Beyond the bank failures + All the Web3 news you missed this week

The last few week’s news has been dominated by the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Silvergate and Signature Bank. Techcrunch wrote a summary recap of what happened at SVB, In the wake of these banking failures, the Bitcoin price has soared past $28k and industry operators continue to seek regulatory guidance. Some are frustrated as the Whitehouse economic report dedicated 35 pages to “debunking the perceived appeal of crypto assets.” Beyond the big bank headlines, here’s the rest of the Web3 news you missed this past week.

NFTs

Donald Trump's NFT Prices Soar As Indictment Looms (Newsweek)

Prices for Donald Trump's digital "trading cards" are soaring following calls from the former president to supporters to take to the streets in protest ahead of his likely indictment in New York City this week.

Metaverse

Meta's metaverse is on the back burner (Axios)

The big picture: Meta is fully in sync with a moment that has many large companies cutting headcounts, shuttering side projects and chasing the promise of generative AI.

This week the firm announced a massive second round of layoffs. It recently killed off its Portal platform. And CEO Mark Zuckerberg, while not disavowing his metaverse dream, sounds more eager to talk about AI.

DeFi

How Damaging Was the Euler Hack to DeFi's 'Money Legos' Promise? (Decrypt)

The draining of $200 million from Euler is one of the biggest losses in DeFi for some time. Still, the "money legos" narrative isn't dead.

Gaming

Immutable and Polygon Labs Team Up to Expand the Web3 Gaming Ecosystem (CoinDesk)

Web3 gaming developer platform Immutable is forming a strategic partnership with blockchain protocol Polygon Labs to accelerate the development of Web3 gaming.

According to a press release, Immutable will power its platform products using Polygon's zero-knowledge technology to simplify the process of onboarding game studios and developers in Web3. The alliance aims to provide an option for businesses "that accelerates time-to-market and gives them access to an ecosystem that will be one of the largest and most liquid for end users," according to the press release.

Regulatory

No Laws, No Policy, No Clarity: The Parlous State of Crypto Regulation (Blockworks)

Everyone has something to say about crypto policy. But so far, no one has managed to pass any laws. As crypto companies continue to plead for regulatory clarity, the only thing that seems truly clear is that federal agencies and elected officials are not on the same page. Now industry members are questioning if they are even trying. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis Proposes Law to Ban CBDCs (CoinDesk)

A legislative proposal from Florida Gov. (and possible Republican U.S. presidential candidate) Ron DeSantis would prohibit the use of a national central bank digital currency (CBDC) as money within his state.

The Reality Behind the Crypto Banking Crackdown: ‘Operation Choke Point 2.0’ Is Here (CoinDesk)

The Biden administration and federal regulators appear to be using whatever means necessary to cut the cryptocurrency industry off from banking services. Critical observers have dubbed this alleged effort “Choke Point 2.0” after a similar push by the Obama administration to cut undesirable but legal industries off from the financial system.

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About Me

Hi, I’m Andrew Chang - I created the Web3 Roundup to share what I’m learning in this space. I’ve spent my career at the forefront of the technology industry in areas such as crypto/blockchain (Former COO @ Paxos, co-founding partner of Liberty City Ventures), video and adtech. I learn by meeting with founders, investors and other thought leaders and approach Web3 with the same enthusiasm – and skepticism – I had about crypto/blockchain technologies 10 years ago. 

You can connect with me on LinkedIn