Breaking crypto news from the last week (Dec. 11 – 17, 2021):
Dec. 11: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) called for a “comprehensive, consistent, and coordinated” approach to harness the benefits of crypto’s underlying technology while mitigating its risks. The fund plans to work closely with the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and other members of the international regulatory community to develop an effective regulatory approach to crypto-assets.
Dec. 12: A significant share of institutional investors is expecting a major correction in the crypto market in 2022, a survey published by Natixis Investment Managers said. Despite this, institutional investors are increasingly warming up to crypto-assets.
Dec. 13: According to data from blockchain tracker Blockchain.com, 18.89 million Bitcoins, or 90% of Bitcoins that will ever exist, have already been mined. Bitcoin has a cap on its supply of only 21 million Bitcoins, making Bitcoin anti-inflation, unlike fiat currencies. However, the entire supply won’t get mined until February 2140.
Dec. 14: NYDIG, a crypto financial services firm, announced that it raised $1 billion in a funding round led by WestCap, valuing the Morgan Stanley-backed Bitcoin company at more than $7 billion.
Dec. 15: Major cryptocurrency exchange Kraken announced plans to introduce an NFT trading marketplace. Kraken CEO noted the rising popularity of Metaverse NFTs like virtual property and digital items; however, he did not suggest a date by which the service may be launched. Other big exchanges, such as Binance, Coinbase, and FTX, have already introduced their own NFT marketplaces or plans to do so.
Dec. 16: Dubai Multi Commodities Centre’s (DMCC) new crypto-focused Future of Trade report highlights growing opportunities for global trade’s $260.9 billion decentralized finance (DeFi) sector. Focused on DeFi, the report examines the key opportunities and challenges that the growing technology faces and how DeFi can bolster global trade.
Wikipedia’s first edit sold on December 15 for $750,000 at Christie’s auction as a nonfungible token (NFT). In a separate lot, the 20-year-old strawberry pink iMac used to create the online encyclopedia went for $187,500.
Dec. 17: Ethereum scaling project Polygon and Seven Seven Six, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm, have jointly launched a $200 million initiative to invest in Web3 social media and gaming projects.