The Fed raises interest rates by another 75 basis points

Edition #35 - 23 SEP 2022

Powell says policymakers see the need to lift the rate to a "restrictive level" and "keep it there for some time".

Officials forecast that rates would reach 4.4% by the end of 2022 and 4.6% in the next year, a more hawkish shift in their so-called dot plot than expected. That implies a fourth-straight 75 basis-point hike could be on the table for the next gathering in November, about a week before the US midterm elections.

gaming developments

• Stepn celebrates its 1 year anniversary as users total grow to 4.72 million;

• The Sandbox metaverse has just hosted its first digital wedding;

• Game journalist survey: 75% say they won’t cover blockchain game news;

• Metaverse firm implements NFTs into its own Minecraft and GTA 5 servers.

metaverses & Adoption

• California’s Golden Gate University is set to offer students education on blockchain and crypto;

• Virtual Land NFTs: trading volumes down 98% from their highs;

• Payments giant Stripe now supports crypto payouts for freelancers in USDC;

• Crypto remains a priority for UK under new leadership, drawing industry excitement;

• Coinbase Cloud debuts Web3 developer platform;

• Revolut expands U.S. crypto offering, adding 29 tokens including dogecoin.

defi

• Ethereum issuance rate plummets 95% following the merge;

• Cardano blockchain begins moving forward with Vasil hard fork;

• Top 10 DeFi hacks of 2022 so far;

• Crypto market maker Wintermute hacked for $160 million;

• Harmony announces an update on $100 million Horizon Bridge attack recovery plan;

• 150,000 Ethereum deposited into ETH 2.0 contract following the Merge despite bad price performance;

• Over 70 million Terra Classic (LUNC) burnt following 1.2% burn implementation by Binance and Kucoin, tops 100 million in 24 hours.

funding rounds

• Metaverse infrastructure developer Hadean raises $30 million in Series A funding with Fortnite creator Epic Games, as well as Molten Ventures, 2050 Capital, Alumni Ventures, Aster Capital, Entrepreneur First and InQTel participating in the funding round.

• LootMogul, a sports metaverse company, secures a $200 million investment commitment from Gem Global Yield LLC SCS, part of GEM.

• Crypto analytics firm Messari has closed its $35 million Series B round led by Brevan Howard Digital with Morgan Creek Digital, Samsung Next, FTX Ventures, Galaxy and Coinbase Ventures in participation.

• 3Commas, an automated crypto trading bot platform, has raised $37 million in a Series B funding round led by investment firms Target Global, Alameda Research and Jump Crypto, as well as Dmitry Tokarev, founder and CEO of crypto custodian Copper.

---

Subscribe to Weekly Essentials

SUBSCRIBE