Why see the Burj Khalifa IRL?
Why see the Burj Khalifa IRL?
The top 5 stories in crypto and more!
Headline Roundup
1. Minecraft Bans NFTs
Minecraft issued a blog post where they outlined their position toward NFTs.
blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our Minecraft client and server applications nor may they be utilized to create NFTs associated with any in-game content, including worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods.
There were cases where users would need to purchase NFTs or tokens in order to gain access to certain Minecraft servers. Minecraft servers are like unique worlds and are often run as communities. Many servers charge for entry, which Minecraft is fine with, but they just don’t want it being done with crypto or NFTs.
You’re probably wondering why this is even news, but in the crypto world, this is quite big. Minecraft has often been a source of inspiration for metaverse projects (see The Sandbox) given its creative, free and open nature. Their feelings toward NFTs are also quite well-considered and nuanced - which IS rare when discussing NFTs.
Minecraft argues that NFTs and their scarce and speculative nature of them lead to exclusive environments where people are left out. Minecraft doesn’t want people being priced out of servers because they can’t afford a rare $100k monkey jpeg. This argument is fair, and quite different to the “NFTs are killing the polar bears” argument we often see.
2. Coinbase Employee was the First Arrested for Crypto Insider Trading
This week we saw the first ever arrest for crypto insider trading (yes, this was a surprise to me too). The unlucky party here was an ex-Coinbase product manager who made off with around $1.5 Million USD.
The product manager worked on Coinbase’s listing team, which was responsible for choosing which tokens the exchange would list. Coinbase is one of the biggest and most influential exchanges out there, so when they decide to list a new cryptocurrency the price of the cryptocurrency would often appreciate quite quickly. So you can imagine, being on the team that made these decisions meant you had some pretty valuable information. Unfortunately, using said information to purchase the tokens on a different exchange before they list on Coinbase, is highly illegal.
Funnily enough, it wasn’t the police or FBI that uncovered this insider trading, it was Crypto Twitter influencer Crypto Cobain @Cobie.
3. Tesla sold nearly $1 Billion of their Bitcoin in Q1
Tesla made headlines in 2021 when Elon Musk announced that Tesla had purchased $1.5 Billion worth of Bitcoin as the company was looking into accepting Bitcoin as a payment method.
This week it was revealed that in Q1 2022, Tesla sold around 75% of the bitcoin that they owned. Elon noted that the company has not sold any of their Dogecoin. He also expressed that they may be looking to purchase bitcoin again at some point in the future and had sold their holdings in order to strengthen the company’s liquidity.
4. Wick Wizard Launches
On July 26 at 1200 UTC time, Wick Wizard will launch!
Wick Wizard is a fun and addictive prediction market where you can bet on the price of crypto assets. The team has put a lot of hard work into making Wick Wizard happen and I am super excited to see it launch. I strongly recommend you load up some BNB and give it a shot.
Join the Discord here: https://discord.gg/Quxp5r42
Disclaimer: I am an investor in Wick Wizard.
5. Dubai Becoming the Ultimate Home for the Metaverse
Dubai has doubled down on its intention to be a global crypto hub with its new “Dubai Metaverse Strategy”. Their new direction is aimed specifically at NFTs and the metaverse, they aim to bring 40,000 new “virtual jobs”.
Dubai claims it “is home to over 1,000 companies operating in the metaverse and blockchain sector, which contributes $500 million to our national economy.”.