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Hello. Welcome to the third edition of the new and improved TechCrunch Crypto newsletter. As mentioned above, we plan to add some fresh regular segments and features in addition to our regularly scheduled news. If you like what you see (or don't), let us know at jacquelyn@techcrunch.com.
Have a great February, friends! We are one-twelfth of the year complete. It wasn't that difficult, right? He only has 11 more to go by 2025.
As January drew to a close, hackers got busy and stole. a lot Big increase in XRP tokens, Polygon cuts staff, new report shows demand for AI and blockchain collaboration, Ethereum developer interest hits new high last year, Tether on record from Q4 2023 reported significant profits. Please see below for details.
this week's web3
- Polygon Labs CEO announces that 60 people, or approximately 19% of employees, will be laid off
- AI and blockchain may need each other to evolve, according to a new report (TC+)
- Hacker steals $112 million of cryptocurrency XRP Ripple
- Ethereum developer interest hits record high in 2023 despite bear market (TC+)
- Solana Mobile still has a long way to go before breaking even (TC+)
process numbers
The crypto market was quite bullish this week as Bitcoin and Ether, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, rose 7% and 4.4%, respectively, during the week, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The global cryptocurrency market capitalization increased by 5.2% in seven days to $1.62 trillion.
Separately, Tether reported a “record” net profit of $2.85 billion in the fourth quarter of 2023, accounting for 46% of last year's total net profit of $6.2 billion. Tether is the world's largest stablecoin by market capitalization and circulation, and the third largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin and Ethereum. As of December 31, 2023, the company's total assets (backed by stablecoins) are $97 billion. It has approximately $91.6 billion in debt and approximately $5.4 billion in excess reserves, “fully covering” its $4.8 billion outstanding secured loans. the report added.
If you're thinking, “That's a big number,” you're right. Please refer to the following.
Our Favorite “Crypto Twitter” Posts
After all the talk about tethers…
this post Matt Hougan, CIO of on X by Bitwise Asset Management, speaks for itself. Sorry Goldman Sachs, but good luck next quarter.
Tether made more money last quarter than Goldman Sachs.Tether: $2.85 billion Goldman: $2.01 billion
latest pod
In this week's episode, we interview Chris Dixon, general partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
Chris has been with the company since 2012, founding and leading a16z's crypto team that invests in the Web3 world through four large funds with over $7 billion under management. He is also the author of the recently released book, Read Write Own: Building the Next Era of the Internet.
Prior to joining a16z, Chris co-founded two startups, SiteAdvisor and Hunch, which were acquired by McAfee in 2006 and eBay in 2011, respectively. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees from Columbia University and his MBA from Harvard University.
In this episode, we discuss the new book, how the perception of cryptocurrencies has changed, and what purpose blockchain can ultimately bring to the world.
We will also discuss the following in detail:
- Big Tech vs. Cryptocurrency
- The importance of decentralization
- a16z Investing in Web3
- blockchain games
- embrace the future
apply Chain reaction upon apple podcast, spotify Or catch up on the latest episodes using your favorite pod platform. If you like what you hear, please leave a review.
follow the money
- Squid raises $4 million in strategic round to support cross-chain interoperability
- Velar raises $3.5 million to build perpetual decentralized exchange on Bitcoin
- Web3 gaming startup Yooldo raises $1.5 million, raising valuation to $13 million
- Ithaca Finance, an options-focused protocol, raises $2.5 million in pre-seed funding
- Portal raises $34 million in seed round to develop decentralized Bitcoin ecosystem
This list was compiled using information from Messari and TechCrunch's own reporting.
what else are you writing?
Ready to step outside the world of Web3? Here are some TechCrunch articles that caught our attention this week.
- Why there is no clear winning pricing strategy for B2B SaaS (TC+)
- Three San Francisco supervisors receive threats after YC President Gary Tan's tweet
- Apple Vision Pro launches with over 600 apps and games optimized for new headset
- Senate hearing with five social media CEOs was a missed opportunity
- Tech attrition increases by three-quarters (TC+)