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The crypto market and overall ecosystem may be showing signs of recovery after a prolonged bear market.
At the time of publication, cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereal were up 30% and 28% from the previous month’s date, respectively, according to CoinMarketCap data. Separately, the total cryptocurrency market capitalization is an increase of about 31% to $1.41 trillion over the same period.
Even the NFT space, which saw a decline after its last hype cycle in 2021 and 2022, has seen total sales increase by 64% over the past 30 days, according to CryptoSlam data. The top three blockchains by NFT sales volume were Ethereum, Bitcoin, and Solana, all of which saw sales growth (44%, 1,222%, and 56%, respectively) over this time frame.
Separately, the crypto venture capital landscape is heating up again after six consecutive quarters of declining investment in web3 companies. The bullish move comes at a time when a long market downturn has continued, freezing consumer, founder and investor interest in the crypto industry.
More below.
This week on web3
- After Six Quarters Of Falling Venture Interest, Crypto Investors See Recent Price Gains As A Positive Sign (TC+)
- Aave Companies Rebrands as Avara and Acquires Crypto Wallet Family to Expand Web3 Reach
- Prosecutors likely to proceed with second SBF trial in March (TC+)
The last pod
For this week episode, Jacqueline interviewed Stani Kulechov, the founder of Avara, formerly known as Aave Companies.
The company is probably best known for the Aave protocol, the platform-focused stablecoin GHO, and the Lens social network protocol.
The web-focused software technology company 3 announced exclusively on our podcast its rebranding as well as a strategic acquisition of an Ethereum-based crypto wallet. The Aave name will still exist, but through Aave Protocol and Aave Labs, two organizations under the Avara brand.
We discussed the rebrand, acquisition, changes to projects under the Avara umbrella, and monetization of content creators on decentralized social media platforms and what that might look like.
We also talked about:
- The lens is coming out of beta
- Decentralized from mainstream social media
- The future of social networks
- What's next for Avara?
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!
GIFT: On Monday, Equity's TechCrunch podcast focused on startup business tackled the million-dollar question: Are we at the start of a new crypto cycle? Listen in here.
Follow the money
- Taproot Wizards Raises $7.5M (TC+) For Ordinals Project To Bring The "Magic" Back To Bitcoin
- Baton, a music collaboration platform for unreleased material, raised $4.2 million
- Asset management firm Superstate has closed $14 million in Series A funding
- Social network Web3 Sleek raised $5 million in first round
- Beoble raised $2 million in a pre-seed round to develop social experiences on the web3
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.
- The feds want speed reduction technology in every new car. Are American drivers ready?
- The bull case for software development in 2024 (TC+)
- Screening timed out (TC+)
- How Inversion Art is trying to be the Y Combinator of the art world (TC+)
- AI makes you worse at what you're good at
Follow me on twitter @Jacqmelinek for crypto news, memes and more.
