PRICE CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- BTC ($44,897): +9% / -5%
- ETH ($3,179):  +12% / -15%
- XRP ($0.84): +5% / 0%
- UNI ($11): +21% / -36% 
- Crypto Market Cap ($2.0T): +10% / -8%
- BTC Dominance: 42%
- ETH Dominance: 19% 

STABLECOIN MARKET CAP CHANGE: WTD/YTD

- Tether ($81B): +1% / +4%
- USDC ($52B): -2% / +23%

NFT 3M TRADING VOLUMES

THIS WEEK IN CRYPTO

- Yuga Labs, the company behind the Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection, raised $450 million at a $4 billion valuation for its seed funding round led by a16z. The company also announced its gaming and metaverse project, Otherside, which it descried as an MMORPG meant to connect the broader NFT universe. Link. 

- A recent Goldman Sachs survey of 172 clients showed that 60% expect to increase their digital asset holdings in the next 1-2 years with 32% responding they expected to "significantly increase" their crypto holdings. 51% reported already having exposure to crypto, compared to 40% from the previous year. 14% expressed interest in DeFi tokens and 9% were interested in NFTs. Link. 

- Total value locked (TVL), the sum of all staked crypto assets that are earning rewards and interest across all DeFi protocols, has fallen 16% from its peak in December 2021, but is still up 3x from a year ago. Link. 

- Bitcoin's correlation with the S&P 500 is at its highest since October 2020, which is approximately when Bitcoin began its ascent from the crypto winter to back above $20k. 90 day correlation is around 0.49. Link. 

- Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen cautiously acknowledged the benefits of crypto and blockchain tech, saying that "innovation in the payment system can be a healthy thing". She also suggested that Bitcoin and digital assets are not a fad, and that "crypto has obviously grown by leaps and bounds". Yellen has long been a crypto skeptic. CNBC Interview.

- DeFi's Anchor Protocol is offering 20% interest on UST stablecoin deposits. Anchor and UST are both powered by the Terra blockchain. The yield is the largest in the ecosystem by far, and has caused a rise in demand for UST-- the largest algorithmic stablecoin with a market cap of $15 billion-- which could test the stablecoin's ability to stay pegged to the US dollar. UST isn't backed by fiat currency like USDC and instead it maintains its peg to the dollar by burning LUNA, the native token of Terra blockchain. Link. A community vote on Thursday will now dynamically adjust interest rates each month -- payout rates will increase by 1.5% if yield reserves increase and drop by 1.5% if yield reserves fall by 5%. The move is aimed at making Anchor more sustainable in the longer term. Link. 

- India is considering a tax law that would tax crypto income at 30%, and would limit the ability to offset losses from one asset against the profits of another. Link. 

- Ethereum continues outperforming bitcoin, driven largely by the network moving closer to the Merge upgrade scheduled for later this year, which will move the blockchain to a proof of stake consensus system. Link. 

- Nansen data revealed that one in three NFT collections have had little to no trading activity and another third are trading below the minting price. Link. 

- Pseudonymous crypto artist XCOPY made $23 million this week selling an open edition NFT on Nifty Gateway. The NFT was only available for 10 minutes at a price of 3,108 (~1 ETH). Link. 

- The US Department of Justice brought fraud charges against the duo behind Frosties, an NFT project alleged to be a 'rug pull'. This was the first known case of charges against a rug pull, which refers to a project's creators vanishing with funds after false promises of future benefits and utility. The Frosties NFT project generated $1.1 million during its mint in January, shortly after which the creators shut down the project's discord and disappeared with the funds. Link. Link. 

- Katie Haun, a former GP of a16z crypto, raised $1.5 billion for her new solo project, Haun Ventures. $500 million is earmarked for early stage venture investments, with $1 billion being set aside for companies looking for growth stage capital. Link. 

- A Twitter phishing scam defrauded crypto users of more than $1 million through a phony ApeCoin airdrop, where users were promised ApeCoin for 0.33 ETH even if they didn't hold Bored Ape NFTs. Those who used the phishing site saw their entire wallets drained, including their NFTs. Many of the accounts posting the scam were verified accounts masquerading as Bored Ape Yacht Club co-founders. Link. 

- Unstoppable Domains, a blockchain domain service that offers TLDs like .crypto, .coin, and .nft, is raising $60 million at a $1 billion valuation. The company has registered 2.1 million domains across 240k customers, and it made $53 million in revenue last year. Link. 

- The NFL lightened its ban on blockchain sponsorships and will now allow teams to seek limited three-year sponsorships from blockchain companies. Promotions featuring coins or tokens remains banned. Link. 

- Qualcomm is launching a $100 million investment fund to support companies building out the metaverse using AR, MR, or VR. AR/VR chips represent 17% of the company's $10.7 billion chip revenue. Link. 

- Fintech app Acorns will allow customers to invest up to 5% of their portfolio in bitcoin via an ETF. Link. 

- Coinbase is acquiring 2TM, a Brazilian holding co that controls Latin America's largest crypto brokerage Mercado Bitcoin. 2TM was most recently valued at roughly $2.2 billion. Link. 

- Former Polychain partner Tekin Salimi is launching a $125 million fund called dao5, which will eventually transform into a 100% founder-owned DAO by 2025. After the full $125 million is invested, the DAO plans to return capital to investors and convert the fund into a DAO, with the founders who were backed holding the governance tokens. Link. 

- Crypto exchange crypto.com is sponsor for the FIFA World Cup. Link. 

- Thailand's SEC plans to ban crypto as a payment method starting April 1, 2022. Link. 

- The UK government plans to announce new crypto regulations this week, particularly around stablecoins. Link. 

- ExxonMobil is piloting an on-site crypto mining program powered by excess natural gas from oil wells in North Dakota. A pilot program launched in January 2021 and expanded in July. Link. 

- Diplo is releasing a new single "Don't Forget My Love" next Tuesday on Royal, the blockchain music site founded by DJ 3LAU which gives fans tokens that entitle them to a share of future royalties for a particular song. Diplo will be selling three tiers of NFTs, with the highest one offering 0.7% royalties for $9,999. Link. 

- Solana algorithmic stablecoin Casio Dollar was exploited for $53 million and lost nearly all of its value. Link. 

- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Florida would accept Bitcoin for state taxes. Link. 

- NFT project Cool Cats has signed with CAA for licensing and merchandising opportunities, including animated content, brand deals, and events. Cool Cats launched July 2021 and has generated more than $300 million in trading volume to date. Link. 

- Crypto ATM operator Bitcoin of America added Dogecoin (DOGE) to its list of available assets. DOGE rose almost 20% on the news. Link. 

- Meta filed 8 trademark applications to cover a wide range of digital applications, including crypto tokens, wallets, and exchanges. Link. 

- Ukraine launched the Meta History Museum of War, a digital NFT collection that chronicles recent events in the war between Russia and Ukraine. NFTs are available for 0.15 ETH each, and aren't revealed until after purchase. Proceeds go towards the Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation. Link.