Vitalik Buterin hosted in Accra, Ghana by Afropolitan

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gm everyone!

Welcome to today's newsletter.

Here is a breakdown of what has recently hit the industry.

• Polygon has partnered with Mercy Corps to empower marginalized communities (cryptonews)

• Indonesia promotes a national crypto exchange as an aftermath of the FTX debacle (coincu)

• Disney-Backed Baobab Studios Debuts ‘Momoguro’ NFTs (nftlately)

• MMA fighter Ciryl Gane joins MetaFight ahead of UFC 285 (nftnews)

• Ethereum core developers push Shanghai Upgrade to early April (cointelegraph)

• South Dakato proposes a bill to define cryptocurrencies legally (cryptonews)

• Visa denies rumors to stop working with crypto oriented companies amid increased regulatory pressures (coincu)

• Coffeezilla accuses MMA legend Khabib of promoting an NFT scam (nftnews)

• Customers of derailed crypto lending firm Celsius begin withdrawal after 263 days since their assets were frozen (cointelegraph)

• Arbitrum DEX ArbiSwap was rug-pulled by developers (cryptonews)

• MicroStrategy and USDT issuer Tether distance themselves from Silvergate (cointelegraph)

• Gods Unchained releases pre-alpha testing for mobile game (nftnews)

• Babydoge burns 1 quadrillion tokens (coincu)

• Silvergate stock price falls 47% amid solvency claims (cryptonews)

• UK banks have imposed a nationwide ban on crypto purchases using credit cards (cointelegraph)

• Marathon sold 650 BTC to raise funds for operational costs (coincu)

• Sandbox warns users of phishing emails after an attacker hacked an employee’s computer (nftnews)

• Ukrainian Family Hosted by British Politician to Launch NFT Art for Charity (nftlately)

here is what else we dug

Vitalik Buterin hosted in Accra, Ghana by Afropolitan

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin visited Accra Ghana earlier this week. The Ethereum co-founder was hosted in the African country by Afropolitan

Here is what we know about the visit:

• The Afropolitan team hosted the computer scientist for a week in Accra, Ghana.

• Vitalik’s trip led him to meet with different developers and government officials in Ghana.

• Afropolitan as well as Vitalik and his team participated in the Web3 Accra conference.

60% of staked Ethereum at loss after Shanghai Upgrade

Approximately 60% of the total staked ETH is currently running at a loss post Shanghai upgrade. ConsenSys, a leading Ethereum software developer informed ETH holders that the upgrade will allow them to withdraw their staked ETH.

Here is what we know about the Upgrade

• The merge saw Ethereum transform from a Proof of Work network to a Proof of Stake consensus algorithm.

• This hardfork upgrade allowed the network to replace ETH miners with validators who approve transactions through staking ETH.

• The Shanghai Upgrade is the latest Ethereum Network hardfork upgrade after the merge.

• Close to 13% of the total supply of ETH has been staked

• 60% of the total staked ETH is currently running at a loss as the Shanghai upgrade nears.

MicroStrategy and Tether distance themselves from Silvergate amid Solvency concerns

MicroStrategy confirmed that none of its 130,000 BTC is custodied by Silvergate. However, the firm does have a loan to pay off to the bank by Q1 2025.

Here is what we know

• Silvergate is a crypto-friendly bank that has recently been in the news for insolvency issues.

• The pro-bitcoin bank’s stock price has fallen more than 47% after failing to file its annual reports.

• Since then, they have lost a majority of their partners and business affiliates.

• Some of these entities include Circle, Tether, Coinbase, and Paxos.

• The financial institution also suffered from the collapse of FTX exchange.

Binance coin BUSD’s market cap falls below $10B

BUSD has seen its market capitalization fall rapidly below $10B from its all-time high of $23.49 billion.

Here is what we know

• The spiral descent has been attributed to the increased regulatory oversight imposed on Paxos, the stablecoin issuer.

• The SEC instructed Paxos to cease minting new BUSD tokens last month.

• According to the US SEC, BUSD was developed and issued as a security but Paxos never registered the token as a security.

• CZ announced that Binance is looking for stablecoin partners to work with as BUSD market cap continues to decline.

NFT Spotlight: Grant Riven Yun

Contemporary artist Grant Yun currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Yun, who was raised in a family of gifted painters and sculptors, began painting and drawing with the help of his folks and relatives at a very young age. With his distinctive Precisionism work, Yun has established himself in the NFT industry.

He had to wait about a year before he became well-known in the NFT industry. Debates on the value and utility of fine art NFTs would have been lacking without Yun's entrance into the NFT market. Through his works, he has staked a claim on the future of CC0 art in addition to furthering his own artistic goals and the development of his Neo-Precisionism style.

Essential links: Twitter, Instagram, website

Upcoming Events

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Read our previous newsletters:

• Paxos stops minting BUSD stablecoin

• Blur outperforms OpenSea in trading volume

• Logan Paul sued by CryptoZoo investors

• Crippled firm Celsius plans a strategic recovery

Follow the team: Olumide Gbenro, Chris Hauser, Sandro IEVA 

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