The global crypto market cap is $1.62T 0.32%▼ with a 24-hour market volume of $123.74B 42.54%▲. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 42.02% 0.98%▲.

CURRENT PRICES BY MARKET CAP

Source: CoinMarketCap, 14:00 EST

An estimated $1.4T has been wiped out from the crypto market since the record-highs of Nov. 2021, per Fortune. Bitcoin has recovered slightly to about $36,000 after sliding as low as $32,982.11, but the currency is still down 40% from its all-time high while ether is down 51%.

 More:

• Bitcoin’s value has lost nearly 20% in the last week.
• Ethereum fell 30% to $2,270, while Dogecoin slid 27%.
• Solana’s value fell by 40% last week and is now valued at $86, almost 68% less than its record high of $259 in early Nov. 2021.
• While Solana’s slide has also been linked to its network outage occurring over the weekend, the overall market has been witnessing pressure from tightening monetary policy in the U.S. and other nations calling for an outright ban on mining.
• The cryptocurrency market is also mimicking the stock market, as the Nasdaq entered into a correction range last week.
• Analysts expect Bitcoin’s value to hover around the $30,000 mark, while some expect it to slide even further.

TOP NFT COLLECTIONS (24hr Volume)

Source: DappRadar, 14:00 EST (0% royalty NFTs with the majority of their daily transaction volume on LooksRare omitted)

TOP ETH NFT COLLECTIONS (Floor Cap)

Source: NFT Price Floor, 14:00 EST

Attackers have exploited a bug on the NFT marketplace OpenSea, granting them massive discounts on several NFTs. One attacker, going by the name jpegdegenlove, reportedly made a profit of more than $700,000 this way.

 More:

• Peckshield, a security and data analytics company, estimates the exploiter got 332 ether.
• The bug was discovered on the last day of Dec. 2021 and allows users to buy NFTs at older, lower prices.
  • CTO of ZenGo crypto wallet Tal Be’ery tweeted about one Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) collection NFT, which the attacker bought this morning for July 2021’s listed price of 23 ETH and sold for 135 ETH.
  • Another BAYC owner’s collection was sold for 0.77 ETH.
• One NFT project owner, Joe Vargas, claims the attacker may have mobilized a bot to scan the marketplace for open listings with low previous prices, allowing him to exploit the loophole.
• Some users have taken their assets off the marketplace and transferred them to other wallets in order to safeguard themselves from such attacks.
• Such items are still visible via OpenSea’s API and another marketplace, Rarible.
  • The exploit affects NFTs belonging to the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Mutant Ape Yacht Club, CyberKongz, and Cool Cats collections, among others.

Fresh Funding  

DeBank, DeFi Wallet: $25M  The equity funding round was led by Sequoia China with participation from Dragonfly Capital, Youbi Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Crypto.com Capital, Circle, and Ledger.

More:

• DeBank is a cryptocurrency wallet with access to DeFi services.
• The Chinese startup was founded in 2018 and has since been valued at $200M.
• DeBank supports 15 blockchains, including Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Avalanche, with plans to support Solana and Harmony shortly.
• The platform also supports 800 DeFi protocols.

Aver, Solana-based betting exchange: $7.5M  The seed funding round was led by Jump Crypto with participation from Mirana Ventures, Susquehanna International Group, Genesis Block Ventures, Serum Ventures, Blue Pool Capital, MEXC, Gate.io, Petrock Capital, and Solar Eco Fund.

More:

• Aver provides a decentralized peer-to-peer blockchain-based betting market.
• The platform is expected to grant a fully transparent betting exchange with lower fees and direct Solana crypto wallet integration.
• The fresh funding will be used to bring the Web3 betting platform to market, scheduled for mid-2022 launch after a closed beta in early 2022.
  • The funds will also support the development and legal regulatory operating costs.

▲ TOP GAINERS

▼  TOP LOSERS

Source: CoinMarketCap, 14:15 EST
*Limited to cryptocurrencies in the Top 100

CleanSpark

CleanSpark, a miner based in Las Vegas, has doubled its computing capacity and now mines ~10 bitcoins each day. The company claims to produce bitcoins in a sustainable manner and aims to add more capacity.

