LensLinks: Issue 30

A blockchain news roundup, brought to you by Regiment LLC

Author

Len Pacek
November 11, 2022

Today in LensLinks:

  • CZ Lectures Industry After Collapsing FTX (What do you think?)

  • "SBF Created A Crash for the Ages" and lots of other perspectives

  • China offers to buy "Bitcoin City" El Salvador's debt

  • Meta lays off 11,000 employees after spending $15 billion on metaverse

  • Crypto.com halts Solana (USDC and USDT) Deposits

  • And Much, Much, More...

QUOTABLE... 

"Two big lessons:

1: Never use a token you created as collateral.

2: Don’t borrow if you run a crypto business. Don't use capital "efficiently". Have a large reserve.

Binance has never used BNB for collateral, and we have never taken on debt."

- CZ (Binance)

NOTABLE...  

El Salvador: "China has offered" to buy its foreign debt

This was stated by the country's vice president, Felix Ulloa

https://en.cryptonomist.ch/2022/11/10/el-salvador-china-offered-buy-foreign-debt/

Felix Ulloa, vice president of El Salvador, has reportedly revealed that China has offered to buy the country’s severely distressed external debt.

In essence, China would like to step in to help the Central American nation refinance its external debt.

 Metaverse & Gaming

Meta lays off 11,000 employees after spending $15 billion on metaverse

Around 13% of the workforce are set to lose their jobs.

https://www.gamingbible.co.uk/news/meta-lays-off-11000-after-billions-spent-metaverse-20221110

Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta is facing significant staff layoffs, as the decision has been made to reduce the team size by around 13%. As reported by Kotaku, in a news post on Meta’s website, it was confirmed that over 11,000 employees will be losing their jobs.

Zuckerberg claims that this is due to him making the decision to increase investments at the start of the pandemic, as he predicted that the revenue growth that was seen as the world moved online would continue on into the future. Now, he writes, online commerce is back to how it was pre-pandemic, and “macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected”. He added: “I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that.”

 Blockchain, Tokens & DeFi

Sam Bankman-Fried Created a Crash For the Ages

Until a few days ago, he was that billionaire whiz kid you saw everywhere. Now he’s crashed his companies and created a financial contagion.

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2022/11/sam-bankman-fried-tom-brady-gisele-lose-in-crypto-crash.html

On Tuesday, FTX collapsed into a pit of insolvency, with only Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of the bigger crypto exchange Binance, able to save it. Zhao, known as CZ, had extended a nonbinding offer to buy the company, pending a look at its books.

Well, Binance had a look and — it said absolutely not. “In the beginning, our hope was to be able to support FTX’s customers to provide liquidity, but the issues are beyond our control or ability to help,” the company said ominously on Twitter.

 Crypto Trading

Crypto.com Halts Solana USDC and USDT Deposits, Withdrawals

The crypto trading platform cited “recent industry events” in an email to users announcing the suspension.

https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/09/cryptocom-halts-solana-usdc-and-usdt-deposits-withdrawals/

Cryptocurrency exchange platform Crypto.com has halted the flow of two top Solana ecosystem stablecoins, as the implosion of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire continues to wreak havoc across the wider crypto ecosystem.

Citing “recent industry events” in an email to users Wednesday, Crypto.com said “effective immediately” the platform would be “suspending deposits and withdrawals of USDC and USDT on the Solana Blockchain in the Crypto.com App and Exchange.”

Metaverse & Gaming - A Little More...

Meta Quest Pro review: A very expensive VR experiment that doesn't have a target audience

After two weeks of testing the Meta Quest Pro, I'm not sure who the device is meant for. It's a headset for professionals that's not professional grade, yet.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/10/meta-quest-pro-review.html

The crazy metaverse — ideas from the fringe

The "Craziest Ideas for the Future of Gaming and the Metaverse" panel during GamesBeat Summit Next discusses crazy ideas for the future..

https://venturebeat.com/games/the-crazy-metaverse-ideas-from-the-fringe/

Perspective: The Metaverse Is Ushering in the Next Era of Computing

The metaverse. The term meta, by its most modern definition can be described as self-referencing or self-reflective. In contemporary nomenclature, meta

https://www.enterpriseai.news/2022/11/09/perspective-the-metaverse-is-ushering-in-the-next-era-of-computing/

Blockchain, Tokens & Defi - A Little More...

DeFi Supporters Say FTX's Black Box Model Shows Peril of Centralization - The Defiant

Don’t blame DeFi. That’s the vibe running through the decentralized finance community as project teams and investors cope with the damage wrought by the meltdown of FTX, the centralized derivatives exchange. 

https://thedefiant.io/defi-supporters-say-ftxs-black-box-model-shows-peril-of-centralization

DeFi Exchange Platform dYdX Places Solana in 'Close Only' Mode

The move comes after Solana has plummeted 40% in 24 hours due to its link with the beleaguered Sam Bankman-Fried empire.

https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/11/09/defi-exchange-platform-dydx-places-solana-in-close-only-mode/

What To Make Of This Week’s FTX Crypto Meltdown

Sequoia have written down their FTX stake to zero and many crypto assets have sharply declined. Here's what happened.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmoore/2022/11/10/what-to-make-of-this-weeks-crypto-meltdown/?sh=2196b8a037f8

Crypto Trading - A Little More...

First Mover Asia: Crypto Exchange BitMEX Publishes Proof of Reserves Ahead of Friday’s BMEX Listing; Bitcoin Rebounds After Dropping Below $16K

On Wednesday, Binance, Gate.io, KuCoin and Huobi were among the exchanges that said they would publish Merkle tree reserve certificates. Their announcements came amid the mounting crisis involving FTX.

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/11/10/first-mover-asia-crypto-exchange-bitmex-publishes-proof-of-reserves-ahead-of-fridays-bmex-listing-bitcoin-rebounds-after-dropping-below-16k/

BitMEX Founder Arthur Hayes Updates Price Targets for Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana Amid Crypto Market Meltdown - The Daily Hodl

The outspoken founder of the derivatives exchange BitMEX is updating his crypto outlook amid a brutal market meltdown.

https://dailyhodl.com/2022/11/09/bitmex-founder-arthur-hayes-updates-price-targets-for-bitcoin-ethereum-and-solana-amid-crypto-market-meltdown/

Analysis-FTX debacle sparks investor rethink of battered crypto market

With major cryptocurrency exchange FTX on the brink of collapse, some investors are beginning to question the viability of a sector already bruised by the bitcoin bubble bursting and closures of key market players. The collapse of several crypto lenders, including Celsius and Voyager, major tokens terraUSD and Luna, and hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, had rung alarm bells even before the fiasco at FTX, headed by Sam Bankman-Fried. He was racing on Thursday to find finance to prop up his embattled crypto exchange, according to a Slack message to FTX staff seen by Reuters, after rival Binance scrapped a proposed bailout following a review of the company's structure and books.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/analysis-ftx-debacle-sparks-investor-131358179.html

 ESG (Environment, Social & Governance)

Galaxy Brings Bitcoin ETF to Brazil With TradFi Giant

Galaxy Digital is teaming up with Itaú Asset Management to launch a physically backed bitcoin ETF in Brazil, which lists on Thursday.

https://blockworks.co/news/galaxy-brings-bitcoin-etf-to-brazil-with-tradfi-giant/

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