Crypto Exchanges compete in Super Bowl Debut as JPMorgan Enters Metaverse
The price of Bitcoin tumbled this week as investors dropped risk assets amid fears tensions between Russian and Ukraine could lead to a large-scale conflict in Europe. Bitcoin has moved from $42,000 to $38,000 over the last few days.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, started the week at around $2,850 and moved up to $3,100, before an escalation in Eastern Europe led to a wider market sell-off. ETH is now changing hands below $2,700.
Amid the geopolitical turbulence in Ukraine came a snap decision by the country’s parliament to legalise digital asset trading.
Ukrainian legislators voted to create a market for crypto assets on Thursday making it easier for digital assets to be used amid heightened tensions with Russia. Commenting on the bill, which was passed with 272 votes, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation Mykhailo Federov, said the move will reduce corruption risks and prevent fraud in crypto exchanges. The bill brings digital assets under the regulatory oversight of the country’s National Securities Commission.
In Russia, the central bank started trialing its own central bank digital currency (CBDC), the digital ruble. Three banks out of 12 financial institutions in the digital ruble pilot have already integrated the CBDC platform.
In the United States, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) formed a new team to investigate crimes involving cryptocurrencies, the National Cryptocurrency Enforcement Team (NCET).
Meanwhile, Colorado governor Jared Polis said in an interview the state is set to accept cryptocurrency payments for state taxes by the middle of this year. Polis is a longtime cryptoasset proponent, who has accepted BTC donations to his political campaign and spearheaded a push for Colorado to become a blockchain innovation hub. The state, however, is restricted in what assets it can hold and as a result, will convert crypto payments into USD as soon as they are received.
Crypto Exchanges compete in the Super Bowl
Super Bowl LVI saw major cryptocurrency exchanges compete for viewer attention through innovative ads. Both FTX and Coinbase committed to giving away free cryptocurrency through their campaigns, with the latter airing a minute-long bouncing QR code across the screen that invited viewers to participate in a large giveaway with over $100 million in incentives.
The ad got Coinbase trending on social media shortly after it aired, and was so popular the Nasdaq-listed exchange was forced to throttle traffic after reporting “more traffic than we’ve ever encountered.”
FTX’s ad featured comedian Larry David and took viewers through history’s greatest inventions, with Larry turning down the ideas. When he’s introduced to FTX he says: “I don’t think so. And I’m never wrong about this stuff.” FTX is giving away 7.54 BTC as part of its campaign.
Cryptocurrency applications saw their popularity explode on U.S. app stores after the companies behind them spent millions in ads during the Super Bowl. Data shows that FTX-owned Blockfolio, eToro, and Coinbase saw major successes on Apple’s app store.
These campaigns were bullish for the market, as was the CEO of ride-sharing app Uber, Dara Khosrowshahi, saying the firm will accept cryptocurrency payments “at some point” in the future, while noting “this isn’t the right point,” suggesting the firm isn’t yet ready to embrace crypto.
Khosrowshahi noted that the cost of exchanges, which can carry high transaction fees, and the potential environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining, as reasons why Uber hasn’t yet started accepting cryptocurrencies.
JPMorgan Enters the Metaverse
The largest bank in the U.S., JPMorgan, has become the first to arrive in the metaverse, having opened a lounge in Decentraland, a virtual world based on blockchain technology. The bank has also released a paper on how businesses can find opportunities in the metaverse.
Earlier this year Samsung opened a version of its New York store in Decentraland, while in November 2021 Barbados established a metaverse embassy, also in Decentraland. JPMorgan’s analysis pointed out that the average price of a parcel of virtual land doubled in the latter half of 2021 in all major Web 3 metaverse websites.
Outside of the metaverse Sequoia Capital, one of the oldest and most successful venture capital firms in the world, revealed it’s launching a cryptocurrency-focused fund to primarily invest in “liquid tokens,” or tokens that are already listed on cryptocurrency exchanges.
The fund is the first-ever sector-specific fund Sequoia is launching since its inception in 1972. It’s set to be between $500 and $600 million and be a part of the bigger Sequoia Capital Fund, which was formed in October as part of the VC firm’s restructuring.
Francisco Memoria is a content creator at CryptoCompare who’s in love with technology and focuses on helping people see the value digital currencies have. His work has been published in numerous reputable industry publications. Francisco holds various cryptocurrencies.
Featured image via Unsplash.