Author: Michelle Lazo

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Cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has confirmed reports of an executive reshuffle following complications with the Notcoin launch, which led to $23 million in compensation being distributed to 320,000 users.

The news, initially reported by Wu Blockchain, indicated that several executives had “voluntarily resigned” and that Bybit had hired new technical and spot managers. A Bybit spokesperson told CoinDesk, “Bybit regularly updates its organizational structure to align with our strategic goals. The affected team members are not leaving the company but have taken up other internal roles.”

Notcoin, a game based on the Telegram instant messaging platform, is one of the largest cryptocurrency gaming projects, boasting 35 million users. Early adopters earned in-game balances that could be converted to a Notcoin airdrop at a 1000:1 ratio.

On May 16, users experienced delays in depositing the newly issued Notcoin to Bybit, resulting in financial losses as they were unable to sell the asset immediately. Bybit received 370,000 on-chain transactions, with 70% of deposits credited before the market went live.

“We prioritized customer interests and conducted a thorough internal review to enhance the customer experience for the future,” the Bybit spokesperson added. “This improvement led to some leadership role changes, which we believe are essential.”

Notcoin is currently trading at over $0.0115, more than doubling from a low of $0.0047 last week, according to CoinMarketCap.

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Immutable’s Guild of Guardians Avatars overtook NodeMonkes to claim the top spot on CryptoSlam’s daily non-fungible token sales charts on Thursday.

The Immutable game-linked collection led NFT sales with a daily volume of $828,697, representing a 19% increase from $696,862 the previous day.

NodeMonkes, a Bitcoin-based collection that topped Wednesday’s sales, fell to third place with sales dropping to $756,950 from $935,770. Earlier this week, NodeMonkes became the 26th best-selling collection in the industry, surpassing $228 million in all-time sales.

DMarket, a Mythos collection for in-game items from popular online games, secured second place with $774,176 in sales, reinforcing the dominance of game-related NFTs on the weekly charts.

Bored Ape Yacht Club, the second-best selling NFT collection of all time, maintained the fourth spot with $567,631 in daily sales, pushing its all-time sales volume to $3.15 billion.

Polygon’s Unstoppable Domains soared to the fifth position with a daily sales volume of $491,535, up from just $1,075 the day before. This surge followed the announcement of a new self-custody wallet in collaboration with digital asset custodian Fireblocks.

New entries to the top 10 include the Validat3rs collection, debuting with a daily sales volume of $362,942 on Solana.

Despite NodeMonkes dropping from the top spot, the Bitcoin network led the daily blockchain sales for the second consecutive day with $5.51 million, a 9.86% increase from the previous day’s $5.01 million.

Meanwhile, Ethereum’s monthly blockchain sales total stands at approximately $159 million, on track to end the month with the lowest NFT sales since October 2023.

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Stablecoin issuer Tether Holdings Ltd. has acquired a $100 million stake in Bitdeer Technologies Group (NASDAQ:BTDR), a US-listed Bitcoin miner owned by Chinese billionaire Jihan Wu, with an option to buy an additional $50 million in shares within a year.

The companies signed a subscription agreement for a private placement of 18.6 million Class A ordinary shares, raising $100 million in gross proceeds, according to Bitdeer’s statement on Friday. The agreement also includes a warrant to purchase up to five million more shares at $10 each. The private placement was completed on Thursday, with Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. serving as the placement agent.

This investment will support Bitdeer’s data center expansion, the development of ASIC-based crypto mining equipment, and other corporate purposes. The percentage of Bitdeer now owned by Tether was not disclosed. Tether did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

This acquisition marks a significant advancement in Tether’s strategy to become a prominent Bitcoin miner, following the initiation of its mining facilities in Uruguay, Paraguay, and El Salvador last year. Tether, which is incorporated in the British Virgin Islands and issues the widely-used cryptocurrency USDT, announced in November its plan to invest half a billion dollars in this effort within six months.

Bitdeer, one of the largest public crypto miners listed in the US with a market capitalization of around $670 million, is headquartered in Singapore and operates data centers in the US, Norway, and Bhutan. Bitdeer’s shares, which had dropped over 40% this year, rose approximately 6.5% to $6.20.

In March, Bloomberg News reported that Bitdeer was in discussions with private credit firms to secure about $100 million in financing. It is unclear if those talks are ongoing following Tether’s investment.

Bitcoin mining, which involves running energy-intensive computers to secure the blockchain and earn new tokens as rewards, became less profitable in April due to a programmed network upgrade known as “the halving,” which reduces rewards by half every four years.

Conversely, Bitcoin’s price reached a record high in March, partly driven by optimism around newly-launched spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in the US. On Friday, Bitcoin traded up around 0.7% at $68,800.

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NodeMonkes, the leading Bitcoin-based NFT collection, once again led CryptoSlam’s daily sales chart on Wednesday, achieving US$935,770 in sales.

