Edition #33 - 04 SEP 2022
Aave community has voted in majority to approve the proposal to temporarily halt Ethereum borrowing until the Merge with immediate effect. The voting indicates the community agrees to pause Ethereum (ETH) borrowing to mitigate high ETH borrowing risks on Aave amid the Merge and Ethereum hard fork.
gaming developments
Gaming activity accounted for over 50% of blockchain activity in August, registering hundreds of millions of transactions;
Axie Infinity NFT sales volumes dip below $10 million for four consecutive months, sees declining unique buyers as well as average sale values;
Sky Mavis is preparing for the largest ever Axie community gathering in the first ever AxieCon held in Barcelona.
metaverses & Adoption
NFT trading volume on OpenSea drops to 1 year low;
Sanctioned Russian bank Promsvyazbank (PSB) one of the first to test in-app operations with digital rubles;
Revolut planning to slash crypto trading fees by 20% starting in October;
Decentraland’s third annual Art Week sets the new standard for Metaverse galas;
Ethereum Name Service touts third-highest monthly revenue as the Merge approaches.
defi
Total staked Ethereum sees over 100% increase in year leading up to the Merge;
Terra proposal to airdrop LUNA tokens to users who received incorrect allocation in May passes, period for claims revealed;
Ethereum miners made $755 million in revenue in August, the last full month before the Merge;
Binance USDC withdrawals top $1 billion per day this week
Celsius seeks to re-open withdrawals for customers holding assets in “Custody Program and Withhold Accounts”;
Bitcoin mining revenue soars 10% in August;
Tron surpasses $5 trillion in total transfer value.
funding rounds
Proof, an NFT collective, raised a $50 million Series A round this week, led by a16z, with participation from Seven Seven Six, True Ventures, Collab+Currency, Flamingo DAO, SV Angel and VaynerFund;
Limit Break, a web3 gaming company, completed its $200 million funding round led by uckley Ventures, Standard Crypto, and Paradigm Ventures, with other investors including FTX, Coinbase Ventures, Anthos Capital, SV Angel, and Shervin Pishevar;
Xterio, a web3 game publisher and developer, raises $40 million in a round led by FunPlus, Makers Fund, FTX Ventures, and XPLA. Other participants included HashKey, Foresight Ventures, Infinity Ventures Crypto, Matrix Partners and Animoca Brands.
Subscribe to Weekly Essentials