Will Coinbase, Tesla Cause the Crypto Winter?

Since I’m on a camping trip this weekend with my family, I’m going to keep today’s issue short. I hope you enjoy!

Crypto exchanges Coinbase and Gemini are enacting hiring freezes and downsizing. In Coinbase’s case, they’re also rescinding some job offers. Elon Musk has likewise issued a hiring freeze at Tesla and reduced his company’s staff. Musk even went so far as tell his employees to work in the office or he’ll assume they’ve resigned. CoinDesk asks if this is the first sign of a crypto winter. I don’t know if it’s the first sign of a crypto winter, but it could trigger a recession. The thing about economic cycles is they tend to become self-fulfilling prophecies. Lately, we’ve been hearing a lot of talk about the worst crypto winter ever, and we could be headed toward a recession. When people believe that, they’ll act like they believe that. Then it happens. It happens because people cause it with their behavior. One person panics and it leads to a chain reaction. Quit acting like the world is going to hell and it won’t.

Binance launches $500 million Web3 fund. If you’re wondering about Web3, here’s what it means for marketers. And a Web3 cheat sheet for brands.

The New York Senate has passed a moratorium on carbon-based crypto mining. HUGE News! I expected this was coming. New York doesn’t like anything that pollutes its air, except politicians.

Several veteran technologists have written an open letter to public officials urging them to be skeptical of cryptocurrencies and other digital assets and to create legislation around that skepticism. Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin responded in a Twitter thread. More on that here. Old Guard vs. New Guard. The Old Guard is clearly trying to protect their turf. I hope the New Guard wins.

Crypto analyst slashes bitcoin miners’ price targets by an average of 65 percent.

The first ever indictment for NFT insider trading happened at OpenSea. Meanwhile, Looney Tunes has gone daffy on Nifty over NFTs. Some NFT platforms are pivoting in response to the market. I can’t blame people for running their businesses based on macroeconomic conditions, but I do believe, as I said above, that mass behavior moves the market as much as anything.

The crypto market has grown 500 percent in four years. And the crypto scam business is booming too.

Are soulbound tokens the next big thing? (This report, co-authored by Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin, is a MUST READ.)

Japan to limit stablecoin issuance to banks and trust companies.

Bianca Van Damme, daughter of famed actor Claude Van Damme, has released an NFT collection with artist Scott Bushaw to raise awareness of mental health issues. Yeah, one could go nuts looking at these.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a litmus test for crypto exchanges.

You know the deal. Snark and commentary are in italics. This is not financial advice and I am not a financial advisor. I’m just your friendly crypto freak sharing the news.

Cryptocracy is a decentralized newsletter published 4 times a week. I curate the latest news and crypto analysis from some of the brightest minds in crypto, and sometimes offer a little insightful and snarky commentary. Always fresh, always interesting, and always crypto.

First published at Cryptocracy. Not to be construed as financial advice.

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