This marks the second time NodeMonkes has topped the sales chart this week. The recent surge has propelled NodeMonkes’ cumulative sales volume to US$229.06 million, placing it 26th on the all-time sales chart, surpassing the Avalanche-based Crabada.

The second highest-performing collection of the day was Guild of Guardians Avatars on Immutable, with daily sales reaching US$693,704, moving up from third place the previous day.

In third place, DMarket on the Mythos chain recorded daily sales of US$672,737.

Just outside the top three, Ethereum’s Bored Ape Yacht Club had daily sales of US$415,991, while Solana’s DogeZuki Collection saw a sales volume of US$397,332.

Solana Monkey Business also made significant contributions with US$317,537 in sales, aiding Solana’s total daily sales of US$2.42 million.

NodeMonkes’ performance significantly boosted the Bitcoin network’s standing on the blockchain NFT sales chart, which totaled US$5.17 million in sales on Wednesday, up from US$4.23 million the previous day.

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Mastercard Inc. (NYSE:MA) has launched a new service called “Crypto Credential,” aimed at enhancing the security and ease of peer-to-peer crypto transactions across various European and Latin American countries. This service enables users to create a Mastercard username for sending and receiving Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies via exchanges such as Bit2Me, Lirium, and Mercado Bitcoin, operating in regions like Brazil, Argentina, and France.

Walter Pimenta, Mastercard’s Executive Vice President of Product and Engineering for Latin America and the Caribbean, highlighted the need for secure transactions in the expanding blockchain and digital assets space. “With the rising interest in blockchain and digital assets in Latin America and globally, it is crucial to provide trusted and verifiable interactions across public blockchain networks,” Pimenta stated.

Crypto transactions traditionally involve complex wallet addresses, which are lengthy and random strings of characters. Mistakes in these addresses can lead to lost funds. Mastercard’s new service addresses this issue by alerting the sender if the recipient’s wallet does not support the specific asset or blockchain, thereby preventing the transaction and protecting users from potential losses.

Additionally, the service combats scams involving lookalike addresses. Fraudsters often exploit truncated wallet addresses, showing only the first and last few characters. Mastercard’s Crypto Credential mitigates this risk, ensuring safer transactions for users.

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Crypto bridging protocol LayerZero is expanding to the Solana blockchain, providing a new pathway for transferring crypto assets between Ethereum and its largest competitor, starting Wednesday.

This integration will allow Solana users to move their assets to Arbitrum, Ethereum, Polygon, and 70 other connected chains, and vice-versa, according to LayerZero Labs, the company behind the bridging protocol.

LayerZero functions as a bridging platform, enabling communication between blockchains that do not naturally interact. In the first quarter of 2024, LayerZero users transferred $6.7 billion worth of cryptocurrencies, generating $11.5 million in revenue, as reported by Messari.

In April, private venture investors valued LayerZero Labs at $3 billion during a significant funding round. The protocol is expected to issue its own token soon.

Solana, whose native token $SOL is the fifth-largest cryptocurrency by market cap according to CoinGecko, already has three major bridging protocols linking it to the larger Ethereum ecosystem, with Wormhole being the most notable.

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The State of Wisconsin Investment Board has become the first public institution in the U.S. to invest in cryptocurrency, putting $187.1 million into bitcoin and related crypto companies, as revealed in a May 14 quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

SWIB manages the assets of the Wisconsin Retirement System, the State Investment Fund, and other funds, with total assets exceeding $156 billion as of the end of 2023. The cryptocurrency investment represents a small portion—about one-tenth of 1%—of its total assets.

Bob Bukowski, managing partner of Alpha Investing Consulting, described the investment as a speculative bet. He explained, “If bitcoin doubles or triples in value, they can say they were invested. If it goes to zero, the loss is negligible.”

The largest portion of SWIB’s crypto investment is $99.1 million in iShares Bitcoin Trust (NYSEARCA:IBIT), an exchange-traded fund managed by BlackRock (NYSE:BLK), which launched in January after SEC approval. The fund closed at $38.98 on Tuesday, up about 46% from its January launch.

In addition to iShares Bitcoin Trust, SWIB invested $63.6 million in Grayscale Bitcoin Trust and $24.5 million in Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), a leading cryptocurrency exchange platform.

Bloomberg Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas noted on Twitter that other public institutions might follow SWIB’s lead, saying, “Expect more, as institutions tend to move in herds.”

When contacted for comment, SWIB stated it “does not comment on specific investments.”

SEC Chair Gary Gensler emphasized caution, noting that bitcoin is a speculative asset often associated with illicit activities. He said, “Investors should remain cautious about the myriad risks associated with bitcoin and products whose value is tied to crypto.”

Bukowski added that the SEC’s involvement is crucial for investor protection, stating, “The SEC now has the authority to monitor how these investments are managed and traded.”

Bitcoin traded between $66,685 and $70,314 per coin over the last five days, closing at $68,305 on Wednesday.

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Maple Finance, a cryptocurrency lending firm, has introduced Syrup, a new loans platform and rewards token aimed at integrating institutional-friendly yield-bearing digital assets with the decentralized finance sector.

