Here are the top web3 stories from this week.
Regulation
DoJ and SEC Charge ex-Coinbase Exec
⚖️ The U.S. Department of Justice has brought criminal insider trading charges against a former Coinbase product manager for trading ahead of new tokens being added to their exchange. The SEC is arguing that 9 of these Cryptotokens are securities under U.S. laws, a first for these types of assets. Coinbase has pushed back hard on this regulation by enforcement action. This will be a story to watch over the coming months.
CFTC and Congress Weigh in
👏 While the SEC is practicing Crypto regulation by enforcement action, the CFTC has taken a more supportive approach. They announced a new Office of Technology Innovation to support the markets. Congress is also trying to be helpful with a new bill introduced in the Senate to make Crypto transactions under $50 free from taxes.
Market Stats
NonFungible Releases Quarterly NFT Report
🧮 Research firm NonFungible published their Q2 2022 report on the NFT market. As expected, the NFT market saw a 25% decline in trading volume but still managed to see $8Bn transacted. The report has lots of details on sectors and specific projects that drove the action in the second quarter.
Capital Raised
VCs Continue to Fund Web3
💰 Aptos spun out the Diem blockchain tech from Meta, and they raised another $150MM this week for their L1. Unstoppable Domains offers .NFT web addresses to facilitate web3 transactions, and they added $64MM in a Series A with a unicorn valuation. We continued to see action in web3 consumer as Mighty Bear Games got $10MM, Magicave raised $6.4MM, and Trustless Media brought in $3.25MM.
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