Coming every Saturday, <\/i><\/b>Hodler\u2019s Digest<\/i><\/b> will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more \u2014 a week on Cointelegraph in one link.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\nTop Stories This Week<\/b><\/h2>\n
The creators of the wildly popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, Yuga Labs, raised $450 million in seed funding at a $4 billion valuation. Unsurprisingly, top venture capital firm and cash cow Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) led the round.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Yuga Labs, which also recently launched ApeCoin and announced an upcoming metaverse platform, intends to use the funds to increase its employee base, attract more creative, engineering and operations talent, as well as support joint ventures and partnerships.<\/span><\/p>\n Yuga Labs has been stacking wins over the past 12 months, with CEO Nicole Muniz emphasizing that \u201cthere\u2018s a lot to come\u201d given the \u201cnew economy\u201d of intellectual properties in the company\u2019s roster. Yuga Labs recently bought the IP of CryptoPunks and Meebits from Larva Labs and plans to give full commercial rights to NFT holders.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In a bit of self-aware humor, Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson pointed out that his prediction about there being \u201cthousands of assets and DApps\u201d on the network by 2021 fell short significantly.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n He made the comments on Twitter but appeared to misremember his own words, as he had predicted back in July 2020 that, by 2021, there would be \u201chundreds of assets and thousands of DApps\u201d on Cardano.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The number of assets appears to have exceeded expectations thanks to NFT minting platforms; however, DeFi Llama lists a mere seven DApps on the blockchain, accounting for a total of $315.72 million total value locked (TVL).<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Bloomberg\u2019s highly clued-in ETF analysts Eric Balchunas and James Seyffart have suggested that a proposed rule change within the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could result in the regulator approving a BTC spot ETF by mid-2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Balchunas stated on Thursday that crypto platforms could fall under the SEC\u2019s regulatory framework if the commission were to approve the amendment to the Exchange Act proposed in January, which would change the definition of \u201cexchange.\u201d The move would enable crypto platforms \u201ctrading any type of security\u201d to be included under the act.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOnce crypto exchanges are compliant, the SEC\u2019s primary reason for denying spot Bitcoin ETFs would no longer be valid, likely clearing the way for approval,\u201d said the analysts in a joint statement.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Cross-chain protocol Stargate Finance has attracted more than $1.9 billion worth of TVL in less than a week since launching.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The platform\u2019s rapidly growing TVL is most likely a result of the cap of 26% APY offered for farming stablecoin deposits. Stargate Finance touts itself as a protocol that enables users to transact native assets across various chains. Users can also stake assets in pools to receive Stargate token (STG) rewards.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Alameda Research CEO Sam Trabucco announced that the firm had heavily backed the project, snapping up all available Stargate tokens that had been auctioned off during Stargate\u2019s launch on March 17.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Crypto use in Africa surged a mammoth 2,500% in 2021, according to a report from crypto exchange KuCoin.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The report cited interesting data, such as \u201cmore than 88.5% of cryptocurrency transactions made by Africans\u201d being cross-border transfers. It argued that the low fees mean that \u201cusers pay less than 0.01% of the overall amount of the transaction transferred in cryptocurrencies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Johnny Lyu, CEO of KuCoin, told Cointelegraph that \u201cthe adoption of digital assets in Africa will continue to grow exponentially,\u201d adding that \u201cAfrican countries have the highest crypto adoption rate in the world, outperforming even the biggest regions, such as the United States, Europe and Asia.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Among the biggest 100 cryptocurrencies, the top three altcoin gainers of the week are Ethereum Classic<\/span> (ETC) <\/b>at 79.59%, Loopring <\/span>(LRC) <\/b>at 57.71% and Bitcoin Gold <\/span>(BTG)<\/b> at 53.40%.<\/span><\/p>\n The top three altcoin losers of the week are ApeCoin (APE)<\/b> at 8.09%, UNUS SED LEO (LEO) <\/b>at 2.85% and Maker (MKR)<\/b> at 2.02%. <\/span><\/p>\n For more info on crypto prices, make sure to read <\/span>Cointelegraph\u2019s market analysis<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cNever in my wildest dreams would I have thought that the US Government would be afraid of what we are doing here.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAvoiding scams should always stem from a common history with the requestor \u2014 i.e., to determine if they are who they claim they are \u2014 to ask for a common reference. (Yesterday, this type of question was the first I asked this scammer, and the response almost confirmed that he\u2019s not John.)\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Felix Crisan, long-time Bitcoiner<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cRemember when I predicted thousands of assets and DApps on Cardano? Well I was wrong, there are now millions of native assets issued and DApps are now in the hundreds. #SlowAndSteady.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Charles Hoskinson, co-founder of Cardano<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou will continue seeing us take that approach as we try to shepherd companies into Web3. A lot of this is driven by \u2018how do we accelerate the adoption of Web3?\u2019 because one of the bigger risks as we see it, is that if people don\u2018t move into the space quickly enough then inadvertently we will perhaps also create another kind of elite.