asset management and FinTech organisations – as well as cryptocurrency exchange deVere Crypto – says they are causing financial chaos for investors and job losses.

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, has shed 57% so far this year. It fell below $20,000 over the weekend for the first time since December 2020.

“I’m not in the habit of throwing shade at other companies, but in recent times we’ve seen many of the biggest players make huge, unnecessary mistakes,” said Green.

“They went for enormously expensive TV ads, jumped on highest-tier sponsorships, rolled-out lending models offering astronomical interest rates on crypto deposits, and launched unprecedented hiring sprees.

“Now, what do we have? Firms laying-off swathes of staff, freezing client withdrawals and cutting back on investment.”

He continued: “Unfortunately, these brands have made some classic, obvious and avoidable DotCom-era errors.

“These mistakes destabilise the industry due to the contagion effect, exacerbate financial chaos for investors and the pain of job losses for so many who were hoping to have a rewarding career in the future of finance.

“Such crypto firms would be better off – for the sake of their clients and the wider industry – growing through investing in top talent, innovation and development, and lobbying for sensible regulation with financial watchdogs.”

Green, who says he is continuing to buy Bitcoin “as the fundamentals haven’t changed”, believes the crypto sector will bounce back stronger. “I’m sure lessons will be learned and the industry – the future of finance – will become more robust as a result,” he said.

NFT marketplace Magic Eden valued at $1.6bn

NFT marketplace Magic Eden has raised $130 million in Series B funding which values the company at $1.6 billion. 

The round was co-led by Electric Capital and Greylock, while Lightspeed Venture Partners joined as a new anchor investor. Other participants include previous investors Paradigm and Sequoia Capital.

Funds from the Series B will be used to expand the company’s primary and secondary marketplaces, explore multi-chain opportunities, invest in the team as well as technology to enhance the user experience through improved insights, analytics, and trading tools. 

Magic Eden’s goal is to support the next generation of digital creators and introduce a billion users to Web3. 

Launched in September 2021, Magic Eden claims to receive an average of 22 million unique sessions per month and see over 40,000 NFTs traded daily.

“We know that NFTs are the best way to bring people onto the blockchain,” said Jack Lu, CEO and co-founder. “NFTs are exciting, social, and cultural experiences that bring connectivity to the world. 

“Since our inception, we’ve made the conscious decision to support both our creators and users through this tremendous era of growth for both the company and the industry. The best part is that we’re just getting started.”

Magic Eden’s Launchpad has launched 250 projects to date, while the company’s secondary market covers over 7,000 listed collections and sees over 92% of all NFT volume on Solana. 

Zhuoxun Yin, COO and co-founder of Magic Eden, added: “We were the first to innovate in a number of areas: such as pairing NFT minting capabilities via Launchpad with a secondary marketplace, embedding gameplay with NFT games directly on the platform, and creating a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) to empower greater involvement within the Magic Eden community. 

“We’re thrilled to have the continued support of our investors and community and look forward to delivering on Solana and beyond.”

Mike Duboe, partner at Greylock, said: “Magic Eden is one of those top 1% teams that is just firing on all cylinders – product execution, community growth, transaction volume – and the velocity in less than one year of existence has been exceptional.”

Cryptocurrency shorts

Crypto exchange FTX has bailed out crypto lending platform BlockFi – who recently froze withdrawals due to liquidity issues – with a $250m revolving credit facility. 

Securities and Exchange Commission commissioner Hester Peirce – known as ‘crypto mom’ – has criticised crypto company bailouts. She told Forbes: “[It’s better to] let these things play out… when things are a bit harder in the market, you discover who’s actually building something that might last for the long term and what is going to pass away.”

Former SEC senior counsel Howard Fischer told CoinDesk the move by several US states to open an investigation into crypto lender Celsius Network’s freeze on withdrawals will ultimately lead to further federal regulation.

Uniswap Labs has acquired NFT marketplace aggregator Genie and aims to support the trading of non-fungible tokens “soon”.

Neol, a Web3-enabled learning and work platform, has raised $5.2 million seed funding. The round was co-led by kyu Collective and Global Ventures, alongside Learnstart, FJ Labs and Paribu Ventures. Angels participating include Tony Xu, co-founder and CEO of DoorDash; Tim Brown, chair of IDEO; Emin Gun Sirer, founder and CEO of Ava Labs; and Sota Nagano, managing partner at Abies Ventures.

Research from The Bank of International Settlements has found that approximately 90% of central banks worldwide are investigating the feasibility of adopting central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

European crypto exchange Bitpanda is now regulated in Spain after previously registering with regulators in Austria, France, Italy and Sweden.

Crypto prices

The overall market cap of the more than 19,900 coins is at $902 billion at the time of writing (7am UK), a 2.2% decrease in the last 24 hours.

Market leader Bitcoin – the original cryptocurrency created by the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – lost 2% to around $20,430. BTC is 4% down in a week.

Ethereum, the second most valuable crypto coin – created as a decentralised network for smart contracts on the blockchain – lost 5% to below $1,100. ETH is 3% down over the course of a week.

Binance Coin is a cryptocurrency created by popular crypto exchange Binance to assist its aim in becoming the infrastructure services provider for the entire blockchain ecosystem. Its BNB token shed 3% to $216, leaving it 2% up over seven days.

Cardano is an open source network facilitating dApps which considers itself to be an updated version of Ethereum. Its ADA token, designed to allow owners to participate in the operation of the network, fell 6% to 47 cents and is 2% up over the course of a week.

The XRP token of Ripple, a payment settlement asset exchange and remittance system, acts as a bridge for transfers between other currencies. XRP lost 1% to below 32.5c while its price is 6% up on seven days ago.

Solana is a blockchain built to make decentralised finance accessible on a larger scale – and capable of processing 50,000 transactions per second. Its SOL token shed 7% to $34.67 and is 23% up compared with a week ago.

Meme coin DOGE was created as a satire on the hype surrounding cryptocurrencies but is now a major player in the space. DOGE climbed 3% to 6.4c, leaving it 22% up in a week. 

Polkadot was founded by the Swiss-based Web3 Foundation as an open-source project to develop a decentralised web. Its DOT token, which aims to securely connect blockchains, shed 8% to $7.55 and is 5% up on its price a week ago.

Avalanche is a lightning-quick verifiable platform for institutions, enterprises and governments. Its AVAX token lost 6% to $16.54 and is 7% up in a week.

To see how the valuations of the main coins have changed in recent times – and for round-ups of recent cryptocurrency news developments – click here.

For valuations of the top 100 coins by market cap in US dollars, plus 24-hour price change, see below.