Attack of crypto bots

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Also: The Secretive World of MEV, Where Bots Front-Run Crypto Investors For Big Profits

ZUCKERBERG SEEKS METAVERSE COOL WITH MICROSOFT

Meta platformsFB
who aren’t exactly having fun in the metaverse, have decided to drag work into it. The company formerly known as Facebook is join together with Microsoft
MSFT
to integrate the Office 365 suite into the Quest VR headset. From 3D renderings of Microsoft’s key apps to immersive Teams meetings, Microsoft is also looking at bringing virtual reality (VR) to creative projects.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the partnership at Meta’s annual Connect conference, where a year ago he changed the company’s name to reflect its commitment to the metaverse, a more immersive version of the internet that includes components of alternate and virtual reality. The first year as a metaverse-focused company has not been particularly fruitful for Meta, whose shares are down around 60% in the period. In addition to spending billions of dollars on the metaverse, Meta’s traditional businesses are suffering from competition and a weakening advertising Outlook.

PROBLEM MONKEYS

Apecoin fell 14% on Wednesday, falling to $4.71, following a report that the US Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating sponsor Yuga Labs over whether its popular collections of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) – including the Bored Ape Yacht Club series – should be reviewed and regulated as securities.

The news shouldn’t have surprised anyone – the SEC has been known to be interested in NFTs for some time as part of the competition with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for influence in regulating crypto, and Yuga is the NFT market leader with its collections valued at around 2.4 billion dollars. Apecoin itself may also be under SEC scrutiny, according to Bloomberg, but a spokesman for the agency declined to comment on the matter. The Ethereum-based governance and utility token was designed to be used within the APE ecosystem, including the top three NFT collections by market cap – Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks and Mutant Ape Yacht Club – and the metaverse collection Otherside. Now it can also be used for in-store purchases in the US at luxury brand stores such as Gucci and Tag Heuer Monaco. As of Friday morning EDT, the token is trading at $4.54, down 11.7% in the past week.

DEFIS NEW EXPLOITATION OF 100 MILLION

A disgruntled attacker literally squeezed all liquidity out of the decentralized Mango Markets crypto exchange and apparently holds $100 million worth of tokens as ransom to force the organization to use its treasury assets to fund bad debt taken on to bail out a major investor earlier this year. The heist occurred on Tuesday around 6pm New York time when the attacker artificially propped up the price of the Mango token and used the unrealized profits to borrow and withdraw a number of cryptocurrencies from the platform.

The Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) overseeing the project froze the program shortly after. On Thursday was DAO said via Twitter: “We plan to refund as much as we can using the DAO tax (subject to voting) and whatever tokens we are able to recover.” Last week, hackers stole an estimated $100-110 million from Binance’s BNBGDP
Smart chain (BSC).

VCs OPERATE OF CRYPTO WINTER

BlockTower, a Miami-based crypto-focused financial firm, unveiled the previously announced $150 million fund that invests in businesses focused on digital assets. Backers include MassMutual, French investment bank Bpifrance, former Midas List investor Roger Ehrenberg and the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. While other firms have invested hundreds of millions in as little as six months, BlockTower has made just 10 investments so far this year, worth about $20 million, leaving plenty of powder as acquisition prices fall and other investors wind down their activity in the category. The firm looks to write $500,000 to $5 million checks it can lead or co-lead into companies and crypto projects in their early stages, aiming for equity stakes of up to 10% in a startup, or as much as 5% of a token protocol.

BLOCKCHAIN ​​​​50: CALL FOR 2023 NOMINATIONS

For four years, the Forbes Blockchain 50 list has chronicled the institutional use of technology popularized by bitcoin. Since the first summary in 2019, the companies on our list have – often well-known names such as WalmartWMT
and BoeingB.A
—has moved beyond pilot projects and now relies on distributed ledgers in key parts of the business to improve efficiency and transparency. Now is your chance to help us find the best possible honorees for next year’s edition. We look for businesses valued at $1 billion or more or those that generate at least $1 billion in annual revenue and have made meaningful use of technology. read more here.

ELSEWHERE

Myntsenter is suing the Treasury over the Tornado Cash Ban [Decrypt]

Stablecoin Issuing TetherUSDT
Cuts certificate stock to zero [CoinDesk]

Binance launches $500 million fund to provide loans to bitcoinBTC
Miners [The Block]