Yuga Labs NFT Buys CryptoPunks and Meebits, Europe Pushes For Greener Crypto

It was another good week for WAVES, which increased in value 55.9% over the past seven days. Just behind it were RUNE (up 34.1%), ZEC (up 32.6%), and STX (up 10.1%).

However, as a whole, the crypto market declined. At the extreme end of the spectrum, we have ANC, which saw its price decrease by a significant 47.6%. Similarly, HEART experienced a drop of 45.1%, FTM of 30.3%, and JUNO of 18.6%.

Investors in the major cryptocurrencies didn’t see such dramatic price changes, but the general trend was downward. BTC decreased by 2%, ETH by 3.7%, and SOL by 11%. The only exception was XRP, which enjoyed a price increase of 3.8%. There is still significant price volatility and we’re in a day-traders market so manage your risk at all times.

One of the biggest stories of the last week came from the European Parliament, which is trying to make cryptocurrencies like bitcoin switch to more environmentally-friendly ways of functioning. The Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) framework is dedicated to the EU’s governance of digital assets like cryptocurrencies, and the upcoming bill aims to limit the proof-of-work process many cryptocurrencies use — including bitcoin. Since proof-of-work requires excessive energy usage, the EU effectively wants to phase them out unless they can switch to more energy-efficient alternatives like proof-of-stake (which Solana uses). 

Some European politicians are against the measure and plan to vote against it, while left-leaning politicians are in favor of the bill due to their environmental concerns about crypto. The vote is set to go through today, so we’ll soon see the outcome. 

Yuga Labs — the company behind the mega-popular Bored Ape Yacht Club NFT collection — has now acquired CryptoPunks and Meebits, two more very popular NFT collections that were previously owned by Larva Labs. As a result, Yuga Labs owns the brands, copyright, and IP rights. It now has the rights to both the most valuable and the second-most valuable NFT collections and is approaching a market valuation of $5 billion if other investments go through

There were a few stories related to crypto and Russia last week. The US Treasury has released information about avoiding the use of cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions for Russia. It said that individuals in the US shouldn’t make crypto transactions that involve the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, or the National Wealth Fund of the Russian Federation. 

This will be a welcome development for Ukraine — the country has been asking crypto exchanges and countries to halt their dealings with Russia. More recently, Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov made this request to the stablecoin protocol Tether, which Ukraine has been using but facing premiums for.

Meanwhile, it seems that Russians are trying to unload their crypto assets to the UAE, which is currently neutral. Some have expressed doubt at the story, however.

New figures suggest that more than $26 billion worth of ETH is locked up in a staking contract for Ethereum 2.0 while the protocol awaits an update to Ethereum 2.0, which will move from a proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake system for verification. Although the ETH that’s part of the contract is inaccessible, it’s earning returns of around 4.81% per year.

After its first launch was met with failure, the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain Evmos is going for a second attempt. The protocol, which aims to enable transactions between Ethereum and Cosmos, launched its mainnet last week — but things didn’t quite go to plan due to bugs and a security vulnerability. Social media backlash has followed, but the team remains optimistic about making the necessary fixes.

Anchor Protocol, the biggest decentralized finance protocol, may have to cut its astronomical yields due to fears of unsustainability. The lending protocol currently offers yields of 19.5%, resulting in it having $12.7 billion of crypto locked in by investors. Yet crypto investments firms involved with the project are concerned about whether this can continue, so yields may drop by two percentage points. 

Disclosure: The author is not a licensed or registered investment adviser or broker/dealer. They are not providing you with individual investment advice. Please consult with a licensed investment professional before you invest your money.

Tim Thomas has no positions in the stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, forex, cryptocurrencies, or commodities mentioned.

This post was produced by Smart Bitcoin Buyer/ Timothy Thomas Limited and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.

Featured image credit: Pexels.