More:

• CleanSpark’s computing power has now reached 2 exahash per second (EH/s).
  • The bitcoin miner is now level with other high-hashrate North American miners Hut 8, Hive Blockchain, and Bitfarms.
• The company claims to have achieved 100% net carbon neutrality by sourcing energy from a mix of renewable sources such as nuclear, hydroelectric, solar, and wind power.
  • CleanSpark does need to offset a difference to achieve the sustainability target, which it claims to make it “one of the most efficient miners in terms of hashrate per megawatt.”
• It plans to install solar power panels in its Norcross, Georgia facility, where it currently uses liquid immersion cooling systems that helps to boost mining efficiency.
• To commemorate the achievement, the company is distributing limited-edition NFTs and passes for the upcoming Bitcoin 2022 conference.

Reverse Acquisition of NFT Investments

Crypto venture company Pluto Digital PLC will make a reverse acquisition of NFT Investments for a deal valued at $130M (£96M). The deal will grant Pluto a 70.5% stake in the investment company and a listing on the Aquis Stock Exchange Growth Market in London through NFT Investments (AQSE: NFT).

 More:

• The firm’s trading activity will be suspended until the completion of the proposed acquisition.
• Pluto Digital PLC focuses on investments in the cryptocurrency, DeFi, and metaverse blockchain gaming sectors. Its recent investments are:
  • DeFi application to provide high-value performance to investors.
  • Strategic investment into VR, PC/Console & mobile game developer Maze Theory.
  • Work underway on blockchain games.
  • Establishment of a blockchain engineering team with staff acquired from RedHat and IBM.
  • Release of DeFi token trading on global crypto exchanges.
• Pluto V, the venture capital arm of Pluto Digital, has invested heavily in Web3 companies and NFT assets in the past 12 months.
• It raised a $40M fund led by bitcoin miner Argo Blockchain in March 2021.

Tether Receover $87M in USDT

Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino announced that the stablecoin issuer has recovered $87M in USDT since 2014 that was sent to incorrect addresses. According to Ardoino, Tether just recovered ~$1.5M in USDT on behalf of subscribers earlier this week.

 More:

• Tether’s recovery mechanism allows it to blacklist addresses on the Ethereum and Tron blockchains, freeze funds in those addresses, and issue new USDT tokens to affected users.
• To reclaim the token, the address is blacklisted, which revokes all USDT held by that address and reissues an equivalent amount to an escrow address, allowing payments to be processed and returned to their rightful owners.
  • Tether recently blacklisted three Ethereum addresses that held over $160M in USDT.
• Tether charges $1,000 or up to $10% of the recovery amount, whichever is greater, and has so far made up $8.7M in fees.
• USDT’s total supply on the blockchain stands at nearly 40B.

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• Bitcoin continued its downward slide, falling under the $34,000 mark over the weekend, before rebounding slightly to $36,300 when trading commenced on Monday. Its market share reduced from 42% in early November to 39% today.
• Uniswap DeFi exchange creator Hayden Adams’ bank account was closed by JPMorgan Chase without any explanation or prior notice. The founder claims that several of his crypto industry associates’ bank accounts have also been seized by other banks.
• The first testing phase of the Bank of Korea’s central bank digital currency (CBDC), which began in Aug. 2021, has been completed successfully.
• El Salvador President Nayib Bukele announced the country had purchased 410 bitcoins worth $15M last Friday. According to the President’s last tweets, the country has amassed at least 1,801 bitcoins, estimated by Bloomberg to have cost $71M.
• Hamas’ military wing al-Qassam Brigades were reportedly behind cryptocurrency thefts worth $536,000, as revealed by the Delhi Police’s Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Ops (IFSO) after a five-month investigation.
• Fantom surged 60% during the weekend, crossing the $12B mark, to become a top 3 decentralized finance (DeFi) chain by total value locked.
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