Maple’s Syrup platform offers users up to 15% yields by depositing Circle’s USDC stablecoin. Users receive LP tokens (syrupUSDC) and additional yield in the form of “Drips,” a loyalty payment derived from the usage of the SYRUP rewards token, as announced in a press release on Tuesday.

Holders of MPL, Maple’s native token, will be able to migrate to the SYRUP token on a one-for-one basis.

While many centralized crypto lending firms have struggled over the past few years, Maple has endured the bear market by maintaining a stringent approach, accepting deposits only from accredited investors with comprehensive know-your-customer checks. This method allows Maple to operate within the U.S. and serve regulation-conscious institutions, according to Maple co-founder Joe Flanagan.

“We aim to keep our institutional focus while staying true to our DeFi origins,” Flanagan said in an interview. “The launch of Syrup allows us to function within the broader DeFi ecosystem. This enables us to bring institutional-quality yields sourced from over-collateralized loans to the largest institutions and a DeFi audience.”

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Riot Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:RIOT) has made an unsolicited $950 million bid to acquire Bitfarms Ltd. (NASDAQ:BITF), following the smaller Bitcoin miner’s rejection of a previous takeover proposal last month.

Riot offered $2.30 per share in cash and stock for Bitfarms, representing a 20% premium over Bitfarms’ trading price before Riot’s initial April offer, which was privately submitted to the board.

Riot has accumulated a 9.25% stake in Bitfarms, becoming its largest shareholder, according to a statement on Tuesday that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report.

Citing recent management turnover at Bitfarms as evidence of corporate governance issues, Riot announced plans to call for a shareholder vote to add new directors to Bitfarms’ board.

This bid is part of a trend of consolidation in the cryptocurrency mining sector, spurred by a Bitcoin code update known as “the halving,” which is expected to reduce revenue for miners significantly. Large-scale mining companies are seeking acquisitions to expand their operations and adapt to the industry’s evolving economics.

If successful, the merger would create the world’s largest Bitcoin miner based on projected computing power growth, significantly increasing Riot’s Bitcoin production capabilities alongside major players like Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:MARA) and CleanSpark Inc. (NASDAQ:CLSK).

Bitfarms shares rose 3.3% in Toronto on Monday to C$2.86, approximately $2.10 USD, giving the company a market value of about $750 million. Riot’s shares rose 4% in New York on Friday, with a market capitalization of around $3 billion.

Management Changes

The potential deal follows Bitfarms’ dismissal of interim CEO Geoffrey Morphy, who has filed a lawsuit against the company seeking $27 million in damages for breach of contract.

Riot’s offer, made on April 22, was rejected by Bitfarms’ board without engaging in substantive discussions, according to Riot. Under the proposed terms, Bitfarms shareholders would own approximately 17% of the combined entity.

Riot also plans to request a special shareholder meeting to consider appointing new independent directors after Bitfarms’ annual meeting on May 31.

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Renowned Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo has announced a collaboration with Binance for the launch of his fourth non-fungible token collection. This new collection, set to debut on May 29 on the Binance NFT Marketplace, will celebrate highlights from Ronaldo’s storied football career.

Ronaldo expressed excitement about this project, emphasizing his journey across the globe and his tenure with some of the world’s most prestigious football clubs.

Details of the New Collection

The exact number of NFTs in this collection remains undisclosed, and pricing details have not yet been revealed. It is known that each “Normal NFT” will have a uniform price, while the final Super Rare NFT will have a unique pricing structure. Previous NFT collections involving Ronaldo have included exclusive opportunities for holders, such as playing football with the legendary player as part of Binance promotions.

However, this collaboration is not without its complications. Ronaldo is currently involved in a legal battle over his participation in NFT sales with Binance. In November 2023, he faced a class-action lawsuit in a U.S. district court in Florida. The plaintiffs alleged that Ronaldo was involved in offering and selling unregistered securities with Binance and should have been aware of Binance’s activities.

Trends in the NFT Space

There has been a noticeable trend of companies withdrawing from the NFT market. In March, Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) terminated its NFT rewards program. Similarly, GameStop (NYSE:GME) closed its NFT marketplace in January after reducing its crypto services over the past two years. More recently, X  under Elon Musk discontinued a feature that allowed premium users to use NFT images as profile pictures.

Binance’s Regulatory Troubles

The legal issues surrounding Ronaldo coincide with increasing regulatory scrutiny on Binance globally. Last year, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission charged Binance with operating an illegal digital asset derivatives exchange and evading federal laws. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Binance Holdings LTD and former CEO Changpeng Zhao with operating unregistered exchanges and the unregistered offer and sale of securities.

Binance and CZ pleaded guilty to several federal charges, including anti-money laundering violations and unlicensed money transmission, on November 21, 2023. As part of an agreement with the Department of Justice, CZ resigned as CEO of Binance.

In March, a group of investors seeking to sue Binance, its former CEO, and other executives were given a new opportunity to pursue their case.

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