LensLinks: Issue 83

A blockchain news roundup, brought to you by Regiment LLC

Author

Len Pacek
January 31, 2023

Today in LensLinks:

  • How a Crypto Quant Firm Shook Off the Bear Market – and FTX Exposure

  • A load of crap: Bored Ape NFT game attracts pros angling for a piece of the Dookey

  • Russia and Iran plan a gold-backed stablecoin, while Brazil and Argentina seek a shared currency. Here are 5 rising threats to the dollar's dominance of global trade.

  • Goldman Sachs Ranks Bitcoin Best Performing Asset so Far This Year

  • Will 2023 be the year of AI and metaverse actualisation? Five experts weigh in

  • Amazon’s Web3 Foray Will Be a Compliance Nightmare;

  • Moody’s to Introduce Scoring System for Stablecoins

  • 101: Crypto Wormholes

  • Has the Retail Trading Craze Ended?

  • And Much, Much, More...

QUOTABLE...

“The bad news is that we had redemptions. The good news is that there’s less competition, more price dislocations and trading opportunities. Previous trades which had been [arbitraged] out are back again.”

- Pythagoras founder and CEO Mitchell Dong

NOTABLE...

How a Crypto Quant Firm Shook Off the Bear Market – and FTX Exposure

Pythagoras Investment's two funds finished the turbulent year up 8%.

https://www-coindesk-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.coindesk.com/business/2023/01/25/how-a-crypto-quant-firm-shook-off-the-bear-market-and-ftx-exposure/?outputType=amp

Crypto quantitative trading firm Pythagoras Investment Management LLC made it through the turmoil of 2022 in a rare position. The firm’s funds were up 8% for the year even with exposure to the implosion of crypto exchange FTX. However, the market turbulence halved the company's assets under management to less than $40 million as wary investors stepped to the sidelines.

 Metaverse & Gaming

Bored Ape NFT game attracts pros angling for a piece of the Dookey

The highest-scoring Dookey Dash player wins a "key" — an asset crucial to the next chapter of the story saga "The Trial of Jimmy the Monkey."

https://www.theblock.co/amp/post/206337/a-load-of-crap-bored-ape-nft-game-attracts-pros-angling-for-a-piece-of-the-dookey

  • Gamers are freelancing their skills to help owners of the Bored Ape Yacht Club Sewer Pass NFTs score higher, playing the skill-based video game Dookey Dash.

  • The highest-scoring Dookey Dash players will earn rewards which will likely possess monetary value.

  • Sewer Pass NFTs have brought in nearly $40 million in trading volume while gamers have played Dookey Dash more than 4 million times.

 Blockchain, Tokens & DeFi

Russia and Iran plan a gold-backed stablecoin, while Brazil and Argentina seek a shared currency. Here are 5 rising threats to the dollar's dominance of global trade.

King dollar's dominance of global trade faces new threats in the form of currency projects led by countries from China and Russia to India, Iran and Brazil.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/currencies/dollar-dominance-russia-china-india-brazil-oil-trade-reserve-currency-2023-1

  • The dollar's supremacy in global trade faces fresh challenges as several countries float plans to use local currencies in commerce.

  • Russia and Iran are working to create a gold-backed stablecoin, while China is increasingly using the yuan in its oil trades.

  • Here are 5 rising challenges to the greenback's dominance of international trade and investment flows.

Crypto Trading

Goldman Sachs Ranks Bitcoin Best Performing Asset so Far This Year – Markets and Prices Bitcoin News

Goldman Sachs has ranked bitcoin the best-performing asset with the highest risk-adjusted return so far this year.

https://news.bitcoin.com/goldman-sachs-ranks-bitcoin-best-performing-asset/

The cryptocurrency also tops the global investment bank’s list as the asset with the highest risk-adjusted return — above gold, real estate, the S&P 500, and the Nasdaq 100.

Metaverse & Gaming - A Little More...

Will 2023 be the year of AI and metaverse actualisation? Five experts weigh in

What can we expect from AI and the metaverse in 2023? We asked five experts whether the buzz will continue.

https://sifted.eu/articles/ai-metaverse-web3-brnd/

First Mover Asia: Amazon’s Web3 Foray Will Be a Compliance Nightmare; Bitcoin Tops $23.9K

The retail giant’s initiative, especially in NFTs, may force some regulatory clarity for digital assets. Cryptos surge in Sunday trading.

https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2023/01/30/first-mover-asia-amazons-web3-foray-will-be-a-compliance-nightmare-bitcoin-tops-239k/

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

Moody's to Introduce Scoring System for Stablecoins

Leading financial institution Moody’s Corporation is reportedly working on a scoring system for up to 20 stablecoins.

https://beincrypto.com/moodys-scoring-system-stablecoin/

All You Need to Know about Crypto Wormholes – Cryptopolitan

A cryptocurrency wormhole is a hidden pathway that can be used to move tokens from one blockchain to another. For this to happen, both blockchains must be connected through a smart contract. A crypto wormhole can be used to trade assets between different blockchains without needing a third-party exchange. This makes it an attractive option …<p class="read-more"> <a class="" href="https://www.cryptopolitan.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-crypto-wormholes/"> All You Need to Know about Crypto Wormholes Read More »</a></p>

https://www.cryptopolitan.com/all-you-need-to-know-about-crypto-wormholes/

Crypto Trading - A Little More...

Has the Retail Trading Craze Ended? A Look at its Impact on the Crypto Market

While the retail trading craze may have fizzled, crypto traders see digital assets an attractive option to capitalize on price growth.

https://beincrypto.com/retail-crypto-traders-remain-optimistic/

Bitcoin profitable 90% of trading history fueled by widespread adoption

Nothing testifies to the cryptocurrency market's unstoppable expansion better than the aggressive Bitcoin adoption growth.

https://finbold.com/bitcoin-profitable-90-of-trading-history-fueled-by-widespread-adoption/

Industry Retro (How far we have come)

‘Ordinary People Had Their Money Stolen’: Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alleged Crimes Have Real Victims

What FTX customers lost may not impoverish them, but they were still cheated.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-collapse-crypto-victims/672868/

Greg Sanders is doing fine. He’s not a guy who needs sympathy, he told me. He’s in his 30s and college-educated, with a secure corporate job. He has enough money to pay his bills. His wife is not mad at him. His friends are still his friends. He knew that investing was risky and investing in crypto especially so. But Sam Bankman-Fried stole just shy of $10,000 from him, he told me. And he wants his money back.

ESG (Environment, Social & Governance)

Akerna Corp. (KERN) market price of $1.22 offers the impression of an exciting value play

At the end of the latest market close, Akerna Corp. (KERN) was valued at $1.78. In that particular session, Stock kicked-off at the price of $2.05 while reaching the peak value of $2.30 and lowest value recorded on the day was $1.22. The stock current value is $1.22.Recently in News on January 27, 2

https://investchronicle.com/2023/01/30/akerna-corp-kern-market-price-of-1-22-offers-the-impression-of-an-exciting-value-play/

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