Welcome to TechCrunch Crypto, formerly known as Chain Reaction.
To get a collection of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important crypto stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday at 12 p.m. PT, register here.
Hello and welcome back to the second edition of the new and improved TechCrunch Crypto newsletter. As mentioned before, alongside our regularly scheduled news, I’ll be adding some fresh recurring segments and features – so if you like (or don’t like) what you see, let me know at jacquelyn@techcrunch.com.
Fortunately, the crypto world was not very chaotic this week – but let’s get into the bigger headlines.
This week on web3
- Worldcoin to launch new Orb to make its eyeball scanning device look ‘friendlier’
- 1 RoundTable bets on ‘long-term, less volatile’ strategy with new crypto fund in development
- Can recent crypto wins revive business interest?
- Terraform Labs files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
- After 12 years, Ripple’s president sees the payments and business businesses evolving further
Crisp numbers
This week the cryptocurrency market saw red as the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, bitcoin and ether, fell 7 and 13.5%, respectively, on the week, according to CoinMarketCap data. Even so, the global cryptocurrency market cap remained relatively flat on the week at around $1.55 trillion.
In the NFT world, trading volume fell 16.4% over a seven-day period to $248 million, but the number of buyers – and sellers – increased by around 50%, according to CryptoSlam data. The top three collections by sales volume were CryptoPunks with $19.33 million, CryptoUndeads with $12.36 million, and Ordinals with $8 million over the same period.
Our favorite “Crypto Twitter” post.
Binance went to court Monday to throw out the US Securities and Exchange Commission’s June lawsuit against them — and the judge wasn’t addressing any of their arguments, as Fortune reporter Leo Schwartz points out below.
At today’s hearing on Binance’s motion to dismiss the SEC lawsuit, Binance’s lawyers reiterated to Coinbase from last week that Howey needs a contract.
This time, the judge pushes back. “You’re a little too cute,” he says, claiming his tongue is wider.
— Leo Schwartz (@leomschwartz) January 22, 2024
The last pod
For this week episodeI interviewed Anatoly Yakovenko, co-founder of Solana Labs, the technology company that aims to help develop the ecosystem for Solana’s layer-1 blockchain.
The discussion focused on Solana Mobile and its flagship web3 Android smartphone, Saga, which sold out in mid-December, as well as its new phone, Chapter 2 – which was announced last week.
Within its first 30 hours, the Chapter 2 had over 30,000 pre-orders – signaling strong demand for the next-generation Android-based phone. At the time of the recording, Anatoly shared that there were over 40,000 pre-orders.
Anatoly and Jacquelyn discussed the long road to selling Saga, how important rewards and developers are, and the finer details of Chapter 2. They also touched on the company’s strategy and long-term mission to address the Google and Apple app stores and how Solana Mobile may take a long time to arrive.
If you need a refresh on Solana Mobile’s Saga phone, we’ve got you covered:
Sign up to Chain reaction on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favorite pod platform to catch up on the latest episodes and leave us a review if you like what you hear!
Follow the money
- Polymer Labs raises $23 million to develop Ethereum blockchain interoperability
- Avalanche-based Masa raises $5.4 million to build a ‘personal data network’
- Scene Infrastructure Company Raises $3M From a16z To Expand Utility Of FWB Token
- Web3 gaming startup Arcade2Earn raises $4.8 million in private token round
- Ingonyama raised $21 million to improve zero-knowledge technology
This list was compiled with information from Messari as well as reports from TechCrunch itself.
What else are we writing?
Want to escape the web3 world? Here are some TechCrunch articles that caught our attention this week.
- VCs aren’t done betting on fintech
- As the Mac turns 40, a tip for Mr. Macintosh
- Tesla says EV sales growth may be “significantly lower” in 2024
- Here’s what you need to know to raise a Series A right now
- iPhone users should enable Apple’s anti-stolen feature