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Yat Siu, co-founder and chairman of Animoca Brands<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have seen the statistics about how few women are part of crypto by comparison, which kind of mirrors the inequality we see in other financial markets. [\u2026] Cryptocurrencies started with the goal of being accessible to everyone and breaking down barriers to entry.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Naomi Osaka, pro tennis star<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTake a look at the way in which cars, mobile phones and consumer electronics took off on the continent. Africa is a continent where lightning-fast progression and adoption is common.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Nourou, founder of Bitcoin Senegal<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to be a pioneer on the virtual frontier of innovation, Australia is open for business. As the Minister for the digital economy and the Minister for financial services, I am backing you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Jane Hume, Australian Senator<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t solicit funds for a business opportunity, abandon that business and abscond with money investors provided you. Our team here at IRS-CI and our partners at HSI closely track cryptocurrency transactions in an effort to uncover alleged schemes like this one.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Thomas Fattorusso, special agent-in-charge at IRS Criminal Investigation<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n With the price of Internet Computer (ICP) on a surge of late, Cointelegraph\u2019s Yashu Gola has read the charts and outlined a bullish scenario in which ICP reaches the $27 region by next month. The move would mark a hefty 50% gain since it was priced at around $17.75 on Tuesday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Gola pointed to a \u201cconvincing falling wedge breakout in action\u201d backed by an increase in trading volumes and continual price inclines.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIn a \u2018perfect\u2019 scenario, breaking out of a falling wedge pattern \u2014 to the upside \u2014 can see a subsequent price rally by as much as the maximum distance between the wedge\u2019s upper and lower trendline. That may put ICP en route to over $27 \u2014 by almost 50% \u2014 sometime by April,\u201d Gola said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Thailand\u2019s Securities and Exchange Commission has banned crypto payments after discussing its implications with the Bank of Thailand (BOT) via a joint study. Some of the risks highlighted by the SEC include a lot of common critiques of crypto, including price volatility, cyber theft, money laundering and personal data leakage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Businesses found in non-compliance with the new crypto laws will be subject to legal actions including temporary suspension or cancellation of the services.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[Crypto payments] may affect the stability of the financial system and overall economic system including risks to people and businesses,\u201d the joint study conducted by the BOT and SEC concluded. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The Li Finance swap aggregator protocol was the victim of a smart contract exploit that resulted in the loss of $600,000 worth of tokens, including USD Coin (USDC), Polygon (MATIC), Rocket Pool (RPL), and Gnosis (GNO), to name a few.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n During the early hours of the morning of March 20, the hacker was able to extract varying amounts of 10 different tokens from wallets that had given \u201cinfinite approval\u201d to the Li Finance protocol. The team found out about the hack an eye-watering 12 hours later and shut down all swapping functions on the platform in order to prevent any further losses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The team said that the attacker swapped the stolen tokens for a total of about 205 Ether (ETH) valued at roughly $600,000. <\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The founder of crypto investment firm DeFiance Capital, pseudonymously known as\u00a0 \u201cArthur_0x,\u201d lost a whopping $1.6 million worth of NFTs and crypto via a hot wallet hack.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After asking the community to help blacklist the hacker\u2019s wallet, many people also jumped in to help retrieve some of the stolen assets. An NFT proponent going by the pseudonym \u201cCirrus\u201d even went as far as to buy two of the stolen Azuki NFTs and return them to the founder at cost.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cirrus told Cointelegraph on Tuesday that he \u201cfound out they were hacked, and instead of selling them for profit like the other folks who got some of [Arthur_0x\u2019s NFTs], decided I\u2019d sell them back to him at cost to help him out.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\nCharles Hoskinson cheekily admits: \u2018I was wrong\u2019 about DApp rollout<\/b><\/h4>\n
Stargate Finance attracts $1.9B in six days<\/b><\/h4>\n
Crypto users in Africa grew by 2,500% in 2021: Report<\/b><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nWinners and Losers<\/b><\/h2>\n
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At the end of the week, Bitcoin (<\/span>BTC<\/span>) is at $44,118, Ether (<\/span>ETH<\/span>) at $3,136 and <\/span>XRP<\/span> at $0.83. The total market cap is at $2 trillion<\/strong>, <\/span>according<\/span> to CoinMarketCap.<\/span><\/p>\nMost Memorable Quotations<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Prediction of the Week\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
Internet Computer eyes 50% move as ICP enters \u2018falling wedge\u2019 breakout territory<\/b><\/h4>\n
FUD of the Week\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Thailand SEC bans crypto payments, seeks disclosure of system failure from exchanges<\/b><\/h4>\nDeFiance Capital founder loses $1.6M in hot wallet hack<\/b><\/h4>\n
Best Cointelegraph Features<\/b><\/h2>\n
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Powers On\u2026 Biden accepts blockchain technology, recognizes its benefits and pushes for adoption<\/b><\/h3>\n